jgm
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Posts posted by jgm
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Although you can definitely put me down as a Honeycrisp fan, I am definitely noticing a wide range of quality in these apples. Some are such a marvelous experience they almost knock my socks off. Others are in more of a "what's so special about this?" category. This is the first year I'm noticing this. It makes me wonder whether a lot of people have seen a gold mine in this apple, and are perhaps growing it under conditions that are not the best for this particular tree. If that's not the case, then we're definitely getting apples that have been stored.
I'm a gambler, though. I'll keep buying them, hoping for that nearly transformational experience. I'd rather pay $2 a pound for a mediocre Honeycrisp than 50 cents a pound for a mediocre anything else.
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We have medical people who can probably address this much better than I, but when doctors and nurses change gloves, it also helps deal with patient-to-patient contamination issues. Or if done properly, it's supposed to.
Given some of the extremely nasty infections some of my friends have received in the hospital lately, it's obviously not being done enough.
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You can also immerse it in oil and bake for several hours to create 'roasted' garlic, and then freeze it, which many people seem to think retains its quality pretty decently. You also have roasted garlic oil to use for a few days.
Preserving garlic is, as I understand it, risky for botulism growth. It wouldn't hurt to do some research if you decide to go this direction.
I was purchasing packages of pre-peeled garlic for awhile, but I just wasn't using enough of it before it went bad. I'm back to peeling my own. . .which, actually, isn't a big deal.
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We all need to be doing things like this. Our local paper has recently printed stories about how donations are down and the client load is increasing.
Just yesterday, there was a story on NPR about using coupons to get food for next to nothing. It's a matter of pairing coupons with in-store specials, etc. Most of the people on this list probably have the same attitude towards that as I do; coupons usually are for highly-processed food that I'm not interested in. However, those who are hungry are very interested in it. So I've decided to become one of those couponers, but everything (or nearly so) will be donated to the local food bank. It'll be a game to see how much I can get for little actual cash.
It's only going to get worse as the economy continues to tank.
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I don't know that I'd agree about the purity of flavor business.
A couple of summers ago, at our local farmer's market, I bought a couple of t-bones directly from the man who raised the 100% grass-fed cattle. I thought I was getting quite a prize.
The steaks were tough, gristly, and the flavor was just strange. It wasn't particularly "beefy". It was something else altogether, sort of like the beef flavor I'm used to, but mainly something else.
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Thanks, Karen. I've been cooking/freezing for my elderly parents, and it's good to know there's a way to do mashed potatoes for them.
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Lately I've been giving quite a bit of thought to the evolution of home cooking. My own cooking efforts started in the late 70's/early 80's, after college graduation. These are some of the things I remember:
arrival of the food processor
more cooking magazines being published
more international foods being made at home
greater availablilty of certain ingredients, especially produce
nouvelle cuisine
later, an emphasis on using produce in-season only
later, an emphasis on buying local produce only/mainly
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OK, I know there are gaps in that list. What would you add to the list to fill in the gaps?
Also, where are we headed? Are sous vide and molecular gastronomy going to influence the way we cook? What else is on the horizon?
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I think it would be helpful, also, to watch how much you're eating of each portion. You won't enjoy the second meal much if you're still pretty full from the first one. I think my first meal would consist of 1/2 to 2/3 portions.
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I had an interesting conversation with my sister the other day. I haven't tried this, so I can't vouch for it.
She cooks pasta - such as spaghetti - until "not quite done" and portions into individual portions. At serving time, she has water at a rolling boil, drops the pasta in, waits about a minute, and then drains it. (She says she's also been known to pour boiling water from a teakettle over it.) She swears it's just as good as freshly-made. I think, however, she's talking about refrigerating it and not freezing it.
Maybe that can be a partial solution for somebody.
I concur with freezing pasta, however, that it needs to be completely coated with sauce.
Also, a trick that I use with mashed potatoes when I want to make them ahead of time, is to put only about half of the hot milk and butter mixture that I use, into them; later, when I'm ready to serve, I add the rest, stir, and have hot, freshly-made potatoes. Not sure whether this method could be adapted to freezing.
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For winter, nothing beats soup. If you have homemade soup, you have everything you need. You can then pair it with good bread, a half sandwich, or a leftover something. Even a nuked hot dog and an almost-stale bun are saved by homemade soup.
Nearly anything can be made and broken down into portions. I'm doing this for my elderly parents. Hints:
One pasta dish bakes for 30 minutes, then has cheese that is sprinkled on top, and then it's broiled for about 5 minutes to brown the cheese. Everything is packaged together. The entree has foil over it (and then plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn). The cheese is measured out into a heavy duty zipper bag, and all of the baking instructions are printed with a Sharpie on the bag of cheese, including cooking time and temperature. The whole business then goes into a heavy duty large zipper bag, with the contents and the date written on it.
Packaging everything together, and including the instructions removes all barriers. You don't have to check to see if you have any add-ins (and then find out you don't), and you don't have to scrounge through cookbooks for baking cooking times, temperatures, etc. It's all right there.
Don't worry about finding one-shot deals. Do soups, casseroles, etc., and eat some of it yourself. Package the rest. Ask her what she wants!
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I don't know anything about the kind of drawings you're interested in, but I have found a way to get a really thick foam on hot milk - and I use skim milk. I assume a higher-fat milk might be even better.
I pour the hot milk into a French press coffeemaker, and put the lid on. Making sure to leave an opening at the spout for steam to escape (this is critical to avoid exploding milk and accompanying burns), I work the plunger up and down a few times. Ta-da! Foamed milk. Very thick foamed milk.
Hope this helps.
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OK, Chad, now that I've read through the book... in the sharpening section, you have a short discussion of pull-through type sharpeners. I have two of those made by Wusthof, for my Wusthof knives; one for the chef's knife and one for the santoku.
They both seem to help quite a bit. I'd be interested to hear what you think of them. You wrote that most of them were not a good idea, but I wonder which ones might not be included in "most".
I'm still trying to decide between the Edge Pro and the Spyderco 204. The Edge Pro certainly appears to be much easier to handle, especially for someone like me, who won't be using it often. But of course the Spyderco is about half the price of the Edge Pro. Any ideas about issues I could use to help with a decision? Actually, if the prices were the same, the Edge Pro would win, hands down. But $200 is a lot of money. On the other hand, I'd always know my knives were sharpened well. It appears to be a nearly fool-proof system.
Jenny
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I think ginger (especially powdered ginger) can taste like soap, too, depending on what it's in.
Sally recommended, however, putting it in just about any (sweet) baked good. Would anybody here take it that far?
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I was listening to The Splendid Table a few weeks back, and Lynne's guest was Sally Schneider, who recommended that orange flower water be used in just about any cookies or cakes. She recommended starting with very small quantities, since strengths of brands can vary, but said it simply perks up flavor and makes things taste more buttery.
Your comments?
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I've just picked up Marcella Hazan's autobiography, "Amarcord" after reading an excerpt in the latest Gourmet magazine.
It's next on my list, after I finish "The Billionaire's Vinegar." One chapter in, it's a good read.
edited to add: Within the past year, I've also read Jacques Pepin's biography, and Julia Child's "My Life in France." Both were wonderful, and I highly recommend them.
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One of the reasons I keep "Joy of Cooking" around, is for those times when my gut tells me a recipe doesn't look quite right. I could speculate on a few possibilities, but there's no point in that, because there are several extremely experienced bakers on eG who have a much better understanding of baking than I, and I know they'll be able to offer much more sound information. There are quite a few variables in even something as simple as chocolate chip cookies. It's not only a matter of the exact ingredients and quantities, but things such as the order in which you add the ingredients, and the amount of mixing you do, can influence the outcome. (My home ec teacher was right. It really is necessary to follow the instructions.)
Did you taste them, or were you so irritated that you didn't want to?
If you tasted them, what did you think of the flavor?I don't have my copy of the JofC handy, or I'd look it up for you. Obviously, recipes can vary, but for general proportions, it's a handy reference that will help me decide about issues such as whether I'm looking at a misprint, or whether the recipe just looks out of whack.
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But. . .but. . .but. . .I was saving up!
Come to think of it, you guys do have a good point. It's just hard to accept that the acquisition of an expensive roaster isn't going to help my Thanksgiving gravy turn out better. Looks like I'm going to have to substitute practice and skill and actual ability for a nice, shiny pan.
And since I'll be using the same pan I've always had, I won't have that "I'm not used to this pan!" excuse. 
[sigh.] Okay. Back to re-reading the stuff on gravy that I've acquired. Oh well. I need an instant-read thermometer anyway. And a chinois. And an Edge Pro. And. . .
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Annoy me? Not at all. Answers like that, in fact, are the reason I love eGullet. People here are passionate and generous.
Thank you for an extremely generous answer!
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Gorgeous breads, gorgeous website.
I've picked up the book about making 'artisan' breads in 5 minutes a day (I think there's another thread about that book specifically; I haven't read any of it yet but plan to). Other than the methods listed in that book, are there ways for the home baker who spends 8+ hours a day at work, to make the kind of product that would be on a par with what you produce? My problem is time. The original schedule of about an 18-20 hour rise works really well for me. And I think the idea in the 'artisan' book, which involves making a dough and using it over a period of several days, is certainly within reach.
Other than that... what are my options? Is there a way to blend the kind of thing you do, with the long-rise, minimal kneading technique that Bittman wrote about? I could work with a dough in the morning, and in the evening. But working with it any more often than that is not something I'm going to be able to do.
...unless I could take it to work with me and work with it on my lunch hour. (My current employer would be fine with that.) Do rising doughs travel well?
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So, I dunno. For me? This isn't progress, it's a step backward for home cooks looking to produce good bread on their own.
When it comes to cooking and baking, for most of us, there are necessary compromises.
I do appreciate your voice of dissent, to point out that the long-time way of baking bread remains the best we've been able to come up with. We easily forget the "old" ways of doing things, and I believe they are worth preserving. They're part of our heritage.
However, for many people, Bittman's bread is a revelation. For years, I looked for ways to make my own bread, given my work schedule and the other demands on my time and attention. I went through loaf after loaf of failed -- but sometimes very tasty -- French bread, and those efforts usually consumed most of a weekend afternoon, as well as several hours during the week for researching the reasons for the failures. Along comes Bittman with his very do-able recipe, and suddenly we were able to have bread that was much better than anything we could buy, and didn't cost $3 per loaf, not to mention the gas involved in getting to the bakery. Bittman's bread is do-able, reliable, and probably the best possible compromise for me. It remains a definite step forward for me and will be, for some time.
As for myself, I'd like to see you start your own thread about your bread... with recipes, of course!
We already have a dinner thread, a lunch thread, a breakfast thread, and a dessert thread. I'd love to see what you're doing. -
How about something chocolatey or fruity with black pepper?
Or something flavored with tea, such as Earl Grey?
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I just found this article about a new ebook on testicle cookery. From the little I have seen, it looks like a beatiful book with nice pictures and even includes video!
I do not have easy access to the raw material needed for the recipes included in the book but did eat a variety of testicles while visiting China a few years ago. One testicle dish I sampled there still rank in my top 10 best dishes ever tasted. I did, however, feel a bit weird when I first approached the dish... this is not something I was used to eat and I could not help thinking about my own reproductive organs while taking the first bite... fortunately it was very good and was able to simply enjoy what I was eating after a few bites.
Now that I think of it, I have the feeling that few people in the west eat testicles. With the exception of "prairie oysters", I can't think of any dish featuring them.
Does anyone knows how to obtain testicles in North America without people thinking that you are some kind of weirdo? And if so, how would you cook these? The book seems like a good way to start but testicle pizza is not exactly my stuff.
Out here in cowboy country, they're called "calf fries." Sometimes "mountain oysters". PM me if you're really serious about this, and I'll see if I can find a source for you.
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I think there are two possibilities. And I'll be very interested to see what others have to say.
1. Are the liners waxed or anything like that?
2. I'm thinking that perhaps the cupcakes were cooked too long (or something) and the cake dried out and pulled away, just as it would in a regular cake pan. Also, did you bake the cupcakes in a muffin tin? Maybe the heat from the metal dried out the sides of the cupcakes.
I've started using the cupcake papers that are double-layered; the inner layer is regular paper and the outer is foil; these bake beautifully just sitting on a cookie sheet. The foil doesn't hold a lot of heat.
The short version: I really don't know. All this is just me, wondering aloud.
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Could you be more specific about "useless crap?" Coffeemaker? Mixmaster? Citrus juicer?
"Useless crap" is some of the stuff you've seen in infomercials. Flimsy tongs. Stuff to make garnishes with, which she has never done. 30-year-old serrated paring knives that were dull after 6 months.
Full disclosure: I gave some of it to her, years ago, before I knew better.
It's mainly miscellaneous stuff she keeps because she's sure she'll need it someday. The entire house is crammed full with stuff like that, although you'd never know it until you opened a drawer or a closet.
"Useless crap" is also the odd container that sits on the counter, because there's no other place for it to live since every last cubic inch of the cabinets is full. But there is something - I don't remember what - that Mom and Dad use that container for from time to time, so it has to stay. Plus, in my opinion, it's theirs, and their kitchen, so even if they never use it, it stays because they want it there.
I think what drives me nuts is just that the kitchen, for all of its overflowingness, simply doesn't contain the things I'm used to having: good sturdy tongs; silicone spatulas, small and large; small bowls and plates for prep, and a good sized cutting board. And since every cabinet and drawer is full, things live where there's room for them, not where it makes sense. Hence, pancake-flipper type spatulas, flimsy tongs, a rolling pin, and a citrus squeezer are all together in the same drawer. Her largest glass measuring cup is 2 cups. I have a couple of 4-cup measures and an 8-cup.
What's also had to happen, is that I've started going through their freezers (three, two of which have refrigerators alongside or underneath) and pulling out freezer-burned food. Dressing from 2003. An unidentifiable meal in a divided Tupperware container from 2007. On and on and on - and very little of it labeled; if it is, it's month and day only.
I'm not expressing criticism of what my Mom has, as much as I'm expressing the pain of trying to cook in unfamiliar circumstances with unfamiliar equipment. One person's trash is another's treasure, and my mom treasures her "stuff". And that's okay. My kitchen would probably make her nuts, too.
Why Are These Eggs So Easy To Peel?
in Cooking
Posted
I'm going to bump up this topic, because I'd like more comments on this issue.
Last spring, we had several picnic-potluck dinners to attend, and I decided to take deviled eggs to all of them. I was using 'regular' extra large eggs from the grocery, and I bought all of them at least three weeks ahead of time. Peeling them certainly was an exercise in frustration; I did shock them in cold water and let them stand for a few minutes, then I drained them and rolled them around in the pan to crack the shells. Then I ran more cold water into the pan, hoping that some would seep between the shells and the egg white, and make the job easier. I also peeled them while holding them under a stream of running cold water.
Every single egg was a mess. Some were an outright disaster.
Last night I hard boiled and peeled some eggs we bought a couple of weeks ago, only these were brown eggs and were the "Eggland's Best Cage-Free" variety. Every single egg peeled beautifully. I haven't yet checked the date on the carton, but I will tonight.
I'm not convinced age is the only factor. I'm beginning to believe that something about what the chickens are fed also makes a difference. I have no idea what it would be. The shells did seem to be a bit thicker, but that could have been my imagination.