andiesenji

Galangal is related to ginger and the flavor is somewhat similar but it is different and I have found it to be milder. Galangal, lesser and greater. This topicArtisanal Christmas prezzies, has my method of getting the peel off the orange in detailed photos in post # 163 I have been using this method for many years. Someone showed me how to do it this way a long, long time ago and I thought this was the way everyone did it when harvesting the peel for candying. For small batches of candied peel, this method is very handy. My method for candied citrus peel in the microwave.

I love mango chutney. There are so many ways to use it. It may sound odd, but I *accidentally discovered a combination of large curd cottage cheese, grated asiago (not too aged) with mango chutney to spoon onto whole wheat crackers or dipped up with black pepper potato chips. *I think I suffered a "senior moment" when I dumped grated asiago on the cottage cheese instead of the boiled potatoes. I had moved the dishes and switched their respective positions and after grating the asiago dumped it where the potatoes had been ten minutes earlier..... So I added butter and the chives I had chopped for the cottage cheese, to the potatoes, so all was not lost and the cottage cheese became a starter instead of an adjunct to sliced tomatoes.

I went to this site: Mr. GoodBeer.com to order gifts for a couple of my friends who are very difficult to buy for because they have so much already.

I missed this post back in early November. Maybe its not too late but let me show you the easiest way to remove orange peel. Slice off the top and bottom of the orange. Using a soup spoon, insert the tip of the spoon between the peel and the flesh from the top down and work your way around the circumference until there is no resistance. Now do the same thing from the opposite end, it will be easy to feel when the peel is free from the flesh. Make one cut from top to bottom along one side of the peel. Remove the "innards" in one piece and set aside. Flatten the peel and cut into strips the size you want, these are a little less than 1/2 inch wide - You can also cut into shapes using the little garnish cutters for fancy designs to use for decorations on cakes, etc. If the inside is exceptionally thick, you can scrape off some of the white stuff by simply scraping it with the spoon face down. You can cut the flesh into sections, cut the white membrane from the center, spread them on a tray and freeze them, then transfer to a plastic bag. You can juice the flesh in a blender or a juicer if you have one that takes whole fruit or large chunks. You can also pulp it in a food processor and strain the pulp and freeze the juice and you can also put it in a pan and reduce it to a syrup. Even with taking the pictures it took me less than 3 minutes to take this orange from uncut to finished. I can do more than one a minute if I am not taking photos.

not necessarily true , but then again a thousand+ year cooking (and baking) history doesn't necessarily include the use of electric mixers from what i understand, newer model kitchen aids are made with plastic parts in the motor and that is why they break down. if you are lucky enough to have an older model kitchen aid that was made when hobart was making the mixers, you'll have a machine that will last forever. however, i have two kitchen aid stand mixers and have been pleased with both (the older one really is better than my newer one and they are only about 6 years apart in age but slightly different models). vanessa, i wouldn't get it. you definitely get what you pay for in mixers. also, don't get a viking. they stink. ← The new 600 Pro machines - beginning in April of this year, have all metal gears - they received many complaints about the gear failure and fixed it. Which is the reason I bought one.

Doesn't bother me, I'm not going to be eating them exclusively, just once in a while. It's no worse than the stuff that is injected into hams.

I never did get around to baking the dough I mixed and allowed to "develop" in the fridge for a somewhat extended period. Some friends showed up and settled in for the day and I had a brainstorm and pulled the bag out of the fridge, filled the deep fryer and made fried bread. Actually I allowed my company to do some of the work - dipping the dough out of the bag with a medium disher. Each piece blew up like a balloon, some in extreme freeform shapes. I sprinkled an herb-salt mixture over some, which we had with omelets and the last couple of batches were dusted with a cinnamon-sugar mixture to go with coffee. Not even a crumb was left so the results were obviously not too bad.

Sandwich grills are not new. I have several from the '20s and '30s that are works of art in their looks and purpose. They were originally made to be used at the dining table, were very fancy, and not a substitute for a skillet. Now, of course, with the popularity of panini, they have come back into fashion. They have been around all along, but without the ribs. Most waffle bakers had reversable plates, smooth on one side for sandwich grilling and waffled on the other. I often use an electric egg poacher, I think they are great. I can sit at the table and not have to stand over a stove, get my toast from the toaster, butter it and transfer my non-watery perfectly poached egg to my toast with little effort. However, if I am poaching a large number of eggs, I do it the old-fashioned way.

Even when my right shoulder was out of commission from bursitis, I still managed to mash potatoes with my left hand using one of my "vintage" gadgets, a spring-loaded double masher which does a fine job. I wasn't able to lift the pot to drain the potatoes so I used a pasta dipper to move them to a flat-bottomed casserole so the depth of the potatoes was much less than usual. It is true that old mixers did not whip quite as vigorously as modern ones. I think my objection was mainly because people actually whipped them too much which seemed to me to develop a glue-y consistency. It is true the Victorians and American's of the same era, the "Gilded Age," thought up a bunch of "labor-saving" gadgets, some of which were extremely odd. (some looked like instruments of torture.) I don't have one of the gadgets pictured, but I did have an 1890s stacked steamer - made for cooking on a two-burner "efficiency range" and indicating that a stew or "stewing meat" can cook in the bottom, potatoes, turnips or other root vegetables can steam in the chamber above the base and cabbage or "rough greens" whatever that is, in the next one up, with the top chamber reserved for steaming bread or buns to "freshen." The tiers lock together with three thumbscrews at each level (that get very hot and are difficult to operate) and has a vent at the top, moved by a lever that is so sharp I cut myself the first time I took it apart. It seems to me so top-heavy that I wonder how many women (or men desparate enough to try to cook for themselves) were burnt or scalded. I decided I really didn't need it and traded it for a neat (and useful) pie safe.

I have ordered several for myself and sent them as gifts to good friends who were celebrating their 55th anniversary, back in July, and would be unable to go out to dinner because they were taking care of a grandchild. I have sent several to my dad. I have yet to be disappointed.

There are some excellent cookware bargains at Smart Bargains.com. Something for everyone here. Some of the Calphalon prices are exceptional.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I can no longer mash potatoes by hand, I am going to hang up my apron and retire. I have never liked the texture of potatoes whipped with a mixer. I like a few lumps, so I know I am consuming real potatoes and not some reconstituted pap. Potato steamer and masher.

Years and years ago one of the restaurants in West Hollywood, or thereabouts, used to bake cheesecake batter in madeline pans and glue the flat sides together with chocolate and dip the bottom end into chocolate. They also made them in the half walnut molds and stick them together to make them look like walnuts in the shell. I think those were rolled in nut meal or something similar. It may have been at Scandia, possibly Chasen's, both places had signature cheesecake recipes and served them in many different ways. This place has cheesecake on a stick.....

Viva, I am so pleased, and I know MeeMaw would be also, with all the mileage you are getting out of her cherished receipt. I prepared a double batch early last month and canned it in pint jars (instead of the usual quarts) because I finally figured that a pint of the stuff is quite enough for smaller cakes, steamed puddings, bread dressing as a side dish, etc. I used it to stuff a rolled pork loin roast that I served with Cumberland sauce and everyone raved about it. How about posting the recipe for your cream cheese pastry dough. My neighbor, Leila Obregon, asked for a jar and she is going to use it in empanadas. Her dad asked if I had ever tried using it in a mix for sausages - which gave me an idea to try - I just have to order some of the narrow casing to stuff finger-sized ones. I have some duck meat and some venison in the freezer that should make up into very tasty sausages.

I can do that in my big oven, however, unless I am baking a large batch, multiple cakes, or whatever, I use the Cadco 1/2 sheet oven that does not have a way to turn the fan off. If the oven is on the fan is on. It seems like such a waste to fire up the big oven to bake just one cheesecake - in any event, the huge fan in the Blodgett would blow the batter right out of the pan.

I have been plagued with tiny bubbles and ripples on top of cheesecakes (unless I remember to put a windscreen in the oven to block the air from the convection fan, which I usually think of just about the time the stuff set up). My solution is to cover the top of the cheesecake with fruit preserves, chocolate, lemon or lime curd, etc. I have had some success with combing through the batter after it is in the pan, using a small cheese comb (used for cutting the curd when making cheese). This seems to liberate the larger bubbles deeper in the batter.

I have used rice paper to line a pan to bake a crustless cheesecake. Otherwise I can't help you.

I had completely forgotten about that gadget. I bought one but never used it and have no idea where it is at the moment. I did buy one of the garlic smashers I posted about a while back. Haven't used it either but I know where it is because I put it in a tool bucket along with some other oddities. I bought one of the silicone "turkey lifters" and have used it a couple of times and it works great. I used it with a very large rolled and stuffed pork roast (these always stick to the roasting rack) and it took just 3 minutes to take the pan out of the oven, turn the roast and put it back. Much, much faster and much easier than my old way.

I agree with you 100%, FistFullaRoux. Irvin S. Cobb, who was born and raised in Paducah, KY, always considered himself a southerner, even though he lived in New York city for more than thirty years, often said that "southern is a state of mind." He was a very prolific writer and wanted his readers to understand that Kentucky (and the rest of the south) was not just a bunch of hillbillies and poverty. When he was in Hollywood in the early '30s, working on a movie script, his automobile broke down when he was driving to San Bernardino. He wrote that he stood by the car for almost two hours, with traffic constantly passing, before someone stopped to give him assistance, a lift to the nearest garage. He said that if this had happened anywhere in the south, the first person to come by, whether in a car, a wagon or on horse or muleback, would have stopped and offered help, a place to rest if living nearby, a drink of water, tobacco, something to eat and if he was lucky, something from a jar under the sink that might be "mildly" alcoholic in nature. Of course he is not the only writer from the south who referred to the nature of southerners and their tradition of unstinted hospitality that continued until well into the second half of the century. In the first half of the century the migration was from south to north and west. The reverse migration began in the late '60s and gained momentum as the century progressed. Several of my friends that had lived here in So.Calif. all their lives have moved to Texas, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. Most have kept in touch and one family, who moved to Warm Springs, Arkansas in 1998, have since convinced three other related families to move to the area. Since the 1960s, I haven't thought of Florida as being truly "southern" in culture. By geography, yes, but except for the panhandle area I think of it as a polyglot population. I have family in and around Tallahassee and near Crestview in Okaloosa county. That have been there since the late 19th century and they consider themselves true southerners.

This survey is interesting and in my opinion, shows how much migration to and from the southern states there has been during the past 40 or 50 years. Back in the days when "Dixiecrats" were in the majority in the "Solid South" I believe that most people in Kentucky considered themselves southerners. In fact, the people in the very southernmost area of Illinois were more southern than midwestern in their culture as well as their manner of speaking, which was distinctly more southern than people further north in the state. This area is very hilly, extensively forested with numerous creeks and branches (small streams) and quite different from the flat plains further north in the state. I doubt that until fairly late in the 20th century, few people would have been able to distinguish a resident of this area of southern Illinois from a citizen of western Kentucky by just listening to their speech. They used the same colloquialisms, accents and certainly enjoyed the same foods.

By the way, a few months ago I bought one of these Wet Sea Salt grinders and would like to report that it works very well. In fact I have ordered two more - just in case they discontinue it. It is made by Peugeot and is carried by Fantes, Sur La Table, etc., but this site sells it for a couple of dollars less and I buy quite a bit from this vendor.

I do not live in a humid area but I do have friends that do, including several that live on boats in marinas from Oxnard to Newport Beach. One uses salt shakers that include a little perforated glass container that holds a material that absorbs moisture and turns pink as it becomes "saturated" and then is baked in the oven until the material returns to blue. I think she got them at a store that sells marine products. If this sounds familiar to some of you, at one time you could buy cookie/biscuit tins that had lids with a glass handle that was exactly the same. (I have several and they work nicely.) However, you can also find the little plastic containers in vitamin bottles and other over-the-counter and prescription medications. I save these because they do keep moisture away from the contents. The most common types are cylinders, about 1/2 inch in diameter and the same length, however you can also find ones that are longer, some are in soft little envelopes made from a material that doesn't tear and is resistant to the abrasion of the salt - one is called Tyvec, another is Duralon and they are safe to use with food. Do not use the larger ones that are packed with electronic products from China, Southeast Asia or Korea. They are not food-safe. When I was a child, in western Kentucky, living very near the Ohio river, every saltshaker in the house included some white rice, which served the same purpose, that is, to absorb moisture and keep the salt from clumping. In the kitchen, they used large, open salt boxes, glass or ceramic and one always sat on a thin brick at one end of the hugh wood/coal stove. The heat kept the salt dry. There was one on each of the two Estate ranges. There were in the center of the big kitchen table where most of the baking prep was done and I think the turnover there was too rapid for the salt to become clumped. I really can't recall a salt-shaker per se in the kitchen. The cook and her help used their fingers - who knew, they were many decades ahead of the trend. In the springhouse, where milk was processed and butter and cheese was made, (and it was damp because of the cistern in the room that was where the stuff was kept cool) the salt was in a large unglazed crock (made by Bauer when they were still in Paducah) and I think the unglazed pottery drew off any moisture. I searched via Google and found someone has patented a device for this purpose.

I just want to mention that I am certainly impressed with the quality of Rancho Gordo's beans. I received an order and have already cooked some of the red nightfall and some of the marrow beans. These are by far the cleanest beans I have ever sorted through. I did not find a single bit of waste in the marrow beans and only two tiny shrivelled bean in the red nightfall, no debris washed out when I rinsed them in a colander. I cooked the marrow beans with smoked ham hocks and the results are excellent. I partially cooked the red nightfall beans because they are going to be baked tomorrow and I like the way they hold their shape even when cooked for a long time.

If you want to use cloth to move your dough around, linen, such as that used for a baker's couche, is the best natural non-stick cloth and it holds the flour well. You can buy it in various widths from this place. You can also make your own waxed muslin, using the heavy weight unbleached muslin found at most yardage stores. You have to wash it twice to get all the sizing out - I generally run it through the second wash without any soap (and certainly no fabric softeners) then put it into the dryer just long enough to fluff it up. I then tack or staple it to stretcher bars (that are used for artist's canvas) and let it dry. It will shirnk as it dries and will be quite taut. You will need a chunk of pure beeswax, which is not difficult to find nowadays as there are candle-making shops just about everywhere - you can also find it in hobby shops, quilting and needlework shops, etc. Rub the beeswax firmly into the cloth, trying to cover every inch. When finished, lay the framed cloth face down on another piece of muslin and iron it with a fairly warm iron, pressing firmly, so that the beeswax melts into the weave of the cloth. Check for bare spots, rub the beeswax into those spots and iron it again. It doesn't have to be 100% solid because you aren't going for waterproof, only to keep dough from sticking. Flour it well and give it a try. When you are finished, shake off the loose flour and allow it to dry completely and any residual bits of dough will dry and flake off. Do not wash it! Roll it up in plastic wrap or fold it and put it in a plastic bag and store it in your freezer. When ready for your next batch of dough, remove it from the freezer an hour or so before you will need it and allow it to warm to room temp. Beeswax is naturally antibacterial and antiseptic.

I used cast aluminum pressure canners for years - up until an event about 30 years ago when a very large one exploded - the lid had cracked in half. Thank goodness I wasn't in the kitchen because the turkey necks and backs I was cooking to soften the bones for dog food, was flung all over the kitchen, plastered on the walls and ceiling. Half of the lid was imbedded in a wall, having punched through ceramic tile and the cement scratch coat and the plaster behind it. The other half was in the attic, having taken a chunk out of a large wood beam before it went through the (again, thick plaster) ceiling. On close examination, I noticed small pits all over the inner surface of the lid, which I had always cleaned and carefully dried. I replaced it with a stainless steel one, even though the cost seemed excessive. No more reactive metals for me.