Smithy

Minnesota's spring and summer were so wet and cool that the apple crop is a couple of weeks late, according to the farm reports. However, the local wild apples are starting to come into their own. I've been raiding one of the trees and now have this haul: They're sweet and crisp enough that I think they'll stand up well to baking. The obvious problem with them is processing; they're about the size of cherry tomatoes. Last year I chopped and seeded a bunch and made an excellent relish; when I got tired of seeding I threw the rest in a pot with a little water and, er, I forget what else. I used a food mill to remove the seeds afterward, and the resulting sauce was a very pretty red from the peel. This year I may try roasting some to make that apple sauce. I'm considering single-serving pies or pasties. What else might I do with these? Ideas, anyone?

Very, very cool! You indicate that the orange concentrate may go off before you can use it all. Can you freeze it? Are you considering it only for drinks? It should be a good cooking ingredient also: duck a l'orange, citrus-roasted chicken, drizzled over fruit salad like cointreau. If you're interested in ideas for use of your concentrates, let us know. It may be worth its own topic. :-) Thanks for posting the link to the Modernist Cuisine blog so some of the rest of us can try this too.

I'm not sure that this is the same as typical slash-and-burn, since the intent was to clear undergrowth but leave the trees standing. In the case of acorns, it appears also to have made them easier to find and to have roasted them: pretty efficient provided the fire didn't get out of control. Here's an interesting bibliographic paper: "References on American Indian Use of Fire in Ecosystems" http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/biblio_indianfire.htm . Crop management is one topic discussed.

Here's a link to one such discussion: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/79068-english-toffee/Edit: here is an excellent lesson, with pictures, on making toffee that may be useful; it includes a strategy for keeping the layers together. http://forums.egullet.org/topic/92495-confectionery-101/?p=1292069 This is only one lesson out of a fine eGCI course titled "Confectionery 101".

*bump* My darling bought a 2-gallon crock for me earlier this year, and I made my first batch of sauerkraut in it about 3 weeks ago. The first surprise - it shouldn't have been a surprise, really - is that it's different trying to monitor the kraut in an opaque container. (I know: 'duh' ). I've been peering down past the covering plate, watching and sniffing. Haven't seen a lot of bubbles or scum, and it's smelling pleasantly sour. There never was much funky smell as described by others in this topic. I think we'll be testing it soon.

Logs N Lounges Wood, do keep us posted on this project, please. It's intriguing!

Very cool. Now I can stop feeling guilty about keeping a Bundt pan when I rarely bake cakes.

That looks beautiful, liuzhou. Thank you for that link; the dressing isn't the only thing that looks worth trying in that article.

I can't believe that 1psi (they must mean 'differential' or 'additional' psi, else it's a vacuum oven) would make much difference. The boiling point wouldn't change appreciably. The trapped steam might help prevent food drying out, as rotuts and others noted above.

It's worked for the smells I've had to deal with (olive oil, herbs? cheese?) but I haven't put it to the pickled herring test. Sorry!

Along similar lines as lesliec, I would try sprinkling the surface with salt, adding enough white vinegar to cover the surface and dampen the salt, letting it sit for 10 - 15 minutes, scrubbing, then scraping with a pastry scraper. That's the method I use for cleaning my butcher block and wooden cutting boards; it does a good job of picking up stains except from scorched wood. Edward J, I'd never thought about shellac for this purpose; thanks for your information. Does it affect the surface texture? I imagine shellac as producing a hard, shiny surface like varnish, but I may be confusing the two.

I've been to Bombay House in Provo a few times and loved it. The 'chain' is a family owned and operated set of restaurants from recent immigrants; I think they told me that Papa started the first one and his sons have opened the offshoots. The Provo place was busy but comfortable, with excellent food to my taste. I don't think it was very expensive. I haven't been to their Salt Lake City restaurant, but if you like Indian food I'd recommend checking it out.

This blog has an interesting set of links, with a broad range of viewpoints. Thank you for posting about it!

I agree with FauxPas that it's good information to include. If the scale isn't right to have 2 dishes in the same photo, maybe you could have 2 photos - in different places (upper left from recipe, and facing page, for example) or have the home version inset on a different scale into the restaurant-plated version. We'll be happy to provide ideas that raise the production cost! :-D

What about saffron semifreddo instead? Then you just need a good mixer; a hand mixer would do. It may be that a good strong arm would also do, but I'm not one of those who whip meringues by hand. :-)

Welcome! We have a lot of stubborn people here - amateurs and professionals alike - who will be glad to help you learn. In addition to the helpful topics on technique and recipes, there are topics on wild successes and hilarious failures that are bound to inspire, or console, as the case may be. ;-) Feel free to ask questions about cooking in the forums, and if you have questions about how the forums work, feel free to PM the hosts. We look forward to seeing you in the forums!

Well, fish/meat and veg can be pretty spectacular. If you want something other than that, what about a souffle or a crustless quiche? Does the "strict no carb" mean no dietary fiber either? In that case vegetables are out as well as fruit.

I'll be watching for Northern Spy apples to see what they're like and whether they're available in the Duluth area. Thanks for that comment. My usual pie apple is Granny Smith, purchased from the grocery store, but I'm always in search of even better options: crisp, tart, flavorful. My darling's favorite is the Cortland, which grows pretty well around here. The University of Minnesota released, if that's the right word, its Honeycrisp breed sometime in the last 10 years. For my money its principal benefit seems to be that it's winter hardy; it has nice flavor, but I don't see a reason to seek it out. Last year I became fascinated with all the wild apples growing in my area. It's clear they were planted on old homesteads, but the variety in size and shape is amazing. One tree of the dozens I tried produces fruit roughly the size of cherry tomatoes, but oh, the flavor! I'm eagerly watching that one. It yielded some wonderful relishes and slaws last year.

Dinner report: inspired by liuzhou's link to the green bean salad with mint, I went off on a tangent. The sauce: ~2 cups each of Moroccan mint, Italian parsley and lovage leaves 5 or 6 garlic cloves ~ 2 -3 Tbsp olive oil ~ 2 Tbsp each champagne vinegar and red wine vinegar The liquids are very approximate: enough to balance each other and allow a food processor to chop and blend the dry ingredients into a coarse mixture. This sauce was served on the side so we could test it with both dinner features: (a) green beans and yellow summer squash browned in butter, steamed in a splash of wine and chicken broth until crisp/tender, then finished with cherry tomatoes. (There's the green bean and mint connection. :-D) and (b) leftover leg of lamb, gently rewarmed and served with its juice. To cover my bets I'd also made a simpler oil-and-garlic sauce in case the mint was overpowering; it wasn't. The mint added a gentle piquance; the lovage added an interesting bite; the sauce as a whole enhanced both the beans and the meat; when those ran out we mopped up the remaining sauce with bread. I realize this isn't a mint dish per se, but it used a fair amount with delightful results. I'll be doing it again.

This conversation started because of a Chinese Cookbook (see first post) that included celery as an ingredient in an "Arabic" salad. I guess we still have to wonder, as Nakji did, whether it was artistic license on the part of the author, or whether the use of celery in the Middle East has grown in recent years. So far the firsthand knowledge suggests that it isn't as traditional as a dish chosen to be "representative" would imply. Judging by the links CeeCee listed, perhaps it's becoming more common now - a new tradition in the making? Going to Nicolai's point about the use of celery in Egypt: I'm none too sure it would have registered on me that I was eating celery leaves, if the stalks were omitted. New traditions or old, I'm looking forward to trying some of those recipes.

That is a beautiful photo. Honey mesquite, is it? Are those glazes in the pottery supporting the pods, or some interesting sauces?

Welcome! There are a number of tea lovers participating in these forums. Come join the discussions here, and enjoy the company!

Those look really pretty, mgaretz. Sorry for asking, but have you posted the recipe and/or method before? It looks like a rub on fairly thick chops. Do you have to watch out for the chops being too lean?

I, personally, like being considered a culinary oracle in our kitchen. ;-) Seriously, it sounds like you work it out pretty well, under the circumstances, and remember the most important part: sharing your meals and your love for each other.My darling and I have such radically different cooking styles that we generally just cook solo. He's a minimalist who hates to use more than 1 pot or skillet for a meal; I may have the entire counter covered with prepped foods and resting foods, and it can be downright dangerous to get in my way when I'm whirling through the points of the work triangle. The only downside to our disparate styles is that, while he enjoys the results of my cooking, he refuses to take part in cleaning up what he considers an excessive amount of mess, despite my cleaning as I go. Cleanup has necessarily become my quiet time alone, listening to a book. :-D

Thanks for that link, liuzhou; there are some great ideas there. I have some good, fresh green beans that need to be eaten in the next day or two, and that salad with green beans and mint looks just the ticket.