andiesenji

Melamine, because of its chemical content and composition, was never suitable for microwave cooking. Brief heating, at low power is okay but even that can cause uneven heating. Not recommended. I had one of the early consumer microwave ovens, the Amana Radarange, purchased in 1967 and there were several things on the "DON'T" list, among them was -use china with metal decoration, -use Melamine, Bakelite or wooden dishes, -use non-heat-resistant glass dishes or blown glass vessels., & etc. Plastics, specifically developed for microwave, were not introduced until the later '70s and they were not always of the best quality and would deform if exposed for too long or the food in them reached too high a temperature. In the early '70s Corning introduced a couple of handy "browning" cookers, one a "grill pan" with a ribbed bottom and a round "roaster that actually had a wire rack for the bottom - and it specified that there had to be a large enough hunk of meat or chicken to control the effect of the microwaves on the metal.

India.

What kept sea gulls, shags, and all the other shore birds - and crabs - from digging it up and having a feast? I have no idea but it was done this way for hundreds of years, possibly thousands.

I've never heard of using foil on gravlax. Before the advent of plastic wrap, one used waxed paper and sealed it with aluminum foil as the outer wrap. Ages ago the fish was salted and buried in sand just at the edge of the tideline so it would be wetted (and thus cooled) twice a day. I have seen fairly old recipes that use wet "white" clay to seal the fish after salting.

Yep, I have a dehydrator. I just prefer to freeze them. The texture is messed up either way compared to fresh and the frozen retain a much closer to fresh flavor than the dried. I don't use a dehydrator for mushrooms. I just put them in a wide, shallow wire basket, or sometimes, if I have a lot, one of the three-tiered hanging baskets, and let them dry at room temp. I've found that they retain more flavor that way and they don't shrink as much. I've had some that after drying, looked exactly like they did when fresh - particularly the smallish portobellos (crimini) and cepes or porcini.

So, you prefer uranium and lead to melamine?

Vintage "Melmac" made in the U.S. is safe to use for serving food. You can't put it in the microwave or heat it in the oven, temps over 70° C will cause it to break down. U.S. manufacturers were: Duraware, Santa Paula, CA, Texas Ware, Dallas, TX, Harmony House (sold at Sears), Hemcoware (Westinghouse), Stetson Melamine, Manitowoc, WI, Boontonware Melmac, Boonton, NJ, and Russell Wright - Northern Plastic Co., Boston, MA. and later by Home Decorators, Inc., Neward, NY. Two of his designs in Melamine received Museum of Modern Art Good Design awards in the early '50s. There were several more smaller manufacturers who produced dinnerware for department stores and for other companies with trade names. Disney commissioned many items, mostly for children's dinnerware. The stuff is very collectible and has become more so during the past couple of years since appearing in some films and TV shows.

This topic prompted me to look for more fruit salad recipes using cucumbers and I found the following one and prepared it for dinner last evening. Apple, Cucumber and Tomato Salad I used two smallish "pickling" cucumbers, prepared exactly as instructed and I have to say the flavor was exceptional. I used only about 1/3 of the jalapeno and that was more than enough for me. I had one Braeburn and one Golden Delicious for the apples and for the tomatoes I used one yellow and one red, both heirlooms, I don't recall the names but they had lots of flavor.

I use buttermilk in recipes that use Dutch process cocoa.

I don't know if anyone ever produced a steam griddle but to achieve the even distribution of heat, there was, for a brief time about thirty years ago, a commercial oil-core griddle/grill on the market. You can still buy the oil-core skillets, I think Saladmaster still makes them and occasionally one of the "vintage" oil-core larger cookers, a low-sided stock pot, will show up on ebay (costly). I saw an oil-core commercial grill/griddle at a trade show soon after I began catering. It was very expensive and I already had the Garland with the big grill but was fascinated by the demo as he showed there were no hot spots or cold spots anywhere on the surface with only a single large gas ring under it. I think they may also have had one heated by electrical coils. The demonstration was done by pouring pancake batter from one end to the other then turning it with two large spatulas to show the color was perfectly even along the entire strip. He also showed other items being cooked on it but I did not stay for the rest of it.

Stumped! Once I thought about it, I just had to know for sure so I phoned the wife of the (now retired) professional handler who escorted us on the trip, and she phoned him (judging some dog shows in Argentina) and got the answer for me. She did not make the trip. The stew is a regional specialty called Aporreadillo made with dried beef called cecina in that region (similar to machaca) and with potatoes - often the potatoes are roasted first. Now that I am reminded of it, I am going to look for a recipe, see if I can source some of the dried beef and make a batch of the stew. Back to cucumbers, I mentioned something about this to another neighbor who said I should get to the farmers market on Thursday. Last week one of the vendors had Dragons Egg cucumbers which are small, white and very sweet - like a near-ripe honeydew melon, reportedly(by the vendor) sweeter than the Poona Kheera, Crystal Apple or the Lemon, all of which he was offering. Frankly I've only heard of the Poona Kheera before. My neighbor bought a couple of the Dragon Egg cukes - said she thought the vendor was "cute" - and plans to drop by again this week. Oy!

I know the name of the stew started with ahbar or something that sounds similar - it was a longer name.

Nice... did you get to try them? Funny that you mention the soup & the popsicle... in Morelia there is a dish they call Gazpacho (very little resemblance to the Spanish dish)... which is very finely chopped Jicama, Cucumber, Pineapple and/or Mango tossed with very finely diced onions, ground piquin chiles, citrus juices, pineapple vinegar & grated fresco cheese. http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=gazpacho+moreliano Sweet, Sour, Salty, Spicy, Pungent, Umami, Colorful I do remember eating that gaspacho - and being surprised at what appeared on the table when I visited Morelia. I do remember making a pig of myself eating corundas for breakfast. Our host prepared a wonderful beef stew and I simply can't recall the name. We also had cucumbers that had been cored and stuffed with cheese, Cotija, I think. I've been to Morelia for dog shows when several of us took our motorhomes all the way to Mexico City, with stops in Guadalajara and Acapulco which also hosted the World Dog Show that year (1984). We stayed in Morelia on the way down and again on the way back because we knew a judge who lived there and had a huge lot where we could park our rigs overnight. We got a tour of the Governor's Palace and I took a lot of pics of the murals. Also toured the cathedral but weren't allowed to take pics inside.

EN, you mentioned in an earlier post about cucumber popsicles and yesterday my neighbor happened to mention that her mother had made several flavors of paletas for a party they had on Saturday and one was cantaloup/cucumber with lime juice and chiles - sweet, cold and hot all in one taste. She also said that her mom makes a cucumber lime cold soup - they have a huge garden - that is also slightly sweet/sour, sometimes combined with watermelon or other melons.

Looking at it from the front, the Waring cord is on the left side centered on the motor housing near the rear, the Viking has the retractable feature which puts the cord up next to the handle. At least with the Waring, a leftie could secure the cord to the back of the unit with duct tape - I've done that with one appliance that was awkward for me to use. (electric carving knife)

I got my Waring at Sam's Club because I had a gift card. I can't recall the exact price but I bought the mixer and a small item for the $50. gift card and some change. There is no price on the box. I think for less than $30.00 it would be a great buy.

I looked at and tried the various mixers, including the Viking digital 9-speed, and chose the Waring not only because it was cheaper, but it felt better in my hand and I really like having the timer. The others I tried were Cuisinart, Kenmore, Dualit, Hamilton-Beach and Morphy Richards, which Sears just began carrying at my local store. I looked at both the 5-speed and 9-speed Vikings and both had gaps where the motor housing meets the front assembly where the handle is anchored, possibly due to being handled by shoppers. I used the Waring this morning to mix some fairly stiff banana-walnut scone dough and it handled it well on speed 3, with no stalling (a complaint I had with the KA).

I still have some very old, much washed, burlap fabric, purchased from a garden center. I bunch it up in the bottom of a large wire basket or fruit box with holes, put down a layer of apples, another layer of burlap, layer of apples - box holds about 4 layers of apples. I store them in a cool place and most varieties will keep well for at least a couple of months. Some will keep longer. This sitehas some good tips. McIntosh apples should keep nicely in storage. In fact they actually get sweeter when stored for a few weeks.

De Buyer = deh booyay but it is rather run together "dehbooyay" on the CD I got when I purchased the mandolin. It is the e sound in debutante. Le Creuset is pronounced so many different ways by so many different people one can be easily confused. A friend from Nice says Leh crew say but another, originally from Lille, pronounces it slightly different. I have heard Grohe pronounced "Growah"

You can get the American Metalcraft one for much less. I've got three that I used to use on my "portable" gas stoves for catering outdoor events. They have to be "seasoned" as you would a steel crepe pan. Mine have been stored hanging on the wall in my storage building for a few years and are looking rather gunky. Oy! I also have a large electric griddle - Broil King, I used when catering. It had the largest surface and most even heat distribution, as well as developed the highest temps of all the electric griddles I tried. I got it at a restaurant supply store but it is now available at Amazon.

Today's edition of Gear Patrol had only one entry, this report on The Oxford Companion to Beer Even though I do not drink, my SiL likes beer and I am ordering this for him as I am sure he would not think of buying it for himself. (I like to get all my holiday gift buying done early!)

I had an old Kitchenaid hand mixer that worked at high speed but low speed not so much and it needed replacing. I recently bought the Waring Pro WHM100W Professional 10- Speed and it has plenty of low-end torque and whips well at high speeds. It seems to have a bit more "ooomph" than the others I was able to try at the store. (seeing how rapidly they changed speeds and got to the highest speed - running with no load, of course. I've used it for whipping egg whites (too small an amount for my 6-qt KA) and for whipping small amounts of cream. Also used it for blending potato soup where I didn't want to liquify everything. They do have it at Amazon and it ships to Canada. Or Waring Canada could help with their store locator.

Thanks for the thought but I still use my 35-year-old Lee's corn cutter/creamer. Works a treat and cleans up easily - and I have some extra blades purchased with it. (Got the cabbage cutter for slaw and sauerkraut too!)

My grandmother used to make a cucumber iced tea and a cucumber drink made with buttermilk. My grandfather had traveled in India back in the 1890s and fancied the latter on very hot days. Many years later, when I "discovered" Indian food, I came across several recipes for these drinks. Also, some cucumbers are quite sweet. Lemon cucumbers, for instance, the long, pale "Armenian" cucumbers (I grew both last years) and one I buy in the middle Eastern market, can't recall the name. I think they can vary as much as the various melon types.

Yes, quite often, because I can never just prepare a recipe exactly as it is written. There are always "tweaks" I want to try and when they turn out nicely, I try to make notes but can seldom duplicate the desired flavor. I have a propensity to "fiddle" with some recipes that don't have the appearance or taste for which I am aiming. As with your experiences, sometimes these are brilliant but sadly, one-off events.