highchef

edamae...the boys love them. for me, forever, chocolate..

my own mother was a first generation Irish American, as was my father, and there was always a sense of work..first to go to, then to do at home. these were the times of the new convience foods, and mom took full advantage of them. I learned to cook from cook books basically. I wonder, since it took so long for me to really 'read' or know a good cook book from a bad one (I've had several), what books you would recommend a new couple?

I am lost without candied ginger for scones. It is soooo good. ditto in ginger bread.I have not tried it in pumpkin soup yet, but sounds excellent. I am wondering about it in baked beans, I put ground ginger in mine so finely minced candied should really give them a kick eh? when my brother was doing chemo, I supplied him with candied ginger to munch for his nausea, he ate it like candy. Its great in biscotti, and as mentioned wonderful when nibbled with a cup of tea.

damn, here I go again.. But I think the above is true, but if the choc's not teped' nothing gonna work....ses pa..

can't you use the gingerbread forms for chocolate? If you've been making the walls, roof etc. just in sheets and cutting, they do make pans to bake it to shape, why can't the pans be used for molding choc? I think I saw that show too..but that man can make chocolate mold to anything, any size or shape. amazing.

you can get into some serious arguments around here about liver in boudin. There are passionate supporters on both sides. I'm ok with it, but there is a fine line there and I think the amounts of liver used is the defining taste of the finished product. So I may like Don's, and you might like Rabadoux's but I bet you find that your preference is based a lot on how much liver is in there. Boudin should be not too moist, and not too dry. Equal mix of pork to rice is good, too much rice and you've made it long (cheap). While a long gravy, or gumbo is ok (it's perfectly acceptable if you've unexpected company) too much rice in boudin just means you're streching the pork. The fall issue of Louisiana Life's cover story is all about boudin. It details the regional differences, and the characteristics that make up a good link. I know you are in Asia, but you can probably get them to send you a copy . this link will bring you to la. life's article reprint request page. The site shows summer as the current issue, but you want the new one, fall 06. It will educate you on boudin, for sure. But back to the liver issue. You rarely got boudin with NO liver in it years back, then they started with the cholesterol levels and people began making it without liver as to not have to give it up completely. I think it's fine that way, and not quite as rich..so if the liver taste is not for you, you can forgo it completely. Liver advocates complain that boudin w/out it tastes like dirty rice. I don't know about that cause my dirty rice has liver in it!!

These pralines are chewier than I usually make, but they are stronger, the molasses makes them denser and they hold up well in shipping, especially if wrappend individualy. 2 cups brown sugar 1 cup light molasses 2 cups heavy cream 4 tbsp. butter 1 tsp. vanilla ext. 4 cups pecan halves bring first 4 items to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. boil without stirring until soft ball stage 234-240 F. remove from heat, add vanilla and nuts and stir to crystallize. drop by spoonfuls onto silpat or buttered cookie sheets, leaving room for them to spread. cool. individually wrap or layer in wax paper. This is the heavier, sturdier praline. If you want the lighter version, i'll post it as well, but I don't know how well it would ship. This is the praline you would buy in the quarter, and it's very, very good. Having said that though, I have to admit I like the lighter one better, and wouldn't care if it arrived in crumbs. It would be great on ice cream!

I don't know about it being an almond in sugar, but that is the French (as in from France) version. In New Orleans, there is a pink praline (I guess this would be the Creole french version). It's a praline based on coconut and has a bit of red food color to it. It's only a praline in the sense that is a cooked sugar syrup type candy. I think it could have easily been called a divinity, but we're talking about New Orleans after all. It's a French candy meets the Carribean thing.

They serve a medical purpose as well. Vinegar is a natural topical anti-biotic..at least that's what my podiatrist tells me. It can dissolve hard water deposits (ever use it to clean your coffee maker?) so some believe it can help keep your cardio vascular system clear as well as assist in removing deposits from joints and flushing them out of the body. After my uncle had a series of heart attacks, a very well known cardiologist told him to eat a pickle after everymeal. He said it aided digestion, but did not go into the whys and hows. after hearing about the cleansing effect that is attributed to vinegar perhaps pickles are a win/win combination?? I like pickles, so I err on the side of caution.. When we moved to this house, there was an old lady next door who swore by vinegar. She drank it, wrapped wounds in it. Cleaned with it. She died at 99. Was well known for her pickles. Coincidence?

I cannot answer that, but I do appreciate the post as I've been looking at the pans and was debating getting some. I'll hold off until I learn more. I really don't need the darn things anyway. edit: I don't detect any off taste from the silpat's, but the pans I looked at (star bundt, mini bundt's) did have an odor to them that was distinctly chemical. Since your smell/taste senses work together you might be tasting the smell. I know that probably does not make any sense at all (pun intended), and science is not one of my special talents, but somehow my mind has made this connection! I know there are smarter people out there that know for sure.

Fruit flies are on every bit of fruit you bring home, from the yard or the store. Especially the yard. I bring in fruit this time of year and have to lliterally scrub it under water to make sure I get any eggs off so they can ripen (persimmons) unhindered. Citrus has the same issues, except I find it's more of that mold stuff that they bring home from the store and then infect the home grown stuff. (i grow oranges, satsumas etc. but no lemons). I can usually smell the mold from the lemons pretty quickly though. I find if I wash everything very, very well, that I limit problems....said limit. I don't think you can eliminate them forever.

I will have the recipes for pralines in the morning. I have several, and I'll let others argue about it but the old ladies on the block tell me pralines are like divinity..you don't make them if the humidity is above 50. That's darn near dec. around here. recipes in the morning. Patty edit: besides not having the recipes posted, I've done something wrong. edit is to correct my observation. it's late, and I've done the homework. There are 2 recipies, but only one that I'd send to the far east, it shall be posted asap.

I only know wild duck. Want to know about them?

There was a time, where everything I did was under a microscope. MIL would critique, Mom would defend. It was like a moot court every holiday. The biggie was....drum roll..... who would get the damn turky carcass. I think we even played a night of booreea over it ( boureaux?). Those are the good times..

Slice straight down. pull out and clean. warm again and slice. sliced cool is good. almost frozen is better. Sharp knife, thin knife, hot knife, clean knife between slices. That is it. Now, go and be good.

and yes, you know not to drip on your cake, right?

God, I love it when Patrick replies..he's always right on. but to get a little better grip for a beginner, get a copy of CANDY from THE GOOD COOK series by Time -Life Books. It actually walks you through the fondant, the syrup, the enrobing...sounds sexy, doesn't it! You don't need the whole series (try alribis.com) but this is a great beginner series for damn near everything. I was reading CANDY last night so this really blows me away. I'm getting ready for the holidays, so have started baking etc. , and candy making is a good way to start. Cheers! Patty edit: their example of an enrobed chocolate is a brandy flavored syrup, poured at the correct temp to a homemade mold of cornstarch. Flipped once, to ensure proper gel set, and then dipped into choc. and decorated sooo simply. It's on my list of things to do.

pralines. I'll post a recipe if you'd like.

I have to second that. Or maybe it's aliens. Seriously, since we've all seen it done...leftovers left all night on the counter (but the a/c was on!) And large families have survived this non-knowledge.... yet, they who have died, cannot write, now can they? And to this I leave my motto: CLEAN IT UP AS YOU GO .. can't go wrong there, right.. unless they're idjetts.

I tried this last night and it is wonderful...thank you for sharing this recipe, it's going into the file... edit: I'ml an ijitt...forgot to add that I served w/pasta and only made it because the brandy was out from the weekend and I had this recipe saved. what a deal!

hot water and a hot clean knife. Between slices, clean the knife and slip it down into very hot water.. works like a charm. This works very well if you have an automatic hot water heater. Just another reason to get one of these most wonderful gadjets...they do a heck of a job with drip coffe and tea is instant! If you're handy you can get them for less than 300 bucks or so at the big box shops.

I second that as well. I filled up tubs for flushing, and it's a good thing I did because it would have been a real mess. Literally.

Thank God the last windowpane I saw was in the 80's...but come to think of it , if we'd had enough for everyone it probably would have been a blast. Or not. That's the problem with drugs and alcohol during a disaster, you never know who's going to lose it. so much for mispent youth. I have a cleaner, much more organized freezer and pantry now. I do not buy it unless I eat it. There are no more free turkeys in the freezer.. much better things I think. Like steaks, roasts, frozen solid smart chickens. I never want to cook a crappy turkey on the grill again. EVERYONE in the neighborhood had one! finally I cooked them all down and made a huge doggie gumbo. They liked that. The doggies really like me. You'd have been surprised at how many dogs were left here when Rita hit. I fed them all. At least all that I knew of, and who came to me of the smell of food. You know, thats really a crappy thing to do to an animal that trust you, so do make arrangements for your critters if you need to leave.

I have a wood stove instead of a fire place. That is a decision that we made before we tested it's efficiency during the ice storm about 10 years ago. It passed with flying colors. We had an electric kitchen at that time and the stove saved our collective butts. Btw, we now have gas burners. They too have proven themselves, after all when a hurricane hits and it's almost 100 degrees outside, you really don't want to crank up the wood stove. Propane burners to make gumbo outside to use up the stuff in the freezers and plenty of propane. Well, I still have 2 cases of MRE's.. that'll do for a couple of days. But to my great surprise, those Ramen noodles are a quick and tasty (and super cheap) choice as well. Especially during hurricane season, as they are especially salty and can help to keep you from dehydrating. When you sweat soo much that a sixpack of beer doesn't even barley make you pee, much less help you sleep then you can use some salt. Next time, I'm going to pack a lot of frozen things on dry ice if I have a day or 2 of advance notice. Crackers. lots of them, there's a reason they put them in the MREs. citronella oil for summer and lots of wood for winter, then just wait for the troops to bring the ice. I really agree with the tv idea though, not being able to SEE what was going on was soo frustrating. Getting calls (no mobile service, but we did have land lines till the tree guys tore them out..) from people all over the place telling me horror stories that they saw on CNN. That was freaky. I used to worry about not having milk, so I bought some shelf stable stuff. Didn't touch it. What we almost ran out of was coffee. I was down to the last of the last when Albertson's brought generaters in to run their stores here. It was one of the first things that sold out (after beer_). I still have spegetti o's. Anyone?? You'd have to be under 2 to like those things...

agree with the above, try unsweetened coconut milk, the other stuff is like adding a coconut flavored sweetened condensed milk AND sugar. You want the coconut flavor, just not the extra sugar.