janeer

Just want to thank you Kalypso for christening this book and sharing your first tries and your thoughts on the recipes. Bummer about the photos. The first recipe I plan to make is the Enchiladas de San Antonio (p 402). Odd name: they are really quesadillas (made with fresh masa), don't know if they changed the name for the American market, which may think quesadillas are those things you get in fast food places made from flour tortillas. Regarding the salsa de chile pasilla de Oaxaca: Kennedy provides a similar recipe for it in her Art of Mexican Cooking, and suggests chipotles mora or regular chipotles as substitutes for the pasillas de Oaxaca. Elsewhere (Cuisines) she talks about chile negro as similar, which is the pasilla widely available in the U.S. I have made this sauce many times with regular pasillas and, if not exactly what you cold get in with the Mexican ones, it is excellent.

So, don't leave us in suspense. How was the arroz con pollo?

I heard it. They raised the critique of the (non) index, one I share. It is really a table of contents at the back of the book. A highly unusual decision for a university press to make. But hard to complain, given its other assets.

And it wasn't just those electric ranges that had a "deep well." I remember my grandmother's old gas stove had a deep well. A lipped pot dropped down into the well. There were two handles that recessed into the side of the top lip with which one lowered and retrieved the pot. I think someone told me that my grandmother had bought that stove back in the 20's. I still have the pot with its lipped rim. _____________________

I hit 7. And I don't agree.

According to the link in the original post, you can buy it (as well as several other interesting sounding vinegars). It's apparently just bottled under a different name now. Roger's Maple Syrup Vinegar... "Formerly known as Northern Whisper Maple Syrup Vinegar". Somehow I missed this before--actually, somehow I missed the last two days of cooking and photos, I think I skipped a page. So thanks for this link, and Kerry and Anna for all the nonstop cooking.

First of all I have been reading with amazement that you are doing all this cooking while doctoring...and there is nothing better than being with a cooking friend,ALL ALONE. Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some... It's great fun having Anna here so we can cook together - usually at home we are just e-mailing back and forth talking about what we are making. Anna is an amazing cook - I learn a ton from her all the time. I don't think Mr Vinegar would tell me the complete details - but what he has mentioned to me is that he dilutes maple syrup to a level that will allow him to make wine with it that gives about 5% alcohol. I suspect he dilutes with apple cider. After he gets the wine he must add the vinegar mother. I don't know how he gets it so thick though. Anyway he's back at home - so it's unlikely I'll see him again for another few weeks. Thanks for this. I'm going to think on it, maybe go through some of my really old New England cookbooks and see if I can find something on it. I'm intrigued...

Can I come in at 1 1/2 inches? Not too thick, not too thin, but just right?

cThis is very close to a recipe someone gave me in the '70s; I haven't made it in ages so I will just repeat what I have written down: 1 stick butter 1 can sweetened condensed milk 2 boxes 10x (this would be 1 lb boxes) 1 can flaked coconut (probably 14 or 15 oz sweetened coconut) 1/4 c chopped pecans Melt butter, add condensed milk; stir in sugar and salt. add coconut and pecans. Chill until it can be shaped for coating.

"How many chef-y cookbooks do we really need?...I can't see that sort of cookbook lasting 20 or 30 years." Hear hear, Diana. And she lapsed into Spanish at one point with a "tambien" (also) by mistake: "some of their moles, tambien."She's wonderful.

This was fun for me to read; I don't live in Boston anymore, but I was at Radius the first week it opened; your comments about service makes me think: some things never change! I am generally not a fan of tasting menus but you certainly make me rethink that. Sounds like fun.

good point.

First of all I have been reading with amazement that you are doing all this cooking while doctoring...and there is nothing better than being with a cooking friend,ALL ALONE. Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

Kinda everything, and I lick cooking spoons too(no, I do NOT put them back in)--but the sweetened condensed milk for me, too, is drunk right out of the can. Childhood habit.

No self-respect, I guess. Or arrogance. Yes on the exchange rate. No improvement in sight.

This is a pretty good thought, provided it has a pusher/guard; one doesn't want the other hand to risk injury! And some way of keeping it stable.

I think the question on everyone's mind, based on previous posts, is substitutions. For me, I am interested in chile substitutes primarily.

Apple tart with an applesauce base--an old favorite.

First, thank you for the detailed response; very helpful to benefit from your experience about what is worthwhile. Amazon has a Spanish version of PH10 (a few hundred dollars). That might be worth having. Alas, I am a professor, not a pastry chef, although I do have a culinary degree and have always been most interested in, and happiest doing, pastry. Of course I weigh everything. I totally agree with you about American books; if you are a professional, these books, even by professional pastry chefs, are aimed at home cooks and so it is not surprising they don't do much for you. Sherry Yard's is one of the better of those, I think, and I like Andrew MacLauchlan's Tropical Desserts. The Leach (called Sweet Seasons) is on Amazon and I will try it. And I will borrow a copy of c'est du gateau through interlibrary loan and see if I can follow it before buying. When someone uses/enjoys a book over a long period, that is always a good recommendation. I feel that way about Lenotre--classic, nothing earth shaking, but wholly reliable and correct. thanks again

Told you I didn't speak French. I know Spanish very well, though, and I can puzzle my way through a lot of written French as a consequence. Have you actually cooked from either of these books? Are they must-haves? I am a pastry book freak.

Putting the lid on a food processor and locking it in place requires two STRONG hands working in tandem. Unless you have someone to do that for you, I think, given your shoulder and arm issues, a food processor will be a challenge. If that is overcome, the rest of it is perfect for a one-armed person.An old-fashioned plunge chopper might be of help; you have an immersion blender so that can do some pureeing tasks. A Kitchen Aid mixer can be operated with one hand (provided it has already been lifted to the counter).

All I can say is, thank god (or is it, alas!) I don't live in Philly anymore.

je ne parle pas franceis

As soon as I started reading this I thought: cotton candy

Your description of them sounds an awful lot like muscadines. They make great jam. You have to put them through a food mill after cooking.