jaynesb

I like to add gorgonzola (usually the dolce kind) to my pizza, kind of towards the end of baking. Then when I take it out of the oven, cut the slices and then sprinkle on chopped arugula. (The arugula tends to stick to the knife if I add it first.) jayne

I haven't seen it mentioned but it seems like there's always something a bit off with the brewed coffee that I get from Starbucks. We're not talking about the zillion-calorie drinks here, just plain coffee. I've had it bitter, old-tasting, burned, and I don't know what else.... and yes, I am talking about different shops. They were mostly in NYC and Long Island. On the other hand, I really enjoy Starbucks coffee when I brew it myself. I don't think that there's anything particularly special about my electric drip coffee-maker. I mostly grind the beans before brewing coffee but there have been times when I've had pre-ground stuff available. Perhaps I'm not using the official coffee/water ratio or else I'm drinking it before it's had a chance to sit around in warming unit. I've never really figured it out. I do like the beans though. I've been buying their coffee since the days when we New Yorkers had to mail-order it because you couldn't buy it in a store. jayne

Instead of fish sauce, I've used a substitute made of fermented black beans (soybeans, not black turtle beans), miso, sherry, and soy sauce. Here is the recipe for Jonathan Kandell's fish sauce substituted that was posted in rec.food.cooking: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=kandell+...zona.EDU&rnum=4 (I've also used hoisin sauce at times.) To be upfront about it, being a vegetarian, I don't quite know what flavor I'm going for in a fish sauce substitute but I figure it's something fermented and pungent. By the way, rec.food.cooking also has a wonderful recipe for pad thai by Keith Rickert. The story was that the dish was so good that he received marriage proposals. I do the fish sauce substitution and also substitute sauteed tofu for the meat. Since I eat eggs, those aren't a problem. jayne

I know I missed the 4:00 deadline but here's what I do (actually, my children like to do the prep) Remove all layers of husk except the last one. So there's still silk underneath. Then grill the corn with this tiny bit of covering. (As it cooks, you see the outline of the kernels in the layer of husk.) This way, the corn is not really steamed in the husk but it also doesn't get too dried out. The downside is that you end up with a corn mess at 2 different points in time. jayne

I've found that those brushes that you buy for baby bottles work well for brushing out my burr grinder. (The brushes are no longer needed for their original purpose.) jayne

To answer your question, yes, Chinese food is a good option (as are Indian food and Italian food, and Thai if I figure out how to make things myself) That's one of the reasons I went looking for sauce recipes. The spicy hunan sauce was very tasty when I tried in with tofu and asparagus. My diet does include dairy and eggs and I've found over the years that just eating varied foods really does provide enough protein. Oh yeah, one more thing about the sauces, I don't think the web page or the cookbook indicate a refrigerator life or shelf life for the prepared sauces so I'd recommend making them for close to when you need them. Also, you may find some recipes call for szechuan (szechwan) peppercorns. They can be difficult to find because of import restrictions and there is an egullet discussion thread all about it and what the peppercorns are at: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29130 Good luck with your cooking. jayne

I stumbled on this website and its collection of Chinese Sauces. I've made a few and they are very tasty although the instructions are a bit confusing at first. They are kind of formulas (e.g. "with mix #1 add with #2.") and you can basically cook the sauce first, separately from the dish. http://www.users.bigpond.com/catch22inc/ch...sic_sauces.html I'm a vegetarian and was very happy to find ways to make sauces myself because I've been told that many restaurants often use chicken stock, oyster sauce, and other non-vegetarian ingredients. I think all the recipes come from "Chinese Cooking Made Easy" , a small cookbook by Mu-Tsun Lee written in both English and Chinese. I ended up getting the book on Ebay. I think I'll get the most use out of the sauce recipes although the book does have some ideas for how to use the sauces. Some area specifically for braising, stewing, and baking. Many of the rest can be used for stir-fry dishes or dipping. jayne

I was in our local Williams Sonoma and saw the tin set [of 4 molds]. They were originally $22.50 and were marked down to $10.99 but the cashier said that they were now $4.99 (so of course I bought 2 sets....) I'm looking forward to trying to bake canneles sometime soon. jayne

I use one surface of a wooden cutting board for garlic/onion, etc. I've marked that side with "garlic" in tiny print in the corner of the board. So if a dish contains garlic , etc., I'll do all the prep work on that side of the board. The board is only used for veggie preparations. Every once in a while, I get a little careless. Garlicky pineapple is kind of yucky. Jayne

We had the waffles this morning and thought they were wonderful. They were much lighter than any buttermilk ones we've ever made. Our 6-year old twins, predictably, headed for the freezer where they found Eggo waffles. We're talking about "plain pasta" eaters so it might be a while before they learn what they missed out on this morning. We only had one problem but it had nothing to do with the recipe. I forgot to buy maple syrup during my post-Passover shopping trips. Thank you again, mamster, for a wonderful article and recipe. jayne

I'd like to recommend a recipe for flourless, butterless dark chocolate cookies that is attributed to Payard. I found it in the Gourmet Forum on the Epicurious website. Supposedly, it appeared in April 2002 Gourmet magazine as a "You asked for it" recipe but I couldn't find it with the site's recipe search. The cookies were really yummy when I did a taste test with regular confectioner's sugar last month. I hope it will work as well with the Passover confectioner's sugar. (The difference is cornstarch versus potato starch.) The one change I would make would be to make the cookies smaller. The recipe calls for making 5 cookies per baking sheet and they spread a lot. I'm not sure how long smaller cookies will need to bake but the instructions are pretty clear about how to tell when the cookies are done. This link should get you to the forum and you just need to scroll down to posting #193. http://eat.epicurious.com/forums/gourmetmagazine/ The Payard website has these available for sale and provides a photo of the finished cookie. Their version is not certified Kosher. http://www.payard.com/eb2/product_info.php...&products_id=91 Wishing everybody a very Happy Passover. Jayne

I use diced dried apricots as part of the filling for hamantaschen (3-cornered pastry eaten at Purim time.) I just stir the dried fruit into some apricot preserves. The apricots soften up during baking and the filling is more substantial and less overpoweringly sweet. Using the dried fruit also cuts down on the amount of times when the filling cooks up and out of the hamantaschen. Jayne

For leafy things and herbs, I've had some success with this method. Using a [dinner] fork, poke a lot of holes in both sides of a ziploc or other sealable bag. I use a gallon or quart size bag that will allow plenty of space for the greens. Trim and gently wash the greens/herbs. I swish them in a large bowl of water. Spin greens in a salad spinner to remove the excess water but don't blot or crush them. They should be fluffed up a bit from being spun dry. Put the greens in the perforated bag and refrigerate. Try not to crush or compress the greens by putting other foods on top of them. (If you notice any leaves that are starting to turn color, remove them.) This gave me over 2 weeks on some cilantro once. I was pretty happy about that since I always end up buying more cilantro than I need and it was one of those things that spoils very quickly. I was inspired to try this after buying one of those non-airtight plastic clamshell packages of herbs and I noticed they they stayed fresher longer than usual. Jayne