andiesenji

The local (to my home) sells the Bulgarian feta in bulk - they have 6 varieties in the fridge - and it has always tasted quite mild to me. There is one that is very strong, smells like goat, but it is from Cyprios. There is a large Cypriot community in the antelope valley. It is in brine and they advise keeping it in the brine till ready to use.

I did a lot of prep on slack days along the way to the next events. My big rig was made for full time living. Biggest dual powered fridge an separate freezer. I had a gas barbecue that extended out from one of the cargo sections. It was 40 ft. No slide outs but efficiently laid out wine the rear section with built-in crates for the dogs. I usually had 8 - 10 but had room for 4 portable crates when another person would travel with me. I also had a solar oven and baked bread - amazing how many friends would appear when the aroma began drifting. Baked a lot of pies both savory and sweet. Having a 12.5 Kohler generator and 210 gal of fresh water allowed me to avoid the more expensive KOA places. In 1987 I sold the rig to a rock group that needed the big closets and large cargo capacity for their sound equip. Plus diesel was getting more expensive...

It has been awhile so I want to bake. Bread or something hearty - when I can get off this restrictive diet. One good thing, I lost 29 pounds during a week in hospital, possibly mostly liquids...

This is my first visit to the forum for nearly a month and getting caught up on this thread has made me realize how much I have missed it! Had open heart surgery on 3/3 and opted not to go to a rehab place but am staying with friends. I am so anxious to get back to my own kitchen. Love the food pics and the market. I practically lived full time in a big motor home in the late '70s when I was showing dogs a lot. And having to cook for the hounds as well as myself was always an adventure. Fabulous job, looking forward to more!

In all my visits to Indonesian restaurants I never had nasi goreng as part of Rijsttafel - it was a stand-alone dish that was a brunch, lunch or late "supper" favorite. I was introduced to it at a restaurant in Burbank in the early '60s, when the rather exotic "Lava Isle" opened, styled as a "supper club" it offered entertainment and food, but because of Burbank's rather archaic laws, no dancing. The "shrimp crackers" were huge and meant to be broken up and shared. The only other notable item I recall was the crab balls with a very hot mustard-based sauce that were served at the bar and probably increased the sale of drinks exponentially. One of my acquaintences who lived for many years in Bandung as a teacher said nasi goreng was usually eaten for breakfast, made from leftovers from the previous day and her cook would prepare and serve it on a section of banana leaf.

I found one cookbook, Authentic Recipes from Indonesia by Heinz Von Holzen and Lother Arsana (2006) The recipe for "Classic Nasi Goreng" is very similar to the one I posted a link to in my earlier post. Specifies sweet Indonesian soy sauce plus Sambal Kecap (recipe on page 33) and Krupuk shrimp crackers, (recipe on page 24) and 1/2 portion of Mixed Vegetable Pickles... I usually use only a couple of hot fresh peppers and if it isn't spicy enough I use a very small amount of Sambal badjak. I have at least two more Indonesian cookbooks. one is Regional food of Indonesia and is older, probably late '90s and I have another that was published in the early '80s. Plus a book just about Sambals and other hot sauces from SE Asia and Indonesia.

Back in my professional baking days (many decades ago) in school and in my mom's bakery, we always beat the butter first, until it was somewhat fluffy and then added the sugar, spilling it in gradually and then turning up the speed and beating it until it was lighter in color and quite fluffy. The butter would come right out of the walk-in cooler so was always quite firm and we had it in 1-pound and 2-pound blocks that could be dropped right into the mixer bowl to start beating on low speed. I've always done it this way because for me it is pretty much second nature and I don't even think about it.

After I lost my old recipe for this dish and couldn't find my Indonesian cookbook, I asked the guy at the local SE Asian market about a recipe and he directed me to this website which had an earlier version of the recipe, with less instructive photos, back in '09 or so. I keep the sweet soy sauce on hand all the time - in the large bottle because I use it in barbecue sauces, marinades &etc., quite often. I also use it for "glazing" roasting duck and chicken - boneless turkey breast, etc. This dish does have a lot of variations but this is almost identical to the dish served at an Indonesian restaurant I frequented for many years in Inglewood, CA, J.B.s Little Bali. And "Kecap" is pronounced ketchup...

I hate to see anything so tasty go to waste. I add them to beans, greans, potatoes - both white and sweet - root veg and there is even a wonderful dip made with sharp cheddar, sour cream and cracklins with minced scallions - can be spiced up with a bit of taco seasoning too.

Freeze the cracklins in "serving size" portions - that is, the amount you would add to a dish of vegetables or greens or add to cornbread. A quick heat up in the microwave with crisp them nicely.

Preheat oven to 275. Makes 15 to 18 meringues, depending on size. Use large mixer bowl and make sure it is completely clean and dry, not even a hint of oil or fat! 3/4 cup of egg whites - at room temp - (take eggs out of fridge the night before) 3 teaspoons white vinegar 1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups white sugar Beat egg whites till foamy. Add Cream of Tartar and the vinegar Beat on medium speed just till very soft peaks form. Continue beating on medium speed, gradually add in 1/3 of the sugar gradually add the vanilla slowly add the remaining sugar Turn speed to high and beat till peaks are stiff - stop and test by scooping some out on an ice tea spoon - turn it upside down it should not drip. Dump the meringue into a jumbo plastic bag, zip the top closed snip off one corner - about a half-inch opening pipe onto parchment covered baking sheets - about 4 inch rounds about 1 inch thick If you want shells, form a hollow with the back of a ladle. Bake for one hour. Turn off the oven set timer for one hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR! Remove from oven, slide parchment off baking sheets. They should pop loose easily or use an offset spatula if they stick.

I have a device that clamps to the edge of the table and which I can use to loop the sugar around and pull it AFTER I have poured it out on a marble slab and folded it a few times until I am able to handle it. I'll get the thing out and post a photo tomorrow. Not feeling up to digging it out this evening. For me it worked sort of like a "third hand".

Back in the '80s when I was doing pulled sugar work, ribbons and panels, I had 4 extra large warming trays on a table (you really need a surface lower than a regular kitchen counter) and had them covered with foil and waxed paper. The warming trays (Salton) maintained just enough heat to keep the sugar workable without melting it. You can often find them on ebay at very reasonable prices. Like these. Mine are model H-940, about 12" x 24" . Over the table I had a bank of commercial heat lamps as are used in restaurants to keep plated foods warm. Like these. I also put a portable screen up at one end of the table where it faced the doorway - drafts can be a problem.

I don't measure exactly. I have a bowl into which I put some flour - I poke my fist into the center and fill the depression with liquid then mix, if it looks a bit dry I add a bit more liquid, if too wet, more flour. If I need it sweet, add a little sugar to the flour. Work it just enough for it to hold together, shape and bake - patting out and cutting for biscuits or ?? It is often difficult for me to write down a recipe from memory because I have to go through it step-by-step because it is so familiar to me I don't think about it. I don't have a "recipe" for baked meringue shells or schaum torte. It's just egg whites, vinegar, vanilla and sugar but I don't make them when it is rainy or damp. My neighbor had to watch me to learn because I couldn't explain exactly how I do it and put it on paper. The one time I did try a "new" recipe they turned out awful, tough and chewy, nothing like the ones I have been making for 60+ years.

There are certain formulae in baking that produce reliable results time after time as long as all other factors are the same. These include not only the ingredients but also time, temperature and even atmospheric conditions. Considering the latter - try and bake meringues when it is pouring rain and the humidity is 90% or higher. (Unless you can work in a closed environment with dehumidifiers running). Humidity or the lack of it can cause problems in baking other things. Experience and repeatedly baking the same thing will allow one to develope a "feel" for dough or batter that is more reliable than instructions in cookbooks, but it takes time. I bake some things without using a recipe because I have been preparing them for decades and I don't even have to think about it as I go through the motions and they turn out nicely every time.

I don't know about the availability of Dawn Power Dissolver in supermarkets because I haven't bought it there for a few years. I recently bought a quart bottle at Smart & Final - identified as an "instutional" product in a white spray bottle with blue lettering. And I seem to recall seeing it at Staples a while back. If you can't find it, you could try the very old method of heating the pan in the oven, pouring in a cup or so of vinegar into which you have mixed two or three tablespoons of sugar. Turn the heat off, close the door and leave it till the oven and the pan cools. Pour off the liquid, scrub with a plastic scrubbie. Much of the baked on gunk should peel off - any bits that are left should lift off with scrubbing with dry baking soda on a barely damp cloth. I should note that I was using this method to remove grease baked on at high temps when I worked in my mom's bakery back in the mid-1950s. We had piles of sheet pans that looked like this and I would mix a bucket of vinegar and sugar, put the pans in the still hot but no longer fired up oven, pour the mix in a row of pans, rotate to the next shelf and repeat till all the pans were being "processed" - I would then go on to other tasks until the oven temp was down, then dump the liquid into a tub and take a stack of the sheets to the sink and work them over with a stiff brush. This is a photo of me and my mom in front of the oven (Peterson revolving tray oven) which took a few hours to cool down... I worked nights as that is when 90% of the baking was done.

I use Down Power Dissolver and it works great. I run very hot water onto the pan until it is well heated, pour off the water, spray the surface evenly and leave it overnight. Next morning I scrape it with a plastic scraper and clean the scraper with paper towels and put in the trash - I don't like to put the stuff down the garbage disposal or into the sink because it can build up inside the pipes.

Many of my old "receipts" are from the 19th century (some even earlier) and the eggs back then were much smaller than those produced by hens today. I have one recipe that calls for 15 eggs but I use 10. When I was a child in the '40s, we had some chickens that laid large eggs (Barred Plymouth Rock) but many others such as the Rhode Island Reds, that laid smaller eggs - probably the equivalent of today's medium eggs. We did have a flock of Jersey Giants - black or dark gray - that had to be kept separate from the others because the rooster was really a tough bird and he wanted ALL the hens for himself. They were raised mainly for meat but of course they laid eggs and their eggs were very large - brown and sometimes speckled with red. We loved them for hard-boiled because they were so big. There was an egg rack in the pantry and the eggs that were too small to stay in the rack (bantams and new-laying hens) were just placed in a wire basket and used for things like custards and such where the cooks were used to eyeballing the amount of egg and with a huge family, many were used daily. One of my "chores" was to help gather the eggs and some of the chickens were quite easy - such as the Jerseys but some of the others did not like me reaching under them to "steal" their eggs. After I got pecked to the point it drew blood, my grandpa made a leather "sleeve" for me to wear to protect my arm. I'm sure it frustrated some of the hens to have me ignore their pecking but I got the eggs. I loved to crack the eggs into a bowl and count them - I learned practical arithmetic this way. Grandpa's cook did not trust me to separate eggs until I was a little older and then she got an egg separator from the Jewel-Tea man and taught me how to use it. I still have one just like it - a ceramic saucer with two slits formed around the center depression.

This link is to a page with a little more detailed information about converting from one size egg to another and some advice about the use of eggs. When I was catering I used to buy pasteurized whole eggs and/or egg whites in 1-gallon carton - also available in half-gallon or in larger containers. Every carton had a conversion table on the side for VOLUME (per egg) but most of my recipes for food service were by weight, which made it so simple to use them. If my memory serves me right, the conversion for one large egg was 50 ml and 100 ml of egg whites (for meringues) equaled the whites from 3 eggs. Now I mostly get my eggs from a friend who raises "fancy" chickens and the sizes vary considerably - he just brings a basket of the eggs all mixed together so when I am baking and need more precise measurements for a tricky recipe, I simply break the approximate number of eggs I will need and the measure out till the weight is correct. Any "leftover" egg is used for egg wash or ??

I used to grow my own when I had sufficient help and a larger garden area. Three or four different varieties, plus "elephant" garlic. Now I just grow a few shallots because they will grow easily in containers that are easy for me to reach. Truly fresh garlic is great but much of the stuff in supermarkets is months old, at best. While much is grown in the area around Gilroy, there are some growers in the Coachella valley that are able to produce two crops a year but most of their produce goes to restaurants and hotels and the entire crop is purchased long before the harvest and the buyer is responsible for the storage. And that is the reason why so many professional kitchens are able to obtain a superior product.

Several weeks ago I cooked a combination of Reboseros and Moros with excellent results.

From my desk? Seventy feet. In earlier times that was not much but now, shuffling that distance can be a chore because of my aortic stenosis.

I have an old juice press that works great at forcing the last little bit of lard out of the solids. You can find them on ebay fairly inexpensive.

I think your idea of adding the zest to the butter/sugar mixture is very good.

One of my favorite butters is Isigny, (Beurre D'Isigny) French salted or unsalted butter, AOC and a cultured butter. I have tried to achieve the same flavor in my homemade butter by culturing the cream (when I can find raw cream) but have never yet quite reached the flavor that to my taste is superior. I love Kerrygold butter and have a supply in the freezer for when I am not up to making my own, which is my usual habit. I most often use the Manufacturing cream from Alta Dena - as to me it produces a somewhat better flavor HOWEVER, I have also made butter with regular supermarket Heavy Cream and the results are just fine. In fact most people can't tell the difference. The flavor is FRESHER when you make your own and it is ridiculously easy and you can have it unsalted, with just a little salt or more to taste and you can add specialty salts (those that contain additional flavors from their origins) or flavored salt - including smoke salt, etc. Isigny and other French butters are sold by IGourmet and if you sign up for their email newsletter there are periodic deals for discounts and FREE SHIPPING.