andiesenji

Like many others, I have many pet-related "food disaster" stories, some going back to my childhood. Far too many to relate here, in fact, there might even be enough for a book! I was raised on a farm and we had lots of animal pets, some domestic, some semi-wild but all were forbidden entry to the kitchen, except for my grandpa's dogs, who were invariably well trained and would never touch even the most desirable (and reachable) foods. If only the same could be said of my pets..... There was a screened-in porch between the main kitchen and the "summer" kitchen where there were often pies, cakes, cookies, and etc., placed for cooling. There was some habitual pilfering one summer and I was often accused of being the perpetrator but usually had an ironclad alibi in that I had been in the company of an adult. However, one summer I had found and adopted a pair of orphaned baby racoons a few months earlier and it turned out they had loosened a corner of screening and could get in and out of the porch undectected. Finally, when apple slices had been removed from several pies, one of the kitchen helpers spotted them, sitting on the top of a water butt at the corner of the porch, and washing apple slices in the water. The screening was repaired and strengthened. The cook was not amused. I don't recall what happened to the pies but I doubt they were wasted. The racoons were banished to one of the barns. In the early '70s I had this great dane puppy who learned that the bottom freezer on my fridge had a foot pedal that caused it to pop open. He would shop around in the freezer and remove said item to the back yard where he would share it with the other dogs, another great dane, the elderly chihuahua in the photo and an even older maltese. It was uncanny how he always managed to select the exact item I had planned for a dinner that week, never picking a package of ground round, or a pot roast, but always a rack of lamb, porterhouse steaks or prime rib roasts. I finally bought a separate upright freezer WITH A LOCK and a two-door Kelvinator refrigerator that he could not open. Many years later I had a genius basenji that also learned to open a single fridge door and that finally had to be secured with a velcro strap until I bought a side-by-side which was fine, as long as no one hung a dishtowel on the door handle. She was always alert to any error in judgement by humans - and took advantage. She preferred dairy items and could open the dairy compartment in the door, remove a carton of cottage cheese or sour cream and consume the contents in a very few minutes. She also learned that the dishwasher door make a handy step-stool that allowed easy access to the counter top, so it always had to be latched. And she could open any microwave with a pushbutton latch at will. That's why I liked the early RadarRanges that had a handle. All of my cabinets have "child-safe" latches because of her. (Lived 15+ years.) This is not my basenji in the photo, but she is wearing a jacket because she suffered a severe burn when she tripped her owner who was carrying a pan of turkey gravy and the hot stuff landed on her back. (The kneeling position had nothing to do with the injury, she has done this since a puppy.) Eventually she recovered 100% from the burns. Basenjis have an exceptionally fine sense for dectecting "fall-out" and even those with poor eyesight from cataracts in advanced age, can get to a piece of food falling onto the floor almost before it lands. They can be so deaf they can't hear their name called from four feet away, and yet can hear something being removed from the oven or fridge from two rooms away and materialize underfoot instantly.

jackal10, Have any of these posts answered your question?

I agree with the high heat solution. I was a professional baker early on and learned that ovens made for home use rarely get hot enough to produce a thick, crunchy crust as is desired in "artisan" or "rustic" loaves. In the '70s I had a Garland range installed (which required putting in a larger gas line) and after I moved up here to the desert, I bought a Blodgett stand-alone oven (which again required a larger gas line and considerable alteration to the floor and walls because of the high heat.) It was a convection oven with a large fan in the back and a steam-injection system which also required installation of a water line. I did a lot of baking and as it operated at higher temps and could be set to inject steam for a set time, it produced great artisan or rustic breads for ten years. As I no longer bake much, I sold it to a friend a few months ago. I have not yet decided what kind of built-in oven to put in its place. I have had a Cadco "countertop" half-sheet-pan-size convection oven for a few years and the top temp setting on it is 572 F and it will produce a fairly good crust on an artisan loaf. I sprinkle corn meal on a sheet pan, put the shaped loaf on the meal and let it rise. I bring the oven up to temp, (usually 550 F.) liberally spray the loaf with water, top with seeds, if appropriate, put half a dozen ice cubes on the sheet pan and stick it in the oven. I don't open the oven again until the loaf is done. The action of the steam only affects the loaf for the first minute or so at this temp, allowing it to stretch or "spring" and after that it really has little effect, other than to drop the temperature of the oven.

They will seal but you might have problems with sending anything in them via air. The seal will break if they are exposed to high altitude - and the breaking point is somewhere around 10,000 ft!

I have a friend who now lives in Leeds. She had either a Sumeet or something similar and wasn't happy with it, felt it was underpowered. She returned it and got a Morphy Richards Mixer Grinder that was recommended by one of the teachers at her daughter's school. She loves it. I can check back to find her email to me but I think the model is Icon classic.

Has anyone ever considered using one of these warming trays which maintain foods at serving temp but not high enough to cook them further. I've never tested mine to see the exact temps and I've never used them for poultry or meat dishes (except for platters of chicken wings) but I have kept them full of various types of hot canapes for extended periods. Cocktail meatballs in spicy sauce, etc., etc. (I've also used them for fusing colored foil on paper, melting wax and various other tasks for which they were never intended.) I have several sizes from one with a 6 inch square plate surrounded by a wood frame, all the way up to a "commercial" one that holds a full sheet pan. They all have textured glass tops which are easy to clean.

I used butter. I never use margarine in anything. I do sometimes use Crisco because it works best in a very few cookies but 99% of my cookies are made with butter, cream cheese or a combination. I used unsalted butter and added 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. If using regular table salt I would use half that amount.

It has the same limitations as any stone burr mill, that is, it won't grind some things. I opted for an impact mill because I wanted to be able to grind just about anything, oats, barley and corn, in particular. I have had stone burr mills in the past and glazing of the stones is a problem, cleaning and redressing the stones is a time-consuming chore on which I don't want to waste my time.

I also scan recipes into my computer. A few years ago I bought a high speed scanner because at the time I was historian of a national dog breed club and had 60+ years of stud book registers, pedigrees, photos, articles and interesting correspondence to convert into a permanent record because much was very fragile. It is ideal for recipes, photos of foods, sources and interesting observations about them. Mine are broken down into the normal categories but some are duplicated in files that are identified as: All Time Favorites Favorites of Family & Friends, (sub-identified by which family member or friend like particular recipes) Holiday Standards (recipes that are dredged up every year because people expect them) Must Try soon! (with an entry made in my calendar so I will get a reminder email from ICal a few days ahead of when I want to try it - so I will have time to shop for it) Ethnic favorites and recipes suitable for friends with dietary restrictions. Several sub-divisions under this one. Vegetarian and Vegan favorites of friends who adhere to these. Recipes for large groups that do not require a platoon of helpers to prepare. My "Secret" recipes. My Original recipes and recipes from earlier times that have been resurrected and converted to modern measurements, tested and refined. Very few in this category. I also have Mastercook and Mangia! for many years but with the ease of the search function on Macs, I found it was easier just to keep my own files and folders.

Hi Pat, I made these cookies three years ago and they have become a staple in my holiday arsenal of "best" cookies, the second ones I prepare after my cocoa cookies. They are fat, soft and have lots of flavor. Last year I took a portion of the double batch I prepared and added cinnamon chips and finely chopped pecans, rolled the dough into a log, refrigerated it, took the log to my friend's home and sliced then baked them. Big, Soft, Gingerbread cookies. I can't tell you how well they will keep, I have never been able to keep any long enough to tell. I did roll some out to make cutouts. I used rice flour on the rolling surface, rather than AP flour. I roll the dough and cut directly on a Silpat mat that I then slide onto a sheet pan, after pulling the excess dough away from the cutouts. It keeps the figures from being distorted while moving them. (I'm a wee bit picky about my cutouts being perfect.)

The Russell Hobbs is the most accurate slow cooker that I have, however it is quite expensive. Oddly enough, I have some vintage appliances that maintain much better temperature control than any of the newer ones I have tried. They relied on a combination of rheostats and similar combinations of direct current controls integrated with a thermostat. Anyone who has used one of the old type electric roasters, prior to the introduction of the newer (and cheaper) controls, will understand what I mean. I have deep fryers (Sunbeam) that can double as "deep-well" cookers, i.e., slow cookers, that will maintain the correct temperature exactly. It senses when the temperature drops, as when an addition to a soup or stew or even removing the lid for a time for stirring, etc., and will increase the power just long enough to match the thermostat setting. They have controls that are set by increments of temperature (Fahrenheit) not just "Low, Medium or Hot" which seem to mean different things to different modern manufacturers. The only reason I know this so well is that back in the early '70s, my stepson had to do a project for school and chose something to do with electrical controls. Various appliances were plugged into volt meters (borrowed from his teacher) that indicated how much wattage was used by the appliance at various settings during use. I recall that some of the appliance were the Sunbeam fryer/cooker, a frying pan, a coffeemaker, vacuum type, also Sunbeam, a toaster and a toaster oven. He also tested some electrical tools but I wasn't paying as much attention to that. Mainly I didn't want my appliances damaged. I have a 50-year-old milk pasteurizer that will take the milk temperature to 162 degrees, hold it at that temperature for fifteen minutes and shut itself off and signal with a chime. I have tested the milk with various thermometers, before "instant" ones I used a floating glass thermometer made for this specific task, and never found a problem. I have embraced the digital age with enthusiasm but have found that some of the old, really old, things still work better than some new ones.

For coarsely chopping, I use a large mezaluna on a large cutting board or sometimes on the butcherblock countertop. However, I first soften the fruit - and I do not soak it, I steam it. I have one of the multi-level steamers which do a great job without a lot of mess. Softening the fruit this way makes is a much easier task. For some very tough fruits with significant fibers (some figs, pineapple, mango, etc.) I use a meat grinder with the largest die opening.

You can make vanilla paste. I posted the recipe in the vanilla extract thread several months ago.

Fugu, those items are all new to me. However, they do sound interesting and I would like to know how they might be used.

I have discovered that many of the odd and unusual condiments, fruit-based chutneys and similar items, taste quite nice when bedded on a base of couscous, rice or mixed grains. Of course some of these items may come from opposite sides of the world and I am sure purists will feel faint at some of the combinations, but it is one way to use the various things and I like them. When I mentioned something about pairing a SE Asian condiment with couscous on another thread, there were a couple of less than enthusiastic responses. Oh well.........

Colorado is another name for dried new mexico chiles. ← I was wondering if that was it, however they have dishes on their menu that are made with "New Mexico" chiles. One of the servers told me that they called it Colorado because they layer two types of ground chile in a jar, the ancho is brown-red and the other is bright red and it looks like the walls of the Grand Canyon. I thought he was joking with me, but my friends bought this story, hook, line and sinker. The same server also told us funny stories about their staffing problems during the World Cup finals when they had to send someone to the sports bar down the street to retrieve kitchen staff and servers, so I wasn't too sure his story had any basis in reality.

I'm bringing this topic up again because I came across this interesting and very CLEVER solution to compact knife storage that will fit any size knives. Even better, the design itself is so simple that I believe that many of our handy and DIY-talented members can adapt this to a homemade unit, since they simply consist of boxs filled with bamboo skewers, just snugly enough to allow for blades to be inserted. Egads! This could solve all kinds of storage problems of odd-shaped and somewhat wierd kitchen tools. I can picture one holding a cheese plane (which always manages to become entangled in other things when stored in a drawer) or a larding needle, etc. I could use one just for my icing spatulas. One need not restrict it to a rectangular shape. How about round, oval or even a triangle, to fit in a corner.. The possibilities are almost endless.

Cranberry sauce from a jar or can be "recycled" and re-structured by heating it and adding chopped seedless orange, peel and all (if the peel is quite thick, remove the outer part with a vegetable peeler then discard the pithy part) bring it to the point where it is just simmering, hold it at that point for 5 minutes or so and transfer to a container and store in the fridge. You can even freeze it. Grains, as long as they are not rancid, can be cooked, drained and frozen too.

I think I was about seven. It was soon after the end of the war and I had to stand on a kitchen chair to stir the gravy in the pan on the kitchen range (with the back of the chair turned toward the range so I had something to lean on). It was my grandpa's cook, who must have had a world of patience to put up with a child that was forever underfoot in the kitchen. There were different types of gravy and my favorite was milk gravy. The range top had an extension at one end that held a small earthenware pitcher of milk to be added to the pan. A small copper pan that had a wooden handle, held strong black coffee for "red-eye" ham gravy. Thanks for posting this topic, it brings back wonderful memories.

Hot pepper-jack cheese made its appearance in sliced form, alongside American and "Swiss" in the mid-'70s and was immediately taken up by the party snack crowd. A slice of pepper jack was stacked on a slice of ham (the chopped and formed stuff in a square) or other square lunch meat and rolled into a cylinder, stabbed with a series of toothpicks and cut into small "wheels." They were arranged nicely on plates or trays or were stabbed into a whole pineapple, making its appearance as a centerpiece. (The pineapple had to be speared first with an icepick to make the holes for the picks.) Occasionally condiments for dipping (mustard or ketchup, etc.,) were spooned into the small disposable pleated-paper nut cups that are so difficult to find now, however the smallest size of water "dispenser" cups can be substituted if you want to go this far. These are also handy for serving nuts and other small nibbles, particularly if one wants to keep fingers a bit cleaner.

Has anyone mentioned Ham Biscuits? this is just one version. Here's a photo. Or it can be as simple as this. I think these have been a popular snack for all types of parties in the south for generations. I always prepared them for parties in the 60s and 70s (as well as the 80s - or until the low-fat propaganda became so universal) and have resurrected them a few times in the past couple of years. They are usually the first snack to disappear.

I am also guilty of buying various oddments that languish in my pantry for varying periods of time and I have always hated throwing things away. I grew up in a time in which frugality was considered one of the "queenly" homemaker's virtues. A few years ago I discovered an interesting and fun way to "recycle" the things that are nearing the end of their useful life (some things actually will last for years, consider pickled walnuts, or fruits infused in liquors, for instance). I have frequent food-loving visitors and will pull a selection of various condiments, jams, jellies, unusual ingredients or fancy food items, out of the pantry and place on a large tray on the counter. These are all still consumable, well within the "use-by" dates and often are duplicates as I don't always remember that I already have two cans of quail eggs...... or a couple of cans of hearts of palm, jackfruit in light syrup, etc., etc., etc. I invite my guests to help themselves to anything on the tray and even provide cute small paper shopping bags with cord handles (I bought a case a few years ago and would really like to see the last of them also. Another case of "What was I thinking?") My guests have fun picking out goodies (one once enthused, "This is better than Marshall's.") and we have had several interesting discussions on how to use these not-so-common items and I have learned about dishes I would never have discovered on my own. And more important, I have lots of space in my pantry for new purchases of the exotic and unusual, occasionally wierd and wonderful foodstuffs from around the world!

I was recently gifted with a basket of quince and decided to prepare quince jam. The process itself went fairly well, however the jam turned out much too sweet, in fact, it was what my grandma called "tooth-achingly" sweet. To make it palatable, something had to be done and I decided to try an experiment with a portion of the batch. I brewed a pot of quadruple-strength lapsang souchong tea and added it to the jam, stirring while it was incorporated, then allowing it to gently simmer as the liquid reduced. It is not yet finished but I am allowing it to cool so that I can taste it but so far the flavor is more than I expected and the sweetness has been tamed and the slight smokiness complements the quince flavor. I am anticipating this being an excellent jam to pair with cheese.

A local independent Hispanic restaurant (owned by a Mexican-American and a Salvadorean) serves sticks of jicama that have been sprinkled with lime juice and a mixture of ground toasted cumin, a mild ground chile and a small amount of raw sugar. I asked about the chile powder and was told it was ancho and "Colorado" ?? They deliver the bowl of jicama sticks to the table along with the ubiquitous chips and salsa. I think they know what they are doing, it seems to really stimulate the appetite.

Rock & Rye and Sazeracs ? My uncles (at least the ones born in Kentucky) all favored rye whiskey instead of bourbon, which now I think was rather odd. But then, my family were all rather odd in one way or another. a bit of info on American rye whiskey. The mint julep is probably one of the most iconic bourbon drinks in Kentucky but somewhere there is a story about a drink that originated in Cincinatti that draws heavily on bourbon lore. I'll have to look it up - I think it is actually an Ohio river boat story. Check this site for a bourbon slushy there is also a hot-buttered bourbon recipe that I have seen on another website but a Google search doesn't pick it up. I think that might be popular on a chilly December evening.