armchairchef

Thank you--i will do a search for that. I do have a good recipe for oven-dried tomatoes too.

Can anyone help me find a recipe for the insalata mista they serve at Becco in NYC? Is it in one of Lidia Bastianich's cookbooks, by any chance? It's one of the best salads I've ever eaten---and I am not a "salad person." Thank you!

Does anyone know a way to convert a quick bread recipe from a regular loaf pan size to one that will work in mini loaves? Is there a formula somewhere? I often see recipes that say you can put the batter in either a loaf pan or a muffin tin, but rarely does it say "mini loaf pans." Thanks!

I've had some interesting ones. I'll have to look in my old diaires for some of them that I wrote down. One that comes to mind is being at a dessert buffet, and just STUFFING the food into my mouth because I have to taste everything there...I just HAVE to...and I'm not even chewing the food...totally disgusting. Sometimes I dream my DH and I find a nice country inn with a fireplace that's serving comfort food, the kind of place I'm afraid doesn't exist in real life...It is usually some kind of beef stew, which is funny because we're vegetarians (or try to be).

I'll throw my two cents in. It wasn't my cookbook, but my best friend's. She had some sort of Gourmet magazine cookbook she got as a wedding present, with her and her husband's names embossed on the cover! the photos looked absolutely disgusting, including one with a turkey covered in truffles, and it looked like the turkey had leprosy or something! She didn't want to give it away or throw it out because it had their names on it. They were divorced by that time, anyway.

I have gotten mine from the King Arthur catalog. Just google King Arthur baking and the URl should come up. It's in a can and it's much better than Odense! I'm a believer!

I'm starting to wonder if there's such an animal as a reliable, heavy duty stand mixer that isn't a piece of junk! I have read numerous reviews on KA, DeLonghi, Viking (including the posts here) and there's always someone somewhere saying it doesn't work properly, doesn't do the job, etc. etc. Is this what we can expect from appliances in this day and age? Whatever happened to reliability, and trust in a brand name? Am I THAT naive? On a side note, DH is afraid anything with a low wattage output is going to be too "wimpy." He thought that about friend's borrowed KA, and THAT was one of the original Hobart machines! He's an electrician, and he uses an electric drill to mix paint with an attachment, and feels that even that's too wimpy. I think I saw Red Green do the same thing once with mashed potatoes. Seriously, though--should I just get an ass-kicker of a hand mixer and forget this, or what? I don't expect to pay $400 for something like a KA 600 and have parts of it falling off!

Here is something else I am a bit concerned about: the "scraping the bottom of the bowl" issue. When I borrowed my friend's KA, the paddle didn't seem to reach the bottom of the bowl, so we had to stop it frequently and scrape. Am I being too concerned about the scraping issue? Are all stand mixers like that? It seems to me that if something's supposed to allow you to do a hands-free job, you shouldn't have to stop the appliance and scrape down the bowl. Opinions, please?

Pumpkin pies and pecan bars. Now, a question on pecan pies, and if I'm in the wrong thread, someone please redirect me: I have tried making pecan pies several times. The directions say that the pie should be set up before taking it out of the oven. But it seems that the middle is set up before the rest of it, and starts to get too dark before the edges set up. Therefore, the resultant pie is watery and when you cut into it it just goes "splat" and kind of collapses. I tried increasing the amount of nuts, but that didn't work. So I started making pecan bars instead. Anyone have any advice? I'd like to master this darned pie someday!

My husband's family has made the baked corn recipe. Although it's been a while, I remember it as being very good!

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a KA. Now the question is, which one? I checked out the Cook's Illustrated reviews, and they really like the Professional 600 line. However, the slightly cheaper Artisan is "recommended, with reservations." Apparently it strains when it kneads bread dough. Now, I must point out that I have never made a loaf of bread in my life, despite my good intentions to do so. I don't know if I'll like kneading by hand, or hate the entire process. Am I silly to "overbuy" and get the bigger and supposedly better Pro 600, or should I get the Artisan for the cookies and cakes that I bake now, and maybe upgrade later? Anyone out there have the Artians, and like to comment?

Cookies! And not necessarily always my own, even though I make some good ones (rugelah, pecan bars, orange flower-almond cookies). There's a kind of cookie that Archway makes, called Cashew somethings, and DH and I buy boxes of them and inhale them! They are SOOOO good! Only available at Christmastime. We also make a rum cake every Christmas that my family loves. My sister, especially. When she was living in Florida, we mailed one to her. She had a terrible head cold that year, and she called to say it was the best medicine there could be! I love the soy eggnog that is available now (I think Silk makes it). I can't drink real dairy stuff; neither can DH. Things I don't like to eat around the holidays? Hmmm...does green bean casserole made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup count? It's not strictly a holiday thing, but my sister-in-law makes it for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

OK, I'm 42 and I have issues with my food touching too. It's been a thing for me all my life. I am getting used to mixing SOME foods together though--like at Thanksgiving dinner. Otherwise, I can't stand it. When I eat dinner, I take a bit from each food and eat it in a certain order, so as not to run out of one food before I run out of the other. Also I like some breakfast foods to touch each other but not all of them. My DH found a book once called "I Am Three". One of the lines was "I don't want THIS food to touch THAT food." LOL P.S. to Maggiethecat, yes I know I am weird. I am a bit OC, definitely.

Hello, folks-- I am considering buying myself a stand mixer, but I find the choices a bit overwhelming. I mostly bake cookies and cakes, and am considering learning how to decorate cakes and to bake bread. Years ago, I borrowed a friend's KitchenAid stand mixer (don't recall which model, but it had the bowl that goes up in, rather than the tilting head feature). I really enjoyed using it, as the hands-free feature made my life a lot easier at the time! My only complaint was, it seemed to "walk" across the counter a bit. Anyway...I don't have a big budget, so much as I'd like to spring for something really special, I just can't. I'm a little leary of buying reconditioned appliances, also. I don't need it for a food processor, as I already have one, plus a hand mixer. Is it true that the more watts the motor, the better the appliance will perform, and perhaps not burn out? I look forward to getting your opinions!

DH and I have been married 18 years. I was 23, he was 31. We registered for rather expensive stainless cutlery but did not get one single piece. We didn't register for china as I thought "pooh! I'll never need that." 18 years later, I still have never hosted a dinner party or a family holiday, something I regret very much. My house is just a terrible mess. DH is a bit of a packrat. But anyway...I did buy myself a tea set in a pattern I liked a lot, after we were married about 10 years. It will also coordinate with my Depression glass. I inherited a set of real silverware, but it's in the attic in a box, and I don't know if I'll ever use it. Also inherited from the same grandparents some wine glasses. I did not register for pots and pans, as my mother had saved some after my dad's mom passed away. We've augmented the set with some purchases (Calphalon) since then, and bought some quality knives. DH haunts the secondhand stores so he often finds things (crystal bowls, platters, etc.) and brings them home. One thing we registered for and got, and used exactly twice in 18 years is an ice cream maker, the kind you crank by hand! I wish I had known I would become interested in cooking later on, and had gotten a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer! And I do believe that we should be allowed to have showers later on to replace stuff!

I just wanted to tell you guys I am rooting for you. I wish we had a bakery like the one you want to open around here (northeastern Pa.). Please keep updating us! I am eagerly reading...

Hello, everyone: My name is Sandra and I am new to this board. I wonder if I could get a bit of advice from you. I have wanted to learn to decorate cakes since I was a child (I am 42 now). I am not sure where to start. Our local Michael's craft store has cake decorating classes. If you buy the Wilton starter kit you get the class for free. Is this something I can learn on my own, without lessons? I definitely do learn better if I see someone else do something first, but I understand a lot of this is practice, on one's own. Where should I start? Second question: On buttercream: A couple of years ago my husband and I made a sheet cake for a local coffeehouse where we volunteer. We did a buttercream icing from The Joy of Cooking, which began to practically slide off the cake and had to be refrigerated. Plus it took hours to make! My question is, what do professional bakers use for what they call "buttercream" icing? It doesn't seem to need refrigeration. Also the stuff we made was not going to work for piping and decorating. Was that the royal icing I hear about? Any advice you can give me would be helpful! Thanks!