balmagowry

Yup - I don't imagine we'd want Dr. Michael Jacobsen (is that his name? you know who I mean, the Food Police) snooping around this particular red-light district. They are definitely... extremely moving... in the, er, French sense of that word. Can't you just see us all in durance vile and sentenced to bread and water - and no, that's stale Wonder Bread, kids, none of your pains artisanaux. A fate worse than - anything.

Oooops, so it do - "white or ashed," actually, to coin a phrase. Sorry! When I looked at the post last night I was using my tiny notebook which doesn't quite do justice to detail - scroll to bottom of image and you've lost the top. Had got it into my head that they were on a much larger scale than your basic crottin because I was seeing part of the smaller-looking ones in the shot below - but of course that's a red herring. (No, there weren't any herring pictures, though.) Funny the tricks one's eyes will play.... (Now that I've had a proper look at the pictures, though, I'm seriously wondering whether it might not be possible to patent a Keyboard-Drool-Guard. Forewarned is forearmed, in this case, so I knew what to expect. But still had to jury-rig the mechanism. How about it? Think I'll get to work on some drawings.) So anyway, Bleu, thank you very much for offering but never mind! (Still, there is something familiar about that damn pattern....)

My own excuse is (a) size matters. Mine is big enough to do a good-sized bird in and also to use as a stockpot. I like pressure-cooking stock because it's not necessary to put in extra water to allow for evaporation and because it takes a third of the time. And (b) It has such a heavy base that one can brown meat thoroughly in it without burning.Well, yes, that makes sense - though I still don't see that it actually justifies the expense. (Not meaning to badger or accuse you, I hasten to add, just trying to understand.) My old Presto is a little smaller than yours, but it too can brown meat without burning, and I always use it for stock unless I am making the kind of huge batch that we did on this occasion. And it wouldn't be difficult or expensive (maybe $25, $30) to procure the same pot in a size comparable to yours, if I felt the need. So I continue to wonder. Of course, I know I'm in a minority - several minorities, come to that. For instance, I have never wanted a new car or a fancy one; though I do understand the impulse that makes other people want them. So I suppose the fact that I drive and adore my 14-year-old Honda Civic (and turn up my nose at my husband's classic Mercedes convertible) is perfectly parallel to my allegiance to the Presto. Oh, and to my original-model Cuisinart and my 1950s MixMaster. And to my 1919 Singer sewing machine. And to my grubby (but beautifully-designed!) 1969 sailboat. All simple, reliable old machines that do one thing and do it well. I certainly don't condemn those who get their jollies from having the newest and the shiniest and the best - the Rolls Royce of pressure cookers (as Kuhn Rikon calls itself) or the Rolls Royce of cars or of anything else. I think it's wonderful that people can have toys and get pleasure from them; just as I myself get a perverse pleasure from adhering to my lovely Old Reliables (and a less perverse pleasure from using good solid tools and producing excellent results!). But I don't think it gets me closer to the object of the quest, which is to understand whether there is really any difference in quality between the old and the new, the cheap and the pricey; or whether the desire for the fancy new thing, the need to spend a fortune on it, simply has to do with the status symbol effect. Yes, the other night when I was researching this stuff on the web - oh yes, I drooled over the Kuhn Rikon and the Fagor Marine (ooh ooh, and me a sailor, after all) and so on. But why on god's green earth, even if I could easily afford it, would I spend $200-$300 on one of those when the old Presto (probably $10, 30 years ago) does everything I want it to do? That - that is the puzzlement. The reason I'm pursuing it so doggedly is that I'm supposed to be putting together a Pressure Cooker course for eGCI, and as part of that I want to be able to describe the available equipment and perhaps even make recommendations based on needs and features and so on. But thus far I haven't found any evidence to lead away from my own hopeless bias for the simple... old-fashioned... cheap. Those are wonderful. Hint - look on eBay, you'll see quite a few of them, going for very little. I haven't gone in for canning yet, but the temptation does arise, come September or so.... Sorry, I didn't see the thread. It must have taken place during the time when I had succeeded in quitting eGullet cold turkey [sic], before Richard Kilgore cruelly lured me back to participate in the Robb Walsh round table. I got hooked again. QUIT eGullet? Are you quite MAD? Please, don't ever even consider such a thing again! Hell, you can't quit eGullet, in any case. (I suspect you've realized that by now.)

Good for you! I lusted after the form factor of the Elph, but finally fell for features, so compromised with the A20 - or no, is it S20? they changed the model numbering a while back just to confuse me, and it's upstairs and I'm downstairs - anyway it's much the same camera, slightly bigger, with a little more optical zoom and 3.2 MP, and it does a fantastic job even when I don't. Color balance is a little odd with the flash - but at least it's easy to compensate for that in software. And after all those months of compulsively documenting the Testing Kitchen and the progress of the garden and so on... wouldn't you think I'd remember now and then to photograph a meal before eating it? Hmph. Nope; every time I actually get a chance to cook something I tuck into it right away, only to swat my forehead afterward, coulda-hada-V8-fashion, and vow to reform. Wish I'd had a shot of those blinchiki last week - they were dangerous good and textbook-pretty. Damn! Guess I'll just have to make some more and keep my wits (and my camera) about me this time. Blinchiki... mmmmmm.... (OK, that does it - I need to go find or make a Drooling smiley.)

At the risk of sounding cheeky, then, I would say - QED. Try it again, and put in a good deal of extra liquid - more than your instinct suggests. If the stock comes out too thin, you can reduce it; and it will give you confidence to produce the "Goldilocks Effect" on the third try. First time, too little; second time, too much; third time... Just Right! And by then you'll be an old hand at this adaptation game.

True - and all those other big-ticket top-of-the-line jobs, like the Kuhn Rikon and Fagor types, are also supposed to be marvelous at this sort of thing. But I firmly believe that one can do it successfully without having to break the bank. (In fact, I need to bend some serious thought to why anyone buys the fancy expensive models when the plain old ones work so well.) I still use my circa-1975 6-quart Presto, a simple homely inexpensive utensil if ever there was one; and I don't have problems with anything burning or drying out. (I did, however, once experience the Classic Pressure Cooker Disaster, as described on this thread - entirely my own fault, I hasten to add.) I suppose I do occasionally compromise by using slightly more liquid than I would otherwise - but that hasn't yet produced an unsatisfactory result, and it's certainly a small price to pay for the benefits. I am much intrigued, though, by one pot I looked at recently (sorry, don't have my bookmarks handy or I could tell you which one) which has a window that allows you to see what's happening inside the cooker. Now that is progress, seems to me. And in worst-case scenario, it's one more way to protect oneself from burn/scorch disasters. Oooh - that one I don't know. But again, once you know the principles and are comfortable working with them, there's virtually no limit to what you can "presh." Thank you! I've been racking my brains to remember this one! I love Lorna Sass's historical stuff - just got her To the Queen's Taste - a scholar after my own heart, she is. And... where were you, sir, and your fine Belgian pot, I should like to know, when I asked people on the Pressure Cooker thread for examples? Here I am working my fingers to the bone researching the state of the art for the sake of eGCI, and do I get any cooperation or sympathy? Harumph, no I do not, some people are content to sit back and watch me fall on my face. Waaah. (Nevertheless the Demeyere is duly noted and will be investigated and added to my list - thank you. )

Um, Maggie, I'm new to this racket, so please forgive me if I'm asking something dumb or something that's been answered elsewhere (note to self: in future do not post before first cup of coffee), but, well... did someone actually win Round Eighteen? How and where is such an event signalized? Also - just checking, as I think I know the answer to this one - am I right in thinking that deadlines on these things (other than predetermined ones like, say, Valentine's Day) are ad hoc? i.e., We Just Don't Know when this round will close?

Shouldn't have been cooking at all, tonight - should have been much too tired from playing frantic catch-up in the garden and planting peas. St. Patrick's day, after all. But starting yesterday we've been getting walloped by winter's last gasp, several inches of snow, north wind, and no way was I planting anything. Still managed to be tired, though, and still managed to be distracted until beyond the last minute... so it was quick and simple. 10 PM: beef stroganoff, over noodles. Broccoli, very lightly killed. And an awfully nice Haut-Medoc which crept out of hiding at exactly the right moment. Some fruit. In my craving for grapes this year I have overcome most of my scruples about eating fruit out of season - all winter they've tasted right and been priced right and why bite off my nose when I just WANTED them? Despite this wallop I am convinced that spring is imminent; not only because of the Usual Spectacle of crocuses and snowdrops and tulip leaves poking through the snow, but because the gulls' fishing has begun to prosper noticeably: walking my dog along the bulkhead tonight, passed most of the carcass of a quite-respectable-sized blue-claw crab. This bodes well for the season - and its dinners...

Let the games begin with a virtuosic exhibition game on opening night, a simple but elegant demonstration of team interaction (not inappropriate to said tennis court, perhaps): Coordinated Crepe-Flipping. Team colors: red and yellow, of course - NB dissenting water-carriers and batter-pourers may choose the alternate scheme of blue on blue, as long as their uniform features fewer buttons than that of the pan-wielders. Matching shoes may be selected from among those listed on the Food Formulation Footwear thread. Equipment to be supplied by Our Sponsor, the Anything-But-Calphalon-One thread. Since this is not a competitive sport as such but a choreographed exhibition, it will not be subject to the usual scoring and medaling system; awards for the entire flippin' team will instead be selected (tell me what you eat and I will tell you whom to bribe) from the Sex and Food thread or, in the case of British team members ("No Sex Please"), the Filled Roll thread. (Anthem... er, can I get back to you on that? The resident composer seems to be somewhat indisposed at the moment - I don't know what's under the table that's so fascinating, but that's where he's been since dinner.)

Wow... thank you. A compliment not to be taken lightly in any case, but especially not when it comes from the author of "happy underpants"! I'm honored.

Oh Bleu, that's cruel. You've got to stop this, or at least put a disclaimer on reports like that so I can brace myself and not drool into my keyboard. Er - do you happen to remember what that first cheese was? It strikes a familiar chord, but I can't quite place it.

Just about any recipe that uses liquid. I'd be inclined to challenge your initial premise - the key word in your post being adapted. Before condemning the Guinness Beef Shanks I'd want to know just how it was adapted. In pressure-cooker-ese, Burnt almost invariably means too high a time/heat-to-liquid ratio. Conversely, if a conventional braising recipe calls for relatively little liquid, you have to assume that you will need to bump up the liquid some for pressure cooker use. Not necessarily with more Guinness - depending on the original recipe it might be a question of adding a bit of water, which can always be reduced back out at the finishing stage. Hard to give you chapter and verse without knowing the particulars of the recipe (oy, in trying to develop an eGCI course on the subject I am painfully reminded yet again how much of my own cooking is done by gut feel and how difficult it can be to communicate that gut feel to others!). I know, however, that when I make something like osso buco or pot roast in the pressure cooker I always start with more liquid than I would for conventional cooking.

OK, but just to demonstrate that good cooking by itself ain't necessarily enough - you've just reminded me that the last civil interchange between me and my ex, at the end of 15+ years of marriage, was the week just before he was scheduled to move out, during which he asked me to teach him how to cook some of the things I used to make for him. Spose it will sound petty (only because it is... but not without reason!), but in light of what's passed since then I have to admit that I kind of resent the thought that he may now be making MY vinaigrette, MY chicken soup, and (worst of all) MY kotlietkis for Wife # 4! (Can't remember what else he persuaded me to teach him, but those were first on the list. Oh - schtchav, too, but at least it wasn't from scratch!)

Aha! Now I've been googling toogling, and I think we're getting somewhere. Search term: "Polish stuffed cabbage." I did see "galumbki" in one hit - which also gave the Slovak as "halupki." But most of the hits that came up gave the Polish name as "galubki," which makes very good sense, the Polish for "dove" being "golab." I think "galumbki" and its variants are probably sort of a slang diminutive - for that matter the same applies in Russian, where "dove" is "golub" and "stuffed cabbage" becomes "golubtsi." When you pronounce these things the 'o's and 'a's get kind of mixed around. Some of them may even be Polish-American corruptions - who knows. Anyway, I'm satisfied, so I guess I'd better skeedaddle before the Topic Police catch up with me. (But I do love dried cranberries - by themselves, to eat out of hand.)

See? Toldja it didn't mean anything. Now I'm more curious than ever, though, about the Polish etymology. Any Polish speakers around? No? Damn.

Depends where you're from. In Russian cooking it's "golubtsi," meaning "doves" - the idea being that the cabbage rolls are shaped like plump little birds. Never heard/seen it pronounced/spelled anything like the way you guys have it (wouldn't "gollumkes" be something from the Lord of the Rings cookbook? ), but that doesn't mean anything, since the names vary as widely as the technical nationalities of the regions from year to year - might be a Polish or Latvian version. Where Ukrainians, for instance, have "pierogies," the closest Russian equivalent is "piroshki." But the village that was part of Russia when my great-grandparents lived there has since been part of Poland and then part of Lithuania, so who knows what they would call these things if they lived there now! At any rate, their descendant still makes "piroshki," "kotlietki," and "golubtsi," and the latter is obviously the same dish you're describing. And no, to bring it back on topic, raisins have NO place in it, no matter what you call it! (On reflection I do think "golubtsi" is probably the original name, if not necessarily the original form - because of the way it translates. But I don't know enough about other slavic languages to be at all sure. I do remember being called "golubchik" - "little dove" - when I was little, though.)

If it makes you feel better I have bought duplicate books on several occasions. Usually those that had been on my wish list for a long time, and whenI see another for $2.50 at the used bookstore, BAM I have 2 copies. The second is then given away to a friend. "Liked it so much I had to get this for you!" How about this for a Homeresque "doh!" - I donated some clothing to the local thrift store that shrunk or I got too fat to wear, as my wife so gently puts it. Since I am a big fan of these stores for bargain couture, a month or so later I see this great suit and buy it in too much of a hurry to really try it on, only to find - its the same one I just donated! So the Junior League gets paid twice, its for a good cause right? Snif... Thanks, doc, that does help a bit. (And I love the suit story! I thought things like that only happened to me.) Snif... It's just... y'see... I made a big deal right here on this very forum about the Maigret, and several people were most kind and enthusiastic in endorsing it and telling me how much I would enjoy it, and... and I said polite things about how I was looking forward to it because I'd heard so much about it - and mind you I was, and I had - and me the whole time with my own copy right there under my nose, and... well, anyway, I just felt kind of silly, is all. Snif... :grabs kleenex: HONK! There. I feel better now. Thanks....

Just posted reply over there - hope it helps!

Bleu - in my experience with American All-purpose there isn't any real difference in weight between sifted and unsifted - YMMV if you're working with another type that has a lot of... er, extraneous objects in it. I think therefore that if I were in your shoes I'd be trying to match sifted weight of the local product to the standard weight for American. Which is 1 cup = 4 oz. = 113.3 grams, according to the best conversions I've been able to find. More important, I imagine, is finding a flour of similar "hardness" - if memory serves French flours vary widely and are typically softer (i.e. have more gluten, or more reactive gluten, if that makes sense) than American ones. Don't remember detail on this, but can look it up in Elizabeth David, if that is any help. Good luck with your cheesecake brownies! And... no... no, I mustn't... yes... yes, now you've made me want them too - would you be willing to share the recipe?

Why, no, I simply can't imagine what you could be referring to. Now, about that stiff brandy....

Beat me to it. I was thinking - when it opens its eyes, flutters its eyelashes and says, "Eat me"....

Ok, this is really really really embarrassing. My very bad. I'm afraid I have to have my collection docked by one. I don't know how this happened, but the other day I'm complacently looking at my shelf of literary cookbooks, and there among the whodunits, next to Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes (two different iinterpretations, I hasten to add) and Peter Wimsey and Nero Wolfe, damned if I don't see Mme. Maigret. That's funny, thinks I - is that the copy I just bought? Must be - but I don't remember it arriving and I don't remember shelving it... not recently, at any rate. And for good reason, because what should arrive today but the duplicate - hardcover where the other was paperback, but identical in all other respects. How can I have had this book for - it must be several years - and not known I had it? How could I have been so sure I didn't have it that I ordered another copy while sitting not three feet away from the shelf, nay the perfectly logical spot, on which it sits? Such, such is the intoxication of that deadly combination, eGullet and eBay! Still - I am ashamed. Clearly it is my responsibility to get out there and buy another cookbook, QUICK! so as not to besmirch the honor of the cooperative tally. I'm a woman on a mission! I will not fail. BTW, I'm also a woman with a perfectly fine spare copy of Madame Maigret's Recipes, so if anyone would like it, let me know. (Hey, if it stays in the family it doesn't blight the tally after all, does it. Whew. In fact, even as a duplicate it's probably permissible. Oh good I feel a bit better now.)

That's true, I guess it was "gag me with a spoon" which is so "age oriented" ... Hmmmmm. Don't tempt me.

Actually, now that I think of it, Beltane is pretty simple. One hell of a lot of whipped cream ought to do the trick. And maybe a good stiff brandy for afters.

bleudauvergne - I've recently found another source of such inspiration: eGullet, and especially posts like yours. Thank you for this!