Shel_B

I try to inform and educate as well 👍

I was surprised to learn how many varieties of cardamom there are and how widely they're used. Click on the links below for more details. The Cardamom universe is bigger than you think How to use Cardamom Left to right: green, black, Chinese, white, and Ethiopian cardamoms.

Thanks for your reminder. I don't think I'll use a slow cooker or the Instant Pot for this, but if I do, I'll pay attention to temperatures. The first batch didn't turn out very well ... 'twas a learning experience.

It's not up to me. My sister does what suits her and has her preferences. I honestly don't know where she obtains the coffee, and until this morning Amazon was the only source with which I was familiar. As an aside, sometimes Amazon prices are less than that of the manufacturer, although price alone isn't the determining factor in deciding where to purchase ... at least not for my sister, brother, and me.

Tyler's coffee, Amazon and elsewhere. https://tylerscoffees.com/products/regular-ground-12oz-bag

The subject says it. My sister wants and uses it but has only found one brand and source, and it's on Amazon. If you have information about such a coffee please let me know. It must be acid-FREE, not low acid. No pods.

Pam spray has been applied to the nonstick pan used for cornbread for about five years. Never once have I encountered the polymerization issue you describe. Maybe the temp at which the cornbread is baked isn't high enough to cause the problem? It's baked at about 350-deg F.

Marie Sharp is considered a "treasure" in Belize and her story is complicated, fascinating, and intriguing. I've been enjoying her sauces since the mid 1980s. Some of her story can be found at the link below. If you like her products, her story might interest you as well. https://www.culinarytreasure.com/marie-sharps-culinary-treasure-interview-with-steven-shomler/

Q & A with a friend in Wisconsin: Q: What's your secret for consistently getting such nice-looking avocados? A: I buy a bag 5 or so at a time and when all ripe. Place avocados in a bowl with water till covered set in the refrigerator and they will keep for a week and stay the same. Q: just to be clear, are the 'cados placed in the water while in their skins? A: Yes just like you bought them. I had a minute, and I wanted to post how I keep them. These have been in the fridge since Monday.

@Maison Rustique I'm a bit confused ... are you planning to take the meat off the bones of the already purchased cooked ribs, or something else?

Jackpot today! A delicious delivery of some favorite Marie Sharp hot sauces. The Garlic Pepper and Green Habanero are two recent favorites. They are very flavorful, not particularly hot, and are enjoyable with a wide variety of foods. The Smoked Habanero has been a long-time favorite. I updated a favorite pot. I made a mistake and recently purchased this pot (All-Clad D5 1.5 quart) in a shiny finish which annoyed me every time I looked at it. My maintenance guy liked it, we made a deal, he got the shiny pot, and today the pot with a brushed finish arrived. Frankly, I was surprised at how much the shiny variant annoyed me. A new garlic press was also delivered. It supplements a press I already have but which has a much smaller hopper. While it's a well-made and capable press, its limited size capacity has been bothering me for years, and recently while watching a cooking show, I discovered this press sold by Ikea. The press is $18.00 on Amazon and $6.50 at Ikea. For the money, it was a no-brainer. I used it this evening and love the extra capacity. I subscribe to Peet's "Small Batch Series" and every month I get a pound of coffee that Peet's sells in limited quantities. I never know what will be arriving so there's an opportunity to explore a wide variety of coffee that I'd probably overlook. The surprise for this month arrived today. I don't think I've ever had so many deliveries in a single day.

It doesn't seem at all complicated to me. The short version is to put cornmeal in the pot, pour boiling water over it, stir to eliminate lumps, cover the pot, come back several hours later and continue cooking and stirring until desired results are obtained. Perhaps my wordiness made it seem complicated. It's the same method many people use for cooking steel-cut oats, a technique that I learned from America's Test Kitchen.

Last night, I made polenta using a new technique and was quite pleased with the result. Over the years, I've tried several different techniques and a variety of cornmeal products, and I may have finally found a combination that works for me. The intent was to shorten the cooking time in the morning and make the resultant polenta softer and smoother. For over a dozen years, Bob's Red Mill medium-grind organic cornmeal has been my (mostly) go-to product for muffins, cornbread, Johnny cakes, and porridge. I've also used it for polenta, but the results were not to my liking. My biggest complaint was that the polenta was a little too roughly textured, and some grains were not hydrated sufficiently. Those characteristics were fine for uses other than polenta, but I wanted the polenta to be a little smoother, softer, and “creamier.” A few years ago I started using a corn muffin recipe that called for soaking the cornmeal in heated milk, and for several years I’ve been making steel-cut oats by soaking them overnight in water that had been boiled to shorten the cooking time in the morning. Taking a cue from these techniques, I made last night's polenta by putting the cornmeal into a thick, heavy pot (to retain heat) and adding boiling water to it. The water:cornmeal ratio was 5:1 compared to my more usual 3 or 4 to 1 ratio. The mixture was stirred well to eliminate clumping, which was minimal, while the hob was turned on to keep the temperature up. Once the mixture came back up to boiling temp, the heat was turned off, the pot was covered, and left to sit on the now slowly cooling hob overnight for about six hours. In the morning, the mixture was reheated and stirred for about 25 minutes to reach the desired texture, less than half the time it usually took to make polenta, The polenta still had some texture to it, but was soft throughout and had a creamier mouth feel compared to previous techniques. Overall, the result was satisfying and quite close to the intended result ... almost exactly what I was looking for. When making it again, I may increase the water:cornmeal ratio slightly and/or increase the overnight soaking time. Shorter cooking time, better texture, more corn flavor than with other brands and techniques.

Off-the-shelf Lunch: I added a small chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce to a container of TJ's Low Sodium Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup, gave the mixture a ride in the Vitamix, and ended up with a subtly smoky and lightly piquante cup of soup for a simple and surprisingly tasty lunch.

Nor have I, so I searched and was surprised by how many options there are. Here are but a few. I can't imagine buying such an item as there are other premade options available, such as Kozy Shack (which I've tried), and the puddings I like are so easy and quick to make. Still, I'd be curious enough to purchase a can or two just to see what they're like.