andiesenji

I recently bought my first set of high end cookware and I was also really surprised to find that saucepans with pouring spouts were so hard to come by. My personal pet peeve is toasters that don't lift the bread or bagel high enough out of the slot so you have to dig in with a fork and hope not to electrocute yourself. Is it really that complicated of a design to avoid something to obvious? ← That's why I stick to my "antique or vintage" Sunbeam "T" type toasters.

Try carmelized onions/onion confit with crisp (nearly burnt) bacon bits with PB.

I began working in my mom's bakery when I was 15. We used to unload the oven, knock the loaves of the pans and as soon as we finished the first batch, split a loaf lengthwise and slather on the butter (purchased in 30-pound tins - this was, after all, Wisconsin!) chop it into chunks with a dough knife and consume it while it was still hot. I don't recall ever having a bellyache. Or gaining weight - I was about a size-seven at the time and remained so for the next 25 years. I still eat bread straight from the oven, or when it has cooled enough to pick up without burning my fingers.

I bought one of the Chinese-made fairly large oval ovens (at Marshall's) to use in my barbecue and it has held up remarkably well, considering that I can get the temp much higher than in a regular oven. This one has an integral loop-type handle on the lid, similar to the old Descoware (of which I have several pieces I bought in the 60s) and the very early Prizer-ware, (sold to complement Prizer's cast-iron wood and coal stoves made in the 1930s, '40s and 50s.) Later Prizer-ware had glass handles which could actually take more heat than the metal. Incidentally, Blue Star ranges are made by the company that was originally Prizer Stove Works. I have a few pieces of Copco from Denmark and Dru from Holland, both are heavier (hard as it may be to believe) than either Le Creuset or Staub. I bought a couple of Copco pots at a yard sale for 5$ each a few months ago. I like the Danish modern design. Here's a Prizer-ware. casserole.

Any chance she needs a 46-year-old adopted, state-side daughter? ← I have offered to be her adopted sister, since we are about the same age, I think. (That is, I don't mind admitting I am 68, however she, although admitting to similar memories as mine, about the 50s and 60s, is very cagey about her actual age.)

Reflections Of An Armenian Kitchen (Ladie's Guilds of Ararat Home) No Barking At The Table - gave it to my neighbor Cooking from the Gourmet's Garden (Castle & Kourik) Atlanta Cooknotes (Jr. League of Atlanta) Freast of Eden (Jr. League of Monterey County) Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's and Low-Fat Pantry Cooking, Vol. II (Rita Van Amber and Janet Van Amber Paske) Baxter's Game Book (which turns out not to be a cookbook) The Sport of the Field Collected in Verse, Prose and Illustration (by John Mowbraye) - What can I say? I was in a hurry! When the Knead Rises (Jackie Guice) Serve Rice And Shine Cookbook (Rice Council for Market Development) German Cookery (Elizabeth Schuler) The Attic Cookbook (Gertrude Wilkinson) Old Black Pot Recipes (Edited by Charlene Johnson & Wayne Tanner) Sourdough Breads and Coffee Cakes (Ada Lou Roberts) Jackson Hole A' La Carte (Jackson Hole Alliance for Responsible Planning) Pit, Pot & Skillet (Red Caldwell) The International Spud: Fun and Feast With the World's Favorite Tuber (Mara Reid Rogers) Stuffed Spuds: 100 meals in a potato (Jeanne Jones) Cove Cay Village IV Clearwater, Florida Cookbook 1991 A Trifle, a Coddle, a Fry: An Irish Literary Cookbook (Veronica Jane O'Mara, Fionnuala O'Reilly) The Decadent Cookbook (Durian Gray & Medlar Lucan) Tulsa State Fair Cookbook; 2000 prize-winning recipes (edited by Pat Lloyd) Original Cowboy Cookboon (Wes Medley & Wild Medley) The British Museum Cookbook: 4000 Years of International Cuisine (Michelle Berriedale-Johnson)

and..........when you are on your way to an emergency dental appointment because of a cracked tooth, exposed nerve causing acute, stabbing pain with any movement of air in the mouth and...... driving by a used book store spot a sign that says - COOKBOOK SALE TODAY ONLY!- drive to the next intersection, make a U-turn and wheel into the parking lot and sprint (uh, hobble, in my case) into the book store. Twenty-five minutes later, arrive at the dental office, complaining about the traffic, but failing to mention the twenty-three cookbooks in the back of the van.

I prefer to use a blend with Mexican and Bourbon (Madagascar) beans, no Tahitian because I don't care for the flowery, perfumey flavor - however this is a personal thing, choose what your nose and tongue find best. I have been given a couple of Hawaiian vanilla beans, and made a tiny vial of extract with half of one. If the price were more reasonable, I believe I would use these exclusively as I find the flavor is superior. The beans I received were very large, half again the size of the Bourbon or Mexican, fat and very moist and the seed volume inside was much greater. My visitor, who now lives in Hawaii but was my neighbor here for many years, brought me, besides the vanilla beans, some cocoa, chocolate, coffee, five pounds of macadamia nuts and two pounds of comb honey, all grown and produced in Hawaii. She used to be in advertising and was a huge proponent of California-grown products. Now she is retired but has become even more enthusiastic about Hawaiian products.

Depending on the type of beans, and how fresh they are, they reach a point where no more flavor can be extracted. It is on one of the links I posted earlier in this thread. You can experiment with the "finished" product. Pour off and tightly seal most of it. Reserve a small amount and reduce it over very low heat (I use a butter warmer that sits over a candle) which will give a super-concentrated result which you can dispense by dropper. This is good for flavoring coffee, chocolates, etc., one drop goes a long way.

Here is a hint that originally came from a very old chemist's (pharmacist's) formula book, owned by my employer of many years. (He passed away in Jan.) At that time local pharmacists made flavorings - as I recall, the book was printed in England around the turn of the last century. I really did not spend much time examining it because it was somewhat fragile. However, I did make a note of the following: To make the infusions of "warm" spices (nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, clove, allspice, anise, juniper berries) more flavorful, add a very small amount of crushed black pepper. I also have an old recipe for sassafras tea that advises the addition of a scant pinch of black pepper. In addition to citrus flavorings, I have made cranberry, apricot, anise, spearmint, pineapple. And sumac, lavendar and birch.

Check the link I posted. It is very specific. Both the plants in Mammoth live inside year round - one in an atrium, one in a "bump-out" greenhouse window that is six feet high - the "tree" is four feet tall, including the pot. It has a southern exposure. When my trees were young (planted in '88) I wrapped them with burlap and stuffed straw and leaves around them when temps below freezing were predicted. After they were well established I didn't bother but I had some frost damage four or five years ago when temps got down to single digits - and also last winter when we had a low of 4 degrees. I cut most of the stems back to below the point of frost damage, but allowed some to remain (mostly to remind me to protect them when a severe freeze is predicted). Mine are in shade for most of the year, and protected from the severe summer sun and wind by a hedge of rosemary. This area is an ancient seabed and drainage is excellent. The main problem with growing bay in otherwise ideal climates, is clay soil with poor drainage. A friend who lives in south Georgia finally resorted to digging a deep pit, filled it mostly with gravel and sand, well tamped, then filled the remaining space with commercial planting soil and now has a nice-sized tree. Here is a phot of the bases of some young scions. To give you an example of size, there is a green plant stake at the left of the photo - 1/2 inch in diameter. This is what frost damage looks like. The top of this plant is almost 10 feet tall. These are older trees, the largest is 3 3/4 inches in diameter: The scions grow up from a lateral root. Once they have developed six or more branches, the root from the parent tree can be severed and a couple of months later the scion can be transplanted. Once I have cut the lateral root, I put flat black plastic barriers on the ground so additional shoots won't grow near the scion I intend to transplant, so it will develop a strong root system. The top of the big one is 15 feet tall: It is growing under a fruitless mulberry.

Bay leaves do freeze well. Squeeze as much air out of the container as possible. If you have a vacuum sealer, they will keep even longer. Continue to use the dried leaves, their flavor actually concentrates as the water evaporates and the percentage of essential oil increases. If you like using fresh bay leaves, grown your own. It's much easier than most herbs. I have bay trees (actually tall bushes because I trim the tops) in my garden but I have dug up many scions and potted them up as gifts, shaping them as a "standard" - that is a ball shape at the top of a single trunk (stem). Two have been living happily at Mammoth mountain for more than four years, one is living in South Lake Tahoe and one is living in Appleton, Wisconsin, moving outside in late April and back inside in September. Several are scattered around southern California and one is happily residing on the deck of a boathouse near Seattle. If kept in a sunny window with good air circulation and in a pot with good drainage, the bay or laurel nobilis performs very well as a house plant and it will certainly produce enough leaves for even a serious cook. In fact, they can be vigorous growers and need to be trimmed fairly often. They can be maintained in the same pot for years, if one also does root trimming every year or so.

Hey Toliver, I just made a purchase from Lehman's and on one of the pages found these in a side section: Blunt tip spoons, two sizes. P.S. Lehman's wooden spoons are more expensive than others, but they are the best I have found. (I just ordered a set for a housewarming gift for an avid cook who has admired the ones I have.)

After you slice your Melba toast, you can flip it open and grate nutmeg with it!! ← Only if you want to lose some skin on your knuckles. The spines are much too large for grating nutmeg and it doesn't open far enough. I use it quite often because it allows me to slice breads that contain nuts and seeds and even fruits and fairly moist-crumb breads into half-thickness slices.

um...... a guide for slicing toasts in half for Melba toast?? ← Oh come on, you must have peeked at the original thread....... The Melba Toast slicer is demonstrated here.

If your cherry tomato plants are as prolific as mine, you will probably also have a lot of green ones nearing the end of the season. So! You can also make green tomato jam/pie filling with green cherry tomatoes. However you want to choose green tomatoes that have begun to look slightly translucent - both regular and cherry varieties. I use the same recipe I posted in RecipeGullet - a Shaker recipe handed down from my great-aunt. Green tomato pie filling. I simply cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Depending on the amount of green tomatoes I have, I double or triple the recipe and put it up in jars - using a water bath - the acid/sugar content is high enough that pressure canning is not needed. It will also keep in the freezer for at least four months. Although I have never had it last that long. We have a very long growing season here, rarely getting a frost that will affect tomatoes until late October or even into November. However, when we do get a frost warning, I simply pull up the entire tomato plants with all the green ones attached, and hang them upside down in the garden shed at the back of the house, it will protect the fruit unless the temps get into the low 20s. The fruit that is closer to ripening will ripen on the vine but usually I pick them and make this recipe, I pickle some, and occasionally make green tomato relish or chow-chow. green tomato recipes.

Peanut butter on lightly toasted whole grain, oat-nut or black bread with chopped dates (or figs - fresh or dried) and lightly sweetened flake coconut. I can't eat chocolate, but bittersweet chips added to the above is a favorite with most of my friends. One can also slice an angel food loaf into horizontal slabs and use the above mixture as "filling" then wrap and chill for an hour or so and slice into sections. It looks good too. One of my Brit friends has adopted this as a favorite for his four o'clock "tea" with his two pre-teen daughters. I think he also makes "pinwheels" by rolling up the slabs and cutting them crosswise to make it more interesting for his girls. (Househusband - writer, learning to cook and find things his girls will eat.)

All of the the ideas mentioned above are great. I have been making marinara sauce, using nothing but cherry tomatoes, for years. I get rave reviews when I give jars as gifts. The recipe is simply a generic one which is so-so with Roma or other paste tomatoes, but is extraordinary when make with the much sweeter cherry varieties.

You might also check out this article which was sent to me in a subscription email newsletter on 8/17 A Cook's Guide to Fresh Mushrooms I dry mushrooms by just putting them in a wire colander and leaving them on the kitchen counter (on a tray or sheet of paper so the shed spores won't stain the counter). They will not change appearance, they just become very light, as they lose liquid. You have to pick one up to fell the change. When you can crumble one completely, they are dry enough to store. Obviously, the thicker mushrooms take longer. I remove the stems (but dry them also) from the bigger mushrooms (Portabella) and from those with fatter stems (Porcini or Cepes). For short term preserving in the fridge, and particularly for button mushrooms, try this terrific recipe for Marinated Mushrooms I have tried many recipes and this one is by far the best yet.

Ah yes, The Smoke House. My husband and I had a house account there, in the early '60s, rather than use Diner's and they didn't charge interest if the total was paid within sixty days. We had to entertain his business associates from out of town and they always wanted to see entertainment people. We rotated between there, Sorrentino's Seafood in Toluca Lake and The Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, with occasional side trips to The Hitching Post on Riverside Drive, across from Pickwick Bowl. Remember The Hot Dog Show's root beer floats?

I sprinkle them around the edges of my deck and the ramp up to it, to keep the local feral cats away.

I am bumping this thread up because I have been playing with a new toy, a pod maker which produces excellent results. I have tried the various pod filters and was completely dissatisfied with all of them. Not a single one of these, (in my opinion) overpriced gadgets, produced anything near a drinkable cup of coffee. The Perfect Pod Coffee Pod Maker has worked exactly as advertised and I am very impressed. I have used commerical espresso, French roast and Italian roast beans, freshly ground as well as flavored beans, also fresh ground. I have upgraded as the newer models of the Senseo were introduced and currently have a "Supreme" which can be set to dispense a triple serving. Pod filled for double+ serving. When light stops blinking, press down for 3 seconds. Sealed completely. Equal to two regular pods: After brewing, no breach of seal.

At the end of the "spring" session, one of the classes at the church school down the road from me did this. The teacher has a minivan with a long sweeping windshield. However, she put the disposable aluminum cookie sheets on one of the reflective protectors, both to protect the dash and to keep as much heat as possible away from the interior. It was in late May when the temp went over 100. As I recall, they used a brownie box mix, but portioned it with a small scoop instead of making a solid sheet. A few weeks ago we had a day when the high was 113 F., and the humidity was 3%. My neighbors were making jerky on the roof of a garden shed. It was done before sundown. Also, the asphalt at the edge of my driveway was melting so it would have been a good day for making "solar" jam.

I no longer use rubber bands, I use key rings to keep my tongs closed - mine don't go in a drawer, they stand in a utensil container or hang on hooks. I found some brass ones that don't rust at my local locksmiths and bought a bunch, they are really cheap. I stopped using rubber bands when one broke when I was attempting to remove it and snapped into my eye. I freeze stock, seasonings, various other things, some of which stain. I spread a sheet of plastic wrap over the tray, leaving a good overlap. Push down into the tray spaces with two fingers, then fill the sections - the weight will hold the plastic wrap in place after you have filled the first two. Cover the tray with the extra wrap and freeze. When frozen, transfer to a plastic bag or a freezer container, plastic wrap and all. If you are freezing something highly aromatic, you can wrap each cube individually. Cambro containers will contain just about any odor to keep it from contaminating others. Even better, use a vacuum sealer. Regarding celery. I simply trim the celery, top and bottom, clean and separate the stalks and place it in a tall pitcher fill with water, cover and place in the fridge. I do the same with lovage, including the leaves. (homegrown) Ditto carrots that have been scrubbed, topped and tailed and split into quarters or smaller sticks. They stay crisp and nice. I change the water daily. I have a couple of the Tupperware 1-gallon pitchers. My grandma kept celery like this in one of her tall, crystal, straight-sided vases that was not used for anything else. Carrot sticks were kept in a shorter and wider vase that happened to be Waterford cut-glass that had been chipped long before I was born and therefore suitable only for the kitchen(the chip was extremely difficult to find).

If you "store" your hand of ginger in a pot of sandy potting soil, you can have a houseplant and whenever you need a small piece, yank up the entire plant, break off one of the "fingers" (or toes, if it like the stuff I grow) and stick the rest back in the pot. Florida is a great place to grow ginger. One of my friends, who lives in Naples, has kept two or three plants in an enlongated planter on her deck, going for more than five years. She even got it to bloom one year, I think it was 2004.