andiesenji

In what applications did you use the oranges? I added some to fried rice - used in tagines with chicken and turkey, added some to a batch of onion confit. I used it all up but can't recall what else. I may have put some in with an antipasto platter - I often use preserved lemons wrapped in very thin slices of salami.

Taco Bell is trying out some new menu items at various locations - a few stores only have some of the new offerings. "First Meal" and the "Cantina Bell" menus. The Taco Bell nearest me is not yet offering the breakfast menu and they don't open until 11 a.m.

Every year I am given a huge tin of the "Danish" sugar cookies - found everywhere, Staples always has a tower just inside the door. Considering the amount that I bake, it is truly a "coals to Newcastle" thing. However I hate to waste anything so I bag them and put them in the freezer and use them for crusts for cheesecake, cream pies, etc. You can also use them to thicken "fruit" soups if they don't quite come together and I have even used some to thicken chili when I didn't have any bread crumbs.

There is a Japanese restaurant in Palmdale that nor uses the portable induction burners when cooking sukiyaki at tableside - they began this three or four years ago to get a reduction on their insurance rates. Having "open flames" in the guest area increased the premiums significantly - the female servers wear traditional kimonos and those trailing sleeves were considered dangerous when used with conventional braziers. I had been to the place several times during the past fifteen or so years and commented on the induction burners and got the story. They may well use it for other dishes but I always get the sukiyaki...

I tried a batch with the little sour oranges that grew on trees that died back to the rootstock after a freeze and they turned out quite nice. I also tried a couple of Valencias but they got too mushy. As the sour ones are difficult to get (I have a friend who has a citrus grove near Ojai who has just a few trees that remain after the others were removed) but I've ordered a box of Seville oranges for marmalade and will try salting a couple of them. They have a denser texture than the Valencias or Navels and might well hold up better to the brine. There is also this.

I process large batches of ginger, skin, slice and candy it. I grow a lot of my own so have to wash it well - I have large wire baskets and use a pressure sprayer set on 20% power to wash it outside. I boil water in a very large stockpot (also outside) put the ginger into a round wire basket (crab boiler basket) and dip the ginger into boiling water for about 2 minutes, take it out, take it inside and dump into the sink. I use exfoliating gloves and as I rub off the loosened skin, break off the "fingers" so I have a single corm to slice. I've been using this method for years - I used to blanch it, dipping into cold water after the boiling but found it made no difference. I keep a grapefruit spoon handy, just in case I have the odd piece with skin that resists the abrasion of the gloves. It probably takes me half an hour, at most, to go through 10-12 pounds of ginger.

Since my earlier post, I looked in some of my old cookbooks and they all indicate that after adding the "liquid" to the dry ingredients, you must get the batter into the oven within ten minutes of mixing. Some homemade recipes specify the addition of cornstarch - this doesn't do anything for the action but keeps moisture from affecting the mixture. They generally advise to mix small amounts 1 part baking soda to 2 parts Cream of Tartar, and use it within a week. A cookbook from South Carolina advises that the baking powder mix be prepared fresh each day - probably because of the high humidity in the lowcountry. I have a note I added to one of my baking books many years ago that states. "Homemade baking powder produces odd effects at high altitude. Expect lots of "doming" and uneven rise especially in sheet cakes." Unfortunately I didn't bother to explain this statement.

As you know, I love gadgets and appliances, but while I do have a couple of these things (vintage) at this time in my life I rarely use them. I used them a lot when my family was still intact at home, mainly for breakfast as it saved me having to repeatedly cook as the others got up at different times. I used them for parties and had several for when I was catering. I don't entertain as much as I used to so these only get out once or twice a year. The newer ones I have seen are not as versatile as the old ones that had a temp control - one has two temp controls and two water pans so a meat dish could be kept hotter and another dish less warm. It also depends on the foods you like. Some do not take well to being kept warm - one gets a soggy effect and sometimes things dry out unless the covers are carefully fitted. If you have lots of company and serve things buffet style, then it is a handy thing to have.

You have to get the proportions correct (by weight) and it can be tricky to use and won't always work perfectly. I used to fiddle around with making my own but once I discovered Featherweight Baking Powder, I use that exclusively. It contains no cornstarch, no salt, no aluminum, and is gluten-free. Two years ago I shipped several containers to a friend in Australia because she could not find a comparable product and she distributed the extras to a few friends. If you absolutely are determined to make your own, note that you do have to use it up fairly rapidly unless you can seal it in a container so it is not exposed to the air. If you live in a very dry climate, it will last longer but if it is humid or rains often, it will absorb moisture from the air and will not retain its leavening properties.

I never thought I could get along without a large oven but for the past few years I have done quite well with smaller ones. I have a Sharp Convection Microwave combination oven that serves two purposes and it bakes breads, cakes, etc., as well as broiling, roasting and so on, plus use as a microwave - and it has a larger capacity than most. I posted some photos of it in action in this topic. Panasonic also makes an excellent combination unit. and has slightly more power than the Sharp. I did have a chance to try the Sharp SuperSteam oven but the interior capacity is much less than the combi oven I have and it is a bit more tricky to use and get consistent results. I also have a Cadco convection oven 1440 wats, which has a much larger capacity (takes half-size sheet pans 13"x 17 3/4") than the Breville Smart oven, which in my opinion is a glorified toaster oven - and it draws so much electricity 1800 watts, that you can't operate another appliance on the same circuit - unless you have a 30 amp circuit and most are 15-20 amps. A neighbor has one and had it on the same circuit as her fridge - every time the fridge compressor started while the Breville was toasting, the circuit breaker would trip and nothing else was on that circuit. She tried it on the same circuit as her coffee maker and had the same problem. She had to move it into the next room - laundry - and as long as the washer and dryer are not in use, works just fine. It does work great as a toaster oven, bakes small pizzas, pies, rolls and so on but do check the interior dimensions to see if your baking pans will fit. My neighbor tried to bake a loaf of bread and it rose so much it stuck to the top of the oven.

In yesterday's email from Kitchen Contraptions is this review of Induction Stoves And there is then a link to Joy of an Induction Stove which answers some basic questions.

Thanks so much for the terrific blog, Sheepish - and a very Happy (belated) Birthday to Mrs. Sheepish. Wales and the food of Wales has a great ambassador in you.

It depends on what you mean by "very large." There are usually pressure canners in the 21 and 23 qt size (cast aluminum) on eBay for reasonable buy-it-now prices. I happen to be partial to the All-American brand as they don't need a gasket, (I'm rather hard on gaskets) and have a 30 qt. which works great for the canning I do now. At one time I had the largest (41 qt.) that they make but it is just too difficult for me to work with, in fact the 30 qt. is just about impossible for me to use on the stove top. I have one of the portable burners for a turkey fryer that puts the canner at an easier height for me to use. (I use it out on the deck.) All-American 30 quart on eBay.

If you like hearty soups, do try this one for Ham bean soup. When I make this the traditional way it takes several hours but this is done in less than an hour and is excellent.

I live in the Antelope valley and every food market in this area, including the "Dollar" stores, carry Mexican limes. They are cheaper at the Mexican supermarkets, Vallarta, but the Walmart superstores had a fairly good price (88¢ a bag) last Monday. They are also usually on offer at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sprouts and Fresh and Easy.

I've been using pressure cookers for most of my life and continued to use them in spite of having a big one (21 quart) explode several decades ago but as it was my fault, for filling the thing too full - I wasn't in the kitchen keeping an eye on the pressure regulator, I can't blame the pressure cooker. I had used it for years with no problems. The newer ones without the separate weight "jiggler" are much safer to use. I have 6 qt. and 10 qt. (Fagor) stainless steel and my canning PC is a 30 qt. All American aluminum. I also have an electric pressure cooker Farberware 8 qt., which is no longer marketed but mine works great for stock, soup, stews, beans and etc. A friend has the Fagor multi-cooker and uses it several times a week - she works two jobs and has little time for cooking so it is a necessity.

Oh yes! I got this some twenty years ago and it is in my "not-just-cookbook food books" collection along with the books by M.F.K. Fisher, Elizabeth David, etc. Fun to read and really stimulates the appetite, both for food and for reading about food.

Phone Bella Copper. They will make them to your size specifications. They used to offer the double burner one. I have one that is 10 x 18 It is discolored from being over fairly high heat but will revert to true copper color when polished - I just use half a lemon dipped in salt. The old-fashioned way! and one that is 11 x 18 as well as the smaller square ones. I got the bigger ones so I can use several little pans at the same time, saves me a lot of time.

Looks great to me Kerry.

No. And unless you spill something on them and bake it on, the usual discoloration, that sometimes causes uneven heating in copper pans, does not affect the heat across the diffuser. I've checked heat distribution with my IR thermometer and the areas of discoloration heat the same as the clear color areas. Regarding an aluminum diffuser. My neighbor has a barbecue with a high-output burner that goes out if turned to the low setting. His wife found what he described as a "cruddy" Magnalite roaster at a thrift store and he had the sides cut off and the edges ground down and uses it on that burner to keep things from burning. It modifies the heat enough to allow cooking without burning. The resulting plate is almost 1/4 inch thick and is 11 inches in diameter. I don't think he has checked the heat transfer from edge to edge but has checked how hot it gets when the burner is set on medium. This should work with any cast aluminum pot - often people discard them because they are badly discolored.

My guess would be that a lamb is small enough to sell the entire breast whole, as with veal, but with pork this is not done because the resulting breast would be too big (same with veal breast to cow ribs). The reason's probably practical: the breasts of bigger animals like pigs and cows are broken down into more manageable pieces, the ribs. Both "breost" and "ribb" are solid Old English words used very generally across dialects throughout Middle English as far as I know (used the MED), so I'd be surprised if the reason were dialectical. (Oh boy sorry for the geeked-out overkill there, but sometimes I can't resist, especially when it makes for such great procrastination...) Great blog by the way, really enjoying following along. I love those shots of the countryside, and its a bit of a dream to have a farm like you do. Sometimes there are unique regional terms for certain parts of an animal and some of the terms in my medieval (facsimile) cookbooks are downright incomprehensible without the translations. I'm not a huge fan of lamb, except when I drive up to a favorite Basque restaurant. They roast a stuffed saddle of lamb that is so much tastier than most lamb dishes. They marinate it in a "secret" process before it is stuffed and while roasting is basted with something that leaves a residual flavor reminiscent of pomegranate syrup. They will not divulge any of the "secrets" of preparation. When I was still catering, I ordered a saddle of lamb as requested by a client - it cost $95.00 ordered from a specialty butcher and was very well received and the client was happy. I used essentially the same technique as with a saddle of venison. However you do it, your results are beautiful and certainly look tasty. At one time I had a cookbook, "Traditional Food from Wales" that I lent to someone who promptly lost it some ten years ago. From time to time I've thought about replacing it but until reading your blog, I simply haven't had enough reason. Currently checking availability...

I've got several of the cutting boards from Michigan Maple, purchased from the Knife Merchant. I like them better than the Boos boards - in which a lot of the cost is due to the name. These thicker boards are better if you need to use a cleaver to chop through bones - I put a sheet of the padded drawer liner under them so they don't slip on the counter. I do have butcher block counters but while I routinely cut on them with knives, I don't want to use a cleaver on them.

Beautiful country and your sheep are very handsome. Have you ever tried milking the ewes?

I would also cast a vote for apple butter. Another cake that uses the applesauce "straight" is a stack cake - usually a plain or you can use spice cake baked in thin layers (not regular layers sliced thinly) "filled" with applesauce between the layers. Here's one similar to one I make Grandmother Bennett's Old Fashion Stack Cake My grandmother often used tart rings and baked the cakes on a griddle. She also mixed clabbered cream (sour cream or thick yogurt works) into the apple butter if using that to cut some of the sweetness.

Yet more scaremongering. I posted about this last year and was thoroughly trounced. I can see that it can serve some legitimate purposes by dedicated chefs wanting to produce something new and interesting. My problem with it is that there are a lot of unscrupulous people out in foodland who are willing to use just about anything to squeeze extra $$$ out of consumers and there is no guarantee that the product they are using is pure and uncontaminated with unwanted ingredients. As long as products are honestly labeled with the true ingredients, I can make an informed decision on whether or not to purchase them.