Shel_B

The apple choice will depend on what's available. It's not apple season yet, although I may try a test batch with whatever is in the store now. Usually I get apples from local growers at the farmers' market, and a neighbor has a couple of Gravenstein trees that we harvest come September. Also, I don't know how the apples will hold up to time in the smoker or on the grill, so maybe a certain type is a better choice, something with a firmness and texture of a Honey Crisp.

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, a light smoke would seem the way to go. The next time I cook with fire, I'll add a few apples and see what happens. Perhaps using fruit wood would be a good way to go ... BTW, a web search shows that a number of people have been making smoked and grilled apples and are pleased with the results.

If you've not tried them, how do you know they're done pretty well?

While cruising thru the recipes here, I saw a recipe that called for smoked apples. Well, that got me to thinking about smoked apple sauce. I like to make apple sauce, and have made it a couple of ways, but never with smoked apples. It seems like a bad idea, but I couldn't help but wonder ... has anyone tried making smoked apple sauce? Any thoughts on how it may turn out? If, as I suspect, the smoke flavor wouldn't work well, how might the apple sauce be made so that the smoke flavor might work satisfactorily?

Never having used a pressure cooker, much prefering to cook in more traditional ways, I don't understrand the enthusiasm that some people have for it. Apart from shortening cooking time, what benefits does a pressure cooker offer? There must be some down sides as well as benefits. What are the down sides to using a pressure cooker? My thoughts are that some subtlety of flavor and texture might be lost. Comments?

Here in Berkeley the customrs are encouraged to bring their own bags, whether paper, plastic, or cloth, regardless of what name may be printed on them. Many stores offer discounts of up to ten cents per bag for every bag that you supply. People use randomly branded bags at all the stores with no hassle.

Mamy of the local stores will weigh your container on the way in and note the weight on the container.

Home made apple sauce (using high quality organic apples from the trees in the neighbor's yard) is substantially cheaper than any store bought apple sauce. And while I've not actually run the costs, it seems that apple sauce made from in season organic apples purchased at the farmers' market is less expensive than the organic apple sauce purchased at Whole Foods and similar, local stores.

I watched a few episodes and found the show to be boring and predictable in content. Yeah, it was somewhat interesting trying to guess the winner, but after watching a couple of episodes the entire process became repetitive and I lost interest in the process. The show is over-amped and not very entertaining past a few episodes. A Big Yawn!

You might like this idea for Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

Penzeys sells glass jars in various sizes with screw caps and labels. The jars come in two styles, one with a "shaker" cap and the other wide-mouth so you can dip a small scoop into them. Capacities are 4oz, 8oz, 16oz, and 32oz.

Is there a half way decent chain restaurant that serves fish & chips? I'm not looking for, nor do I expect to find, excellent quality, (although that would be nice), rather, some place that offers reasonably acceptable fare for the times the mood strikes when I'm traveling and other options are unappealing.

Yes, it's Israeli. I think it's the same brand that the local TJ's have been carrying for the past few years.

Quick question: How long can black and white peppercorns be stored before losing potency and flavor? Thanks!

I bought some of the Talamanca recently and absolutely LOVE it. I took some into a place where I often eat lunch and shared it with some people, and they all thought it was great as well. Highly recommended!

I bought a couple of boxes of Holyland Matzo (http://estouest.blog.lemonde.fr/files/2007/03/holylandmatzos.1174436055.jpg) that Trader Joe's was carrying. The price was about 1/3 the price of Streits or Manischwitz, and the matzo was nice and crispy. It held up very well to making matzo brie, which was the intended purpose of the purchase. It was also pretty strong, holding up well to spreading with butter or cream cheese - it didn't break as easily as some other matzohs I've tried. I really like the crisp, firm texture.

Just because you only use the pan for omelets doesn't make the non-stick pan a unitasker. After all, it can be used for making sauces, frying and sautéing meat or vegetables ...

Recently the local TJ's has started carrying Trader Joe's Whole Grain Dijon Mustard. It's a fairly strong, deep flavored mustard. We like it quite a bit - much better and more interesting than the earlier TJ's Dijon that we tried. Anyone else try it and like it?

I'll look into the book. There are plenty available on line for as little as 99-cents. Frontier products has been the subject of a major recall in March. I usually don't use Frontier products. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm204072.htm

I'll take a look at Ripert's books. I've looked through Johnson's book a few times (it is a good one) and finally broke down and ordered it a few days ago. I buy my fresh fish from him - been doing so for years - as I live near the market and his product is first rate. FWIW, he co-wrote the California Seafood Cookbook, another excellent book. I got my copy directly from Paul as he sold them at the market.

For a variety of reasons, I'll be eating a lot more fish and cutting back on red meat and some dairy products. Although I've cooked a fair amount of fish in my day, a lot of it has been very simple, like poaching salmon or baking and grilling. This was fine as I didn't eat fish often and my limited cooking methods were adequate. Now I'd like to get some more exciting ideas for cooking fish and sea food, but at the same time I'd like to keep the cooking methods low in saturated fat. Using olive oil and other flavored oils is fine, and calories are not an issue. Learning more about what herbs go best with what fish would be helpful. And recommendations for fish cookbooks would be appreciated.

I know how to brew coffee, I sometimes roast my own at home with a coffee roaster, and I understand about old coffe, under roasted coffee, and the like. This was not old coffee, nor was it under roasted. It was just not roasted the way I prefer my beans to be roasted. I bought a dark roast that was not to my satisfaction. The same beans from the same roaster, roasted darker, are more to my liking. Therefore my question. The answer, it seems, is that I can't re-roast the coffee beans. Although, in another venue, a fellow mentioned an article in coffeegeek.com that said the Swiss often do it, although the coffee takes on a different character. I've not read the article yet. Thanks for jumping in.

Recently I bought some dark roasted coffee, but it turned out the roast wasn't dark enpough for my taste. While sipping the insipid brew, I asked myself, "Why can't I take these beans and roast them some more?" Now I'm asking you, the coffee mavens. Can this be done? And how might be the best way to do it? Thanks!

Yesterday I bought some chorizo sausage for the first time. From the package information it was Mexican style. I believe there's a Spanish style, and maybe some other types as well. Since I bought the sausage to pill a dog, I didn't care much about taste or quality. Actually, I bought it because it was the cheapest sausage in the meat case. However, I did fry up a small piece just to give it a taste. It was incredibly greasy - there was a big puddle of grease in the skillet - and that allowed the meat, such as it was, to crisp up nicely. But there's more to sausage than crispy meat. So, what should this chorizo novice look for in good chorizo? Is it usually so greasy? What meats and spices would be considered for a good quality, traditional chorizo? What are the differences between Mexican, Spanish, and other types of chorizo? Thanks!

So, has anyone got a few good ideas for these delicious and sometimes all-too-seasonal little jewels? I'm running out of ideas and my recipe computer is in the shop. I've got chicken broth and plenty of schmaltz, and of course, matzoh.