andiesenji

I like the Messermeister guards also. The nice thing is that they fit odd blades that can be difficult to transport, or even just to store. Obviously the very long blades require more than one and they are worth every penny they cost. I order them from Fantes, cheap, in my opinion.

They fooled me too, but I solved the problem by cutting non-slip, padded shelf liner into squares and stacking them with the squares between the jars. I use the same thing for stacking the fat, glass-top jars with the wire snap fasteners - the glass lids are slightly domed and do not stack securely without the squares. (I have an old paper cutter which no longer cuts paper cleanly because of some play in the screw that holds the blade. However, it works dandy on thicker stuff, such as the shelf liner, flexible cutting mats, etc.)

Tami said that she sometimes makes a triangular "pancake" that is thin like a crepe, but a different recipe, that includes a little rice flour, pouring the batter along an arc near the top edge of the wok and by the time the batter reaches the bottom it is evenly thin and cooked on that side, she flips it to the other side of the wok and that side is done in seconds. She fills and rolls them in the same way as a croissant, starting at the wide end and rolling to the point while they are still warm and as they cool, they become crisp. She promised to give me the recipe but has to translate it from French. I was also amazed at the puffy omelet she made in the wok, extremely tender and slightly soft, which is the way I like omelets. She had cooked two by the time I had one piece of toast buttered. It was as "instant" as I have ever seen.

I have a lot of Tupperware - for several years in the 70s I lived next door to a dealer who managed some huge parties and I often was hauled in to help with food. In return I was given many pieces. I use several of the sugar dispensers - they are compact and handy for a lot of things other than sugar. I still have the first piece I actually bought, the "celery" keeper. One of my favorite odd ones is the Pick-A-Deli pickle/olive container with the integral lifter. I have several in various colors and they all get a lot of use. I also have several of the various styles and colors of butter dishes from the 1-stick size to the 1-pound size. They are great for storing and serving composed and molded butters (and flavored cream cheese, etc.) as they seal tightly so there is no flavor exchange. I have about two-dozen of the tall parfait cups with lids and they are extremely handy, not just for desserts.

I have been cooking with tin-lined copper for 50+ years and have cooked everything in the pans, including high acid foods. I have some antique tin-lined copper pots that are at least 150 years old - they were imported from France in 1859 and were probably made years earlier. I no longer use most of them but have had them re-tinned several times. I have a large egg-poaching pan (has round depressions on the bottom) that I still use. The tin does discolor with certain foods but doesn't affect the taste. I have upgraded to the stainless-lined copper but still use a couple of large tin-lined stockpots as there are none that size available with stainless lining. The tin lining can last a long time if one uses some simple rules. Do not scrub with harsh abrasives, do not put them on high heat burners if empty. Use wooden spoons for stirring and do not scrape firmly or repeatedly with metal utensils. Here are more sites with copper/tin information. French Copper Studio and one in Brooklyn, NY! I also have a huge "preserving" pot with a round bottom, a smaller, shallow, flat-bottomed preserving pan and a 2 1/2 quart sugar pan. All of these are unlined.

I use a lot of bindery clips. Mostly because stuff in bags, closed with the jumbo bindery clips, can be hung on hooks, which gets stuff like potato chips, popcorn, nuts and etc., off a shelf (or the top of the fridge) and hung where the contents will not get smashed from having something heavy placed on top of it. The jumbo bindery clips can hold a lot of weight, especially when items such as dried fruits are placed in a Zip-Loc bag with the jaws of the clip placed below the zip ridge. I stopped using the cheap "bag clips" several years ago when the plastic handles kept breaking.

I had brunch this morning at the home of a friend whose father is Russian (born in Mongolia) and whose mother is French and Vietnamese. I happened to mention this thread and she said she had a jar of batter in her fridge and was going to prepare some for dinner, in addition to some blini, as she and her husband are celebrating an anniversary. She wiped out the wok, in which she had made our omelets, and proceeded to demonstrate her technique of making crepes in the wok. She used a small ladle to add a precise amount of batter to the wok, swirled it and tossed it to flip the crepe over and immediately onto a breadboard. They cooked very rapidly. She had finished a dozen before I even thought of getting photos, then couldn't get my camera phone to work properly - that is, the flash wouldn't work. I was extremely impressed. I would never have thought of using a wok and it must have taken a lot of practice to keep the batter from puddling in the bottom, even with the wok very hot. The crepes were uniform in size, about 8 inches in diameter and while none were "lacy" they were the same thickness from edge to edge. She showed me the blini batter, which had a lot of bubbles as it is made with yeast, and said she would make them about 5 inches in diameter, using a smaller wok. Amazing!

Yes, would you believe, at Sur La Table spoons Not exactly the same, the ends are straight across, instead of slanted, but they do the same job.

According to my aunt, the first such spoon she had was a premium in a bag of Martha White flour. One of the family worked in Murfreesborough and would haul 50-pound bags of flour home on the weekend. (He was a banker and used to make lots of jokes about handling "dough.") The oldest one I have has a faint impression of Vaughn Co., Chicago and a Pat. Pend. I have several Vaughn utensils but have no idea exactly when the company was in business. They made a lot of advertising items, bottle openers, icing spatulas, spoons, flapjack turners, all with various company names cast onto the handles.

These were introduced back in the '30s as a "gravy spoon" as the flat edge at the end allowed the bottom and the sides of a skillet to be efficiently scraped when flour was added to fat for browning. In the '60s Ekco brought out the black nylon style for use with non-stick skillets - the nylon had a much higher melting point than plastic. I also have a "sauce ladle" which served the same purpose, scraping the bottom of a deep pot. These are fairly scarce. Many times old ideas make a lot of sense.

In my experience, a judicious amount of salt will simply enhance the flavor of certain foods or make the taste more intense. You can do a very simple experiment with whole wheat bread. (even though it already contains salt). Cut a slice of bread into 4 sections. Taste one plain, then sprinkle the second with just a few grains of a slightly coarse salt (preferably kosher diamond flake or medium sea salt), spread a very small amount of unsalted butter on the third and if you have it, salted butter on the 4th or add a little salt to unsalted. The piece of bread with the bit of salt will actually taste sweeter than the plain, which doesn't seem to make much sense but try it. Potatoes have more of a potato flavor with the addition of a bit of salt, but not enough that all you taste is the salt. Another example is dried beans, without salt they taste flat and flavorless, add a bit of salt and the flavor blooms. As mentioned above, salting a very sweet melon will bring up more flavors than just the sweetness. And what it does for a ripe-in-the-garden tomato........... When I was a child (back in the dark ages) we used to sneak into the apple orchard when the apples were still green enough to cause mouth puckering, but we each carried a bit of salt in a twist of waxed paper and adding a bit of salt made the unripe apples sweeter. This counts as one of the forbidden pleasures of childhood.. One apple was the limit, more would cause a tummy upset and reveal our guilt....

Doesn't look like any of my Wusthof knives, I have examples of all lines. The Grand Prix has a molded handle but doesn't look like yours. I don't recall any Henckels with a raised area around the rivets. Why don't you look at the various mfg.s at this vendor? Why grind the name off? That is like removing the nameplate from an appliance, which invalidates any guarantee.

This was an interesting melon. When I used to grow gourds, certain varieties would assume this shape (and also a "chesty" shape- very popular with gourd artists) because of "twinned" blossoms, that is, a double blossom on one stem, fused at the base. I tried to get a clear photo showing the blossom end of this melon which had 3 blossom scars. Unfortunately, the melon had rested on the blossom end and it did not photograph well because it was slightly flattened. I have marked the blossom scars - the "netting" raidiates out from each one, overlapping in places. I have grown a lot of melons over the years and had never had one develop fully from a twinned set of blossoms, usually they drop off.

Speaking of melons, I found this (somewhat risque) melon a few days ago on a vine growing out of one of the compost bins. I am quite sure it is a Galia, pale green to white flesh, very sweet and very juicy, tiny flat seeds and great aroma. It was quite large for a Galia but was the only melon on that vine.

How about a cheap version like this: Alton Brown did it. He also made one using a couple of large clay flowerpots.

In an earlier post, I mentioned making citrus syrup with lemon peel. I use this for a base in many things, sherbet, other lemon desserts, lemon based drinks. I removed the colored rind from 22 lemons - using a microplane would have taken much too long - using a vegetable peeler. I spread the rind on a tray and allowed it to dry somewhat, for about an hour or so. To make sure there is nothing in the grinder to add an unwanted flavor, I first clean it. Two heaping tablespoons of baking soda and some saltines or oyster crackers. Apply the top, depress the switch and shake and invert the grinder several times while it is running. Dump the stuff and wipe with a dry paper towel. With scissors, cut the rind into 1-inch sections and fill the grinder. Depress the switch while shaking and inverting the grinder until the batch is evenly chopped. Continue until all the peel is ground. This is about 1/4 of the finished batch. It is not as finely ground as with a microplane, but for making citrus zest syrup, it isn't necessary. I had a generous 2 cups of zest, not tightly packed. Place the zest in a 2-quart pyrex measure or other microwavagle container (or you can cook it on the stove, simmer until it has reduced by 1/3) Add water to the 1 1/2-quart mark. Add sugar to bring the level of liquid to the 2-quart mark. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stir and microwave for another 5 minutes. Stir and let it sit for an hour or so. (Leave it in the microwave if it is not in use.) Stir and microwave for 3 - 5 minutes sessions but do watch it to make sure it doesn't boil over, until it has reduced by about 1/3 and has the consistency of thin syrup. At this point you can strain off some of the liquid and bottle it to store in the fridge. You can place the remaining liquid and zest in a blender (after it has cooled some) and blend to produce much finer zest, which will be jarred with the remainng syrup and stored in the fridge for up to three months, or it can be frozen. Before I developed this method, I spent hours grating lemons on a box grater (long before microplanes came on the scene), suffering sore hands, grated knuckles and aching muscles.

Yes indeed! Zucchini make great bread and butter pickles. They are also good in mixed pickles, with broccoli, caluiflower, spiral sliced carrots, and baby onions. This is a small batch recipe that keeps in the refrigerator, without the complications of canning. I use a food processor to slice them with the extra-thin blade because they are easier to add to sandwiches this way, but you can slice them however you like. For mixed pickles you want them thicker. If you pickle them with red onions, they will get a pink tint. Andie's bread & butter pickles.

Regarding the problem of dry cornbread - you can get a result that is a bit more tender and more moist by substituting 1/2 cup of oat flour for 1/2 cup of the cornmeal, without altering the flavor or texture. Oats help retain moisture in baked goods that contain little sugar. Sugar is of course the ingredient that retains most moisture and retards staling but if one wants to reduce or omit sugar, the oat flour will make a big difference.

Here's my method for cornbread from "scratch." Cornbread, the "southern" kind.

I have grown a lot of ginger both in pots and in the garden, and we do get a few hard freezes up here in the high desert but we prep the ginger patch for overwintering by covering it with hay bales, which insulates it. In the years when we have heavy rains, we cover the hay bales with a tarp if it gets to be too soggy. One good thing is that the soil drains rapidly because this is an ancient seabed and there are hundreds of feet of sand beneath the surface. For growing in pots, you should have a pot that is at least 8 inches deep and wide enough to allow lateral growth of the underground rhizomes. As mentioned above, get a planting mix suitable for vegetables and it should be loose and sandy, it has to be well drained. If you have it indoors, with the pot in a "saucer" put a layer of gravel under the pot and make sure you don't have the bottom of the pot standing in water. If you water it a bit too much, use paper towels to soak up the excess water and discard. To encourage sprouting, prior to planting in the pot, break the ginger into sections and place in a plastic bag, leave the bag open on the counter or on top of the fridge - don't put it in a sunny spot, it will get too warm. If you see a little condensation inside the bag, blot it with a paper towel. It should sprout in a few days. In temperate zones, it takes at least 5 months for a small rhizome to develop. Higher temps give more rapid growth. I know a couple of people who grow ginger hydroponically in a sterile growth medium that is made from coconut shells. They get very rapid growth but have not let me in on the secret of their nutrients. I have a pot in a kitchen window that in winter contains nothing but coarse sand and I use a liquid fertilizer I order from Worm's Way. When I need a chunk of ginger, I yank the entire plant out of the pot, break off what I need and re-plant it. I've also grown galangal and tumeric the same way.

Very true. It depends on the flowers from which the pollen is gathered if an individual is extremely allergic to the pollen. Bee pollen caution. There have also been a few fairly recent cases of adults poisoned by honey produced by bees gathering pollen from oleander. poisoned honey This is why beekeepers are very careful about the placement of hiives and why potential beekeepers need some instruction from experienced people. The poisoning incidents that I heard about, happened in the 1970s on a commune in central California. Azaleas are another plant that can be a problem.

One appliance that works is one of the Indian food mills, usually listed as a "mixie" or a wet/dry grinder. This site shows the inner workings of one brand. food grinder/mixer There are a few brand names, Sumeet, Preethi, Premier, Santha, even Sharp now makes one that is significantly more expensive than most of the others. here is one vendor. and...... Bombay limited in Irving, TX There have been a few discussions about this type of appliance. Sumeet was one of the first sold in the U.S. but imports were a problem last year and one model was recalled, but there are quite a few in use and people do like them. This thread is about the Sumeet.

Banana chips mixed with pecans (or your favorite nuts) and chunks of dried pineapple make a unique "trail-mix" munchy treat. You could mix in some crispy crumbled bacon if you wish. I have some freeze-dried ones that stay very crispy and have less fat that some brands. The ones at Trader Joe's have the most flavor (in my opinion) but I like them all.

That is simply adorable. When will they be available? I "collect" varieties of salt so naturally I need things in which to put them. Here are a few: The glass one is part of a set of early 1930s kitchen utility glassware that includes ice box/refrigerator dishes, a covered grease jar and round butter plate and cover. I use the little wooden dish when I need to measure small amounts exactly. The yellow plastic container is an old Tupperware sugar dispenser, which is great for salt too - I have five, all found at yard sales for about 25¢ each. I do have some English pottery salt pigs but they are old and I don't use them. One of my friends has a wall-mounted salt dispenser that she bought in Denmark (white with "SALT" in blue letters so I assume it is the same in Danish as in English) that is much like a ground coffee dispenser - it has a little detachable cup at the bottom and a lever that dispenses about a tablespoon of salt. I have unsuccessfully tried to find one for my collection.

You can use any pulse to substitute for any other. Simply cook the lentils separately - the black beluga or "caviar" lentils take a bit longer to cook than the "gray" lentils and the red lentils take much less time than the others - add the hot cooked lentils after you have cooked the chili. Groundnut stew, a West African specialty, can be very similar to chili. The original is made with the bambara groundnut, a native African pulse. Often peanuts are substituted now, but the true groundnut is the traditional. There are indeed people who do not like beans in chili, however, for people who want to stretch a small amount of meat to feed many people, adding beans, peas, cowpeas, etc., is necessary and many people prefer it that way. There are also many people who do not eat meat or poultry and use a combination of several pulses and grains to make a complete protein. Adding cooked lentils to thin or watery chili before it has finished cooking will thicken it nicely. Although some purists argue that the variations are not "true" chili, certain regional specialties include beans and also pasta. Cincinnati, for instance, where the "Chilifest" is celebrated annually.