BarbaraY

Wendy anzu, I agree. I bought Julie Sahni's book after I found the recipe in the Fine Cuisine magazine. If I hadn't I would probably have tried the other first. This one does make a lovely crust.MMmmmm! Samosas with Tamarind and Coriander chutneys.

I find that Samosa pastry will soak up a certain amount of oil but shouldn't be greasy. My favorite recipe for Samosas is by Julie Sahni. It appeared in the March/April 1998 Fine Cooking magazine and is slightly different than the one in her book. It is made with 1 1/4 cups flour 1/8 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 2 tablespooons plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup water I think the secret is in rubbing the fat well into the flour, not cutting it in as in western pastry and a lengthy kneading period. I once mixed it like wesatern pastry and it was wasn't right. Many places nowadays are making Samosas with won ton skins. They do get crisper but I prefer the traditional version.

Mmmmmm! Spam topped with brown sugar and studded with cloves, then baked until hot through and sugar melted. Not that desperate now but used to get it when I was a kid.

A beautiful meal. Congratulations on a job well done.

My grandmother had a wooden bowl and paddle to work the butter. It was always washed which helped keep it from souring. I still crave freshly made butter and saltines.

If you can get unpasteurized cream, it will make even better butter. It may not keep as well but will taste lovely. I grew up on butter like this and still have my grandma's churn which use when I get a taste for home made.

How about a dash of bitters. My daughter the bartender's suggestion.

If you are able to move the fridge away from the wall, remove the back panel and check your fan motor. I had this happen once and a piece of foam insulation had fallen into the fan blades and jammed them. Good luck!

I would sub sherry or even fruit juice rather than beer, Or you could you buy a small bottle like a 1/2 pint (hard to find lately) and give the remainder to a friend before you leave?

My grandmother's cookbook has a hand written Mayonnaise Cake recipe in it. I have been making this for years and years and it's one of our favorites. My recipe is slightly different than the one on the Hellman's site but the idea is the same. It makes a very tasty, moist cake. I always bake it in a 9x13 pan. It comes out with a beautiful, shiny top so I have never frosted it. Mayonnaise Cake I once made this while a friend was visiting. After I served it I noticed the that he was crumbling the cake all over his plate. When I asked why, he said said he was looking for the mayonnaise.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake This is the hand written recipe for Mayonnaise cake as our family makes it. I have seen recipes that call for 3 tablespoons cocoa but this tastes chocolatie enough for me. 1 cup dates or raisins 1 cup boiling water 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 Tbs. cocoa 1 tsp. vanilla Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13x2” or a bundt pan. Pour boiling water over raisins or dates. Blend together mayonnaise and sugar. In a bowl, mix dry ingredients Mix raisin mixture, mayonnaise mixture and dry ingredients together with vanilla. Bake for about 40 minutes. Test with cake tester. ( RG1392 )

Eggs, eggs, eggs! Must have eggs. To me it doesn't seem like potato salad without them. I dress the warm diced potatoes with a bit of vinaigrette and let it cool while prepping the remaining ingredients: celery, diced red onion, diced dill pickle, red bell pepper or piminto, sometimes coarsely chopped black olives, lots of minced flat leaf parsley. Toss it all together with good mayo and then gently fold in plenty of diced hard boiled egg.

I don't see any reason why you should feel obliged to go to your sister's for a poor meal. Just say you don't want to put the baby through all the travel yet. Invite a few friend to your house for turkey and have them bring something. Thanksgiving is the only holiday thet we have the big family bash. I've sort of dumped it on my younger sister the last couple of years. She has a bigger house and we are big family. She lives only a mile away so it is very convenient for all. Christmas is for each family unit to decide what they want to do. I have only once gone out for Thanksgiving and my guy and I both disliked it. Well, all except the pumpkin soup garnished with toasted pepitas. That was really good.

Bimbo is definitely in California. I saw a tortilla delivery guy in the grocery a few days ago wearing a shirt with a name tag that said Bimbo. I just had to tease him a bit about "Mexican Wonder Bread". They aren't delivering it it in our town but I see it in the Mexican markets.

I, too, am curious as to what type of cake it is. Fruit cakes may not last forever but they don't dry out very much. My grandmother married in 1904. When she had to move into a smaller place in 1953, I found a piece of her wedding fruitcake in the attic. It was well wrapped but still slightly soft. 49 year old fruitcake doesn't taste very good even if it isn't completely dry.

Fascinating thread that I just found today. Kevin your meals look absolutely delectable. Made me want some caponata and low and behold my neighbor brought me a lovely eggplant.

If you will go to the site I mentioned and run a search for molino you will find detailed instructions on using the molino and the metate.

No contest here. It has to be my paternal grandmother. She had been a cook in private homes before her marriage and kept a boarding house in Rhyolite, NV and Bodie, CA in early years of her marriage before my dad was born. She loved to have parties and family gatherings and the food was always superb. She started teaching me to cook when I was very young and I treasure the memories.

Good questions, all. Yes, fresh masa is made from corn that has been soaked in slaked lime water to soften. I can't say how well a Kitchen Aid would work. In the Mexican markets here in CA, there is molino that looks a bit like an old fashioned meat grinder. Haven't bought one because there are so many markets that will order the prepared masa. Gourmet Sleuth Go to Mexican products and look for white dried corn. They also carry the cal (slaked lime) and the molino.

It seems to me that the eggs for custards and ice cream blend in better if the milk is scalded. Custard cook a bit quicker, too. If it scorches I feed it to the dogs. I had always heard that one shouldn't salt beans at the beginning of cooking but one day it occured to me that cooking them with ham hocks added salt and didn't harm them so why not add salt at the start of the cooking?

Oh! You get fancy with the turmeric, cayenne, onions, and salsa. A week or so ago I did the mac 'n' cheese but the gooey one and fried some Hillshire farms turkey kielbasa. No dressing up except some paprika on the macaroni 'cause I like paprika with mac 'n' cheese.

I guess this is the place to tell of the anchovy pizza. I love anchovy pizza and, since I had a snowy night off, I decided to buy myself some beer and an anchovy pizza from the take-n-bake place. On arriving at my apartment I began juggling things to get my keys, went inside, and set things down. Oops! Forgot the pizza, guess I left it in the back floorbboard of the car. Wrong! Where is my pizza? Not in the kitchen, not in the car. OK! Lets retrace steps, get out of car, walk up hill to door, set pizza on deck railing, fish out keys, go inside. Wait a minute, I set pizza on the railing and there going into the night were some of the hugest dog paw prints I've ever seen. I never saw or heard a sign of the dog or any remains of the pizza anywhere. Don't remember what I ate that night but maybe I just had beer.

I have often wondered why boneless skinless breast meat is so popular. When I buy it frozen, it always seems spongy and salty. Last week, I bought it fresh, and koshered it according to directions on the box of salt. I inadvertently left it overnight in the fridge, and guess what? Spongy and salty chicken. Not much chance of surface bacteria, but I felt that I ruined a fresh product. The salt solution used to bloat commercial chickens (above) must be fairly light, or they would taste salty and have a spongy texture. ← Like everything else, you have to read the label! I learned some time ago to do so when I found the on-sale chicken breasts were down right nasty in taste and texture. It is right on the label, 18% salt solution added. Almost every time chicken breast meat is on sale here it has the solution added.

I always have lard on hand. Refried beans just taste 2 dimensional cooked in anything else. When making pasties, I use it for the crust and I like to use a little in buttermilk biscuits. Some of my favorite Chinese dishes call for finishing with a spoonful of lard. And remember it doesn't have transfats unless it has been hydrogenated.

After a trip to an area in the USA where very few spices are used, one of my best memories of getting home was opening the spice cabinet and just breathing. That and having green salads that weren't made with Lime Jell-o. Yeah, I think I like spices.