Lindacakes
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Posts posted by Lindacakes
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Question for the fruitcake peeps.
Big jar of fruit soaking in alcohol, right?
I have been using a 6-quart plastic container with lid.
I try to stay away from plastic, and I'm thinking six months with alcohol is not a good thing.
So, I am thinking, "Crock!" and I've been looking around for one, but most do not have lids.
Anyone familiar with these pickling crocks? Good idea to use one instead of the plastic bucket?
Pricey, but kind of gorgeous.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/fermentation-pot/?cm_src=AutoRel#reviews
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Martha Stewart always has cracker recipes -- try her Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook.
The Time Life Good Cook series has Cookies and Crackers.
There's also The Cookie and Cracker Book: 150 Unusual and Mouth-Watering Temptations by Anne Lanigan.
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I just bought this one, it's very good on the spices themselves, I don't know about the recipes yet. Published in 1969, excellent illustrations.
The Book of Spices
Frederick Rosengarten, Jr.
This one is out now, very beautiful and the recipes look good, well-chosen. It comes in for some criticism on Amazon but it doesn't seem as if anyone has actually cooked from it:
The Spice Bible
Jane Lawson
Thanks for the tip on The Spice Cookbook, Jaymes. Looks good, I'm getting one.
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There doesn't seem to be anything in the threads about spice cookbooks.
I just bought The Book of Spices by Frederic Rosengarten, Jr. Copyright 1969. (He has a nut book, too, different thread.) Fabulous illustrations.
I also have McCormick's Spices of the World Cookbook and The Spice Cookbook by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey.
Anyone have opinions or recommendations?
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Has anyone seen or cooked from Vegetable Literacy, Deborah Madison's new book and if so, what did you think?
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I am a huge fan of Trader Joe's and buy many of their products, lots of frozen vegetables. The vegetable masala burgers (really just a spicy potato patty) are really handy. I'm crazy about the frozen artichokes.
One of the best items they make are the graham crackers. Brand name graham crackers taste like chemicals and health food alternatives taste like sawdust. Trader Joe's taste exactly like they are supposed to.
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I've bought the whipped cream in New York/Chelsea branch. Haven't tried it yet.
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I don't make them, but when I was a kid the local chocolate shop specialized in filled eggs in various sizes, the most common being about the size of a softball.
Getting possession of a whole one was a transportive experience and nothing could take the place.
My favorite had a marshmallow and caramel roll in the middle so that slices had a spiral effect.
Second favorite had what was then called a French chocolate center. Very soft, like Ice Cube candy.
I would absolutely go nuts for one filled with candied fruit today.
There is a candy company called Lagomarcino's that makes a hollow egg filled with individual chocolates that makes an amazing gift.
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Thanks for the tips, I'll get the book.
I had no idea -- I thought squash just kept forever . . .
These squash would have been picked before the cold you describe.
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Interesting points. Thank you.
Yes, true, the squash could be old. I doubt it would be watery then? I tried two different vendors -- I was surprised to find the same result at both. Maybe it is a weather thing.
I'll try more, more varieties. I was terribly disappointed because the first dumpling was so damn good.
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Achorn, dumpling, sugar pumpkin.
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Can we talk about squash?
I love squash, summer squash, winter squash. I love the idea of it and I love the look of it. Or, at least, I used to.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a dumpling squash at the farmer's market. It was delicious. Tasted like pudding. Smooth, sweet. Everything a squash should be.
So, I went nuts and bought a bunch of squash, I started keeping a plate of beautiful squash on the table and patted myself on the back for an autumn job well done.
Except for one thing.
Is it me? Or does the squash taste different this year? Stringy, watery. Not so good. Bitter. Darn yucky. Am I cooking it wrong? Do I not know the secret of squash? Is there a better way than cutting it in half, baking it in the oven, and buttering it? Drizzle of maple syrup? I did try peeling it first, thinking that the peel was causing the squash to retain moisture. I pureed it to bypass the string issue. It was drier and smoother but still bitter.
I'm afraid to try a butternut; I've always loved butternut. But I'm afraid I've decided everything else tastes awful and there's nothing left.
Tell me your squash secrets.
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Most people who are not bakers are overjoyed at anything we do, even when we personally are disgusted.
I recently made a Rose Levy Berenbaum cake that I thought was an utter failure. It fell apart when I tried to get it out of the pan (doing exactly what I was told to do, and doubted). I cut it into little odd shaped chunks and bought an angel food cake and neopolitan ice cream slices to fill in.
Guess which offering disappeared and which one sat? Yup, homemade anything wins.
Me, I had to massage my throat to get it down.
I would suppose most of us are critical perfectionists (I am) and that's why we are attracted to a practice like baking. I remember very fondly one time I made a chocolate cake for a relative who is a fiend about chocolate. We sat side by side on the couch, forking up mouthfuls and criticizing every single aspect of the cake. Color, texture, taste, quality of chocolate.
It was heavenly.
The cake was very good. I like perfect. All the fun is in reaching for it.
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Screw people who tell fruitcake jokes. I support Fruitcake Liberation for Christmas of 2012. I am forming a Fruitcake Party and you can come to my house for tea.
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After talking to (okay, grilling) a friend of mine who has been diabetic from childhood, I gave up eating wheat and I eat potatoes and rice in extreme moderation. There is a new book out, called Wheat Belly, that tells the wheat story. My friend told me that sugar wipes out of the blood stream quite quickly. Wheat hangs around for days. So does rice and potatoes.
I've lost 30 pounds and have every reasonable hope of losing 50 more. I'm never hungry. I do Weight Watchers -- mostly to give myself some structure because I don't actually believe WW wants you to lose weight (they want you to give them money, two different things). I often have about half my points left at the end of the day and I'm not sure what to do with them. Cheese helps.
When I gave up wheat, I also decided that vegetables and fruits were going to constitute the primary focus of my diet and I started focusing my food energy (formidable food energy, I'm a baker) on the farmer's market, eating all my meals at home, vegetable cookbooks, etc.
I feel great -- better mood, optimism and energy than I've had in a long time. I am in complete control of everything I put in my mouth and it isn't a careful balancing act of self-talk and motivational focus. It just is.
And the point is, I eat fat. I've been eating more of it since I saw the movie Fat Head. Apparently, Congress decided that fat was the cause of fat and now we're fatter than ever. I eat butter. I eat sardines in olive oil. I eat peanut butter. I avoid oil in general except olive oil. I eat full fat cheese. I eat full fat yogurt. When I do have milk, it's full fat.
What's really good is a mess of greens, spinach is my favorite, with butter. Cooked carrots with parsley and butter. Dumpling squash with butter. Butter is also good with butter.
I've also started eating my meat with bones and fat. I don't eat much meat in general, but I like it rich when I do eat it.
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There are a couple of other threads on this topic, I believe.
I'm a crank on this subject. Here's something that backs me up:
I think folks aren't conservative enough on this subject. My opinions are informed by two events I read about in eGullet that really stuck with me: the person whose house was robbed and the perp took her handwritten recipe book and the person whose house burned down and lost all her recipes.
I would be very unhappy if I lost some of my recipes. My most beloved recipes are handwritten in a cute book with hand drawn illustrations. Which I have scanned. And I've copied all the recipes. And I've put a copy of the files in my safe deposit box. Paranoid or sensible, you decide.
I used to keep files of printed recipes, clipped recipes. I still have those. But I don't add to them anymore. I copy and paste and file the Word doc in the files I want it in. I might put a recipe in both "Pie" and "Lemon" for instance. I like to follow flavors and some of my most valuable (to me) files are called "Buttermilk" or "Fruitcake". My entire file is backed up and in my safe.
Even if you have a program like Evernote, you could lose your recipes. I just upgraded to Mac Mountain Lion, which ferociously ate my calendar. Ten years of notes on what I've done. Gone. I forgot to back it up before I upgraded. You can't be paranoid enough, it would seem.
Eat Your Books is an excellent program that enhances the value of your cookbook collection. I love pulling the books off the shelf and sitting with them, pencil and notebook in hand and studying. Nothing makes me happier. But Eat Your Books is much faster and more efficient. I like to proselytize: annotate your recipes, rate them, keep notes. The rest of us can see this and benefit from your experience. If we all do this, we'll all know which of Julia's recipes are not hard and real keepers or which Maida Heatter cookie is unforgettable.
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Hubba hubba.
I have a brand new game to play.
Thank you!!!
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Panaderia Canadiense, I would very much like to have that orange meringue pie recipe if you wouldn't mind sharing it.
Spiced graham crackers sounds good -- I usually put in some cinnamon. Cardamom, cardamom coffee . . .
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I made a key lime pie for company.
This resulted in half a box of graham crackers left over -- Trader Joe's, they are very good.
Now I want to make another pie.
What sort of pie do you recommend for a graham cracker crust?
Any recipes that you particularly like?
Cream pies, I suppose, chocolate, banana, coconut . . .
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Excellent tips, Powerwhisk, thank you.
That angelica stalk is remarkable. Imagine the first person to behold it and think, "Candy."
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I am not thinking the fruit is any better this year -- I am in agreement that it hasn't been good in general for years.
I also had some really good melon and apricots. Strawberries, cherries, blueberries definitely not so good. Second year in a row I will not be able to give brandied or candied cherries as a gift.
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Apricot! Hmmm. That's making me think of alternative nut butters and jelly combos like hazelnut and apricot . . .
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I work in digital publishing. I recommend this article from the New Yorker on the subject of the lawsuit between some publishers and Amazon:
Paper Trail -- http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/25/120625fa_fact_auletta
We humans tend to make consumption decisions based on a lot of factors, but personal convenience is very high on the list. Often we choose personal convenience over what may be best for humanity.
I believe that there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when it will not be possible for you to purchase a printed book. That point could be argued quite a bit, note the print-on-demand example above. I also believe that there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when digital access will be more expensive than what we enjoy now, particularly the free model.
We are living in the early stages of the transition and in these early stages what will happen economically is that readers will be . . . encouraged . . . to make a digital decision. Publishers are engaged in this early transition and are working very hard to move their business profits into a digital sector. There are many positive aspects to this. There are also negative aspects.
The saving a tree argument is a very attractive one and one I heartily support -- I won't let a catalog come in to my house for a variety of reasons, and this is one of them. I don't know the statistics on how many trees are chopped down to make books rather than say . . . cereal boxes. But think about this: the environmental impact of dead technology. It also carries a cost. Trees grow back if properly cared for, but computers don't breakdown in the landfill. Most people hang on to their books forever and throw out their computers every few years.
Authors are already being replaced with open source content (think Wikipedia).
If you love books, buy books. Lots of books. You won't always have the opportunity because the supply will be limited. Pay attention to the source of your digital content. Do you own it or are you renting it? For how long? Are you allowed to print it? If you pull recipes from online sources, don't assume they'll always be there for you. Copy and paste the content into a Word file. Back your files up. Sign up for Eat Your Books and use your computer to enhance your print collection.
And also remember that the microwave did not put the oven out of business.
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Someone just gave me this book and I immediately made the Whipped Cream Cake. The first time I've made an RLB cake. I've done her cookies and her pies.
Worst baking experience ever. I made it for a party and I was ashamed of it, had to cut it into small pieces, make ice cream the centerpiece, and apologize.
I imagined that the cake would be light like an angel food cake. It was heavy like a pound cake and did not release from the pan as described (it fell apart) and was so dry I could barely swallow it.
This has never happened to me before with any recipe.
I'm in the mood to chuck that and the Bible . . . siding with the folks who say her recipes don't work.
I don't think I've ever seen such firm camps on a cookbook author before -- it's interesting.
TDG: JAZ Hates Raisins
in Cooking
Posted
I kind of hate raisins, especially in cookies. I am in the camp that dies a little inside when I pick up what I thought was a chocolate chip cookie and encounter a raisin.
My taste buds must be dying, though, because as I get older, I hate them less.
I do like white raisins in rice pudding in Indian restaurants, all plumped up with milk. White raisins are very tricky. Good ones can be had at nuts.com, jumbo golden raisins. Super good.
They are really sublime when ground into, for instance, a black cake such as my 'tar. Mixed with port and other dried and candied fruits they reach new heights. Same is true of prunes, also part of black cake.