heidih

Please make sure Ed knows where you are headed!

This just popped up - maybe paywalll https://www.newyorker.com/culture/kitchen-notes/the-recipe-convention-that-dooms-home-cooks? Not sure I agree. "You may have scrupulously sweated onions until translucent and simmered lentils until soft, but if you serve your resulting soup without sufficient lemon and salt, or with too much, then the rest of your effort was for naught. So it’s a shame that for this pivotal step—after you’ve applied the prescribed teaspoons and tablespoons but before you deem the dish ready to serve—we cookbook writers tend to abandon readers with the murky dictum “season to taste.”

Not familiar with the referenced item. I use the blue painters tape and a black Sharpie. No pop offs or wipe-outs in all these years.

@Ann_T In awe of your bread as always. I don't comment cuz I would just be repeating myself. Wondering with the long cold ferments do you get a sourdoughish tang at all? I should get my kitchen back when the shrew returns home next month so will be baking bread again.

Not exactly breaking news been spouted for some time.. Yes I see it as a marker for other less than ideal food choices (like maybe zero fresh fruit and veg) Makes sense for colo-rectal issues.

Oh apricots - last time I had decent were from an old tree in the backyard of an estate sale house - kids said- pick away.

Nice - all those bread dumplings are a childhood comfort memory. Thanks.

I have read about so many famous chefs that smoke - I don't know about the salt insensitivity. But as often discussed about restaurant food there is the co-dependency on tasty fats that may affect how salt is perceived.

Ha! I got used to cows feet, shark, homemade coconut milk, cassava, and peas in the rice when I married a Panamanian I have an occasional hankering for Fritos (Scoops) with guacamole, These days I enjoy it more with extra lime the guac and little salt to balance the chips. A taste versus any health preference.

And they change over time in some cases. As those hormones change Also our palates becomemore attuned to different tastes and nuance - maybe -

First time I had that style was a Chinese woman (not sure her region of origin. It was a neighborhood get together and she had also found a beautiful fish, That hot oil splash was new to me. There were a lot of other flavors going on in the primarily Vietnamese array so the way this method brought out the sweet delicacy was nice. Also nice you have such a fresh fish available.

Referred my neighbor to my bee guy. He completed job yesterday. I facilitated his access. He texted me that he had left a jar for me in my mailbox as thanks. Remembered I liked a darker honey and he had some apparently in his truck.

@weinoo I wonder if the decent variety and prices plus favorable reviews are leading more peopleto subscribe in reaction to steeply rising grocery store prices?

When I started adding more salt to my holiday baking I started getting "best ever" remarks.

The post quote was out of context. I did not make the statement - it was an excised part of a quote I posted from an article. Redaction in action (I know that is not correct meaning of redacted but I could not stop my fingers) As to the Tuscan saltless bread - never had it - just read about in 1000 Days In Tuscanyn https://sweetrevivalrecipes.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/schiacciata-toscana-tuscan-flatbread/ Many variations but that is one recipe she gave.

oh not even close but rather than cruddy grahams, was responding to them as an option as someone had posted. Good to know about the smaller packs not being up to snuff. I have a birthday coming up - may treat myself.

Reminds me of first reading about Tuscan unsalted bread. In retrospect maybe that low salt is balanced by the more salty dishes/sauces. At some point I realized i was maybe using salt to make not so great stuff ok. My sister when she comes from OZ to US craves Mexican. She was stuffed and about to fly out so invited me to eat her leftovers. Two bits in my mouth puckered and I pitched it. I've heard people complain at the free chips and salsa expected at Mexican places saying chips not salted. Duh glutton - you shoveled them in (free!) and did not balance with the salsa. On the bread - internet tells tales of salt taxes, the Papacy etc but this quote makes sense in terms of this discussion “Tuscans make saltless bread as everything else is very salty. Cured ham is so salty that we usually eat it with saltless bread and figs that counterbalance the taste. Plus, saltless bread lasts longer.”

I agree it is a process. In an attempt to clean out last of my stuff in veg drawer before a shop tomorrow I wanted to finish up carrots. One poor soul had sprouted white "greenery" Simmered in a bit of chicken powder. Not salty enough but they absorbed some, Then the dressing in stages was fish sauce, spicy mustard for the salt. Added while warm and open to absorption. I am not anti salt by any means - just have learned to value layering flavors.

Oh I know the good stuff from Italy. The Italian deli market up on Western & Sunset had the wheel on a butcher block and cut to order. I was young and cute - the brothers always gave me more of a center cut. Green can is its own salty condiment thing.

I started cooking with Julia's Mastering volumes. Recipes state a measure of salt and tell you to adjust seasoning. I've always been pretty good about hitting the right saltiness note. Then I started cooking rice frequently - just plain white - lots of options in local ethnic stores. I also talked to my neighbors who do rice daily - one Taiwanese, the other Thai. No salt. I had not thought before about the saltiness of the other dishes and plain unsalted rice - the way it all works together. It was Jo here who brought it to mind with this post https://forums.egullet.org/topic/163549-dinner-2022/?do=findComment&comment=2356096 Over the years I have come to rely more on other ingredients with a saltiness that adds flavor/umami - fish sauce, soy sauce, the maligned green can parmesan. Also salty preserved items like kimchi. I do salt my pasta water and I taste as go with dishes - sometimes salt (or sugar!) is the pinch needed. Curious about your experiences - if any of this makes sense.

I am passionate lover of Nyakers gingersnaps. Big tin but they stay crisp a LONG time and gotta love the tin.. As to graham crackers - I have givn up. Not crispy out of box first go, limpid flavor. To the key lime afficianado - have you considered the premade crusts? https://www.worldmarket.com/product/nyakers-gingersnap-tin.dov

Nice access. Lots of the good stuff here but L.A. so spread out and I can't get around to the best anymore. That said some of the frozen offerings at 99 Ranch Market are quite nice. Dumplings and buns for the steamer, and scallion pancakes for the stovetop or toaster oven. Some of their cold offerings in the vegetarian case make nice counterpoints. I bought a sort of ham salad a few times before I realized it was vegetarian. Tasty. Oh and prepared (in house) japchae from Korean - lukewarm on buffet table - always disappeared immediately - kids and adults both snarfled.

females = no recovery period before more.

During my dieting teens a treat lunch was V-8 amped up with Tabasco - warm from a thermos, and a baggie of popcorn to munch alongside sips. (school lunch but good anytime) Anyone familiar with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books will recall popcorn as a family treat out on that lonely prairie - Probably learned from the Indigenous people. http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/7230

I can't find them but we had the Dr. Oetker booklets (baking- ours were from 1950s) and they were used. I learned to bake from them. Had to adjust to US for some things. The oldest US one I ever used was from Housekeeping in Old Virginia - a reprint I got in a cookbook club as a kid. Overall it was a fascinating take on life back then. Only thing I made was taffy. What an experience. I realized then why they have those stretch and turn machines at the salt water taffy places. I got all the cousins outside and we pulled and pulled. Never got to cloudy but we were so dang tired we thought it tasted great. (original publication 1877)