andiesenji

I can tell you what I do. It does get a bit on the stiff side and for years I tried all kinds of things for stirring, a long wooden spoon, a super-sized metal spoon, etc. I still had unmixed stuff in the bottom "corners" of the pot because nothing worked really well. I bought one of the Danish dough whisks from King Arthur flour several years ago because I wanted to try it and found that it worked really well for quick breads that you don't want to overmix - scones especially. like this one It is just perfect for mixing scrapple (or similar things). The long handle and the shape of the "whisk" make stirring it quite easy and everything is well mixed. I liked it so well I bought a second one, "just in case".........

More squash wheelbarrowed to the shed today. I was going to try to get a photo of the jumbo banana squash but Jose cut it into manageable pieces before I remembered to tell him to let me get a picture of it first. I am giving a lot of it away. It was nearly 4 feet long and about 10 - 12 inches in diameter. Very thick flesh. I have some steaming now, and it is going into the freezer. Tomorrow and Saturday is "open gate" in the big garden. I invite all the neighbors to come and help themselves since the ones who help me with it already have picked all they want and there is still a lot of stuff out there. There are a lot of small pumpkins for the kids. After they finish gathering what they want, we have a little impromptu get-together. Although it is beginning to get quite chilly at night, the days are still fairly warm. Earlier today it was T-shirt warm outside, now the wind has come up (as usual at this time of the day) and it is downright cold. I haven't been paying attention to the news today so I don't know the forecast. Hope we don't get a freeze.

Not cheap, however I have sent as gifts and they have been very well received.these I occasionally make them but they are labor intensive and I had my fill of decorating the little beasts 50 years ago when I worked in my mother's bakery. We had a standing order for a bridge club and I really got to hate those suits. Even turned me off of playing pinochle.

This one is a favorite with my friends. I tried this one after seeing the episode. It was very good. I also make a topping for summer fruits, peaches, etc. I slowly heat the dulce de leche in a stainless steel pan set over simmering water up to the point where it becomes quite runny. For each can I add 1/4 cup sherry, and a tablespoon of ginger syrup, whisking until it is incorporated. I then remove the pan from the heat and beat it vigorously until it is becomes frothy. I spoon the fruits onto a slice of pound cake and ladle the dulce de leche over it.

Do you have a commercially certified kitchen? Or access to one? In most places there are strict rules about where food products can be prepared for sale to the public. The laws here in California and Los Angeles County are probably stricter than many places in the country and I had to jump through hoops to get my kitchen certified. I get a visit from the county health department twice a year and have to file papers to show that my exhaust filters have been cleaned every three months, The sink drains have to pass inspection as does the dishwasher, refrigerators, etc. They even measure the temperature of the water coming out of the tap, take scrapings from my countertops and so on.

I am not a great fan of okra. However I do grow it because I have to cook it occasionally for friends who like it. I grow the red variety which doesn't seem to be quite as mucilaginous as the green. Red Okra It is also rather pretty. When the pods mature on the vine and dry out, the hummingbirds fight over the pods when they split open. And this site has a recipe for pickled red okra. Have you ever seen giant okra? Three or four years ago one of my friends sent me some seeds and I grew some. The plant itself was huge. I liked it better than regular okra. I meant to save some seeds but forgot about it.

I have bought chrome shelving units with wheels, 6 shelves, at Sam's Club but they have not had them in the store the last few times I have been. They were 73.99. However they do have similar ones with white epoxy finish at Lowe's but no wheels. here, and they are 5 shelf units. I think that they also have them in a black finish at times.

In many middle eastern countries they make a drink with yogurt and mint. There are commercial versions. The local middle eastern market sells a bottled product. Here is a recipe for a yogurt/mint dip. yogurt mint dip

Yes, 12 minutes per pound. If it is a fairly thin roast do 10 minutes per pound. First the salt heats up then transmits the heat to the roast and the crust it forms hold the moisture in the meat. Be sure to allow the roast to coast for a minimum of 20 minutes before cracking the crust.

I made it the old way for many years using young, tender ginger. Then I began experimenting and I got this idea when I was visiting my favorite Hunan restaurant, hanging out in the kitchen and watching Mama Quan cut old, large ginger into matchsticks then steaming it until it was tender. She explained that it was too fibrous to just stir-fry until it had been steamed. Since I wanted to use the bigger pieces of ginger (home grown) for candying but it would have to boil for hours to get it tender enough (unless one wanted it for teething), I tried slicing it and steaming it and it worked beautifully. I get some very large pieces of ginger so have large slices and no way would they ever get tender with boiling without losing all their flavor. One can use the water for syrup, however the flavor is mostly in the syrup and not in the ginger itself. If you want only ginger syrup, yes, boil it but unless you have very young, 'new' ginger, it has to boil too long and doesn't retain the "bite" that I like. You can always try it yourself and see how it works. I spent several years perfecting this technique but one can always alter it to suit your preference. I just want people to get a good result and I know this works.

Oh, come on, you know that you like all GG's posts from her delving into the estorica of the food world writings. Without her digging up these things eG would be a lot less interesting, at least in my NSH opinion.

I have used Splenda very successfully in egg custards, bread puddings, custard pie and in meringues. If you are worried about texture you can simple dissolve the Splenda in a very small amount of water or milk but I have not found that to be necessary. I would not use stevia as it has a vegetal taste that I don't like. I can't use Equal because aspartame caused arrythmia in my heart. Scary! Splenda now has a product for baking that is half sugar and half Splenda, weight is comparable to sugar alone which is helpful in recipes in which ingredients are listed by weight and not by volume. One does not have to do a conversion which can get complicated. If you go to the Splenda website, you will find tips on using it in various recipes.

I would like to second the vote for duck fat! It is one of the best fats for both cooking and flavoring bland foods and the fat itself is good for the diet. It is certainly better by a long shot than the ersatz "spreads" that are produced by some alchemy to pretend to be butter or whatever by combining chemicals that never existed in nature. I use a lot of duck fat. I am downright obese, and I don't care who knows it, however duck fat did not get me this way. I love to bake and it has been the plethora of mostly savory baked goods that have been my downfall. That and not being able to exercise as much as I once did, because of arthritic knees. As far as eggs go, I have always eaten them whole and enjoyed every one, in fact I wish I had one now. I am at the office and forgot to bring my lunch. We had our first storm of the season beginning on Sunday and there was widespread flooding from the 1 inch to 1/2 inch that fell. Then yesterday more of the storm moved in and we had accidents all over the place the 14 was closed completely for a coupld of hours. It took me 3 hours to get home and I actually considered not coming in today because my back is acting up. However I finally decided to drive in very early before most of the idiots get on the road. Sat my lunch right by the back door and went out right past it, 2 hard-boiled eggs and some fruit. Another storm is coming in today and I am leaving early. I am going to go home and throw out the lunch that wasn't and fry a couple of eggs in duck fat as well as some shredded potato. So there! Shape magazine. Take that!!! Of course I could go over to the hospital across the parking lot for lunch. Today is meatloaf day and their meatloaf is loaded with fat. They also serve very large portions (and we get a huge discount for working for doctors on staff) which are way beyone what one would get in a restaurant. Last week they had trout fillets and those had to be the biggest trout in creation. Two in a serving, swimming in a buttery-like liquid. Just the entree weighed 13 ounces. We ought to suggest they send the author of that article to West Hills hospital and see what he thinks of their food. Frankly, I distrust many of these writers ever since we had a patient some years ago who wrote articles using numerous pen names. He was a regular contributor to Redbook, Cosmo, all the "women's slicks" and often wrote about diet and maintaining a healthy and slim body. The thing was that he was rather corpulant, out of shape and had sprained his ankle and knee when he slipped on something in an ice cream shop. That was the last time I took one of those articles seriously. Every time I see one, a picture of Peter pops into my mind.

Those sound absolutely delicious. I have copied the recipes and plan to try at least one.

The only way she can hold you to a "no competition" pact is if it is in writing, agreed to prior to your beginning to bake for her and you are adequately recompensed for the exclusitivity. Also this generally refers only to commercial competition. A retailer will ask for an exclusive for a particular area, i.e., within a 1 mile, 2 mile or 5 mile radius or similar limit and outside that area you can sell your product to other retailers. Without an exclusive compact or contract, you can sell to businesses that are next door to each other. If she is not paying you for an exclusive then you can teach whatever you want. After all, the people in your class are not really going to be in competition with her. If she isn't putting up notices of your product and not pushing it then she probably doesn't really understand how having a special product can ratchet up a business such as that.

This is a Hoosier cabinet.

I use the paper "pans" like these from King Arthur - haven't tried the wood ones. And this is not in any way a traditional type of fruitcake. If you check the "Fruitcake" topic, melonpan made it and baked it in small loaves and has posted a photo. It is dark with cocoa and moist and rich. I have yet to find anyone who does not like it.

Wow! Melonpan, your photo is great and the cakes look scrumptious. It does make a lot of batter - the bundt pans I use are the large ones, 10 to 12 cup max and the molds for the trees, large and small use a lot of batter. It is also enough for a full-sized sheet pan to make a thin cake for cutting into shapes. When I do those I completely cover them with chocolate, rather like a petit four.

I posted this recipe on the "Fruitcake" topic but here it is again. There are also some other good recipes on that thread, not only fruitcake, as this is not a true "fruitcake" per se... I get the cocoa at King Arthur flour co. It just makes it so much better than the supermarket stuff. Once you use it, yo will not be satisfied with the regular stuff. This is my cocoa fruit cake. I have recreated this from a recipe written in difficult-to-read, spidery handwriting in the journal of an ancestor with the entry dated 1690. It is important to use Dutch process cocoa. I use King Arthur Flour's Double Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa Half and Half. When glazed with the glaze at the end of the recipe, this cake will keep for several days at room temp and will stay incredibly moist with just a loose cover. I have in the past made this cake ahead of time and wrapped it well in Aluminum foil and kept it in a cool place for 6 or more weeks. However I now live alone. When my family was still all together, I could not keep it more than a couple of days......to give you an idea of the way things used to be, the original "receipt" called for 6 pounds of twice-boulted flour and 3 full pound loaves of sugar well beaten..... 2 pounds of butter and 3 dozen eggs. I have cut it down to a manageable size. FRUITED COCA CAKE original recipe ca. 1690 1 cup BUTTER unsalted 1-1/2 tsp SALT kosher 1 tsp CINNAMON ground 1 tsp CLOVES, ground 1 tsp NUTMEG, ground 1 tsp ALLSPICE, ground 6 Tbsp COCOA, Dutch process 3 cups superfine SUGAR 4 large EGGS 3 Tsp BAKING SODA 4 cups, sifted FLOUR 1-1/2 cups CURRANTS 1-1/2 cups DRIED CHERRIES 1-1/2 cups WALNUTS, chopped or pecans or macadamia nuts, etc. 3 cups APPLESAUCE, unsweetened chunky style if you can find it. Preheat oven to 350 F Grease and flour a deep 11" x 15" pan or 2 10-inch square pans or 2 holiday mold pans. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, salt, spices, cocoa and sugar. beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Mix baking soda with flour. reserve 2 heaping tablespoons of the flour. Instead of sifting the flour you can simply put it in a large bowl and run a wire whisk through it which does the same as sifting, i.e. fluffing it up a bit. Add flour to batter alternately with applesauce. Sprinkle the fruit and nuts with the reserved flour and fold into cake batter. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 1 hour or until cake tests done. (deeper pans will require longer baking. ORANGE GLAZE GRATED PEEL OF 2 ORANGES 1/3 CUP SUGAR 1/4 CUP WATER 1 CUP ORANGE JUICE 3 TABLESPOONS GRAND MARNIER LIQUOR OR BRANDY Combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to simmer, stirring constantly, continue cooking until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Drizzle over cake ( I use a turkey baster and a perforated spoon as the glaze is too hot to dip my fingers into which is usually the way I drizzle icing . After the glaze has set, decorate edges of the cake and the plate edges with powdered sugar sifted thru a fine strainer.

And most Hoosiers have a pull out counter which is great for pastry. My friend Gloria who has a craftsman home in Pasadena, has her kitchen restored to the way it was when new and done all in cream and green with an old Glenwood stove of the period. She has cream and green enamel steel cabinets with the upper cabinets with the obscura glass panels in some. She has a Hoosier (restored) with cream and green enamel counter which pulls out for more work space. She and I spent a lot of time rounding up all the original accessories that go with it. She was fortunate in that she was able to locate a descendant of the family that originally owned it and was able to borrow photos taken in the house when it was new. The only thing she couldn't restore was the hand pump in the kitchen sink. The cap of the old well is still in the back yard but the well itself was filled in long ago. I think a Hoosier is a great idea.

I looked through the photos on that site and they have a Roper also, the same color, looks identical to mine, I mean the photo looks identical, except the color is just a little lighter. I looked at the other photos of their stove and the clock face is different and I don't have the original salt and pepper shakers, just some that are similar in shape but are chrome. It's odd tha when I cropped the photo I just missed cropping out the steel step-stool chair next to it. I still use it in my kitchen now. It doesn't go with anything in there but I like it.

It is a 1959 Roper Town & Country range - 8 burners an 18 x 18 griddle in the center, 3 ovens and 2 broilers. The center oven can be used as a broiler with the "Broilevator" option put in. I bought it and had it completely restored by an antique stove restoration place in south L.A. They took it all apart and each piece was enameled (not powder coated) and re chromed, inside and out. It looked just like new. It has a cast iron frame and weighs 600 pounds with the doors off and everything removable. It took 5 men to move it in and out of the kitchens it has been in. We used a forklift to put it into my storage facility. They didn't make very many of these and the ones that are still around are very difficult to find. The restoration place put photos of it in their brochure back when it was first finished and another place did one almost identical with the emerald green. Mine was originally sort of battleship gray and white. I picked the color because I love it and had my sinks the same color as it was offered by Kohler at that time. (Bathtub and sinks in the bathroom also same color.)

Like this???

I love kitchen gadgets!! New, old, weird, odd, pretty, pretty ugly, scary. I love finding "treasures" that have been mislabeled and getting them for a fraction of what they are worth. Or stumbling across a rare piece of kitchen gadgetry at a yard sale and getting it for cheap. Being a hidebound know-it-all, I also take great pleasure in sticking a pin in a pompass ass who is going on and on about how desirable something is when trying to make a sale to a novice collector. When said vendor is trying to sell a farm related item to a guy that thinks he is buyin something used by early auto mechanics to pump oil, I sidle up and mention that "Gee, you have a hand-cranked cream separator just like we had on the farm when I was a kid." Then move away quickly. I could find something to spend 5 k on but I would have to think a bit. I can already find numerous excuses as to why I have to have something...Right Now!! I could always use some more knives. I love knives. There is this site Toys for Grownups That discusses gadgets. Actually there is something I want - a new chocolate temperer. My old machine (14 years old) is not behaving well. The temperature does not remain steady and I have to keep adjusting it. The new ones are really slick. And I think I want to get one of those supersized pasta rolling machines. Oh yeah, I can spend five big ones in a heartbeat.......