andiesenji

Me too. I keep Crisco on hand for a few things for which it has no match. In particular, baking potatoes. I have tried every way known to man (or woman for that matter) and keep coming back to greasing them well with plain old Crisco and baking them directly on the oven shelf. The skin crisps up better than with any other fat (including duck fat) and it virtually disappears. When done, you would never know that any kind of grease at all had ever been applied to the potato skin. There is one kind of cookie I make, an oatmeal hermit, that works only with Crisco. And the thing that is very strange is that they taste buttery, yet have not a bit of butter in them. If they are made with butter, they don't retain their shape and are soft and crumbly, instead of crisp at the edges and chewy in the center.

It takes at least 1 1/2 hours to cook a pumpkin or squash this size to the point where the flesh is soft enough for it to collapse and when it is raw it is very difficult to pare off enough to cook for the soup without spearing through the rind. I have tried it many different ways and find it is more workable this way and it should maintain its shape quite nicely. Smaller fruit require less baking time. Hubbards require more as do the larger butternut squash, particularly those that are practically solid, except for the small seed cavity at the bulbous end.

My pleasure Richard. I posted my recipe for pumpkin chili on the other pumpkin thread, however I might as well post it here also since RecipeGullet is still among the missing..... Pumpkin Chili Mexicana Serves 20 3 1/2 to 4 pound Mexican pumpkin, cheese pumpkin, Kabocha or similar squash. 2 pounds chopped beef or turkey (not finely ground) 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 3 - 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1 cup diced mild sweet red pepper (Bell is OK, Pimento or ripe mild Anaheim are better) 1 cup diced mild green chiles, Anaheim, Big Jim or New Mexico 1/2 cup Jalapeños, diced 1 cup beef or chicken broth. 1 teaspoon freshly ground dried red chiles, Colorado, New Mexico, Ancho or your preference. 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin (first toast the seeds in a dry iron skillet till they start to pop) 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Optional - - 1 or 2 Habanero or other very hot peppers, very finely minced. (you can omit these if you do not want a searingly hot chili) 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, including liquid 2 large cans tomato paste (used to be 8 oz., however they keep changing the amounts) 2 14.5 ounce cans black beans or dark red kidney beans, drained (or equivalent) 1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels Directions First, pierce the pumpkin or squash in several places with an ice pick or chef's fork and place it on a pan in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer will penetrate easily through the flesh. Meanwhile, while the pumpkin is baking, Sauté the beef or turkey in a large saucier As it is fairly well browned and is still giving off juices, add the onion and garlic and cook for about 4-5 minutes or so. Add the peppers (except for the Habanero) and continue cooking until they are tender. Add the beef or chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add the spices and continue simmering for 8 -10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. When cool enough to handle, split the pumpkin, remove the seeds and skin and chop into fairly small chunks and add to the meat mixture. Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Add the remaining ingredients, including the Habanero, and cook over medium low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often to keep from burning. Serve, topped with a generous dollop of sour cream and finely chopped scallions or green onions and freshly baked cornbread, or tortillas if you have them available. Also have finely shredded mild cheddar cheese, toasted pepitas, croutons and various crackers on side dishes for your guests to add as they wish.

Excellent explanation Steve. My first instruction was from a Hungarina pastry chef who worked for my mother and he spoke practically no English and I certainly couldn't understand Hungarian. I watched and did what he did but it was years before I understood why I had to do it just so. Then about 25 years ago I bit the bullet and bought a tempering machine and paid through the nose for 2 extra bowls. They are much more reasonably priced now, particularly for the small ones. I don't do much of this work now but like to keep the equipment up just in case....

How could it be OT. Part of renovation. Please post tips. You may save another much grief....

In my house there is just me and my housekeeper now. My family and friends tend to give or send gift certificates because they are aware of my propensity for buying new gadgets and small appliances and what-not, on impulse, when I see it. I simply have no will power when it comes to some things..........

Like this???? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4332308233&rd=1]176.99 on ebay, "buy it now" Or were you looking for the smaller one that has the head that tips back?

You might try Peter Heering, the Danish cherry liqueur which can be diluted 1/2 & 1/2 and which has an intense cherry flavor to enhance the flavor of the dried cherries. I use it when I plump them for a cherry/vanilla cake. It used to be called Cherry Heering and when I was in my teens my mother was very fond of it. The name changed some years ago but the product is still the same. It is much smoother than the cherry brandies and Kirsch. And is usually less than 20.00 a bottle, much less than the Kirsch, at least the good ones. For a non-drinker, I have a fairly extensive collection of liqueurs, wines and other spirits that I use in cooking and baking. I have to depend on other people to tell me about the particular characteristics of these various items and rely mostly on an elderly gentleman who spend many years working at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena as the bar manager, until he retired 20-some years ago. He is a friend of my dad's and I visit him often when I get to the other side of the "hill" (the San Gabriel mountains). He has an almost encyclopedic memory of vintage wines, fortified wines and spirits and popular drinks of bygone days. And lots of stories. Anyway, when I was trying unsuccessfully to get the flavor I wanted in the cherry vanilla cake,( I can taste it after baking because the elements in the spirits to which I am allergic disappear in baking or very long cooking), he suggested the Cherry Heering and it was the flavor I had been trying to achieve. At one time it was used as the dominant flavor in a popular champagne punch, and the color was a deep rose which was also very attractive. It was also an important component of the verson of the Singapore Sling cocktail served at the Huntington back in the 'teens, 20s and 30s. Anyway, give it a try and see how you like it. I believe it may be available in smaller bottles too, although I have always bought it in the "fifth" size.

I have had the same problem. However, I have adopted the method of cooking chicken breasts as described in this recipe on Melinda Lee's web site. The first few times I did make the stuffed breasts as the recipe describes, but then began to cook the plain chicken breasts using the same technique for other recipes and found that it works better than any other method I have used for this chicken product. I usually used bone-in chicken breasts with the skin, which makes for a totally different end product, but occasionally I have to use the boneless skinless ones and other than poaching them, which I do for salads, I like this method best. For poaching, I simply use chicken broth with lemon juice so it is about 1/2 inch deep in my saucier, (for each cup of broth I add two tablespoons of lemon juice). Add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper and a dash or two of tobasco. When the liquid is simmering, I carefully slide in the breasts taking care not to crowd them, there should be at least 1/2-3/4 inch space between them, turn the heat up until the broth is boiling, then cover tightly and turn off the heat. (if your pan does not have a tight-fitting lid, stretch foil across the pan (have it ready before you put the chicken in the pan) then put the lid on and turn the heat off. In 45 minutes your chicken breasts will be poached perfectly.

I have purchased a couple of LeCruset items from this vendor at a fair discount. Celebrity Cookware There are several other vendors who also discount the line as well as the Staub and Innova, which is fairly new to this country. Their pot racks have been around for quite a while but now their cookware is catching on. So far the largest oval pot they have is a 7 quart but I believe larger ones are in the offing. Innova 7 quart. $65.90 is a pretty good deal. I have also bought items on ebay for substantial discounts. There are a couple of ebay sellers who consistantly have what are "seconds" with perhaps a tiny chip in the porcelain on the edge of a lid or similar defect. Nothing that bothers me considering the price. They often have the items listed as "Buy it Now" so you don't have to bid and hope you will get it. However there are ways to make your bidding easier.....

The "classic" way of doing it is this way. However I never could get the darn salt to stick all over the way it is supposed to, so it will creat a shell around the entire roast. I tried it dozens of times, it was always okay, just not the way I thought it should be. There would be spots that cooked too much and were dry where the coating was too thin or absent. Then I watched a show on "great chefs", when one of the chefs used a stretch net to wrap something with leaves of some kind and the netting would hold the leaves in place. Bingo! I immediately thought of my problems with the roast. Since the netting would not work, because of the large holes I thought of using the cheesecloth. After all, I have used it many times on very large turkeys, to keep the breast and legs from browning too quickly, just butter it and slap it on and remove it near the end to let the skin brown and crisp. At first I tried it with just the cheesecloth and it works with the real cheesecloth, which is tightly woven (also known as butter muslin), however if I had none available and had to use the gauzy stuff, the finer grains of salt fell though the mesh before I could get it in place. So came my idea to use the foil as a holder temporarily until it was wrapped. Voila! It worked and worked great. Other people watched me and started using the technique and love it. One buddy, who lives in a boat at Marina del Rey, makes it every year for a Christmas boat parade party. He says he never fails to get raves over the way the meat turns out. When they publish these recipes on the net, they always make it sound so easy to "pat the salt into place with wet hands" but it isn't easy, and it falls off if you just breath on it, or close the oven door normally............... here or this one. might work, but I think my method is better, particularly for a large roast. This last method would probably work better for a flatter item, such as a fish.

Now your talking!! My all-time favorite salad. I love Waldorf in every shape and form in which it has crossed my lips over the years. I have gently tinkered with it from time to time but the classic is still excellent. I have added poached chicken to it, substitued candied pecans for the walnuts - also substituted pistachios on request because a guest was allergic to walnuts. Oh yes, and sliced, toasted almonds. I have used a sour cream based dressing that included a little Thai sweet chile sauce that gave it a bit of a tang and a lovely rosy glow. On at least one occasion when I did not have enough crisp apples (the other variety just won't do), I added jicama and everyone commented on how well it worked. Rather than cubes, I cut it into matchsticks so it would be distinct from the cubes of apple. Never have and never will include a marshmallow. However I do recall, now that I am thinking about it, that I did try it a couple of times with Mandarin orange segments and used the juice from the can in the dressing. My guests like it quite a bit, and both times those also included poached chicken.

I saw that episode also. I also thought the duck drying cabinet was nifty, however I have three of the Excalibur dehydrators like these, and I have modified one of the racks so it will hold the weight of a duck. I just put the one rack on one of the lower levels and turn it on. The fan and heat will dry the duck quite well. If the dehydrators are in use I use a heat gun. I bought one years ago for some project but it has come in handy many times over the years. It has a flat base so it will sit steady and if I hang the duck over a drip pan on a cord and spin it until the cord is twisted, it will keep turning one way then the other for several minutes. I have a Hobart dishwasher - mine does a cycle in 90 seconds and heats the water so it will sterilize jars for canning, the main reason I got it, but it really helped when I applied to get my kitchen certified for commercial use. It was worth every penny. I love it!

Never smoked, drinking not an option due to an allergy developed late in my teens which causes laryngeal edema and closes my airway. Never had a chance to experience drunkeness or hangover. - Mixed blessing? Wild, wild women not in my pervue, too old for similar in opposite sex, however I certainly could be lured off the straight and narrow (or not so narrow in my case) by someone offering to cook something special for me, fois gras, lobster, pheasant or ??????? Come to think of it, I cook and eat all those things already. No lure needed.....

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.

Since I don't drink alcohol at all (severe allergy, laryngeal edema, closed airway) I can only think about it theoretically, however I have friends who love it and I occasionally buy a bottle as a gift. I have had to rely on other friends and neighbors who know the subject as the terms seem rather ambigous when discussing tastes and I wonder why compare it to another liquor when tequilla is supposed to be so different...... In any event I have occasionally used price as my guide but some are astronomical and wonder, can they really be that good. The local Vallarta supermarket has a bottle, all by itself, on the top shelf of a locked cabinet, with a price marked $245.00. That is a lot of money for a bottle of liquor. There are several others in the 100 to 150 range and quite a few in the 50 to 100 range. Compared to other liquors, this is a fairly steep price range. I asked the store manager about it because this is not an exceptionally affluent group, however, he told me that some of his customers will save for a year to buy a special bottle for a particularly special occasion. He has sold quite a bit more than usual of the high-end tequilla in the past couple of years for celebrations of sons coming home from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It reminded me of VE and VJ days at the end of WWII and of my dad and uncles coming home. My grandfather made a production out of bringing up special bottles from the cellar to celebrate. What events would you consider appropriate for one of these special bottles?

As I have mentioned on many other threads, I never abandoned butter! Or, any other of the foods I like and for more than one reason. Firstly, I had before me (or behind me) the evidence of my exceptionally long-lived family members who ate, (according to the pundits) all the wrong things, and should (from their predictions) all have died in their 40s or 50s. Instead, most lived into their 90s and a few over 100, remaining vigorous to the end. My grandfather passed away in his early 80s but had had a kidney removed in the late 30s following a gunshot wound (hunting accident) and that shortenend his life. His brothers lived to 97, 101 and 108, his sisters to 94 and 101. On the other side of the family, my dad's eldest sister is 98 and still doing her own gardening - the last time I visited she was digging postholes for a fence to keep the rabbits out of her garden. She laid out a breakfast similar to the farm breakfasts from my childhood. Ham, gravy, fried potatoes, eggs, biscuits, etc. At that time she was complaining about having to get used to a new doctor as the "young fellow" who had been treating her for some time had passed away (at 61). My family has a very low incidence of cancer, stroke, other cardiovascular diseases, no Alzhimer's (but the rare family members that have been a bit "peculiar" all their lives. Not enough to be locked up in an attic, but enough to keep them mostly at home, not out on their own. ) I have developed diabetes, probably from carrying around too much weight and not exercising enough for a number of years, and I have adjusted my diet to keep that under control. However my cholesterol has always been low, and the HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (the bad stuff) ratio is excellent 84:16, which, according to my internist, is astonshing. I still think it is mostly genetic and not dietary. In any event, as far as I am concerned, life is too short to spend too much of it worrying about things like this. I put off enjoying what I really like and might be in an accident on the freeway and never get the chance.

This is my pumpkin chili, I serve it in those large "latte" cups so folks can eat it while wearing gloves, when out in the cold. This is another original recipe developed over several years of "tinkering".... Pumpkin Chili Mexicana Serves 20 3 1/2 to 4 pound Mexican pumpkin, cheese pumpkin, Kabocha or similar squash. 2 pounds chopped beef or turkey (not finely ground) 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 3 - 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1 cup diced mild sweet red pepper (Bell is OK, Pimento or ripe mild Anaheim are better) 1 cup diced mild green chiles, Anaheim, Big Jim or New Mexico 1/2 cup Jalapeños, diced 1 cup beef or chicken broth. 1 teaspoon freshly ground dried red chiles, Colorado, New Mexico, Ancho or your preference. 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin (first toast the seeds in a dry iron skillet till they start to pop) 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Optional - - 1 or 2 Habanero or other very hot peppers, very finely minced. (you can omit these if you do not want a searingly hot chili) 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, including liquid 2 large cans tomato paste (used to be 8 oz., however they keep changing the amounts) 2 14.5 ounce cans black beans or dark red kidney beans, drained (or equivalent) 1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels Directions First, pierce the pumpkin or squash in several places with an ice pick or chef's fork and place it on a pan in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer will penetrate easily through the flesh. Meanwhile, while the pumpkin is baking, Sauté the beef or turkey in a large saucier As it is fairly well browned and is still giving off juices, add the onion and garlic and cook for about 4-5 minutes or so. Add the peppers (except for the Habanero) and continue cooking until they are tender. Add the beef or chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add the spices and continue simmering for 8 -10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. When cool enough to handle, split the pumpkin, remove the seeds and skin and chop into fairly small chunks and add to the meat mixture. Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Add the remaining ingredients, including the Habanero, and cook over medium low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often to keep from burning. Serve, topped with a generous dollop of sour cream and finely chopped scallions or green onions and freshly baked cornbread, or tortillas if you have them available. Also have finely shredded mild cheddar cheese, toasted pepitas, croutons and various crackers on side dishes for your guests to add as they wish.

I am a bit tired right now and the shelves on which I have the solution to your problem are in the back, behind 3 others and I simply don't feel like moving them around so I can take a photo. I have had several of these and some of them are on the wire shelves. I place then on the shelf then use wire to secure them from underneath and the wide sections at one end will hold that large domed Descoware lid to the paella pan and also holds the domed lids to my cast iron dutch ovens and also the domed Pyrex lids. The narrower spaces hold flatter and smaller lids. There is also a stainless steel drying rack that also can be set on the shelves and wired on to hold them in place which have many more spaces and are perfect for holding very flat lids. here It is, however, more expensive. The first ones are really cheap. I also have some old Rubbermaid plastic coated wire plate racks that hold extra baking pans or cookie sheets and etc that don't fit in my baking cabinet.

I grew up in an old-fashioned household that looked with a jaundiced eye on anything that might be too "new-fangled"..... I can remember my mother coming home (from Chicago, where she worked as a model) sometime late in the war years, (I was about 5 or so) with margarine as a special "treat". It wasn't even colored, but rather in a plastic bag with a little red marble in it that had to be broked so one could mix it into the white stuff so it looked a bit like butter. Since we made our own butter, it was always served in bowls at the table, except for dinner when it was in fancy molds on a butter plate. I supposed someone perhaps hinted to my mother that the margarine was in one of the bowls because I recall she used only that one. However a few days after she left to go back up north, I was looking for something in one of the ice boxes and found the bag of margarine, still white, red marble intact, shoved behind a crock of the real stuff. Our cook saw me handling the bag and took it away from me and put it in the waste bin. "Won't even feed that nasty stuff to the hogs." was her succinct remark. Years later, when I went to live with my mom and stepdad in Wisconsin, colored margarine was available but not in that state. (of course it was the powerful dairy industry) One had to drive down to Illinois to buy it that way. I finally got to try some and to me it tasted faintly of kerosene or what we called "coal oil" - I never got to the point where I could eat it without tasting that. Probably all in my mind but that is the way my mind works. I have butter tubs, butter bowls, butter keepers, all made to keep the butter fresh and soft at room temperature. I never have any trouble spreading it (unless I forget to turn the thermostat up and it is chilly in the house), even on delicate breads and rolls. I like the taste and have too many other things to worry about to pay attention to cholesterol, besides, mine is below normal anyway, in spite of my consuming a relatively high cholesterol diet. It is in the genes, not on the fork. In my opinion, worrying about cholesterol can cause more problems than eating butter and eggs. I used to travel with a friend who was constantly worried about her cholesterol which was fairly high and she watched her diet religiously and it never went down. Then we and another friend went to the Basenji National specialty together - in Rhode Island. She ate lobster swimming in butter, potatoes fried in butter, those lovely hard rolls, well buttered, plus we had big breakfasts, eggs, ham or sausage or bacon, biscuits with more butter. True, during the two weeks of the trip she gained 4 pounds but when she had her cholesterold checked the following week it had dropped 70 points! Incredible. Ate all the wrong things, had a good time and her cholesterol was that much lower. I have heard similar stories many times. Worry is worse than the stuff itself.

Here they call it "out the back door sales" - - - However, if you get caught you lose your license and can't reapply for 5 years!! As I said the book of regulations that governs just the small niche that relates to my situation is the size of a small city phone book. Well, actually Lancaster has 130,000 residents and Palmdale has nearly as many and we have a combined phone book with yellow pages and the book of "regs" is nearly as thick, and is in very, very small print. Then there is the State board of equalization (sales tax) with resale permit, Franchise Tax board, state income tax, County of L.A. and thank God I am not in the City of L.A. - one of the reasons I moved up here was to get out of the city because their business license is even tougher and even though I work alone, for their purposes I have to consider myself an employee and pay a tax for my employment. Stupid, stupid rules. I have a mental picture of the city council sitting around and saying "what can we do today to make doing business for the small businessperson even more frustrating?"

Haven't tried it with fish. I only eat freshwater fish, which are usually too small for this type of thing. The next time I get a big catfish I will give it a try. The reason I started doing it this way was that the salt kept sliding off and I didn't get good coverage which is essential. Binding it with the cheesecloth worked beautifully.

I can believe it. I haven't used it for making liquers, just for flavorings. I would think that using just enough to extract the flavors, then diluting it with, as you say, spring or purified water, or with less strong liquors, would be best. I use it to make coffee extract and it works better than any of the other things I have tried. It makes a far stronger extract than the commercial varieties and I know what goes into it. I don't drink myself, as I have a severe allergy to alcohol except when it has been cooked to death. However I have helped other people make liquers. My neighbors wanted something with the flavor of prickly pear, which has a very distinct flavor. I crushed the fruit and macerated it in just a little Everclear for about three or four weeks. Then cooked it for a few minutes, (carefully, on the induction burner - won't heat this near an open flame). I then strained it and mixed the remaining liquid, about 3/4 cup, with a bottle of Lago Azul, a very mild and very sweet tequila. They thought it was delicious.

I have a recipe for pumpkin chili that will knock the socks - and possibly other things - off anyone who trys it who isn't used to super hot and spicy foods. (Habanero peppers are a significant ingredient.) I make it for a group of guys who like really hot and spicy foods, they take a thermos jug of it to football games or similar events. However, most of the football games here in SoCal. are not exactly played in really cold weather but it would warm one up if it was needed. They also take it when they go hunting and also when they go snowboarding at Mammoth. It really doesn't have much pumpkin taste to it.

Sam: If you find such a thing please report back. There's no doubt that the higher proof spirits really make for a far better infusion. The stronger alcohol really pulls the flavored oils and color out of the peels better. Unfortunately it's at the expense of the finished product, IMO. ← If you are in a state where EverClear is legal, it is ideal for extracting flavors. I use it, have to drive to Nevada to buy it since online vendors cannot ship to California. It is the best I have found in my 40-some years of making my own flavorings. At one time we had a great laboratory supply place across the street from our old office but they became enbroiled in a crackdown by the L.A. county district attorney because, inadvertantly, they had sold some equipment that ended up in an illegal drug lab - though their sale was ligitmate, so closed up shop. I could, with a prescription from my boss, buy grain alcohol from them and it is exactly the same as EverClear. Online EverClear vendor. Unfortunately it looks like they don't ship to PA, either. However if you know someone in an adjacent state who can order it for you................