BarbaraY

Helen, on Jan. 23 you mentioned growing burdock in plastic bags. Do you have any information on this method?

0ne of my daughters convinced me to try it. Not being a fan of catfish, I didn't like it very much. I told her I didn't care for it because it tasted like catfish. I didn't realize that it actually is catfish but now I know why it didn't suit my taste...

Jaymes recipes sound good to me. Here is my favorite Persian recipe. Exported from MasterCook * Khoresh Bademjan (Persian) Recipe By : Barbara Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : The Main Feature Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 pound lamb, cubed -- trim fat 1 pound eggplant -- sliced 2 tablespoons salt 1 onion -- diced 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons tomato paste water -- as needed salt and pepper 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon turmeric 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 tomato -- sliced 2 cloves garlic -- minced 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint Cut eggplant into quarters and then diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Sprinkle liberally with salt and set aside. Set aside 1 tablespoon onion for garnish. In a large skillet, cook onion in olive oil until golden brown. Add meat and brown. Cover with water and add tomato paste, turmeric, cinnamon and nutmeg. Let simmer until meat is tender. Meanwhile, rinse eggplant and dry with paper towels. Brown slices on each side in a hot skillet sprayed with olive oil spray or a dab of oil. Lay over meat and top with tomato slices. Add salt and pepper if desired. Cover and simmer until eggplant and tomato are tender, about 10 minutes. While meat is continuing to cook, place remaining onion in a small pan with a little olive oil and cook until soft. Add minced garlic and mint and cook 1 minute. Turn meat mixture into a serving dish and top with onion mixture. NOTES : Serve with steamed rice. A Spinach and Orange salad would be good with this and, for another Persian touch, yogurt with cucumbers or spinach.

I would like to try to make croissants again. I tried once many years ago, not from BWJ, but from Gourmet or Bon Appetite, as I recall and it was a disaster so I never tried again. There just aren't any decent ones available in this area. The places that have them use frozen dough that is shipped in and baked. Apparently butter is unheard of by the manufacturers.

Thanks everyone for the input. Just couldn't find these terms in either of my dictionaries nor on a web search.

Being new to eGullet, I hadn't seen this thread until today. I got my copy of BWJ in 1997 or 98. I have made the Rustic Potato loaves many times. My husband loved them and said they were like the bread that his grandmother had made. Also made Pain de Campagne many times. I made the Swedish Limpa but wasn't satisfied with it. Just doesn't come up to the one that our "Swedish Chef" made at a local smorgasbord. Now I'm inspired to try the Brioche. A local French trained baker that owns a B&B was selling beautiful Brioche and petite pains au chocolate at our Farmer's Market last year, made with ingredients he was importing from France. Unfortunately, he isn't there this year. I'm afraid it wasn't cost effective in a such small rural community. They were heavenly! I've enjoyed reading through this thread even though I haven't had time to read everyone's adventures yet. Keep up the good work, all.

These keep very well in the fridge. I have a jar that was made well over a year ago. Just checked them and the look and smell just right.

Although I seldom buy them, I do like the caramel corn flavor. Pear and cappuccino is good, too. As to the buttered popcorn, not bad but the caramel corn suits my taste better. One of my daughters loves Jalapeño flavored ones.

I have one of these and have the same problem. I just consider that film of frozen stuff my reward for making ice cream.:D

I know I have heard of this somewhere but haven't seen it mentioned in any of the modern sources. Will check my Mexican market next time I go. I don't remember seeing any lime or cal last time I was there but perhaps they can tell me where to find it.

Yesterday and this morning I made another batch of bagels using basically the CI recipe that I made last time. I did make a few changes. They call for 2 teaspoons salt and I found they tasted a bit too salty so I used 1 1/2 teaspoons. I blended 1 1/2 tablespooons dried onion into the dough because I found that just dipping them into the onion flakes didn't permeate them with onion flavor. Also added 3 tablespoons water to compensate for the dry onion. I added 2 tablespoons of wheat gluten to bread flour since I don't have high gluten flour available in this rural community. Just can't bring myself to pay more in shipping charges than for the product if I mail order. I also added the baking soda that many recipes call for to the boiling water although they don't call in CI. My water is extremely alkaline. Instead of forming a rope to shape them I punch through the dough ball with the handle of a wooden spoon then shape them into rings. They rested in the fridge for almost 18 hours. This morning I boiled and baked them off. My findings: The flavor is better, in my opinion, with the lesser amount of salt and the added onion. 1 1/2 tablespoons additional water would probably have been enough. The texture is good but I would like them to be a bit more brown. The dry onions brown much faster than the bagel so next time I will rehydrate them as suggested in BWJ.

I, too, was a picky kid and although we always had plenty of vegetables because my grandfather had a huge garden, the only way we had eggplant was breaded and fried. Later discovered Eggplant Patmigiana but still didn't care for it any other ways until I found Oriental recipes like dengaku and Persian Bademjan. Now I like it very much.

Nice photos, chromedome. I truly appreciate your idea of sharing time with your family and always having your meal together, something that isn't always easy when you have teens. Looking forward to the rest of the blog.

I truly hope that your wife fully recovers from this. One have my daughters had the surgery about 1 1/2 years ago and, so far, has lost about 170 lbs. with no ill effect. This is truly frightening to me to see that something like this can happen at a later time. Thanks for the info.

My sister-in-law makes green jello with cottage cheese and pineapple. Late hubby called it "Green Death".

The BWJ recipe calls for sugar and fat which I think makes for the lighter texture. I think the boiling is essential to get the right texture and the shininess of the crust.. Will be starting a new batch soon and will keep you posted as I go along.

I couldn't remember why I rejected the BWJ recipe so I checked my book. To quote from the book: "These are chubby bagels---boiled, then baked,--- with an open cakey sponge: they are not heavy, stretchy, or chewy." I didn't want a cakey bagel but a chewy bagel like I used to get before every commercial baker jumped on the bagel wagon, hence the Cook's Illustrated version was the one that I chose to make since it seemed to be the one to achieve what I want in a bagel. Guess the choice of recipe depends on which type of bagel you want.

I have long been unhappy with any bagels that are sold locally. They're sort of the balloon bread version, too big, too soft, and not chewy outside. I recently made my first batch using the recipe given in Cook's Illustrated Magazine of October 1997. Not having any high gluten flour available, I added a couple of tablespoons of wheat gluten to the mix to strengthen it. It worked because the texture turned out pretty good. Since I love onion bagels, that is what I made. Next time I will add a little of the dried onion to the dough itself rather than just the outside. Would probably add a bit more water to the dough. Even though I like them chewy these could have been a bit less so. The resting time given after removing from the fridge should be a bit longer, in my opinion. The last ones were better then the first ones that I boiled. I hope to make another batch next week so will see what happens. Hope this is some help to you. Edited for spelling.

That whole meal sounds heavenly, especially the Pork Tenderloin with figs. My figs should be ripe within a week and I may give it a try.

I'm not a big sandwich fan but there's nothing quite like a good BLAT when the tomatoes come in. We had a nice one from the Farmer's Market this week so I made mine with toasted rye bread spread with good mayo, crisp bacon, thinly sliced tomato, avocado, and romaine. I love the baked sandwiches at one of our local sandwich shops but, not having a pizza oven, can't seem to duplicate them even with the right bread and meats

Mmmm! Bleu cheese burger! Now I'm starting to want one.

100% cheese here, too. Unless we're doing lamb burgers, then no cheese.

I was about ten and used to make what I called Johnny cakes. Don't remember the exact ingredients but I know they had corn meal. We had a wood range and I would cook them on top of the range without a pan so they must have had some fat in them because I don't remember them sticking. Mom would have killed me if they had stuck and left a mess. I think I read too many pioneer novels.:D

I bought fresh noodles, boiled, dried and then fried them in flat cakes. They were brown and crisp outside and soft inside. No real measurements. I just cut up the amounts that looked right and used on 1/2 chicken breast. I had made the roast pork the day before and it always is good on Chow Mein.

We had the Cantonese Chow Mein tonight for dinner and really enjoyed it. It has been a couple of years ince I had made it so it was a nice change. Here is the finished dish. I used chicken breast for the meat and the vegetables were onion, celery, carrot, red bell pepper, snow peas, Bok choy, shiitake, and bean proouts. Sauce was made with chicken stock, soy, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and chinese rice wine. Garnished with green onion and roast pork.