andiesenji

Just a thought, have you had your oven calibrated recently? Or do you have an accurate oven thermometer in the oven?

If you portion it out with a #30 scooper, onto a sheet pan in which you have scattered a layer of sweet rice flour. You can then put on a pair of the snug food-handler gloves, pat the gloves in the rice flour and roll the mochi between your palms. With the little scooper you will have portions all the same size and the rice flour makes it easier to handle the mochi.

MASTER MUSTARD RECIPE an Original Recipe by Andie First let me say that I grow my own mustard because I like to, however it is not necessary. You can find whole black and brown and white or yellow mustard seed in any Indian market and there are plenty around so you should have no difficulty finding a source. This is the basic mustard recipe I use - it is easy to adjust it for your taste and add various spices, herbs, condiments that make it to your taste. I use mostly black and brown mustard, however a yellow or white variety has crept into my mustard patch in the last few years and it now makes up about 5% of the total. (I am not going to pick them out one by one.) I do not use honey because one my friends has a severe allergy to honey or something in honey - so I use apple jelly for the basic sweetener in sweet/hot mustard, or half apple jelly and half orange marmalade, or whatever. This is for a coarse, homestyle type mustard which will not be creamy. Measure out 2/3 cup of the mustard seeds, dump them into a fairly fine wire strainer and shake to get rid of any bits of stem or hull that has not been removed in the threshing. Rinse with cold water and leave to drain in the strainer. In a glass jar with tight fitting lid place the following 1/2 cup apple cider or rice vinegar (seasoned or unseasoned). 1/2 cup sweet mirin or any sweet white wine. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon sugar - brown or white Add the mustard seed, close tightly and shake briefly Set aside and allow to soak overnight or at least for 8 hours, (you can leave it for days or even weeks, the seeds will not spoil, they will just get softer) If you are around, shake the jar a couple of times in the interval or stir it with a long handled spoon but if you don’t think of it don’t worry it is not absolutely necessary. Pour into blender and start on low speed, gradually increasing speed as the seeds break up. The mustard will begin to thicken, stop after a few minutes and stir to check on consistency, you may have to add a bit of water if it becomes too thick. (If the seeds have taken up all the moisture then you will have to add some liquid.) When the mixture just begins to hold its shape, stop blending and add 1 cup of either apple jelly, orange marmalade, red currant jelly, apricot jam - or a mixture of any or all. Continue blending until you can no longer see any whole seeds in the mix. Pour into a glass jar, cap tightly and refrigerate for a day or so the mustard can mature and mellow a bit. At this point this is going to be a fairly hot, sinus-clearing mustard. The mixture will thicken a little but should still be somewhat runny and will have a sharp bite. (tastes a bit "raw") THE NEXT STEP IS IMPORTANT! At this point it has to be cooked a bit to modify the flavor, reduce the "bite". You can cook it in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water until it thickens to spreadable consistency. OR You can do it in the microwave in just a minute or two. In a wide bowl or casserole dish, which will allow the mustard to foam up 3 times its depth without going over the sides, pour the mustard so it is about 3/4 inch deep. At 50% power, nuke it for 20 seconds- stir, repeat the 20 second cook, stir again and repeat....... This should take a total of perhaps 2 minutes (at most) cooking time. As you stir the mustard back down after it has foamed up, you will begin to notice that it is thicker and has begun to look slightly translucent and shiny. At this point let it cool and taste it. Some of the harsh bite should be gone but you should still be able to taste the spiciness. MOST IMPORTANT! This is the way to adjust the taste of the mustard. If you cook it too long the flavor will be gone. If you plan to add anything to it, such as mayonnaise, or mix it into sour cream or cream cheese or ??? leave it a bit spicer than you would if using it straight. The additive will lessen the pungency of the mustard and you will lose the "bite" of the mustard. Put the finished mustard back in the (washed and scalded) jar, cap tightly and store in fridge. Now you have a basic mustard to which you can add green peppercorns or horseradish, or cranberry relish, or chutney, hot peppers, etc. If you have an Asian market buy some of the sweet chile sauce (Mae Ploy is my favorite brand), which is not too hot and add some of this for a little different flavor, absolutely fantastic with pork or sausages such as bratwurst. You can mix it half and half with sour cream, mayonnaise or Miracle Whip for a mustard dip. Try it with veggies, with fried or grilled chicken strips. If you mix it with tartar sauce it makes a great dip for deep-fried crab balls.

I spent part of the morning mixing, blending and processing mustard seed into the base product that I will later "flavor" with various ingredients, then put up in jars and finish in a hot water bath. I have been making my own mustard for many years, it is really quite a simple process and I can have the flavors I want. It also makes a nice gift for a hostess or an addition to a holiday (or other occasion) gift basket. This mustard happens to be home grown, but mustard seed is readily available and I wondered why more people don't make their own, instead of paying some of the outrageous prices for some of the "trendy" mustards. I took a couple of photos, but ImageGullet is not available at this time so can't post them. Have you made mustard, either from mustard flour, or starting with seeds and if so, how did your product turn out and what varieties have you made?

Unless I am mistaken, the chef was only here for the period stated in the notice: Master Baker James MacGuire is here to answer all of your baking questions from June 1st thru June 6, 2004. That being said, let me answer your question. This vendor carried the almond powder: http://design-emporium.com/storefront/prod.../Mixes/4421.htm You can make the almond powder yourself by working small amounts of almond meal in a blender in brief bursts, then sifting the result through a very fine mesh sieve. It should have the texture of cake flour.

They look wonderful. My cherry varieties are coming along at about the same rate as most of the standards. The only one that is almost ready to pick is Celebrity, and it is loaded with fruit. I took this pic yesterday. Most of today I have been busy processing apricots. Because of the high temps we had earlier this month they ripened about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. I split and pitted 13 trays full that are now in the two Excalibur dehydrators. I pitted 7 pounds and cooked them down until I could put them through the food mill to remove the skins. That batch is in a large container in the freezer for later processing into preserves. I still have a bushel basket full and have to do something with them tomorrow. The pickers worked all day yesterday and will be back Monday to strip the tree. There are still a lot left but they are up in the higher branches. This is a very big tree, nearly 50 ft at the very top.

I suggest that you go to the library, get the April 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine and read a brief article on Page 49 about Chef Govind Armstrong. He was only 13 when Wolfgang Puck gave him a summer job at Spago in 1982 after seeing photos of hors d'oeuvres he made for his mother's parties. In high school he worked at City Restaurant for Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. He recently opened his own restaurant in L.A.

I have tried several of the recipes on the Chef-to-Chef site: http://chef2chef.net/cgi-bin/menuc.cgi?search=panini My favorites the chicken and chile verde and the portobello mushroom instead of the grated Asiago, I used a slice of Fontina. I also made the eggplant, arugula and mozz panini on this site http://www.recipezaar.com/r/q=panini

I have a couple of balsamic vinegars that I have used and liked. Not terribly expensive, moderately priced, no more than 20.00. It is okay, but I really have not found that it made a huge difference in most foods. There are a couple of applications that the balsamic works better than others. Perhaps I have not tasted the really good stuff. I have one tiny bottle that has never been opened. My boss brought it back from Italy a couple of years ago when he and his four brothers visited their parent's homeland. This one is in a fancy box, has a Murano glass dropper and I have been reluctant to open it. Saving it for a special occasion. I do not read Italian so can't tell what it says on the bottle, on the box it says Acetaia Malpighi "Riserva Ciliegio" 50 years. I have two sherry vinegars, Columelo and Don Bruno. Neither very expensive. I also had one in a crockery bottle (do not recall the name) that I found in Marshall's dept store. Very cheap. I often cruise Marshall's and TJMaxx 'kitchen' section. They often have great buys on fancy jams, syrups, condiments. I bought a large crock of Herbs de Provence (five times the size of the little ones usually seen) for 7.99. I have cane syrup vinegar, it may be the Steen's mentioned above. I have three carboys of homemade vinegar, red and white wines. One made from Blackthorne ale. My mothers are not as long-lived as balmagowry's, but they have been around since shortly after I moved here in '88. The ale vinegar is only 6 years old. From the Phillipine market I have coconut, palm and pineapple vinegars as well as two kinds of rice vinegar. A few years ago I had a banana vinegar that was very strongly flavored. I have a very nice Plum wine vinegar from Japan, and a blackcurrant vinegar from Poland that I bought at a shop in the L.A,. Farmer's Market. The shop carries hundreds of hot sauces plus a few other condiments. I had never before heard of vinegar made from blackcurrants - it is very good. I drank some diluted with a spritz of soda water. reminded me of lemonade. I also bought a mango vinegar at the same store, used it up in short order over fruit salads. It was very, very good. I have an apple cider vinegar from the health food store made by Bragg. It is raw, unfiltered and contains the mother. For pickling I have a distilled vinegar because the higher acidity produces a crisper pickle. I also have a champagne vinegar someone gave me for Christmas last year. Never opened.

There are so many varieties of the traditional mochi made in Japan, and then there are the non-traditional varieties that are made in Hawaii, with taro, and even more in the Phillipines. One friend who was from Okinawa would go back home for a visit every two or three years and would bring back goodies, including a type of mochi filled with sweet potato candy. It had a brown crust that looked like it had been deep fried. Unfortunately I don't remember the name. I like the savory mochi, wrapped in nori, seasoned with sauces, better than the sweets. There is a great cookbook for Hawaiian Mochi recipes, by Jean Watanabe. Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes, if anyone is interested it is available here: http://www.janmstore.com/lesyampichaw.html

The maker is Westmark. A Cooks Wares has it. http://www.cookswares.com/individual.asp?n=7212 So does Chef gadget. http://www.chefgadget.com/GadgetsGarnish.asp Anyone else eating mint is fine with me and I like it in moderation. I just don't like it in a sprig.

Sorry, I did not know it was limited to sweet mochi. I especially like Warabi mochi. For years I worked with a Nisei lady who took me along with her family to the Nisei festival in L.A. which is coming up sometime in August. I tried just about everything made with rice. Knowing how much I like unusual kitchen appliances, she showed me an automatic mochi maker which I nearly bought for my collection. Unfortunately the one they had unsold had a crack in hinge on the lid, otherwise..........

How about Gohei Mochi, has anyone mentioned that?

I use the methods on this site for cool-smoker bacon: http://www.3men.com/bacon_making.htm They use a commercial cure mix. Alton Brown's cure recipe sounds good, it is a bit different than mine, but close. I use brown sugar instead of molasses and I use more cracked black peppercorns and also add a few bay leaves and some mustard seed to the mix. Doesn't add all that much flavor but I like it. I also cold-smoke for longer because that is the way I like my bacon. I smoke it with maple for 10 hours. This site has a different method and also sells the cure mixes. I use their method for curing sausages made from wild game. http://www.askthemeatman.com/curing_&_smok...ons_at_home.htm

Actually the dogs were better behaved than the kids.... One of the danes was subject to guilt trips. If anyone yelled about anything he would drop his head, tuck his tail between his legs and retire to his bed. This dog had never been struck, rarely scolded, but had this inherent guilty streak. The basenjis, on the other hand, could brazen out anything. One, appropriately named "Sin" would look completely innocent even with meringue from a pie plastered on his face, as if to say, "Who, me? You know I wouldn't do that, Mom." We did have to buy a different fridge because of the danes. We had one of the Admiral fridges with the freezer on the bottom and a foot pedal to open it. The danes learned how that worked and after they absconded to the back yard with a few hunks of frozen meat (and ate it as-is), we bought one with double doors which they couldn't figure out how to open (as long as no one hung a dish towel on the door handle.)

As I have followed along with this thread, I have been wondering, what would you do if you had kids underfoot? Back in the dark ages, when I was married and had three teen agers plus their friends in the house, I don't recall having too many disasters with people tromping through the kitchen while I was in the middle of preparing a meal. There were also two great danes and three basenjis, which meant nothing resembling meat could be set on a counter unattended. The danes didn't even have to stretch to reach it and the basenjis could jump three feet from a sitting start. They also thought that every time a fridge door was opened it meant they were going to get a treat and were right there with me, peering into the magic food box. For some odd reason they also liked to sleep on the floor in front of the fridge. Trying to open the door with a pile of dogs weighing more than 200 pounds could be chancy at best. I could always run the dogs into the back yard and lock the doggy door, but what can you do with teens who never listen to anything you say, except to ignore them. If they became too boisterous I would give a demonstration of knife juggling which would clear the kitchen in short order. They never saw me drop one but felt it best to take no chances. The only thing that really angered me was someone smoking in the house. That was never allowed. One sister-in-law had the temerity to come into my kitchen and turn on one of the gas burners and lean down to light a cigarette. I did rather blow a gasket at that and she didn't come to our home or speak to me for several months.... No loss as far as I was concerned. Friends and neighbors were always dropping in unannounced, usually coming in through the garage and into the laundry room at one end of the kitchen rather than to the front door. We had an espresso machine long before it became trendy and many times they would prepare their own and lounge at the kitchen table and watch me work. I probably got used to all this in early childhood where the kitchen was a very busy place with several people working at various tasks and if I asked, I would be given little things to do. While in baking school I got used to decorating cakes while people were screaming directions at other people over the noise of the mixers and other machinery, stacks of sheet pans being dropped into a sink, and all the other noise one finds in a bakery. When I worked as a personal chef, I worked in kitchens where the client might stroll in straight from the pool, sans clothing, guests high on something I never cared to know about might come in and ask me some weird question that had nothing to do with reality. Once I was working in the kitchen and a young man came in and thought I was France Nuyen and I couldn't convince him I wasn't and finally had to call the client to take him away. I have no idea what he was on. One client had a lot of exotic birds and other wildlife which wandered free around the house. He replaced one of my good knives after his macaw bit through the wood of the handle. I have worked with a rock band practicing in the room next door. (not my kind of music) And there were other distractions which are best left unwritten. (I had some odd clients.) There were times that I did get a bit cranky, after all, I am human, but mostly I was able to tune out the distractions and get on with my work. There are times when I concentrate so completely that I do not hear the phone ring right next to me. This is something that one develops over time.

I should have refreshed the page and read your message before posting mine. I have a lot of garnishing tools, most bought at art supply stores - carving tools, long before there were sets specifically for garnishing. One is my favorite for coring pears, apples, etc. Do you have Chef Harvey's video?

You are so right! Your two cents is worth far more. If it cannot be eaten, it should not be on the plate. I grow a lot of rosemary because I love to cook with it. I have bundles of the long woody stems, stripped of leaves, in the freezer because they are wonderful skewers for kebabs, the flavor from the stem gently flavors the meat or vegetable. If I am going to garnish something with whole rosemary leaves, I steam them briefly to soften them. (I have a small skillet with a tight fitting lid that does the job with little effort.) Otherwise I chop them finely before sprinkling over the food.

I have to admit that I do garnish most things I prepare, even if cooking just for myself. A dollop of sour cream sprinkled with chives is an integral part of a baked potato but in truth is a garnish. I chop tomatoes, onions, chiles and cilantro nearly every day during the summer because this pico de gallo is good scattered on all kinds of things, omelets; eggs, potatoes and sausage or bacon; quesadillas; chops or steaks; soups and stews; chicken salad; and so on... I grow shallots and slice and dry them. Crushed, they make a nice garnish on savory dishes or vegetable salads. Toasted pumpkin or squash seeds added to salads. I am not a big fan of mint but it has its place with some fruit salads. However I seldom add the ubiquitous sprig, I roll a few leaves and cut them in a chiffonade and sprinkle lightly over the salad. Whole poached fruits are garnished with citrus zest, in shreds, not grated, in a contrasting color if possible; or with papaya seeds that can be saved from the fruit, washed, frozen and used when needed for a bit of crunch. In pomegranate season I garnish salads, meats, fruits, etc. with the bright red bits, for color and for flavor.

As one who owns a lot of cookbooks, and continues to buy new ones and "new" old ones and odd ones, and so on, I can say that there can never be too many cookbooks. Particularly ones that include anecdotes, funny saying, insight into the author's reasons for writing the cookbook. I have never prepared a recipe from many of the cookbooks I own, however I have read most of them with great pleasure. The stories about the people and places the author has known, amusing or other incidents that have happened to them, odd events, etc., all contribute to my enjoyment of the book. Some books contain recipes that might be similar to others I have but with a new twist, or a new way of preparing the dish that makes it easier or more complex, or just plain better. Many times a recipe will give me an idea for something entirely different, a new path to take to a new level of cooking knowledge. They all have worth.

Blame Elizabeth David, the evangelista of Med... et. al.., cooking

Good for us T1's too! Do you have a recipe to share? It is just a plain egg custard ony made with Splenda instead of sugar. I don't really use a recipe, I figure 2 eggs for each cup of milk, depending on egg size. This is a recipe for an extra rich bread pudding, my own recipe, which I use to make bread pudding in a large loaf pan to be sliced and fried for something similar to French toast. You would have to cut the recipe down for the little ones made in muffin pans. Extra Rich Bread Pudding 8 extra large eggs 3 cups milk 1 cup cream (or half & half) 2/3 cup sugar (or Splenda to cut calories, it works just fine) 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 4 to 5 cups rough bread cubes (Tear day old bread into pieces about 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes.) Spray a large loaf pan with canola oil (or Pam) (can also use a Bundt pan) Combine eggs, milk and cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and spices in a large bowl. Beat until eggs are completely blended. Add the bread cubes and press down into the egg mixture with a spatula. Cover and set aside for about 20 to 30 minutes until the bread has soaked up most of the egg mixture. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan to within 1/2 inch of the top. Set the loaf pain into a baking pan and place in the oven. Pour boiling water into the pan till it is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep. Bake for one hour. Test by inserting a thin knife blade into the pudding near the center. If it comes out wet continue baking for an additional 10 minutes. Test again until knife blade comes out clean. (It will take longer to bake in humid weather.) Remove from oven and immediately brush top with melted butter.

This is a case of what is old is new again..... I have some antique bottles, unfortunately in storage or I would post a photo, that have glass stoppers and a wire bail to hold the stoppers in place. The best thing about these is that they are easy to sterilize and one would never have a "corky" wine.

in your dreams, as the saying goes .... But cinnamon and Splenda work nicely together. I mix it together and put in in the shakers that have the screen mesh top, medium size mesh, as the Splenda in the large containers is not as fine as sugar. These also have the advantage of having a cap that keeps the top clean and the stuff from leaking out if the shaker is overturned. The kitchen here at the office is very modest but has a toaster and now we have low-carb bread which makes adequate cinnamon toast. I make bread pudding with Splenda and cinnamon, or mini bread puddings in muffin pans, which are just brioche rolls cut in quarters so the exposed cuts can absorb the egg custard, then cinnamon and Splenda sprinkled over the top. High protein, low sugar. Good for us T-2 diabetniks.