Smithy

That is some fine, fine writing: thought-provoking and funny as well. I particularly love this bit from that article: "After hanging out in your mouth for a minute, though, a lard-fried crust becomes soft and creamy, as voluptuous as a Rubens nude but not as heavy."

That's an interesting point about the pH. You might be able to get some good rise in baked goods with tamarind and a discreet amount of baking soda. (I've not heard of anything like it, but it might be worth playing around a bit.) The tamarind drinks I've had were simply tamarind sweetened to taste with sugar, and the lot diluted with hot or iced water. Both of my cookbooks that talk about tamarind drinks begin with the pulp, instead of the puree, so the proportions of sugar to tamarind might be a bit off. From "Flavors of Egypt from City and Country Kitchens" (Susan Torgerson, 1992, ISBN 977-00-3954-3, possibly out of print): 500g (12 oz) tamarind pulp 8 cups water 450g (1 lb, 2 cups) sugar or to taste Her instructions include a lot of information about how, and how long, to soak and strain the tamarind pulp to get it soft and extract the most flavor from it (I'll post more if anyone wishes) but the final result, according to her, is a heavy syrup that can be used in sweet-and-sour type dishes (think pomegranate molasses) or diluted for drinks. In A Gringo's Guide to Authentic Mexican Cooking, Mad Coyote Joe goes to considerably less fuss with the pulp, but it comes down to the same thing: simmer the pulp until it's soft enough to break up; strain and sweeten it; enjoy. His proportions are: 3 cups boiling water 1/2 pound tamarind pods, shells removed 2/3/ cup sugar Tamarind is a great cold drink, but I enjoy it as a hot beverage as well. Edited to add Amazon link.

Welcome, Joy. You're illustrating by example the difficulty of writing recipes, and the need to have multiple readers. :-) Robert Jueneman, who wrote that post, hasn't been around for a while and may not answer your question. However, I think I can answer a couple of your questions based on this excerpt from his post: I think he's pretty clear that he does not start the dish on the stove top. I also think the second paragraph implies that he meant to say to put butter in the bottom of the pan first. I can't find that bit either, but his parenthetical comment makes me think he intended it. Good luck with getting the rest of your answers...and better still, try it and tell us how it goes!

Host's note: this post and the next three posts were moved from the December Holidays Around the World: What Do You Celebrate, and What Do You Eat? topic; this post responds to a post in that topic. Tamarind puree! Do you like tamarind drinks? I've usually had it cold, but I seem to recall that hot tamarind is wonderfully warming drink - almost but not quite entirely unlike tea. I also like tamarind as part of a chicken glaze. Haven't tried it with shrimp, but I bet it would be good. ...and yes, we have a serious need to clean out our pantry, but it will be a months-long project, not just a couple of weeks' worth.

That's a nice find, Anna. Thanks for the link.

The sugar structures they produced are very cool. If it's a precursor to a Star Trek-style food replicator, well and good. On the other hand, it might lead instead to a Nutri-Matic Machine... Share and Enjoy!

Welcome! Since you've been lurking a while you already know there are a lot of engineers and gear-heads here, as well as more traditional cooks..and bourbon enthusiasts:-). If you have any questions about where to find or post something, feel free to ask a host by the PM system. We're glad to have you here!

I have a flat electric (call it glass, call it ceramic) stovetop at home. The user's manual says not to drag or shake heavy cookware across it, for fear of scratching the surface. As I recall the manual is especially alarming about shaking/scraping heavy and abrasive items like cast iron across the cooktop. I'm sure that a rough surface of sufficient hardness could score that cooktop and make it more subject to breakage. I pick up my pans before shaking them when I'm flipping or sauteeing things. If your daughter or son-in-law are willing to take the same precautions they should have no problem. All that said...if they think it's too much trouble, then you should peddle the excess and keep your lip zipped. :-)

Toliver, you should see if your mother's neighbor would give you a few oranges. Zest from oranges that haven't seen the inside of a packing house is better, and now is the time to find out. Tangerines or minneolas would also give that a nice twist; thanks for the suggestion!

How black is black? I'm thinking of a 'black bottom pie' which has deep, dark chocolate brown at the base. Would something like that do, with whipped cream? Or does it need to be licorice-black?

Shel_B, some advice born of experience: if you find the right size and shape of container in a grocery store, get more than you think you'll ever need ALL IN THE SAME PURCHASE. Glad™, Ziploc ™ and Rubbermaid ™ have all fooled us into thinking we'd found the perfect size and shape of container for a particular purpose, only to change their molds shortly thereafter. So, for instance, we have 4-cup containers, roughly cubical, all with blue lids, all from the same manufacturer, purchased in 2 batches... and the lids are not interchangeable. >:-( Now that I've given you the benefit of my sage advice ;-), pardon me for asking this, but I'm curious: why do you want to store jars within plastic containers? I take it you're storing each jar in its own plastic box? Won't that take up a lot of precious storage space?

David, if that tastes as good as it looks I'd be pleased to be in the same room with it, and it would not stay on the serving plate for long. Would you care to share the recipe?

I don't see the rationale for saying that the dishes must be put into a preheated oven. If they're especially heat-sensitive they should be brought up to temperature along with the oven, to minimize the temperature differential. Hmm.

We hope you'll post pictures of your new kitchen: lots and lots of pictures, complete with discussion of your design choices, followed by exploration of just what you can do with your new setup. :-) Welcome!

That's a shame, but not surprising. How about more of a description? Are the streaks opaque, like they might be very fine bubbles? Are they colored? Are they darker but still clear, like a finely-grained wave pattern going across your ripple pattern? I'm fishing here...just trying to work out whether they might be impurities in the glass as opposed to uneven casting.

Those of you interested in taking the plunge into making your own pasta may be interested in the old eGullet Culinary Institute courses on pasta, here: Pasta Around the Mediterranean Stuffed Pastas - Pansotti, Tortelloni, and Raviolo Stuffed Pastas - Tortelli, Ravioli and Cappellitti I have several books on making my own pasta; I've enrolled in an online course on making pasta; but every now and again I remember that the eGCI can also provide an excellent start - without our having to wait for Franci's new book.

The streaks are a surprise. Care to post a photo? I think the waviness is likely due to varying thickness - not ideal, but no more likely to fracture than the bends at corners and edges. On the other hand if the bottom is uniformly thick (you can check that with liquid) then you're looking at a variation in the index of refraction of that glass, meaning a contaminated or poorly mixed batch. I don't know how likely that is, but if that's the case I wouldn't expect the dish to hold up as well as it should.

Yes, welcome, Matt! Shelby already told you about the coffee/tea section. (Good job, Shelby!) Take some time to explore around; make yourself at home here when your childrearing obligations give you time. There are a lot of enthusiastic modernist cooks, not-so-modernist cooks and downright-primitive cooks around here, and we love swapping ideas. If you need any help figuring out how to post photos or other technical aspects of the forums, don't hesitate to ask a host.

gfweb, that looks wonderful. How do you do your sprouts? I like the sound of orange glaze on them, and I'm in citrus country at the moment.

So: we're on the countdown to the New Year. How did we do? I've had some success with stuffed pasta, but not enough for confidence. I have my own sourdough starter and have made some very good loaves and some passable loaves and some...well, not so good loaves. :-) I haven't graduated to the rosemary/olive oil sourdough loaf that was my year's-end goal, but I blame it on an oven failure (still to be rectified) a month ago. I can't claim total success, but I think I've learned to get a better consistency than I found in my latest purchase of this, my target (latest grocery store purchase of San Luis Sourdough Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread): Mine Theirs How have the rest of you done?

I re-listened recently to a KRCW's Good Food podcast titled Soylent, Cricket Protein Bars, Beef Sashimi. I didn't realize before now that crickets can be (and are) dried and then ground into flour. The method of drying doesn't sound particularly humane - even for insects - but until now I'd always assumed that crickets were to be eaten whole and fried, as I've seen them recently in convenience stores. Still haven't tried them, but a cricket flour might be more palatable to this newbie than whole crickets. Edit: This is probably the very thing of which gfron1 was posting at the same time. :-)

Very impressive, Chris. What differences in texture did you see between the 'confit' peaches and the chamber-vac-compressed peaches? What seasonings did you use on the latter? Did you like the flavor of the 'confit' peaches?

You put on a beautiful spread - wow! Thank you very much for taking the time to show it all and let us enjoy it too!

It's a long time since I've eaten chickweed, but as I recall it has a delicate flavor and texture. Can you get mache?

Mick, it's a shame you never got responses here, but maybe someone else can benefit from your experience. What did you do, where did you go, and how did you like it?