andiesenji

Not a problem, they can easily be done "whole" - however it takes some prep. You get a better, and more rapid, result it you remove the core, or rather punch a hole in the center from the stem end to the blossom end. The easiest way to do this is to use one of the "leave-in" oven meat thermometers with a round dial that is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. I place the dial face down so the probe sticks up and push the fruits down on the point. This is a lot safer than trying to hold the fruit and punching something through it. (I speak from experience that running a very sharp ice pick into the palm is no fun at all! ) The process is easier if you have a crockpot. Mix up enough "light" simple syrup, (equal parts, sugar and water) place the fruit and syrup in the crockpot, so the fruit is covered with some extra liquid - the fruit will float. Turn it to high until the syrup is bubbling then reduce it to low. Cover and allow it to simmer gently in the syrup for about 6 hours. Turn off the crockpot and allow it to cool completely. Turn the crockpot on again, top up the syrup if needed and cook it on low for another 6 hours. Cool completely. Repeat this process three more times and if you leave it cooling for an entire day, that is okay too. Keep adding syrup as needed to keep the fruit completely covered. The syrup will get thicker and thicker. At the end of the fifth process, remove one or two fruits from the syrup and set on a rack to drain. The fruit should look sort of translucent and very shiny. Cut one into pieces and taste. If the texture and flavor is the way you want, remove the rest of the fruit from the syrup, drain on a rack set in a sheet pan for at least 24 hours. Having a fan blow air over them will speed up the drying process. If they are not candied all the way through, just repeat the above process for an additional 1, 2 or 3 sessions. Only the largest fruits should need this long. It will take at least two days until the surface is just slightly tacky. Now place some granulated sugar, as coarse as you can find, into a shallow container and add a few fruits at a time, shake them around until they are well coated. It is best to allow them to continue to dry for a couple of days on parchment paper. Store in a tightly closed glass jar. Do not store in plastic bags.

There are vending machines that sell individual fruits, apple, orange, banana, pear, at the hospital next door to my office. Since the cafeteria is only open certain hours and some people may forget to bring a snack, this helps those working the night hours to get through.

I fry chicken livers, dredged in flour, until they have a bit of a crunchy coating, nicely browned (preferably fried in bacon drippings) then sliced or chopped. I stir the liver and a bit of the fat into cooked coarse Scottish or steel-cut oats, along with some chopped scallions or even some grilled or carmelized onions. If some is left over, no problem, I form it into patties and fry them (also in bacon drippings) and serve piping hot with a dollop of sour cream on top.

For just smashing garlic, I use the flat side of a broad knife. However, when I want to crush and pulp it, along with chiles, ginger, palm sugar, and the other stuff I include in sambals and chile paste, I use a suribachi. I have several mortars of various sizes but the suribachi, with its ridges, just makes the process so easy. I generally begin by grating ginger against the sides, partly to get the pulp and also for the juice. After than I toss in the garlic then add the other things as I work the mixture into the consistence I want.

All this talk of butter is getting to me. I am going to leave the computer, go out to the kitchen and make a batch of cornbread. I need this, we have a Pacific storm coming in and it is cloudy and gloomy and comfort food is acutely necessary.

How about fruit jellies or something like Turkish delight. A completely different texture and appearance to the other items.

johnnyd, Render some suet and try frying potatoes in it, either sliced or cut in wedges. You don't need al lot of fat, you can use it for deep-frying but I simply scrub potatoes, Yukon Golds are especially good, cut them into slices or wedges, dry them well with paper towels then transfer them to a cast iron skillet in two layers, if sliced, one layer if wedges, with about 1/2 inch of fat. When the edges of the slices begin to brown, I try to turn the potatoes in batches, about 1/4 of the skillet at a time but with a smaller skillet and a larger turner, it is possible to turn the entire batch at once. The second side will probably cook faster because the potatoes are hot. When they first go into the skillet, they are cool and will cool the fat a little. I like them very brown and crusty, but you have to fix yours the way you like. I don't think you will be sorry. I think the reason that French Fries in restaurants do not taste the way they used to is because they are no longer fried in beef fat. Back in the '50s, in Wisconsin, my step-dad's sister managed a Howard Johnson's and I know for a fact that their French Fries, fish, clams and other deep-fried items were fried in a mixture of beef fat and lard that came in 10-gallon cans.

I have one of those and it doesn't work as well as the ones with the normal sized pestle. There is zero room between the mortar and pestle and if you try to grind anything, it works its way out of the bowl. The only thing I use it for is to crush pills for my dogs, it works fine for that if I only smash one or two.

I found a can in my storeroom that has been in there a long time, perhaps two years, and when opened it was what I consider a normal color, creamy, off-white. I live in the soCalif desert and summertime temps can be 115, sometimes higher, and although my house is air-conditioned, the storeroom, between the house and garage, is not. There is another unopened can from the same batch and I will leave that for at least several months and see if it changes. When we found the two odd cans in the case at the bakery, we didn't even consider that it might be a packaging error, we thought the stuff was spoiled and contacted the company. They replied with the explanation about the mix-up on the line and identified the stuff by the numbers stamped on the bottom of each can becaue they were very different from the numbers on the regular stuff. This case had been delivered only a couple of days prior to use.

I never gave up on butter. I never trusted the "artificial" stuff, it may have a base of corn oil but has to be chemically and mechanically manipulated to make it solid. In recent years there has been a lot of research shows that hydrogenated stuff is of more concern than natural butter. As far as cholesterol is concerned, I have always believed it is genetics more than consumption that determines the levels. I eat a high cholesterol diet but my tests have never showed it higher than 180, usually below 150. Many of my ancestors lived extremely long lives.

Here is a photo of a few gadgets and etc., acquired since early December '05. Some were gifts, some were purchased. Top left is a little weighted recipe card holder which will hold a full sheet of paper if it is at least 24# thickness. Below that is a "Citrus utensil for peeling, zesting and striping citrus. A ring-pull lid-lifter with a magnet to hold onto the lid (assuming it is steel). Next is a silicone honey dispenser and it is great, the honey comes off of it cleanly. Next are some heavy-duty stainless steel clips for holding bags closed, etc. Next is a set of Food Loops, silicone cords that are perfect for holding stuff together while cooking (or marinating, or whatever.) In the center is the butter keeper which I mentioned in an earlier post. Below that is a peeler for tough or thick-skinned things like squash, eggplant and similar things. Below that is a new whisk with a loose ball of wires and a solid ball inside that which is supposed to agitate better. At lower left is a new jar of Sicilian sea salt, a wet salt. Next is super-fine Velvet de Guerande salt that is almost as finely ground as flour and has a sort of buttery mouth-feel. Next is a wood salt box that has a pivoting top. And last is a veggie scrubber mitt or small things such as several baby potatoes can go inside and be scrubbed under running water.

This site household product chemicals Has a lot of information on various toxicity levels.

Kidney suet usually looks like lumpy or even crumbly fat, almost pure white and it is that way when it is trimmed away from the kidney and surrounding tissue. Once rendered it is liquid but solidifies as it cools, chilling in the refrigerator makes it a solid. It is never hydrogenated. Plain fresh lard is rendered from "leaf" lard and is not usually hydrogenated because it is naturally a "plastic" fat, that is, solid at room temp. Liquid vegetable fat is hydrogenated to make it solid.

Sorry that I didn't see your post earlier: Here is an authentic Mexican recipe as made by Mrs. Obregon, my neighbor, who loves her slow-cooker which she says is muy sympatico. DULCE DE LECHE - SLOW COOKER 1 Mexican (or other) vanilla bean, split lengthwise 2 cups regular goat milk, do not use low fat 2 cups regular milk 1 2/3 cups cane sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in ¼ cup water Mix the milk together in a quart measure. Pour 3 cups of the milk (refrigerate the remaining cup) into the slow cooker and add the vanilla bean and sugar and turn heat control to high and mix with a whisk to make sure the sugar has dissolved. As soon as the mixtue has warmed to about 140 degrees, add the water with the baking soda and whisk again. Do not cover the cooker. Continue cooking for about 8 hours, gently stirring about every 2 hours. Remove the vanilla bean, wash it and set it aside to dry and stick it into your sugar canister to flavor the sugar. Meanwhile, with a silicone high temp spatula, scrape down the crust that has formed on the sides and stir it into the mixture. If foam forms do not remove it, simply stir down into the mixture. Reduce the temperature to medium and continued cooking. Stir occasionally, about every 15-20 minutes until the mixture has thickened, it should pour like honey. This should take about 2 hours. Near the end of this time, warm the remaining cup of milk in a small saucepan then stir into the mixture in the slow cooker. Mix well and transfer to a sterilized quart jar and place the cap lightly on the jar, do not seal. Allow it to cool to room temperature then tighten cap and refrigerate. It will keep for three months in the refrigerator. P.S. I have added this to RecipeGullet

Are you sure about the dye and fragrance-free dawn? I scoured the website and found no mention of it. ← I can only assume it was discontinued. We had a bottle under the sink for awhile, it was the first colorless one that I had seen. My housekeeper preferred the dark blue/purple one that has also been discontinued but we still have a big container of that under the sink which is transferred to a pump-type bottle for use. I think they have tried several types, some were not successful and are no longer on the shelf. There was also a pink one a couple of years ago.

It all began with me collecting antique odd kitchen gadgets that someone had invented for some particular purpose, that may have been just the thing "way back when" but now have no obvioius purpose. Then I began picking up kitchen utensils with bakelite handles and gadgets that were not so much antique as "vintage" and ones that were funny or cute. Word got around among my friends and I think that some of them began having a contest to see who could come up with the most unusual or newest or even least useful wierdities to give me. These were always sort of joke gifts, in addition to the normal gift. For instance, the butter keeper was wrapped up and inside it was a gift card for Trader Joe's, the "real" gift. However I too buy gifts for friends who collect various things. One friend collects figural salt and pepper shakers and has over 6000 sets. During the past 20 years I have probably bought her at least a hundred sets, from a hula dancer with a palm tree to an aluminum nut and bolt. She has souvenir shaker sets from every state, including an Eskimo and an igloo from 1959 when Alaska became a state. One walks into her kitchen/breakfast room and there are all these little shelves, with little eyes staring at one from all around the room. There have been a lot of very odd salt and pepper shakers produced over the years and my collection of oddities pales in comparison to some of the shakers she has on display.

Dulce de leche from scratch This is an authentic dulce de leche recipe that tastes incredible. It is perfect for the Tres Leche cake Here is an authentic Mexican recipe as made by Mrs. Obregon, my neighbor, who loves her slow-cooker which she says is muy sympatico. DULCE DE LECHE - SLOW COOKER 1 Mexican (or other) vanilla bean, split lengthwise 2 cups regular goat milk, do not use low fat 2 cups regular milk 1 2/3 cups cane sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in ¼ cup water Mix the milk together in a quart measure. Pour 3 cups of the milk (refrigerate the remaining cup) into the slow cooker and add the vanilla bean and sugar and turn heat control to high and mix with a whisk to make sure the sugar has dissolved. As soon as the mixtue has warmed to about 140 degrees, add the water with the baking soda and whisk again. Do not cover the cooker. Continue cooking for about 8 hours, gently stirring about every 2 hours. Remove the vanilla bean, wash it and set it aside to dry and stick it into your sugar canister to flavor the sugar. Meanwhile, with a silicone high temp spatula, scrape down the crust that has formed on the sides and stir it into the mixture. If foam forms do not remove it, simply stir down into the mixture. Reduce the temperature to medium and continued cooking. Stir occasionally, about every 15-20 minutes until the mixture has thickened, it should pour like honey. This should take about 2 hours. Near the end of this time, warm the remaining cup of milk in a small saucepan then stir into the mixture in the slow cooker. Mix well and transfer to a sterilized quart jar and place the cap lightly on the jar, do not seal. Allow it to cool to room temperature then tighten cap and refrigerate. It will keep for three months in the refrigerator. ( RG1636 )

I use Dawn, they have one that is dye and fragrance-free. They also now have one with bleach - and they have a super heavy-duty grease remover dish soap that comes in a large container at Smart & Final. I don't notice any fragrance except soap in it.

I've always associated that behavior with teenaged boys! You mean they don't outgrow it? ← I remember that! It is as if they open the fridge door and immediately go into a fugue state, contemplating the universe or some such. My problem is trekking out to the kitchen from my office, a fairly long way, then not remembering what I intended to do when I got there. We call it the "Old-Timer's syndrome" - the only thing to do is turn around and retrace my steps. I usually remember what it was before I get back to the office but sometimes it remains a mystery until I sit down at my desk. I am going to start writing notes to myself on the computer and check the computer in the kitchen (networked) if I can't remember when I get there. I comfort myself that in any event I am getting a little exercise.

... I have ordered a neat butter "knife" that was shown on HGTV's "I Want That!" on Wed. evening. Not that I really "need" it, but I think it is a rather clever addition to my collection of oddities. Measuring butter knife ← That is really neat, Andie. I had a magnetic butter measuring thingie but the hatch marks wore off in very short order. This looks a lot more likely to be durable. Thanks for sharing. ← I was given a measuring butter dish for Christmas which I have yet to use, but it too is very clever, as it has measurements for both the long skinny quarters and the shorter fat ones. It also has a silicone "gasket" to keep the butter airtight. I was going to take a photo of it but the battery in my camera needs charging. It is This one. This is the same company that makes the onion chopper, the bread keeper, silicone whisks, all kinds of microwave accessories. I don't know where it was purchased, I can't find it online. I just did a search for Progressive.

My housekeeper just reminded me that you can also get pieces of soapstone from places that supply kitchen countertops. My contractor showed us several pieces of granite and a slab of soapstone in his truck that were left over from cutting out holes for sinks. He had gotten them from the countertop place, in exchange for some work, and planned on setting them in concrete to make a patio table. I admired the soapstone because that particular piece was a very pretty pale sage green.

Slate is not stable in high heat, flakes will pop off. Quarry tile is manufactured and is heat stable. 1/2 thick firebrick (used to line fireplaces) will also work, simply take a sheet pan that fits your oven along with you and fit them into it. There are several types of manufactured stones that work very well and are completely heat stable. Check these at Amazon. I use one of the round ones in my Sharp convection/microwave oven - the 15 inch round just fits the metal revolving tray. I have a Hearthkit for my big oven but haven't used it in a while. If you want something that is a natural stone and if there is a monument place in your area (gravestones) call and see if they have any thin (1 to 1 1/2 inch) slabs of soapstone, it is heat stable.

No, the last email I received said it was back ordered and would be shipped 1/26/06. This was from a different link than the one I went to when I orginally ordred it (I think it was the Metropolitan Museum shop). My credit card has not been charged so I don't know what is up with it. I hesitate to place the order again, I don't want two of the things! I have ordered a neat butter "knife" that was shown on HGTV's "I Want That!" on Wed. evening. Not that I really "need" it, but I think it is a rather clever addition to my collection of oddities. Measuring butter knife

I don't always soak beans, in fact, I usually don't think about making beans until it is too late to soak them. So I use a similar method to that mentioned above. I have an Instahot water dispenser. I pick over the bean, rinse them in a colander then dump them into a thick crock that holds the heat well, add hot water to cover plus a half inch or so and let them "soak" for 20 to 30 minutes then transfer to a pot and onto the stove. Depending on how fresh the beans are they will be done in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. However if the beans are old, they will never soften, soaked or not, no matter how long your cook them. So be sure they haven't been hanging around in your cupboard for over a year.

Some of the younger generation apparently don't understand that sometimes the old ways of doing things still work quite well and may even produce a superior result. I have some new neighbors down the road and one of my long time neighbors brought the lady of the house and one of her daughters to my house this morning for an introduction. She said "Andie is our local go-to person if anyone needs help with a recipe or cooking equipment, etc." The daughter looked around my kitchen and said "But all of your stuff is so OLD!", indicating a couple of cast iron pots and an old crock sitting on the counter. I told her that I too am old, but just because something or someone is old doesn't mean it or they can't work well. I fixed them tea, using my favorite two-pot method, with loose tea, took a pan of scones out of the oven (strictly serendipity, I had no idea I would have company) and told the girl how easy it was to make scones from "scratch" - not using a mix. However she apparently had never seen any except in a package or at Starbucks. I don't know if I made any impression on her but the mom was fascinated by the home made clotted cream and the tea. She said she didn't know tea was available except in tea bags! Even though I have a lot of tea kettles, I simply used the water from the Instahot dispenser for the tea. Some modern things are better.............