Wholemeal Crank

Sad to see the Cultured Cup go--they sponsored some online tastings here that introduced me to a bunch of very nice teas, and I still have a treasured stock of their amazing Lemon Rooibos tea that is very popular wherever I share it. Going to have to find another supplier for that one when mine is running out. I have not ordered any teas from Amazon, because their teas are pretty limited. I would agree iwth checking out their offerings from Rishi--Rishi's stuff is generally decent, ahead of most of what's available prepackaged in tins--but the variety, quality and selection doesn't match the best specialty online retailers.

There were some interesting revelations when my Dad took over the kitchen and started taking on some of Mom's classic cookie recipes. He actually chopped the raisins for oatmeal cookies--and it made quite a difference to have smaller bits spread throughout, no big burnt raisins on the outside, better balance between batter and fruit. He also followed the directions and did not refrigerate the dough for gingersnaps, and they came out higher, rounder, quite different. So many things in the directions we just ignored because we learned from watching Mom make things, and just referred to the directions to verify the quantities of the ingredients.

Welcome to eGullet, and the tea forum, teadrinker. Hope you've got some tea that's more to your liking since that post. I'm currently enjoying a session with some Tie Guan Yin from Norbu, a very tasty straight-up oolong. Sweet, floral, but unflavored/unscented, just delicious C. sinensis. Unless I'm skipping C. sinensis entirely, I pretty much stick to plain teas. I do drink scented/flavored teas on occasion (mostly when my usual teas are not available), and I've tried Earl Greys quite a few times, some fancier and some less expensive brands, and I have never been able to enjoy any of them. I think I must be missing some scent receptor that enables one to experience pleasure from bergamot. But that just means more Earl Grey for the rest of you, right?

Still drinking tea.....lots and lots of it. Today, I started with Honyama sencha from Yuuki-cha, moved on to a mix of some Jin Guan Yin and Tie Guan Yin from Norbu (tail end of one, eeked out to a thermos-full with the other), and this evening enjoyed many infusions from another new green tea from Norbu, his Kai Hua Long Ding, quite delicious and clearly in the Dragonwell style, and then on to Mi Lan Dan Cong, a mellow and quite reasonably priced Wudong oolong that is better than most of the 'commercial' DCs/Phoenix oolongs I've met (not that many yet, but a few that weren't very nice).

Slow to get around to the reply: the amaranth did a lovely job in this recipe. It's easily as good as the bulgur, and should be a nice way to get a little more grain variety into my diet.

Tart dried apricots in dark chocolate

Morning sencha, still the most common start to the tea day (Sayamakaori from Yuuki-cha). But after that, more oolong than anything else.

Today I opened a new package of Organic Miyazaki Haru Bancha by Yuuki-cha. Tastes like newly mown spring grass smells: deeply, richly, grassy. A little sweet, a hint of briney, but not umami, gently herbaceous without being astringent or bitter. A delightful surprise. Several infusions in, starting as suggested at 175°F (about 80°C), still very neat and interesting tea. It is so cool that someone figured out how to use the leftovers to make something as bright and lovely as this.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll forward them to my friend. It's an online group so a gathering to go over them is not so practical. But finding out where the books are, we might be able to help figure out the nearest school/library/culinary resource that would be happy to deal with them.

A friend recently asked a group of us foodies what he should do with his late spouse's collection of cookbooks, including a wide range of recipe collections published and sold for every sort of fundraising, apparently hundreds of them, collected over decades. He doesn't want to send them to languish at the local goodwill, but is there a better option for a large collection of stuff that requires a lot of effort and time to sort for the hidden gems amidst the not-so-great stuff?

Applesauce is wonderful in pancakes, and can be played up with cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves for spiciness. I like to use it with buckwheat, but can easily imagine a version with milder-tasting wheat flour and vanilla to let the apple-ness shine through more. I've also made nice apple-pepper-cheddar bread with applesauce, and sometimes have made it with just the pepper and applesauce, skipping the cheddar, for a fruitier/sweeter bread. And I love to just use applesauce over gingerbread, with or without additional whipped cream or ice cream, to make 'sundaes'.

Today, I've set up some amaranth in the rice cooker as a first experiment, and we'll see how it goes. I know bulgur is precooked, so I assume whatever grain I put in should also be precooked, but especially with barley or oats, am wondering how to get a cracked-equivalent texture to the cooked grain: assuming now that the food processor will risk pureeing a fully cooked soft grain, but it would be pretty awkward to have to cook, dry, then attempt to break up the grain too.

Just in case someone makes the mistake of trying to follow my notes above as a recipe, I need to make a correction--it's 1 part boiling water to 1 part bulgur.

One of my favorite bread recipes from Flatbreads and Flavors is Nane Casoke, or bulgur bread. You take some bulgur, soak it in 2 parts boiling water with a bit of salt and chopped onion for 30 minutes, mix that with flour to make a workable dough, and then roll out thin breads (as thin as you can get given that the bulgur won't flatten too much) and bake directly on stones or bricks in the oven. I bake them to a soft chewy texture, and they're lovely with soups, cheese, even applesauce. Today I'm wondering how they might taste with other grains substituted for the wheat, and that brings up the question: how to prepare another grain to function like the bulgur in this recipe? Would it work to just start with rice or barley or quinoa cooked to 'normal' eating texture, or is there anything else special about bulgur processing that might be important to the final result?

2004 Shen Shan Lao Shu by Haiwan Tea Factory I got a free small sample of this puerh with an order from Jing Tea Shop. It came in a tiny bag that kept slipping to the bottom of my puerh box, so it was overlooked, quite literally, for a long time. I set up a first infusion series this evening without remembering to weigh the small piece of leaves first—d’oh! It was likely between 1 and 2 grams of compressed leaf, set up in a cheap 60mL yixing pot. Water was heated to 205 degrees. I first flash rinsed, then set up my first infusion and….forgot about it, for several minutes. I did sip that one momentarily, but though it had very promising anise and caramel notes, a strong bitterness on top of that made it undrinkable. I managed the next half dozen infusions better. I put a splash of cool water into the cup while preparing a flash infusion of the tea, and the little bit of cool water drops the temperature when I add the tea so that I can drink it straight off, without waiting for it to cool. The liquor is anise-caramel-sweet, with a mild earthy undertone, delicious. Gradually I’m increasing the time for each infusion, up to about 45 seconds now, and while I think I’m going to get another half dozen infusions easily, it’s sad to think of how many I missed due to that first mistakenly long infusion—probably a good 6-8 more infusions were lost. Fortunately, even the small sample should provide 2 or 3 more small sessions like this one.

Just a couple of weeks ago I again had three pressure cookers on the stove at once: one with artichokes, to eat that night; one with winter squash, that needed the longest time at pressure, of all the soup ingredients; one with the rest of the makings of the cauliflower/root vegetable/squash curried soup. I've even managed four, though it's really unusual to have the 22qt pressure canner out at the same time as the little ones. I vote pressure cooker.

Several times in the past year I've wished I watched my father more closely when he made hash. All I can remember was potatoes, leftoever meat, onions and pepper, but I'm sure he never stopped there, even when he was in a hurry....but I have no idea what else went into it. Looking forward to everyone's results.

Tonight, for variety and an early night, I'm enjoying a felicitous combination of mostly gamro leaf, with a bit of mace, cinnamon, saffron, and galangal (should never run out of ginger, dumb me). Even without the ginger, it's very nice. The gamro gives the whole thing enough body that it doesn't taste like spiced cider or mulled wine minus the cider or wine. Other teas lately have included lots of oolongs, deep roasted alternating with light, some Dan Cong occasionally, and a sad experience with a batch of Li An Gua Pian, the first I'd ever had, that seemed off from when I opened it--perhaps because it was one that I waited a long time to open after ordering it, and it sat waiting for me to finish off some other greens before I started with it. I'll definitely give it another chance, but will be more careful about freshness when I get it next time. Has anyone else been drinking tea, or is it all turned to coffee through this odd winter?

I would think you could combine it with unsweetened chocolate to yield an effectively bittersweet version for baking/confections where it would be melted and blended anyway--brownies, cakes, puddings, hot chocolate, chocolate tarts and pies.

Yesterday and this evening, I tried Norbu's 2011 Tsou Ma Fei Ali Shan oolong tea, Greg's fanciest offering of Taiwanese oolong. It is just terrific: even the first 'bulk' brewing in my thermos (I really was impatient to start it ) drew a "wow" from my colleague: "This one is really high class, isn't it?" In the evening, I revisited the tea and took notes. Tsou Ma Fei 2011 Spring Ali Shan Oolong Tea 5 grams of tea in a 100mL gaiwan, with about 75mL water per infusion, water heated to about 205 degrees. The leaves are quite large rolled up, and large and lovely unrolled, deep green with reddish margins. 20": elegant, floral, spicy, sweet--a wonderful starter infusion. 30": spicy sweet dominates the floral a bit in the first sip. There is a hint of astringency in the last few drops, so I will decrease the next infusion time. 20": rich, spicy-sweet, floral and deep. It reminds me very much of the 'white oolong' from Norbu, but they are not quite the same. I will need to do a head-to-head to figure out why there are not. 30": a little more astringency and spiciness, with the sweet lighter--more apparently if I slurp with a lot of inhalation. It's not the grassy astringency of a sencha, but some drying on the tongue, a woody/herby/spicy quality. 20": shortening again, as the unfurling leaf has filled the gaiwan with long, deep green leaves with red tinted edges, so full that I realize its a LOT of leaf, and the shorter infusion is, indeed, very unlike water: a little lighter than the first, but still spicy-sweet in that wonderful Ali Shan way, mmmmm. 25": such a fantastic spicy floral scent--sweet, but not cloying, hints of cinnamon and almonds, and I just want to sniff and sniff. Eventually, a sip proves just as lovely, but more of the spicy flavor is dominant. 40": (last infusion was a little thin) sweet, floral, spiciness receded a bit for mellower feel this time 45": (lost track of time) we're mostly at sweetwater here, but very delicious sweet water with hints of flower and spice. 10 minutes (lost track of time again): spice, warmth, some hay/caramel base but still light, floral notes mostly gone but a little sweetness remaining about 5 minutes: warm, light, sweet with just a little warm depth to it, better than the last one, though thinner, because the sweetness was better balanced about 5 min: warm, sweet, delicious but light. Had at least another 3-4 infusions like this, long, slow, just mild and warmly sweet for the end of the evening Round II: out of curiosity, and because I had an open pouch already of the 'White Oolong' (spring 2011 from Jenai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan), I compared them this evening. I used a little less tea so the leaves wouldn't be pushing up the lids of the gaiwans. 3.5 grams of tea on small gaiwans, about 75 mL per infusion, kettle set to maintain 205 degrees throughout The Tsou Ma Fei has a richer, more floral scent; the White Oolong is sharper. TMF has larger leaves, and the dried leaf balls are a little paler sage color. 15": probably could have been a little longer, and the white oolong is distinctly lighter here too--even with only 15" infusion, the TMF is sweet and though not yet deeply flavored, it has more depth than the lightly sweet and grassy WO. 30": Very similar to the first infusion distinction: both sweet, spicy, but the TMF is definitely richer, deeper, sweeter--a stronger flavor at the base. The WO is delicious, but in a more delicate way, and it shines better when I sip it first, enjoy the lighter tea, then drink up the TMF. 30": Similar distinctions, both very similarly sweet and floral and spicy, but definitely a deeper richer oolong-ness in the TMF, and a grassier, more delicate white-tea-ishness in the WO. I understand better now why Greg calls the WO 'White' 'Oolong'. 30-45": delicious again, such a nice 'comparison', where the teas are each so nice, but so distinct. Several minutes (forgot!): still delicious, and both forgave the long infusion 1 minutes: this time, a little light--although normally this would be a good infusion length at this point in the series, the long prior infusion took a lot out of each of the leaves. Almost 3 minutes: more delicate, but still delicious, floral and sweet both, but distinct 5 minutes: still a difference between them, but both are now floral, sweet, and the astringency and spiciness are mostly gone I think I missed at least two infusions towards the end here, long infusions where I just ignored the gaiwans for a while and then poured and drank. They were also good. A lot of people might have stopped before this point, but the leaves were still yielding an improvement over plain water, so I enjoyed them. And interestingly, the flavors of both lasted to this point about equally well, with the same consistent flavor profile difference maintained to the end.

Surprised to realize the question above never got answered. If I read a post like that and don't have time for an answer right then, I often forget. In case you're still looking for info, I can suggest the Japanese and Chinese green tea & black tea topics here in the coffee & tea forum. For deeper understanding, I'd suggest a book, rather than websites, because most of the really nice websites I know of tend to specialize in one or another type of tea, and The Story of Tea (by Heiss & Heiss) gives a good basic grounding so that you can scout some tea purveyor's sites without getting lost in their particular biases too much. I don't drink much black tea or read a lot about it, so can't help much there.

If there are bits of dough stuck to the towel, they'll dry rock hard and be quite unpleasant if they stick to the next loaf. Not starter-like at all. But if the towel is well floured, there shouldn't be any dough stuck to it. I rinse off my floured towels as well as I can in the sink before putting them in the laundry, and haven't had trouble getting them clean with cold water washing.

Waking up this topic with a question for a friend: "This morning I was making a smoothie with a hachiya persimmon, lactose free kefir, almond milk, and some cinammon. Everything sat there together happily until I applied stick blender. It became liquid for about 10 seconds & then curdled into something very thick & icky. Tasted just a dab & it was horribly tannic. I guess the persimmon wasn't fully ripe even though it was soft all over & the bit I tasted before adding it wasn't tannic. But does tannin lead to curdling? I've done this before but maybe it was with perfectly ripe hachiyas." Anyone know what might have gone on here with the texture of the smoothie?

I had already bought too much teaware recently, and was trying not to buy more when I saw that piece. I think I waited 3 or 4 days, half hoping someone else would buy it, but then justified the purchase by getting a second one as the perfect gift for a tea friend who did some petsitting for me. The deep blue on black is so rich and very hard to capture in a photo, because of the gloss of the glaze. (BTW, he's got a fantastic larger bowl with the Tenmoku/Nuka combination on his Etsy site here that I have been trying not to buy for several months now.)

Some new teawares acquired over the past six months or so.... a summer galaxy glaze guinomi by Tetsuako Nakao a Michael Coffee yunomi with black tenmoku and nuka glaze I inherited this 'yixing' set with a giant (600mL!) dragon teapot I found it among my father's belongings while cleaning out the clutter in his study. the dragon theme is pretty cool. And a 'steel glaze' guinomi by Toshiyuki Suzuki