andiesenji

Wha?? Please explain. I haven't seen this, or at least I don't think I have. I'm having a hard time imagining canned raisin bread. ← Like this. I haven't had that since I was a kid--make my own now. ← And so good with cream cheese!

The Everclear is for flavorings. The higher alcohol content extracts more flavor from herbs, spices, fruits and etc., than lower concentrations.

I am a fan of many canned foods. As well as the ones listed by Chufi and others, I have quite a few "ethnic" and "exotic" foods that are not available in any other form. Coconut milk is especially important because I use it in many recipes. All type of beans are an important staple and again, some from other countries aren't available fresh or frozen, except in very limited areas. On another note. Because I live in an earthquake zone, where there is a possibility of losing power, gas and water, I have one section of my pantry that has "emergency" rations, including canned whole chicken in addition to other canned meats, soups, stews and other things that can simply be heated on a camp stove or even on a Sterno stove. I agree that canned tomatoes have much better flavor than the fresh "pretty but tasteless" supermarket tomatoes. (Wish we could get the "Uglies" here.) Canned broth and stock is not as good as the stuff I cook myself, but it is instantly available and is better than frozen that has not been sealed properly and gets that awful "freezer burn" flavor. Diced green chiles (the mild ones) are always available in my pantry. Olives, especially the black ones or the green ripe "Graber" olives which are not available in any other form.

In a word, it is lovely! Or maybe that is loverly. In any event, it is definitely drool-worthy.

I would also hesitate before selecting Sub-Zero. I had the twin set, refrigerator and freezer and they were a tree full of lemons. If anything could go wrong it did. Compressor on the freezer was replaced 3 times in 8 years, on the fridge, twice. Soon after I got them, the interior of the refrigerator developed a crack on the interior wall in the back corner. I noticed a dark streak, took everything out and when I wiped it my cloth stuck in the crack. They replaced the entire unit but I was never happy with them. At one time they were very reliable but have gone downhill in the past several years. I have a friend who lives in Belleville, New Jersey and who has found appliances at a scrath and dent place somewhere not too far from her home. I am not familiar with the area so have no idea if it is close to New York or not. She is in Florida visiting her mom right now and her son doesn't know where she bought her stuff. He said he would give her a message to call me but I am not going to hold my breath. You might check yellow pages for the area.

The reason Jason hasn't made this in 7-8 years, is because it fits the worst dish for the results/tasting reason, and I haven't let him make it since the first time he did! Maybe we'll try Jinmyo's version. ← A similar dish, called, I believe, "Pedro's Special", was one of the popular recipes in Peg Bracken's first cookbook, the "I Hate To Cook Book" and it was a regular Thursday night dish in a lot of homes in the neighborhood in which I then lived. The aroma wafted out of each house as I jogged by with my great danes. Another was the "Sweep Steak", the chuck steak coated with dry onion soup mix, wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted at a low temperature for a long time until it literally fell apart. Although I loved to cook, I loved reading her cookbook because of the humor and some of the recipes were not bad at all, and all were easy. Even her chapter titles were funny. One was something like "Thirty Day by Day Recipes, or The Rock Pile". One advantage of this recipe and others were that the kids loved them, there were no "mystery" ingredients to prompt an "eweeew, what's this stuff?" It wasn't haute cuisine but it was satisfying.

I love this dish. I make angelhair pasta just for this and I have to have a certain type of garlic. The purple hard neck variety which is difficult to find sold commercially, unless you have a market gardener who grows it, so I began growing my own. I agree with the pecorino, to me it has more "bite" than romano - however I have an aged Asiago which is nearly as good. What brand of olive oil do you use? ← Carapelli regular. I suppose I should try others. I save my Extra Virgin for salads. I should try the Asiago for a change of pace. Parmesan never really clicked with me for this dish. Mmmm, purple hard neck garlic. Haven't had that in a while. I'm just starting on my last head (white) from the last local Farmers' Market of the season back in Oct. It's getting a bit old but still works. Do you add hot pepper, either fresh or dried? I switch back & forth depending on what I've got. ← I rarely add hot pepper to this dish. I did swipe a hot yellow hungarian pepper through the oil on one occasion and it was okay, but just didn't have the flavor that I love.

A brief note about round vs. square containers. The round containers are stronger because of basic physics. If you drop a sqare container, no matter how strong, and it is filled with something heavy or liquid, chances are it will land on a corner and crack. I like square containers for the space-saving also, but with long experience I have learned the round ones are the best and they seal more tightly than the square ones.

I am home again, after a day and a half of babysitting at someone else's home. I had planned to start a batch of confit today but this damm duck is still frozen solid after 2 1/2 days in the refrigerator. Apparently they were flash-frozen with an ice glaze, but whatever, this one doesn't seem to want to thaw. I may have to resort to running cold water in a container but hate to do this as I feel it degrades the meat. For now it is just going to have to continue to occupy one of the refrigerator drawers all by itself. The flesh looks very dark, almost blue, under the skin. The little that is exposed where the neck was cut is a deep maroon color.

As long I live, I'll remember a piece of advice given to me when I visited very, VERY rural upstate NY in the fall. "Allan, if you go out walking, try to look as little like game as possible". no comment. :) ← I can relate by personal experience. I have a large scar where my left thigh meets my hip where I was shot while deer hunting when I was 16. We were on private land, and there should have been no other hunters around. Fortunately the shot came from a great distance as it was a 30:30 slug and didn't do any serious damage. Actually the doctor who removed it did more damage than the shot itself. Another fortunate thing was that it was near zero (Wisconsin) and I didn't bleed much initially. I was wearing bright orange!!! ← Andie, you forgot to shout "I! Am! Not! A! Dear!!! I! Am! Not! Venison! I Am A Human Being!!!!!" Might have worked... ← Which is why cows have the word cow painted on them during deer season. ← Unfortunately some of the idiots who go out hunting become infected with "buck fever" which renders them unable to read or comprehend anything other than something moving (or not moving for that matter) needs to be shot at. Besides the house in town, my folks in Wisconsin also had a miniscule farm with a big old farmhouse (built in 1901) with a couple of life-size bronze deer in the front yard. I can't begin to calculate how many times we heard a bullet hit those deer, particularly during the holidays when we had garlands of greenery and lights strung between them and over them. They were at the bottom of a slope below the house, with a wall at the top of the slope, otherwise the house would probably have been struck many times also. My stepdad used to go out on the porch and fire a 12 guage into the air to discourage shooters. He had calculated just where to aim so that the bird shot would patter onto the tops of cars and trucks. With the way the front of the house was built, standing in front of the fireplace wall, it made a huge BOOM that sounded more like a cannon that a shotgun. That tended to discourage unwanted visitors, but also scared the cows down in the barn, with the usual results.

when might we expect that invitation? ← When are you going to be at this end of the country?

I love this dish. I make angelhair pasta just for this and I have to have a certain type of garlic. The purple hard neck variety which is difficult to find sold commercially, unless you have a market gardener who grows it, so I began growing my own. I agree with the pecorino, to me it has more "bite" than romano - however I have an aged Asiago which is nearly as good. What brand of olive oil do you use?

Of course, if you really want the ultimate definitive answer (or a multitude of answers), you could simply visit The Cat-Tea Corner and subscribe to TeaMail, the email Tea discussion group, and get numerous answers from people who are dedicated to "The Perfect Cup" in all its various manifestations. Just as there are many professionals here on eG, there are also a great many who are members of TeaMail. And should you wonder, order is properly maintained. There is absolutely no name-calling, bad language or flaming allowed. Those who refuse to abide by the rules are summarily removed. I enjoy it almost as much as I enjoy eG! I think they compliment each other.

Or shorten one's life. My great grandmother lived to be almost 105 and drank tea every day of her life, morning, afternoon and evening. She was also very picky about the way it was served, being a proper Victorian lady and extremely fond of good food and better tea.

For black and oolong teas, I prefer the 2-pot method as that way the tea does not "stew" it is the way I learned as a child in a very British household. Your tea measurements are correct, The best way is to fill the pot with water to within an inch or so of the top, then pour it into a measure and see how much it holds. Most teacups are 6 oz but most mugs are larger so this way you know exactly how much the pot holds and can figure accordingly for the number of people you want to serve. First measure the appropriate amount of tea into a dry dish or cup. Have two pots of the same size. Boil enough water to fill one of the pots plus enough to heat the pots. When the water is boiling, pour some into each pot. Swirl it around in the first pot and pour out. Add the dry tea to the pot, fill the pot with the water and stir briefly with a spoon to make sure all the leaves are moistenend. Set your timer for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea and cover the pot with a towel or a cozy if you have one. Meanwhile swirl the water around in the second pot and discard. Place a strainer over the opening and as soon as the timer sounds, pour the brewed tea into the new pot. Cover this pot with the cozy to maintain heat and serve. Tea made this way will not "stew" and become too strong to drink. I have tried many of the infusers and have yet to find one that allows the tea to infuse as it should. The leaves swell as they soak up the water and the water does not circulate well throughout the tea leaf mass. Try both ways and see if you don't notice a difference. I certainly can.

I use Cambro containers as they are inexpensive, last for years and many have interchangeable lids. I probably have over a hundred. Here are just a few. In the photo you can see a range of sizes from 1 quart to 22 quarts/20 +liters and just about every size in between. I also have a few of the clear square acrilic Cambro containers for certain things, such as pickles and soaking mustard seeds so I can see how they look as they are "working". I still have the first one I ever bought, probably now nearing 20 years old. I buy mine at Smart & Final, I have not found a better price anywhere. You can see here what they cost. Compared to Tupperware they are dirt cheap! Cambro round containers The 1 quart size in on the previous page at the very bottom. The square containers are more expensive.

I have used agar agar, xanthene gum and other compounds for jelling candies but I have no information if they are kosher.

You are so right! When I had my kitchen extended and remodeled I had both incentives and penalties included in the contract. Of course I had spent months getting everything that was going into the kitchen, appliances, fixtures, cabinets, countertops, flooring, etc., and putting all of it in storage, except for the lumber/pipes/wiring provided by the builder, etc., but everything else was on hand when they started. They finished a week early and got a substantial bonus which meant that the hourly workers got the wages they would have received had they worked the additional week plus extra. They did a terrific job and cleaned up as they went so that there was no residual mess.

My local health food store sells a kosher product identified as fish gelatin made from kosher fish. I haven't tried it myself but one of my friends uses it for preparing a tomato aspic. Her family is Orthodox so I assume it is okay. I an not at home so have no access to the information in my computer and I don't have her phone number with me so can't call her to get the name. I believe it come from Israel.

I pulse them 5 or 6 times, perhaps a couple of more pulses if there are big chunks hanging about. I have been doing them that way for years, never had a problem. If they are larger than the ones shown in the photos I cut them into halves or quarters. They should all be about the same size to start. I wish I was home now so that I could have some on toast under a poached egg.

First of all I would invite you for brunch. In preparation I would make some fresh duck sausage which is excellent for breakfast or brunch. I would have prepared ahead of time one of my special bread puddings in a large, deep loaf pan. This would be sliced in 3/4 inch thick slices and placed on a griddle on top of browned butter. Prior to turning it to cook the top side, I would brush it with cream and sprinkle with granulated maple sugar which, after turning it over, would form a carmelized crispy crust on top of the "mock" French toast. This way it needs no syrup to make it soggy. The center is like custard under the carmelized maple sugar crust. Since this is something I originated I do consider it a "signature" dish. With fresh fruits in season, this is a simple, yet satisfying morning meal.

As long I live, I'll remember a piece of advice given to me when I visited very, VERY rural upstate NY in the fall. "Allan, if you go out walking, try to look as little like game as possible". no comment. :) ← I can relate by personal experience. I have a large scar where my left thigh meets my hip where I was shot while deer hunting when I was 16. We were on private land, and there should have been no other hunters around. Fortunately the shot came from a great distance as it was a 30:30 slug and didn't do any serious damage. Actually the doctor who removed it did more damage than the shot itself. Another fortunate thing was that it was near zero (Wisconsin) and I didn't bleed much initially. I was wearing bright orange!!!

I think that is wonderful Varmint, soonest started, soonest finished. I know we will all be looking forward to reports of the progress, with photos, of course.

Oh goodness, I didn't intend my mention as a criticism, other people mentioned them also. I just wanted to say how surprised I was that people hadn't known of them when I knew of them all my life, particularly when they make a tedious job so much easier. I also use them for cutting into the rind of the odd citrus with very thick skins, such as pomelos and the odd shaped ones such as Buddah's hand, etc. Much easier to control than a regular knife.

To slow the oxidation and keep cooking oils from becoming rancid so rapidly, you can simply make sure the bottles are tightly closed and invert them. This effectively seals the contents away from ambient air as even the tightest closure will allow some air exchange unless vacuum sealed. I have been doing this for years (with the inverted bottles in a container that insures that any small leaks are confined to it and do not anoint the cabinet shelf. They should also be kept away from light as that also tends to degrade the contents. If you buy oil in large containers, transfer a small amount to keep out on the counter for ready use. I also do not see any point of having an excessively high temp oil as when one reaches a certain point the food placed in the oil is incinerated rather than cooked and some foods, containing a certain level of moisture, can virtually explode. If you doubt this, I can give you the name of a person who has a shrimp-shaped burn scar on his left cheek after dumping a handful of raw shrimp in the shell into oil that was much hotter than he thought. Several shrimp were blasted out of the wok and one happened to stick to his cheek long enough to cause a 3rd degree burn.