andiesenji

I've used just about every gadget for corn cutting - I have my ancient "Lee's" cutter that works fine, especially when I need to cut a large batch for corn relish to be canned. Recently one of the members in my book club advised me to try one of the curved "grapefruit knives" and by golly it works a treat for both cutting the kernels off the cob and for scraping the cob to get as much juice as possible. The one I have is a Messermeister but any should work just fine. The curved blade means you only have to make four strokes, for an average-sized cob.

Here's a new gadget - I don't "need" one because I have my big two-handled pizza knife, but it sure is pretty. Rosle Pizza Cutter.

Pear butter is actually better if the skins and seeds are cooked with the flesh. This type of very firm pear is also one that can be candied whole - If you dip the pear into boiling water for a minute, it makes it much easier to peel and you can remove the core from the bottom - a metal potato peeler works for the little fruits, an apple corer is too big. Leave the stem attached. The pears have to be simmered gently in at least four new batches of simple syrup of increasing sugar content. Simmered for about 4 hours each day, then allowed to cool in the syrup then transferred to the new batch - otherwise the sugar syrup will discolor and "stain" the pears. Start with 1:1 sugar to water then 1.5:1 then 2:1 and finally 3:1 - the latter is very thick and you can store the pears in this syrup till ready to use. Some people like to add ONE drop of red food coloring to the last batch to produce pink pears.

For members who live in and around Chicago take note of this event on Sunday. "Calling all Chicago Baconnoisseurs!"

I can advise one thing NOT to do. My neighbor has Corian countertops with a "breakfast bar" peninsula with a generous overhand at one end. She used that to clamp on a hefty old fashioned meat grinder. She pulled the metal pan full of ground meat out from under the grinder and as she turned, did not lift it high enough to clear the grinder. The force of the blow cracked off an 8" x 10" chunk off the corner. The cost to grind and refinish the broken end (not replace it) was $175.00, plus the cost of replacing three ceramic tiles on the floor that were cracked by the impact of the grinder and the chunk of Corian...

As long as you use wooden spoons or silicone utensils, the tin will last a long time. Don't let anyone else use them and do NOT put them in the dishwasher.

You can get a FOLDING kitchen cart with a wooden top. I have one in the shed that I used in the kitchen before I had it remodeled and I have some shop tools clamped to it - a belt sander and a router. The wheels lock so it doesn't move. In the old kitchen it folded flat enough that it fit between the fridge and the wall.

Looks like tin to me. I have a bunch of the old tin-lined and they look exactly the same. The SS lined ones are much shinier.

Exactly my point. There are some foods that simply do not taste "right" without a little salt. And there are some occasions when the body really needs salt. That's why in hot climates, before the availability of electrolyte drinks, workers were issued salt tablets. The Romans issued salt tablets to their troops 2000 years ago when marching long distances in heat. I happen to have an unusual type of hypertension - systolic hypertension - where only the systolic is elevated and the diastolic (the bottom number) is normal or, with my medication, sometimes very low. When this happens - recently it dropped to 49 - I feel very weak and shaky. A little salt dissolved under my tongue will relieve these symptoms in a couple of minutes. This usually happens when I eat a food that is a natural diuretic without sufficient salt to counteract the effects. Spinach, asparagus, etc., are the worst offenders so I avoid them if possible.

I've never attempted dipping "wet" candied ginger in chocolate - it just never occurred to me to try it. I've made a note of your process and will try some the next time I make a batch of ginger. My standard routine for candied/crystallized ginger in large batches is so ingrained that I am mostly on automatic pilot and it goes into the dehydrators as soon as it has drained sufficiently. I also usually buy "young stem ginger" and slice it into small coin shapes if I am storing it in syrup. I know the dried crystallized ginger slices keep well after dipping in chocolate. I can't have chocolate myself but have prepared it for friends and they have told me it will last for at least two or three months without the chocolate "blooming."

Some people do use a lot of salt but I have seen people carefully restricting their salt intake but drinking diet soda, which I think is much worse. People that restrict salt too severely can have problems from not enough sodium chloride. People that exercise heavily and limit their intake of any of the electrolytes can have problems with muscle cramps, dizziness, vision problems and occasionally fainting.

The middle eastern store in which I shop has a big "pickle jar" (about 3 gallons) in which they have preserved lemons. The ones on the top, ready for use are in a plastic basket which occupies the top half of the container. They lift it out and add new lemons and more salt to the bottom and the basket is replaced which pushes the new lemons to the bottom. I think this is a very clever method of keeping a large batch (they sell a lot) of preserved lemons going. The lady told me that they dump the brine and replenish the salt with a new batch of lemons in the bottom about every six months. The preserved lemons look perfect on the outside, the insides look the same as the ones I have made at home and I have bought some and used them. They taste exactly the same. She tells me they have only refrigerated the batch when they close the store for their annual vacation when they put everything even remotely perishable in their walk-in fridge, even the stuff in the display fridges, because they have a backup generator for the walk-in in case of a power failure. She says that people "back home" don't usually have fridges and the stores that sell stuff like this have limited fridge space so "preserving" means not having to refrigerate usually perishable items for use all year. She mentioned that "back home" they preserve the grape leaves essentially the same way and they are never refrigerated.

Wow, R.G. Eight years is a long time. I don't get your reference to Gunajuato. Are you referring to the use of masa for thickening stews is Oaxaca? My Mexican neighbor makes a vegetable stew that she thickens with masa. The vegetables vary with the seasons, I especially like it in the fall when she adds calabaza to the carrots, potatoes and onions, etc., instead of sweet potatoes. Although like the sweet potatoes (the white kind) I think the flavor is better. She serves the stew over rice. She has told me that it is a traditional dish for Holy days when they don't eat meat in the Durango area where she was raised. P.S. I still miss Fifi.

Lisa, that looks like it would be perfect to serve at an afternoon tea. I always have plenty of almond flour because I make a lot of almond milk and the solid stuff that remains is too nutritious to discard so I dry it and grind it finer and use it in baking. It works out to just a fraction of the cost of commercial almond flour and I get two products from one batch of almonds... I will have to dig through the thousands of recipes I have in Word documents. I know there is one that uses cake crumbs with very fine pasta (angel hair) in an eggy tart with cheese and I think it contains chestnut puree. I remember making it once and it was very good but sort of "fiddly" and I don't remember repeating it. I was still working then and didn't have the time that I now have.

That looks like it should have prime flavor...

I grow a lot of sorrel and I like to combine it with vegetables in soups. Carrot, sorrel soup, optionally with ginger, is what I consider a "classic" as the lemony flavor of the sorrel perks up the sweetness of the carrots. I think I posted a recipe for my carrot soup on the old RecipeGullet but I can't find it. Ah ha! I just found it via Google. Here it is. You can use more sorrel. Another soup that works brilliantly with sorrel is green borscht served hot with sour cream. Combining sorrel with other greens, quickly saute them and toss with caramelized onions and walnuts and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. I use the big sorrel leaves to wrap teaspoonsful of cooked rice and meat mixtures, similar to dolmas, then steam them for 8-10 minutes. I have a "greens" cookbook that has a lot of recipes that include sorrel. A google search produces hundreds.

When I was 20, I lived with an Orthodox Jewish family who treated me like one of their daughters. The food was always good and extremely plentiful. I can recall going to dinner with them at the home of another family and on returning home, "Bubbeh" patted my shoulder and said, maybe you should have a snack, maybe some kugel, a piece of fruit? When I replied that I was still full from the dinner, she told me. "You should always eat when you have a chance, who knows, God forbid, the house might burn down and we all might have to go without a meal for a day and already you are too thin." (I was a size 6.) When anyone came to the house, the first words were always, "will you have a bite of something?" I was their shabbos goy, turning lights on and off, etc., on Shabbat.

You should go to Italy. There, you get yelled at for not eating. Everyone you meet wants to give you food... 'mangia mangia mangia' all day. Complete strangers want to give you a 3 course meal. If you don't eat they think something is wrong with you. Their food is full of carbs and it's all delicious. One of the most wonderful places on Earth... Or live with a traditional Jewish family. Hospitality is extremely important and food is the center of hospitality.

I agree with you CKat. I am obese, and it doesn't bother me as much as it does other people. I'm 73, have earned every pound and because of arthritic knees and now hips, I can't do the exercises that are suggested. And anyway, I come from a very long-lived bunch of ancestors who ate all the "wrong" things, did not do all the "cardio" exercises and outlived people that supposedly ate "healthier." Frankly, I would rather enjoy eating food that I like and live a few years less. I avoid people who are so concerned about what they eat that they have to dictate to everyone else. I do try to buy local produce and avoid GMO food products because I believe they have done and will do considerable harm to the ecosphere. I buy heirloom varieties whenever they are available. The only time I warn people about food is to tell them something is too hot (heat) or very hot (spicy) so they won't bite into something harmful unknowingly.

I am preparing "my" scrambled eggs this morning. I have tried numerous other methods and keep returning to the one I know is (to my taste) perfect in flavor and texture. I noticed there was a question about "adding the cream at the end to stop the eggs cooking" but I think my photos are self-explanatory - the eggs are added to the boiling cream. Perhaps this is one of those dishes that each person needs to prepare exactly as they like it. There are some foods that have an intensely personal feel - toast, for instance - and what works for me won't work for others. One of my friends likes eggs fried hard both sides and to me they are rubbery and unappetizing but she can't stand an egg if there is even a hint of softness. (She also doesn't care for my scrambled eggs, or any scrambled eggs for that matter). She also won't eat bacon unless it is burnt to a crisp and hamburgers have to be so well done they could be used as hockey pucks. But that's okay, people should eat what they like How they like.

After reading some of the comments on the various sites, I have concluded that this appliance is for the novice cook who has never made jam or jelly, is afraid of trying something new that is more complicated that sticking food in the microwave and who likes to have things that are more or less foolproof. Many of the comments begin with, "I have never made jam before..."

I have this same timer and it is so handy - especially if you have to go into another room, or tend to become distracted. The latter often happens to me. I don't worry so much about the water temp. I've been preparing tea for sixty years with water "just off the boil" for most black or "red" teas and as long as they aren't "stewed" or steeped too long, they shouldn't become bitter. However, I also believe some of the more delicate teas require lower temps and a thermometer would be necessary.

It is available at Amazon (more expensive) and that gave me a link to the Ball web site where you can click on the link, "View Our Instruction Book Guide" and you can download the instruction manual that includes all the specifications. also photos of the inside of the pot. It doesn't note the temp range but it has to boil the syrup so it must get pretty hot. It only holds a quart or so - at least that's what I think.

Angelica grew wild in the woods where I grew up and we gathered it in the spring (along with asparagus and other wild things, like ramps, wild garlic, elderflowers, sassafras roots, etc.) and it was candied and dried but some was candied and left in the syrup to flavor it. It was mostly used as cake decorations but my great-grandmother like to use a stick of it to stir and sweeten her tea.

Got an email today from Cooking.com with this new appliance. I don't have a use for it because I have a Thermomix but I can see that for a busy person who doesn't have the time to hover over a hot stove, (or doesn't want the kitchen heated up by prolonged stove top cooking) this might be an advantage. In my opinion the price will probably be dropping in the future - often these "introductory" prices do drop after a few months. While it seems like a single-use appliance, I can see that it might come in handy for other applications where a food needs to be constantly stirred. I'm thinking of chutneys and sauces, etc.