andiesenji

I trimmed out most of the inedible bits, ligaments, silverskin, veins, etc., seasoned it, rolled and tied it. Final weight 14 pounds. The aroma is just beginning to escape from the oven - acutally it is stronger outside as the oven vents outdoors and the doors seal quite well (it has optional steam). It just passed the 4-hour mark so has 2 to go, however I expect it is going to take longer. I hope it turns out well enough to serve to friends. My neighbors and I are getting together tomorrow and I plant to serve it. She is making chiles rellenos, for which she has a gift, the best I ever tasted. I am baking bread and her eldest daughter is making tortillas. Mr. Obregon is making the Pico de Gallo (salsa) and I am making a soup from a recipe sent by GiftedGourmet. The son-in-law is making ceviche but I don't eat seafood so won't be able to comment on that. I have plenty of ripe tomatoes and peppers ready to pick and had my gardener pull up a bunch of onions yesterday during his weekly visit. I will wait until tomorrow to cut the cilantro.

I understand they have several exhaust vents that blow the aroma-laden air into the surrounding area. At least I didn't go into the store and buy one.....

I have used all types of premium chocolates over the years with varying results. Last fall I began to hear mentions of Hersey's Special Dark as being a pretty good product. I decided to try it for myself and found it was as good as many of the products I had used in the past. I used it in cakes and also for dipping glacé fruit and candied citrus peel. The March 2004 issue of Cooks Illustrated also found it an acceptable substitute for premium chocolate. The advantage is that for a beginner it is widely available and has a rapid turnover. I found it easy to work with and the price is certainly right.

When I was in Albequerque last December I asked the maid that took care of my room at the hotel in which I stayed about stores that carried local foods. She sent me to Carniceria Cuauhtemoc and a market named All the Americas. Both had a good selection of southwest foods. I also found a Wild Oats Natural Marketplace on my own. I don't have the addresses but probably have them with my receipts. I agree that the local Farmer's market in Santa Fe is excellent. Hopefully you can get the groceries back with no problems. Califronia ag laws are so strict that it is next to impossible to get into the state with any fresh fruit or veg when driving.

Another use is as a base for making fresh pickles similar to a gurkensalat. Equal amounts of thinly sliced cucumbers and sweet onions, say a cup of each. start with 1/4 cup of the orange zest syrup, add 1/2 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon celery seed, 1 clove garlic, lightly bruised. heat in the microwave about a minute, remove the garlic clove, allow to cool till just warm, then pour over the cukes and onions press down so they are covered with the liquid. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Before serving stir 1/2 cup of sourcream into the pickles. This is a nice counterpoint to a rich meat terrine, paté, chopped liver, etc. The orange zest syrup is also good drizzled over roasted onions.

I spent over an hour boning out the leg of boar and just finished seasoning, wrapping and sealing it in foil and it is now in the oven. It differs from domestic pig by having more massive bone and much bigger veins and tendons. I can understand why the geneticists are tucking human genes into hogs to grow transplants for humans. Those veins were the toughest I have ever seen. I can see one replacing an aorta and lasting a lifetime. The meat is very dense and much darker than domestic pork. I had some frozen pork belly fat from the local abattoir and inserted strands of this into the meat using a larding needle. I am cooking it at 250 F for 6 hours to start. I suspect it will take longer.

That sounds wonderful. I make a carrot/sorrel/orange soup but hadn't thought of tomato/orange soup. Is it a cream soup or ????

There is a spray-on clear adhesive that you can use - make a mask out of a sheet of acrilic (also available at the art store) so you limit the spray to the area of your design. Seeds, paper and other lightweight things will stick to it and when you have your design finished you can fill in around it. Work in small sections, the adhesive stays tacky for some time so that you can reposition anything that is out of place. There is also a paint-on acrilic gesso that can be used and which can be tinted to make the background color you want. Again, plan your design and work in small sections, adding the gesso to the background as you proceed. This is used by artists who make pictures using mixed media with photos, small items cemented onto a background painting.

Recently I had an almost overwhelming urge for a doughnut. I stopped to get gas and the station was next door to a Krispy Kreme emporium and the aroma was incredible, I was salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs. This may not seem too odd, but the fact is that I have not been able to look a doughnut in the eye for almost 50 years when I worked in my mother's bakery after I finished bakery school. All I did for four hours every morning was fry doughnuts, both risen and the cake type. In fact I have scars from a grease burn when the handle of the cake doughnut machine fell into the vat of oil. I would go home at the end of my shift and shower and shampoo two or three times and still couldn't get the smell of hot oil out of my hair. (I worked from 7 p.m to 9 a.m with a break at midnight when most of the bread was in the proofer). Every time I look at a doughnut that comes back to me and there is no way I could pick one up, let alone consume it. I was able to resist the craving this time. That gas station will be avoided in the future.

Make a simple syrup add the zest to the syrup and simmer it gently for 20 minutes. Store in a jar in the fridge, it will keep for about 2 months. For a cup of zest I would use a cup of sugar to 3/4 cup water. Use it in dressings for fruit salads, over ice cream, whipped into a meringue, and use it to "paint" onto chicken or duck during roasting, or on chicken pieces during oven roasting. As a base for marinades. Mix into scones or biscuits. Or if you use the ready-made, in a can biscuits or rolls, drizzle over the tops before baking. Whip into heavy cream for a dessert topping. Stir into plain yogurt. Slice winter squash or pumpkin and brush with the syrup then bake in the oven. Slice sweet potatoes and layer then in a baking dish dotted with butter and drizzle some of the syrup over them before baking. I keep a jar of the orange zest syrup and lemon zest syrup in my fridge all the time. You will think of other things in which to use it if you have it on hand.

I have managed to resist posting on this topic up to now. Carnitas is one of my favorites. While I can buy the cooked meat at one of the local Mexican markets, I like to make my own, particularly when I have a chunk of pork in the freezer that needs to be used. I haven't tried boiling it in lard but I have cooked it in broth in the oven, then cut it into chunks, put it back into the oven with seasonings and allowed it to brown. Not bad.. At present I am thawing a leg of boar, (I have friends that hunt and in exchange for helping them prepare the wild game I get part of it) that has been in the freezer since November and it is time to cook it. I am going to try something different, wrapping it in double layers of foil, sealing it well, then oven roasting it for a long time at low temperature. The boar meat is much leaner than domestic pork and fat has to be added. My neighbors have a ranch in Durango, Mexico and when they come back after a trip to the ranch they sometimes bring back javelina and cook the meat for carnitas. They cook it in lard and it is delicious. Mr. Obregon cooks it outside in a big cast iron cauldron and the aroma that spreads around the neighborhood is fantastic.

Or a mug. Some soups are particularly pleasant served in a mug. I make a spicy squash or pumpkin soup which is great for a cold-weather starter when people are standing around talking and visiting, waiting for the main course. For warm weather I like a carrot/sorrel soup which is good hot or cold.

My favorite way to eat Caerphilly, Cheshire, Wensleydale, etc., is with fruit. Lunch at work is often an apple or a pear, sliced, each slice eaten with a slice of cheese about the same size as the piece of fruit. The flavors enhance each other. For a simple dessert I cut apples or pears into bite size pieces, place in a shallow dish then crumble cheese over the top and put in the microwave for 2 -3 minutes. I love cheeses of all kinds but these pair with fruit better than any other, in my opinion. When I was a child my grandfather always had cheese and fruit at the end of a meal.

I don't think you are wrong at all. There are numerous mentions of green onions "also known as scallions" in cookbooks, on websites, etc. There are different varieties of course. I grow the "green bunching (Oriental) onions which never form a bulb per se. They just get bigger and sent up a seed stalk when they are about an inch in diameter at the base. Same with the Lisbon "white" bunching onion. I have one area of my garden where they self-seed but some of the plants themselves are 2-3 years old, the tops die back in winter but then send up a new green shoot in spring. They are extremely pungent. I leave them alone and just harvest the seeds. There are several clumps growing in containers where the wind blew the seeds. Here in the Antelope Valley in So.Calif., the "high" desert, there are several large onion farms and in recent years they have had "onion rustlers" who go into the fields at night, after the onions have been harvest and are laying on the ground to dry, and load up pickup trucks with the onions, then sell them at the Farmer's markets as "organic" produce. (The "high" refers to altitude, this area is over 2000 ft above sea level as compared to the "low" desert (Palm Springs) which is at or below sea level.) The locally grown onions are not as sweet as the Walla Walla or Mayan, but are great for carmelized onions and in onion soup. With long, slow cooking they become very sweet.

Besides the elephant garlic, have you tried growing some of the newer varieties of garlic? I bought some new to me varieties last fall from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in Grass Valley, Calif. (can't order bulbs from most states because of ag restrictions). I really like the Chesnok Red variety which matures into a very large bulb and is lovely for baking. It is a hard-neck variety originally from Georgia (Russia). The other new one is named Music and also has very large cloves. They are both grown commercially in Washington state so should be fine in your garden. I wanted varieties with larger cloves because I slice and dry quite a bit of the garlic and slicing the small cloves is a chore. I also wanted a very pungent variety for roasting in oil because there have been so many warnings about botulism in cold garlic infused oils in recent years. I have found that the very sharp and pungent varieties actually become sweeter than the milder varieties with prolonged roasting in oil. Have you tried this?

A profound statement. Utterly true. Pepper has an effect on the tastebuds that makes them "wake up" and the flavors of the food are enhanced. Try an experiment. Take a slice of ripe honeydew melon. Cut it in half. lightly salt and pepper one half. Take alternate bites and see which piece has more flavor. Any melon will do, but the effect is more pronounced with the honeydew.

This should read as follows: To get the peel from citrus, cut off the top and bottom. Then, using a spoon with a rounded tip, such as a soup spoon, work the spoon down between

Sounds interesting. Could you give us a few more details? Do you just dump everything in the crockpot or do you start on the stove first? High or low setting? And any other tips you may have would be much appreciated. I remove the peel from citrus, simmer for 10 minutes in three changes of water (total of 30 minutes) then set aside until cool. I then cut it into fine strips. I press the pulp through a food mill to remove the membrane and seeds. For each pound of peel I use 1 1/2 pounds of sugar and add enough water to the juice/pulp mixture to make up 2 cups. I put everything into the crockpot and turn it to high and let it cook for about 2 1/2 hours, until the peel is very tender and appears translucent. Thicker peel, such as grapefruit may take an additional 1/2 hour. I test it by putting a spoonful in a saucer and letting it cool, If it sets up so it doesn't run off the saucer when tipped, it is done. There are numerous recipes for marmalades on various web sites. I rarely follow recipes exactly. I generally use them for ideas. I have been making these for so long that I generally just eyeball it. Check the archives on homecooking.about.com or nikibone.com. They even have carrot marmalade. To get the peel from citrus, cut off the top and bottom, using a spoon with a rounded tip, such as a soup spoon, work the spoon down between the rind and the flesh first from one end and then from the other. When completely free, make a single cut down one side and you can flatten the entire peel in one long strip. Makes it every easy to cut. I use this method to cut peel for candying. Once you get the knack of this you can go through a dozen in short ov

Absolutely true. But I have lived places where one simply cannot get shallots....like in the middle of Alaska in the dead of winter.

I agree that onions can be a reasonable substitute for shallots in many applications. However the subtle flavor that has just a hint of garlic really can't be developed by combining onion and garlic. There is also a difference in texture when the sauces are not strained and in a reduction the flavor becomes more intense but never overpowers the other flavors as onion can. A good taste test is to simply blend finely minced shallot with butter, spread it on a slice of bread and toast briefly under the broiler. Try the same exercise with onion and you will notice the difference. Incidentally, shallots are very easy to grow even in a window box. One bulb will morph into 2, 3 or more in about 65 to 100 days. Dry conditions encourages them to divide and multiply. The green tops can be used also. Tasting raw shallots simply can't give one the full range of flavor that develops with heat and exposure to fat.

I have to second the motion for Rose's Lime Marmalade. It is my favorite commercial marmalade. On an English muffin with real butter - Heaven. I make a lot of marmalade because I use it in cooking and making condiments. Home grown ginger marmalade or a combination of ginger/lemon, ginger/lime or ginger/orange are probably my favorite homemades. Since Seville oranges are seldom seen in California markets, I get the canned Seville oranges at Cost Plus World Market and combine it with fresh quince, about 1/4 quince to 3/4 orange. The middle eastern market in town carries quince when they are no longer available in the regular markets. The quince tempers the bitterness of the orange just enough. If I have the time and the inclination I will make a trip to Ojai, Calif. where one grower sells the little sour oranges which are the rootstock onto which most oranges are grafted. They make an interesting marmalade. I make marmalade wih the ruby red grapefruit sold by the box at Costco. I have made my own lime marmalade but it is not as good as Rose's. I did make a lemon/lime marmalade that was pretty good. I tried making marmalade using blood oranges and Meyer lemons but it was a bit too sweet. ditto the kumquat marmalade I used to make when I had a tree that bore heavily every other year. I never did get the taste exactly right. I generally use a crockpot for cooking the marmalade. I have seen a lot of recipes for marmalades made with non-citrus fruits, peach, pear, pineapple, and at one Farmer's Market a vendor had a sign advertising 15 types of marmalade, 10 flavors of fruit curds, 10 fruit butters, etc. Most of the marmalades I would consider jam but that is just my opinion.

You can also check out http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/chileheads.html Where you can find a list of links to all things chile. Mary Going, AKA Firegirl has the Inner Beauty sauce listed. At the very bottom of the page click on Hot-Links for lists of restaurants and resources for hot and spicy foods.

It is like a cross between a blender and a food processor. The chamber is shallow enough that everything keeps moving instead of some being thrown up onto the sides away from the blades. Also, the interlock system is safe in that it cannot operate without the cover in place.

Chad, For more detailed information about which chiles are from a particular area, and their attributes, you can check at Susan Byers' (AKA The Chile Woman) site. http://www.thechilewoman.com/searchchiles.html by geographical area. Or http://www.thechilewoman.com/chilesbyalph.html by alphabetical name. This list also indicates the ones that are suitable for containers. Also those that are super hot. I have ordered the African Piri Piri for the first time this year among some other old favorites. If you want to grow your own, she has an extensive selection of plants, all organically grown. I have never been disappointed, all of my orders arrived in good condition, no plant loss. I make various sambals - these require very hot chiles and often these are simply not available in stores. Most of these plants are relatively pest-free and just a few plants can provide you with a year's supply. Quite a few can be maintained over the winter indoors in containers.

I use ricotta salata on fruit pizza. Combined with peaches the contrasting flavors are wonderful. I order it from Ideal Chees Shop in NYC. http://www.idealcheese.com/ as there is no local source in California. I also use it in savory cheesecakes as a substitute for farmer's cheese. and in strata, layered with tomatoes, onions and peppers. Crumbled it goes into salads, both vegetable and fruit, and as a topping for other savory dishes where one would use feta.