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Not all of Terry Pratchett's books are written for adults. Several are considered for young adults, but they are all extremely funny. I have been a fan for many years. I really haven't noticed any bad puns, per se., the stories certainly are parodies and there is a great deal of satire all in good fun - and the stories are funny. There is a certain amount of interest in the foods of Discworld. Some of the foods have a close relationship to the stories: For instance, Banged Grains was a central theme in Moving Pictures. Dwarf Bread was integral to the story in The Fifth Elephant. And Wow-Wow Sauce has been a constant in many of the Unseen University stories. The newest heroine, Tiffany Aching, is a talented cheesemaker and is serious about it. (The Wee Free Men, Hat Full Of Sky and just published: Wintersmith. A Discworld cookbook has been published - titled Nanny Ogg's Cookbook and I think it is hilarious. It contains real recipes, sage advice, distilled wisdom and funny bits. The recipes are in metric and are aimed at the British so people in the US won'd recognize some of the ingredient names. It can be found on eBay and at other internet vendors Nanny Ogg's Cookbook There has even been some discussion of "Burnt Bown Crunchy Bits" which have certainly had their share of several lengthy discussions here at eG! It just goes to show that there are connoisseurs of certain foods in fantasy worlds such as Discworld as well as in roundworld. There is this site that is dedicated to sugarcraft work - talented people.

I originally posted the following a couple of years ago. Since then I have also posted it in RecipeGullet, with some corrections. I was fortunate in that several of my ancestors were avid collectors of receipts and stories about foods from earlier times. The great-grandmother I knew well as a child, came from England. The great-grandmother who found this recipe and adapted it to "modern" measurements around 1880, was born in Charleston and was decended from some of the early colonists.

This is the thread about the "MeeMaw" Pork Cake adventures of Viva and her fine photos.

I have a large collection of excellent knives, including one that was custom made for me. There was a time that I could cut anything into perfect dice of whatever size required. This is no longer true. I can't hold on to the handle of any knife with a firm grip because I have arthritis at the base of my thumb. There is no knife in the world that can work when one has no grip strength. "A good chef's knife" is not the answer for people who are handicapped or for children.

Soon after I joint eG, this somewhat similar topic came up. This one has some mention of childhood favorites. and yet another topic referencing childhood food memories. and this one has several pages of memories of foods past.

Great A'Tuin cake. Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors. Apparently there are a great many more who love the books by this best-selling author. There are many parties with Discworld themes but I think this cake is a first.

I have now tried the Piave several ways. First with fruit - especially good with apples and pears, in a panini sandwich with some shaved ham and sun dried tomatoes, melted on top of poached eggs on toast, eaten plain, out of hand and chopped with pimentos and ONE rocoto pepper to make a nice spread. Delicious in each and every combination and all by itself. This "young" cheese has the same texture and mouth feel of a medium-aged provolone but a much more complex flavor. Sweet, nutty, only faintly salty and it stays tender when melted - does not become gummy.

I bought both the "Chop Wizard" from this vendor here because it came with two different sized cutters, and also bought the mini slicer, which I have used only for slicing those little balls of mozzarella which always give me fits when trying to slice evenly. I bought the can opener too..... and the "Alligator" which works in a similar way, but sort of backwards to the other one. I bought the latter because one place had a "deal" that included a smaller one listed as a "garlic chopper" or dicer, or whatever. various onion dicers I have absolutely no shame........I like gadgets. I found my invoice - I ordered the Alligator chopper from the UK from Pro-Idee

A couple of years ago I posted some tips on how to make the preparation of fruitcakes in particular a bit easier by doing all the tricky bits in steps over a period of days: I used to make 20 or more fruitcakes every year and having all the detailed stuff preped ahead of time saved a lot of mistakes. These do not need to be refrigerated. When I say cool, I mean not near a heat source. Don't put them on top of the refrigerator which produces heat. It is usually cooler near the floor so if you have a kettle or stockpot that is big enough to hold the cake, wrap them well put them into the kettle and cover it and place it in a low cupboard or on the floor in a closet. (That is as long as you don't have radiant heating in your floor.) Have you ever noticed how cold cast aluminum pots always seem to feel? I think the aluminum acts as a heat sink, (in fact, I have an aluminum stand for my new MacBook Pro to pull the heat away from the bottom). So, I have two of the largest of the old Magnalite roasters and find that each one will hold two large fruitcakes in the bottom with the roasting place set on top of these, two more can be stacked on them and the lid effectively seals it. Placed on the clay tile floor in my pantry, the temp in these roasters remained less than 60 degrees, even during the hottest days. This morning the temp was 50. Now here is my suggestion for making cakes like these that include a lot of ingredients. Do not try to do it all at once, it seems like a really big job. Instead start out with measuring out the fruit, set it to soak. On another day measure out ALL of the dry ingredients, place in ziploc bags and store in a large bowl, a bus tub or bin, or one of the jumbo ziploc bags along with a copy of the recipe. Chop the nuts and store them in a ziploc bag (in the freezer if it will be more than a few days). Drain and measure the fruits that have been soaking and store them in ziploc bags or a container that will seal tightly. Then when you are ready to assemble the recipe all you have to do is get out the perishable ingredients and mix eveything together, then bake. I do this with the many cookie recipes I do each year. I have a bunch of bus trays and totes. Each one is for a particular recipe. I line them up and measure out all the dry ingredients, and store in ziploc bags, along with any special utensils needed for a particular recipe, put the tray or tote in a large plastic bag and stack them in the pantry. This way I do not get into the middle of a recipe and find I am missing an ingredient and it just generally makes things go so much faster It helps to make a copy of the recipe or if you have a scanner, scan and print it in larger type and use a highlighter on every other line of type, particularly for the ingredients. It is very easy to miss an ingredient in a long list of items and the results can be disastrous if you omit an important ingredient. If you wear reading glasses, the half-lens type, having the alternate lines highlighted is especially important. One of my neighbors noticed that she had missed three ingredients in a 31-item list because some of the lines effectively seemed to dissapear when she looked down the list because the top edge of the lens (rimless) caused distortion. She only caught the omission because she had her daughter read off the list to her while she checked the little cups that held each ingredient. Some ingredients are not critical, but some are absolutely essential. Incidentally, I have made and canned 6 quarts of the port mincemeat. I have plans.............

Great description of your experiences. I will second the motion for adding cracklins to cornbread. Cracklins (or cracklings, if you will) are also good added to beans of any variety - green snap beans, or green beans with "shellies", butter beans, kidney beans or great northerns or navy, etc., etc. Also good on/in waffles. First pour the waffle batter onto the iron, sprinkle on the cracklins and close the top. ditto pancakes or flapjacks, pour batter on griddle, allow to cook a bit then sprinkle on the cracklins and flip them over. One of my cousins (long, long ago when we were children) used to take a small dish of cracklins, peel a banana and dip the end of the banana into the cracklins, take a bite and so on. It never tempted me to try it, but I was reminded of it years later when I heard of some of Elvis' odd eating habits. Oh! I forgot, toss some into a tomato salad. Lovely!

I forgot a couple: The Red Hat Society Cookbook, Recipes by members of the Red Hat Society Magic Beans by Patti Bazel Geil The Daily Bean by Suzanne Caciola White

Yes, it is probably a serving tagine. There are some cooking tagines with colored glaze, but unless they are specifically labeled for cooking, do not cook with them. You should warm the tagine before placing hot foods in it. Simply run very warm to hot tap water into the bottom of the tagine (that will come in contact with the food) and allow it to warm completely then pour the water out just before you add the food. Just dry the outside. This will keep the food warm longer also.

I bought one because the arthritis in my right hand has gotten so bad that I have difficulty doing repetitive knife work. Not everyone is capable of learning knife skills that will allow them to chop onions (or anything else) rapidly. This is a handy (and safe) gadget for those that have disabilities or who are not well coordinated. They work and do the job quickly and neatly. I think they are worth the money.

Your post is pure poetry, racheld.

13 more Just purchased several "vintage" or interesting cookbooks: Phillsbury 9th Grand National Bake-Off 1957 cookbook Cookie Cookery Cookbook, 1969 Cookie Originale Cookbook by Marilou Dyer, 1970 25th Anniversary Steam Threshers Auxillary Cookbook, 1979 Favorite Recipes from the United Nations Cookbook 1959 Wild Game Cookbook by Martin Rywell, 1966 Homestead Bread Book of Mill Valley, California 1973 Knox Gelatin On Camera Cookbook 1962 Good Cooking Made Easy With Spry 1942 Nebraska Pioneer Cookbook 1974 Ideals Cookie Cookbook 1977 Gifts From The Kitchen Candy Cookbook by Mildred Brand Biscuits and Scones 1988 (to replace one leant to someone who subsequently lost it)

Those are nice pans, Janet. I think you have shown photos of them in another thread. I like the handles on the lids - don't they hook onto the pan handles?

Andie: I must have missed this - would you be so kind as to explain why you prefer Bourgeat to other copper manufacturers such as Falk Culinaire? Thanks! ← This is the earlier thread on copper cookware In addition to the Bourgeat I have some Mauviel and I did buy one piece of the Falk. I simply do not care for the brushed finish. I supposed it is because that all of my life I have lived with the traditional shiny copper and I like the warmth of it, the deep glow makes me feel good. I also felt that paying an extra 110.00 for a lid for the 11 inch low casserole (350.) bringing the total to 460. was a bit too much when I could get the Bourgeat brazier, (essentially the same size pan) INCLUDING the lid, for $295.00 from Chef Ron. However, I know a lot of people like the Falk and that is their choice. You should pick what you like, what works for you. I have friends who regularly go to the UK and often make a side trip to Paris to shop for copper at E. Dehillerin. Cuprinox heavy copper with the Mauviel name. However much of the Mauviel sold in the US is the lighter "table" pans that are thinner. The heavier is available, just not as easy to find. Bourgeat/Mauviel and a set. and another vendor

I agree with Abra. I have "several" bread machines, including one with two separate pans. When I was still doing some catering, I would want to prepare several different types of bread at the same time and would weigh and measure out all the ingredients into plastic bags ahead of time so I could simply add the liquid to the pan, dump in the dry ingredients and set the machines, one right after another, being sure to start the ones requiring the longest knead time first. I could then get on with the rest of my tasks while the machines did all the hard work kneading, rising, kneading the second time, then turning off so I could pull the dough, shape the loaves and bake all at once. At the office I have an "Express" bread machine that will mix, knead, rise and bake a loaf in 90 minutes, start to finish. However it doesn't rise a lot - so the trick is to use a double batch and set the baking time for a bit longer and one ends up with a denser loaf with finer crumb. This is not a technique for plain breads, but for the hearty, whole-wheat and seeded breads, that have a lot of flavor, the results are excellent. The machine has a 58-minute cycle but I have never used that. Oster 2-pound Express bread machine I have tried the microwave proofing but do not like the rubbery feel of the dough and I was not happy with the results, either texture or flavor.

Hey - that's a great gadget. I've never seen one like that. ← I'm pretty sure I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond. It's not so much separate 'feet' that are attached, it's more like the heavy, rolled steel frame that's bent down in about 3-4 spots so you can set it on the counter. The screen is a rather heavy, fine-meshed one, so even really small items won't go through. It's a good 12" or so across, and it holds up well in the dishwasher too. Hmmm... now I'm wondering if it could also be used as a really fine-meshed strainer..... ← Cooking.com has them in two sizes, 13 inch and 15 inch. and always brilliant has a square one and a domed one in addition to the round. Amazon has one but I don't recommend it. I had one but I attempted to use it as a trivet - a suggested alternate use - the sauce pan tipped and spilled liquid onto the counter because the mesh did not support it on the side away from the handle.

The rolling pizza cutter is also handy for finely mincing small amounts of fresh herbs.

I had a 5-A I bought at White Front in 1967 and gave to my step-daughter in 1978 when I bought one of These - because I needed the larger capacity. She is still using it, has had the power cord changed twice. She has 4 sons and did a lot of baking when they were all still living at home. I have had three of the newer KAs and have not been satisfied with any of them. I bought a different type of mixer for mixing very stiff bread dough. However for general baking, the KA is okay. The newer design dough hook is less apt to have the dough crawl up and out of the bowl.

The long bronze handles on the frying pans, sauce pans and sauté pans do not get hot unless they are on the burner for a long time or go into the oven. The shorter loop handles on the braziers, casseroles and stockpot do get hot after they have been on the stove for prolonged periods, or go into the oven. I am so used to using a small towel to handle everything, I guess I don't even think about it. I buy the bundles of "terry cloth bar towels" at Smart & Final to use in the kitchen. They are small enough to not drape so far they would come in contact with the flame and doubled are perfect for grabbing hot things. That is why I like the bronze handles - I have two pots with brass handles (gifts) and they get very hot and they are smaller, thinner and more difficult to hold. I made fried potatoes in the sauté pan this morning and the handle never got hot enough for me to need anything to hold it.

I don't really use a specific recipe for my green tomato mincemeat - I simply substitute finely chopped green tomatoes plus 1/4 cup of brown sugar for each cup of chopped tomato, for some of the dried fruits. In fact, you can chop the green tomatoes, mix with the sugar and microwave in an open Pyrex bowl to cook it down a bit and thicken it, then add it to the mincemeat mix. I have posted the recipe for Pork Mincemeat and Christmas cake. on RecipeGullet. Viva made this cake and posted some beautiful photos in this thread. Some excellent online recipes for green tomato mincemeat are: Here and Here and here and here.

No, not bitter. They have an interesting almost lemony flavor. I love fried green tomatoes because of the combination of flavors, the tart, lemony flavor of the tomatoes, the almost sweet crunchiness of the coating. There are two recipes in RecipeGullet However, I love the ones made with cornmeal, the way I had them when I was growing up in Kentucky. This site About.com - green tomato recipes has the "classic" recipe I remember. Some people also use crushed corn flakes and I like them that way also. In fact, I never met a fried green tomato that I didn't like!

I have posted several times in the past about my preference for the Bourgeat professional copper pans and while I usually do not buy or recommend buying sets of cookware, the set offered by Chef Ron Askew consists of 4 extremely useful pan and the price includes the lids! A bit over a year ago this set was selling for $785. however the price of copper went up and so did the finished goods. Bourgeat Alliance copper Scroll down a bit more than half way on this page there are pics of the four pans without the lids. The lids on these pieces fit perfectly. For my purposes, searing meats, quick sautés, sweating aromatics, I prefer to use copper. I have a lot of copper, some pieces well over 100 years old - tin lined - which I rarely use now because I have purchased several pieces that are stainless lined - but still use the unlined sugar and preserving pans. I have a lot of cookware of other types, and like some materials for some purposes, other types for other things. It all depends on what fits your hands, your technique and your budget. I have big stockpots that are stainless - and also have a huge copper stockpot with tin lining that I no longer use because I can't lift it, even when empty. I have a Calphalon (original, not the non-stick) 16 quart stockpot that I find is just perfect for some things. Copper is expensive, however it will actually appreciate in value over the years and if you have children, you can pass it along to them. (Or sell it if you are strapped for cash!) Some of my cookware collection hanging from my pantry ceiling Get the copper pots and pans with bronze or cast iron handles. Do not get brass handles... And you want the stuff that is at least 2.5 mm thick on the bottom (1/8 inch) the lighter weight stuff is essentially useless. Bourgeat copper pans You do want to start out with the copper nice and clean when you use it because a build up of corrosion can cause hot spots or uneven heating. However, there is a quick cure I learned many years ago when I took a class in French cooking from a chef who used only copper pans. He had one of the old short 1-pound coffee cans next to the stove that was filled with salt. If a pan was discolored, he would simply cut a lemon in half, dip it in the salt and quickly scrub the bottom of the pan with it and just wipe it clean with a towel and put it straight onto the burner. I adopted this practice and used it for years because it is quick and easy.