andiesenji

I do not like and won't eat sushi that contains raw fish of any kind. I don't eat shrimp (allergy) can't stand the smell of shrimp cooking. Ditto clams. Ditto mussels. Cheap caviar is gawdawful. The good stuff does not taste fishy or salty. Can't eat doughnuts and haven't for over 45 years. After frying doughnuts in my mom's bakery I got to the point that I couldn't stand the smell and just seeing someone eating them makes me gag. I had a brief episode a few months ago when I caught a scent from a KrispKreme place next to where I was getting gas and the smell was nice. However it did not tempt me. Some people have an affinity for truffles and others do not, many simply cannot sense the myriad elements of the flavor and aroma that emanate from the fresh truffle. And they have to be very, very fresh. Most truffle oil is blech! I can't stand it either. I buy fresh truffles sent overnight express, pay through the nose but I am one of the folks to whom they are as ambrosia. I can't even explain the flavor because it is not just the taste but a combination of aroma, flavor and sensation. A friend likens it to a reaction to pheremones. It has an effect on my brain. As I open the sealed package and get the first whiff, I begin salivating, so much that it is almost embarassing. I have already had the eggs at room temp, the butter ditto, so it is a rapid process, melt the butter in the pan, beat the eggs and pour into the pan, as soon as they begin to set, slice the truffle directly over the eggs, stir and eat. Sometimes, if I am alone, directly from the pan because the delay in putting it onto the plate takes too much time. Oh yeah, can't stand to watch anyone eat raw oysters, have to look away even in a movie or on TV.

I have a can of it in my pantry, pressed on me "to try" by Habibbulah at the middle eastern market at which I shop at least once a week. Since I don't turn down free anything, I took it but have yet to try it. Habib tried to explain a recipe to me but we were not communicating on the same level. He promised to have his wife write a recipe out for me. I think it is sort of a soup or stew with potatoes. Now that I know the alternate name I will look up a recipe in one of my books.

Here is the recipe for the fermented corn mash cornbread I promised. UNCLE "HAT'S" SOURED CORNBREAD This "receipt" is from Uncle "Hat" Elam an itenerant Pentecostal preacher who hiked through the Appalachians and Ozarks bringing the "Word of God" to the hill folks, many who supported themselves by cooking 'shine. (Uncle Hat was named Hatshepsut by his mother who did not realize this Pharaoh was a woman- she just liked the name having first heard it from a newsreader/traveling vendor of household items and books and then reading it in a book about Egypt.) Uncle Hat's sister Meratmeri (another Egyptian name) married one of my great-uncles. Uncle Hat remained a batchelor until he was near 60 and traveled to the Florida panhandle to bring back a young relative who had run away from a military school in Albany, Georgia, and who was hiding out in the Florida woods. In Tallahassee Uncle Hat stayed at a boarding house run by a widow "of a certain age" and fell in love first with her pineapple upside-down cake and then with her. He courted her for almost a year and finally convinced her to marry him. They enjoyed 37 years of married bliss until they died within a few months of each other -he at 98 and she at 91. As Uncle Hat told it, sometimes he would arrive at a 'stead in the mountains and the family would not have enough cornmeal to make enough bread for company. The man of the house would go off into the woods and return with a pot of "workin" mash and this would be incorporated into the cornbread to stretch it so there would be enough for the family and for company. Uncle Hat felt it was so tasty he did the unthinkable when he returned home and invaded the kitchen and experimented under the eye of his mother and sisters until he worked out the following recipe and for the rest of his life he was proud to make the cornbread for every company meal and also when visiting family and friends. (other than that he would not set foot in a kitchen) Pour 3 cups spring water into a 2 or 3 quart pot, add 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and bring it to a rolling boil. Gradually stir in 1-1/2 cups white water-ground cornmeal and cook till it is a medium-thick mush. Remove from heat and immediately stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of lard (or solid shortening such as Crisco - don't use butter) and enough additional cornmeal to make a fairly stiff batter. It should not be dry, but the (wooden) spoon should stand up in the batter. Pour the hot batter into a scalded glazed crock (or ceramic bowl) and cover with a (glass or ceramic plate or glass or stainless steel pot lid) but do not seal it tight, (be sure to scald the bowl and the lid). Allow to set at room temperature for two to four days, until it ferments - this goes quicker in the summer. It should look bubbly and have a distinct aroma and smell faintly of alcohol. You won't have to remove the lid to scent it, the gases should be able to escape from the pot, thus the loose fitting lid. Caution: If you cover this tightly, the pressure can blow the lid off the crock and will shatter a glass jar. At the end of this time, stir together 1 cup buttermilk with 1/2 cup fresh cornmeal and 1/2 teaspoon fresh bakin' "sody", stir into the 'workin' mixture. Heat oven to 400, put 2 tablespoons lard (or shortening) in an iron skillet (10 inch) place in oven till the fat is very hot. Pour the batter into the skillet (it should sizzle) and bake till a straw comes out clean, (about 30 minutes). Yield, 8 servings. SUBMITTED BY: Andie Paysinger SOURCE: Andie's Uncle Hat Elam, an original recipe.

You might consider one, two or three of these. I have a friend who lives on a boat in a marina and has three of these (plus some other planters) on her slip deck.

I have a couple of unusual recipes - I am at work this morning but when I get home I will post the one I know is in my computer. It is for cornbread made with "fermented" mash. And was from a collection of recipes from my honorary uncle, "Uncle Hat" who was an itinerant preacher who traveled, mostly by mule, through the remote hill country of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, etc. He often stayed at the rather remote homes of the congregation and when times were hard, as during the great depression, it was difficult feeding even one extra person. Uncle Hat was also a great story teller and related his experience at a remote homestead where they had run short of corn meal but the man of the family had some mash "workin" and went out into the woods and came back with some mash in a bucket which was mixed with the plain cornmeal to make a big batch of cornbread to go with the beans which was their entire meal. When he got home Uncle Hat experimented by making up a batch of mash and leaving it to "work" for a couple of days (the process is very rapid) and then making the cornbread which he felt was a superior product. This was the only time that Uncle Hat set foot in a kitchen, feeling that there should be a firm division between "man's work" and "woman's work." However he was proud of his discovery and told the story to anyone who was unfamiliar with it. If you are wondering about the name, Uncle Hat's mother was a great reader and had some books about discoveries in Egypt in the mid-nineteenth century. She came across the names of several Pharohs and named her eldest son Hatsheput - not realizing that this pharaoh was a woman. She liked the sound of it. Uncle Hat said that he shortenend it when he was in school and so he was known as Hat for the remainder of his life. When he came to visit us he always had to bake a batch of his cornbread.

I have been considering getting a wood-burning oven for a couple of years. I actually wanted one in one end of the kitchen but have scratched that idea because my contractor said that removing part of the wall (steel frame) and bridging it to support the clay tile roof would be a major project, costing far more than the cost of the oven itself. I have decided to go with the Il Forno as two of my friends have them and are very happy. One has a pre-fab, in Orange County and the other is in Malibu and was built on site from a kit. They also give classes in how to use the oven. Il Forno prices and sizes. If you have experience as a bricklayer you could probably do it yourself. The prefab looks good to me and that is probably what I will go with. I like the idea of having it set in place rapidly. I considered the Mugnaini but since they are in northern Calif and I am in L.A. county I decided to look at the Il Forno in person at their showroom in Corona. I don't know how the prices compare but they seemed pretty competitive to me.

What type of cornbread? The traditional southern style, the midwest style, the cake style, the western style. cornbread is not simply cornbread because it can vary a great deal. I make the old-fashioned "black skillet cornbread" which is dense, with a tight crumb and will hold together when dipped in bean soup (my main parameter). It is very simple to make, has few ingredients but requires a particular type of cornmeal, not always easy to find. Here is my grandmother's recipe for REAL down-home Kentucky country cornbread. Baked in a well-seasoned, cast-iron skillet (10 inch). You can use any baking pan, but it's not the same. GRAMMAW'S BLACK-SKILLET CORNBREAD This is a dense, hearty bread, it will hold together when dipped in navy bean soup. This is nothing at all like the Marie Callenders type of cornbread which is too sweet and more cake than bread. This sticks to your ribs. Anyway, here is the recipe. Note, there is NO sugar in this recipe. 2 cups stone-ground, a mixture of fine and medium, cornmeal, preferably white but yellow is okay if you can't find the white. 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons flour 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups buttermilk 2 tablespoons lard, bacon dripping or if you must, canola oil or corn oil (I make it with bacon drippings or melted lard, but I don't have to worry about cholesterol and I know a lot of folks won't use them or can't use them because of dietary restrictions.) Preheat oven to 450. Grease skillet and place in oven to heat. (If using lard or bacon drippings, melt it in the skillet) Combine all the dry ingredients and whisk to mix and fluff a bit. Add eggs, buttermilk and oil. (If using lard, pour the melted lard into a metal cup to measure, make sure there is some still in the skillet). Mix with a stiff whisk or a large fork, just enough to be sure all the dry ingredients are moist and there are no dry lumps. Pour into the hot, well-greased skillet, return to oven and bake for 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cut into 8 wedges. serve hot with fresh butter. This also makes nice griddle cakes served with butter and molasses, maple syrup or honey. For variations, you can add freshly-cut-off-the-cob sweet corn. You can add some green chiles or Jalapenos if you like spicy. You can add crumbled crisp bacon You can add some finely diced onion lightly toasted in the oven. You can add a bit of grated cheese. I grate it fairly fine and let it air dry for close to an hour so it doesn't melt away to nothing. YIELD: Makes 8 wedges SOURCE: Andie’s Grammaw

Although the burner itself doesn't get hot, the heat from a pan that's on it can cause the surface of the burner to heat up. So you still need to be careful when you remove a hot pan from the burner. Mine is cool within seconds. The surface does not heat up more than a few degrees. That being said, if you have a pan that is not absolutely flat on the bottom you can get a little heating at the threshold rim, the division between where the flat part of the pan is in contact and the area where it is not.

I have been using a countertop Iwatani induction cooker for over a year. this is the one for several reasons. Sometimes I want to cook something low and slow (as in doing a long reduction) and do not want to have to constantly monitor it - my kitchen is closed off from the main part of the house - as I would on the gas cooker. And it turns itself off automatically......... a very big plus. Occasionally I need to take it with me when I am going to cook at the home of a friend who has only marginal cooking equipment, i.e. a very small range or cooktop on which stockpots or large sauteuse will not fit without interfering with a second burner. I like that it stays cool while heating whatever is in the pan. It heats a pan instantly and is ready to cook as soon as the pan comes in contact with the top, however you can remove the pan and put your hand directly on the element and won't get burned. (This from someone who happened to lean on a glass stovepot which was still hot but noting to indicate it. OUCH!) I can take it out on the deck and cook with it when the wind is blowing (this is a very windy area) and not have to worry about it blowing out (happens to the gas burner on my gas grill all the time) and also it won't start a fire. The one I have is not as powerful as some but it is more than adequate for my needs and very affordable. It is less expensive now than when I bought mine (at a discount) and I am considering buying a second one.

Chocolate. But not cocoa, even the very strong or "black" cocoas do not produce the same effect. I have a very low threshold. I can take a tiny nibble of choclate (I use bittersweet and need to guage how much sweetener to add to the recipe to even it out) with no problem but half an ounce seems to be my limit.

I don't think we'll have to worry about this. We're not much in way of cooks and I've never even heard of an immersion blender. If you ever want to puree something in the cook pot while it is still on the burner, this is the way to go. They are relatively inexpensive and do a great job and can also mix malts, or milk shakes, puree cold stuff too. When I want to make just half a cup of garlic mayo this is what I use. Saves a lot of time both in prep and in clean up and the thing is very compact. I have three, a Braun Turbo 400 watt, which I use mostly for small jobs that one would use one of the mini food processors for. This is easier to clean as all you have to do is stick it in a container with soapy water, run it then put it into clear water and ditto. Clean! I just hang it up and put a paper towel under it to catch any drips. I also have a Cuisinart that was a gift and I have to use it once in a while because the person who gave it to me comes around fairly often. It lives in a drawer most of the time. I also have one of the big commercial ones (Dynamic) 24 inches long for working in deep stockpots but you wouldn't need anything that powerful or expensive. I had a welder make a steel "handle" for it that lets me hook it onto the top edge of a stockpot and holds it at a slight angle so I can stick it in the pot, hook it on the edge, turn it on and not have to keep holding it. The action is pretty good at circulating most of the stuff and I just finish by using it hand held to make sure I have gotten all of the lumps pureed. Recently one of the online vendors was selling the "Thunderstick" brand stick blender for a very low price and several people on one of my small private lists bought them. They can usually be found for around $35.00 but this vendor was selling them for $19.99. If you put the bracket in a place where it will be handy you will find yourself using it often. This vendor here has it for 32.99.

Two slices of a hearty bread, probably homemade as I do a lot of baking, lightly toasted. Each slice spread with home made peanut butter (or half cashew butter) Add to and press into the PB on one or both slices the following: crumbled very crisp bacon toasted onion bits or carmelized onion toasted seeds, either sesame, sunflower or pumpkin To one slice add a layer of bread and butter pickles (also homemade) well drained. Place the other slice on the one with the pickles, press down and cut diagonally into quarters. Excellent with a cup of strong, black tea...

If anyone is interested, Sam's Club has the Deluxe model with the extra large water tank for $66.63. They also have the coffees, 2 bags to a box, each box 6.68.

I would slice it very thin, spread with duxelles, roll it up, heat it briefly and eat it with fresh French bread.

Really, then I must be remembering something totally different. I do recall an episode with a potato pancake or maybe it was a rostii, but wasn't the show in color by then? The episode I recall was right at the beginning of the second season, they now had an overhead mirror to show what was happening in the pots and pans and it made her look left-handed and it looked like her pinned on insignia was on the wrong size. An uncooked chicken slid off a platter. The next show was the one where she had the three big fish, actually medium, large and huge, lined up on the counter and used her knife to point out the various parts of the fish. I thought the camerman was a little twitchy during that episode. On another episode she held a large fish up in the air with both hands and mimed it swimming. She didn't drop it.

Also, one of the best things I did was have overhead receptacles put in over the stove, at either end of the exhaust hood. This makes it so much easier to use an immersion blender in a pot on the stovetop without dragging the cord through something or catching it on a pot handle. I have one of those retractable key ring things screwed into the hood next to each elec. receptacle and have an alligator clip on the key hook. I clamp this onto the cord so it gives enough for me to pull it down to the stovetop but keeps the slack taught and the cord from dipping into whatever I am cooking. I also had all the receptacles were the GFCI type, which means they have a built-in breaker. These are much, much safer, particularly in a kitchen. See it here In my old kitchen I had a fire when a coffeemaker shorted out and it could have been serious but the alarm went off. (I have the combination, smoke, heat and fumes type) and I was able to put it out myself. Even then I had fire extinguishers in the kitchen. Now I am required to by law. Better to be safe than sorry......... They are very cheap when you consider the expense of a fire.

I went out early this morning to get some shopping finished before the heat became too much and on my way home, I had just pulled off the freeway and was driving down my road and the news came on with that as the lead story. I got a big lump in my throat and had to pull off the road because I couldn't see for the tears. She did have a very long and extremely productive life and I think that she did exactly what she wanted to do. She had no regrets but was never tooting her own horn about how much she had done. She didn't need to, others did it, and rightly so. Back in the days when The French Chef first was shown, most people were content with cooking as their mother's had before them, rarely going out on a limb and trying something new. Garlic was anathema and the only people who cooked with olive oil were "those foreigners" (as I heard someone say about a third-generation Italian family). It was before the days of the cholesterol scare but many people used margarine as it was touted as being good and also cheaper. Those old shows, in black and white, inspired me to learn more about cooking in general. I had been a baker for some time but there is a world of difference between baking and cooking. Baking must be precise but cooking allows for intuition and innovation. She taught this and so much more, particularly about being relaxed when something unforseen happens - as when a chicken fell on the floor and she grabbed it up and said it can happen to anyone, washed and wiped it and went on with the demonstration. I was in San Antonio, perhaps ten years ago, for a string of dog shows with a couple of free days between. A friend mentioned that he had a couple of passes to a taping of a show with Julia Child and Graham Kerr and would I like to go? Silly question. Of course I went and afterward ordered a print of the tape and the slip jacket was signed by Julia and Graham. It was simple serendipity, me being in the right place at the right time. It is one of my treasured moments. She touched uncountable lives and I know that there are many, many chefs and others in the world of food, that are what they are because of Julia. She had a rare talent for inspiring people to do better than they ever thought they could. She will be missed, on an astronomical scale.

Check out this Thermador cooktop which is what I would get today instead of the cooktop I do have. I like the star burners much better than the ring shape. This has enough output to cook with a wok. I have a separate wok burner which I rarely use because it throws out too much heat for me.

Regarding reusing jars. The Atlas jars, in which some commercial spagetti sauces, salsas, marinades and some fruits, are regular canning jars with the double-threads which fit regular Ball or Kerr canning lids. One or two companies use the wide-mouth jars and again, these fit the wide-mouth lids. all of these companies have labels that are plastic film and not fired on so they can be removed - I use acetone but try the regular nail polish remover which melts the plastic. I have friends who are more than happy to save these jars for me in return for some of my canning product. In fact, when I got home from work yesterday there was a cardboard box full of canning jars next to my back door with a little note that said, "I can see your tomatoes are coming along well so you can probably use these when you make your marinara sauce, hint, hint, hint!" Maggie. Thrift shops are a good place to look and you can always ask the volunteer ladies to save you a certain type of item. I have an arrangement with a couple of charity thrift shops that I will take all the cookbooks they get as well as all the canning equipment and odd old kitchen gadgets and utensils. They know I am good for it and one will even deliver. I give them a regular donation every 6 months even if I don't have anything for me to buy. The things I don't want and which are in good condition and useful, basic utensils, I donate to the women's and children's shelter which they pass on to women who are trying to start a new life and have nothing.

Recipe Source, once known as SOAR, has 39 recipes for summer squash listed. Squash recipes These should take you through the rest of the summer! A note about the site: I began looking for recipes at the old SOAR site soon after it came online in 1993. My daughter, a Berkeley graduate, told me about it and at that time I had Compuserv which charged by the hour. I spent a lot of money looking for recipes and consider it well spent. When you want a large selection of recipes for a particular food item this is the place to look. I am sure that some day in the not too distant future RecipeGullet will be as vast and as varied. However for now, it is nice to have this vast resource at our fingertips.

The absolute best way to clean a blade type grinder is this way, and it works better than Martha Stewart's - I have been doing this since before Martha was ever heard of. I used the same routine to clean my blender between grinding dry stuff (washing was not an option because it would take too long to dry and I needed it to grind something else.) Place two heaping tablespoons of dry baking soda in the grinder. Add 3 broken saltine crackers. Apply the top and run the grinder, shaking it up and down and turning it upside down and back a couple of times (holding the top on, of course). Dump the powder out and wipe with a dry paper towel. This will remove oils from grinding coffee beans and spices, will polish the interior and will also kill any lingering odor from spices or coffee, etc. This works and is simple. Grinding raw rice is really tough on the blades and will dull them ater a time. I collect antique electric appliances and I use a barely damp cloth and dry baking soda to remove the burnt on grease that in some cases is nearly 80 years old. This is the only thing I use because it will not scratch or dull the chrome on these early beauties.

See this measuring liquid/dry And this conversion table\ And this one more conversion tables and note the lone Australian tablespoon which is 20 ml instead of the 16 ml in the U.S. and the 15 ml in the U.K. a pint in the U.K. is 20 U.K. oz, while in the U.S. it is 16 "fluid" U.S. oz. So much for the old saying, "A pint's a pound, the world around." Because the volume of liquid changes slightly at differing altitudes a more accurate measurement is obtained by weighing liquids. In a laboratory, liquids as well as solids are usually weighed when precise measurements are required.

I haven't tried any except the dark roast but one of the girls in the office is using the medium. She likes it and has gone through a lot of the pods. Target had a good supply of the dark roast but most places tell me they can't keep it on the shelf, it is gone almost as soon as they put it out. We only use two pods at a time. My boss used two pods for a single shot. They like it because it is fresh every time, the coffee drinkers among us think that brewed coffee goes stale within a few minutes. Do post what your experiences are with the other pods.

crookneck, straightneck, etc., are similar in flavor to all other summer squash. They may begin to shrivel a bit but they should be picked before they get too big and the seeds develop a hard skin. I try and catch them when the bulb part is about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter and the neck is about half that size. Slice thin and saute in garlic butter with celery and corn. Slice very thin and pickle as you would for bread and butter pickles, i.e., sweet and sour flavor. They take on the flavor of whatever they are with I also like summer squash and green beans in combination. They are related to but unlike gourds (the decorative things) they are edible. In fact they are considered an edible gourd. You can test the squash with a fingernail. A nail should penetrate easily this will not happen with a gourd.

I have been worm composting for many years. Very little goes down the garbage disposal. It is amazing how quickly the worms can break down stuff as tough as watermelon rind, corn cobs, etc. I have 6 huge tubs which have a screen that sets on legs in the bottom. The worm castings work their way down through the coarse screen and can be raked out because I have cut a hatch in one side of the tub at the bottom. I have a barrel on a low platform, put the castings in that with water and some blood meal or bone meal or other additive that might be needed then turn the tap and drain the "tea" into a bucket for application to plants that need a bit of extra nutrition.