andiesenji
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Posts posted by andiesenji
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I particularly like the Sessa estate Assam.
Tea Time is where I purchased it. First I purchased the Assam Teas Sampler and liked the Sessa so much I ordered more.
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I'm wondering if the automatic stirrers I've been seeing on TV will be another dumbest item. I just don't see them working well, if at all.
I have two of the Stir-Chef stirrers which I have had for several years and I use them all the time for everything from lemon curd to cream soups and some sauces that require constant stirring.
I have a couple of other appliances that incorporate a stirring system (besides my Thermomix).
They are "dumb" if you don't have a use for them, as is anything that costs money and takes up space. A lot of people have and use things that I think are dumb, but that's personal preference.
At one time I bought a vertical broiler at considerable expense and for me it was incredibly dumb purchase because I used it only once and it sat gathering dust for several years before I sold it to someone who really needed it.
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There have been times when every burner on my stovetop was in use, as well as the broilers so I cheated and used my blowtorch to char the skin on peppers.
I just laid them out on an old cast iron griddle set on butcher block counter and used tongs to turn them as I torched them.
Quick and easy -
I have a batch of the foil-lined white paper bags left over from my catering days and I use them to "steam" the peppers but I also use other paper bags, as long as they are not made from recycled material. The paper lunch bags are readily available everywhere and are cheap so I always have some of those on hand also.
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That's a very odd contraption for a number of reasons. The two that strike me at once are that 1) the design is most appropriate for boiling eggs in a rectangular pan, which no one has and 2) in order to set or adjust the time or kill the alarm one must reach directly across the steam from the boiling water, no easy trick without getting a bit of a burn.
It's not necessary to leave the timer on the top while cooking the eggs. It has a flat bottom to sit on a counter. I also don't think the steam would be good for the innards.
I think they made it this way so the timer would always be handy when one was ready to boil eggs.
This was, of course, aimed at the "lowest common denominator" of user who could not be expected to know how to find an egg timer.
And it fits fine in a 3-qt saucepan.
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But...I reiterate...what's the dumbest item in your kitchen?
I had to think about this for some time. I have an extensive collection of "dumb" things in my kitchen (and elsewhere) because I actually collect odd, weird and inherently useless gadgets.
For fun!
I have surveyed the kitchen and have decided that this is my current "dumbest" contender.
I think I used it once to be sure it actually "worked" and since then it has simply been gathering dust as a sort of decoration.
Made by Mastrad, designed by Lüka.
The egg-shaped timer on top is held to the top of the shaft by a very strong magnet. The parts all separate and it can go into the dishwasher. I don't think it was on the market for more than a few months because it was a novelty item. I bought it at Tuesday Morning.
I have to add that when I got up from my desk and my basenji Aston saw this thing, his hackles went up and he began growling. One never knows what goes through the mind of a dog but I think he thought this was some kind of alien animal, reptile or insect. He acts the same way when he sees some of the odd desert critters in the yard.
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A topic was started on Forum Thermomix (mostly UK and Australian) earlier and I thought folks here might be interested.
Apparently Williams-Sonoma has an "exclusive" on Cuisinart's Soup Maker/Blender which is now getting some press here.
It has been on YouTube videos in the UK for a year and there is now some speculation that is will be competition for the Thermomix.
I don't think so, even though it purports to do some of the same tasks but I can't see it doing much dough kneading or etc.
Williams-Sonoma is offering it for #199.95, considerably less than the suggested price of $365.00.
Thermomix Blogger has more information on her blog.
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Some butter would help with making them less healthy and very tasty. I think they look good but butter makes everything better.
Ahh, santo_grace, so right you are. There is 1/3 cup of butter along with 1 egg in the recipe. It helped, but still not enough for Sig Eater
.I use the same recipe but I add a cup of crushed pineapple, well drained, and 1/4 cup less liquid than in the original recipe.
bake for about 5 additional minutes. Internal temp should be 190°F though the probe may have a bit of sticky stuff from the pineapple on it, there should be no unbaked batter.
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I find using a Mortar and Pestle works well, to help brake it down.
That works for me for coarse crushing but I prefer a fine, even distribution and I have the battery powered Graviti mills, so that's what I use.
I also like the idea of a blend of peppers (with or without other spices) but I simply blend my own as I rarely buy pre-ground pepper of any kind.
I have found that most pepper loses the more complex and fruity components within a couple of days of grinding. However, I have to admit that I am rather "picky" about such things and I also know that not everyone can taste the difference. It is entirely personal preference and if one gets a good result with a spice mixture, by all means use it.
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There is a very nice recipe on this page.
I agree that long pepper is good with sweets and it is also very nice with fruit and is heavenly on melons.
I tried some sprinkled over the apples for an apple tart and liked the result.
On another thread I posted that a good way to cut long pepper so it will fit into a mill is to use a pet toenail clipper - I have one just for this purpose (and for clipping long vitamin tablets into halves).
I have found recipes in my Roman cookbooks that specify long pepper as I believe it was more popular in Roman times and through the middle ages.
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I spread extra coarse salt in a dry cast iron skillet with coarsely cracked pepper, heat it to the point that the pepper begins smoking, then toss in a steak and grill it on both sides, sometimes adding a bit more of the salt and pepper chunks while holding the steak out of the pan before it over.
Some of the salt and pepper sticks to the steak, which is fine with me but it is certainly less salt than with regular salting.
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. . . . sometimes people call cavolo nero "Tuscan kale" because they don't want to explain what "cavolo nero" means.
I'm confused about not wanting to explain what it is, which is what I believe is known as 'curly kale' in English... is that something that has sort of coarsely amusing associations for many, like prunes (which the industry has taken to calling 'dried plums'), or..?
A local restaurant that used to have it on the menu as "Braised Tuscan Kale" now has the same dish on the menu as "Braised Dinosaur Kale" - same plant, same dish as Braised Cavolo Nero.
The only difference is that the restaurant, previously only open in the evening for dinner, now opens at 2 p.m. with specials for "families with children" and seniors, all with discounted prices.
I haven't been there lately, but have had the same report from two different friends.
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I buy it at ChefShop.com Good product at a reasonable price.
here's the link.
Sign up for their periodic enewsletter and get an immediate discount.
They also offer free shipping with a minimum purchase, from time to time in these emails, which is when I usually buy stuff.
I get the spicy mustard oil from them and the Argan oil as well as some condiments.
In the "Condiments" section the Skillet Bacon jam, fairly new, is terrific.
Also, they have flat rate shipping up to 12 pounds so I try to buy enough to fill up the 12 pound limit with each order.
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Mine are all the type that have sponge on one side and scrubber on the other. Mine go into the dishwasher every day - I have a couple of these little dishwasher baskets in which I place the sponges and other little things that tend to fly around if not secured.
You can sterilize wet sponges in the microwave but for me this is easier.
I use them until they look a bit tattered.
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I don't care about loaf shape when I am baking bread that is to be used in a dish where the shape is unimportant.
This is a vegetable herb bread that has been cut into chunks and which will shortly be lightly toasted and incorporated into a savory bread pudding.
I also often just cut all the crusts off and square up the bread before slicing if I am going to prepare sandwiches and I turn the crusts into crumbs and freeze them for later use, unless I am also making a dish that requires them.
Otherwise I let the machine go through all the steps up to the point where I would remove the paddle.
Then I pull the dough out of the machine, shape it into a boule or baguette or plop it into a regular loaf pan, let it rise and then bake it. With the 1 1/2 - 2 pound machines you can actually double the recipe size as the dough will not be baked and I have yet to have one that overflowed the pan while rising.
The double size is perfect for the long loaf pans and for the long pullman pans.
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I have a couple of spoon rests that I find very helpful.
I use this one most of the time and it will hold even my largest spoons and all but my largest ladles.
I've also got a double one but do not use it as much and it has smaller bowls and is somewhat lighter in weight.
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Bumping this up as I just removed a baked loaf from my Sunbeam bread machine and I removed the paddle when the count-down timer was at 153.
Here is the way the loaf looks
a photo of the bottom
and a tight close up of the very small hole left by the shaft.
I twisted it a bit as I removed the hot loaf so a very small leaf of crust lifted up but it is still very small compared to the hole made when the paddle is left in while the loaf bakes.
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I found my bookmarked pagee
Thai food with notes about GreaterGalangal and LesserGalangal.
I had it filed with the names run together.
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There are two types of galangal, "greater" and "lesser" and they have significant differences in flavor and aroma.
I use dried galangal but really don't care for the fresh and although I love ginger, I have problems especially with the lesser galangal as it is hotter than ginger and has an underlying "earthy" flavor that I associate with decaying plants and which really turns me off.
The dried root has less heat and has a bit of a musky aroma and flavor but it is not unpleasant.
I have a site bookmarked, if I can find it, that has fairly extensive information about the roots and I will post it, if and when I find it. A cursory search under "galangal" on my computer did not pull it up.
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Heat it in a very low oven and break it apart as soon as you can, then steam it in a steamer lined with parchment paper for 5-10 minutes, depending on how dry it is. Test it by pinching and if it needs a bit more steaming, do so.
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I use a method similar to that Shirley Corriher published in Cookwise
Click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the page Melinda Lee - About Eggs
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I was horrified to see Alton Brown cleaning roasted peppers. After removing most of the skin and seeds, he "washed" it for good measure, sending a good amount of flavor down the sink, as far as I'm concerned. I know there are a few cooks in Mexico who do this but Brown has such a superior attitude about things that it's off putting. \
A few seeds won't hurt you and the brown bits clinging to the pepper are delicious.
I saw that same episode - one of the reasons I have given up on the food channels and stick mostly to PBS.
I never see Mary Ann Esposito or Lidia Bastianich do that, in fact they usually use a paper towel to remove the excess skin and seeds and say that a little left behind is not a concern.
When I still wore contacts, I ruined a pair when I removed them at the end of the day after washing my hands numerous times after handling some very hot peppers.
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Here's a profile of the Towle and Adler forks so you can see how thick the "neck" is on the Adler. It also weighs a lot more than the Towle. I don't polish it as much as I should but I like the slight patina it has developed with long use.
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That Towle is one awesome fork. What do you use it for?
Mashing stuff such as ground meats, cutting fat into flour, beating an egg or two and I use it for cooking when it's handy and one of my "granny" forks isn't to hand.
This is the "Beaded Antique" Continental size, which is larger than the regular which was discontinued some time ago. I think the continental is also going out of style but I love it and it is inexpensive.
If you are interested this vendor still sells it.
I bought two of the 45 piece sets just to be on the safe side at the time they didn't offer the 85 piece set.
Wallace also makes an almost identical design but it is much lighter and thinner.
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I'm with you, Chris.
Several years ago I spent a lot of time looking for a set of stainless flatware that had some "heft" to it and finally found the Towle which you can see on the far right in this photo with a teaspoon.
That fork is 8 1/4 inches.
The two on the left are turn of the last century silverplate (need polishing) by Rogers and I have kept these forks as "utility" pieces for uses you describe. They have very sharp tines.
I also often use the much heftier one next to the Towle fork. It's an odd one from a set of Allen Adler that I've had for forty years or so - I got some extra forks in case some were lost.
The handle just fits perfectly in my hand and the shaft is fairly thick so it doesn't bend with pressure.
Dumbest Item in Your Kitchen
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
I don't watch those infomercials so haven't seen that. I can't see that anything like that would be of much use.
I have tools with rechargeable batteries that are tough, sturdy and strong but have never seen a kitchen appliance with enough battery power.