andiesenji

The bottom of the Foley has a wire "sweeper" which has been a feature on the Foley since it was first introduced in 1933. Anything that has been in production, with few changes, for 80 years WORKS. Here is a writer who give some history of the food mill.

I phoned my baker friend, who is originally from Mass. (Marlborough) and worked at a local bakery that specialized in brown bread. He said they bought "regular" corn meal which was rather coarse and put part of it in a food processor to make it finer and mixed the two grinds together to get a product closer to the stone ground meal in the original product. They used whole wheat flour and rye flour and added some wheat germ to make up for the less germ in modern whole wheat flour. They steamed it in fluted pudding tins for a more attractive product.

Bob's Red Mill graham flour is widely available - they have it at my local Walmart. You can order it online from Amazon I don't think the graham flour of today is like that which was developed in the 1820s - when Boston brown bread had already been a staple for a century or more. The truly original stuff was made with "plain" wheat flour and maize meal and strongly flavored molasses was used to cover the flavor of the whole wheat flour - before there were mills that could separate the parts that contained oils (and much of the nutrients) the flour would quickly become rancid and THRIFTY homemakers were not about to throw it out so made this which was more palatable. They used "plums" (prunes) originally because they were grown and dried locally and raisins were more expensive. Johnnycake cornmeal is simply finely milled cornmeal and you can use Bob's Red Mill FINE cornmeal. Also available at Amazon. I have ordered the Johnnycake cornmeal from Kenyon's and I was not really impressed. Having grown up in the south, I am very partial to cornbread, grits and all things made from corn. Johnnycake is not a southern thing - more New England states. Rye flour is easy to find but some is better than others. The closest to the original would be pumpernickel rye and again, the easiest to find is Bob's - it is "sweeter" than most rye flours and give a better texture.

I have used this recipe several times. I bake it in my covered Le Creuset terrine baker with aluminum foil under the cast iron cover. I have baked it in cans (the tall coffee tins) but it is not easy to get it out cleanly. I use a dark CANE syrup - usually Lyle's Black Treacle - as it is as close to the original New England product as we can get today. Do NOT use corn syrup!

Here's a photo of my Foley food mill - it replaced a Foley I used for 40 years and is now maybe 10 years old. I used it this morning on cooked apples (just cut in half with seeds and all cooked). The Foley is not as fancy as the newer ones but you can't do much that will hurt them. I do have a huge one, made for commercial kitchens - very expensive - 5 quart - that has multiple discs but is a bitch to use and to clean up. The Foley is easy to clean, hangs up and the bowl hooks are STURDY and I use it on a stainless steel stockpot most of the time but also on SS bowls that are heavy enough to keep from tipping.

I love the flavor of trout but it has to be very fresh. A while back a friend gave me some sturgeon that had been caught in the California aqueduct and it was excellent. Having grown up in the south, I also love catfish but again, it has to be very fresh. I have a friend who owns a trout farm near Bishop and he occasionally brings me lovely fresh-caught trout - sometimes rainbow, sometimes brown ... I can't have fish from the ocean now because I am sensitive to iodine but when I could still have it, my favorite was Grouper and I used to fish for it but, sadly, these were decimated due to overfishing and it is now hard to find. When I still lived in the San Fernando valley we had an excellent seafood market on Roscoe Blvd. in Canoga Park that carried fresh-caught fish. The owner would be down at San Pedro at 3 a.m. waiting for the boats to come in and his sons were often still unloading tubs full of fish and etc., when the store opened at 9.

I finally found the recipe for the Quinoa Burgers that were so well received. Quinoa Burgers

I use quite a bit of quinoa - either alone or mixed with other grains. I have been following this blog/site since I "discovered" it via Facebook early last year. http://www.bestquinoarecipes.net/category/quinoa-recipes/ I recently made quinoa "burgers" and they were excellent - (I was entertaining some vegetarian friends.) I also have a cookbook The Quintessential Quinoa Cookbook: Eat Great, Lose Weight, Feel Healthy on my KINDLE. It is also available in hardcover. I have another one but found there were just too many recipes (500) and some of the recipes were written in somewhat convoluted fashion.

I have some well established Laurel nobilis (sweet bay, bay laurel, "Grecian laurel" and the leaves can vary considerably in size and shape. California bay has a resinous, kerosene-like flavor and can be toxic i "excess" if one has liver or kidney disease the "excess" is not great... MOUNTAIN LAUREL - mostly found in the mountains in eastern America and also in the Pacific northwest, is highly toxic - all parts of the plant are toxic to humans and animals - even goats, which don't seem to be bothered by foliage that would kill other animals. Growing up in western Kentucky, where there were a lot of these bushes, we kids were warned not to pick and eat the red berries. I never get to see the berries on my bushes because the birds love them. The flowers on true Laurel nobilis are tiny yellow clusters that don't even look like flowers unless you look with a magnifying glass. Here's a couple of photos of one of my bushes showing the variation in leaves and a photo of leaves, ALL taken from the same stem. The leaf at the top is probably three years old, the biggest two years old, the one in the middle from last year as is the smallest, with the two from this year a lighter green and still very soft and flexible. They are very easy to dry. I just bring in a stem, strip off the leaves, toss them in a wire colander and leave it on the counter. If there are a lot of leaves I toss or stir them every day or so till they are dry enough to snap easily. For most recipes I will use 5 fresh bay leaves for 2 dried ones, unless they are exceptionally large. Of this group, when I scrape the underside with a thumbnail, the tiny one has the strongest scent and the new growth from this year has the least. You can see some brown spots on some of the leaves - I live in the high desert (SoCal) and we get hard freezes - it got down to 9 degrees F. this past January. The more exposed leaves get "frost burn"...

I put the little lumps in cold liquid to "soak" and dissolve - for thick fruit gels or milk custards that you want to set firmly, 1 TABLESPOON to each cup of liquid - dissolve the kudzu in 2 tablespoons of cold liquid and then add to the remaining liquid, bring to a boil and stir constantly until it is thick. If using clear fruit juice, there should be no cloudiness. For thinner sauces use about 1 1/2 TEASPOON per cup of liquid - again, dissolve it first in cold liquid before adding to the sauce and stir well. Kuzu or kudzu will not break down with prolonged heating as cornstarch does, which is one of the advantages when one wants to keep a thick sauce hot for an extended period.

Like Annabelle, I just use a food mill when preparing hummus or soups with chickpeas when I want the soup creamy.

I have several "bare" corncobs in the freezer for making stock the way my grandma's cook did when I was a child. She used it as a base for several delicate vegetable soups which are often overpowered by chicken stock. She also used scallions instead of regular onions for a milder flavor - we grew a lot of green onions and I grow a lot now as they do beautifully in containers. A fresh spring pea soup, with the peas remaining whole and with some pea tendrils (or pea shoots), it is a lovely vegetarian dish. You have to season to taste because this does not need a lot of salt and pepper but a tiny dash of nutmeg does wonders.

Pullet eggs are generally small and there are some breeds that naturally lay small eggs, just as some breeds lay larger eggs. My friend has some Jersey Giants that have a longer egg-laying life than some breeds but they all diminish with time and do stop eventually - at which point they become pets. Sam does not do this for a living - he "retired" while in his 40s and this began as a hobby. He also has some black Australorps that are also quite large and are naturally calm as well as being naturally "broody" so he uses them to incubate both their eggs and eggs from hens who aren't inclined to sit on a nest. He has incubators but finds that the chicks from some breeds do better when raised "naturally" by a hen. He grows most of his own feed as he has 60 acres and three deep wells for irrigating. (and plenty of help...) I just phoned Sam and asked a few questions. He currently has 31 different distinct "heritage" chicken breeds and 9 crossbreeds that he has done as an experiment - he can't show them because they are not a recognized variety. He also has a few "exotic" or "fancy" breeds that are bred for show or ornamental display, not much for egg production and he is raising some threatened breeds which are in danger of becoming extinct via an arrangement with a poultry society dedicated to preserving these breeds from extinction. None of those eggs are sold - all are (hopefully) fertile and are set to one of the "broody" hens. A couple of weeks ago 9 blue Sumatra hatched and are doing well - this breed is on the critical list and is strictly an ornamental type - egg-laying is sporadic (and they will lay them anywhere, not in nests, so have to be watched) and the hens won't sit on them reliably - so the "foster mum" Australorps take over. I never learned so much about chickens in such a short amount of time as when I listen to Sam. My brain is now spinning with egg-production statistics that I will not remember and the various breed names are history-for now with the few exceptions that stuck. I asked Sam to join eG and share some of his knowledge but he says he is just too busy right now with getting the game bird production going as he has a class of 4-H kids starting this weekend.

Thanks, Martin. I'm sure that all of the vendors here make a lot more than $5 K in gross sales. Apparently some of those rules were included for "grandfathering" in some very small organic operations that had been in operation for decades and which were early proponents of the organic movement - some from the fifties - where they used much of their own produce and sold only the excess. I visited yesterday with a couple my age (70s) who have been raising greens and herbs on a very small patch in Agua Dulce since the early '60s. They applied for and got their certification at the very beginning just to prove it could be done. They have a small flock of chickens but can't allow them "free range" outside of covered runs because of the numerous hawks in the area and at night, the coyotes, which have no problem getting over 8 ft fences. They no longer raise their own chicken feed but buy certified organic feed that is based on millet because they no longer trust any kind of commercially grown corn - and don't want to use soy. It's expensive but their entire output goes to regular customers who are willing to pay (mostly neighbors who don't have their own chickens) and there is a distinct difference in these eggs. $6.50/dozen.

How about if the turntable itself does the stirring in relation to a fixed paddle? http://tinyurl.com/bmbv7wt I'm ordering one immediately.

In California sellers have to comply with organic certification rules. There have been several actions taken against sellers who do not comply. I recall one up north - in Eureka or Petaluma - but don't remember details.

My "egg man" brings me a basket of eggs which can vary from two dozen to three dozen, depending on the size of the eggs and I pay him a flat rate of $5. for a basket. Mostly the eggs are extra-large, sometimes jumbo. Since he is delivering them I'm not going to quibble about the price. Occasionally, when I am going to be doing a lot of baking, I call and get a double order. There is a slight difference in flavor, a decided difference in appearance - much yellower yolks and the whites tend to stick together better when poaching. I have to hold them in the fridge for at least a week for successful hard boiling. He has quite a few breeds of "exotic" chickens that he raises for show and breeding - the eggs he sells are a by-product. The eggs range from white through all the browns to nearly black and blue, green and speckled. He has some really HUGE chickens - Jersey Giants - that routinely lay double-yolk eggs with the occasional triple yolk. I think some are crosses with another large breed - I was raised on a farm and I never saw chickens the size of these... He also raises guinea fowl, ducks, geese and recently expanded to game birds - quail, pheasants, etc., and will sell those eggs if he has extras not needed for incubating. I have bought eggs at the local farmer's market, not impressed and in my opinion they are overpriced. I checked the cartons at one, where I did not buy, and half the eggs in the cartons were medium or smaller but were priced at $3.50. The woman said they were "organic" but they did not display the organic certification. The placed that did have the organic cert had eggs that were large to extra-large and priced at $4.00/dozen with 50¢ off if you returned an empty carton. That particular farmer is local, owns an almond orchard and the chickens have the run of the orchard which also has a crop of some green stuff on which the flocks forage until it is mowed before the harvest season. I have been to their farm stand and the eggs are $3.00/doz there - with 50¢ off if you take along an empty carton but their hours are erratic. Most of the others are from out of this area and I suspect the eggs are commercial production so I don't buy them.

I know what I would like. I wish someone would INVENT a gadget (sturdy, so it won't break) that will STIR foods being microwaved... I hate it when I take something out of the microwave and the outside edges are 150 degrees and the center is 70 degrees (or less). The rotating tray swings the stuff around in a circle - unless carefully centered - which is SUPPOSED to guarantee "even heating" but that is only a fairy tale. I have had microwaves since the late '60s when I got my first Radarrange and I'm still taking stuff out, stirring and putting it back in. I want a container/gadget with a stirring implement that will rotate counter to the direction the microwave tray is rotating - mine goes both directions, reversing when stopped and re-started, and I am willing to PAY well for it. A friend who works in an industrial laboratory has bent his mind to the task - they do have "stirrers" for certain laboratory tasks - but has not yet come up with a viable idea. I don't think I am alone in this desire and I can see such a gadget making a fortune for the inventor or marketing genius that brings it to the public.

Yogurt is so easy to make, why not make your own? I recommend the cultures from New England Cheesemaking but any of the commercial cultures will work, such as Yogourmet and the goat milk carried at Trader Joe's is excellent and you can make it a lot cheaper and can control the "tangyness" by the time it incubates - less time for less "tang" longer incubation if your like it sharper...

There is a significant problem about paying very low "wages" to servers in areas where there are a lot of foreign tourists and I have railed against this policy for years. In many other countries tipping is not done and people who come to the U.S. for the first time are often not aware that tipping is considered part of the "wages" for servers. A friend's daughter, who worked at one of the restaurants near Disneyland for several years told many stories about having a table full of people from Europe who demanded lots of service and then did not leave a tip. On one occasion she sat down at the table and was crying when one of the women returned to pick up a package she had left under the table. She asked why Donna was crying and Donna told her. The woman was shocked because in her country servers are paid a regular wage. She gave Donna ten dollars but there had been 8 people at the table and their bill was well over 100. so while she got something, it was nowhere near the "estimate" on which restaurants EXCUSE their paying pitiful wages. Frankly, it is not much better than indentured servitude and in my opinion is degrading.

I grate horseradish (homegrown) outside. I use a rotary grater, wear a mask and goggles and gloves with the "grippy" spots because the root can get a bit slippery after being peeled. I have also used the grater blade in a food processor, which works okay if you are doing a big batch but for small amounts it means more cleanup. I really don't care for the pasty texture when it is put through a blender - that's just personal preference but it seems to have a sort of "chalky" mouth feel when prepared that way. But that's just me. Incidentally, peel just enough of the root that you are going to grate, leave the unpeeled part to air-dry for a couple of hours and then re-plant. It will put out new little roots and new leaves in a few weeks - more rapidly in warm weather. It can be left outside in the winter, nothing much will kill it.

My book club (cozy mysteries) met today and we had some baked goodies and were discussing the various foods mentioned in the mysteries of the "Golden Age of British Mysteries" - so I happened to mention this link and opened it on my iPad so the other members could see the question and responses and asked them what they thought... All of us are "vintage" - the youngest admits to 66 and the eldest is 94, two are Brits, one is a Scot who moved here in the early '80s, two are Canadian and the other seven from all over the U.S. Retired teachers, a uni professor (English Lit), banker, ins. exec, aerospace engineer (3) and a home economist that spent 37 years at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. They thought it was an interesting concept - more interesting than the book we were supposed to discuss - "dull and predictable plot" - so we spent the balance of the meeting time, in fact went overtime by almost 45 minutes, discussing it. The consensus of opinion was that for an American and an international audience, "teacakes" would fit because people in places as far apart as Australia or Scandinavia would know what a teacake was - same with people in Russia, Eastern Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term has caught on in America and teacakes appear on menus in various parts of the country.

There is an Italian chestnut ravioli that I have had with the pasta made from chestnut flour and the filling made with chopped cooked chestnuts. I've also had chestnut ravioli with a filling of foie gras and truffles and the flavors enhance and complement each other. I have made ravioli from chestnut flour and filled with ricotta cheese, it is very delicate and as I recall, I made a very mild white sauce for it.

Here's a link to my spicy chestnut soup that works very well as a "mug" soup when you want to serve buffet style. One variation that I did not include on the page is that this is wonderful when topped with a piece of toasted French bread and topped with a cheese such as Asiago - something with a bit of "bite" to it.

Last evening I consulted with a friend, who is one of the technical writers for Nordic Ware. They consider any "plain" cavity pan a "muffin" pan. The fancier pans are identified as Tea-Cake or Cakelet pans or describe the shape or size of the product. An example. He said that there are variations such as "standard" or "jumbo" or "mini" or identifying the number of "muffin" cavities but their customer research has shown that 91% of buyers understand that a "muffin" pan is also a cupcake pan. He also said that several years ago the company decided to avoid "talking down" to customers and make the descriptions of bakeware as simple as possible and to emphasize the "Made in U.S.A."