andiesenji

Was it the Bob's on Ming?

I don't know if there is a Lowe's anywhere near you but if there is, check out this Bosch range. Several weeks back there was another thread about appliances and I mentioned that a friend had just gotten one of these. They got it at Lowes, an "open box" special - it had a scratch on one side which is hidded by the cabinet next to it anyway. They got it for 799. plus 39.00 to have it delivered. They love it. She had her three grandchildren, 13, 10 and 8, staying with them all summer and did a lot more cooking and baking than usual. She said it was so much better than their old range (Jenn-air) that she is sorry they didn't make the change sooner. She also likes having the knobs on the front of the range rather than on the deck as in her old range. She also loves the warming drawer. Check all the vendors that carry Bosch and see if you can find one that is being closed out (models are changing now) or is a "scratch & dent" special. You can get a great bargain on the "open box" appliances that have been displayed in the store.

I remember most of the food on Christmas day when I was a child growing up in my grandfather's house. All the traditional English foods plus all the things that had been added over the years since he emigrated to America from England. As well as the traditional southern foods introduced by his cook. My cousins and I got to have our meals with the adults that day and there was a huge amount of food as it was an extremely large extended family. We had to have breakfast before we could open our presents and it was agony sitting at the table in the breakfast room trying to mind our manners and eat like little ladies and gentlemen under the sharp eye of my great grandmother, a stickler for proper behavior. I can remember most of the foods that we had the rest of the day but Christmas breakfast is a blur. The one I remember best is Christmas 1945 when my daddy and all my uncles were home from the war, my mother and two of my aunts who lived away were home for the holidays and one of my great uncles who lived in New York was also there. I came across a note in one of my grandmother's cookbooks about that holiday, planning food for 59 people (including 7 children). I came across this site which brings back even more memories.

There are a lot of traditional English cakes that use beef suet. Lard has been used in a number of cakes and fruit cakes. I have to look them up, as I don't seem to have any in my computer. As soon as I find one I will post it.

The cocoa is definitely present. Think of a dense devil's food cake, very moist, with fruit in it.

In case anyone is interested, Target, on the web only, has the Innova 7 quart roaster for $59.99. Green Innova pot only at present.

Here is my small batch recipe. Pumpkin Pecan Butter #1 small batch 3 cups granulated sugar 1 cup maple syrup 1 pound cooked, pureed pumpkin 1 Tbsp . pumpkin pie spice 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk 1 cup ground pecans In a 4 quart crockpot combine first 3 ingredients and set crockpot on high. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is bubbling. Add the spice Reduce heat to medium and cover. Continue cooking at medium, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. Add the sweetened condensed milk and stir until it is well mixed Add the ground pecans and stir well. If the mixture is too thick and seems dry, add another 1/2 cup of maple syrup. Cover, turn heat to low and continue cooking for about an hour. Stir occasionally. Spoon a bit onto a saucer and allow to cool. If you can tip the saucer and the spoonful does not run, the batch is finished. Ladle into sterilized jars, cover and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator. Makes about 2 pints.

A long time ago there was another vegetable shortening, marketed mostly in the midwest, that was as good, if not better than Crisco, it came in a pale blue and yellow diagonally striped can(bucket with a wire bail) and had a name that started with Sno- and I can't recall the rest of the name. We used it in my mom's bakery and got it in 50 pound tins. I had one of the buckets for years in my shed when I lived down below but it was lost in one of my moves. I have tried just about everything over the years, including a "vegetable ghee" that one of the guys who owns the middle eastern market here in town talked me into trying. Not bad, but not up to Crisco standards. There was a time when I used to buy beef kidney suet, render it down and use that fat for frying French fries because I had good friends who were Jewish and I didn't think vegetable oil produced as good a fried potato as an animal fat and wouldn't settle for a less than perfect fry! Everyone thought I was just a tad obsessive about it but those were really great fries. I am no longer quite that dedicated to the perfect fry but may occasionally make the effort. The problem is that with the "factory" beef production it is getting much harder to get kidney suet. I do get what there is when I have my steer butchered but there isn't that much on one animal.

And it would make a nice gift in a basket, along with some goodies to put on the pancakes, etc., etc.... I do a basic cookie mix like this and package it with things to add to the mix to make different varieties of cookies.

There is good news for the lactose intolerant. I don't have the information here at home but will be able to get it when I go in to work next Monday. There is a new Once-A-Day pill for those that cannot tolerate even cream in their coffee all the way up to those that want to eat a quart of ice cream!!! I just happened to see the article which was sent to the internist/toxicologist who shares space in our office. It is an over-the-counter medication and should be widely available within a few weeks. I am sure that it will also be heavily advertised quite soon. I just wish I could remember the name. I will check one of the med-info sites to see if it is mentioned and will post again if I am successful.

Pasilla and Ancho are essentially interchangeable and the mulato are another sweet/slightly smokey/dark red chile. Neither are very hot but do have a distinctive flavor. check your yellow pages for a market that carries Mexican groceries or ingredients. I am sure there has to be some. See if there is a "carniceria" listed.

In answer to msphoebe - - - It depends on how you are going to use the stock. Stock made in a pressure cooker never gets really clear, even with careful straining. Where you would skim the particles that rise to the surface as a scummy layer in an open stockpot, you can't do that in a pressure cooker and the particles are suspended so completely in the solution that it is difficult to separate them out. However if it is going to be a base for something that does not require a clear stock, then it is fine and you can extract a great deal of flavor with much less time and effort. Except with very large and dense bones, the bones will soften to the point that they can be put in a meat press to extract even more of the flavored liquid. You can also make stock in the large electric roasters which were once so popular in home kitchens. You can find the old ones in very good condition on ebay and just have an appliance repair place check the wiring and the plugs at a very nominal cost. They are now making a comeback in many homes. Rival has this 20 quart model. Nesco, an old name, is back in the market with an 18 quart, as is GE and Hamilton Beach. I have a 45-year-old Westinghouse that is a 23 quart and an even older Nesco that holds even more, although I have never actually measured it. Westinghouse is similar to this one. Because of the way the heat is transmitted, around as well as under the cooking chamber, similar to a crockpot, things on the bottom do not burn. When placed on a counter or a sturdy table, because of their shape and proportions, they are very stable and will not tip over as easily as some of the larger crockpots will. I use mine for cooking large batches of ginger and citrus peel in syrup and you know how carefull you have to be around hot sugar syrup. I feel that these are safer than any other method I have used and I have tried everything over the years.

Several years ago I had a Mr. Coffee that burned and fortunately my smoke/heat and fume alarms went off and I got to it before much damage. From that time on I had all the plugs changed to GFI plugs to make sure that never happened again.

There is one that is perfectly adequate for home use that is much less expensive than the ones available when I got my first one three years ago. I have ordered from this vendor in the past with great success. In fact I just ordered a thing for storing rice since I use so much of it and the price was right. Induction cooker. I bought a dual voltage freezer from them which works beautifully in my van when I need to transport frozen things for long periods. They offered free shipping and there was no tax so it was an extra discount compared to what I would have paid if I bought it locally.

I certainly agree. Some of the heirloom varieties that are making a comeback have much more flavor than the Red Delicious. There are GingerGold and HoneyCrisp Gold, derived from the Golden Delicioius that have wonderful texture and great depth of flavor. They have been in very short supply because the hybrid trees are still quite young, but one of the California Heartland reporters predicted that within 5 to 7 years they would be heavy hitters in the all-purpose market. I got some last year at Bristol Farms Market but had to pay some astronomical price, well over 2.00 per pound, as I recall.... Another one, developed in Canada, now being grown in California is the Ambrosia, also one with excellent texture for both eating and cooking and an amazing flavor as well as an aroma that is very flowery, almost like apple perfume. I have been disappointed in the Cameo, which originally were very flavorful but recent crops have been less that satisfactory. The new crop of Braeburn are better than last year.

One of my buddies makes a butter pecan ice cream using dulce de leche as a base. I have to see if she will part with the recipe or see if she posted it in our little private group files on Yahoo and will let me post it here........ I made it once and it is super rich and very, very tasty.

20 some years ago one of my clients had a Kenwood which got little use (had been a housewarming gift). I used it for all kinds of things, including bread dough with nary a problem. I don't think the newer ones are all that good since they have been taken over by another company. I stand by the AEG or Electrolux, AKA Magic Mill DLX-2000. It is the toughest mixer for its size that I have ever used. I like the way it handles dough with the roller/scraper combination. I have a dough hook for it but have never used it. It will even work very dense dough such as Struan bread dough.

It is, of course, a fruit(y) salad so I serve it as the salad course with roasted meats and poultry ... the sweetness it contains works well against the more savoury aspects of those dishes ... probably not with anything such as fish, however ... ← Actually it is very good paired with smoked salmon or albacore.

Yes. I can't recall the exact name right at the moment but they have an excellent product.

Pumpkin cream brulee? Sounds like Heaven to me!!!

Thank you, CtznCane, this quotation fits my attitude perfectly.

Red Delicious was always the traditional apple for Waldorf salad when I was a child and later. Red Delicioius apples vary a great deal from state to state. I have found that the ones grown in certain areas in Washington state are much more crisp and fine-textured than many others. The apple-growing area here in this area, in particular the Lucerne Valley grow some of the finest crisp apples such as the Arkansas Black and a variation of the Pink Lady (Veronica), which are exceptional all-purpose apples. The Jonathans are also quite nice. The apple farm closest to me, which is in the foothills south of Palmdale off the Angeles Forest Highway, grows some true Russets, not Granny Smith, and Northern Spy.

I cut apples into julienne strips on a mandoline, and the locally grown (and quite large) Fuji seem to hold up quite well for this. The local produce market has them for a third the cost in the supermarkets. With very crisp apples you can actually put the apple on one of the peeler/slicers, (or the powered "Stripper-type peelers" once made by Salton), only pull the slicing blade out of the way and crank it until it is all the way down to the core. You get long strings of apple which can be quickly chopped for this kind of salad. It works on small jicama also (as well as potatoes). There is a new battery powered/electrical one called the Rotato which I caught briefly on one of the late night infomercials which looks similar to the old Stripper. The only reason I mention this is that I am making something similar for our neighborhood Halloween party but the stuff is going to get mixed into a base of green Jello as the kids like the "worm" salad. This is not a molded salad, the Jello is partially set then whipped with other ingredients to make it look rather creepy, then the fruit and other things are folded in. The kids love it, I think it looks awful. I will try to remember to take photos, but it is going to be a very busy day for me.

I don't leave anything on a gas flame if I am not nearby, certainly not while I am asleep or away. I have a safety cutoff on the gas at the meter in case of earthquake. However we have high winds here and there is always the possibility of a broken window - which has happened in the past or someone could open a door and cause the flame to blow out. That is one of the reasons I bought an induction burner. It can't cause a fire, it is plugged into a GFI plug for safety and it has a timer so will shut itself off at the time I set. It is an excellent solution for this problem but not the only one. For large batches that have to be cooked for long periods I also have large electric roasters and crockpots for smaller batches. A couple of the roasters are very old but have been rewired and checked by an appliance man to make sure they are safe to use.

Sorry, should have said. I baked biscuits, scones, cornbread, popovers and bran muffins, plus loaves of cinnamon bread, a sunflower honey wheat and brioche. Some of these guys can eat a dozen biscuits all by themselves.