Pam R

Kasha - good lookin knish - on my list for the next trip to NY. I'm not sure I understand the question. .. you want to make all of the knishes with a mixture of potato, mushroom, kasha, cabbage and cheese? For mushroom, I just mix fried mushrooms with my standard potato/onion mix. Kasha - cooked and then mixed with some potatoes and lots of fried onion. Cheese - I use dry cottage cheese (or pressed cheese) mixed in a stand mixer with a paddle, so it breaks up the curds. Add to that an egg (1 egg for every 1 1/2 lbs. of cheese or so), some salt and a little sugar. No potato. I don't care for cabbage (as a filling) - so I never do them - but would you cook it up and then possible add some potatoes/onions?

Hot, fresh mini doughnuts tossed in cinnamon/sugar. That little doughnut machine that keeps pumping them out is a great invention.

Chips - white vinegar. Potato chips (crisps?) are best when salt and vinegar flavoured. Balsamic, cider, red wine, white, etc. all make good salad dressing. Acid is good.

On chips. Windex is for windows.

Sheesh Steven. What do Orville Redenbacher or Jollytime know about popcorn? I'm going to test this.

What kind of parsley did you add? I've never added parsley, but I don't think it hurt your pesto. 1/4 cup of parsley to 1 1/2 cups of basil - the parsley shouldn't have had that big of an impact - especially if you're thinking you had too much basil (I'm not sure there is such a thing as too much basil in a pesto). Have you tasted the olive oil on it's own? Any chance it's gone off? I once had to make pesto for somebody who was allergic to pine nuts - and other nuts. So I did some reading up, and somebody somewhere suggested adding some crustless white bread (not Wonderbread, but a good baguette or the like). I was unsure, but it turned out well - I guess it adds a mellowness that the pine-nuts do.

Who cares about being in the in crowd? I love 'em. And I'm going to keep drinking them.

My popcorn is .. chewier when I don't preheat the oil. I watched one of those food network shows yesterday (I have no idea which one) that had a segment on a 'gourmet' popcorn store. The owner said that you should heat the oil with 3 kernels already in it. When those 3 have popped, the oil is ready for the rest of the popcorn to be added. She also added the salt right to the pot before the popcorn was popped - something I've never thought of. She claimed that it left an even coating of salt on the popcorn. Anybody do this?

Chris! It's like you've been popping popcorn with me for years. Just one point. Do you think you could avoid this issue if you a) used a larger pot or b)put less popcorn into the pot to begin with? Or does the pouring of the popcorn out of the pot while pieces continue to pop and fly all over the kitchen help make it a fun experience for you? (which I completely understand) A little grated parmesan can make a nice addition. (I'm sorry I have no great flavouring ideas for you - I'm a butter and salt girl)

I know quite a few non-Jews who believe that kosher meat is cleaner. I had an aunt who only bought Empire brand chickens and turkey because of this perception. And she wasn't Jewish in the least. ← I agree - lots of people do believe it's cleaner. Part of this could be that many animals that don't pass kosher standards go on to enter the regular food market (as Gifted Gourmet's quote upthread states). There are a couple of other issues. Generally, poultry goes through a hot-water process to rid the bird of it's feathers. When processing kosher chickens, hot-water is not allowed, so it's done with cold water. This means that less of the feathers actually get removed, but the chickens are kept at a lower temperature, and may account for some differences in the final product. And, there's the salting step. To draw out all excess blood, meat must be salted - which actually brines the meat. I've heard many people say that kosher meat is 'tastier' - this could be why. I should disclose here, that I own a kosher food store - so I'm all for everybody buying kosher meat.

Ling - your red velvet cake looks pretty Canadian to me.

Welcome to eGullet lucylou! Thanks for the link (though I don't get the show here). Any info on the female?

I'm sorry if I missed this somewhere earlier in this thread or the other - but who is she? Does she really work for him? Anybody know? Maybe she's been working with him a little too long Maybe she was told to add more drama to the show?

Thank you for the class pictures.

The point here, is that it's not reality. It is, after all, a TV show.

I don't know. The Tayo stuff was (is?) coming out of BC - so it may be easier for you to find if it's still around. I heard back from the local distributors of the Vance stuff - so I'll try to hunt some down.

Here are but a few of the past threads on Mad Cow... Mad cow and Canadians More mad cow in Canada Mad cow threat USDA mad cow testing incomplete? Another mad cow in the US Japan bans US beef 3rd Case of US mad cow disease

a search for darifree, brings up www.dairyfree.com which takes you to the Tayo website. ok. this is kind of weird - so I go to the Vance's website, go to 'contact info' and click on the Canadian distributor link ... and I kid you not, the Canadian distributor is located down the street from me. I'll contact them and see what they say. Thanks!

old one... I will try to never again think that the plastic pushers that come with the robotcoupe are superfluous. they are there for a reason. but really.. the 30 lbs. of cabbage was cheap to replace and the tip of my finger grew back in time. from today... the next time I heat up some soup for lunch, in the clear plastic deli container I froze it in, when it boils over a little, I will not hold this container in one hand from the top, while I try to wipe up the spilled soup in the microwave with the other hand. because then I just had to wipe up the microwave, counter and floor. those deli containers get soft when hot. and then I had to heat up another container of soup. the tablespoon left in the first container wasn't that filling. luckily i was wearing black. borscht stains.

Has anybody seen this stuff around lately? My local Superstore no longer has it - and I'm wondering if it's still being made. An email to the company via their website has gone unanswered ... and I want some.

lemonana (ask any local place that sells kosher foods if they can order Prigat or Spring Juice in for you) what is it about the juices in Israel? They're so damn good.

Eventually . I was working on a demo but things got away from me - there will be one though. I've heard lots of people leave the skins on - I've never done it though. I wonder if it adds anything to the flavour... I admit that I've added some granules myself on occasion! Mostly when I don't have the time to reduce it. I think the necks backs and hens would be great. All of the chicken I use starts of frozen - because they don't slaughter kosher chicken in Winnipeg, we ship it all in from Toronto. If I'm not using the meat, I'll leave out the whole chicken and replace it with more necks, bones and wings. It's cheaper and I think even more flavorful. I don't bother to strip the meat and re-add the bones if I'm using mature soup chicken. It's gonna be dry no matter what I do. But - if I'm using a younger chicken (broiler, fryer, whatever you call it), then I will take the chicken out as soon as the meat's cooked through, remove the meat, and add the bones and skin back to the soup. This meat can be used for something else - or served later in the finished soup. My grandmother always used chicken feet. As a child I was memorized by my uncle who would gnaw on them at the dinner table! I can't get them. For some reason, chicken feet are not allowed to cross provincial borders - and since I bring my chicken in from Ontario, it's a no go. If you can get them, use them! You must be vigilant!!! Or not. I just like clear soup! On occasion, I'll make a soup and leave everything in it - cutting the celery and carrots and parsnips into smaller pieces and pulling some of the chicken out sooner (see previous answer) - but this is how I like it most. We're back to that "ask 3 Jews a question and get 5 opinions" issue! I don't know anybody who uses cloves - interesting. Bay leaf, sure. Peppercorns - why not? (I prefer to add some fresh pepper when I'm eating it - sometimes. Other times i don't want pepper). Yep, I've added parsley. But the dill is my absolute favorite. Sometimes I'll even chop some up and add it at to my bowl. I love fresh dill and it works so well with the chicken soup. I second this! Thank you. Lovely.

We have them occasionally, but they are sold frozen. They actually just made a batch last week. But I think you should try making them!

This is a new addition actually. The dough recipe never used to have baking powder, but a wonderful woman who works for us picked up the addition of b.p. from her daughter-in-law. I like the results with it - almost a silkier finished product - I don't know the chemistry, I just know I like the results! Oh - I forgot to mention, there is often some scraps of beef thrown into the chicken soup - and of course, it would be added to the mix. Though I've never made them with beef alone - I imagine it would be richer. It's all about memories isn't it? I must admit that at work, we cut the circles and then fold them over, but leave out the final fold and pinch. So really.. it's just like a perogie. We call perogies stuffed with potato verenekes and those stuffed with cheese or meat kreplach - but really, the names apparently refer to the shape. Those left in half-circles are verenekes and those shaped in circles are kreplach. Melissa, a little Chinese-Jewish fusion sounds perfectly appropriate to me. I'll look for your report come September!

Since we're comparing cherry prices. .. I'm paying $3.99/lb here. But I have to admit, they've been really good. I just make sure I eat them when I buy them - no waste allowed! Lori: were cooking lessons included in the home-schooling? I'm always very intrigued when I find out somebody is doing home-schooling. I bet your children had better lunches than I did