andiesenji

I came across a mention of Chicken Paprikash with Caraway Schnitzel recently and it reminded me that it has been years since I prepared this or Chicken Marengo or one of my old favorites for entertaining, Wiener Schnitzel, the latter because veal fell out of fashion some years ago. Fortunately we have a local butcher who sells real "milk-fed" veal and this thread has inspired me to run over to his store and buy some for tomorrow. I recently received a gift of Thoughts For Food "A Menu Book and a cook book for those who like exceptional cooking." Published in 1946. Some forgotten recipes here.

Cuisinart makes this one. I don't know how powerful it is or how long it will hold a charge. I find that manufacturers often inflate the estimates of time the charge will hold. Cooking.com is selling it for $39.95 Cuisinart cordless. I thought Black and Decker made one but haven't been able to find it. There is this information.

I don't know about serving flatbread with steak. Perhaps an "artisanal" or rustic bread would be my choice. However for serving with hummus, I have a very easy recipe for pita that turns of well, can be doubled or tripled and is very tasty. I posted it originally in the Carnitas thread a couple of years ago and I know some egulleteers made them. It uses the instant years, doesn't require a starter and if you are working in a fairly warm commercial kitchen, it may take as little as 45 minutes to rise. As posted in the Carnitas thread. Once you find out how easy it is to make them you won't go back to the commercial ones. Here is my recipe: Pita Bread 2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons rapid-rise or "instant" yeast 2 tablespoons oil, olive or canola or grape seed. 1-1/4 cups water room temp. Measure the flour (unsifted) into a large bowl. add the salt, yeast and oil. Make a "well" in the center of the flour and pour in the water. Using your hands, bring the flour into the water and continue mixing until a ball of dough is formed. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for about 15 minutes. (If you have a mixer that has a dough hook you can place all ingredients into the mixing bowl, blend until ingredients form a ball then continue mixing for about 10 minutes with the mixer set on lowest speed.) The dough should feel silky and soft but not flabby, when a thumb is pressed into the dough it should fill in quickly. Spray the inside of a large Zip-lok bag with Pam or similar oil spray. Place the dough ball into the bag and seal. Set aside to rise until it has doubled in size. At normal room temp this should be about an hour to an hour and a half. Turn the dough out onto the floured board, knead 3 or 4 times then stretch into a fat cylinder. Cut in half, then cut the halves in half, and so on, so that you end up with 8 pieces of dough. Roll the pieces into balls and press flat into a disk. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with oil, place disks on it then cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 475 degrees, F. Using a rolling pin, flatten the disks on a lightly floured board and roll into about a 6-inch circle. They should be about 1/4 inch thick or slightly less. If you have a baking stone you can bake the pita directly on it, mist the stone with water before placing the pita on the hot stone then mist the pita. Otherwise, place the pita on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place on center shelf in oven. Mist the pita and close the oven door. Watch closely. In about 3-4 minutes the pita will have blown up like a baloon and are done. They should not brown, but might show a little color around the edges. Immediately remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool. Depending on the size of your oven you should be able to bake 3 or 4 at a time. You have to leave room above the pita for them to expand. To reheat, fold into a kitchen towel and heat in microwave for 30 seconds.

I have all of Peter Reinhart's books (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, et al) and I have the rest of the books you listed as well as many, many more. However, the book to which I have been turning more often of late is Jeffrey Hamelman's book Bread "A Baker's Book of Technique and Recipes" I like the format and even though I truly love Peter Reinhart's books, I find that the charts and detailed instructions are very helpful, particularly when I am teaching another person, because the explanations as to WHY are so informative. Read the reviews, I bought the book a year ago after reading the reviews on Amazon. The following are the particular reviews I found most important in choosing this book. As one reviewed noted it is handy to make a copy of the technique sections - I scanned and printed out the specific pages and laminated them with the recipes themselves and stuck them into the book as place markers at the particular recipes I have made. When I am ready to prepare one, I pull the laminated sheets out of the book and stick them up on the front of a cabinet over my baking prep area. "Still learning, March 20, 2005 Reviewer: mb_quilts (upstate NY) - See all my reviews I'm a home-baker and found this book to be an amazing education. Although I've been baking bread on and off for years, I felt like I was starting over again and learning correct techniques and principles. At first I often felt like I was juggling as I tried to put new techniques in action, but as the new ways became more practiced the awkward feelings subsided and the bread improved! I now have two starters going and make bread on a more regular basis with predictable results. For those interested in learning more about how bread making works this is a great book. Dense in places and different from most cookbooks which give you complete info for each recipe. Hamelman discusses the general concepts and techniques first and then provides formulas which rely on those ideas. Expect to do a lot of flipping back and forth at first or make a copy of the technique or recipe so you can see both at once. I'm still sampling the recipes but I've tried rye bread, basic sourdough, challah, bialys - all with good result. If you want to know why something makes a difference and want to learn so that you can bake bread with confidence and understanding, this is a wonderful book to have. My recommendation is to get a good scale too, so you can weigh all your ingredients for best results. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Best of the Bunch, March 12, 2005 Reviewer: DANIEL T. DIMUZIO "Dough Dude" (Birmingham, Alabama) - See all my reviews I'm a bread baking instructor at a culinary school located in the Southeast U.S. I've probably read every bread baking book aimed at the artisan bread movement, and there are quite a few that are worth owning. Hamelman's book is simply the best of them. I have to take issue with one of the previous reviewers who suggested that the book is intended mostly for professionals. It is true that many of the recipes feature small quantities expressed as weights, but I believe this is done on purpose -- to encourage the beginner as well as the pro to rely upon precise scaling as the best starting point for a successful baking job. Digital scales are now inexpensive to own, and any serious baker -- whether amateur or professional -- should have one. I use his book as the primary text for my class. Most of my students are not experienced bakers, and they appreciate his ability to write for both amateurs and professionals in a clear, concise style that assumes no serious experience with bread while resisting the urge to "dumb-down" the material covered. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: The most advanced bread book I own, December 15, 2004 Reviewer: Robert M. Halperin (Champaign, IL USA) - See all my reviews "Bread" is, by far, the best book on the subject that I own. It has large sections on breads made with yeasted preferments, sourdoughs and ryes. I made one of the ryes last week and it was superb. This book is really written for the professional baker. The home baker is really an afterthought in this book. Each recipe is given in metric and U.S. wieghts for about 40 loaves. The last column of each recipe is for the home baker, but most of the weights are in fractions of an ounce. If you have a digital scale that will weigh out (say) 6.4 ounces of whole wheat flour, that is great. If not, you'll need to buy one. You can use the volume approximations in the "Home baker" column, but Hamelman highly recommends that you weigh. All recipes are also given in "baker's percentages" which, once you master the idea, should allow you to make any size batch of dough. The recipe I tried called for 1 teaspoon of rye sourdough culture. Can you imagine making rye starter for this small amount? I used my white sourdough starter and the recipe came out fine. There is a lot of arithmetic taught in this book. For example, it teaches the reader how to use baker's percentages. It also teaches the reader how kneading the dough affects the dough's temperature. The book also uses terms such as "bulk fermentation" and "folding" which are probably not familiar to many home bakers. Why did I five this book 5 stars? It is because I have been a serious home baker for over 30 years and this book is the next step in my enjoyment of this hobby. I feel ready for all of the technical material it throws my way. It is, however, NOT for the person who is just starting to bake bread at home. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 19 of 19 people found the following review helpful: Best bread book I own so far, November 8, 2004 Reviewer: agardenchair (Germany) - See all my reviews There are numerous things that put this bread book above the other books about home-bread-baking that I own. Apart from the fact that the breads turned out exceptionally well from loaf No. 1. I have to insist that it is very clearly written and well structured. Side remarks are even in a different color, so you will not get distracted from the recipes. The book discusses these methods for making bread: - Breads made with pre-fermented dough using either a saltless starter, also known as "poolish" or "Biga" (or "Anstellgut" in german) or a starter made with a little salled called "Pte fermente" - Breads made with levain (i.e. white sourdough) - Rye sourdough breads - Straight doughs (using no pre-fermented doughs) (- Other assorted breads or baking goods, that didn't fit into the aforementioned categories) Tthe author does a very good job of teaching how you can make a lot of breads out of small amounts of the starter. I finally got around to maintaining a levain and a rye sourdough culture! I didn't know it was that easy. And you only need to take up to two table spoons of any of those starters to have a great bread within 36 hours. The rye sourdoughs may not be as acidic as some of the breads you can buy here in Germany, but they still make very good mild rye sourdough breads. The quality of the breads that I was able to make is astounding. I witnessed oven spring that didn't know was possible in a home oven. I find it very amusing that I had to buy an american baking book in order to learn how to make a genuine "Vollkornbrot" or a good sunflower seed bread - both traditional german breads. And I wished german baking professionals were a bit more forthcoming when it comes to sharing their secrets. To be honest, I don't know one single german bread book that is even remotely as good this one."

Easy Pita bread This recipe does not require a starter, it is quick and easy to prepare and the taste is far superior to the commercial varieties. Once you find out how easy it is to make them you won't go back to the commercial ones. Here is my recipe: Pita Bread 2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons rapid-rise or "instant" yeast 2 tablespoons oil, olive or canola or grape seed. 1-1/4 cups water room temp. Measure the flour (unsifted) into a large bowl. add the salt, yeast and oil. Make a "well" in the center of the flour and pour in the water. Using your hands, bring the flour into the water and continue mixing until a ball of dough is formed. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for about 15 minutes. (If you have a mixer that has a dough hook you can place all ingredients into the mixing bowl, blend until ingredients form a ball then continue mixing for about 10 minutes with the mixer set on lowest speed.) The dough should feel silky and soft but not flabby, when a thumb is pressed into the dough it should fill in quickly. Spray the inside of a large Zip-lok bag with Pam or similar oil spray. Place the dough ball into the bag and seal. Set aside to rise until it has doubled in size. At normal room temp this should be about an hour to an hour and a half. Turn the dough out onto the floured board, knead 3 or 4 times then stretch into a fat cylinder. Cut in half, then cut the halves in half, and so on, so that you end up with 8 pieces of dough. Roll the pieces into balls and press flat into a disk. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with oil, place disks on it then cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 475 degrees, F. Using a rolling pin, flatten the disks on a lightly floured board and roll into about a 6-inch circle. They should be about 1/4 inch thick or slightly less. If you have a baking stone you can bake the pita directly on it, mist the stone with water before placing the pita on the hot stone then mist the pita. Otherwise, place the pita on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place on center shelf in oven. Mist the pita and close the oven door. Watch closely. In about 3-4 minutes the pita will have blown up like a baloon and are done. They should not brown, but might show a little color around the edges. Immediately remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool. Depending on the size of your oven you should be able to bake 3 or 4 at a time. You have to leave room above the pita for them to expand. To reheat, fold into a kitchen towel and heat in microwave for 30 seconds. ( RG1792 )

Well, you can always check at Classic Candies if Hometown Favorites doesn't have what you want. I know what you mean about the Hydrox cookies. It has been closed for several years now, but at one time there was a Sunshine Cookie baking plant on Roscoe Blvd. and the aroma would permeate the entire area. They sold 5-pound bags of "broken and misshaped" cookies for a dollar in the late 50s, later the price went up a bit but they were still a super bargain. You could tell what type of cookies were baking by the aroma and the chocolate wafers were very distinctive.

It does look like it and that price is excellent. However, I no longer purchase appliances from HSN, having had two separate unfortunate experiences with items that were damaged and one, on close inspection, had been used and was missing some parts. It took me nearly a year to get the charge reversed after shipping the item back and cancelling the order within 11 days of receiving it. I prefer to deal with companies who have superior customer service and am willing to pay more to save headaches in the future. I will post a report on my evaluation of the IB after I have had a chance to put it through its paces.

Sounds like what we had at home when I was a kid-- flat on one side of the plates, and you could flip them for waffles on the other side. We found it easier though to just do grilled cheese sandwiches in a pan. Clean-up was much easier as this was before non-stick came around..... ← Oh yes! I am very familiar with these appliances, there were several designs that allowed the plates to remain parallel while pressing a sandwich. In fact they were known as "Sandwich Press" or "Sandwich Iron" and the early ones did not have reverseable plates. You had a separate appliance that was a waffle iron and often they were made to match, with identical handles, decorative elements and size. (Have you guessed that I have collected some of these?) I am at my office and do not have access to my own photos. Here is an example of one of the vintage sandwich grills which were very popular in the 30s and 40s. Note: This one is less commong than many you see on ebay because it has the white or "ivory" bakelite handles. Most were black or brown because the white tended to discolor over time. Very rare are the ones with red or green bakelite handles - often these colors turned black after years of use.

-----when you absolutely have to find a Wi-Fi spot at the Anaheim Convention Center, while attending LA WorldCon, to check on what is going on at eG, and, turn down an invitation to join a discussion group with two authors because catching up on some interesting eG discussions seems more important at the moment. and............ when you are able to give several people reports on restaurants in L.A. by pulling up chrisamirault's thread on L.A. (and Anaheim) restaurants, including the fantastic Mayflower Seafood place. As they read the reviews, there were "Wows" and "Look at This One!" exclamations and finally the flip of a coin to decide. The convention lasted 5 days and most people came for a week since both the Hilton and the Marriott had offered Disneyland packages in addition to reduced rates for convention attendees. I also sent two couple to Mi Ama in Hawthorne, recallling Chris Cognac's recommendations and the notes on the group dinner in July '04. I pulled up the Culinary Detective website and it too was carefully perused and many notes taken.

I am bumping this topic up because I came across this immersion blender in the new Frontgate catalog. Wolfgang Puck immersion blender The 5-cup chopper bowl is larger than most others, the stem is longer and detaches for cleaning. At $69.50 it is more expensive than some but it does have more power 550 watt, than the less expensive ones and the comparable (without the accessories) Bamix is $99.00. This appears to be a good buy. I have ordered one of these to replace one of mine that suffered an accident. It was left on the counter next to the barbecue hood and now has a rather free-form or abstract shape. I thought it best not to plug it in......

I am happy with the panini grill I have, however when I saw this I wondered if the results would make it worth the expense. I do collect "vintage" toasters and some modern ones of unusual design, but I am not really sure this would fall into the category of pure toaster. A Panini toaster Has anyone had any experience with this particular appliance, or seen one used?

The Frontgate Catalog that arrived in today's mail has the Aerogarden for 149.00 and additional seed packets for 19.50. Aerogarden at Frontgate However, I think that this tabletop system or these rolling plant stands. are a better buy. One of the docs in my office has one of these in his condo. Topys-Turvy tomato grower I just have one of the hanging fixtures over the tub in a spare bathroom that I use to start some seedlings. I have a greenhouse but I hate working out there late at night in the winter when it gets dark so early.

One of my favorite fall dishes is bratwurst, cut into chunks, seared briefly, then add 1/2 cup of apple cider, cover and steam for 12-15 minutes, uncover, allow some of the liquid to reduce. Add sliced or coarsely chopped apples, and continue cooking until the apples have just begun to soften. You still want some crunch. If you want them softer, cover for 3-5 minutes. You can sprinkle in some fresh chopped taragon, if you wish. The bratwurst I buy is already seasoned so I rarely add anything else but you can add whatever you like. I have also been known to toss in 1/2 a cup of chutney (whatever type I have on hand) before adding the apples. This is excellent served with potato pancakes, with cornmeal waffles or even buckwheat waffles.

I agree with Paul. I have a lot of knives but have never purchased a set. I have Global, Furi, F. Dick, Wusthoff, Check this thread about knives. You should go into a shop that sells good knives and feel how the handles fit your hand, and also how they balance because a knive that is not "fitted" properly will cause your hand and arm to tire much faster than one that fits you well. Think about how you will use the knife, because different types of blades are held differently and therefore balance differently. A heavy chef's knife is held so differently from a thin-bladed slicing knife (as you would use for salmon) that the shape and girth of the handle are not at all alike. This is also true for paring knives of various shapes and sizes. If you scroll down the list of topics, all having to do with knives, you will find extensive discussions on choosing knives, finding knives and who likes what. Knives are a very personal item, what works for one person will be totally inappropriate for another. I have fairly large hands for a woman and use some knives that have heftier handles that would be uncomfortable for many women to use. I have a friend who has huge hands and has to wrap the handles of his knives in rubber tape so he can grasp them efficiently. (6'8" wears a size 16 shoe) His business partner is 5'7" and has hands smaller than mine. Needless to say, they have completely separate knife collections. Take your time looking and feeling. Good knives are a significant investment and can last for more than one lifetime if properly maintained.

I should add that I prever the Mrs. Grass Onion Soup Mix, lower sodium. Mrs. Grass soup mixes I have tried the Knorr and Maggi as well as Lipton and I like this one much better. Smart & Final has had one in a larger container that is quite good but I can't recall the brand. It isn't Lipton.

I use it when I make the "Sweep Steak" that did indeed appear in Peg Bracken's "I Hate To Cook Book", using a 7-bone or chuck roast the mix and wrapping the meat tightly in foil (doubled) and roasting in a 250 degree F. oven for 3 - 3 1/2 hours depending on size. It can be shredded or pulled apart with two forks so is perfect for sandwiches. I also use it in one of my meatloaf recipes with the addition of some teriyaki sauce. Ditto the chip mix. I also add it to a 7-grain cereal mix to prepare it as a side dish instead of a breakfast cereal. I dilute it with twice the amount of water called for in making "soup" and cook homemade fresh tortelloni or ravioli in it for people who do not like tomato-based gravy or sauce. And then, there is this cookbook!

I have a great little cookbook I bought almost 40 years ago. "Food That Really Schmecks" by Edna Staebler. This book is going to be released in paperback on October 1, 2006. It is available via pre-order on Amazon.

Cheese, yogurt, (and butter) can be made from the milk of most grass eating mammals, which also includes antelope, giraffe, and wildebeest. Getting the wild ones to hold still for milking is the major problem with some. The ancient Egyptians made cheese from camel's milk and the process is depicted on tomb paintings from the 3rd dynasty, more than 4000 years ago. The Mongols made all kids of dairy foods from mare's milk, in fact, they often lived exclusively on it while on long treks. The Lapplanders make reindeer cheese - caribou also produce sufficient quantities of milk. In the Andes, in South America cheese is made from llama milk. This page notes the animals that have been used to produce milk and milk products.

You can cook it longer and check it periodically by dribbling a little on a saucer (I use a Pyrex custard cup) and to hasten the test, put the bottom of the saucer or cup in cold water. Once it mounds slightly when dropped and moves slowly when the cup is tipped, it should be set. Or, if desperate, or nearly so, you can use Melinda Lee's recipe for "Liquid Cement" Which, I guarantee, will cause any fruit mixture to set, including apricot / pineapple preserves which are notorious for remaining runny.

There have been no Sumeet mills available in the U.S. since April. Some of the vendors that were carrying them no longer have them on their websites - they are selling different machines under the names: Butterfly, Premier, Preethi, Revel Wet and Dry, Rico and a couple of others. Look for Indian kitchen appliances. Or look for "Mixie" or Wet Grinders Bombay Limited is one vendor. This is another.

Polenta should work okay, however you will get a better texture if the size of the particles varies just a bit as stone ground cornmeal is not uniform in size. You can take a little of your polenta, half a cup will be enough, and put it into a blender (if you have one) and pulse it once or twice and mix it back into the polenta. This little bit of finer stuff will give you a texture that is closer to the "real" stuff. I did an instructional photo essay on cornbread in This thread. This is of course taking it to extremes but the recipe is for "southern" type cornbread which is very different from the cake-like cornbread common in other parts of the US. There are many variations to the basic cornbread. Adding crisp bacon bits to the batter gives it a wonderful flavor. I often add both bacon bits and chopped mild green chiles (sometimes the hotter ones) to the batter. A little grated hard cheese will not change the texture too much - Asiago is excellent. Some people do like a sweeter cornbread and add sugar - one can also add honey or maple syrup but not too much or the cooking time will be off as this also adds moisture. Up to 2 tablespoons is okay. Baking in a deeper, narrower pan will require a bit longer cooking time, baking in a shallower, wider pan needs less time and you do get more crust, which is often desirable. Do experiment, I don't think you will be disappointed.

How about this? It was in another topic also.

By the way, with the waterproof pad, you can put a folded, damp towel on the pad and set your pan or bowl on top of that and will get much higher humidity under the "hood" and this will help to keep the surface of the dough flexible and allow it to stretch - particularly with the heavier doughs, such as rye, whole wheat, and the Struan dough noted in Peter Reinhart's books. Peter Reinhart's blog.

Interesting product, andiesenji. The website says it keeps a consistent temp of 98-101. A bit off-topic here, but that sounds like the ideal temperature for slow-melting chocolate and keeping it in temper. Any experience with this? ← I have used it for keeping pulled sugar flexible - I also have used it to keep pizelle and rice wafers from setting up too rapidly so I have time to shape them. I lined it with one of the large Silpat sheets, drizzled melted sugar onto it and then rolled the "lace" into a cylinder. I also used it once for making a large batch of yogurt I needed for a variety of frozen yogurt desserts. I used an extra large SS roasting pan simply covered with plastic wrap (I use the large rolls of commercial stuff that is heavier than the regular Saran wrap). It is made so that it will not get any hotter - dogs and puppies have a higher body temp than humans. What feels fairly warm to us is normal for them.

The recipe for Dulce de Leche in RecipeGullet can be made with 100% goat milk - then it is truly cajeta.