Kris

Put a little garlic in it then call it aioli. Then your beloved mayo will be sophisticated. I certainly don't hate Paula Deen and to be honest, I don't mind the rich ingredients like butter & cream. But I don't particularly like watching a cooking show with recipes made with Campbell's soup and a bunch of pre-packaged ingredients. Sure it's comfort food for a lot of people and many people were raised on that kind of cooking, including my husband, since every meal my MIL made was like this. When my husband & I were first married, I began to cook meals like my MIL thinking that's what he liked since his mom cooked that way. Then I realized that Lipton's onion soup mix, Hamburger helper, Campbell's soups, et. al. contained way too much salt, fat & preservatives. Then one day hubby told me that he considered his mom to be just an "okay" cook, but nothing like his late grandma from South Carolina who cooked & baked from scratch. Well that just did it for me! So I've sworn off that type of cooking and want to learn more techniques on cooking with fresh ingredients, good ingredients and base ingredients made from scratch (e.g. chicken stock, tomato sauce, & pie crusts). I'm not perfect and I certainly haven't achieved all of my goals yet. And I do take some shortcuts with canned tomatoes and canned beans. But when I see cooking shows that feature this type of cooking (e.g. Semi-homemade cooking with Sandra Lee and a few episodes of Paula Deen's show), I'm not thrilled. Because I don't think I'm really getting any real cooking instruction. That's more like assembling.

If you live in NYC & are interested in tuning in, Daisy Martinez, host of the cooking show "Daisy Cooks" is featuring pasteles. It's airing on the Public Broadcasting Station channel 13 (WNET) on Sunday, July 23, 2006 at 5:00 p.m.

My sister raves about this stuff, but I haven't tried it.

I didn't mean to sound snarky in my comments. But I seriously think that RR is spreading herself too thin and that she's almost at the point of overexposure. A million shows on the Food Network, books, a magazine, a cookware line, now a talk show? I don't see where her talk show can possibly bring anything new to the table. The whole talk show format has been done to death anyway (remember the late 90's?). At one point it seemed like everyone and their mother had a talk show. Perhaps I'll tune in to an episode to gauge her "talk show worthiness" for myself. But I am skeptical about its longevity and its necessity in the first place.

Personally speaking, I still think it's oversaturation of RR. I know she has a huge fan following but will it be enough to sustain this show? We shall see...

Yes, thanks. I've seen that mentioned in a few sofrito recipes.

Okay, I got Daisy's cookbook today and have been reading through it. Many of the recipes seem delicious, like "comfort food" or "soul food" and that's the kind of food I like to eat. Now I'm inspired to try and make some sofrito. Since I'm in NYC, I won't have trouble finding the ingredients if I drive into a Latino neighborhood. I doubt I could find recao & aji dulces in my neck of the woods.

Pasteles! For those who aren't familiar with these, they're the Puerto Rican version of a tamale, made with a starchy root dough (taro, green bananas, green plantain cooked together and mashed up), pork shoulder, olives & spices wrapped in banana leaves and parchment paper. They're popular with Puerto Rican families around Christmas time.

I'm laying here on my bed in the dead of summer enjoying the last of the pasteles I bought from a co-worker's mom last December. YUMMY! I love pasteles! I prefer them made with pork (vs. other variations like chicken) and the masa tastes better to me when it's made with yautia (taro root) instead of yuca (cassava). My mother also loves pasteles. Her father was from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, but unfortunately due to a strained relationship with him, she (and her siblings) didn't learn much about Puerto Rican cooking. And they certainly never participated in any of the all-day pasteles marathon sessions. I wish she had since I would have enjoyed being a part of that. As such, I'm limited to buying a dozen or two from my co-worker's mom during the Christmas season. Some people definitely make them better than others... some add raisins (which I could do without), others add calabaza (a type of squash similar to our pumpkin - which I like). I have to put in my bid early with my co-worker's mom since hers are particularly good and they go fast. I don't think I'd undertake making pasteles by myself. It's just way too daunting, especially since I've never been a part of a "pasteles making group." I feel like I'd have to "apprentice" for a few years before striking out to make them on my own. Plus my mom and I are the only ones who like them (in our immediate family). They are an acquired taste - usually people either love them or hate them. But when you spend all of that time making them, it's worth it to make over 100 or so. Who would eat all of those pasteles?

P.S. - I've found that using Sunmaid raisins & currants worked just fine. But I don't like the quality of supermarket candied cherries & fruitcake mix (mixed peel), so I get those either from Nuts Online or http://www.economycandy.com in Manhattan on the lower East Side.

I just checked out Vine Tree Orchards...their fruit is expensive. The one stop shopping is a plus though. You can get good quality fruits and have another one stop shopping experience at http://www.nutsonline.com The prices are less expensive than Vine Tree and shipping is fast too! My husband thinks the macerating bucket of fruit looks gross. He has made some disparaging comments about it - you can just imagine what he said. Personally I can sit back and eat spoonfuls of it; it's just that yummy. I don't find it too difficult to "feed" the finished fruitcakes. Around Christmas time I have 12 to 16 of them on my kitchen table. I initially add 4 ounces of 1:1 rum & port wine mixture to each cake. Then about 2 weeks later, I'll add another ounce of the mixture to each cake. I was nibbling off one of these cakes until February and it didn't need any more of my liquor concoction. It was still that moist.

I first got hooked on black cake due to the family of a late friend of mine. Her family was from Guyana and everytime her family had a birthday party or other affair, there was black cake present. Me being very American (although I do have ancestry in the Caribbean), didn't know what it was until I tasted it! YUMMY. So I've liked black cake since I was a kid. Her mom was very proprietary about the recipe. As a matter of fact, she wouldn't even give her two daughters the recipe, which I found strange. I always thought it would be the type of thing to be passed down from generation to generation, particularly from mother to daughter. But her mom was very tight about giving away any of her recipes, much less black cake. Unfortunately my friend died at age 24 (which was 10 years ago) and I wonder if the mother ever gave the other daughter the recipe. But I digress... Anyway about 10, 11 years ago, a Guyanese co-worker generously gave me HER mother's recipe. That's the recipe I've been using for the past several years and it comes out wonderfully! To be honest, I think my black cake now rivals (or even surpasses) hers. I don't put nuts in it, although I'm aware that some people do. The recipe for black cake varies somewhat from island to island but the basic premise is the same. Of course each country thinks their recipe is the best, but I think the recipe I have works just fine. I've had Jamaicans, Barbadians, Guyanese, Trinidadians & St. Kittians taste it and have gotten nothing but rave reviews (not to toot my own horn of course ) Of course I did get some criticism that Americans don't know how to make black cake. But once they tasted it, their concerns were melted away. Yes, I do stir my fruit. I have a large plastic bucket in which I've using to macerate 4 recipes worth of ground up fruit. Every so often I'll liberally pour in some more rum and port wine. Then I'll stir the fruit to evenly distribute the liquor. I haven't had any problems doing that. I do finish my cakes on a rum and port wine combo. I make one size cake every year - it's a 7" round about 2 1/2 pounds in total weight. I usually add about 4-5 ounces of the rum/wine combo to each cake and let it "mellow out" for 3 weeks to a month before they're ready to eat. Some people like their cakes more "boozy" so I'll give those cakes a little extra liquor splash. Along with my black cake recipe, I have copious notes on what the batter should look like, how much batter each pan should contain, sources for fruits & difficult-to-find ingredients like burnt sugar and/or browning and other observations I've made over the years. Black cake has been my most popular Christmas cake over the last 3 years.

I say keep it simple. Most teens that I know of can barely bake a boxed cake (or that's all they know), much less a torte. Even something relatively simple like cupcakes from scratch will astound and impress them. Cupcakes are portable, fun and the perfect size for young ladies who may be calorie conscious. Yet baking them from a scratch recipe will add a new dimension for them. You can even have them make Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the icing and have assorted sprinkles, colorings and candies (e.g. crushed butterfinger, M&M's and oreo cookie crumbs) that they can decorate with. Maybe a nice brownie or chocolate mousse recipe would be good too. I just wouldn't get too sophisticated though.

Hi Lindacakes - fellow Brooklynite here! And fellow black cake lover to boot. I began macerating my fruits for black cake back in March. I added another batch of fruits to my bucket in April at my friend's request since she wants to buy 5 cakes from me in December. I don't put nuts in my black cake but I ordered my candied cherries and mixed peel from http://www.nutsonline.com The quality is better than what you'd get in the supermarket. You may want to try them for your pineapple as well. I agree with you that black cake gets better with age. Last year I made the cakes in the middle of November, soaked each one with a port wine/rum mixture and let them sit for a month. YUMMY. They were boozy at first, but after that month they mellowed out to a lovely flavor that wasn't overpowering at all. I was still eating off one of those cakes in February. I use J. Wray and Nephew overproof Jamaican rum to soak the finished cakes. It is QUITE potent, much more so than Myers or Appleton. Wray & Nephew is expensive here in the States, but I visited Jamaica last year and brought back a few bottles on the cheap.

*tee hee* As a lifelong NYCer who is planning to move to Delaware within the next year, I was elated to learn that the local Super Fresh supermarket near where my parents live in DE recently dumped their Dietz and Watson line and replaced it with Boars Head. In my humble opinion, Dietz and Watson can't compare to Boars Head. I rarely eat deli pork products (e.g. salami, sopressata, cappicola and the like) so I can't really compare if the Citterio brand is better in that regard. But I DO know that as far as deli turkey goes, I haven't tasted a brand yet that compares with Boars Head. Boars Head tastes like real turkey and doesn't have that briny, watery & slimy consistency that other brands have. And it comes in a variety of tasty flavors. Even Boars Head low-sodium turkey is good. Boars Head is pricey. But it's worth it. I hope the Boars Head invasion of DE, PA and surrounding areas continues!

OMG: Dunkin Donuts #4 special; sausage, egg & cheese on a croissant with a LARGE ice coffee, lots of cream & no sugar. To DIE for! ← That's funny...I had that exact same breakfast sandwich on Monday morning. Except instead of the iced coffee, I had a french vanilla coollata. *sigh* Why can't I wean myself from fast food???

Tipping is such a sticky situation when dining in groups or with cheapskate friends. I have one friend who would look for every excuse to either not tip or leave a chintzy tip. Then she would give me the lecture that "my father taught me that tipping was for good service and you just seem to tip routinely." I told her that waiters/waitresses made below minimum wage and unless the service sucked, that he/she was getting a decent tip from me. It got to the point where I had to end up leaving a few dollars more to cover her lack of tip. So one day I went off. I yelled at her, "you're a cheap bitch and you're an embarrassment. I'm not going out to eat with you anymore." And I didn't. For years. I don't know if it took my little outburst to reform her but on the rare occasion that we go out to eat, tipping isn't a problem with her.

Count me in as another raisin lover!

Yeah, my stomach turned when I read this line too. I have an aunt who puts Lipton Onion Soup Mix into practically everything she cooks - meats, vegetables, side dishes, rice - EVERYTHING. I find her food too salty. And she's HEAVY HANDED with garlic - and it's that stuff from the jar. At family potlucks, I usually avoid her dishes. My sister thinks she's a better cook than what she actually is. If she's trying a new recipe (or even an old one), she invariably ends up omitting an ingredient. Then she wonders why the finished dish doesn't taste like it should. But the kicker is my MIL. She oversalts her food and uses convenience products for virtually all of her cooking (e.g. Shake and Bake, Hamburger Helper and things of that ilk. She uses pouches of chili mixes, relish mixes for potato salad and velveeta for her mac & cheese). Her fried chicken is the worst...using a pre packaged coating mix, the chicken would STILL come out soggy. I think the item that stands out in my mind is the New Year's Eve when she made her traditional meal of collard greens, black eyed peas, rice and spareribs (no chitlins that year thank God). The black eyed peas were actually dried ones that she soaked overnight. But the next day when she was cooking them, she added to the pot (and this is NO EXAGGERATION): bacon grease, salt pork, fatback and hamhocks. And then doused the pot with a liberal shaking of salt. I was then told that I was to be her guinea pig. She held out a spoon of beans for me to taste and it was a salty mush.

I'm ashamed to admit it here, but I like fast food. Wendy's double cheeseburger KFC McDonald's Big Mac ETA: I forgot to mention that I'm also guilty of liking fast food breakfasts - sausage egg mcmuffin, Burger King's croissanwich, Steak Egg & Cheese bagel from McD's.

P.S. - If you go on a Saturday night, make a reservation. The place was beyond packed.

http://zumstammtisch.com/ We visited this restaurant in March 2006 with some friends. I had the Jaegerschnitzel which was delicious. I also tasted one of my dinner companion's Kassler Rippchen (pork loin) which was also very good. I had potato salad as a side dish and tasted some of the red cabbage - I enjoyed both. My husband and the rest of our buddies thought thought the steak tartare was flavorful and fresh. I can't comment on this since I didn't taste it. The only thing I thought was "so-so" was the Schartzwälder Kirsch Torte (Black Forest Cake). The cake itself was a bit dry and the whipped cream tasted like the stuff from the can, not real "schlag."

Potato Salad Baked Beans Deviled Eggs Bow tie pasta with pesto & sundried tomatoes Corn on the cob Maybe a carrot raisin salad. Haven't decided yet.

I have your book and I'm in the process of reading it now. I find it fascinating so far. I'm also trying to move toward more "real" food and leave the processed stuff behind. I'm not totally successful yet, but I'm getting there.

Jaymes was kind enough to post the link to his recipe in the other red velvet thread floating around. Thanks!