JanMcBaker

It was a wonderful dinner, with wonderful wines and company. Now Bob, when's that onion tart coming?

Not to mention washing the !@#$ things-- unless they're dishwasher safe and it's big enough to hold them. I know from classes at the RTM what a PITA it is washing just 1-2 dozen wine glasses! Oh, and I forgot-- I'd be interested in such a tasting......

But how much of that is just the FDA deciding on a serving size, and how much is due to food companies lobbying the FDA for what the companies want?

Offer to buy the cabbie a meal-- then there'd be a ride back and maybe he'd waive the return fare!

Well! I mentioned to my sister my joke about scrapple truffles, and she, also jokingly at first, suggested 'scrapple with truffles.' I laughed at first, but then thought that might actually work! So--- as a variation, how about some over the top, 'high-end' scrapple, with truffles, or bits of that Kurobuta ham?

And who says scrapple has to be just for breakfast? How about scrapple truffles? But seriously....as for cooking method, I remember when Habersett's scrapple came with a layer of fat on it! No need to add any other fat to the pan for cooking. This thread also reminds me of my Dad talking about being in the Army. I forget where he was stationed at the time, but it wasn't local, and there was going to be scrapple for breakfast one day. Others had been to breakfast before him, and they were complaining to him about how awful the scrapple was! This was after Dad had told the other guys that they would love it. Well, turns out the cooks, who were completely unfamiliar with scrapple, had it in big hunks, sitting in its fat in steam trays! Dad showed them how to cook it properly on the grille. As for ideas for a scrapple festival, how about any 'go-withs'? Scrapple and eggs of course, and I've had them with waffles or pancakes. Also at dinner-- goes well with baked beans. Local chefs and their versions of scrapple sounds like a good idea. Or maybe variations on a theme-- scrapple that's not pork or beef based? I guess that would just be some kind of meat loaf though. I have wondered if a 'bean scrapple' would work-- just haven't had the nerve to try doing it though!

My stars.... not Jewish, but when I read the opening post of this thread I immediately pictured Dad at the stove on Sunday mornings fixing breakfast when I was growing up-- normally eggs and some breakfast meat-- scrapple, bacon, or kielbasa were the usual picks. I know he must have done some other cooking, but Sunday breakfast was the biggie for his cooking and that's what I think of when I think of him cooking. And sometimes as a treat he'd get these wonderful onion rolls from what I've recently realized was a Jewish deli around the corner from us. I didn't know from Jewish when I was a kid-- I just know I loooved those onion rolls!

....and stirrers! I hate the taste wooden stirrers leave in coffee!

So I guess the next thing one would try to do is find out who packages the poultry for Whole Foods. Wouldn't there be a chance that Eberly's doing a private label thing for them?

well, it is the middle of winter, after all... Anyway, I'm a big fan of good frozen vegetables. Has anybody mentioned those haricots verts from Trader Joe's? Because they're awfully good. Peas, too. The season for fresh peas is so short that most of the year, the frozen kind are a lot better. ← Amen to the frozen peas. Fresh peas seem to have an even shorter 'sweet life' than fresh corn does! And someone mentioned getting sweet, tender frozen limas. Where, pray tell?? I'd love them, but any frozen ones I've had lately-- mainly in a veg mix-- have been tough and starchy. bleah....

Not that I've tried much of a variety of brands, but I haven't had much luck with frozen pitted fruits I've tried, primarily peaches. Any that I've tried have been crunchy-- and I mean that under-ripe crunchy, not ice-crystal, still frozen crunchy. What brands have people been impressed with? As for veggies, well there's usually some in our freezer-- I like Hanover brand veggies, and Cope's frozen white corn is fabulous! I like using that and Green Giant canned white creamed corn in Nigella's corn pudding recipe. I also like those TJ's haricot verts too.

hmmm..... I've got some D'Artagnan truffle butter sitting in the fridge with nothing to do....... That could be interesting on some noodles, I think.

Done did do dat. Pa General Store keeps John and Kira's stored away, with little hint of their existence, so you'll have to ask for them. Someone has told me that they do retail out of their West Philadelphia digs, but I have nothing else on that, not even an actual address. ← I think they produce their candies out of the old Goldenberg's plant, at 157 W. Wyoming Ave., between Front and Second Sts. However, they don't sell retail there and I don't know if they sell directly other than mail order.

I guess I'm with the conspiracy theorists.... I'm wondering why, if she was so concerned about what she might find on a given menu, didn't she check out the menu before she made a reservation?

Hi-- I'm back again. I'll forge on, of course assuming that you're interested in how I made my soup. And what I should have said in an earlier post was more 'Pay attention to how things taste' even more than to what you're doing. Anyways, on to my soup. I did have a quart of turkey stock in the freezer, from the Thanksgiving turkey bones. OK, so occasionally I will make stock from something like that. I just don't normally stash bones to make a stock. So-- I had the turkey stock, and a nice big couple bones from the NY's day ham. The ham bones smelled strong enough to overpower the turkey stock flavor, but I thought that would add to the soup's body. This past Sunday I put them in a pot and added enough water to just cover the bones. I learned from a stocks and sauce cooking class to simmer the bones gently for several hours. I also added a chopped carrot, onion, celery stalk, and bay leaf and some pepper. I didn't add salt yet because I didn't know how salty it would be from the ham bone. I let it simmer for about 3-4 hours. I did add some water a couple hours in to bring the liquid level back up. I strained the solids from the broth, let it cool a bit, then put it in containers in the fridge. There wasn't much meat on the bones, and the veggies were pretty much dead, so I didn't pick out what little bits of meat there were. I figured all that flavor was in the stock anyway. So yesterday afternoon, after the plumber left ( which is why I wasn't at work), I pulled out the containers. I put a bit of bacon fat and olive oil in a stock pot-- maybe a teaspoon of fat and a tablespoon of oil--heated that up, and added a chopped onion, 2 carrots, celery stalk and a garlic clove. Let that gently saute for a bit and added the stock. In the fridge there was also a container with about a half cup or so of 'pork jelly'-- strained juices from a pork roast from Christmas. I thought it should still be ok since it was sealed under a good half inch of pork fat. Took off the fat, and the 'jelly' was fine, and solid. Threw that in the soup since I probably wasn't going to use it for anything else in the near future. Let that simmer for a bit, then tasted the broth. It tasted hammy enough, so I didn't use any base. I realized that I need to point out something-- when I use chicken base ( usually that for soup), I'm not trying to make the soup taste chickeny. The only way I can think to explain it is, adding a bit helps round out the flavors, it helps make a full taste rather than watery. (This would be where paying attention to the taste would come in.) I've even used it in seafood chowders that I've made-- it just helps the fullness of a soup sometimes. OK- where was I? OK-- all has simmered for a bit, but it's looking like a broth with veggies in it, and I want kind of a creamy looking soup with ham bits and beans. I also realized I didn't have much ham left from the NY's ham, but I happened to have some nice slices in the freezer. Took them out, thawed and trimmed them, then cut them up in smallish bits. It looked like more than enough for a decent distribution in the soup, so I threw in a handful of ham and one rinsed can of cannellini beans. Used the immersion blender on it till it was pretty smooth, thicker and creamy looking, then added the rest of the ham and another can of rinsed beans. I did add some salt and pepper, and a bit of cayenne-- not too much since my sister's not too fond of hot foods. She came home from work, tried some and thought it could use something else-- maybe some hot sauce! That was a surprise! We'll just add that to each bowl though, I think. Well, I hope this wasn't too long winded, orangewasabi, and I hope it helps! Have fun!

oohhh! See, that's just the kind of thing not to worry about! As long as those onions weren't burned black and bitter, they probably would have been fine in the soup, as long as you liked how it tasted. Later today when I get the chance, I'll explain how I made my ham and bean soup yesterday. Maybe seeing that will help explain a bit more about 'taking it easy' with cooking. I don't even know if it's a 'classic' ham and bean soup, but it tasted like ham and beans, I liked the way it turned out and that's what's important.

And for heaven's sake, I hope you're using pitted olives!

Try not to sweat it, and don't get yourself too nutso over cooking. Soups are probably one of the easiest things to try. It certainly doesn't matter if it doesn't come out exactly like the recipe says, as long as you like the way it ends up. Pay attention to what you're doing, and try to 'taste' things in your mind, to see if you think something will work or not for you. I also 'cheat' and have some chicken and beef bases in my fridge. I'm too lasy to cook and freeze stocks. Even if what I'm cooking isn't chicken or beef based, a teaspoon or so of base-- you don't need much!-- can make the difference between a soup that's full-tasting as opposed to watery. I've used Tone's and Minor's-- I like the fullness they add and they're not salty tasting. But most importantly-- try to have fun!

Since he doesn't say one way or the other, I would guess it doesn't matter. Gee, it's been a while since I made that one. It is a very nice soup, by the way. I probably did it half-way, and left the lid partly on the pan.

See a few posts above, Sandy. Chris came in yesterday, then he's heading for the Farm Show in Harrisburg-- he's going to do a cooking demo with the Lt. Governor tomorrow. Maybe it will be shown on PCN-- PA's cable network.

One of Lidia Bastianich's cookbooks has a recipe for pignoli cookies, if you feel like splurging on them too. I think it's basically egg whites, sugar, almond paste ahd pine nuts.

Well, don't leave us hanging! Where else will you be that weekend? Is what you're doing all in the Harrisburg area or will you be wandering the state any?

I just saw that Chris is to be a guest chef at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January 2007! Chris, will that be shown anywhere other than locally? The Pennsylvania Cable Network will probably show it, but they're only on the air on cable in PA. http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/farmsho...2&farmshowNav=| (Edited to add the website...)

And sometimes fresh corn can use a touch of sugar if it's not as sweet as it should be.....

And if you're looking to limit your indulgence, Karen, Genuardi's carries the 25 cent bags of various Utz snacks, including Grandma's chips...... Hmmm-- maybe they can come up with a Peking duck-flavored chip!