andiesenji

One of the men in my book club has a service dog that is always with him. He does not appear to be disabled but he is an epileptic and the dog can sense when he is about to have a seizure and can give him enough warning so he can sit down on the floor or ground and put a mouthpiece that he wears on a lanyard around his neck, between his teeth. His companion is a French bulldog and was trained with him and he does look like a lap dog but he has saved him from significant injury - ones while climbing stairs and he could have been seriously injured if he had fallen. I have a friend who is deaf and has a service dog to warn her of sirens while walking on the street and of other alarms, etc. When I was still working, we had a patient, a woman with Parkinson's and at times she would get "stuck" in one position and would just stand in place, rocking back and forth. She got a service dog that will paw her leg or step on her foot when this happens and that interrupts the process that caused her to get into that mode. There are some people who abuse the law but there are not as many as you may think.

To me there is no smoky flavor to the banana leaf-wrapped tamal. They used a combination of lump charcoal (big chunks) they get from a guy up in Bishop who makes the charcoal and it burns hot with practically no smoke. They use seasoned wood with the charcoal when they want to smoke something (usually pigs and goats) and many times they bake bread rolls in there so smoke would not be desirable.

While digging in the pantry this morning I came across a bottle of pumpkin seed oil. I don't recall buying it but it was with some stuff I ordered online last January so I'm sure it's still good - still sealed. I also forgot to list the rice bran oil that I am using for baking and oven-roasting vegetables. And the flaxseed oil that someone convinced me to buy and which I keep forgetting to use. Forgot about ghee - I used to buy it but now make my own from homemade butter. I've got to use up some of these so I don't' have so many choices. Oh yes! I tossed a bottle containing a few ounces of pecan oil because it was totally rancid. Gak! Got an email from The Nibble and when I got to the web site I noted a reference to the Cooking Oil Glossary. There are several pages to wade through but there are good descriptions of each oil listed and suggestions of what to do with them. A fairly comprehensive guide for anyone who has questions.

I have a Senseo which uses coffee pods (like round teabags) and I have been happy with the Dark Roast and with pods I make myself with my Perfect Pod Maker (see post # 67) as I can buy whole beans, roast them to my preference and grind them myself. and recently I was gifted with a Nescafe Dolce Gusto Creativa (post # 90 on same page as the pod maker). It uses coffee capsules. They are rather expensive. The Latte Macchiato in a 12 ounce glass and Cappuccino in a 15 ounce mug- drinks are my favorites; The Dolce Gusto is able to produce a decent espresso because it develops 15 bars of pressure, similar to the Nespresso and the recently introduced CBTL (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf) machine, (compared to the Senseo, Keurig, Tassimo, Bunn MyCafe and the "new" Breville BKC700XL, that was introduced, apparently recalled and now again on the market. I've tried some of the other brewers and I have not found one that functions better to the point that I would buy one. I had one of the superautomatic espresso machines (Saeco Royal Digital Plus) but gave it away earlier this summer (the reason I was given the Dolce Gusto) and even though it was piped in to the water supply, I was never comfortable using it, it took too much fussing and I never developed the art of correct tamping. I have a lot of skills but that is not one of them! I will continue to use the Senseo for my regular coffee and I will use the Dolce Gusto for Latte Macciato, Cappuccino & etc. The capsules for the Dolce Gusto are quite expensive, especially for the milky drinks that require TWO capsules so in a box of 16 capsules you only get 8 drinks. However, a while back I found a seller on eBay that was offering an assortment of 51 boxes for less than half the regular price (they were not selling individual boxes only the total) so I sprung for it and for $205. I got 51 assorted boxes that would have cost $483.48 if purchased via Amazon. I can't imagine why someone else didn't snap this up. There were several inquiries if they would sell portions of the batch. My luck! photo of what's left in the box after shelving a bunch. They are somewhat bulky.

Twenty years ago I used safflower oil for high temp frying. Then I began avoiding high temp frying and did more sauteeing at lower temps. I tried various oils sunflower, canola, corn oil. About ten years ago I got some avocado oil and an oil blend that worked well. Now I mostly use grapeseed oil for cooking/frying, often combined with butter. My butter is homemade. I use a lot of coconut oil in baked goods - where I would usually use butter. I have almond oil, sesame oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, hazelnut oil, tea oil(Republic of Tea) and different grades of olive oil for salads as well s for cooking. I have just a tiny bit of macadamia nut oil in a bottle purchased last April. It's very tasty! I use a lot of it making mayonnaise. I have lard and bacon drippings, duck fat and beef suet in the freezer. I also have a bottle of mustard oil to be used sparingly. Oddly enough, with all these fats, I am using less fat in cooking and baking than I was five years ago.

Just a note about pie baking. I always bake my pies with the pie pan on a sheet pan. I've been doing this since I worked in my mom's bakery back in the mid '50s and it sure saves have to clean gunk off the floor of the oven. There is also no possibility of messing up the pastry rim when removing the pies from the oven.

Interesting... so is that for the initial cooking or just rewarming? That's how they cook them in big batches - that is the ones wrapped in banana leaves. There is usually something else cooking at the same time - they have one of those monster Weber ranch kettles. The regular ones are cooked in a big stockpot on a rack in three or four layers. (They have huge parties and makes hundreds at a time.)

EN, my neighbors cook them on the barbecue - not directly over the coals but in a big roasting pan on the side away from the coals with the BBQ covered. I gave them one of the remote probe thermometers which they stick in one of the tamals and when it reaches 160 they take the roasting pan out and let it sit covered for half an hour or so.

That looks great EN. I have found that supermarket chicken is not the best (even "free-range") for many Mexican dishes that really benefit from something a bit more robust. Fortunately my local Mexican supermarkets (Vallarta) carry guinea fowl and I use them because to me they have more flavor and the meat does not get mushy - it's difficult to explain - the texture is better for the dishes I prepare.

Harking back to my Army days in the late '50s, I recall the Spam hash - potatoes, onions and peppers that seemed to appear on the Saturday menu whenever one particular mess sergeant was on duty. The mess hall was in another building (at the Presidio SF) but if we had our windows open we knew what was on the menu as soon as we got out of bed.

Do you know that you can order (retail) some "regional" Hormel products on line because they are not carried in markets in some localities? A friend who has a B & B and has mostly repeat visitors year after year, orders the Hormel Pork Hocks and Pigs Feet because they are simply not available in any of the markets handy to her location. She has to drive down from the mountains to shop at a really big supermarket and even with the shipping costs, it is cheaper than putting gas in her van for that trip. Hormel on line sales.

Here is good news for all fanciers of old vacuum coffee makers. This company Dayseal.com is now producing replacement gaskets for the old favorites of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Yay! This has long been a problem for collectors of these old treasures. Another company, Silicone Gear.com is offering the gaskets for the "narrow-neck" Silex vacuum brewers. Again, a rousing Hurrah! (I have a bunch of the latter and not all have really good gaskets.) I'm just saying...............

In a technical sense, yes... but compared to the stuff in the cans labled simply "potted meat", Underwood Deviled Ham could almost hang out in the gourmet section. As an interesting (to me anyway) aside, Heston Blumenthal did a fancied-up version of Spam for his "70's Feast". He remembered it being part of his school lunches from that time and wanted to do the gourmet nostalgia thing with it as part of the meal. The recipe is in the Heston's Fantastical Feasts book. It consists of a pork shoulder and Joselito ham base flavored with shallots, garlic, thyme, black truffle juice, brandy, ruby and white port and madeira. Sounds like a tasty, albeit expensive, can of "Spam" to me but I haven't tried it yet. Back at the beginning of the '60s, when I was a new bride, I spent most of a day preparing a recipe from a big, glossy cookbook, titled "Spiced Ham Loaf" only to have my husband, ex Navy Petty Officer, announce, "Honey, you have re-invented Spam!" Needless to say I never made that mistake again.

I have found that the canned chicken at Costco or Sam's Club is good and economical. I've got some Yoder's Amish canned meats (beef, pork sausage, chicken, turkey) - emergency supplies in case of - you know - I live in earthquake country - I can see the San Andreas fault ridge from my deck the closest point to me is 23 miles. The products from Yoder's are very good and I am rather picky. I like Underwood's products - wish they still had the Roast Beef in my local stores as it was not as salty as the others. I do draw the line at this!

If you wrap dry ice in several layers (a minimum of 1/2 inch thick all around) of newspaper - has to be a porous material - a piece that weighs 40 pounds will last for 36 to 48 hours in a closed cooler or in the fridge. I personally did this for years when I traveled in my motorhome with a bunch of dogs and the fridge was not big enough to hold all the food. I planned ahead and has the locations of every ice company that supplied dry ice on my route. I had rubberized, insulated gloves for handling the stuff. This is important!

In the earlier post I noted that I prepare dried shallots, which are excellent keepers, in fact, they keep longer than dried onions or garlic. You don't even have to peel them. I slice them on the mandoline, and dry them in the dehydrator but before I got my first dehydrator, I dried them in my ovens set to the lowest temp, with the door open a few inches to allow for expelled moisture to escape. To use you can grind them or simply rehydrate them - soak them for an hour or so in water, broth, apple cider (the latter my "invention") or anything that takes your fancy. If you prepare a liquid marinade, just plop the dried shallot chips into it and they will rehydrate and flavor the marinade. I checked the note on the container and the last batch consisted of 10 pounds of raw shallots and yielded slightly less than 2 pounds of dried. Like all dried products, the flavor is concentrated and a little goes a long way.

Thanks so much for posting the Central de Abastos Statistics. I can't begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed your blog. I hope you will do another down the road because you have just opened a tiny window on the foods of Mexico and I'm sure I am not alone in wishing to see a larger door thrown open. By the way, I made some amaranth (with kaniwa) griddle cakes today, basically your recipe with a slight tweak because I couldn't find the masa harina until I had already added some self-rising, very fine cornmeal to the porridge. They are very tasty and I'm just eating them plain, no topping.

I tried this similar version a year or so ago and it was pretty much just a bread pudding and was much to sweet for me, even with using the Splenda/sugar baking mix, reducing the volume according to suggestions on the Splenda site. My complaint with this type of dish is that the only crusty bits are on top and I like the flavor of the crusts browned in butter.

In my opinion the number of people who claim to be gluten-intolerant is far in excess of the number of people who actually have celiac disease and other conditions that are truly affected by gluten. I have known people that seem to be able to turn it off an on at will - when it is in their interest to be "GF" they avoid those foods but at other times they don't seem to care. I too remember the "hypoglycemic" epidemic of the late '70s, early '80s. It's not difficult to be tested for these conditions and one should be prior to going off the deep end, so to speak!

I generally add vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, sometimes sherry, as listed in my recipe. I have also flavored it with cardamom, mace and other spices. I like to experiment. Fennel seed, ground, was not so great but star anise (stewed in the milk, not ground) was very nice combined with black pepper and palm sugar instead of regular sugar. If you like a particular flavor, try it.

I've long been a fan of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes and have several of her books. However, I also have 660 Curries by Raghavan Iver and he has included explanations of the various spice mixtures calles massalas and how and why they are used and when to use them. Knowing and understanding the principles behind the use of a particular combination of spices has made preparing these dishes more interesting for me. Fortunately you can look inside this book and see how it is presented and get a better idea if it will work for you. In the search window, type in masala - you can then click on the various names; dhania-jeera, sambhar, balti, bin bhuna hua garam, Kashmiri garam, bangala garam masala etc. While reading that session, I had a notebook at hand, listing all the spices - otherwise I was constantly running to my spice cabinet to see if I had something on hand. After I finished the list, I crossed off all the ones I had on hand, leaving only the ones I needed to add or replace if mine were old.

I did get that. That's why I said for us it would work for a special brunch. We dont plan regular breakfasts that far ahead. We rarely plan them 10 min ahead of when we start cooking them. Its not personal nor an attack on your method. Its clear that it was a marvelous thing for the special occasions you described. I didn't take it personally. I truly thought you had the idea that the pudding and the end result had to be prepared immediately after baking the pudding. My mistake in misreading your reply. I have to prepare these things ahead of time. I live alone and have only myself to cook for most of the time. However, I have a lot of friends who drive up this way, on their way to Las Vegas or Mammoth and further north and like to drop in for a "brief" visit and I like to be able to feed them without a lot of fuss. With a day or so notice, I can produce a very nice breakfast or brunch and if they are on their way home in the evening, I can give them something to tide them over till they get home - with one of the savory type.

That is a wonderful essay on the enormous importance of the agricultural traditions of Mexico. Having grown up in western Kentucky near an ancient (1500 B.C.E.) settlement that had both friendly and occasional hostile relations with the mound people of southern Illinois, I've always been fascinated by this history. It's interesting that the mound builders, who didn't have the advantage of extensive rock quarries, chose to build their mounds (pyramids) with earth but laid them out in the same manner as the cities in Mexico and brought their agricultural skills along with them. There was obviously plenty of two-way importation as freshwater pearls from a species of clam found only in the Mississippi and its tributaries have been found in Aztec burials. Very clever, these ancient peoples - a lot smarter than most modern people credit.

Heidi, you might want to start with Pepper Fool I personally think Rob has the best chile recipes anywhere. Check the list under "Holidays" and under Desserts. Under "Chutney" you will find one of my favorites, "Firecracker Applesauce" I love it with bratwurst or just with pork sausage patties. His "Canning" list for peppers is longer than any others I have found.

I don't think you have yet gotten the idea of how this should work. I prepare the puddings a day or so prior. It works better if the pudding has been chilled at least overnight. The interior is firmer, for one thing. When we did the fund raisers, I had to be on site at six a.m. to set up for an event that began at eight and ran until eleven a.m. All the prep from mixing the pancake batter and prepping the fruit which was going to be applied to the pancake after depositing on the griddle, to baking the puddings was done the day and night before. We served 200 to 300 people at most of these fund-raisers, our record was 540. Some tickets were sold ahead of time to local businesses and we generally expected twice that many walk-ins. I have also, in recent months, prepared these puddings for others who want to prepare a special breakfast for someone. I did two for Mother's Day - one for a husband who has few skills in the kitchen. (He's a pilot.) and another for the teenage children of a woman who lost her husband last year. As I stated in my first post in this thread, this is something that does not require one to be particularly adept in the kitchen. It is far less messy than dipping bread in a drippy liquid and transferring it to a griddle. Folks who have tried it have found it easy. If you don't want to try it, that's your privilege.