Smithy

One root system, two bulbs or lobes. Typical for a shallot. My question is: is this one shallot or two? Not that it matters, it's all I have today, but I just realized I don't know the answer. I'll never forget the time when I used 3 heads of garlic in a sauce when the recipe called for 3 cloves of garlic! I've come a long way since then, but clearly I don't know everything.

Do you find that fire-roasting is critical to the flavor? I ask because I've had baba ganoush in Egyptian restaurants that was made over a stove and was DELICIOUS. However, my attempt at it earlier this summer, when I went the lazy way and cooked the eggplant in the oven, was a bland disappointment to me. Fortunately my husband still liked it, so it wasn't a total loss.

Here's something I hadn't imagined or expected: a shortage of spices because of a shortage in packaging materials! Washington Post article. I hope this article is included in their free pandemic coverage: A spice boom has left manufacturers scrambling, and packaging materials can’t keep up

@Anna N, I totally agree about Shelby's cookery! I just thought it comical, and hadn't gotten Shelby's joke earlier since I hadn't started the book when I saw her post. I agree that endive was shorthand for obscure (or poncy- love that word although my spell checker doesn't) ingredients. If VH happens to be following along on this topic I'm sure she'll be impressed.

How ironic. Doesn't she say specifically in the opening that if you're looking for things to do with endive you should look in another book? 😄 I'm really enjoying her writing style. Thought I'd done all the grocery shopping for a week or two, but since my Other Half has rationalized the need for Halloween candy there's a trip again today. Which means I can get a cuke for kraut and the ingredients for LGD!

Welcome, @BatchCooker! If you like science and cooking, you've come to a good place. Feel free to wander around the forums, check out what's here and join in the conversations. If you need help finding things, or understanding how to use the forums, feel free to reach out to a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger (PM) or take a look at our Help Files. I especially love German comfort food, and hope to learn a few things from you about it as you post here. What are some comfort food dishes you especially like to make and eat?

Indeed! Thanks for the reminder, Kerry. The Harvest Right and perhaps some other freeze dryers got a lot of attention a few years back. Those topics can be a great resource: Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1) Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 2) Welcome, @Tactical_Pickle!

I compromised and bought the Kindle version. I'm in a position where compact is better anyway, although less satisfying.

FWIW castelvetrano olives don't taste like what you might expect. They're green ripe olives, not green unripe olives unless my memory fails me. (If I'm misremembering, somebody please correct me.)) Very different flavor profile. I'm especially irked because I DO like mint, but neglected to collect any before it froze hard. Our herbs are done for the year, except some very hardy sage and rosemary. Now it's MY turn to damn you all. I don't need more cookbooks either, but will probably be pulling the trigger on this one soon.

Huh. Maybe I'll have to try that cut again. Yours sounds delicious! Thanks for reporting back on it!

It's several months since I baked bread, and yesterday for a variety of reasons I was none too sure there was any baking mojo left in my life. Nonetheless I'd been asked to bring bread for a dinner party. I went with a straight - lean dough no-knead recipe from Peter Reinhart's bread baking course, with some of the last herbs from my garden mixed in. At the last minute I decided to forget the steam and use my cast iron Dutch Oven as the baking vessel, per Jim Lahey. That works a treat for oven spring and color! The crumb was good and open, though I didn't get a shot of that. The bottom was a bit tough, but that may have been their bread knife. Figuring out how to get a good crust without having too tough a base is a project for this winter. Overall, I was pleased. They liked it too...but unfortunately the other host had decided on cheesy biscuits to go with dinner! That was a very carb-heavy meal. 🤣

I had decided that a 3 qt Ultra Instant Pot would be better for the trailer than the 3 qt Duo in there now. Behold, they'd sold out at that price! So I settled for a handheld carpet cleaning gizmo. Nothing else spoke to me.

Yes, I noticed that at some time yesterday the 3 Qt IP Ultra went from $49.99 to "available from these other sources". Must have been one heck of a sale! As for the clones, that's a good question.

That really is a good price, @rotuts, and I find myself sorely tempted. I've written before that I think the Ultra is superior to the Duo. As it happens I have a 3-quart Duo in our trailer, our home-away-from-home. I'm tempted to replace it with the Ultra. I'm thinking about it. The reason I hesitate is that the existing IP doesn't get much use when we're off-grid, and that's more of our travel time every year. Hmm.

I don't have the 3 qt Ultra, but I have the 6 qt Ultra and the 6 qt Duo. I prefer the Ultra and think it's worth a bit more money, but mainly because I like the customization that it allows. Being able to set the temperature (say, for slow cooking) is a huge plus for me. The Ultra has other features - both customization and ergonomics - that I prefer. I wrote in more detail comparing the two IP 6-qt models here. All that said, if the temperature control and "last program memory" aren't important to you, then I'd agree with mgaretz. I can't shed any light on later versions.

OK, here's my next question, which has probably been answered elsewhere: wash the cabbage before shredding, or after? If before, it won't be as thorough although most of the microorganisms are on the outside leaves anyway. If after, that adds a lot of water that must be eliminated or accounted for in the salt weighing. What do y'all do?

That's very clearly written. Thanks! After reading that article, and the comments above, I'm pretty sure I just haven't kept the kraut cool enough while it was fermenting.

I have waded through this entire topic again, and it's time to bump it up with a question: what has gone wrong when sauerkraut it mushy? I ask because last year's batch, and possibly the year's before, tasted more like salty cabbage than kraut (there was a bit of sour to it) but was absolutely limp. We ended up throwing it away. According to my notes I'd used the same proportions of salt by weight as in the earliest years. Is it possible that red cabbage is to blame? I don't think I've kept notes on whether the red cabbage kraut has ever been satisfactory. I have another head staring at me from the refrigerator door this year. I need to decide whether to try to kraut it or do something else entirely. If it isn't a difference between red and green cabbage, then where else should I look for that lack of crispness?

More about the cake, please. Got a recipe? I can understand your husband's pique, even as I applaud your swapping-choices.

@Franci, that is an astonishing fish head in the top part of the photo. Do you know what sort of fish it came from?

@shain, your food always looks delicious. I am especially intrigued by this one... ...in large part because I grew up loathing lima beans and I still have a knee-jerk reaction against them. I disliked pretty much all dried beans (pinto, black-eyed peas, kidney, and so on) as a child, but limas held a special spot of revulsion due to their mealy texture and lack of flavor. I think, however, that's the fault of the way we got them (frozen box, in a grocery store) and the way my dear mother cooked them. <Okay, rant over.> Your lima beans in the picture above look nothing like what I think of, and I'll bet they're good. What is the dressing on that salad? I'd like to try something like that.

All this talk of carrots and peelers reminds me of a carrot "steak" salad made by slicing planks of carrot, wrapping them into a disk, browned in butter and topped with sauce. I saw it, and got the recipe, in a class almost (gulp) a year ago now, and you can see how it looked here. My take on it, once I got around to actually trying it, wasn't as impressive looking, but it was still fun. There are a couple of pictures about halfway down this rather windy post. I'd forgotten all about this approach. Now that I remember, I may try it again. Here were my intermediate stages:

You're saying this was all gluten-free? Even the biscuits? And they were worthy? If so, wow! What a great find!

@Kim Shook, my best friend was about to despair of her IP for similar reasons. The thing just didn't seem to come up to proper temperature, considering how quickly it came up and how uncooked everything was. (It had been reliable before, as yours has until recently.) She took it apart and cleaned every nook cranny, valve and gasket, using Q-tips where necessary. She discovered that the PLUG wasn't fitting securely into the body of the machine. When she cleaned out the recesses where the plug prongs snap in, the IP went back to working normally! I was surprised at this result, since it seems like the IP would either be getting juice or it wouldn't - but that's what she found. I suggest giving it a try.

Makes me think you should grow your own. How difficult can it be? (No, I don't do it.)