andiesenji

I won a chili cookoff sometime in the mid-to-late 80s, shortly before I moved up here. There were several baking contests back in the early 80s that I won or placed in the ribbons with various breads and rolls. I won a "dessert made with Knudson heavy whipping cream" contest - it was simply my own lemon curd mixed into whipped cream and served in margarita glasses with a slice of lemon decorating the glass and a tiny bit of lemon zest sprinkled on top with a single mint leaf for contrast. The judges all stood around and watched while I demonstrated how I made my lemon curd (after the contest) and all asked for the recipe. One of my competitors, who had made quite an elaborate dessert, cherries, shaved chocolate and other stuff I can't recall, but came in second, was a bit miffed that my "simple" concoction had won. I also won a hot sauce competition back in the days when the hot sauce enthusiasm was just beginning. I think it was sponsored by Rosarita, but after all these years I can't say for certain. Some of the prizes were cash, the Knudson one was cash and a bunch of vouchers for free dairy products. One of the bread-baking contest prizes was a set of specialty baking pans, cylindar, pullman, French and a covered round pan. I still have them all, although they are now a little beat up. I can't recall any other prizes, nothing memorable.

This recipe is very close to the one I use. The only difference is that mine uses less horseradish, 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup (no garnish) and instead of white wine the liquid is beer, preferably one of the Polish beers such as Perla Pils, which I can usually find at one of the shops that carry international beers.

This is more a knock on my own cooking skills, but I made this soup a few years ago and it was one of the worst things I've ever made. I added too much horseradish and/or cooked it too long maybe? It was harsh and bitter and the whole apartment took on the smell. In fact warming it up the next day I just gagged and threw it out. Is there something to be careful about when cooking horseradish? Does too much or too long cooking make it bitter? I've got a whole fresh root in my fridge and a few ideas about what to do but I'm wary after that last incident. ← Making horseradish soup is tricky, getting the right balance between the other ingredients and the horseradish requires a fine touch. I have made my share of blunders. My favorite and the easiest with which to get a good result, is in a cookbook I have had for many years and is probably out of print. I can't find the cookbook at the moment I think it is one I packed away in storage. It is a Polish cookbook with a separate section on recipes for celebrations as the horseradish soup is traditionally served at Easter - it is considered a spring soup. It is served at the end of Lent and the soup itself is prepared separately then added to the individual serving bowls that contain kielbasa sausage and boiled potatoes, sometimes a wedge of cooked cabbage. The horseradish has to be freshly grated, just prior to adding it to the soup. I will try to find a similar recipe on line and will post the link later.

You could always make a mini terrine with the "extra" foie gras. I sometimes do a few with different flavors at a time - chilled, not baked - as it is one where all the ingredients are already cooked. There are numerous recipes for these, I am sure you must have one. The regular terrine molds are too large but I found that the inexpensive plastic butter servers (the tops only) are just the right size for a mini terrine mold. You can find them in any supermarket. After filling them with plastic wrap lining it. I fold the extra plastic wrap over the top and if there is any free space I fill it with folded paper towel to above the edge, then put the top (bottom) on and either tape it or use heavy rubber bands so it presses tightly. Refrigerated overnight, these are just perfect for brunch or whatever.

Another solution, one that I use, also with the Ziploc bags - to avoid the possibility of the water leaking into the lemons. I buy the glass "marbles" one can get at an acquarium store. Before and after use I put them in a mesh bag (the kind one uses for lingerie) and put it on the top shelf of my dishwasher to make sure they are sterilized. I place these in a ziploc bag and use them to weight everything from lemons to sauerkraut, pickles of various kinds or the lemons in the big jar with sugar which are lightly fermenting. These are very handy. I also use them to weight the bottoms of utensil holders or flatware holders. Being glass, they don't retain flavors or molds and spores.

On the onion confit thread I posted about making my last batch of onion confit with the inclusion of a preserved lemon, rinsed and cut into quarters. The flavor of the onions is wonderful.

There is a good article about pocket doors and how much floor space one gains by using one. article here.

You can always go over to Berkeley and visit Chez Panisse! It isn't that far.

People on eGullet lead such interesting food lives! ← It isn't that interesting. I happen to get a lot of wild game because I prepare game for hunters whose wifes can't or won't learn to fix it. (There are a lot of hunters around my area.) I prepare it so they can take it home, put it in the oven (or however it is to be cooked) and in return I get a portion of the game which could be anything from quail to geese and pheasant and then from deer, elk, moose, wild boar and anything in between. The only think I do not do is bear. One time was enough, took me months to get rid of the aroma. The last of a wild boar was prepared as carnitas with verde sauce for an eG potluck last October. The most exotic thing I have cooked is a swan, not game, this one was raised specifically for the table. I didn't particularly want any part of it but tasted it and it wasn't bad.

First, I don't use orange juice in the syrup because I think it makes a less translucent product and it doesn't get dry enough for coating with granulated sugar for eating out of hand. if you are just using it in cooking, it might be fine, but I have no experience with it. I aim for an appearance of something that looks like stained glass. When I make it, I make it in larger batches, using a Pyrex "visions" Dutch oven, the biggest one. However I have a very large microwave, a 2 cf one. I suggested you make a small batch so you can see if you like the texture of the resulting product, prior to making a larger batch. For the blanching, I simply taste the peel to see if the white part is no longer bitter, is soft and beginning to look slightly translucent instead of completely opaque. In the larger batches I cook it for longer as more liquid volume takes longer to come to a boil. 15-18 minutes for each blanching and 15 minutes for each session in the syrup. I buy large navel oranges, with quite thick skin, if I can find them. I prepare them as a production line. First I top and tail all of them them, cutting off the top and bottom about 1/2 to 3/4 inch from each end, then use a soup spoon with a rouded tip and push down between the flesh and the rind all the way around, both top and bottom until the rind is completely free of the flesh - then I make one vertical cut and open the rind up into a long flat strip which is then easy to cut crosswise into uniform strips. I have found that using this method I can prepare more peel than any other method I have tried over the 40+ years I have been doing this. regarding the syrup, you can use whatever ratio works for you. The traditional candying method is to use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I have found that 1 to 1 works just as well. However, lesser concentrations of sugar does not completely candy the fruit and does not preserve it as well. If you are not going for complete preservation where it can be stored at room temperature, you will probably be okay with a lower ratio of sugar to water but if you are going to hold it for awhile you should probably use more sugar. When I make candied whole fruits I start with a thinner syrup and work through a series of stronger concentrations of sugar because I have learned that I end up with better preservation. The point is to replace much of the liquid in the cells with sugar and that requires a certain concentration in the liquid.

Try making it in the microwave. I have been doing this for some time and find that the flavor is more intense. Try it with just a small amount, one orange will do. cut the peel as usual, put it in at least a 1 quart pyrex bowl or measure - fill with water to the quart measure. put in microwave and depending on the strength of your oven set it for 8 to 10 minutes, enough to get it boiling. let it set for 5 minutes then pour off the water and refill, and repeat the process. If the rind is quite thick, do it a third time and drain. mix your syrup 1 to 1, sugar to water and pour over the peel. Set the timer for 5 minutes (8 for low-power ovens) allow it to rest for 10 minutes set it again for 5 minutes rest for 10 another 5 minutes now allow it to cool completely - microwave for 8 to 10 minutes. The entire piece, including the white part should be translucent and show orange color. Remove from syrup and place on a rack to drain. Save the syrup to make more peel or use it to make zest syrup, cooking grated zest in the syrup and storing in the refrigerator for flavoring ices, ice cream, in salad dressing or marinades, etc.

By the way, and OT, I also do jugged hare, which is quite similar to duck confit in the method of preparation. As are so many of my recipes, this was my great-grandmother's and we had it often when I was a child. We had a great many unusual foods simply because both she and my grandfather as well as my grandmother loved the foods of an earlier era.

Thanks for the info on the Rouen or Rhone ducks. I found more information once I used the Rhone designation. I have one thawing in the refrigerator now, it should be thawed by Saturday and I can decide what to do with most of the bird. I am going to use the usual method for confit with the legs, as I have a lot of duck fat from renderning the fat from the birds that had to be evicted from my big freezer last fall to make room for half a steer. This duck also looks like it has a lot of fat on it and the legs are huge compared to other ducks I have prepared, but I guess they are in proportion to the size and weight of the bird. Conversely the wings are quite small. Obviously these birds were many generations away from being able to fly. They are so different from the wild birds I so often prepare that they might be a completely different species.

One of the reasons I began buying bulk foods and large sizes at places such as Smart & Final and repackaging, is because consumer packages misinformed people. For some items, such as ice cream, it is a problem when one expects to get so many portions from a package and ends up short. For caterers who are handling small jobs where commercial packaging is not optimal, this can be a very costly proposition. I began making my own ice cream simply because I was unhappy with some of the odd ingredients I noted had been added to some products, in particular aspartame to which I have a severe reaction. As far as coffee is concerned, I would rather buy bulk beans by the pound and grind them myself, rather than pay for less in a can of pre-ground, which loses its flavor soon after opening. There has been some local media attention to the subject of lessening the amounts in "standard" packages (while maintaining the size of the outer package), but not so much in the national news. I believe Dateline did a piece on the subject a couple of years ago but there needs to be more reaction by consumers, such as a refusal to be treated as dummies, which seems to be the case. When people complain about the cost of some of the "premium" coffee beans sold by the pound, I point out that if they figured out the cost of one of the canned brands, particularly the one that weighs only 11 ounces (in a regular sized can), it actually cost more per pound than the "premium" coffee. One lady with whom I had such a conversation was standing in the coffee aisle, looking at cans and comparing prices and announcing in a very loud voice, "what a rip-off this is!" The plain fact is that a lot of people do not pay attention unless they are shown where to look to see the information.

Last night I cooked up a batch of my grain/seed mixture. This morning I put some in a container and brought it to work with me. I had intended to heat it with some milk (or half & half) but sadly, there was none in the refrigerator and will be none until one of the other employees comes in about 10. However there was an unopened container of eggnog, sell-by date 01/10, still good. To my one cup of cooked cereal I added 1/2 cup of eggnog, heated it in the microwave for 3 minutes. (Then had to wait more than 10 minutes to taste as it was now approximately the temp of molton lava, or seemed so to me ) It is delicious! I never thought of this combination before, but how appropriate. I have topped unsweetened cereal with butter and a poached egg in the past, but this is something new and very , very good. I must make a note to try this on some folks who love hot cereal and are always looking for new twists on an old subject. I must add that it is a pudding-like consistency.

For your pantry door have you considered a pocket door? When my friends remodeled their kitchen/laundry room and 1/2 bath off the laundry room, they changed the bathroom door to a pocket door which is quite narrow but since there is no hinge offset or frame bumper, the entire doorway is available. It works beautifully and looks nice and there is absolutely no dead space for the door to swing.

I think Joey wins. Back in the 50s, when I lived in Wisconsin for a few years, I did get to try some very old cheeses that were stored at the cheese factory outside of town, (Campbellsport), including some provolone that was hung in 4 foot long forms, (can't call them wheels, but don't know how else to describe them.) Also some gorgonzola and an aged fontina which was the best I have ever tasted - wish I had some now. It was very crumbly and had tiny white specks in it which I associate with very good aged cheddar. The factory manager was a friend and patient of my stepdad and we always had very good cheese. The factory was on my way home from school so I sometimes was instructed to stop and pick up something my stepdad or mom had ordered. We used a lot of their products in my mom's bakery, including whey which was used in one of the breads, sort of like a salt-rising bread that had a very "cheesy" taste. I have bought most of the aged cheeses I have at Bristol Farms markets, here in the L.A. area. More recently I have bought cheeses from The Ideal Chees shop in NYC and from the Gourmet store as they sell some cheeses in full wheels. For Wisconsin cheeses I order from a couple of vendors. This vendor has some lovely cheeses. Some cheeses do not have to be aged and I love Brick cheese which is virtually impossible to find outside of Wisconsin. Theirs is particularly good.

My refrigerators are still stuffed. I spent yesterday making oxtail stew/soup and cooking a tongue. I have a fresh leg of pork in brine (apple juice and cider based brine) which I will cook this evening. Some is for a birthday celebration - a neighbor's granddaughter is turning 15 and they make it a very big deal, sort of like a debut into society. Lots of family and friends, eating, dancing and etc.... Late last night I cooked up a big batch of lemon curd to make little tarts. I fill the baked tarts with the lemon curd, then beat some of the curd half and half with whipped cream to which I add a little lemon zest, for a topping which is sort of like a mousse or bisque. In any event, it is very tasty this way.

We had one of the original GE Toast-R-Ovens in our kitchen in KC, and I remember it rather fondly. I believe Black & Decker still makes this model or a lookalike successor to it. Compared to what else is out there, like that Panasonic gizmo, it's very simple and bare-bones, but it does the job for small stuff. It also does the one thing I think everyone should have a toaster oven for well: make oven-buttered toast. ← The GE Automatic Toast-R-Oven was the best ever made, and still is to this day because it shut off automatically. I was told, when I inquired of Black and Decker, that when GE sold their patents to Black & Decker, they did not include the patents for this appliance and it was no longer produced. I have three, two I bought new, the first one in the late 60s and the second in the mid 70s and the third I picked up at a Goodwill store a few years ago, for a back up. I have all of them rewired for safety by a great appliance shop that does great work. Apparently a lot of people are hanging onto them for dear life because one rarely sees them on ebay when others are quite common. One of the doctors in our office discovered one at a different appliance repair place and since he liked the one I had in the office, he bought it for his home. Like me, he wonders why this is no longer produced as it is fast, neat, has a small footprint and with the little pan that can be used for cooking drippy stuff, it is great for little English muffin pizzas and open-faced melted sandwiches and etc. Since the pans have parted company with some appliances over the years, it is nice to know that the small disposable "biscuit" and "grill" pans made of aluminum foil fit this appliance nicely. When it was first introduced, it was very expensive, far more than the usual toaster ovens, because it was automatic and had variable temperature controls that worked. It was the culmination of several years of GE experimenting and evolving toaster ovens and it was a gem. If you can find one in good condition for a reasonable price, get it and have it rewired by a professional who will also check the rheostat. I guarantee that you will be pleased with it.

I have several whole wheels of cheeses in my cheese fridge (50-55 degrees F constant) that I am experimenting with extended aging. I have taken core samples at long intervals to check if they are still good and if the aging is doing anything. The oldest is an 8 kilo wheel of Bra Duro, an Italian cheese made from cow's milk. It was 2 years old when I bought it in April 1998, so it will be 9 years old in April this year. I checked my notes on tasting it last April and noted the following: Sample slightly crumbly, no change in color in center - deep beige, darker near the rind. Taste very tangy, flavor of walnuts with a hint of butter, perhaps sharper than last tasting. Grated remaining sample to within 1/4 inch of rind. Excellent flavor, better than the 3-year Parmigiano-Reggiano and much better than the 4-year Pecorino Toscano.

I don't think I have ever considered that there could be such a thing as "extra" or "left-over" foie gras. When I prepare it, I am lucky to get it to the table without someone sneaking a bit and if you blink, you missed it.......

I have been following this thread with interest. Just prior to leaving on vacation, one of the pilots from Edwards brought me 6 frozen duck carcasses from someplace he had been on a "mission". Each one has a lable stapled to a foot that says "Rouen Duck" and the weights in pounds and ounces. I assume that since the weights are not metric, these are domestic ducks, however I am unfamilar with this type of duck. They weigh from 9 pounds 2 ounces to 10 pound 4 ounces which is quite large. Actually, they are huge, the size of a goose but with a more compact body and with a very deep and heavy, enlongated breast as well as good-sized legs and the feet are very bright orange, sort of a pumpkin color. If anyone is familiar with this type of duck, I would appreciate some information before I thaw one out and start working on it.

Check with the Mexican carnicerias. This morning I got some beautiful meaty beef neck bones and also other bones very cheap. They will get veal bones on request. I also get goat meat and the bones which make a lovely stock, much more delicate than lamb. They still do their own meat cutting so I can also get round-bone roasts from them, if I ask a few days ahead of time. (I am a good, regular customer so they try to please if at all possible.)

This recipe sounds wonderful. I have already put the pork leg in brine which I cooked up last night as I had planned on getting a couple of full loins but I think this leg will be better for my purpose. I will be joining my neighbors for a celebration dinner on Friday. It is the 15th birthday of one of their granddaughters and they mark that as a big milestone. With just their family and the immediate neighbors, who always take part, there will be 60+ people.

I am home today. With the Grapevine (I-5) closed (until a short time ago) there were hundreds of trucks on the 14 early this morning and after spending an hour to get from Lancaster to Palmdale I got off the freeway and came home on surface streets. Heavy ground fog in places here in the Antelope Valley too. At 9:30 I tried again, still too much truck traffic, at times taking up all three lanes of the freeway which really annoyed me.... So I got off the freeway again and on my way home stopped at Vallarta, the Mexican supermarket. Wow! Fresh whole leg of pork on sale for 99 cents a pound. I got a nice one for $12.03, a real bargain. Now I have to decide what to do with it. Everything is still out in the van because it is colder outside than in my refrigerator. I also bought some nice oxtails, beef neck bones with lots of meat, a bag of beef bones and a beef tongue as well as some fresh fatback and a big batch of leaf lard which is going to be rendered into lard shortly. Soup is the order of the day. I have a celery root, celery, parsnips, potatoes and if my gardener shows up today, will see if he can dig up some carrots and rutabaga for me. They are deeply mulched with straw and keep in the ground quite well. The tongue is going to be cooked today for later use. My neighbor from Durango, Mexico gave me a recipe I have been wanting to try. Empanadas made with spiced tongue. Almost like a mincemeat the way she makes them.