andiesenji

Purcell Mountain Farms sells the dried treated posole. The white and blue are treated, the others are not.

Beautiful food photos and that is exactly what an in-use kitchen should look like.

Depends on the breed and what they graze on. The idea is to prevent a build up of, err, muck, around the tail because that attracts flies and flies mean maggots. Rufty-tufty mountain sheep on poor pasture have nice firm muck. Namby-pamby lowland sheep on rich grass can suffer from a softer movement. There is a breeder near Bishop, CA that is experimenting with some Karakul fat-tail sheep because the terrain/climate is similar to where they originated. The first time I drove past the place, I was startled by the mounded rumps and long tails and had to stop to take a closer look. I was told their wool is not great but the hides are valued as well as the meat.

I'm with you on this. And there are any number of cookbooks I like to read - currently re-reading for the umpteenth time Murder on the Menu, which is a collection of recipes often mentioned in British mysteries as well as descriptions of the various character types and locations also found in these stories. Published in 1972, for the mystery fan, it is still a good read.

And here I was thinking those with the marks on their backs had been bred. Growing up we had a lot of sheep and when the ram was turned in with the ewes, he wore a harness with a bag of red chalk on his chest. Do they still do that or have they gone high tech in that also?

Over the past forty or so years I have, from time to time, sworn off buying cookbooks only to fall off the wagon when something caught my fancy or I saw a cookbook reviewed or even heard about a single recipe. In the case of buying cookbooks, it is better to "never say never" because nine times out of ten, you will forget your resolution within a few weeks, possibly even days. You may not have purchased a cookbook for months but as soon as you lay down the gauntlet, I can almost guarantee that something will pop up that will tempt you. I speak from experience, much experience over many years. I also keep threatening to lighten the load but it becomes more and more difficult.

I've told Mrs Sheepish to clean it up first. Only joking. She's reading these posts. :-) But in all seriousness, it needs a wipe down before I'm going to reveal it! Hey, there are times, such as after my holiday baking marathon, that mine needs a bulldozer - or the emergency cleaning crew. I like to see photos of kitchens that are lived in and not there just for status display. I know enough people who have amazing kitchens but seldom really use them. Sigh... Some of my ancestors came from Trefeglwys, Nr. Llaniloes, Montgomeryshire - which I can write but have absolutely no idea of how to pronounce - the Davies were from Cardiff, much easier on the tongue...

I've a reputation to defend and try to come with with something new from time to time but I often fall back on old favorites if a party is to include a lot of new people. People who are familiar with my cooking do tend to come up and ask what I've prepared soon after I arrive. I make a variation on tamale pie which is always quickly consumed so I often take a back-up which can quickly be reheated on site. A scalloped potato with thinly sliced ham or Canadian bacon casserole is very popular, as it my pumpkin chili and a mac & cheese with shredded beef (or pork) that is "spiked" with green chiles. I always take along a large container of my homemade sour cream to go along with any somewhat spicy dish.

Right - I think it also has more salt as to me it tastes saltier. The next time I run down to Vallarta, I will buy both and compare the two visually - in photos - as well as the ingredients label.

I've a recipe for Bara Brith (speckled bread) handed down from my maternal great-great grandmother (Arnietha Davies) that, unlike most recipes, uses yeast. I've cut it down from the original, which made seven loaves, to a single loaf and modernized it to where one doesn't need to grate the sugar off a loaf. I'd love to see photos of your kitchen too. I love the photos of the Tamworths. I recently watched a British mystery where a painting that included Tamworths was a critical clue in solving the mystery. Lovely countryside.

I agree that most recipes don't specify enough water. As I am close to a Mexican supermarket, I usually buy the prepared masa "por tortillas" (they also have the prepared masa for tamales). However, if mixing my own dough, I mix it the evening before, if I need to cook them early in the day, store it in a tightly sealed plastic bag in the fridge as it seems to work better for me if it is allow to hydrate for several hours. If I'm cooking them for dinner, I mix the dough in the morning and hold it until ready to form and bake in the afternoon. The dough is slightly sticky and quite pliable, more so than when newly mixed. My neighbor taught me this method and I have less problems with forming and pressing the tortillas. I have the comal quite hot - drops of water should "dance" across the surface before the first tortilla is placed on it. As soon as they are done, I stack them either in a tortilla warmer or on a plate with another plate inverted over the top one. As mentioned above, they need to "rest" (actually steam a bit from residual heat in the stack) before they are pliable enough to use for wrapping enchilada fillings, etc.

I now "cheat" and make the nut butters (that turn out just a bit "grainy") in my Thermomix. For most of my life I used a hand-cranked food mill with the "nut butter" die. The Thermomix does an adequate job but does not render quite as smooth an end result as the 80-year-old Universal food mills. I've tried using a food processor, the results are even more "grainy" than with the Thermomix. The Vita Mix does a slightly better job but only will process 1/2 a cup or so at a time and it is the very devil getting it all out of the bottom of the jar. The Thermomix is better in this category because the blades can be removed and 99% of the nut butter recovered. In this eG topic, I posted photos of two of the old food mills with the "nut butter" dies. These often appear on eBay but you have to watch carefully to make sure the units do include that special die. I wish they offered a similar die for the electric meat grinders - I would certainly use that. Another advantage of the old-fashioned food mill is that it does not heat the nut butter (by friction from blade speed) and produce a "burnt" flavor. The only other electric solution now available that really works well is one of the Indian import paste grinders. I considered getting one a couple of years ago but opted for the more versatile (for my needs) Thermomix, even though it is much more expensive.

I prepare a lot of nut butters. Some nuts seen to have oil that separates more readily and more rapidly and is less easy to recombine - cashews, for instance. The last couple of times I prepared cashew butter, I added a tablespoon of coconut oil for each cup of cashews and whether for this reason, or from some mysterious factor which I can't imagine, the stuff has not separated after more than a month of sitting at room temp in my kitchen (ambient temp this time of the year around 62-65° F.). Usually there would be at least 1/2 inch of oil on top of the stuff in this container. I'm hoping the effect is due to the inclusion of the coconut oil. I'm going to try a batch of sunflower seed butter, which is even worse at separating. If I get the same effect, I will post about the success or failure.

I've always been a big fan of parsnips. Especially important in my slow-roasted winter vegetable medley, but I also cook them on their own, cut into equal-sized pieces, large batons, or sliced on the diagonal or whatever shape you fancy, then oven-braised in (preferably) duck fat until done - the same amount of time as carrots (about an hour at 300° F. In fact, I prefer them combined with carrots in this dish. Cut into "strings" on a Benriner turning cutter, they can be deep fried and tossed with dried cranberries. I tried this recipe from Nigella last fall but added a little more than a heaping teaspoon of grated fresh ginger. It was very good. Edited to correct the oven temp.

Do you plan on injecting the pudding into the "cookies" as one does with doughnut balls or little cream puffs?

For lovers of tableware and ceramics from the mid-twentieth century, the designs of Eva Zeisel are iconic. I have many pieces, including dinnerware, decorative pieces, a tea service, etc. In my opinion the designs she produced are timeless in that they appear as new and fresh today as when they were produced. I have the Harlequin dinnerware by Hallcraft purchased new in 1962, some ten years after it was introduced. She stated her philosophy (and mine also) so well when she told one writer: “Men have no concept of how to design things for the home,” she told a writer. “Women should design the things they use.” I missed this news when it was first published but fortunately noticed it in one of the monthly bulletins I receive: Antiques & Collecting Newsletter I also have a few pieces of the "Fantasy" pattern, received as gifts from people who apparently confused it with the Harlequin pattern. The designs actually do complement each other. Harlequin plates

I've owned cars that cost less than my Sunbeam Mixmaster - so? Good one that. I'm in the same category - and I have owned several vehicles that cost more than the first house I owned. Last summer I gave away an espresso machine that cost much more than the TMX and was not as versatile. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I don't use my Thermomix as much as most of the avid enthusiasts on Forum Thermomix, but I use it enough to make it worthwhile for me to own. If I had to justify the cost I would be unable to show a clearly defined justification but comparing it to the ThermoChef doesn't work for me. I simply have never been able to settle for "second-best" when it comes to things like this. If I can't buy top of the line, I wait until I can, unless that category only includes accessories for which I have no use.

I couldn't point to one particular thing that "killed off" home cooking. I think it goes back much further than 50 years as I believe it began with home refrigeration which allowed the advent of frozen dinners, then "instant" mixes, went a step further and then accelerated with the invention of the microwave oven and so on. I was a young wife fifty years ago and there was already a plethora of quick foods, TV dinners, instant mixes for various things and the refrigerated biscuits in the pop-open cylinders. I couldn't understand the attraction for the latter because I could mix up a batch of biscuit dough and have them in the oven in ten minutes, and still can. The same goes for cornbread, of which I have written extensively in other threads. There are people who still choose to purchase and cook fresh foods on a daily basis but the pace of life in modern, industrialized countries has reached the point that it is very difficult for most. Fifty years ago people were predicting that by this time we would have much more leisure time as automation became more extensive. Instead people are working longer hours (at least here in the U.S.) and seem to have less and less leisure time and are working more years until retirement.

There is a topic about the ThermoChef on Forum Thermomix On page 4 of the topic there is an extensive report about it by Therminator. Lower down on that page is a report by maddy about a demo on a TV show. On page 6 is a report from Belle75 about a demo she had. And from Marie2mil a report after purchasing the machine. There are other notes and then on page 12 a report from stacelee who has the Thermomix, ThermoChef and the Kenwood Cooking Chef. The main objection I would have is that it does not have a reverse function, which I use often so the blades do not cut into the food being cooked.

Your questions are way beyond my ken, but I did catch the 'lead contamination' bit. Three of my crockpots are old and I'd like to know where they stand in this issue. Please. Don't leave us all hanging. Thanks. Here is a link with detailed information about the Rival crock pot recall. I just realized mine was affected. http://www.rivalrecall.com/ That is not a recall for lead content. It is a recall because of electrical problems in the base. Note: it says to keep the liner and lid as only the base will be replaced. I know because I have one (the 5445) and did get the base replaced and the liner is just fine. P.S. If you are going to be cooking sous vide, with the food sealed in packages, you will not have any possibility of lead leaching into the food. The lead and/or cadmium (worse than lead) only leaches out of glazes when exposed to acid content above a certain level. The testing was done with pure acetic acid in concentrations ranging from 30% down to 6% according to one study. That percentage is pretty high. The acid level in a typical meat dish that has tomatoes and possibly wine added, would be around 3% at most. Pure tomatoes would be high enough and there are some other foods - pickles, etc.

Are we really sure that lead was the cause for the recall of these models? click No. Some were recalled because there was a problem with the electrics - poor insulation and/or possibility of direct contact between the wiring and the metal shell. ANY ceramic product MANUFACTURED and sold in the US for food handling use since 1971 will be safe for use and the "Safe Drinking Water and Enforcement Act was further expanded in 1979 and in 1986 to lower the "allowed levels" and also include cautions about the use of lead in crystal goblets and etc., and made more stringent in 1991. Ceramic products made in the US after 1971 are okay. Imported wares were and are a problem and it was the importers who were required to recall these wares. As late as the late 1990s dinnerware imported from other countries was found to be contaminated with harmful amounts of lead that could leach into acid foods. Lead will not leach out of ceramics unless there is acid in the food. Stews that are cooked without wine or another acid will not leach lead or other heavy metals (cadmium). A decades-long study was done at several universities, including UC San Diego, that mostly studied ceramics from Mexico and Central America. The FDA did not begin monitoring lead content until 1971 but there had been studies carried out at various universities since the 1930s (also testing for radioactivity). So, if you have an older Rival Crockpot or other slow cooker that is identified as Made in USA and it is white or "natural" color- beige or ivory, it is highly unlikely it contains any lead. The unglazed terra cotta stuff has never been found to contain lead or cadmium. The lead is in the colored glazes, red, black, blue, green, dark brown, in foreign ceramics made prior to 1997, when controls were tightened significantly.

As you note, the rectangular brazier is perfect for cooking rolled and tied meat items. Italian friends who were once my neighbors when I lived in the Valley had two (the tin-lined ones) in each of which several braciole were braised. As I recall they did eight in each pan and they were cooked first on the stovetop and then covered and finished in the oven.

I've only used black cardamom in savory foods. Perhaps one of the bacon/chocolate combos might be enhanced with it.

I didn't intend to say omit the sage - a bit of sage, used judiciously, should be fine and it combines well with thyme. If you are going to omit the sage, Herbs de Provence is also a possibility - this combination, which includes lavender, is particularly suited to soups or stews that include squash, leeks and onions - as well as the apples. A good way to "measure" the amount of flavor is to stew the Herbs de Provence in a small amount of chicken stock to which you add a little white wine - which helps to extract the flavors. Then, when your soup is about 3/4 cooked, add a little of the flavored stock, then add more if needed until it tastes the way you want. This will prevent the herb flavoring overpowering the other flavors. This herb mixture is a "classic" addition to potato-leek soup.

In case you live in an area where Seville oranges are difficult, if not impossible to find, I just ordered some from The Orange Shop in Florida. I can usually get some from a relative of one of my neighbors - Ojai, CA., but this year his crop was severely reduced because of weather conditions. I need to make enough marmalade and zest syrup to last a year so ordered some from this place, where I know the quality is excellent. (I had already ordered some of the Page oranges which are never available in my area). In any event, this is a good source if anyone is interested.