Nyleve Baar

Roosters are absolutely not necessary unless you want fertile eggs. Without a rooster, hens will lay just as many eggs but they won't hatch. As for being nasty, some roosters are evil and others are lovely. Some of this is breed related (avoid the Columbia Cross - or similar name - they're really aggressive). But big dufus-ish Standard Cochins are so mild-mannered that they can be bullied by tiny little bantam roosters. To the day she died, my mother would remind me that she bore a scar on her leg where our big nasty rooster attacked her. I think she was actually sort of proud of it since none of the other residents at her Miami seniors home had access to any poultry that wasn't cooked.

Seriously - just buy a jug of Boone's Farm Apple Wine and pass it around. Do they even make that stuff anymore?

Not absolutely sure about rare and exotic spices but I've bought some quite nice stuff at Anatol on St. Laurent, a couple of doors away from Milano (the big Italian store). They have some delicious salt blends which I really like also. Lots of stuff there.

Banty eggs are adorable. Actually perfect for when you're halving a recipe and you need half an egg. Also make really really cute devilled eggs for a cocktail party. Never mind the fact that the chickens themselves are lovely little critters. Our flock is about 1/3 bantams and the rest full size, which gives us an excellent variety of egg sizes and make for attractive lawn ornaments.

Thanks for the detailed description. I am going to give the darn thing another shot sometime soon. Passover grape leaves? Hmmmm. Stuffed with what, pray tell?

I bought one of these thingies in, yes, Istanbul from a, yes, street guy. Actually I bought two of them - one for me and one for a friend. I could never get the darn thing to work properly. I usually use a semi-cooked rice mixture for the filling and found that it would be squeezed to death in the rolling machine. So then I tried raw rice filling, and that didn't really work either. The rolls are VERY tight and VERY thin - like cigarettes, not dolmas. Since you seem to have gotten the hang of it, do you have any very specific advice? I'd love to be able to use this little gizmo.

We got one of these contraptions as a wedding gift in 1977. So yes, they've been around a while. For the first year or so, as I young bride I dutifully filled the depression with ice which, to my dismay, melted in mere minutes, requiring me to continuously replace the ice - a process which then required lifting the lid and dumping the water, which I figured was allowing more moisture out of the pot than just letting it cook normally (without ice). So I stopped bothering with the ice and now I just use it as a cast iron Dutch oven casserole. And it works just fine as that. The whole concept is just hooey, in my humble opinion.

Important advice: please don't use BOTH a cat and mouse poison at the same time. Mouse eats poison; stumbles around with a bad stomach ache; cat catches nauseated mouse; cat dies. This has happened. Pick cat OR poison - you can't have both. The other night Weasel, my young female Siamese, was playing with her toy mouse (I thought) on the bed while I was reading. It was only when the thing landed on my arm that I realized that a) it wasn't a TOY mouse, and b) it wasn't even a WHOLE mouse. Scream? Did I scream? Oh yeah.

In truth, never weighed the ingredients. It's pretty foolproof.

Here's my standard crumble topping. I use it on coffee cake, muffins, fruit crumbles and instead of a top crust on fruit pie. It doubles or triples well, and freezes perfectly. Make sure you work the butter into the flour/sugar well so that it's incorporated rather than just cut in - don't want nuggets of butter. 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. cinnamon Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl (or in a food processor), cutting the butter into the mixture until it forms a slightly sticky crumbly mixture. Sprinkle over pie fillings instead of a top crust, use on top of fruit crisps, or even sprinkle on top of muffins before baking. Bake according to whatever recipe you’re using. Makes enough to top one 9-inch pie or one batch of fruit crisp.

On day 4 of a 3-week trip through central Italy, we were unable to resist stopping in at a small farm-based cheese-manufacturer near Pienza. There were 4 of us travelling and we each bought a whole pecorino. They vacuum packed them for us and off we merrily went. It was only later that it became clear that we would now have to babysit these cheeses for the remainder of the trip. Wherever we stayed, we had to ask to have our cheeses stored in their fridge and we hunted daily for ice to put in our little insulated tote bag when we were on the road. The most absurd moment of all was when we went to the beach at Viareggio and realized that we would have to bring the cheeses (packed into the cooler tote) to the beach with us because we couldn't leave them in the hot car. I only wish that I had thought to take a photo of our pecorinos lounging on a beach chair under an umbrella. After all that, customs was the least of our problems. A couple of weeks after arriving home, pecorino intact, I cut into it and it was delicious.

Just discovered this thread after two weeks of driving my friends and family crazy talking about this bread method (and feeding them also). So far I've only used the boule recipe and made, well, boules and a few little sandwich rolls. I want to make the challah this week. Any words of wisdom? It would seem to me that the braiding process would be too much handling for the dough - is it not? How do you keep the dough from becoming overworked? Nyleve

No kidding it photographs well - the cake looks gorgeous. Ah well, this time: beauty. Next time: taste. I probably would have baked the layers on the inside of a sheet pan - lining the bottom with parchment and greasing the sides well. You'd just have to watch that you don't pour the batter in too deep. As for the chocolate, I'd hate to cast aspersions but something tells me that these kosher bakery folk were none too gourmet about the chocolate they used in their cakes back then. Onward!

I am going to divulge my mother's buttercream recipe - nothing on earth could possibly be easier. And I believe this might just give you the frosting you're looking for. Warning: it contains raw egg. But it's smooth and creamy and although my mother usually made it with non-dairy margarine (so that the cake could be served as a dessert after a meat meal) I always make it with butter. As for the layers, I don't think I can help. I personally liked that sort of rubbery, pancakey type of cake layer so I wouldn't want to lighten them up at all. I suspect that you will find that a lighter cake layer will not give you the cake you remember at all. But I'd be really interested to hear how you make out. Yeah - Canada. It just happened. And I love it. Get to NY once or twice a year, which is enough to fix me up. My Mother's Chocolate Frosting Recipe 1/2 lb. unsalted butter 3 egg yolks 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 cup icing (confectioners) sugar Beat well, until completely creamy. You can increase or decrease the amount of cocoa, depending on how deep a chocolate flavour you want. I think my mother used less cocoa, but I like it a little darker. Makes enough to fill and frost a 9-inch round cake, so maybe you'll want to double the recipe for your 7 layer experiment.

I know the cake. My Hungarian mother bought a hunk of it probably every week of my young life until I moved away from home. The one I loved was probably the eggier version you don't want, because my favourite way of eating it was to peel it off one layer at a time. The filling was a chocolate buttercream - but not overly sweet. And since it was a kosher bakery, it probably wasn't butter either. I would recommend a classic dobos torte with a smooth semi-sweet chocolate buttercream, made with butter. The cake, well, I wouldn't cut a cake into the seven layers. I'd be more inclined to make a single thin sheet cake and cut it into rectangleular pieces to layer - the cake was always an oblong anyway. And it seemed to me that each layer had some of the "skin" on it. Good luck.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm doing it - this will definitely save me one thing to do on Sunday.

I'm making a two-layer chocolate mousse-filled cake for a party on Sunday. My life would be so much easier if I could actually fill this cake and freeze it. The mousse filling contains gelatin for stability - would freezing be ok? I'll thaw slowly and glaze on the day it will be served.

First, I would suggest you decant the syrup into several smaller containers. Keep one in the fridge, store the rest in the freezer. It will keep perfectly for a year or more that way. Take out one container at a time to use - it won't be frozen solid, but should be allowed to come to room temp. at least before using. Second - and this is something I just recently made - Maple Crema. I got the recipe from the New York Times about a year ago and hung onto it knowing it would be outstanding. It is. Actually, the next time I make it, I think I'd do it with a brulee topping - maybe maple sugar brulee (or even just brown sugar). It is jawdroppingly delicious and uses quite a hefty amount of maple syrup.

Ha. Interesting. I will slice up the rest of what I have - maybe 2 or 3 still in a bag in the fridge - and do something vodka-ish with them. Good idea. Thanks for that.

Just noticed this thread. I bought half dozen sweet lemons a couple of weeks ago at a Middle Eastern grocery store in Toronto. I was told by a woman who was picking through the pile that she just eats them straight - they're that sweet. Anyway, when I got them home I discovered that they have almost no flavour at all and absolutely no aroma in the peel. In fact, it's sort of a nearly soapy smell - I grated one to use in, I can't remember what, but it was like adding nothingness. Total waste of $$$. The taste of the fruit isn't even as flavourful as a mediocre orange - what could possibly be the point of such a thing? I've never been up close and personal with a Meyer lemon but from the description, this is definitely not one.

I agree some people are more sensitive than others, but in this case, I do think that some plastic wrap transfers quite a noticeable off-flavour. And only to certain foods. I use plastic wrap at home - I buy the large rolls that fit into one of those cupboard mounted thingies - and never detect that flavour on anything. But some commercial wraps - yes, the thick ones especially - definitely do leave a taste. I believe anyone would notice it if they were given a chance. It almost has a bitter taste - very very unpleasant and can ruin a big hunk of cheese. Having said this, I also notice quite an off taste from canola oil and absolutely refuse to drink hot tea from a styrofoam cup. I can taste the styrofoam for hours afterward.

I've tasted that plastic taste on cheese that's been wrapped in saran (or whatever brand). I am quite convinced that some part of the plastic composition is absorbed by the fat (or is it the acidity?) of the cheese. It tastes nasty and I worry about what I'm eating. I no longer buy cheese chunks that have been pre-wrapped in a deli case. If they can't cut me a fresh piece, I'll usually go elsewhere. If I absolutely have no choice, I'll re-wrap the cheese immediately when I get home.

In Ontario Costco has a pile of these - all Mediterranean regions - for $5.49 each! I bought Turkey and Morocco, but they also had Spain, France, Greece, Mediterranean Islands, Tunisia and Italy. They're beautiful but I find the recipes a little oddly laid out. Some good stuff in there though.

Not to be rude, but I did alter my question after the first two responses. I am not seeking comments on the menu. I changed the question on post #4 though so I will assume that you just responded to the OP. I will have ample quantities of "light" fare is the veg wants to keep it light. The rest of us are omnivores and will want to partake of a heavier meal...it's winter after all. ← Ok - right. I went back and re-read your revision. Sorry, I hadn't read it carefully. Having said that, I think I was reacting to two things. One: my personal feeling of bloat after the ridiculous meatfest that was the holiday season. I've felt very overloaded lately and my immediate instinct is to go with lighter dishes, never mind the weather (and I'm in Canada). And the other reason is that I recently began to notice how much cheese shows up in recipes these days. I've been on a personal mission to eliminate it from all but one course of any given meal. But, of course, that might just be me. Edited to add that I am an idiot and can't figure out how to properly insert a quoted section. Just pretend I did.

My two cents: too much cheese/cream-y ingredients. Make the salad a nice bitter leafy green salad (maybe with some citrus in it); follow with a minestrone soup (no creamy soup, no potato - just chunky vegetables in a tomato-vegetable broth with some beans and greens); eggplant parmagiana should be your main event. If you want to serve a pasta with it, make it something like aglio olio - a little spicy, not cheesy - or serve with a hearty portion of your roasted cauliflower on the side and some excellent bread. At this point yes, you can serve a cheese course since there hasn't been a ton of cheese - have some grapes on the platter. And your idea of a chocolate mousse for dessert is excellent. We're not vegetarian but entertain lots of 'em. I find the biggest problem carnivores have when feeding vegetarians is that they feel they have to add a lot of protein to make up for the missing meat. Not true. You can serve - and enjoy - a generous portion of the parmagiana and it's very very satisfying and no one will feel like it's too skimpy. I swear.