MelissaH

Another way to get a smokey hit into soup, or anything else, for that matter, is to season with Spanish smoked paprika. Of course, the paprika will turn whatever you're making into a brick (color-wise, anyway). Depending on what you're making, this can sometimes be a good thing. MelissaH (About to start prepping soup for dinner tonight also; I think I'm going to try a recipe from Jacques Pepin for a potato, savoy cabbage, and sausage soup. The sausage I have on hand is turkey kielbasa, and I think I'm going to try adding some caraway seeds to the soup. Accompanying: a salad of romaine, apple, and maybe some cheese. If the soup turns out well, I'll add it to RecipeGullet.)

Klary, you're making me very hungry! We have a wheel we bought at the market in Amsterdam last January (Thanks, Klary! ) as one-year-old Gouda sitting, unopened, in our cheese fridge. (I think of it as a cheese fridge. My husband calls it the beer fridge. It was sold as a wine cooler. Whatever! ) We can't get aged Gouda locally, so we figured we'd make our own. We also have some cheese wax, and the capability to sterilize cutting boards, knives, and the like. Does anyone know whether it's possible to take our precious wheel of cheese, cut it open, and then rewax the cut area to let the rest age some more? Or once it's cut, is that it, game over, no more? We're aiming for something on the order of three years, but we're also getting impatient. MelissaH

I had a loaf not turn out so well today. But I can't pin the problem on any specific change, because I did a few things differently than in the past. I started it last night, using about a third WW flour and the usual water, salt, and yeast, and adding a healthy spoonful of my sourdough starter. (My starter's been quiescing in the back of my fridge for a while, and because I'm starting to feed it and wake it up again, I had plenty sloshing around. So I threw in some, not so much for leavening power but to try and add flavor.) I also cut back on the water a bit, aiming for something that was a little less batterlike. What I wound up with was barely a dough, kneadable (which I did for a few minutes) but only with the aid of a plastic dough scraper. It sat at room temperature for about 24 hours. My room temperature is on the cold side at the moment, because it's been very cold and windy here (temps in the single digits F, and gusts up to 35 mph) and I don't feel like burning money in the boiler. At the end of 24 hours, I was seeing plenty of bubbles on the surface, and when I tilted the bowl I could see definite strands of gluten. This morning, instead of dumping it onto a coated towel, I dumped it onto a silpat, on my peel for easy transport again. Then I gave the dough a couple of folds (which it took to quite nicely). I cleaned out my bowl with hot water, dried it, and turned it over on top of the dough to serve as a cover. Two hours later, I turned on the oven with the usual oval LeC pot inside, to preheat. After about half an hour of preheating, I uncovered the dough and brought peel with silpat and dough over to the range. Although the dough didn't hold its shape quite well enough to keep it away from the bowl, I had no problems getting the bowl off. The dough came off the silpat readily, and I was pleased to accomplish one goal: keeping down the level of flour dust in my kitchen's atmosphere. I think I'll continue to use a Silpat, although I may go back to using a rice-floured towel to cover the dough rather than the bowl. Or try the parchment route, especially if I decide to play around with methods of baking other than inside a pot. I baked for 15 minutes at 400 degrees with the cover on the pot, and then a total of another 20 minutes uncovered. (After 15 minutes I tested the internal temperature of my loaf, and decided it needed a smidge more time.) And then I tried to dump the loaf out. It wouldn't come. I pried at it with my leather welding gloves. No dice, but it felt like I got some bubbles at the top of the loaf, just under the crust. I pried at it some more, with a wooden spatula. It remained firmly attached to the inside of the pot, but the top crust did start to tear out a bit more, confirming my fears of bubbles. I finally got a metal spatula, and used that to free a few spots on the sides that had seized. Once one long side was free, I was able to get underneath. The real culprit seemed to be a spot on the bottom a little smaller than a square Post-it Note, which stayed stuck but ripped away from the rest of the loaf. And even once the rest of the loaf was out of the pot, this stuck-on chunk stayed stuck on. I finally did get it dislodged, and set it aside next to the loaf to cool. Once the small no-longer-stuck chunk cooled, I tasted it. Beautiful crisp crust. And finally, FLAVOR! The bit that I ate most definitely tasted like something, the first time that's happened for me with a recipe like this! (I can't speak to the inside of the loaf yet, because I don't plan to cut it open and mangle it any worse until dinnertime. When that happens, I'll find out how bad the bubbles up top were.) I'd like to know what I did that made this stuff stick, for the first time. Reduced water? Sourdough? Slightly lower temperature? Whatever caused the bubbles up top? The fact that I've only brushed the inside of the pot out previously, rather than properly washing it? Speaking of the latter: now that the pot's cooled sufficiently, it's time to give it a soak to remove the last bit of stuck bread, and then a good scrubbing. If it's simply an unwashed pot that causes sticking, that should solve the problem...I hope. MelissaH

Grease your pan well. MelissaH

We went with the Akurum system, Adel birch doors with birch look insides. The horizontal cabinets are also Adel birch, with the glass insets. So far, they've been great. MelissaH

I don't ever remember having a problem with baked potatoes. Rice, on the other hand, can be a disaster. Or beans. The ragu turned out fine, most definitely not overcooked. I think it needed that hour and a half on high, even though it looked like it was boiling, to get hot enough to melt that collagen. The biggest challenge turned out to be separating the meat from the bones while things were still warm enough to be easy. Tonight, I defatted the liquid and recombined it with the meat shreds. I heated it and let it simmer and reduce slightly while the pasta cooked. I'd hoped to serve it over penne or ziti or something like that, but EVERY SINGLE BOX of pasta in the house was whole wheat, not exactly what I had in mind because even in my own kitchen I have yet to find a brand that I can cook to be al dente but not chalky. I settled for fusilli, because that was the only shorter cut of pasta around, and cooked it a little softer than I would ordinarily do for normal noodles. The fusilli held the sauce nicely, and it got rave reviews, as in only a small serving left. MelissaH

Bill, Thanks for the help. After an hour and a half with the crockpot on high, the bones finally fell out of the meat. (I'd intended to only let it go for an hour, but we took the dog out for a romp in the snow, and stayed out longer than I'd thought.) The ribs shredded nicely, and didn't taste overcooked. (Things cool off very quickly here!) The meat and liquid are now in the fridge in separate bowls, and once I skim the fat off, I'll recombine and heat through before adding to the cooked pasta, once that's ready. Lesson learned: definitely a pressure cooker next time. Especially since the crockpot here is old enough that the bowl isn't removable for easy cleaning. We're now at about four inches and counting.... MelissaH

I'm visiting my parents, staying in their house at 8600 feet. I haven't lived at altitude now for 8.5 years, so a lot of things that used to be second nature have since drizzled out of my brain. We'd heard that it was going to snow today, so last night I started a batch of braised short ribs, thinking that they'd go nicely over pasta tonight. I browned the ribs in the oven; chopped carrot, celery, and onion and browned them on the stove; and put them in my mom's crock pot, which is very close to me in age. I heated up a little white wine (no red open here) to a boil and added that to the crockpot, along with a big can of crushed tomatoes and a little water too. I put the lid on the pot, turned it on to high to get it started and then turned it down to low for overnight because high bubbled like mad. When I woke up this morning, I tested the ribs with a fork. Even though they'd been cooking all night, the bones were still not detaching. So I kicked the crockpot back up to high, and it's still there because the ribs aren't yet tender enough for the meat to shred nicely. Here's what I think is going on: At this altitude, water boils at about 195 degrees F. But the melting point of most substances, including collagen, doesn't change much with altitude. So even though the stuff in the crockpot is bubbling like mad, it's just not all that hot. Has anyone else been braising at altitude? Have you had similar problems with things not getting tender, and needing to be up to a full boil? Would it be a good idea to say uncle and just move everything to the pressure cooker for a bit? Is all lost for dinner tonight? MelissaH

I'm visiting my mom in Colorado now, and yesterday she started a batch. She uses about a quarter of the flour as whole wheat, and also typically adds a bit of onion powder (yes, the dried stuff ), some raisins (or, for me in this batch, dried cranberries because I despise raisins) which have been hydrated in hot water, and some coarsely chopped pecans. It's still in progress, so I can't give a report on the taste yet. One thing to mention: this house runs COLD at this time of the year. But the rising time isn't out of whack: we're at about 8600 feet above sea level, so the low temp pretty much counteracts the altitude. We'll see if there's any flavor. MelissaH

How was the blood orange zest? I have quite a few blood oranges at home and would like to use the zest for baking. ← It tasted just like ordinary orange zest, but showed a little more obviously. Go for it! MelissaH

I can't speak for DCS, but I love my Monogram. MelissaH

I made a yogurt cake on Saturday, using blood orange zest rather than lemon zest. It mixed up easily, looked beautiful in the oven...and refused to come out of the pan in one piece. I wound up cutting the cake into cubes, and serving ice cream with cake pieces for dessert. Tasted good, though.

Many of the Japanese knives won't work in our household. I'm a lefty; my husband isn't. We generally try to avoid making expensive purchases that we can't both use or appreciate. And because Japanese knives are often single-bevel, we'd have to buy two. Ditto for any other knife that lacks a plane of symmetry. MelissaH

OK, here's one: Once upon a time, I was an underage college student who liked to cook. I learned much about cooking from my mother, who didn't hesitate to make coq au vin and other dishes involving wine, usually with me watching or helping, and often with me eating the results. So when I moved into my first apartment and finally had a stove, I decided one day to make my own coq au vin. You can see where this is going: if one is underage and cannot buy a bottle of wine, one cannot make coq au vin (or many other wonderful dishes that are great for a student lifestyle: make on the weekend, eat the rest of the week). I was fortunate in that I had cooperative friends who shall remain nameless. I'd send them out with some cash and instructions, and they'd come back with no cash but a bottle. I did not go to the store myself, because if I did, both of us would be carded and they wouldn't sell if anyone in the group was not of age. It was better to send the friend alone. Since I was underage, I of course did not drink any of the wine. The whole bottle generally went into the pot, minus maybe a glass for the friend-of-age, who also got a dinner out of the deal—and it wasn't uncommon for me to ask the friend-of-age to actually open the bottle and add it to the pot, more than anything because I still hate screwing around with corks to this day. Obviously, this is at least a little bit wrong, because I (an underage consumer) used an alcoholic beverage, albeit one that had long been cooked out by the time any of it crossed my lips. Had anyone asked my friend about the end purpose for the wine, they could have been in big trouble because they were purchasing it for me, an underage consumer. We all got lucky: nobody asked, I got my wine, we all ate well, and nobody got arrested. (I don't know if anyone could have been arrested for this without someone asking some questions that would make me, at least, very angry. And if it takes place in the privacy of someone's home (my own apartment, one NOT owned by a university) is it even questionable under right-to-privacy laws? The question: is it any different to do something a little bit wrong, like this, compared to doing something blatantly unlawful, such as being underage yet ordering and drinking a glass of wine in a restaurant? Does violating the law in a subtle way do anything to negatively impact those who *do* follow all the laws, and wait to make coq au vin until they are old enough to buy their own wine? MelissaH

In yesterday's NY Times, Mark Bittman's Minimalist column gives another treatment for pork tenderloins. He takes the whole pork tenderloin, seasons it with S&P, and browns the outside well in medium-high heated butter and/or oil, all the way around. He removes the meat from the pan, and lets it rest and the pan cool. Once that happens, he turns the heat up again, adds more fat to the pan, and slices the browned tenderloin into inch-thick "steaks" which then get browned again on the newly cut sides. (Presumably, you could vary the doneness of the "steaks" by the thickness of the cut or the heat you use for the second browning.) Finally, when the pork is all browned, you build a sauce for them in the well-browned pan (Bittman suggests water to deglaze, cream to thicken, and calvados or lemon juice or mustard to flavor). Looks promising, and possibly interesting to modify for grilling season. But I haven't tried it myself yet. MelissaH

We have a 36-inch, 6-burner range. And we've had all six burners in action, more than once, using large pots, which didn't bump into each other. But if you're concerned, when you go to look, bring your large pots with you and try them out to see how they fit. Alternatively, if you can't actually get to somewhere that has the stove you're considering, find the dimensions on line and draw a "stovetop" on a big sheet of paper to see how your pots will fit on that. I don't think a five-burner arrangement will necessarily ease your concerns about getting multiple large pots on adjacent burners. Aha. We've always done the stuffing in the crockpot (occasionally moving it to a sheet pan and putting it under the broiler for a minute to get lots of crust). The bird goes on the grill, weather permitting; otherwise, it gets the oven. Everything else is either stovetop cooking, or doesn't need to go in the oven until the bird is out and resting, or has its trip in the oven well ahead of time. I guess that's why I've never really wished I had a second oven. MelissaH

My mess invariably comes from the point where I dump the bread into the pre-heated pot. I haven't wrecked any towels: neither rice flour nor potato starch turns to glue in the washing machine the way wheat flour can. I've had great success in taking my dusty towel out on the deck, and shaking it out there. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The problem: how to maneuver the dough into a hot pot without undue harm to anyone. My first loaf was quite a bit messier than following attempts, because I forgot that I'd somehow have to move the dough across the kitchen. In subsequent attempts, I made things easier by putting my towel on my pizza peel, so I could actually carry it across to the oven with solid support underneath. But that still doesn't solve the problem of how to get the dough into the hot pot. I've been more or less gathering the towel up, and dumping the contents of the towel into the pot. The dough goes in, and the dusting from the towel goes all over the kitchen. I'd be willing to live with dusting my kitchen if the bread tasted like something. I've acquired some semolina flour, as well as some barley flour. I have some rye flour waiting as well. I'm hoping that by playing with these and my starter, I might actually get some taste into my bread. I'm also thinking that a few more folds and a little less water in the dough might also make the dough a little more manageable, possibly even to the point where I could actually pick the dough up with my hands to get it in the pot. (I know, I could use parchment. But after an unfortunate episode a while ago where the parchment embedded itself into a fold of dough, never to be removed, I prefer to save the parchment for flat applications.) Until we all get this figured out, should I just buy stock in the flour company? MelissaH

Some good friends also put their "wall oven" in their island when they redid their kitchen. Their countertops are Corian. The area directly over the oven does get a little bit warm when the oven is warm, but it makes for a great butter-softening area. I don't know what kind of insulation they have between the countertop and the oven; a little extra might minimize the effect. This is, of course, assuming that you're sure you'll need a second oven. For a while, I was sure I'd want a second oven. I didn't get it, and six months later I don't regret it. In fact, I'm not sure when I'd actually use it! MelissaH

I'm less enamored of this method now than I was when I started trying it. Yes, the loaves are beautiful, with lovely holes. But I have two main complaints: first, the floury mess I always seem to make of my kitchen, mainly in the process of transferring the proofed dough into the pre-heated pot; and second, the continued lack of bread flavor. (My last batch I baked as a focaccia, topped with walnuts and caramelized onions, and I didn't taste anything other than the topping.) I think I'm going to make two more attempts: using a bit of old dough that I'll try to remember to save the next time I make bread, and also using some of my sourdough starter. If I don't get decent bread flavor after that, I'm officially dumping the recipe. Seems like a shame too, considering the great texture. But if I can't taste the bread, it's not worth dusting my kitchen. Yes, it's frustrating! MelissaH

My husband gave me a copy of the book for Hanukkah! I have a hand-crank meat grinder and a KA (without attachments). I have a Weber Bullet for smoking. We even have a slicer. So it sounds like the one big piece of equipment I don't yet have is a stuffer. (A special curing chamber isn't likely to happen. We don't have room, especially since the deal goes that if I get a curing chamber, my husband gets a beerolator.) Is the Grizzly still the stuffer of choice? Those of you who have them, is there anything I should watch out for? Is there anything I should consider instead? I'm hoping to have my first go at something in early January, possibly breakfast sausage that won't necessarily need to be stuffed into casings. Thanks, MelissaH

We've recently discovered another little minor tweak we should have made to the kitchen. This one may or may not be fixable. For my husband's birthday, I got him an Aerogarden. We have a hard time finding fresh herbs in the stores here sometimes, particularly cilantro and dill. Our windows don't have sills, and the kitchen faces north anyway so we don't get a whole lot of light. And plants in pots don't seem to do well around here, because either they get underwatered or overwatered or chewed by the cats. Largely because of the cats and their propensity to knock things over, I wanted to avoid pots with dirt. Therefore, a self-contained system like the Aerogarden seemed to make sense. And in the kitchen, we had exactly one place it could go: at the end of the counter on the same side as the sink, basically just over the cat feeding station. The Aerogarden's too tall to fit under the wall cabinets, and this is the one place we don't have wall cabinets. (Except the overhang area, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my pasta machine clamping zone. Especially since he gave me the Charcuterie book for Hanukkah, and I now have my eyes on a sausage stuffer, which will also need a clamping zone!) The potential fix: remember those horizontal cabinets? Where we had a choice of whether to mount them flush with the bottom or with the top of the other wall cabinets? Well, we'd decided to put them flush with the bottom, so we could use the top as storage for pretty but seldom-used stuff. We put a full-length side panel over, all the way up to the ceiling, and then ran under-cabinet lights along the bottom of the whole set, all the way to the sink. If we moved the horizontal cabinets up to be top-flush, we'd gain back another foot or so of under-cabinet space, which would then give us a place for the Aerogarden. But I'm not sure that would be a good idea. For one thing, I'd hate to lose the lighting there. And for another thing, the cabinets are high enough that I can't reach the top shelf of the bottom cabinet without a stepstool as it is. And I like having the small display area on top. So I think we'll leave it as-is...and see if the cats get into too much trouble. The Aerogarden just might be a good enough deterrent to jumping up on the counter that we won't find our chives nibbled down to nothing. MelissaH

Klary, I tip my cap to your excellence, and your beautiful explanations. I just wish I were close enough to maybe taste some, since we don't get poaching pears here. MelissaH

My FIL died last night, peacefully and relatively quickly. I don't know if arrangements have been finalized yet, other than all the services etc. should happen during the time we were planning to be there anyway for the holiday. Catriona and judiu, thanks for the suggestions. We may wind up doing either, both...or neither. My goal is really to keep my nieces from feeling like their holiday's been wrecked, so anything I can do on that front will be good. And so much the better if we can come up with something that could then be served after a memorial service---maybe something like white bread with very thin flabby crust, the way Poppa liked it best, or cookies of any kind (which he also loved). Or maybe even lemon slices dipped into chocolate fondue, which he suggested we do over Thanksgiving when we were looking for weird things to dip and feed each other with our eyes closed, as a guessing game. But I'm going to play it by ear when we get there. MelissaH

Have you tried mechanical emulsification? Put the soy and sesame oil in a blender or food processor, or go after it with a blender-on-a-stick, and beat the bejeezus out of it? Then, since you'd prefer not to have pureed garlic, add that afterwards? It might hold for a little while. MelissaH

Sorry to be such a downer at this time of year. The end of my FIL's journey is imminent. In times like this, I generally head for the kitchen. But this time I'll be in my in-laws' kitchen, not my own. I'm looking for things to do that are fiddly enough to keep me busy, possibly things that could be done with kids (10 and 3) to help keep them busy, but that generate a minimum of craziness. Any suggestions? I'd thought about maybe pounding on some bread dough, but the kitchen is carpeted and flour everywhere, combined with my MIL's neatnik tendencies, tells me this may not be a good idea. There are friends and relatives galore in the area. There will be lots of people to feed, but everyone who comes will probably also bring something. Anything I make is not necessarily because we'll need more food (probably the opposite, in fact). MelissaH