Khadija

Thanks, Chris. I have no idea what my friend expects of a cherry pie. Knowing him, I seriously doubt he's a diner cherry pie fan. He likes clean, fresh, well prepared things. He really likes to try to eat seasonally and locally, and he has done a lot of nice things for me. So, I thought a cherry pie would be a nice gesture. Maybe I do just need different expectations of this pie. I have never liked cherry pie, because I found it too sweet and gloopy. Bit I like the idea of it. I love cherries. I love very good pie crust. The roasted cherries I made for the bottom layer of the second pie are insanely good. I did the second two layers in a more traditional way (just tossed with instagel and sugar and thrown in raw), because I thought it might add some kind of taste and textural contrast. I think doing that just gave off a lot of juice. Maybe for the third pie, I just roast all the cherries, and forget about goo. I think this will help with my liquid problems.

I made two test pies. I feel deflated -- almost crushed. I am so tempted to give up, but by now I feel invested. I have a nice bottle of Lebanese olive oil, which I could give as a gift instead, but I really liked this pie idea. And I still have over three pounds of cherries hanging around. Summary: PIE #1: Crust: I used MaryMc's recipe. I think the problem was my flour. I used an unbleached organic pastry flour, which in the store was sitting next to whole wheat organic pastry flour. It looked suspiciously brown, but I forged away. The crust was flaky, and not exactly tough, but hard. It might be nice with something savory inside. The pie looked very brown unbaked, but kind of pretty -- I managed a lattice top for the first time. When baked, the pie got browner and uglier. Filling: I have three kinds of cherries, Ontario Bings, Ontario White Cherries, and some Washington Bings. The Ontario Bings are not nearly as big or nearly sweet as the ones from Washington. They're softer, less crisp. The white cherries, which I described upthread as Rainiers, don't taste anything like the ones we have imported to Ontario. These white cherries are small (smaller than the Ontario Bings), and a bit sour (but not as sour as sour cherries). Then I have some Washington Bings, which are big and sweet and dark, and a bit crisp. I pitted a 2lb mix of cherries, mostly the Ontario ones. I mixed in some lemon zest, a judicious amount of lemon juice, grated ginger, and thyme. I then added about 1/2 cup sugar and some modified corn starch (clear gel). It was late, so I let the cherries macerate overnight. In the morning, I strained them (they gave off a lot of juice). I boiled the liquid down and added some more modified cornstarch and a tiny bit more sugar, until I had a syrup. I tossed some of that with the drained cherries. Threw in pie, covered, chilled, baked. The filling tastes delicious, but not at all like a cherry pie should taste like. Very lemony, gingery, thyme-y. Not very sweet -- not sour, but not sweet like cherries (or sour like sour cherries). Too herbal. And it is WAY too watery. There is a huge pool of pure liquid in the bottom of the dish where I cut my test slice. Not cohesive at all. PIE #2: Crust: I used the Cook's Illustrated Vodka Crust. I used an unbleached organic AP flour, which I've used before and looks and behaves like normal AP flour. The only change I made was that I used leaf lard instead of shortening. The crust worked very well. It's very flaky and tender, but not excessively short, as I've heard it can be. (Maybe I was rough with it?) It looks pretty, in an amateurish sort of way. The lattice is nice (I think the egg glaze toughened it, though). I'm pleased. Filling: I tried to be simpler. I did make a "shield" of toasted almonds, which I browned in butter, just a bit of lemon zest, ginger, and sugar. Nice touch, if it doesn't help the with juice overflow. The filling is three layers of cherries. First, Ontario Bings, roasted with a bit of butter and sugar. Next Washington Bings, tossed with a bit of modified corn starch and sugar. Then, Ontario Bings, tossed with a tiny bit of modified corn starch and sugar. Overall, still not sweet enough (not sour), but leans toward savory cherry flavour. The bottom layer of roasted cherries is delicious, but mostly hidden by the other two layers. Not cohesive at all. Lacks goo. AFTERMATH: The second pie is substantially better than the first. I learned a lot. But it is not gift-worthy. The parts are good, but it doesn't come together properly. My room-mate promises plans to give the pies to her co-workers tomorrow, which is good, because I don't want to look at them. I know what my problem is -- I wanted to avoid a cherry pie with a goopy, starchy, sugary filling, and I became too non-traditional without knowing what I'm doing. I would be willing to follow a recipe, but so many of the recipes out deal with sour cherries. I'm starting to doubt my ability to improvise. I feel like I'm getting there, but at this point, I have no more experiments left. The next pie is the final. I'm thinking a simple cooked filling, without a lot of extra jazz. Or should I quit?

Well, that pretty much sucks, and I don't think anything you can do is going to make the pie as good as a pie baked within a 4 - 6 hour window prior to consuming. ← My new idea is to make the pie the night before, and freeze overnight, wake up early, and bake. Then, I'll take the pie with me, and it will be had with dinner that night. It will still have to sit for 8-10 hours, but not as bad as 24. Does anyone know if the freezing method is good/bad for cooked or uncooked fillings? My pie dough is currently chilling, and I'm going to make the filling. I was leaning toward uncooked, but I'm wondering if that yields soggier pie?

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm considering trying a couple of different crusts. Since the pie has to sit almost 24 hours before it will be consumed, I'm pretty concerned about sogginess. It occurred to me that I might create a shield between the crust and the filling with slivered almonds. Any thoughts?

So, I'm making a cherry pie, as a gift for someone. I'm going to experiment today. I'll make the final pie on Tuesday and give it to the person on Wednesday evening. It will have to travel. I am not an experienced pie baker, but I am enthusiastic and detail oriented when it comes to learning about how to cook/bake. I have made one pie (apple), with fair success a couple of years ago. I mostly followed the measurements/ingredient list from the pie crust recipe involving leaf lard in recipegullet. I both froze the fat and grated it on a box grater, and also used the food processor method to bring the dough together. I kept all the ingredients super cold the whole time I worked, out of fear. I used Ling's caramel apple pie filling, and after I had assembled the pie, I froze the whole thing before baking (based on some tips I read on the internet). I am inclined to follow a method similar to the one above for the crust of my cherry pie, but I'm open to suggestions. I have the CIA pastry and baking book, and thought I'd follow that. I have beautiful Berkshire leaf lard and nice organic butter. I am worried about the crust getting soggy. I'll have to bake it on Tuesday, and it will have to then take it out of town on Wednesday. I am also not sure if the freezing method will be great for the cherries. About filling, I've seen lots of recipes, and I have no idea what's best. I'd like to make mine kind of special. I have local white (Rainier) and Bing cherries. I may get my hands on some sour ones, but not sure yet. I was thinking of roasting the cherries, but not sure if that is a good idea. I was also thinking of using some combination of ginger, lemon, and maybe thyme. Is this overkill? Some (sophisticated) children will be eating the pie. I hear that a lot of people have problems with thickening agents, and I don't know if I should use tapioca or cornstarch or something else, or how to handle it. Help please!

Oh, my previous experiment involved aged cheddar and some parmesan.

I've had no problems with the cheese separating, but I haven't tried baking the mac n' cheese yet. I haven't tried the Olive Mill recipe per se, but I've cooked lots of dishes using the risotto-style method. I make a dish that involves sweating finely chopped onion and lots of grated butternut squash with a bit of sage. I then adding "raw" penne to the mixture, then adding water to the mixture in small amounts until the pasta is cooked. I finish the dish with fresh grated parmesan. The squash and onion disintegrate and form a thick sauce around the pasta. I noticed recently, after adding more cheese than usual, that the dish resembled mac n' cheese in some respects, and that's when I started thinking I should experiment using the "risotto-method" for mac n' cheese.

Has anyone here tried making the pasta/sauce for macaroni and cheese by first cooking the pasta risotto-style, and then adding cheese? I have experimented with different mac n' cheese styles for years (including white-sauce based and egg/evaporated milk based). Recently, it occurred to me that I could create a starch thickened sauce, similar to a bechamel, if I cooked pasta "risotto-style," using milk (or some milk) instead of water. I could then add some cheese at the end. The predicted advantage to this technique would be that the sauce would be extremely smooth, and perhaps less heavy than a bechamel. I experimented recently, making a "stove-top" version of mac n' cheese. I cooked dry pasta slowly in small amounts of heated chicken-stock and water. When the pasta was slightly more raw than al dente, I switched from chicken-stock/water to milk. When the pasta was cooked, it was well coated with a sauce that was thick and smooth, but lighter than a bechamel. I threw in grated cheese. It made a nice mac n' cheese indeed. I'd like to try this method in a baked mac n' cheese, but before I do I'm wondering if anyone can offer any input on how well the method will work.

My friend and I are making Chelsea Buns, using an old recipe (Purity Cookbook) http://www.recipelink.com/mf/1/6866. This is the recipe my mom used when we were kids. My friend has a breadmaker. Can we convert the recipe, so the dough can be made in a breadmaker?

In the Maritimes there is a McLobster Roll, in the summer (for tourists). I haven't had one. Subway also tends to have some kind of lobster sandwich in the summer. I also remember there being some kind of scallop sandwich at Subway in Digby (famous for its scallops), a few years ago. I've seen soft pretezls at McDonalds in Germany, and a "Greek Mac" (really bad gyros) in Greece.

I thought I was the only person in the world who prefers under-ripe bananas. When I was a kid, I identified the perfect banana as one that was still "cold" in the centre. Then, I stopped eating bananas for a long time, because I hate the ripe ones so much. I might go out and buy a bunch of under-ripe bananas tomorrow. I've been looking for breakfast-on-the-go ideas.

Pizza is a great idea, as is the idea to make squash!

Thanks for all the recs everyone, especially the cookbook recs. I love Madhur Jaffrey, so that's a great idea. We made samosas once, in the summer, and my friend loved them. An Indian themed meal sounds great. I really, really appreciate information about how to make tasty vegan food that doesn't rely on processed, and heavily packaged stuff.

I didn't know that that most beer is okay for vegans, but we have come across vegan beer. I think she just doesn't like beer. I figure it's just because she hasn't been exposed to beer enough (as a result of the veganism), but if she doesn't want to drink beer, that's fine I guess. But it is good to know that beer may be allowed as an ingredient. I often use beer as an ingredient, mainly because I like to drink beer while I cook. I'll often throw some beer into a pan to deglaze, or thin a sauce with beer.

Usually, I wouldn't bother to cater to one person's dietary preferences, especially if that person is being difficult, but I treat this case a bit differently. All I can really say is that sometimes I think we are more accommodating to certain people, because of the context of the situation, even when those people are being difficult or even unreasonable. On the issue of trusting whether foods are vegan or not, I don't think that she believes her friends would deliberately try to feed her non-vegan food. I think she just doesn't trust that everyone understands all of the dietary restrictions that her veganism entails. For example, for her, beer is off limits because it contains all kinds of animal-derivatives. I didn't know this before she told me. I don't really expect to change the way I regularly cook or serve food. But, once in a while, I'd like to make a meal that she can enjoy with the group, where the situation is set up so that her dietary preferences don't set her apart from everyone else to the extent that those preferences wind up being the focus of the discussion. I also thought that, maybe if she is around for the food preparation, and she can see and have some control over what goes into the food, she might feel more comfortable about not relying on "vegan" on a package. A soup buffet sounds good!

I've done searches, but I didn't find all of the threads that you linked, so thanks!

A good friend is vegan, and this sometimes causes problems. She likes to be included in social gatherings (and feels hurt/offended when she isn't included), but many gatherings center on food (either food preparation or eating or both), and most members of our group are not vegan. When we try to include her, there is always some big production made about whether she can eat the food (she usually can't). Sometimes I have tried to make some vegan food, especially for her. This can backfire, for several reasons. she is highly suspicious of whether things are "really" vegan. Sometimes she decides not to come at the last minute. (Given that a lot of our gatherings are casual, deciding to back out of plans at the last minute is considered socially acceptable, so I don't fault her for doing this.) She often decides to eat on her own beforehand, but at the actual gathering, she is always hungry and often monopolizes discussions with the subject of whether any of the food on offer is "vegan." She is very used to eating processed vegan food purchased from "health food stores" that comes out of packages (fake-meat, vegan cookies, vegan candy, vegan potato chips, etc.). She does not seem to trust that food is "vegan" unless it comes out of a package that tells her it is vegan. She also often tries (forcefully) to direct our group to vegetarian restaurants, where none of us want to eat. We love our friend, but her veganism drives us nuts. I recently came up with the idea of trying occasionally to have dinner parties that feature "vegan-friendly" foods (not "vegan" food). By "vegan-friendly" I mean dishes that are not trying to cater to vegans or vegetarians, but just don't happen to have meat or dairy in them. This way, everyone can enjoy the food, without having to eat a bunch of fake meat and tofu-cheesecake, and without leaving my friend out or having to talk about the lack of vegan options all night. Any ideas? Like I say, I am looking for foods that are not trying to imitate non-vegan foods (no grilled vegetables on a bun). So far, I've come up with falafel.

Let me preface this post by saying I don't know anything about Liguirian cusine, but I'm always interested in learning about regional cuisines. Some friends are having a casual get-together on Saturday night, and they've asked guests to bring a bottle of wine to share. They (the hosts) will be serving homeade focaccia. The hosts are "foodies," but most of the other invitees are not. The hosts are also vegetarian/pescatarian. To honour the hosts, I thought I'd try to bring a Liguirian wine and hopefully some kind of Liguirian food-stuff that will complement the focaccia. Any ideas?

You haven't yet eaten Stilton off the knife? Maybe you don't live alone, like I do . I had lots of leftover cheese from my birthday party last week, including some Bleu D'Auvergne. I had bread at the party, but that ran out. I haven't had crackers in the house. The cheese is gone. I did not make pasta .

"Consider this an invitation to visit Delilah's at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. Don't have time for a full visit? Hop off the train at 30th Street Station, go to Delilah's in the food court in the south concourse, and catch the next train to where you're going. You may have heard of proprietor Delilah Winder's -- the mac 'n' cheese pronounced the best by none other than Oprah Winfrey, but which nonetheless got whipped by a five-cheese Bobby Flay number on an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay." Amazing. I just heard about Deliah's about a week ago (I've been without tv and foodnetwork for awhile, so I'm late to catch up on certain things). I read some online reviews of the dish at the restaurant, which generally suggested that the dish was a disappointment. Sometimes there is an inverse relationship between quality of product and popularity of product, and I wonder if this may be an explanation for what's happening at Deliah's. The seven cheeses does sound a bit like overkill to me. Although, she does have some processed cheese and blander cheese in there, so maybe the high number of cheeses has to do with the inclusion texture contributors. I guess the above raises another issue. What do people think about blending different cheeses? As with the case of cheese-with-stuff, I think it works when the cheeses complement each other. But sometimes, as we often see in the case of mac n' cheese, it seems to me that introducing so many cheeses into the mix gets to be gratuitous.

I've not had ported Stilton (I assume that's Stilton soaked in porter). Stilton and Porter is a favourite combination of mine, so I'm curious. I discovered Drunken Goat two years ago, and it was love at first taste. So, I don't think I'm really against the alcohol/cheese combination. But I think it needs to be "done right." ← I just realised that you may be referring to Stilton with port. I probably wouldn't like it, because I've hated ever port I've ever tried. I keep trying to like it, but don't. And I like strong flavours.

I've not had ported Stilton (I assume that's Stilton soaked in porter). Stilton and Porter is a favourite combination of mine, so I'm curious. I discovered Drunken Goat two years ago, and it was love at first taste. So, I don't think I'm really against the alcohol/cheese combination. But I think it needs to be "done right."

Something tells me you haven't raised children. ← Guilty as charged . I think not raising children is conducive to cultivating high degrees of particularity (wacko obsession) about one's aesthetic preferences .

Broccoli, green peas, and bacon are probably the top three things that I "get" as add-ins to mac n' cheese. That is, I think these things make a lot of sense as complements to mac n' cheese. I have a bit of a mac n' cheese obsession, though. It's my favourite dish in the world, and I am constantly in search of the best mac in cheese. Mac n' cheese that achieves its status from bacon, broccoli, etc. is "cheating," from my perspective.

I think andiesenji and LindsayAnn brings up several excellent points. I think my main problem is cheese-with-stuff, where the stuff is gratuitous. Where the stuff is just there for the sake of "kicking it up another notch," or something, but the stuff does not obviously complement or enhance the flavour of the cheese. I wouldn't have as much a problem with the fruit in cheese thing, if I could ensure that the fruit was fresh. So, adding the cheese shortly before serving sounds fine. But in cheese-with-fruit in it I've tried, the fruit has seemed "aged," and not in a good way. I stick with the view that mac n' cheese with cranberries is wrong. But as I've said, I don't even like bacon in my mac n' cheese, and I am a friend of bacon if there ever was one. Actually, given all I've said, it may seem strange for me to say that one of my mac n' cheese "secrets" is to infuse the milk for the white sauce with pear (apple once in a while). I heat the milk slowly with a chopped up pear, but I always strain the milk and discard the pear. I think the pear adds a nice mild accent to the cheese, but I would never want chunks of fruit in the final dish.