andiesenji

When I lived in Burbank in the early '60s, the neighbors across the street were elderly ex-pat Brits. Not long after I met them, she invited me for coffee and brought out a loaf- shaped fruitcake that was very dark and very redolent of alcohol. She said this was "HER" fruitcake that was store bought but she had been anointing it with port every month for almost a year. She said her husband did not like the port so he had "HIS" fruitcake that had been periodically moistened with brandy. She said she waited until after the holidays when the fruitcakes went on sale to purchase a few.

I think I am going to make some pork mincemeat and a pork cake, which is sort of a fruit cake.

It's a fortified wine like the Manischewitz concord grape, 11% about the same alcohol as other fortified wines but cheaper. You can use any with a similar alcohol percentage, sherry or port. I used some marsala once because I had an extra bottle and didn't feel like going out to buy more wine. The flavor was not at all evident in the cake.

This thread was started back in 2002, before I was a member. I joined eG in April 2004 and my first post in this thread was in October 2004 on page 2 and I posted a link that is still working to a Black Cake recipe that I had made several times. It is on RecipeSource, which was originally SOAR (The Searchable Online Archive of Recipes) which I first got into via CompuServe (which charged by the minute) and also BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh Users Group) in the latter half of the 1980s, before the "World Wide Web" came into being. In 1988 I prepared 2 of these black cakes for a delegation of physicians and surgeons from Jamaica and Grand Cayman hosted by my employer, an orthopedic surgeon in West Hills, CA. The Marriott where they were staying was unable to provide the cakes so my boss gave me 3 $100. bills and asked me to do my best. I made the "traditional" fluffy white icing and had a friend send me some silver dragees from Las Vegas as they were "illegal" in California. The attendees were surprised that the cakes were even attempted and were very congratulatory. I wasn't there but my boss told me that he too was surprised that they all really liked the cakes, some had seconds. Several of the doctors even came to the office the day before they left, after they learned that I was not an employee of the hotel but of their host. They were surprised that I was white, had never been to Jamaica and this was my first time preparing Black Cake.

I am going to make one and wrap it up till Christmas and then consume it over the next few months. I have other uses for the mixed peel. I will be making some stollen and also panettone, some fruitcake cookies. Mostly for gifting to others. I also ordered 2 pounds of the Crimson raisins and will use some of those and some of the mixed peel in a DUNDEE CAKE (the recipe calls for currents but I omit them), which is another sort-of "fruit cake" that I like and we always had them when I was a child in the 1940s, even during the war years. I will also make my fruited cocoa cake, which is from an old family recipe, for a friend who has done some favors for me and doesn't like regular fruitcake. This is what the Dundee cake looks like, if you are unfamiliar with it. It's a traditional British "tea" cake, which keeps well if wrapped and stored in a cake tin (never in plastic). Not as dense as a fruitcake.

I like homemade ketchup and I often make banana ketchup. I first tasted it 30 years ago when I visited the Philippine market here in Lancaster soon after I moved up here from the "Valley." I was in the store to get a new bottle and I met a woman in the store who said she made it at home. We chatted and I expressed interest in the recipe and she invited me to her home gave me the recipe and even gave me a little jar of her product so I would know the proper taste.

No. The prices at Nuts.com are quite reasonable. I also bought some nuts.

I haven't ordered from them since last year when I ordered some chestnuts and the product had expired in 2012. And they would not take them back or refund me.

I got some glazed mixed peel, some lemon, some orange (diced), some orange strips, and some red cherries. I skipped the pineapple as I already have some dried slices I made and I will steam them which produces a sort of self-glazed result.

That will speed up the maceration process - just like the "instant" marinating of meats with the vac sealer. I did it for a black cake three years ago - the year I had my open heart surgery and wasn't thinking about baking until the last minute. As I recall, it was only 6 days and I repeated the process 3 days after the initial vac process. I used the Kosher "sacramental" red fortified wine.

For those looking to buy GLAZED fruits for fruit cakes, NUTS.COM now carries an excellent product. Far superior to the supermarket stuff. Glazed fruit. For anyone who needs similar baking ingredients in larger quantities, (5 pound minimum for the fruits & et) there is Baking Authority. Their web site is a bit confusing but they do have Live Chat, which is very helpful if one gets lost. Their candied fruits are sourced from The Netherlands - I have not seen any from China, (which I absolutely will not use.) The tutti frutti is the "fruitcake mix" Their WHOLE glacé fruits are sourced from ITALY and they are wonderful! A CAVEAT - Know exactly what you want and stick to it because they carry a lot of very attractive items and one can get a bit carried away. Which is one reason the whole candied fruit is now "out of stock." I used to order from another source but L;epicerie is now defunct.

Sorry. No. I have an excalibur dehydrator. I've had them for decades this is about the 6th one. At one time I had 2 9-tray and one 4-tray all in use at the same time. The Oster will probably work more rapidly, I've just never needed it.

I've certainly enjoyed mine. I no longer have a Costco membership but I have a friend that does and I am tempted to go buy a back up for the one I have.

It really doesn't work on the extra hard aged cheeses. The second cheese, the rock hard parm and aged very hard Asiago and Grana Padano will have to be grated in the Cuisinart, which makes short work of it. I didn't even try the two latter in the Ninja. I didn't want to take a chance on breaking a blade or the jug. The Cotija is like young parm or romano. It can be cut with the knife I used. That knife did not make a dent in the aged parm. I had to use one of the wedge knives with the short broad handle.

Definitely not traditional "scones" which are a light quick bread, similar to souther biscuits, leavened with baking soda or baking powder. Scones are never fried. You description sounds more like hand pies. I make a pie dough using leftover mashed potatoes. I don't have a recipe per se because I just put it together. HOwever there is a very similar recipe HERE. And this can be used for hand pies.

I tried it on hard cotija grating cheese and it worked flawlessly as you can see in the photos. Zipped right through it in a few seconds. Then I tried it was rock hard, really old Parm. It did grate small pieces - as you can see in the second photo but I wouldn't want to force it. I could use this cheese to drive nails!

I haven't tried grating HARD cheese with it. Will do so later today when I am more fully awake. I doubt it will grate softer cheeses. Thanks for mentioning it.

Try it now. I just reset it. Or use this: NINJA

Here are some photos that are a bit better than the ones on the product page. Shows the weight too. And the plug has a little "clip" to fasten it to the cord. Something that should be on ALL appliance cords!

Yes. The one that is in the link.

This is lightweight. I have no problems even with the arthritis in my hands.

Thanks, gfweb. I received it in mid-September before it was listed on Amazon and I spent nearly a month putting it through its paces. I chopped some things that my food processors didn't do such a good job on - jicama for instance. Really dry bread crumbs - went so fast and were so evenly "crumbed" and in some of the blending - I NEVER had to scrape down the sides of the jug, which has been a constant annoyance with my Cuisinart food processors. I think I gave it a pretty good workout. The other reviewers agreed with me almost 100%.

I was thinking about getting another smaller food processor since I killed mine. I still have the big 20 cup but it is just too large for many tasks. Then I was sent this Ninja Ultra Prep Food Processor and Blender to use and write a review. (I get free products to test and have been doing so for several years_ Wow! This is one of the most VERSATILE appliances of this type I have used. It does everything except cook. The way it works is backwards from a regular food processor. In a way it is sort of like the immersion blenders that come with a bowl with small blades similar to a food processor, but this is one on steroids. It's like the inventor took an immersion blender and increased the power, the reach and the versatility about 1000 times. And the size of the jug equates to one of the original Cuisinarts. The 700 Watt POWER SOURCE is on the top and once the task is done, the "POD" is removed and set aside SO THERE IS NO CHANCE OF IT GETTING WET OR MESSY! Easy to keep clean. The cutting blades lift out and are set aside (I put the dirty ones straight into a deep container filled with water) so there is less chance of cutting fingers or hands. The POWER POD is impressive and one has full control, not dependent on switches. One presses directly on the top for the power to start, releasing the pressure stops it. I AM IMPRESSED! I made smoothies, coleslaw, chopped vegetables for soup. Also pizza dough, purees from frozen fruit, pie dough, processed apples, skin and all to make "rustic" apple sauce and cooked some of it down for apple butter. I minced cooked chicken for a paté, along with celery, parsley, onion. I made mayonnaise by putting all the ingredients except the oil into the jug, fitting the lid on and then the Power Pod then flipping up the cover of the pouring spout, pushing down on the top of the Power Pod while drizzling the measured amount of oil through the pouring spout. After measuring out all the ingredients, it took me a minute to make the batch of mayonnaise, and then make a second batch to which I added 4 cloves of garlic to make aioli. This is ideal for someone whose space is limited and needs a food processor and a blender. Cleanup is very easy. For most fruit things it simply rinses clean IMMEDIATELY AFTER USE. I have not put it in the dishwasher and don't intend to as it is so easy to clean. After anything with meat, grease or oil, warm water with a drop of dish detergent put the lid on and make sure the pouring spout is locked down. put the power pod in place and press for 30 seconds. Dump out the soapy water, rinse the three components well. Drain dry. The blades are incredibly sharp. The super processing blade have a pod that locks them away so they are safely stored. I highly recommend this. I think it is amazing and it takes a lot to impress me.

A lot depends on the brewing method. I'm not partial to French press coffee and I have tried dozens of these brewers over the years. For a while in the '80s we had a nurse who was from France. Did not care for the coffee from our Bunn coffee machine, although I bought one of the "premium" coffees and ground the beans fresh. None of the nurses or the doc liked really strong coffee. I would make a small batch for myself as I was always first in, and would have it in a thermos - I liked dark roast and fairly strong. She had her own pour-over set up and used pre-ground Italian Roast - dark and oily - and at least one and a half times the amount of grounds for a usual mug. It may have looked like espresso but it did not have the flavor of espresso. Her family in Nice owned a small hotel and they catered mostly to French and European guests because "Americans and the English" are "too much bother." In particular, they complained that the coffee was too strong, tasted "burnt" and asked for "American coffee" which wasn't going to happen. She said the Germans, the Swedes and the Russians never complained. She said she wouldn't drink coffee in American restaurants because it was just "colored water" and tasteless. She was picky about the water. When she first came to work she brought her own but we had Sparklets water and she used that for her coffee. (I also used it for mine - the rest of the crew didn't care.) So you do have to have good water, filtered - bottled water is a waste, most of it is no better than tap water - in my opinion it's a rip off. I have a Berkey water purifier and all the water I use for coffee, tea, cooking, drinking, goes through it. Pour-over brewers are simple and effective. Many of the automatic brewers are just glorified and more expensive pour-overs. I have a Ninja Coffee Bar (got it free to evaluate a few months before this model was released) And it is actually just a pour-over that is automated and measures from one cup to a full carafe. I do a mug at a time because I can't stand "stale" coffee. I have other brewers that use pods but I only use the refillable pods with my own coffee because the stuff in the pods is overpriced crap. I've gone on too long with this. Good luck! Get some Whole bean French Roast or Italian Roast, grind the beans fresh each time and use a bit more per cup than is usual.

I haven't bought chicken at KFC for many years but in the late '60s and '70s when the kids were still home, they used to include odd shaped pods that contained honey and a lot of people drizzled it on the chicken. I wouldn't eat it that way but the kids loved it. Oddly, they never put honey on the fried chicken I prepared. I would set it out, no takers. I was always fascinated by those pods which had the ends sealed in opposite directions. Always reminded me of an Escher print.