Jaymes

NSM - Baphie and I both want to know... where to find the Maraschino liqueur?? Any tips? Could my local Ye Auld Booze Shoppe special order it do ya' think??

What fabulous ideas! Cherry brandy - I've never tried that, but I'm sure it's wonderful... And freezing dollops of whipped cream with a cherry stuck in them! How beautiful and, as you say, the frozen whipped cream "islands" would indeed keep the eggnog cold. Thank you so very much for these original and imaginative ideas. I, for one, had never heard of them, and I can assure you I will use each and every one the next time I make eggnog!

Steaks - Sear on one side and wait one or two minutes. Turn over and watch for "pearling." That's how I like them, and that's how everyone at my house gets them. Thin fish filets - timing and poking and looking method. Chickens - timing and looking and poking deep into the thigh and watching to see if the leg moves easily in its socket Roasts, turkeys, anything else big - meat thermometer.

New Year's Eve - Everyone arrives around 10 or 11pm. Have done this for years and it seems to work. Often they go to other parties, but arrive here late, but of course really, "just in time." When they arrive, I have dessert and coffee ready: Bourbon Pecan Pie, Cheesecakes, nuts, cheeses, etc. Also: Champagne, smoked salmon appetizers, Caviar Pie. And in addition to the real caviar in the Caviar Pie, we always have "Texas Caviar" which is really black-eyed peas pickled in a vinegar/jalepeno dressing, and I have jars of it ready for the guests to take home. We toast with champagne. At midnight we do the traditional Spanish "grape" thing - where you feed your beloved twelve grapes - one for each chime of the clock. I open up breakfast buffet around 1am or so. Scrambled eggs with smoked oysters, sweetrolls, sausage ring, fresh fruits & juices. At about 2AM, I say, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to go to bed so you nice people can leave." And I DO go to bed. And sometimes the nice people leave and sometimes they're still there when I get up in the morning. Traditional New Year's Day menu: Hamhocks and Black Eyed Peas, Cornbread, greens and pot likker. And for snacking upon while watching "the game" on TV: mini-Reuben Sandwiches, chips, pickles, beer, Bloody Marys. Prospero Año to you all!

Get a glass cup (I have aways used a measuring cup because it's there and handy when I'm cooking) and put some cold water in it. Drizzle a little bit of your candy into the cold water. If the candy just dissipates into the water, it's nothing. If the drizzle holds together, that is the "thread" stage. Now, stick your fingers in and try to mash the candy into a "soft ball." When it holds together and forms a soft ball, that's soft ball stage. It should feel kind of the consistancy of clay, or Play Doh. When it forms a hard ball, hard enough that if you knock it against the side of the cup you can hear a crack, well, that's "hard ball" stage. I, too, have been doing this since I was about five. And Rachel - since you want it to taste buttery, why don't you try my recipe? It really isn't much work at all, and in fact, is kind of fun. If it does turn out to be a bigger deal than you want, you can always go back to experimenting with adding stuff to Chefette's.

A large disposable roaster would work. See how much it holds. You might need two of them. Seems to me when I first started making this, I made it in a turkey roaster, but I had to do two batches. I just wanted to make it in one batch, which is when I bought the big stainless bowl. But that roaster is a good idea, and it would certainly simplify cleanup!

Suvir - Golly, thanks.

Yeah, me too, Dana. I just brown it in a little oil or butter, without flouring it. After literally years and years of making tons of beef (and lamb also) stew, I have to say that I've found simpler is better. I tried lots of stuff through the years - all the obvious things - flour, wine, beer, broth, bouillon - you name it and I tried it. But then, finally just settled into beef browned in a little fat (butter or oil, but not bacon grease or anything else that imparts its own flavor) and then slowly braised in water (yes, water) with celery, onions, carrots, a bay leaf, little thyme and parsley, a can of stewed tomatoes, S&P, very, slowly, all day. Then, add some potatoes on toward the end. Sometimes I add garlic, or a slight dusting of nutmeg, a pinch of sugar maybe, but most times, not. It thickens up nicely with little bits of the meat and veggies. It's so simple but so good. Of course, I also make Mexican stews with chiles, and Greek stew with onions, cinnamon, etc, Flemish with beer, etc., but for plain old beef stew, my family enjoys the simpler stuff. And the older I get the more I see the beauty there.

jaymes, i'm sorry, i should have named this thread "reheating pizza, what's your method (when you're not stoned)"

Heat it up? You mean EVERYONE doesn't just do the stand-there-head-in-the-fridge-eat-it-cold-from-the-box method??

Did Mom add ketchup? Many people will tell you that tomatoes (paste or ketchup or whatever) have no place in beef stew. Of course, I LIKE tomatoes in beef stew, so ignore said "many people" and always add a can of stewed ones. Although when I was a kid, we'd sometimes add ketchup to our stew at the table, which would make Mom squeal with horror and reach across the table and snatch the bottle out of our grubby little hands. I'd suggest that next time, you leave out the ketchup AND the tomato paste and prepare it sans tomatoes. Then, when you get it tasting how you like it - the flavors and seasonings all correct and balanced - put a little of the stew into a separate bowl and add various types of tomatoes (i.e. ketchup, paste, stewed) to see what you think, by comparison. Like I said - I love tomatoes in mine, but even for a large pot of stew - one can of stewed tomatoes is MORE than enough. And the flavor of stewed tomatoes is nowhere nearly so strong/sweet as ketchup. So I'm certain that much would have been a little overwhelming.

Well, I really hesitate saying this... However -- rather than publically announcing it to this sometimes quite critical crowd (as I'm sure some of you have noticed, this place can be a pretty 'tough room' ) -- to a few eGulleteers who've asked what is my favorite Mexican cookbook, I've mailed a copy of my "favorite Mexican cookbook." It's small, cheap - but still - it's starting to affect my pocketbook, so I'm going to have to just bite the nopal and openly recommend it. But before I do, I want to say that I probably own twenty Mexican cookbooks. I've got the large and flashy and comprehensive tomes by all the "biggies": Bayless, Kennedy, Martinez, Corbett, Trilling, etc. I also have several Mexican cookbooks in Spanish, that I've purchased while traveling in Mexico. And further, I have at least seven or eight of the "Jr. League-type" cookbooks from U.S. cities and border towns like Tucson, El Paso, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Antonio, etc., that are heavily influenced by Mexico and Mexican cooking. But, of all these, my favorite is probably (and I say probably because really selecting a true "favorite" would be difficult) "Mexican Family Favorites Cook Book" by Maria Teresa Bermudez. It's a very small, humble, modest recipe collection. The author is from Tucson, and I just happened to be living there when it came out. It was available at all the Mexican restaurants in Southern Arizona, and when you paid your bill, there it was, propped up by the cash register. It cost five bucks. So, I picked one up. I really would never have thought I'd see it anywhere again, after we moved away from Tucson. But to my surprise, I see it often. It's gone up in price (to $6.95 ) and it's no one's idea of a comprehensive, covers-all-bases, book. Nothing in it is complicated at all. You won't find any big impressive "celebrity chef" types of meals. Maria Teresa has not scoured the countryside for new and unusual preparations. But of all of the Mexican cookbooks I have ever seen, the recipes in this one come closest to the type of family home cooking that Mexican moms are unglamorously churning out for their families day in and day out. Also, she uses ingredients that are readily available pretty much anywhere (including Alaska, where I cooked from her book at least twice a month). For example, I now live fairly close to the Mexico border and have no trouble buying Mexican cheeses in the grocery stores here in Texas. And I love them. But I have certainly lived places where they were not available. So, Maria's book tells you what commonplace ordinary cheeses to use. The only thing I really do differently from Maria is that her salsas call for fresh peppers (jalepanos, serranos, etc.) and I prefer to blister mine. Other than that, this little book is a gem. The recipes are stunningly simple, and easy to put together, but delicious. And I must not be the only one that thinks so. From that humble beginning over twenty years ago, it now says on the inside cover that Mexican Family Favorites Cook Book is in its twenty-third printing! Amazing. Edit - should add that although the last four copies I've bought were from Barnes & Noble, if you're interested you can also call Golden West Publishers at 800-658-5830 or access their website at goldenwestpublishers.com.

Here's how I actually feel about the whole thing. Most things in life, I believe, have a proper time and place. And the lowly canned bean is no exception. At any given time, I have at least four or five (or more) different types of canned beans sitting in my pantry. And for some things they work just fine with no loss of flavor/texture/quality. But on the other hand, there are few things in cooking that give me quite the same warm, homey "God's in his heaven and I'm in the kitchen and all's right with the world" feeling as a big pot of aromatic beans simmering and bubbling away on the back burner. Not only are they delicious, they seem so rustic, so basic, so "from the earth" that they somehow make me feel connected to all of the human souls that have relied on them for sustenance. All things to their place, I believe. And canned beans have a very welcome place on my table. But fresh-cooked have a special place in my heart.

You know, unless I'm sitting there looking into the cooking pot, it's hard to say exactly what and where you went wrong. But to me, it's kind of like frying up potatoes or something... you dry it out just enough, but not too much, and with a spatula, you keep scraping up those bits with the chunks of meat as you turn them. They should get nice and crisp and you should wind up with most of that flavorful stuff. Sometimes, if I've got company, and I'm finishing up other things (like lightly frying the tortillas), I'll scrape the carnitas off onto a cookie sheet and let them finish crisping in the oven. BUT, you have to really watch them or they'll dry out too much. So, the caramel corn, too, eh? I'm truly flattered! I'll be making some myself tomorrow, along with some pralines, and fudge and date loaf candy to make up my Christmas gifts for the neighborhood! Edit: Just had a thought - maybe adding a little more fat if it's not crisping/frying up quite right and the brown bits are burning. It seems to me I usually cook the last of it at a pretty good moderate heat, but I think the secret is to keep turning and stirring and scraping up those bits. I don't know exactly - I've made it for so many years that I just do it more by feel as I go along. So, it's hard to describe exactly what I do. I do know that sometimes if I've gotten a fairly lean cut of meat, I'll add a little fat to the pan to help things along.

We don't really think about "frying" a liquid, but that is exactly what they do for several of their preparations. They get the fat (lard or whatever) hot, and then pour the liquid into it, and literally fry it, stirring rapidly. Unique to us, I know, but once you see it done one time, it makes superb sense.

I really think my very favorite thing about eGullet is when I find out that someone has tried something I've suggested and enjoyed it. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way. It's a real kick to know somebody has gotten pleasure from a preparation that you recommend. Everything else pales by comparison. Although when I fix something that someone here has suggested to me, and it's absolutely delicious, that comes in a close second! Mamster - Thank you so much for letting me know. And ¡Buen Provecho! (Oh - regarding those tortillas for tomorrow night - you probably already know this but just in case, the flour tortillas you buy from the store - if you aren't making your own - are much, much better if you toss them on a hot ungreased grill or skillet for a moment or two before eating - not enough to crisp them or anything - but just enough to get rid of that "raw" taste)

Great idea. Thanks!

"Yankee Magazine"? Y'all have a special magazine?? Who knew? (Well, I guess y'all did.) But anyway, thanks for the info. You're correct - it's sooooo right up my alley. Not only do I love soups, stews and chowders beyond all degree of rational human thought, I'm also pretty fond of Special Obsessions, Myths and Legends -- and I wouldn't be here on eGullet if I didn't find irresistable an occasional Controversy. But alas I have no aunties who might have saved the magazine. What I am going to do is to telephone those nice folks and see if I can order that back issue.

Suzanne - Well done. Very very well done. Brava!

In a world where a thousand children die tonight from hunger and starvation, we have the luxury of spending our time *here* participating in a community of essentially likeminded people from all over the world and enjoying ourselves immensely. You are right, Stefany. We are really, really lucky. In very many ways. And to continue the analogy -- In a world where there are lonely people that will go to sleep tonight having not exchanged a single conversational word with another human soul today, not only are we lucky enough to be able to spend our time here, but I for one, have made a lot of very good friends on eGullet as well. And besides all that, I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding today - so I'm in a really happy and grateful mood tonight. The stars at night are big and bright.... oh well, you know the rest.

My god aren't we lucky. I mean, aren't we? Just think about it. In a world where a thousand children will die tonight from hunger and starvation, we have the luxury of arguing about whether or not canned beans are "good enough" for us. Amazing. Thank your lucky stars as you drift off to sleep.

Yuuuummm - two of my very favorite things Stagis :big kiss: Thanks. I really appreciate your digging it out and I'll make this right away.

Thanks. Okay then, today's "to do" list: Pick up live lobsters. Pick up slayer album.

I would absolutely love that recipe. Pleeeeeeze?

The first thing I thought of was vegetarian lasagne. And also, in my freezer I keep bags of individually-frozen fish filets, chicken breasts, small steaks, etc. And I prepare sauces that I freeze in small ziplock bags. So, like last night, I took out one orange roughy fillet and small ziplock bag (sandwich size) of salsa. Then I cut the frozen salsa into a few pieces and arranged them on top of the fish filet and popped it into the toaster oven for about ten minutes. Wonderful. I do the same thing with marinara sauce and chicken breasts, and dust with P.Reg. There are a great many frozen items that just require a quick cooking, and are delicious with homemade sauces and salsas over. Also, don't know about your particular vegetarian reasons/preferences, but I have a "limited amounts of fish and fowl are okay" veggie friend, and she makes and freezes turkey chili.