ludja

I have a bunch of Austrian and German cookbooks and this is often the instruction for making many different types of dough that need to kneaded, for eg. bread, some cookies, dumplings. That is, make a well in the flour and add the liquids/eggs/ etc in the middle. The instructions usually say to slowly work the flour into the liquid with your hands to form a dough. Then you're all set to knead. Less bowls to wash, I guess! (This is an old way to do it but I think a lot of home bakers there still use this technique.) edited to add: if you google "make a well" and 'flour' there are lot of hits, especially for pizza or pasta doughs andIndian flat breads...

I had an interesting arugula salad that a friend made recently. The salad used a lemon vinagrette and arugula with the addition of cubed feta and cubed watermelon. I'm not sure if there was some finely sliced red onion in there as well. It was very nice. The contrasting texture and slight sweetness of the watermelon adds a nice element to the salty feta and bitter greens.

I thought of this thread after reading this recent SF Chron article on pies in the Bay Area: click This article will be up for a week or so but here's their list for once it is gone: Bette's Ocean View Diner 1807-A Fourth St. (near Hearst), Berkeley; (510) 644-3230. Look for various pies: key lime, banana cream and revolving fruit pies. Brick 1085 Sutter St. (at Larkin), San Francisco; (415) 441-4232. Summer pie has an amaretto custard with fresh berry marmalade. Chenery Park 683 Chenery St. (near Diamond), San Francisco; (415) 337-8537. ... and pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream. Duarte's Tavern 202 Stage Road (at Pescadero), Pescadero; (650) 879-0464. olallieberry pie is one specialty Farmer Brown 25 Mason St. (at Turk), San Francisco; (415) 409-3276. bourbon pecan pie. Izzy's Steaks and Chops 55 Tamal Vista Blvd. (near Wornum), Corte Madera; (415) 924-3366. key lime pie Liberty Cafe 410 Cortland Ave. (near Bennington), San Francisco; (415) 695-8777. The chicken pot pie and banana cream pie are the major draws ... Rating: TWO AND A HALF STARS The Pine Cone Diner 60 Fourth St. (at B Street), Point Reyes Station; (415) 663-1536. good cobblers, pies and fries. Walker's Restaurant and Pie Shop 1491 Solano Ave. (between Curtis and Santa Fe), Albany; (510) 525-4647. crisp-crusted pies in more than 40 flavors. Yankee Pier 286 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur; (415) 924-7676. Lemon meringue pie, chocolate pie

click (This is good...) The link gives a version of the Chez Panisse Green Goddess Dressing from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. I sometimes omit the cilantro if I don't have any at home, but I definately like to have the tarragon, basil and parsley in there. The egg yolk and avocado add a nice richness to the dressing. Makes 1 1/2 cups 1 small shallot, minced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 2 tsp. fresh lime juice 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature 1/2 cup. extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 ripe avocado, mashed, just before use in dressing 3 tbsp. chopped parsley 1 tbsp. chopped tarragon 1 tbsp. chopped basil 1 tbsp. chopped cilantro 1 tbsp. chopped chives Salt and freshly ground pepper Combine shallot with garlic, vinegar and lemon and lime juices and let macerate while assembling the other part of the dressing. Constantly whisk the egg yolk while slowly adding in half of the oil. Add in a Tbs or so of the shallot/vinegar mix and then whisk this mixture into the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Add mashed avocado and then finally whisk in the rest of the shallot/vinegar mixture and the chopped herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper and adjust tartness if needed.

I made bacon horseradish dip for before Thanksgiving dinner last year and it was also a big hit!

Would empanadas count as stuffed? If so, you could make pumpkin filled/stuffed empanadas and serve this with a cajeta sauce and vanilla ice cream, if you liked. Bayless has a roasted poblano cream sauce in Mexican Kitchen. Here's an online link: http://www.appetites.us/archives/000451.html

Will a website be part of your early marketing plans as well? When do you thlnk is the right time to set that up? Will you need to hire someone to do that? Congrats on the creative marketing and sales! And the script on the decorated cake is indeed lovely.

I had some pecans, brown sugar and cream left over from making a caramel cake last weekend so I decided to make pralines for my bookclub last night. I used a recipe for Bourbon Pecan Pralines out of Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. Here's a photo: They came out pretty well, I think, with a good creamy texture. I also posted in the "Pralines" thread in the Southern Culture Forum. In that post, I linked to the recipe I used and have some questions also. If anyone has some experience with pralines I'd appreciate your advice there!

This may not make sense but I graviatated towards the following usage: 'parmesan' if referring to parmigiano-style cheese or cheese product produced in the US 'parmigiano' for Italian-made parmigiano and 'Parmigiano Reggiano" for that actual cheese If I was referring to something like Kraft parmesan cheese I would probably say "Kraft cheese" or "Kraft parmesan cheese". I grew up with this but don't have a use for it anymore. I don't view it as an affectation in this case, just descriptive nomenclature.

I had some pecans, brown sugar and cream left over from making a caramel cake last weekend so I decided to make pralines for my bookclub last night. I used this recipe for Bourbon Pecan Pralines out of Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. Here's a photo: They came out pretty well, I think, with a good creamy texture. Does anyone have comments on the 'sugar bloom' that can be seen on the candies? Is this unavoidable or does it indicate that I beat the mixture too long before spooning it out? Something else? Thanks!

means that I absolutly have to make those. Your other experiments sound fabulous as well. I just might have to finally buy me a bundt pan. ← I have to admit, SusanGiff's description draws me to these cookies as well. It's exactly the way I like chocolate--in occasional, small, intense doses! Thanks for sharing the detailed description of your efforts, SusanGiff! And of course, thank you also to Ms. Greenspan. This learning experience is very special.

Thank you for starting this thread, Ravelda. There are so many different interesting ideas already. It's amazing really, all the different flavors that are used with pumpkin/winter squash across the world. I really like the recipes that have a savory contrast to the inherent sweetness of the pumpkin/squash like the classic Italian parmigiano cheese, sage, butter, salt and pepper pairing. This sounds great. I don't know if I'm imagining it because I can't find the recipe anywhere, but are there any French-based stews that use winter squash/pumpkin in combination with beef? Maybe with mushrooms also? I would have never guessed! I know that Filipino cuisine is a blend but I haven't seen enough examples of it to yet catch the combinations/ingredients that would signal a potential Filipino dish. Thanks much, beccaboo! I like the southern Italian zucchini dish that has a similar preparation--i.e. thin slices fried or roasted then marinated with garlic slices, mint and vinegar but I have never heard of this squash/pumpkin dish. The sugar is an interesting twist. Perhaps this also a southern/Sicilian preparation?

I love all dairy products, but I really dislike warm milk. Hot chocolate, fine. But if it's just plain milk it needs to be chilled, not warmed up or even at room temperature. Before the scare of mad cow disease my mom used to cook calve's brains occasionally. She loved it as a special treat and you could get it at the regular supermarket from time to time. I tasted it once but decided I really didn't want to have it again. I would eschew tasting Rocky Mountain Oysters as well. I have a pretty adventurous palate towards most offal but there might be some other things I would prefer not to eat.

This thread in Pastry and Baking mainly has ideas for sweet items but there are some other recipes as well. RedSugar's Pumpkin Marmalade and andiesenji's Pumpkin Chili Mexicana are on my list to try...

Thanks so much, Domestic Goddess! This recipe sounds healthy and very appealing; I will definately try it this fall. Is it a Korean recipe, per your cited location? I think I've also seen some Thai recipes that combine pumpkin and pork and then there's the shrimp paste. Here's a link to a Thai Pumpkin Tofu Curry that sounds interesting. They don't mention when to add the tofu but I would think towards the end when reheating the cooked pumpkin squash.

Steeping the heated cream/milk/creme anglaise with finely ground roasted peanuts might be one way to add flavor to the base. Strain to remove nuts before proceeding. I've seen recipes for hazelnut and almond souffles that use this approach.

Pepperoni Rolls Tasty and easy to eat without any mess...

Good luck, lenabo! I've heard the caramel icing described as tricky, but I have made the icing according to the directions in the recipe successfully three times. I do follow the instructions very carefully. The icing does firm up pretty quickly so I have everything ready to ice the cake immediately after adding in the second batch of butter. Doing this I have not had to rewarm the icing per the instructions given in the recipe for if it firms up too much. The directions say to let the icing cool to "lukewarm" before adding the last bit of butter. This last time I waited until the icing was 110 deg F but perhaps one could go ahead at 115 deg F and have the icing be a little more 'runny' for spreading. That is funny about the Russian name, Ljuda! My handle is just an old nickname from a friend. Is Ljuda a nickname for a more formal Russian name or is it a 'regular' full name in and of itself? Sounds interesting. The icing adds a big dose of caramel and the cake does provide a contrast to that but maybe it would work for us butterscotch fans... Besides contributing a different flavor to the cake I don't know if there are any other issues in directly substituting brown for granulated sugar in terms of texture, etc.

The Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread sound good and I think they look pretty nice as well. Whenever I bake cookies, even a recipe I've made before, I take extra care with the first batch to check on the timing that day with the dough and oven rather than relying on any written instructions. I'll set the timer to go off *five minutes* before the recommended time in order to check visually how the cookies are looking. Then I'll stay at the oven and check periodically to get them just right. Usually the subsequent batches can be baked pretty much according to the time needed in the first batch. Thanks for sharing your results on these cookies; I really like brown sugar/pecan combos.

Hi lenabo! I think ground walnuts would also work very well. With this recipe I would try to avoid creating a lot of oil with the nuts--i.e carefully pulse in batches with a food processor or use some grater which keeps the nuts somewhat dry while achieving a fine grind.

Well, this surely isn't a cake designed for preserving waistlines... However, point taken on wanting to try a non-nut version, I'm interested myself. I think Mayhaw Man's cake was made by a friend of his from whom he has been trying (unsucessfully, according to his post) to wheedle the recipe. Those cake layers do look amazing! Typically, I think the caramel frosting is used on a classic southern 3-layer "1-2-3-4 Cake" which Bill Neal calls "the "warhorse of layer cakes", especially for caramel and chocolate icings, and describes it as having a "velvety crumb" and good keeping qualities. Here is a recipe that I found online from the Food Network: 1-2-3-4 Cake It's called "1-2-3-4" due to the ingredients of 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs. Some people's individual recipes are tweaked away from the strict 1-2-3-4 measurements. So, without any other input, the next time I'll probably try Bill Neal's 1-2-3-4 cake in Biscuits, Spoon Bread and Sweet Potato Pie. His recipe is similar to the Food Network's but does not use self-rising flour. The ingredients are: 1 cup butter, room temp 1 7/8 cup sugar 4 eggs, separated, at room temp 2 2/3 cup flour, all-purpose 2 tsp baking powder 2/3 tsp salt 1 cup milk 2 tsp vanilla Follow the Food Network recipe except alter in the following way. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder before adding to batter. Add sugar slowly to butter as you cream it. Add *yolks* one by one at the appropriate time. Beat well afer each egg yolk addition. After the additions of the flour mix and milk, blend in vanilla. Then beat the egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into batter. Butter and flour tins before pouring batter in. Cooking time at 350 deg F is the same, about 30 min or until cakes are just golden and slightly pulling away from the pan. Recipe is for three 9-inch cake layers. You'll see lots of variants on the Caramel Icing as well but I really love Bill Neal's icing and would likely stick with that when I try a non-pecan version of the cake. I'd love to hear of anyone else's recipe and/or experiences though! I'm not sure who was the auteur of the Pig Pickin' Cake, for instance.... (Thanks for the photo, JAZ!)

The tuna tartare sounds very nice. Here are some other seafood options: smoke trout mousse taramosalata southern-style shrimp paste a possible garnish for these would be a very thin strip of lemon zest and a parsley leaf wacky idea: make a tomato aspic with the last of summer's tomatoes, cut into tiny cubes and toss with home made mayonnaise and crumbled bacon. Maybe the mayo could instead be incorporated into the aspic. Add mixture to one end of the endive for a blt appetizer. edited to add: There was a whole thread on ideas for BLT appetizers. I can't remember if something like this was suggested there already...

Thank you Abra and worm@work! What a wonderful documenting of the meal; every dish is very appetizing and unique to me. The potato sandwiches sound great! Thank you for the recipes as well. Would these dishes be considered chaat? Are thare any cookbooks in English that feature this type of food? Thanks again, ludja

Here is a link to the Toasted Pecan Caramel Cake from Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. This is the recipe that I have used previously. I also used this caramel frosting recipe for the cake above. Some tips: The instructions say to cool the frosting to 'lukewarm' before beating in the remaining butter. I let it cool to about 110 deg. It will take between 30-45 min for the frosting to cool undisturbed (which is recommended) so make sure to budget the time for this. A variation on the linked recipe would be to brush some Bourbon Sugar syrup on the layers before frosting them. Both of these Bill Neal books are a great source for dessert recipes: Bill Neal's Southern Cooking and Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie.

I found a copy of the the Bill Neal Toasted Pecan Caramel Cake. This is the recipe that I used the first few times and that I think I like better. I used the same caramel frosting recipe that is given for this recipe. It's 'worked' all three times I've made it. I'll post the recipe link in the Caramel Cake thread I started. My mom found these plates at a flea market/antique show. There is not a name on them, only a mark with M Z, a symbol with a crown and "Austria" on it.