andiesenji

Over the several decades I have been cooking and baking, I have received numerous kitchen items that are extremely useful, some are also fun and some are absolutely essential - I couldn't be without them. From tiny gadgets to appliances, I have appreciated every one. A little lemon gadget that screws into the lemon and allows for small amounts of juice to be extracted over an extended period is one. Then there is the pan-lid holder that keeps one side of a pan lid elevated so stuff doesn't boil over. I've also given a few things to folks who really needed them and have passed on things that I no longer use because I no longer do the extensive baking. Sent a bunch of cake pans off to someone a few years ago. Large cooling racks that were at the time difficult to find and I had lots (still have several extras). I gave away one of the superautomatic espresso machines and got a small pod type in return, which I love.

I have tried several other oils for making mayonnaise - with various "additives" - such as garlic. "Regular" that is NOT EVOO olive oil is my choice for aioli because too many of the latter have a much too "grassy" or "herbal" flavor that does not work well with foods that have a delicate flavor - the flavor of the mayonnaise overpowers instead of complements the food. I have used Flora sunflower oil (certified organic) many times with great success. The flavor of the oil is perfectly neutral and the flavor of the mayonnaise is outstanding and marries well with herbs and spices. Other oils - avocado - excellent, though expensive. Produces one of the most stable end products which stores well for several days in the fridge. Rice bran oil - very good, very stable, no breaking. Walnut oil - okay but a little strong - not for delicate application - although it is great for "baconnaise/lemon" - whipped with finely minced cooked bacon and grated lemon zest. Coconut oil works but has a faint flavor of coconut. It does separate in the fridge after a couple of days but reincorporates easily. I even used some of my precious (expensive) Argan oil for a small batch made with just one medium egg yolk and it was lovely but had the flavor of the Argan, which I happen to love and with which I dressed a pasta salad. The two batches I made with grapeseed oil separated on standing in the fridge overnight. Beating with a fork before using remedied the problem but I decided that other oils produced a more stable product.

Yes. Have used numerous manual and electric gadgets - immersion blenders included. I have several of the hand-powered "Mayonnaise mixers" that were marketed in the 1920s and 1930s. Here is one I posted about 7 years ago. Really handy when the power goes out right in the middle of the process.

What type of container do you use for the dough? I have had similar results when mixing and fermenting the dough in a stoneware batter bowl. Also with a plastic batter bowl (handle and pouring lip). No problems with glass or stainless steel. I "tested" the stoneware bowl with some warm milk and left it covered overnight and the milk, instead of thickening, which is usual, had developed stringy clumps and smelled bad. I stopped using it for such things because I think it has a colony of bacteria that is resistant to bleach and so deep in the pores of the stoneware it is not sterilized by normal means.

Back in the early '80s I did some personal chef work - a few times for a Brit rocker who like to walk around the house completely starkers. I insisted he at least put on an apron when he wandered into the kitchen when I was cooking because I could not guarantee he wouldn't be "damaged" in some fashion from hot stuff. He got the message when he saw me deep frying some tempura veggies and the oil boiled up something fierce. I didn't have to worry about his girlfriends - I don't think they even knew there was a kitchen in the place, or couldn't find it anyway.

I can use up a bottle of rosewater in about 6 months, sometimes less during the holiday baking season. Fortunately the middle eastern grocer carries the brand I prefer and I have it in a squirt bottle for spritzing on top of sweet pastries, on nuts going into cookies, on top of shortbread and cakes, etc. Also orange flower water for alternate use.

The rice I used is a very aromatic type: Madagascar pink rice, has a slightly larger grain that regular rice and a much better flavor, in my opinion, than Basmati or similar rices. Also, it still has some of the bran layer which I think adds to both the flavor and the nutritional value. I buy it in the 11 pound bags from Amazon. I used to buy it direct from Lotus (a California company) but since they began selling via Amazon, get it because with my Prime membership, no shipping cost. I use a lot of rice...

My great grandmother and my grandpa had traveled in India before WWI and developed a taste for the dish while there. My grandparent's cook was a Gullah woman from North Carolina but had learned to cook the dishes my great grandmother and grandpa liked. I've never had kedgeree without using curry spices and I usually use ghee but didn't want to open a new jar just for this one dish. I'm hoping Sam brings me more sturgeon as I really love the flavor. It is just a bit more firm than trout so doesn't disintegrate during the stirring, as trout usually does. I've had it before, but he usually only brings a little chunk that has been vac-sealed. This was fresh out of the smoker that day so was just wrapped in waxed paper and butcher paper. While I was preparing the other ingredients, I kept picking off little flakes for "tasting samples."

Sounds just like me. I have one big upright freezer but have two fridges - a big LG with two freezer drawers and a smaller fridge that I originally got just for keeping cheese (when I was making cheeses) and produce - set at a higher temp than the regular fridge. Now the small one holds mostly dairy and drinks.

Yesterday I prepared Kedgeree, a dish that I probably have not made for many years and I don't know why, because it is very good, fairly healthy and just about foolproof to get right, no matter which recipe or variation one uses. I can't eat fish from the ocean because of an allergy to iodine so it always has to be fresh water fish and there are so many ways to prepare them that this comes far down the list. Saturday evening I had a visit from some friends on their way home from Carmel and earlier that day they had stopped off to visit his brother who is sustainably farming sturgeon - for caviar. Because they want mostly females, they have to "cull" the males and so I was gifted with a lovely hunk of lightly smoked sturgeon. The flesh is quite mild in flavor so, like trout, it does not have to be heavily smoked. Since there was too much for just a snack (a pound), I was scrolling through some of my less noticed fish recipes and came across Kedgeree. I remember it from childhood, it was a breakfast favorite of my great grandmother and my grandpa, not so much the rest of the family because being typical southerners, they liked sausage, ham, biscuits, grits, gravy and eggs. Maybe fried catfish on rare occasions, kedgeree was not considered "real food." My grandpa and I had a mutual admiration society and I loved being served whatever he was eating. 1 pound smoked sturgeon (or whatever smoked fish you have - even the traditional finnan haddie) 3 cups HOT cooked rice (salted during cooking) 4 hard-boiled eggs 1 medium-small onion diced 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 stick butter 2 Tablespoons Madras curry paste (you can use curry powder - about 1 tablespoon, but I don't recommend it) 1/4 cup chopped parsley Chutney - whatever "flavor" you prefer. Break the fish into flakes or small chunks. Cut the eggs into quarters then eighths. Melt the butter in the oil until the butter is beginning to brown add the onions and cook until translucent add the Madras curry paste and blend well with the onions, it will thicken. Toss the fish and eggs with the rice Pour the cooked onions/curry paste mixture over the rice toss in the chopped parsley stir well to mix completely. Serve with chutney on the side. Since I cooked the rice in my rice cooker, I just added the other stuff to it, tossed and left it on "Keep Warm"

I've got some spices in bottles that I kept because of the bottles. Will take photos later (Father Brown is coming on PBS). Those spices are no longer available the company is gone.

I have several things - one is a large (900gm) jar of Furtta di Mostarda that is no longer imported - whole fruits in a clear syrup. I bought 4 at the time, sent one to my daughter and have used two. Because the vendor discontinued the product and the other brands are not to my liking, I keep this jar - just to look at and wish on... I have some grains in the freezer (in suspended animation) that are difficult to get, even online. (Einkorn, Kaniwa, Triticale (grown in Poland), etc.) I could probably buy more, but I need to actually use these first. I have a stash of jams and preserves - they keep forever if the seal is not broken - a couple of the companies have since been taken over by multinationals or ag giants but these are when the companies were family-owned. I have a jug of Watkins' Tupelo honey that was given to me by a friend who had vacationed in Florida with family who live in the town and brought some back because the raw honey is not sold outside the immediate area and I know I can never replace it. It's been in the pantry since 1998. I guess I am just a hoarder but of specific things so probably fit into the designation of allgoneaphobiac.

I add dry WHOLE milk powder to my bread recipes to prolong the softness - I find it is easier to use than liquid milk. As most of my recipes are for two loaves, I add 3 tablespoons of milk powder for each loaf. That allows the crumb to be soft and moist while the crust remains fairly crisp.

I think I got my first tea cookbook (a small self-published one), some thirty-plus years ago, when "tea" mostly meant Liptons and the wide variety that we see today was simply not readily available. There was, at the time, a small tea shop in the Glendale Galleria that carried a few varieties of loose tea, including Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan, both smoky types as well as a spiced tea something like "Constant Comment" the Bigelow brand. They also sold the little tea cookbook I mentioned and it had a recipe for tea-smoked duck - (or chicken) using duck pieces, not the whole bird. There was also an eggy milk custard, something like a flan, that also incorporated the smoky and the spicy teas - finely ground with the sugar that went into the pan first and which became the "caramel" topping when it was turned out. Since then I have purchased several tea cookbooks, including Eat Tea, all of which have interesting recipes. Online there are many tea-flavored recipes, including this site at Tea Chef there are many on this page featuring Lapsang Souchong. But don't be afraid to experiment on your own, unless you are using extremely expensive ingredients, it doesn't cost all that much.

Let me make a suggestion - something I have been doing for many years, not just with ground meats, with stews, vegetables grilled on an electric grill and with jams, preserves, etc. I have written about this in other threads when I suggested adding the brewed tea to preserves (I do it routinely with fig, quince and peach) to serve with cheeses, particularly the stronger flavored cheeses. Brew some extra strong Lapsang Souchong tea - use 2 teaspoons of tea leaves to one cup of boiling water and steep for a minimum of 8 minutes. Drain and cool - this can be refrigerated for at least a week. For each pound of ground meat, sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cold tea over the meat, along with the seasonings and mix well and form into patties. The smokiness is not at all "chemical" and is very tasty. I also use the dry tea leaves for stove-top smoking of duck, chicken, pork chops, etc., as it is much tastier (to me) than using the various wood chips available for use with the smokers.

As long as they are kept "dressed" with a steel, they don't require sharpening all that often. I also have one of the "scimitar" shaped knives that I use on poultry and it will cut through bones without a problem. It is also 18 years old but probably has not had as much use as the butcher knife. It is just slightly more flexible than the butcher knife and is handy for deboning a large bird turkey or goose.

One point about the Forschner Victorinox knives with the Fibrox handles - the butcher knives, the big ones, are the preferred brand for many butcher shops (a local butcher shop even sells them to customers) - the butchers at Stater Brothers market here in Lancaster use only those knives because they can be sterilized without the handles breaking down. If they are good enough for the professionals who use knives all day long, and for tough, heavy cutting, then they are good enough for me. I've had this one for 18 years, it has been through the dishwasher numerous times, has cut through a lot of meat and has a wickedly sharp edge. It's big and hefty but cutting through a rack of ribs to divide them in to steaks or chops, it is ideal.

An Asian restaurant here (the family is multi-national - Chinese, Thai and Burmese) serves an apple turnover that is spiced with Sichuan pepper (toasted before grinding) and with a lovely Creme Anglaise on the side. I asked about it and was told one of the chefs, an "uncle" is originally from Beijing and his mother prepared a pork roast with an apple sauce spiced with the pepper. The idea of what most Americans consider dessert was lacking in their regular menu so he developed these turnovers which are in a crispy crust similar to egg rolls - pan fried but not at all greasy.

I agree 100%. America's Test Kitchen has repeatedly testes many chef's knives and always comes up with the same Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch knife, a good secure grip because of the textured handle, a blade that takes and holds a good edge and is inexpensive. I have some very expensive knives and even one custom-made for me and frankly, the inexpensive Victorinox knives that I keep for use by visitors are certainly an excellent choice for someone who is starting out.

For many years I have had the Sharp Convection/Microwave oven (no steam) and have written about it numerous times in various threads on this forum. I had one for 20+ years and then bought a second one when the first one developed a thermostat problem. (Microwave still worked and I gave it to a family and they are still using it.) I use it for many baking tasks because I like being able to time things. I also have a Cadco 1/2 sheet pan size countertop oven, which uses more energy but is a much better OVEN than any of the others I have tried (Waring, Cuisinart, etc. - - since the Farberware is no longer available) At one time, prior to getting the Cadco, I had two of the Farberware convection ovens for when I did not want to use my gas oven (at that time I had a Blodgett commercial oven). But when Cadco brought out the 1/2 size oven (there is also a 1/4 size) I bought it and have been thoroughly pleased with it. Besides baking and MW use, it can also broil - here's a photo of two rib eye steaks on the taller of the two racks. The Sharp is only 900 watts but it seems much more powerful as it compares well to higher wattage microwaves. P.S. It is also much TALLER inside than other microwave ovens and the enameled steel turntable has a deep RIM which catches spills much better than the glass turntables and is UNBREAKABLE. Also it will hold a 15 inch baking stone.

The following is the gist of the original post: "I am a newly single (male), absolutely useless in a kitchen and hoping to change that. I am moving to Montreal (Canada) and setting my new kitchen from scratch. I am looking to figure out what combination of kitchen gadgets will allow me to cook widest variety (of hopefully healthy) foods. I am happy to invest in higher-price gadgets if they really do make things easier. I am hoping to start by cooking easy newbie foods, then graduating to learning to cook complex foods. Since I am single, I am also interesting in the bulk cooking/cooking for the freezer approach. Any advice would be appreciated. Again, I am a newbie, so don't need gadgets that allow a skilled cook to make master dishes. I need something that will allow making good dishes for a person still clueless in the kitchen." Here, from ForumThermomix is a down-to-earth, comfort food - all done in the Thermomix and it can be done by a total novice: Bangers and Mash in a Tasty Onion Gravy. This was the very FIRST meal cooked by my friend who I mentioned above - she had done the orange juice and lemonade and risotto (my recommendation) and had printed out this recipe while simply lurking on the forum. She phoned me to tell me how thrilled she was because she was able to do a nice meal for herself and another boater (he brought a salad and French bread). And she was never a "cook" per se. She could fry eggs, bacon or sausage, grill a steak and bake potatoes (in the barbecue because her oven was iffy) but that was the extent of her cooking. She says the machine IS EXPENSIVE, however she added up what she had spent on eating out during just one year and figured the machine had more than paid for itself and then some. Her credit card bills for dining out for the first half of 2010 was more than 1K and for the second half a third of that. I spoke to her on the phone this afternoon to ask if she is still enthusiastic about the TMX and she is. Today she made pizza dough and cooked pizza sauce, both in the TMX, and will be grilling the pizza in her barbecue. She has a batch of granita in her little freezer for dessert - also prepared in the TMX. She said that before she got the machine she would have dinner and sometimes lunch out at least 250 days a year, often more. Figure out average costs and add them up. Incidentally she uses the TMX a lot for making drinks - no longer needs a blender.

I searched again, using the various terms for noodles, including "rolled dumplings" and found AB's recipe.

I just use a piece of the thick, cushiony shelf and drawer liner (I buy the big rolls at Costco) which stops stuff from sliding on anything. All my trays are lined with it. I use it in the van when things have to be stacked - stops sliding - and everywhere else appliances are liable to unwanted movement - as under the mixers, the Thermomix, the blenders &etc.

It's not difficult to prep for cooking in the Thermomix. If you have questions about what it can do, there are numerous videos. I suggest you visit Helene's exceptional (unofficial) Super Kitchen Machine website and watch some of the videos. This evening I cooked some ham in a sauce - similar to that for egg fu yung in the bottom of the jug and cooked an omelet in the Varoma basket (lined with bakers parchment), transferred the omelet to a shallow dish and added the sauce with the ham. When stirring a sauce or meats, etc., that you don't want to reduce to smaller bits, the blades can be set on REVERSE so the stuff is stirred instead of being chopped.

I like apple pie, apple cobbler and other cooked apple dishes with cream cheese. I have a mozzarella cutter which "slices the cream cheese better than using a knife. Especially good if the pie is still a bit warm.