andiesenji

Order placed. Shipping to Calif. $34.00. Considering what I have paid for overnight express shipping of a couple of truffles, this is not bad.

I make my own cultured butter from extra heavy cream that I get locally (under the radar of the dairy board, actually) and figuring my time expenditure, and all the other things that add up in such a project, my butter costs me more than this but it is worth it to have what I consider to be a superior product. I am going to place an order and see how it compares with mine and will also try it out on some friends without letting them know I have pulled a switch. A real "blind" taste test. I may be able to retire the butter churn for good. It's little motor has soldiered on for many, many years because of my obsession with butter.

On various relish trays, arranged down the center of the main table were various assortments of the following. My aunts said that there may have been a couple of other home made items that no one makes any longer but this was just about it. Usually 50 or more people for Thanksgiving dinner, even more for Christmas. baby gerkins sweet baby gerkins dill bread and butter pickles (similar to my recipe) green olives with pimentos ripe black olives marinated mushrooms celery with several types of filler radishes cut into roses green onions baby onions pickled pickled peppers watermelon rind pickles spiced crabapples mixed vegetable pickles benne seed sticks, savory carrot sticks hard boiled quail eggs in curry sauce pickled walnuts

Mazeltov!! You must live right.......

Well, mine was in the dining room, but while it was esthetically attractive because of the design, it was impractical because the entire top was not one level. Mine also had a bolt-on upper unit of staggered shelves with a mirror back of the serving level which we removed soon after we purchased it. We sold it along with the "upper story" to someone who wanted it only for a back bar for which it was suitable. You will have to use it for a while to see if it works for you as is. If so you are a lucky man, if not, you will know how to make it work by then. On mine, the top slab was marble but the wood beneath it was not finished with the veneer of the fall front so leaving the marble off was not an option.

I have been served grits fries. Little coin-shaped pieces of grits from cooked and cooled grits spread on a sheet pan about 1/4 inch thick, cut out and deep fried and served with a sauce reminiscent of seafood cocktail sauce. Not bad.. I can see promise here of an interesting theme.

Regarding the sideboard. I lived with one with a similar top for a few years but finally said bye-bye to it after the fourth time a large footed chafer was moved and a foot slipped over the edge of the top platform and slid off the top dropping the contents onto my antique Sarouk rug. Having a top with a level surface from front to back is much more practical and safe. I could have bought two new sideboards for the amount I spent on having the Sarouk taken up and cleaned four times.

The DLX can handle any size. I have made a small batch for a single boule. You just have to set the roller assemble very close to the side of the bowl. As I said, it is very like hand kneading in the way it handles dough.

If you have a tilting-head KA, not locking the head prevents the "crawl." You have to be sure to stand nearby, though, as this makes the mixer walk around .the counter more. ← I really haven't used one of the tilting-head KAs for bread dough. I have some older ones that are part of my "vintage" collection but they are too small for the batches of dough I handle. I have had several of the KAs with the elevating bowl and had the same problem with all of them, even when they added a "shield" to the top of the dough hook. I don't want to have to stand and watch a mixer work, which is one of the reasons I like the DLX. That timer is a Godsend.

Since you are considering a center island, why not opt for a 36 inch range in the island. Even if you can't bring the electric and gas service up from underneath, you might be able to bring it down from overhead. In my old house, the floors were concrete with terrazo tile and when we added an island to the kitchen we had a round stainless steel column that contained both electric and gas lines with plugs on 3 sides as well as a water line for a pot filler on the side facing the cooktop and for a small vegetable prep sink, all brought down from overhead. In addition we had a pot rack hung from the upper part of the column which was very handy. The island itself was sort of egg shaped, broader at the end where the cooktop was and narrower at the end that held the sink (with a cutout next to the sink for scraps to drop through into a bin for composting). It was shaped this way because it made it easier to move around it. The top was 3 1/2 inch thick butcher block and one side had 3 pull-out platforms that were large enough to hold a place setting, glass, cup, etc., so we had a little extra seating. It would have cost considerably more to cut through the tile and concrete and I doubt they would have been able to exactly match the tile color as it had been a special order.

If you can't get a shake mixer (and I have one of the HB triples also) then the next best thing is an immersion blender because you can work it up and down in the container. The Cuisinart, which is very inexpensive, does a fine job on malts, shakes and smoothies.

There used to be a place in Burbank, Don's Patio, a mini outdoor restaurant behind a beer bar that sold 1 pound burgers with a quart of fries. It was very popular with the motorcycle crowd and the auto racing bunch that hung around the garages in the near vicinity. It did a great business until the owner keeled over with a massive heart attack at age 41. Probably from consuming too much of his own product. It was a favorite of my ex and his two sons.

Stack cakes were very popular at church socials where I grew up in western Kentucky. One version was the only time "sweet" cornbread or "johnnycake" was made which also included some spices in the mix. The layers, about 1/2 inch thick, were baked individually, usually in the same old black skillet as regular cornbread and turned out and the top "leveled" or trimmed, to make it flat enough to stack well and also so it could soak up some of the liquid from the filling. Dried apples or dried peaches or pears were chopped up and cooked with just enough water and sugar for them to plump and develop a thick sticky syrup, then the hot mixture was ladled over the first layer then the second layer was added and so on. During the holidays one version was apples or thick apple butter alternated with home made cranberry sauce. Our cook made them with all kinds of jam, peach, concord grape, raspberry, etc., layered with a buttermilk pound cake of her own devising. I wish I had the recipe but no one seems to have gotten it while she was still alive. She explained that the cakes kept their shape because "dey got dat mucilage to kep em standin'" So obviously the filling has to be somewhat sticky to keep the layers from sliding, particularly in the ones with many layers.

How's the noise level on the DLX? Cheers, ← The DLX is quieter than most mixers.

This is a followup to my earlier post about the DLX or Electrolux Assistant mixer. This is the vendor from whom I purchased mine and have referred several others. (Also bought my Excalibur dehydrators, my grain mill and several other items from this vendor. They are the best, in my opinion.) Pleasant Hill Grain They include the dough hook where all of the other vendors offer it only at addtional cost. I especially like having the timer on the mixer, as that way I do not have to stand over it or remember to turn it off. The capacity is exceptional for bread and cookie dough and as I mentioned in my earlier post, the height of the unit is very handy for someone who is shorter than average. The bowl turns rather than the mixing head. There is a short learning curve, mainly learning how close to set the roller assembly to the side of the bowl, however once you get it, you will find that it saves a lot of time. There is no need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides. I actually don't use the dough hook as much as I expected to because I have found that the roller/scraper assembly does such a good job on doughs that I don't nead it for that. I do use it for cookie doughs, in which I am incorporating additions, such as nuts, dried fruit, etc. The secondary bowl, primarily for beating egg whites, cream, cake batter in which you want to beat a lot of air, does a great job in less time than the KA. The twin beaters develop the most volume in egg whites I have seen. When I make a frosting with beaten whites and add hot syrup to the whites, there is little loss of volume (and it is easy to pour since there is no over the bowl assembly to get in the way. (Having poured a lot of syrup down the outside of a KA bowl over the years, I know whereof I speak.) This also is included at no extra charge. I would like to add that I have been a bread baker for many years and this mixer handles all types of dough, from a very slack dough to the stiffest and does is much like hand kneading. If you have ever had dough "crawl" up the dough hook in a KA and have to stop the mixer every few minutes to clean it and push it back down into the bowl, you know how much time this can waste. Never happens with this mixer.

Oh yes! The pot-filler faucet over the stovetop is a lifesaver.

I have to do it this way because if I stick an unlabeled container or package in the freezer I won't remember the contents a day later. There is just so much in there and I have so many projects going at once.

I have a commercial oven and had to have the adjacent walls ripped out and special insulation and facing applied plus an exhaust system to handle the higher heat generated.

One of these days I think I might try making THAT for dinner. Whatever THAT is that I forgot to label and now have no idea what it is. I'm sure it can't be that bad... right? I mean... there had to be some reason I kept it... ← You have a printer, right? Here is what I do. Get some address labels and print a page or a half-page each (30 on a page) of generic names, i.e., Beef, Pork, Sausage, Lamb, casserole, chicken parts, etc. Then get one of the plastic notebook inserts (5 in a package at Staples) and put the pages of labels in it and, using a magnetic hook, hang them on the front of the freezer or the side if it is available with a Marks A Lot pen clipped to the plastic envelope. Then when something is ready to go into the freezer you can pull out one of the generic labels and add specifics such as type, steak, roast, butt, etc and the DATE! With the basic label printing software you can do a half page by setting the original and when you enter PRINT it will ask how many and you enter 15 (for a 30 label page). After it prints, take the sheet and reverse the ends so the blank labels are at the top and make up your new label. It is much quicker this way, you don't have to waste time searching for a pen or a label.

I have made very attractive steamed puddings in fancy molds, placing glacé fruit against the sides of the mold in a double spiral pattern from top(bottom) to bottom as I added the dough/batter to make sure they stayed in place. After steaming and inverting, then removing from the mold, I covered the exposed portions of the glacé fruit with edible gold leaf. It made a very nice presentation in the center of a round platter with a ring of tiny round puddings each with a depression filled with brandy that was flamed just prior to presentation.

Stick with bread or high gluten flour for bread and pastry or low gluten flour for everything else and you can't go wrong.

I looked at all the planetary action mixers before opting for an AEG made by Electrolux and also known as the "Assistant" - I had old KAs when they were made by Hobart, but burnt out the motor on three of the newer ones, mostly when mixing cookie or bread dough. I have now had this one for 2 years and it does everything without a hitch, including mixing extremely stiff doughs, such as the Struan dough which is very, very stiff. I do have an ancient Hobart 10 quart but the bowl hanger is broken and needs to be welded before I can use it again. It is the real old one with a clutch and I can't use it on a counter because it is too tall and it drips oil down the back. Too heavy for me to move. The AEG has several advantages. It is easy to add ingredients to it because of the open bowl and the lower bowl position makes it easy for people who are not so tall. A review. It does not have as much wattage as some of the others but the drive is more efficient and it uses it more efficiently. I have recommended it to several other bread bakers who have bought it and all have found it to be more than adequate. In addition you have Electrolux behind it. I still have the first Electrolux vacuum I bought in 1960 which still works. It is out in my storage facility as it is not as bothered by the sand and dirt as newer vacuums. I am at the office and do not have the name of the vendor where I purchased it. They had the best price and included some of the "extras" for no additional money. A better buy. I will post it when I get home.

One of the other members of a private online group has had work done by Kitchen Magic and they offered a free estimate. He and his wife saw them at a home show a couple of years ago, prior to even thinking about renovating their 25-year-old kitchen (which is in a loft in Tribeca). They got a couple of other estimates but went back to this one. He had posted some photos a year ago, after it was finished, but we are severely limited (by Yahoo) to the amount of graphics that can go into the arcives so they have been deleted for newer photos. There are a number of manufacturers who produce cabinets that are designed specifically to fit into small spaces and the drawers are designed to carry very heavy loads and pantry solutions are part of the basic design. One of these which I saw at a recent home show, is Leicht Kitchen Concepts I was very impressed with the amount of storage that was tucked into a fairly small area in one of their disiplays, and how much more space could be gained in an undercounter drawer system by bowing the front on one section, which also gave a deeper countertop for working, on this particural section they had a KA mixer with room for bowls and pans around it, just by adding a few extra inches. Also the folks over at HGTV - are looking for projects, you might put you name in. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/be_on_hgtv/articl...1423501,00.html You might be able to get free design help.

Actually it is the height and depth of the oven that is most important. Many of the newer stoves have ovens that are not as tall as in older ranges and often getting a roaster with a high domed lid into one is impossible. For instance, my big Magnalite roaster is 12 1/2 inches high (to the top of the lid handle). If an oven is 14 inches high, the bottom shelf would have to be at least 2 inches from the bottom so air would circulate and that would mean this particular roaster would not fit. The last time I shopped for a regular oven I took my three largest pans along with me to the store. (The Magnalite roaster, a large square jelly roll pan and my French bread pans) I discovered that ovens come in some really odd configurations. Some wide but shallow and not very high. Some deep and high but not very wide, and so on. I wondered if some of these designers had ever seen a roasting pan. If I were in your situation I would take a couple of baking pans with me to the store and see how they fit. My boss has a pair of Gaggenau ovens, wide but not very high. I wouldn't have one.

I was wondering that, myself, and checked it out here: Sabbath Mode explanation ← Interesting, isn't it. Way back in the days just after I got out of the Army and went to work for an internist in North Hollywood, I wanted to live closer to work as my dad's home was in the north end of the Valley, a long way from work. I wasn't keen on living alone so took a room with a family who were patients and very Orthodox. In return for room and board, I acted as their Shabbos Goy, that is, I was there to operate things that were forbidden to them. It was a wonderful experience, they treated me like one of their daughters and I learned so much, including how to prepare some terrific foods. It is nice that appliance makers are now accomodating the strictures for those who practice their faith.