andiesenji

I tried the Smoking Gun today. Not impressed so far - just surface flavoring and it feels more like a toy than a real kitchen tool. Will give it another try tomorrow but it looks like it will soon be returned from whence it came. Too bad, I had hopes it would work. Maybe I am too fussy but I get better results with my old stovetop Camerons smoker - and at less than half the price now. (I paid $25.00 when I got mine several years ago.)

The combination of cowpeas, rice and pork, and the greens bring money! There is an extensive history on this page of the food timeline you have to scroll down nearly to the bottom of the page. My grandfather's cook was a Gullah woman from South Carolina and she cooked this on New Years eve so it could be served right after midnight. All of the children, except the infants were awakened to have a small dish of it. I know my grandpa and my uncles usually had a tot of bourbon with it.

Check out the ones available at ABE books.com I have the 1936 edition that I got back in the '70s. However there have been at least two reproductions, one in the '50s and the 1977.

While delving into the stuff in my secondary pantry I found a sealed gallon pail of sorghum molasses from my family's farm that was processed in 1994. Peeled off the plastic sleeve, pried open the lid and found the molasses is still in excellent condition, not even a little crystallization. It's in a SS can which is still shiny inside and out. I've transferred the contents to a gallon jug for easier access. I mixed some with butter to put on my biscuits earlier and it tastes as good as the stuff I purchased last fall, maybe better. When I was a child, my grandfather had a cellar that held a lot of wines, some brought from England when he came to America in 1919 and which he managed to hold on to during prohibition. Some of the port was from 1898 - I remember that date because those bottles were brought out on very special occasions - such as VE day and VJ day in 1945.

Lab scale, anyone? I don't know the cost of the Jennings CJ-4000 lab scale I was just given as a gift, but it comes with a 20-year warranty on parts and labour, which has to count for something... it wighs up to 4 kg, is precise to half a gram, and gives either ounces or grams, as you prefer. For me the aggravating factor is the weird-looking-amounts-issue associated with converting volumes to weights (e.g. a cup of unsifted flour is 113 g). You can get a highly accurate jewelers scale like these that have to be very accurate by law. I have one from when I used to make jewelry and use it occasionally to weigh spices - especially ones like saffron and mace.

Hoppin' John western Kentucky style 6 ounces thick smoked bacon cut into 1 inch pieces 1/2 cup diced brown or yellow onion 1 banana pepper seeded and the ribs removed (this is a hot pepper, Anaheim or similar can be substituted - the banana pepper was what my grandmother used) 2 cups black-eyed peas (if very dry, soak overnight and drain first and they swell so it will be more volume than 2 cups) If you have the "fresh-frozen" peas, skip this. 1 cup of medium grain rice scant teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 pint of water or more if needed. In a heavy dutch oven cook the bacon, onion and pepper until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is close to crisp. Add the next five ingredients and stir so most are coated with some of the fat. Add the water so it covers the rice and beans, bring to a boil briefly, reduce heat so it is barely simmering, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Check to see if the beans are tender and the rice is done. If not, add boiling water and cook longer. Serve on a bed of cooked greens, we prefer beet greens but chard, kale, mustard are also good. If you don't like it so spicy, omit the red pepper flakes and you can substitute bell pepper for the banana pepper. We always stirred a shiny new dime into the dish just before it went to the table. Whoever got the dime was supposed to have a very good year.

It's cheaper at Amazon: Polder 898-90 I've got the black one. So far mine has beeped until I turn it off.

I heartily concur with your opinion of this timer. I have two, as well as the combo thermometer timer(pictured in an earlier post in this thread) and sometimes have all three timing various things at the same time. I also have a timer that is part of a wall clock that someone gave me a few years ago and that also comes into play and it has one of the longest and loudest ringers I have ever found on a mechanical timer (30 seconds).

My little meat grinder came with extruders in star shape and a ribbon shape so I use those as my cheese straw recipe is also too stiff for cookie presses.

I baked, and baked, etc., I made "sugarplums" but not everything was photographed. I made two types of oatmeal cookies, corn flake cookies, Toll House cookies, coconut haystacks (vanilla and cocoa) and cranberry toffee cookies. Today I have nothing to do until it is time to leave for dinner (invited to neighbor's home). Cookie line up: Cocoa/pecan/mint Vanilla Pecan crinkles Caramel Pecan Cocoa Almond Cocoa P-nut butter chip Ginger Toffee meltaways Sugarplums- Apricot/Almond/Ginger w/Black pepper

I have a book I think You'll love. The Ultimate Rice Cooker by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. Great book. I second the motion! It is a great book and worth every penny. (Ditto her slow cooker and microwave books but the rice cooker book is the gem in the crown.)

Lovely photos Chris. In case you don't get a Thermapen from Santa, I can recommend Thermoworks' more affordable probe thermometer, the new waterproof and dishwasher proof RT600C. $24.00. I've had one for a while and have put it through the dishwasher (I just have to know it works as advertised) and it has been dropped (flung across the kitchen when I grabbed a towel on which it was resting) and it is certainly as accurate as my Thermapen and has as rapid a response. The very tip is sensitive so you can check the temp of thin slices of whatever and it makes a smaller hole in baked goods. The cover has a pocket clip. It is second from the left in this photo. Note that it also has a handy loop at the top which allows it to be hung on a string from a cabinet knob (my cabinets don't have handles so it is hung from a thumbtack on the inside) to make it easier to test several things that are cooling on the counter. I've also hung it from a hook over my stovetop when repeatedly testing something on a burner.

I've mentioned my friends who have a very similar kitchen, including the built-in hoppers and also had the problem with the sticking cap. He attached a metal bar-type drawer pull by drilling two holes into the cap (and using the shorter screws made for metal cabinets) and it is much easier to grasp and turn than the cap itself. As I recall, he epoxied a flat metal plate on the inside of the cap to assure greater stability.

When considering a tea to combine with foods, don't forget about lapsang souchong. I brew it quite strong and mix with quince or fig jam and cook it a bit to reduce the moisture and get it back to the thick jam consistency. It is also wonderful for infusing dried cherries as well as plums and prunes, peaches, etc. The smoky flavor of the jam is absolutely wonderful with strong cheeses.

For spaetzle I use my trusty ACME "safety" grater However when I have been unable to find the darn thing, which tends to hide, even when hung in plain sight, I have used one of my cooling racks that has almost the same size grid. I do have a dedicated spaetzle cutter but it only holds about half a cup of dough and is too slow for me and messy and difficult to clean.

They will spread more if you substitute butter for some of the lard. They will also not remain crisp for very long.

Unless the seams are breached in some way, in which case the contents will be discolored, usually a grainy gray (I've opened cans with dents along the seams, just to see what has transpired inside) there is not much that can contaminate anything that has been cooked at such a high temp as to render it sterile. I don't recommend that anyone use anything that would cause them worry. I wouldn't feed anything like this to an infant or toddler or a very elderly person with questionable health. I just noted what I have done with this one item that in my experience has a much longer shelf life than the company indicates. Their current advice is two years shelf life. It used to be 5 years - and the process has not changed. There is the fact that they make more money when people throw out and replace cans that are still perfectly good.

Andiesenji - Thanks for the tip. What setting do you use when you want to use the cooker as a steamer? I use the regular rice setting. I put about half an inch of water in the pan which in my 10 cup gives me 15 minutes of steam. Some things require less time so I just open the pot and check on how it is - with filled dumplings, etc., I use a probe thermometer to make sure the center has reached at least 165 degrees. For artichokes or potatoes, I use a skewer to see if it penetrates easily, indicating they are done. I had to do a bit of experimenting but I have been cooking with steam for a long, long time so had a pretty good idea of how much time was needed.

In my opinion it should still be good. The stuff is processed so it is practically indestructible. I've been using cans from a case I purchased when I was catering and there are no dates on the case or the cans and I'm sure I purchased it in the mid '90s. I was in the Army in the late '50s and we were from time to time fed stuff that had been canned during WWII and had no ill effects. When I pulled KP duty, I saw cans (the giant ones) of sweetened condensed milk from the early '40s and it was used in pies, cakes, ice cream and whatever else the cooks could think of. There was also evaporated milk from the same era. Today the canning process is much more efficient so as long as the can is not damaged, particularly around the seams, I wouldn't worry about it. The foods that are chancy are high acid because of the action of acid on the cans themselves. I volunteer at a shelter and we get donations of canned foods that are long past the "best by" dates and we use them as long as the contents appear okay, no bubbles, no fizz when the can is opened and if the vacuum is intact.

One you get the Zo and begin playing with it, you will wonder why you waited so long. I don't think that model comes with a steaming plate but you can get one of the collapsible ones with little feet that hold the food out of the water and it works great as a steamer, and you can line the steamer with parchment for things such as potstickers etc. I steam artichokes in my rice cooker and they turn out perfect every time.

Vons has lemons for 69¢ EACH! Ridiculous. I also got some enormous navel oranges at Vallarta. Perfect for candying the peel - they have the thicker skin that is necessary for this use. After removing the peel with my "trick" process, I am going to freeze the oranges whole then thaw them and put them through the juicer. I have been told that this will yield more juice and I am going to try my hand at making orange wine. A recipe from the Jane Austen era.

I have the "scraper" type flat beaters for creaming butter and sugar and mixing cake and cookie batter. Absolutely no need to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl.

I thought I had mentioned this in a post on this forum but can't locate it so here it is. I saw this on a local TV news show and the cook/chef raved about it so much that I just had to order one. Whisk-A-Bowl I am very glad I did as it does a terrific job on egg whites and I have been beating a lot lately (made a schaum torte that takes a dozen egg whites) and having this work more rapidly than the standard wire whisk is a great help. I have the 6-qt 'Pro' bowl lift but also got one for my old 5-qt, for which I have the copper liner. I'm really impressed with the way this works. It also whips heavy cream extremely rapidly, and in a third less time than usual. (also at lower speeds than is needed with the regular whisk.)

If you are in the greater Los Angeles area, look for a Vallarta Supermarket for any produce. It is the only place I buy citrus because the quality is excellent and the prices are better than any other place in my city. They have the Mexican (Key) limes most of the time and they also have "sweet" limes which are actually Meyer lemons or as near as makes little difference. They have multiple varieties of bananas and the best prices on mangos and papayas as you can find anywhere. I buy loads of these fruits when I am going to be drying fruits or candying peel. Link for locations One of my friends lives in Escondido and was thrilled when the store opened near to her home. She grows her own citrus but has become addicted to the tortillas.

Back in March I wrote about my opinions and they have not changed. Friends of mine who are vegans are trying to cope with a diagnosis of high cholesterol. They are both very thin (too thin in my eyes) but one guy has very high cholesterol and the other is normal, and they have essentially the same diet. The guy with the high cholesterol says his mom (86) also has high cholesterol and refuses to take medication for it. I am firmly convinced that it is genetics and some of the studies that were done early on were, in my opinion, somewhat skewed. They were not exactly "pure" research, they were paid for by drug companies - guess what? The same drug companies who sell the drugs for lowering cholesterol. As Darienne wrote, there is no guarantee that lowering cholesterol is going to equate to a longer life (just one that seems longer.....) I'll be 72 in March. I'm a diabetic but it is in good control. I'm obese but slowly losing weight with no backsliding in more than two years. I can't take any of the drugs for high triglycerides or for cholesterol so it is a good thing mine is normal. I wouldn't take them anyway. My diet is high in supposedly cholesterol laden foods but as most in my family consumed the same diet and lived to great ages, I'm not going to tinker at this time.