janeer

You know, based on your description of your wife's preferences, it seems like she just likes the food she was served when she was a kid, the way her mother (who may not have been much of a cook) made it. I am betting the solution is more obvious than you might imagine. Keep a box of 10x hanging around until it is sort of old and clumpy. Make frosting with it: DO NOT SIFT OR STRAIN, and use a wooden spoon only. Voila: gritty icing. I can't tell you how many times I had that growing up in the 50s/60s at other kids' houses.

I use towels because I find mitts too cumbersome (I have really little hands)but of course have burned myself when I grab a wet one, and burned the tops of my hands on oven racks and even heating elements. Need to try some sort of oven glove, do an awful lot of baking like andiesenji. Which are the best? Anyone use ones made of silicone?

I bought my standard-size Kitchen Aid in 1975 when you had to drive to a restaurant supply in a sketchy neighborhood and pay a fortune for it to find one. It is avocado gold, pretty much your choice for a home (non-floor) machine back in the day When bigger, more powerful machines came out, I almost traded it in for a Kenwood but never did, and it is still going strong. I invested in a second bowl to make life easier. The machine gets a little hot once in a while, and can move around a bit on the counter, but no biggy. That said, I find I use my Cuisnart (much more up-to-date and large capacity) more and more for almost everything--all pastry, most bread dough,most cookies, most cakes. Of course, there is nothing like the KA for egg whites. So if a cake involves egg whites I generally make the whole thing in the mixer. I end up making more savory things with the mixer now, it seems.

Beautiful and creative, and a portable record player too! A wonderful party.

I am happy to know of RG, but wonder if you have tried Purcell Mountain? For selection and quality,I have always been extremely pleased. Do you know them? Is RG better quality (if not with the huge selection)as PM?

No, it wasn't a meringue cookie. The recipe did in fact call for baking powder. And yes, the acid will make the product lighter, and probably encourage browning, but TWO teaspoons of tartar? That seems like a lot. That's what puzzles me. Isn't that a lot? Thanks, Starkman without seeing the recipe i couldn't tell you if it's a lot. can you share the recipe? Yes, post the recipe, please. I'm wondering if it's possible that "baking powder" was actually a typo--that it should have been baking soda, which could make sense. Another possibility is that the cream of tartar is to smooth out the texture.

is it a meringue cookie?

Article in today's NYT on Italian knife-sharpening families. Ambrosi, one of the families with a substantial commercial business, does mail-order sharpening for the residential/home cook market.

The recipe is here.. My grandmother just kept pouring in the whiskey: however you like.

I have made this recipe. I use dried milk, a mixture of butter for flavor and shortening for tenderness, and neither zest nor extract (though I would use zest if one or the other, grated with a microplane as indicated above. I use a-p flour for this.

I am locked in to a couple of things that, if I didn't make them every year (some of them for 30 or more years), I would never be forgiven. Surprisingly, my plum puddings, with a small jar of clear, boozy nutmeg sauce, a sprig of holly for the top and instructions for flaming. An assortment of prized cookies (about a dozen different kinds) in tins. My perennially popular apricot chutney (which I must acknowledge is great). For some who don't expect these, I like to give classic biscotti di prato with a small bottle of Vin Santo for dunking. It's wildly popular with people who have been to Tuscany. One year I did intense cinnamon-infused vodka with a recipe for what I called a cinnamini and tiny bottles of Boyajian orange oil, one of the ingredients, and it was a huge hit. Another appreciated gift is a holiday sweet bread of some sort (stollen, challah, whatever) wrapped in a beautiful damask towel. I love this topic! More ideas, please!

Hands down, a side-by-side with multiple, adjustable shelves, wide/deep enough to hold a half-sheet pan, plus some drawers and door shelves. You can see everything at a glance, and it is indispensable for pastry making. A freezer, top or bottom (worse because of the back), that is essentially a box is annoying.

Nice flavor combo, looks fabulous.

Good rye bread recipes are found in Secrets of a Jewish Baker. I will second this. Secrets of a Jewish Baker provides excellent recipes and instructions. The "Corn Bread," what he calls his "best bread" and what is really a rye and contains no corn, is outstanding.

Sunday NYT Travel section has an article on state fairs, including the fried foods to be found, many discussed in this thread. http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/travel/29Fairs.html?pagewanted=1&nl=travel&emc=tda1

Apple pie.

OMG how can I not have known about this??

That's what I do with nut butters that I use often. However, I put them on a tray with a lip because they have been known to gently leak nut oils which seem to be able to wend their way through the lid threads, no matter how tight it is closed. Having had the experience of cleaning gooey oil and gunk off of jars, cans and etc., located on the lower shelves (industrial steel wire), I recommend prudence. So true. I am always wiping everything. A little foil tray or something is a good idea.

Thanks! So it seems as if you use this just as you use the more widely available mirliton type? The casserole recipe is for the other kind. I often make jicama the way you describe so will try it with chayote as well. In Jamaica years ago I stayed in a house with a cook who made the most amazing chayote pie. I ate it practically every day. I'm still wondering, though: why would you go to the trouble of singing off the fuzz, and anything else you need to do, if you can get the other more effortless variety? Is this "heirloom" type richer/tastier? If so, I'll certainly make the effort. I wonder if you could just roast it as is and peel it.

I saw these in the international market yesterday, right next to the usual, smooth-skinned chayote (mirliton); both were labeled chayote. I've never seen these. I assumed they are sort of chayote au naturel--before husking or something--but maybe not? If so, why would you ever want these instead of the ones that have already been freed from their shells? The same reason you buy fresh coconut or peanuts? If not, what are they and what do you do with them?

Same here. Peanut butter, either. Turn it upside down and put it in dark cupboard.

In Rhode Island we use stone-ground RI white cap flint cornmeal from Gray's, Carpenter's, or Kenyon's. Here is a little background on this true heirloom variety, also called Indian Meal by Rhode Islanders. RI white flint corn has a natural bitter edge that is prized.

I am devoted to Kennedy's original Cuisines of Mexico, which I cooked my way through when it was first released in the 1970s, also like her Recipes of Regional Cooks of Mexico. Consider Bayless so-so. Quintana's Taste of Mexico is beautiful and good, and I love to look at Frida's Fiestas, have never really cooked from it, though. I have a lot of small local cooking pamphlets from Oaxaca, things with names like "Sabores de Soledad," that I make little things from that are unusual. Have lots and lots of Mexican cookbooks. Waiting for my pre-ordered copy of Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto. Want that Alquimias, too.

Salads of all kinds, especially potato, chicken, and green. It infuriates me to get a cold green salad on a cold plate at a restaurant. I never, ever, refrigerate chicken salad or potato salad before serving. Jam/preserves--leave them on the counter. Pie (ditto). Cheese of course.

Tomato jam is my absolute favorite topping for English muffins. I also like it on cheese sandwiches. If your jam is so sweet, try cutting back on the sugar a bit. I add a little vanilla to my tomato jam and it rounds it out nicely.