JaclynM

Almost nothing. My mother never really cooked, more like reheated. "Fish" for dinner was Gorton's frozen fish, heated up in the toaster oven. "Stroganoff" was Hamburger Helper. Desserts for special occasions were always cake or brownies made from boxed mixes, etc. etc. She still doesn't understand how I got so interested in cooking from scratch. I guess I just always enjoyed cooking, and as an adult I started to dislike the idea of eating so many processed, prepared foods. Once, after I was married, the family was getting together for an Easter dinner at my parents' house. I volunteered to make a cake, from a Nigella Lawson recipe that includes Cadbury's mini eggs placed on the top. My mom has that tone where she can criticize while making it sound like she's agreeing with you: "Sure, that would be fine. Or, you could just get a cake mix, and just put Cadbury eggs around the top anyway." I said I'd prefer to make the cake, and she shrugged and said, "Okay, if you want to go to all that trouble..." Maddeningly, there are two mostly-from-scratch recipes that she makes really well, but will not give me the recipe for: chili, and stuffed peppers. She says she doesn't want to give me the recipes, because then I wouldn't have as much incentive to come visit them for dinner!

I have been thinking about getting a bottle to keep my olive oil in, since right now I'm just using the bottle that it came in when I bought it at the store. I've been looking at some containers - I believe they're called cruets? - which have a long, thin, top, with just a small opening to make it easier for drizzling. A few examples: http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=400098 http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?id=8921 However, I have also read that olive oil should be stored in an airtight container, to keep it from going rancid. All the cruets I've seen seem to have an opening at the top, unless I'm missing something and there is a seal somewhere, which you remove prior to drizzling, and then put back once you are done using it. What do you think? Are these open cruets okay to use, or should I look for something that stays completely airtight? How do all of you keep your olive oil?

I'm generally a very easygoing person, so it takes a lot to annoy me. Generally the only thing that would make me give a lesser tip is rudeness. Anything else isn't a big deal to me, as long as I got what I ordered and got it in a reasonable period of time. However, there are two incidents that stick out in my mind. The first was about 10 years ago, so I don't remember all the details. My parents, my sister and I had gone out to dinner at a local place. The waitress took our orders, then returned 10 or 15 minutes later with everyone's meal, except my sister, whom she informed that they were out of whatever she had ordered. This was after the rest of us all had our food sitting in front of us. When I started eating, I noticed that the chicken I had ordered was steaming hot in some places, and cold in others. I tried to wave over the waitress to ask if I could get it heated, but she didn't notice because she was standing in the corner of the room reading a book. I ended up going up and handing my plate to her. The other one was about 2 years ago. My husband (then fiance) and I had gone out to an expensive restaurant with several friends to celebrate a birthday. Both my and DH's dinners had asparagus as a side dish. I ate my asparagus, but only half of the meat because it was a large portion. DH had eaten his whole dinner, but not the asparagus which he didn't like. I happily took his asparagus and put it on my plate, so that I could have it later with the leftovers. The waitress came by to ask if we needed anything boxed, so I said I did and handed her my plate. The box that came back to me had only meat, no asparagus. Being too nice (or too wimpy) I didn't say anything, figuring that they had already thrown the asparagus out, so what good was it to complain? My sister (who I later told this story to) said that I should have demanded that they cook me another portion of asparagus. I don't think I could have done that, because as I said I'm a wimp and don't like to cause trouble, and I didn't feel like hanging around after we had already paid, just to get some vegetables. But as I thought about it later, the fact that they threw away the asparagus but boxed the meat really irked me. Apparently they assumed that I hadn't eaten the asparagus because I didn't want any of it - but then why did they assume that I DID want the other half of the meat? I handed the waitress my whole plate - what made her think I only wanted part of the food back? Despite the fact that I'm a nice, easygoing person, I do hold a grudge. And to this day whenever we drive by that restaurant I say to DH "There's the place that threw away my asparagus." (We don't plan to eat there again, but that's just because we felt it was overpriced. If we otherwise liked the restaurant, I wouldn't let one bad service incident prevent me from going back.)

Hi all, I am only an occasional poster to the forums, but I had to chime in and say that I've always loved tater tots! My husband and I have them occasionally with a weekend lunch. Last spring some friends of ours had a potluck brunch, and one of the dishes that the wife served used tater tots. She just beat a couple of eggs lightly, and then poured them over some tater tots that had been spread into a single layer of a casserole dish or baking pan. Then she baked them in the oven. It was delicious! I've tried making it myself at home for lunch. For a single serving, I used a loaf pan, because it's big enough to get all the tots in a single layer, but small enough for me to use my toaster oven. I bake the tots by themselves for about 5 minutes (according to whatever temperature is listed on the package). Then I pour over the eggs, and turn the tots with a fork to make sure they are all coated. Then I bake until the eggs are set. Yum!

This may seem like a strange question, but is there more than one type of food product called "cinnamon"? It seems that things flavored with cinnamon seem to come in two tastes: "sweet" cinnamon - graham crackers, donuts, cinnamon raisin bagels, cereal, french toast, the coating on fried ice cream "hot" cinnamon - chewing gum, those cinnamon flavored heart candies To me, the two tastes are nothing alike. I first noticed this difference 2 years ago when I was at an ice cream parlor that advertised a cinnamon ice cream flavor. This sounded good to me, since I was assuming it was a sweet cinnamon flavor. When I tasted a sample, it turned out to be a hot cinnamon flavor, and since I'm not crazy about Dentyne flavored ice cream, I ordered something else. I recently started taking cinnamon pills, which seem to be the actual herb/spice ground up and put in a capsule. When I take the pills I get a little taste of cinnamon and it's definitely more like the "sweet" flavor than the "hot" flavor. So my question is, are there two types of cinnamon, which account for the two different flavors? Or is it a case of there being more than one plant that goes by the same "common" name, and one is being used incorrectly? It's not a big deal, but it's one of those little mysteries of everyday life that has me curious.

A few weeks ago I went to a (demonstration) class on making Christmas candy. One of the recipes was for peppermint patties, which turned out to be very tasty. The ingredients are as follows: filling: 8 oz cream cheese 4 cups confectioner's sugar 1 tbsp butter 1 tsp peppermint extract outer chocolate: 12 oz melted semisweet chocolate Someone in class asked if it was okay to leave these at room temperature after they are made, since they contain cream cheese. The instructor said that she "thought" it would be okay, but then joked that at her house, the treats are never around long enough to go bad. I wanted to make these for my family's Christmas Eve party, but decided to do a trial run first, since my office had a "treat day" on Monday, which seemed like a good occasion to use. They turned out well, and I kept them in the fridge until I took them to work. At the office, they were sitting around at room temperature all day with the other treats, and when I took the leftovers home I was reluctant to keep them around, afraid that the cream cheese may have spoiled. So when I got home I threw the leftovers in the garbage. When my husband (who had tried a patty that I left at home) remarked that the filling reminded him of frosting, it gave me an idea. My mother makes her own frosting using mainly butter and confectioner's sugar. Maybe I could make this recipe again using only butter instead of the cream cheese. I know some people who keep their butter out at room temperature most of the time with no problems. So mainly, I have two questions: Would this recipe, made with the cream cheese, be okay to leave out at room temperature? If not, do you think that substituting butter would still make a good patty?

Thanks for the reply. I didn't actually mean "toss" in the literal sense. I meant "toss" as in, get rid of. I would either sell it on eBay, or donate it to the library, etc.

I've only been cooking on a regular basis for the last few months (I got married in July). A few years ago, when I was starting to build up my cookbook collection, I ordered the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking. The reviews on Amazon stated that it had left out some good recipes and techniques from 1975, so I bought that edition too. Now that the 75th anniversary version is out, I hear that this is more like the 1975 book. I've asked my husband to get it for me for Christmas, and if he does, I plan to toss the 1997 book. But is it still worth holding onto the 1975 one?

I live in Buffalo, where we were recently hit by a freak storm that knocked out power for much of the region. My husband and I have an electric stove so there was no way to cook anything. When the power first went out, we thought it would just be a few hours, so we went out to dinner. By the next day, I had decided that I would reheat some leftovers in a pot over our fireplace. However, all I had were my tri-ply clad Tramontina pots and pans, which I was afraid of damaging, so I didn't hold it very close to the fire. I know that when you cook on a gas stove you are holding the pot over a fire anyway, but since I didn't know exactly what temperature I was dealing with, I was afraid to get it too close. (Since the houses on the other side of the street still had power, we lucked out when our neighbor offered to let us use his microwave.) I commented to my husband that it was too bad we didn't have any cast iron stuff, because it can get very hot without being damaged (correct?). Our kitchen is very small, and we don't have enough room for all our cookware as it is, which is why I've held off buying any cast iron (it's not really a *necessity* since I have the Tramontina items). The power is still out, and we are staying at my parents' house, since they got their power back on Saturday. But now my husband has suggested that maybe we should get some cast iron items (even though he thinks I already have too many cooking tools) because they could come in handy for a future power outage. So I was thinking of getting one or two items from Lodge. I've always wanted a Le Creuset dutch oven, so I was wondering, could enameled iron also be used over a flame? I wouldn't feel as bad about the expense and the space it takes up, if I could justify the purchase by saying we could use it to cook over the fireplace. Thanks. Sorry for being so long-winded!

Wow, who would have thought that one recipe would give me so many contributions to this thread? I'm somewhat of a newbie here. I'm a newlywed who's still learning her way around the kitchen. My husband doesn't cook at all, so if it were up to him we'd be eating tv dinners every day. So if I want "real food" it's up to me to cook it. (Which is fine, because I generally enjoy doing it.) Today I tried making my own concoction of chicken quesadillas with cheese and black beans. Aside from some boring lessons like "use more cheese" and "spray more pam in the pan" I learned the following: 1) When simmering black beans, do not use a wooden spoon to stir them, unless you want it to be permanently dyed purple. 2) When draining the beans into the sink next to the electric stove, remember that the burners don't cool off immediately, and don't bend over in such a way that your long hair is resting on the burner. (Luckily I jumped up as soon as I heard a "sizzle" sound, and my hair didn't actually get burned.) 3) Do not use a Magic Bullet to shred cooked chicken breasts, because what you end up with is powdered chicken, not shredded chicken. 4) Plastic bags sitting near a hot pan will become melted/stuck to the pan. (This is sort of my husband's fault, because he left the bag there, but it's also my fault for not moving it away.) Needless to say I was somewhat stressed after the meal, but luckily my darling husband offered to do most of the clean-up, and recommended that I de-stress by having large amounts of alcohol.

If I am making a soup or stew in a crockpot/slow-cooker that calls for beans, and I decide to use dried beans, how much should they be cooked in advance? In one book, I read that you should just soak them (either soaking overnight, or a "quick soak" where you boil some water, turn off the heat, and let them soak for an hour), because if you fully cook them ahead of time, they will turn to mush. But in another book, it seemed to imply that the beans should be fully cooked before going in the crockpot. After all, if you use canned beans in a crockpot, then you are essentially using beans that have been fully cooked ahead of time, right? (The reason I want to use dried beans instead of canned is because I'm trying to cut down on sodium. Also, my husband's blood pressure is a bit high, and I'm hoping that lower sodium meals will help.)

I'm getting married in a few weeks, and want to get a Le Creuset dutch oven, because I've heard so many great things about them. For the time being, I will only be cooking for my husband and myself (no plans for kids just yet), so I'm not sure what size/shape would be most useful. Any suggestions?

I'm getting married in July, and since my fiance has a nice wooden deck on the back of his house, we've been thinking about getting an outdoor grill. Based on what I've read on these boards about the pros and cons of gas vs. charcoal, I think I'd like to use a charcoal grill. But I've never done any grilling before - I've only watched my mom do some grilling, and hers is gas. Can anyone recommend a book that covers all the basics - choosing charcoal, lighting it, cooking techniques, cleanup, etc.? I'd like to have some more information about what I'm getting into, if we should decide to get a charcoal grill.

Thanks - I'll do that! In the past, I've made them by using semisweet chocolate chips bought at the grocery store. For the favors, I was planning to go to a local candy-making supply shop that sells large bags of chocolate wafers for melting. (I would use the dark chocolate ones.) Does this count as real chocolate? I'm still somewhat of a novice at cooking/baking/candy-making.

Hi Kerry, I feel embarrassed to admit this, but I don't even know what tempering is. I looked it up online and just about every definition I found was exactly the same, so they must have all been copied from the same source: "Tempered chocolate is chocolate that has been melted and then stirred or "tempered" on a marble slab until it reaches a relatively cool temperature (86-88 degrees for semi-sweet chocolate). Then it is quickly used before it sets again." So in order to temper the chocolate, I would melt the chocolate, nuts and other ingredients, then let everything cool slightly before I pour it in the molds? Thanks to everyone who recommented Chocolat-Chocolat. I have a question about their mold listings. Each one has a list of numbers like this: 125x30x13 mm 1x7 pieces 50 gr 275x135x24 Can anyone tell me what these mean? I'm assuming the first number is the dimensions of the finished bar, and the third number would be the weight of the finished bar if it was made with solid chocolate.

For my upcoming July wedding, I plan on making the reception favors myself. I'll be making candy bars, using a recipe for chocolate treats that I've used many times before. The way I've made them in the past is to melt the chocolate in a double boiler, add the other ingredients (which includes nuts), and use a spoon to drop onto wax paper and then chill in the refrigerator. For the wedding favors, I'd like to make these treats in the shape of a candy bar, so that I can print up a candy bar "wrapper" to go on each item, with our names and the date of the wedding on it. (They would of course be covered in foil before the wrapper goes on.) The problem is, I have had a terrible time trying to find candy bar molds that will work for this. All the molds I've seen are either really small (for example, they would make a bar that is about 3 inches long) or they aren't deep enough to hold a mixture containing nuts (I've seen some molds that are only a quarter inch deep). Since I'll be saving money on the favors by making them myself, I'd like them to be a good size. Does anyone know where I can find some molds that are about the size and shape of a regular store-bought candy bar? (Maybe something the size and shape of a regular Snickers bar, but it doesn't have to be quite that deep.) Failing that, my other idea is to put a silpat on a jelly-roll pan, spread the whole mixture into the pan, and then slice it up into bar shapes once it has cooled.

In various recipes for fudge, caramel, and other desserts, I've seen a recommendation to use a "candy thermometer" to check the temperature with. I don't think I've come across anything in a store that's specifically labelled as a "candy thermometer" although I've seen instant-read or leave-in thermometers. Is a candy thermometer a distinct tool that's different from other thermometers, or is it just another name for an instant-read one?

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome! I am currently registered at Kaufmann's (soon to become Macy's, who sells "Tools of the Trade" bakeware), Target, and Cooking.com (which sells Chicago Metallic). However, ordering from a restaurant supply company is still a possibility. I work for a company that sells uniforms and table linens to restaurants, and they are just starting to carry commercial cookware/bakeware from LibertyWare. LibertyWare sells heavy gauge aluminum cake pans and jellyroll pans (among other things), and my boss said that I could order some if I want. I'm just curious about the difference between the materials, because in all the books/websites I've seen about cookware, they mention all different materials (cast iron, aluminum, copper, steel, etc.) but none of them mention "aluminized steel." I just want to make sure that I'm getting the best that I can get, and if aluminized steel is a better material than plain aluminum, I'd like to go with that. (I admit that I've gotten a bit obsessive about planning out items for my kitchen - reading Consumer Reports, Cook's Illustrated, epinions.com - trying to find the "best" in every type of tool that I need. I know it's impossible to get the best in everything, but I just want to make sure I start out my new kitchen with high-quality tools that will do the job well and last for a while.) -Jaclyn

Hi, I'm getting married in July and am planning out things I need for our kitchen. (This is my first post to the eGullet forums.) My fiance doesn't cook at all, so it's up to me to get our kitchen started and build up a repertoire of recipes. (I already do some cooking at home for my parents, so I'm partway there with the recipes.) In planning for the type of cookware/bakeware I want, I've come across so many options. I'd prefer to stay away from non-stick items (I don't mind using a little extra elbow grease to clean it). I've heard good things about aluminum, but I've also seen several items that are made from "aluminized steel" such as Chicago Metallic Commercial Bakeware, and the "Tools of the Trade" bakeware line that's sold at Macy's. Can anyone tell me what aluminized steel is, and how it compares in performance/durability to plain aluminum? Thanks. -Jaclyn