Smithy

Just to make it clear, the tagine is intended for stovetop cooking, as Andie demonstrated, not for oven cooking. I'm sure it can work in the oven, but that conical top is useless then: it can't act in its intended rôle as a cooling tower, and it takes up a huge amount of space in the oven. The more I work with my tagine, the more versatile and forgiving I find it to be. I'm getting bolder about adding liquids at the right stage. I must confess that the other night I heard a POP and thought, "uh-oh, I overdid it". However, I couldn't find any cracks, and as the cooking continued without leaks or sudden spurts from the bottom of the pan, I began to wonder just what I'd really heard. The next day I discovered the remains of the ceramic picture frame that had fallen from the mantle onto the hearth, no doubt helped by the cats. It must have seemed like a very satisfying crash to them.

Yeah, but after you got over the surprise, didn't they taste good?

Based on your description, those might have been Blenheims I grew up with. Does that sound right for the San Joaquin Valley? I remember melting dripping golden fruits, juice running down my arms, almost too rich and sweet to eat more than one. If you were careful, you could split one open in your hands just by pulling gently. They didn't seem small to me, but I dimly recall being surprised at the size of apricots in the store a few years ago, so maybe they were small by today's standards. They were backyard pets, not commercially grown. I don't know my apricots very well, but I sure remember those, whatever they were. You're right about cherries. They travel well and can be gotten in good condition from grocery stores. The oddballs - sweet dark cherries, and tart pie cherries - are available here if someone makes a run to Michigan, but in the meantime I gorge on Bings. I have been ecstatic to find really good nectarines, and occasionally great peaches, in the local supermarket at the height of the season. The problem with those is that each variety apparently comes ripe in about a 2-week stretch, and then you're on to the next variety. That's hard for shipping things across country. I've only found one grocer in Duluth who gets it right. Whether that's thanks to the purchaser or the distributor is another question, but they get a lot of my money in the summer.

Hmm. I'm having a lot of fun comparing my Le Creuset French oven (not Dutch, of course, because it's LC and oval, but that's just nitpicking ) and my Moroccan tagine and various Egyptian clay pots that I've acquired. I think the clay coddles the food somehow and gives the dish a special flavor. It certainly helps the meat become tender. I'm not sure I can categorically state that the meat becomes *more* tender with the clay, but I'm also not ready to say it doesn't. I have some experiments in mind. Right now I'm messing with various clay cures and getting ready to post about that. The one thing I am prepared to take a stand on is that you need a pot that's slow to react to heat changes to get the best in your slow cookery. Heavy cast iron, good. Clay, good. I seem to recall being pleasantly surprised at what my Corning Ware did last year, but I haven't repeated the experiment. My beautiful shiny All-Clad braiser, well, it looks good hanging on my wall. If your dutch oven is heavy and retains heat well I think you're most of the way there. Tell you what: I'd be delighted to do a side-by-side comparison, if I can, of some braised dish you especially like, and report back on the results. There are probably some other folks who'd be pleased to join in, some with more experience than I at this sort of thing. Maybe we can get a cook-off going. Got any requests?

ObThreadDrift: yeah, what's up with the apricots? I've given up buying them in grocery stores, ever. I think good ones must still exist, but I haven't even been able to find them at fruit stands. Did someone yank out all the trees and plant a new cultivar - or regraft everything? That seems so unlikely; I've suspected that they're just picked too soon for shipping, but haven't been able to find out.

In central California, around Visalia area, you can get succulent, drip-down-your-chin, juicy, fragrant strawberries from the local farmers. I think it's the Hmong who've opened up new fields, but I might be wrong about which immigrant group to thank. I was amazed to see them still in business late last fall; apparently there are new varieties that can be planted that late in the season and will still come to fruit AND are just as they're supposed to be. They're deep beautiful red through and through. They're bigger than wild strawberries but smaller than the supermarket berries. They are a testament that good berries are alive and well if you live in the right area. I doubt they are unique to Visalia. They still don't travel, and they still don't last more than a few days after they come ripe. I hand-carried a flat or two back, and even the slight jarring that came with my tender loving care squashed a few. Shippers could never put up with that. I enjoyed them immensely. Some years ago the strawberries were particularly fabulous, even for ripe local berries, and my mother paid a fortune to have a flat shipped out to me, over Dad's objections. The shipper was less than careful with the booty. When the berries arrived, some had escaped their baskets and gotten mixed in with the packing peanuts; others had gotten mashed in some airline drop-kick maneuver. The box was stained with berry juice. Still, the surviving berries were wonderful and flavorful. That remains one of my all-time favorite birthday presents, partly for the whimsy, partly for the flavor, but most of all for the love it showed.

I can already see arguments with the equipment. "No, confounditall, I want *blackened* fish!"

Well said, Russ. Thanks for getting up on that soapbox again. This is very well stated. I confess to a bit of hypocrisy on this issue, since a number of items I routinely buy (lemons, for instance) are never in season up here, and I certainly take advantage of produce shipping so I don't have to subsist on potatoes and fruit preserves all the long winter. I draw the line at subquality produce, however, to the extent that I know the difference. (I'm told by a friend in Africa that I've never had a truly ripe banana, so I won't claim to know the difference in every case.)

U.E, if you have the space, I'd advocate freezing the fruits rather than drying them. I don't have a dehydrator, so maybe I'm selling the method short, but I've found I much prefer the berries (blueberries, raspberries, cherries) I froze during the best part of the season to the equivalent in dried form. Well...except possibly for the cherries. Dried tart cherries are a real treat eaten out of hand, and they seem to work better in baked goods than the frozen ones. I'd prefer the frozen ones for a pie, though. For freezing: I wash (gently) the blueberries or raspberries, spread them out on a towel to let them dry somewhat, then spread them on a tray and put that in the freezer. When they're well frozen, I load them into a freezer storage container and they're good to go. I've read many times that you aren't supposed to wash blueberries before freezing them. I disagree. I've tried side by side tastings and found no deterioration in quality between pre- and post-washed berries. In the meantime it's a real pain to wash frozen berries. They keep freezing the wash water and sticking to each other, making it necessary to keep scattering them apart unless you want to thaw them first. That's messy. With cherries I wash, then pit, then freeze all in a muddled mess, not separated at all.

That's good advice. I'll add some encouragement. U.E, I don't know where in the Midwest you are, but I can assure you that wonderful strawberries grow wild in the woods here in Northern Minnesota, and some people cultivate those same berries. I don't know if they're the same as the Alpine berries (my attempt to grow that cultivar failed) but they look much the same. Alpine or no, I can tell you that good strawberries grow up here for a short time. We're almost as far north as you can be in the Midwest while remaining a Yank...so if you're from southern Minnesota, even, or farther south, yes - you should have the climate to grow good strawberries. Talk to your extension agent about the proper soil, sun, planting, etc. Hmm. The cultivar is important. When I go home to central California (inland from chardgirl) and get strawberries from the stand, they're usually a bit smaller than the grocery store strawberry-flavored styrofoam things, which are (I suspect) grown on some equivalent of strawberry steroids. (No, I don't know if there's such a thing, but the idea of berries pumped up like Conan the Barbarian appeals to me.) The locally grown strawberries, when they finally hit their season, are smaller than the farmstand berries of California and considerably smaller than the supermarket variety, but they still never could be mistaken for wild strawberries.

Andie, you've given me something else to look for if I should decide I need a better chinoise. Mine are of the perforated steel ilk. (Somewhere I read that there's a different term for it, but I just grew up knowing it as a China cap.) When I need better filtration I resort to cheesecloth. I saw one of the wire-mesh variety at Williams-Sonoma one time and marveled at its fine gauge. I also wondered how easily damaged or clogged up it would be. The perforated steel liner inside the mesh sounds like a nice 2-stage filtration system that would protect the mesh. Hmm. Has anyone tried the gold coffee filters for this task? Maybe they don't come in large enough sizes.

Yes to most of the recommendations above, by Brad and Sparrowgrass. I haven't been to the Root Beer Lady's cabin so I can't swear by it, but I'd trust the recommendation. The Tower-Soudan mine and the Wolf Center are fascinating. A small correction: Brad, Temperance River State Park is farther north than Highway 1. You might be thinking of Tettagouche State Park, which is on the Baptism River. (Temperance, Baptism, what's the difference? ) Tettagouche's entrance is at the junction of Hwy 1 and Hwy 61. But you're right on both counts: that route is about the longest way to get to Ely (more so than just going to Duluth and up, or going farther to Two Harbors and up) - and it's very pretty.

Very cool, JAZ. I can see just enough of the candles to get an idea of what it must have been like. When you get around to posting in more detail in the Fine Spirits and Cocktails forum, I'll be interested to learn what differences you detected in the three styles of tequila. I'm guessing it was more than just the strength of the flavor. Thank you very much for blogging! It's been an enjoyable week, lit by your fine prose and photos.

Good job, Melissa! I didn't even see the slot until after I'd posted, but I still wouldn't have had any good ideas. (I do still like the visual image of zesting a tree trunk, but somehow I doubted that was it. )

It looks like a zester from the inside, but how would you get the fruit inside without barking your knuckles? Uhm. It's for zesting something stationary, like the bark from some tree or large plant big enough to hold still while you run the zester up and down the trunk. Cinnamon bark, for instance.

I've never owned or had a chance to try one of those Twist 'n' Chop things, but every time I look at it I think, "No way could that work as advertised." I guess you just confirmed my assessment.

Wait...you mean that fancy cookie press lurking back in the bottom cupboard might never get used? Meanwhile...I just have to know what Tupperware came out with other than a slotted spoon?! Photo, please! I like the "coffin" designation. In our household, though, everything's jumbled into a drawer with the useful stuff. Hmm.

I'm not worried about their food safe-ness, but they clog in a heartbeat and then, as noted above, rupture. Stick with cheesecloth, or muslin, or the chinoise. Coffee filters, by the way, work for thin liquids, but in my experience they'll clog easily too, and you can't squeeze them to force the liquid through.

Well, that answers my question about cleaning up the Emile Henry...that is, why you haven't answered my question yet! If the blog is closed before you empty and clean that pot, as I suspect it will be, please post about it on an some other appropriate thread. ETA: anything you can tell us in the remaining time about your classes, past or present, will be welcome.

Ooh, apricot kernel oil sounds wonderful. I'll bet it smells like sweet almonds. Hmm. Match it with a tart, neutral vinegar and a touch of orange juice? I confess, my mind is running away from an apricot oil vinaigrette and right onto drizzling it over chocolate cake, or chocolate brownies, or perhaps a mocha dessert of some sort...or an almond quick bread...mmm. Apricots and coffee. Apricots and chocolate. Apricots and almonds. What could be bad? I've used sunflower seed oil; it's readily available here. However, I can't remember doing anything special with it in terms of a salad dressing. If "virgin" sunflower seed oil is of a distinctly higher quality, I may have to go hunt for it.

How did the texture of the hand-pounded nut butters compare, Andie? I like the Real brand peanut butters - runny, still with chunks, has to be stirred, with a lot of very creamy peanut goo. I'll bet it would take forever to do with a mortar and pestle.

Welcome to eGullet, Sebastian_Ignacio! You, er, wouldn't care to say more about cleaning up melted plastic vs. ash after you burn the boards?

Yeowch!

Some time back I discovered that walnut oil and good balsamic vinegar like each other a lot, almost to the point of magic. If I want a change from my standard olive oil and vinegar combination I generally go that route. Sorry I can't think of which herbs or seasonings I add. Garlic, or shallots, for sure. Dried thyme is a nice addition. I can't remember whether I've liked mustard in that combination, although my olive oil/vinegar dressing generally uses it. Pistachio oil is another nice one, but I haven't found a vinegar that gives it the same "wow" factor as the walnut-and-balsamic combination.

JAZ, remember please to tell us about the cleanup of the EH vs. LC!