andiesenji

Here's a closeup scan of the Dual grater.

Technically you are 100% correct. We just use the generic term "Microplane" to refer to all utensils that are made with the photo-etching process. Cuisipro took the original idea and ran with it, producing a wide range of graters, slicers and with safety accessories. I believe the process of manufacturing is much the same: Accutec is the patent name filed by Cuisipro and they were sued: "In 2002, Grace Manufacturing Inc filed a lawsuit against Browne and Co. Ltd. among others, alleging that the Cuisipro "Accutec" line of etched graters infringed on Microplane patents, and that Browne and Co. practices with regard to the Acutec brand represented unfair competition. Grace further made public statements at that time, intended to create distance between their graters and the Acutec line of products, particularly from the historical context associated with Microplane (for example, stating that only Microplane products had a history in woodworking use(such as crafting skills to make historical replicas of atlatl), and that Acutec was not to be considered a next-generation design). However, after several years of litigation process, the suit ultimately led to a mutual settlement (May/June 2005 with details being filed as confidential), which allows Grace to continue with their patented process and Browne with their process (which is patent pending). Both versions are being widely distributed around the world today."

That one is the Cuisipro Dual Grater It's okay but a bit awkward to use as sometimes the plastic sleeve slips when grating something with more resistance, such as fresh coconut. P.S. I just remembered that I have a long tubular one somewhere around. I did a cursory look but couldn't find it but I have so much kitchen junk that it may have been shuffled in with some other little used items. It was a gift and frankly I never found a use for it. One would have to use a cut-proof glove if holding anything - it was listed as a spice grater but originally a round wood rasp, for which it would be appropriate.

Here is a photo of all (I think) of my microplane graters and my large box grater (made in Santa Barbara, CA), a "safety" wire grater that is used only for softer cheeses, in the lower left there is a large ginger grater made of glass that I inherited from my grandmother - there is a well around the central raised portion which makes it much easier and more efficient to use than the little ones commonly found in Asian stores. There is a rotary nutmeg grater and the little red-handled extra-fine grater is for cinnamon sticks. The fine grater with the white plastic handle and catch chamber is for Sap Sago (Schabziger) cheese and I got it free when I bought a cone of the cheese many years ago - it is made in Switzerland. Also a closeup photo of the ginger grater. I do have a little microplane ginger grater but it is not very efficient and it stuck in a drawer somewhere. I think I used it once. The two microplanes on the left came with a "carrier" for using them safely without damage to the fingers. The "double" one has a sliding plastic cover so one can use either end as a "handle" without damage to the hands.

I found the recipe I made year-before-last for a potluck on Easter Sunday. Chivo Guisado. This is a very good stew - savory, not spicy but one can add any number of condiments to the stew, traditionally served over rice. I made several "sideboys" to set out around the cazeula in which I served the stew. Chopped avocado, green onions, stewed black beans, mango salsa, toasted chopped peanuts.

I have several microplane graters and "regular" old-fashioned graters of various types. For some tasks the old type work better for me than the MPs. The box graters that have both fine and coarse sides are handy and I find the "ripple" cutting sides better for grating onions and certain types of semi-dry cheeses. The MP graters are okay for zesting a small amount of citrus but are time consuming when one needs more than a tablespoons of zest. I often zest a lot - several fruits, either orange, lemon or grapefruit or Mexican limes to make citrus syrup. I use a vegetable peeler to "skin" the fruits, allow it to dry a bit for a couple of hours or if in a hurry stick it in the dehydrator for 30 minutes or so. Then I use a spice grinder to reduce the thin pieces of peel to fluffy zest, producing half a cup to a cup at a time depending on which machine I use.

Kid meat can be prepared just like lamb because it is tender and flavorful - quite sweet. Roast saddle of kid is as good, if not better than lamb (I really don't care for lamb). Goat meat, in my opinion and experience, is best in braised dishes and if you google you will get a lot of results. I make a braised goat shoulder, which is enough to serve four easily. Leg of goat will serve more - up to ten, depending on the amount of meat on the hindquarter. A Mediterranean dish here is one I made last fall with great results. The local Mexican carniceria carries goat meat and will cut to order. For stew there are goat shanks, which have to be cooked a very long time. And lastly, I won a couple of chili contests back in the '80s with a goat chili recipe made with green chiles, mulatto chiles, a small amount of a hotter chile (Manzano usually) and dried tomatoes. I'll have to dig out the recipe if anyone is interested - I can't find it in my computer files. My Mexican neighbors barbecue goat meat after brining it in large pieces overnight, marinating, wrapping in foil and cooking long and slow in a wood-fired barbecue much like pork, removing the foil for the final 40 - 60 minutes to finish the surface, if the goat is a bit old and leaner than usual, they wrap the meaty parts in a "jacket" of pig skin with a thin layer of fat. Roasts can also be larded with pork or beef fat if one has a good larding needle. Also Google "roast goat Greek style" ...

I don't know if anyone might be interested but I have two airbrushes up on ebay. One is a Paasche, used once with food coloring - testing, cleaned, dried and put away. item # 181466692725 The other is one I bought at one of the "Tools of the Trade" art shows because it has a trigger instead of the button, which I thought would be easier on my hand after I developed arthritis. However soon after I stopped catering altogether and never used it. It is very versatile in that it can handle thicker materials than most airbrushes. The full instruction sheets are in the "Photos" . item # 181466702743 At the time I had several other airbrushes, including a Paasche AB turbo, two or three Badgers, an Iwata and a Devilbiss, all heavily used. I stuck these two in a cupboard in my studio and forgot all about them.

I thought of Stracciatella but I have only seen it made with semolina and cheese and most often with spinach.

Sounds similar to egg thread soup.

I'm a foodie and I have been one most of my life. When I have been introduced to a new culture or a new cuisine, I try to sample everything that looks interesting (as long as I am not allergic to a component). I introduce myself to folks in "ethnic" markets and stores and go to ethnic public celebrations. I don't know why some people abhor the term - it is "folksy" and doesn't put people off who seem to believe the term "gourmet" is a bit highbrow. And it encompasses all levels and phases of food from the gathering to the preparing to the consuming and all points in between. Food enthusiast, food fan(atic), food lover, &etc.

I have an ice maker but I bought three of these, which I used for freezing herbs in oil, juices and etc., because I like the shape of the "cubes" better than in regular ice trays and the ice releases easily. I tossed all my Rubbermaid ice trays because they became discolored and retained odors after multiple uses with herbs & etc. Also, they are versatile and can also be used for baking... In the microwave (for melting chocolate in which I insert dried fruits) and other tasks which are unsuitable for regular ice cube trays.

I like it. It works better on the large cans than the one touch. Now you can get rechargeable batteries - RayoVac had a promotional with the charger last week, it may still be going. I got the Apple rechargeable batteries and charger for my mouse and keyboard and they work beautifully.

I have the "One Touch" and the fancier Sharper Image version (now discontinued) and recently got the Hamilton Beach Walk 'n Cut can opener - I bought mine at Target and it is rechargeable.

Yes. I have a Sideswipe, a Beater Blade, a Metro and the KA Flex Edge, all for the 6 qt pro. I also have a Pourfect Whisk-a-Bowl, which seems to have been discontinued for the 6-qt but it works great for me.

??? I don't know which post you are replying to. I have several of the aftermarket beater blades - I don't think I have missed a single one that fits my 6-quart KA.

I've never had any problem returning things to TJs, no matter what the item - returned some peaches with two that had been cut in half, showing a black area around the pits in both with one pit split and obvious fungus extruding. The manager called the produce person who came, took the peaches and said they would pull the entire batch to check samples before selling any more. They just gave me cash as I had paid with a debit card. They have always been courteous, helpful and apologetic, which is how they keep their customers.

In case any EG members might be collecting vintage KA mixers or know someone who does, I will be putting my 1955 Copper K 3 C up on ebay in a couple of days. I just published a post about it, with several photos, on my blog.

Much too true, Jaymes. So many people I have met over the years are absolutely shocked that I make my own butter, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, etc., and that I make candied peel and ginger, applesauce, preserves and bake my own bread. Their attitude is "why bother?" especially since I am "old" and live alone - and "isn't this all a waste of your time?" The fact is that I have plenty of time, especially since retiring, and I am never, ever bored. I like doing all these things, especially since now there are so many additives in prepared foods. I like to know what I am eating. I too was taught how to cut fat into dry ingredients for all types of pastry when I was a child and had to stand on a chair at the big kitchen work table to "help" the cook and her helpers. I'm sure my being underfoot was not conducive to efficient meal preparation, but I was an indulged child and cook had endless patience. And I learned a lot from her as well as my grandmother who did some cooking, as did the aunts who lived in the house. Giving me "chores" to do also helped me develop a sense of self worth that I think was important in the development of my character - just as I had to muck out after my pony (later my horses) and keep them groomed and the tack clean. As I got older, I was trusted to gather the eggs from the henhouse, the duck and goose sheds and the game bird eggs that were not going to be hatched - and that included checking off which hens were producing and noting ones that were "failing" so they could be separated to see if they should be either "retired" to brooding or to the stew pot... (We had some fairly old hens that were no longer laying but were great brooders). I was not required to do these chores but I enjoyed them. I wasn't too keen on house cleaning but could be inveigled into dusting the lower portions of tables, cabinets, sideboards and etc., of which there were a great many.

It's been available in my area for years. I used to get the larger (5-pound) boxes of Plumrose bacon ends and pieces at Smart & Final but haven't seen it for some time. I know a few local mom and pop restaurants bought it for some of their specialty dishes. Baked beans at a couple of places and one "southern" restaurant that specializes in catfish and etc., used it in hush puppies. I ran into the owner at Smart & Final on one occasion and he was buying 6 packages and told me that people loved the bacon/onion hush puppies and they also saved the bacon drippings for pan-frying the fish for certain customers.

I was born and raised on a farm where hogs were raised in open pastures but the sows in farrow were given pens with a shelter and allowed to graze as well as feed on the corn and sorghum and all the vegetable food waste. Only rarely were young hogs slaughtered and always late in the fall after they had been turned into the orchards to clean up the fallen apples, pears and the nuts after the harvest (pecans, walnuts and hickory nuts). Most were two-year-old fully mature and some were "meat" hogs and some were "lard" hogs, depending on breed. (Berkshire, Poland China, Yorkshire were the main breeds grandpa raised but he also had some red Jersey hogs) The hams and bacon were rubbed with a dry cure - salt, sugar, spices, "curing salt" - a mixture of sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, every day for a couple of weeks in the spring house - which was as cool as a fridge in the late fall and winter, and then hung in the smokehouse for several weeks or months for the large hams which could weigh 50 pounds or more - from one of the big hogs. The slabs of bacon were much larger than commercial bacon today.

I buy the packages of bacon "Ends and Pieces" and render it all down, freeze the solid bits for later use as flavoring and jar up the "drippings" . These packages are occasionally on sale and I buy several and freeze them. I render it in water to avoid the occasional burnt flavor as I find this produces the most "clean" fat. I strain it to remove the BCBs (Brown Crunchy Bits) so the fat is as smooth as possible. Rendering in water also extracts some of the salt. P.S. How was the cornbread? Did the folks like it?

This post and the next two have been moved here from the Drop Biscuits discussion. That flour sounds perfect for super tender biscuits. So many novice cooks/bakers have told me that whenever they read a recipe that says "cut the butter or fat into the dry ingredients" they immediately turn the page and forget about it. One told me that the one time she did try to make biscuits that way, she baked "clunkers" that could have been used for "diving weights" (she does the scuba thing). Since she tried this recipe several months ago, she tells me she has baked biscuits two or three times every week, always on Sunday mornings, and has experimented with various "additives" including chocolate chips, and various sizes. She bakes tiny ones, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, with cheddar (powder) and parmesan mixed into the dry ingredients, for snacks - those are rolled out much thinner. She says her boyfriend now brags about her baking - before he was a reluctant "taster" when she tried a new recipe.

I put cornbread in a brown paper bag - after it cools - which should keep it nice for that length of time. If you have an oven available, preheat oven to 375 WITH a sheet pan in the oven - slide the cornbread onto the hot pan and heat for 10-12 minutes. Immediately slide it onto a cooling rack. The bottom should remain perfectly crusty.

I seldom add flour to cornbread. I like the texture of real southern cornbread which does not include flour - at least the authentic recipes do not. At the bottom of the cornbread page on my blog I have listed links for online vendors that sell heirloom stone ground cornmeal. I have tried them all and they are all good. Keep the cornmeal in the freezer!