Shel_B

Toots buys these chickens and makes stock from the remains. I've never cared for the results, finding it too salty for my taste and too intense, and somewhat muddy in the flavor profile. However, she'll sometimes make the stock and I'll add water to it, and it's not too bad - more acceptable. However, I much prefer making stock from fresh chicken.

Have you tried rehydrating the bulghur in the dressing, and eliminating the water? How about oven-dried tomatoes? What do you put in your dressing? Thanks! .... Shel

I couldn't find a topic on this subject ... What are your preferences for preparing and for ingredients for tabouleh? .... Shel

Probably ... I'll ask her when I next see her, or perhaps I'll drop her an email later today. .... Shel

My GF is from Argentina, and she makes flan frequently. She's been making it for decades. The friends and associates that she makes it for rave about it, and it's always requested that she bring it to their pot lucks, luncheons, and other social gatherings. She never uses condensed or evaporated milk. I watched her make a flan just last night. She measured some milk, added vanilla and sugar, beat some eggs and added that to the milk, and put it into her regular flan tray (which already contained her "burnt sugar"), stuck it in a hot water bath and put everything into the preheated oven. Another fine flan ... .... Shel

Huge portions. Example: there's a bagel place near me that, when asked for a schmear of cream cheese, piles, literally, about 1/4-inch of cream cheese on the bagel, more than enough for two bagels and some to take home. Pizza with so much cheese on it that it runs off the slice to the point that I can take the excess home and make a cheese sandwich with it. Salads so over dressed that I now only order dressing on the side. Food that's not hot: soup that's luke warm to the point I send it back to be heated. Hamburgers piled so high with garnish (lettuce, tomato, pickles, avocado, bacon, and what not) that one cannot easily take a bite out of the sandwich and the thing has to be held together with a huge toothpick. Remove the toothpick and the stack can't even support itself. Leave the toothpick in, and it impales you. .... Shel

What you suggest would work, and Panaderia's suggestions are good as well. You could also put some garlic cloves in oil (lightly crushed or not) and heat it on the stove. You'd get a somewhat similar result as the sunlight extraction, but a lot quicker. Hope this helps. .... Shel

I've been moving to water instead of stock for some soups for a while, and often I'll use a very "thin" stock for a subtle background note. I generally like the results. However, sometimes I find that water from the tap has an off taste ... maybe you've experienced that as well ... chemicals from water treatment, old pipes are a couple of issues that detract from the taste of pure, clean water. If you've experienced these problems, how do you deal with it? Ignore it? Bottled water? Filtering? What kind of filter? .... Shel

At one time I always used stock of some sort when making soup. Recently I've started reducing the amount of stock I use, and using a greater proportion of water in my soups. I sometimes thin chicken stock with water when making chicken soup, and that allows the actual chicken and vegetables to shine a little more brightly. There are some recipes that I recently came across that suggest using water instead of stock altogether. So, when do you use water, when do you use stock or a "thin" stock? Have you found that certain recipes that call for stock give better, or more satisfactory, results with water or a lesser proportion of stock? Thanks! ....Shel

I have made my own sauces in the past, in fact, I had a small business selling some locally. Very familiar with the NC sauces - have created a few recipes that I like and still use. Wanting a commercial sauce that suits the taste of Toots and me is just another option. ...Shel

I prefer the plain matzoh - always have. Over the years I've become accustomed to matzoh imported from Israel. The ones I've tried seem to be a little more crunchy than the more typical US made matzohs, like Streits and Manischewitz. And, if I recall correctly, one of the US made matzoh brands contains ingredients other than the traditional flour and water. In addition, they're more expensive than the imported brands I've tried, and contain fewer matzohs. Plain matzoh seems to be a better choice for making matzoh brei (did I spell that correctly?), which I love making for Toots a couple of times a year. ...Shel

I mostly buy TJ's Greek style yogurt, and prefer the fat free style. The full fat style is too heavy for my taste. I like TJ's because it's easy to come by, there are no additives or fillers, and the price is reasonable. TJ's is now carrying an organic Greek style yogurt, which I've not tried yet. Straus Family Farms produces some nice organic yogurts, although it's probably not available nationally. I just bought a tub of their Greek style non-fat and I like the fullness of the flavor. I think it'll be nice in my panna cotta recipe. I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison with TJ's yogurt. Nancy's has some satisfactory yogurt products as well, but I'venot purchased any for quite a while as TJ's has a good selection and their store is very convenient to me. ...Shel

Which one do you have? There seem to be several models. ...Shel

I'm using a "Betty Crocker" brand vegetable peeler that was given to me by my GF. It's OK, but I'm not very pleased with the way it works. However, I've not tried other brands, so I really don't have a point of comparison. Are all vegetable peelers pretty much the same? Are there some designs (are there other designs?) that work better? What do you use, why do you use it or like it, and have you made any comparisons? Thanks! ...Shel

There's nothing wrong with olive oil, however, it's nice to have options. Cooking with a lot of oil adds calories, calories add body fat. So, as has been posted in this forum many times, "everything in moderation," and let me add "even good things." ...Shel

Plantes Vertes ... Thanks for some great ideas! For health reasons I must cut back on my fat intake, and it's been difficult for me to find low fat or fat free vegetarian recipes and ideas ...Shel

No to GMO, but the apple callus hairs seem like a very real possibility. The apples had a somewhat brownish flesh, which is, according to the articles I read, typical of the problem. The hairs also frequently contain small starch granules. I'd guess that, when heated and cooked, the starch firms up, and prevents the apple pieces from breaking down. ...Shel

This past weekend we bought some Fuji apples from our usual vendor at the local farmers market. We were going to make apple sauce. I prepared the apples in the usual way: peeled them, cut them in various sized chunks from thin slivers to about 1/2-inch. I put them in a pot, added a squeeze of lemon juice, and started cooking. After some time, when the apples usually have broken down a bit, these pieces had not. I increased the heat, added water at Toots' suggestion, continued cooking for a l-o-n-g time, but the apples never broke down, not one bit. Even the thin, thin slices remained firm (and somewhat rubbery). What could the problem have been. In all the years we've been making apple sauce, together and separately, with a variety of pots and on several different stoves, we have never encountered this problem. Parenthetically, we used these cooked apple pieces in our hot cereal the next morning after they spent the night in the fridge. After cooking them again with the cereal, they still didn't break down - not one iota! What could have caused this situation? ...Shel

I don't know what a PID is. I used to have a Rival Crock Pot, maybe 20 years ago, and there was never an issue with boiling, regardless of what temp setting was used or the length of cooking time. I believe that quality control for many contemporary items just plain sucks. ...Shel

You're right in that the taste profile would be more satisfactory to me, but it has plenty of sugar in it even though it's not as sweet as most commercial sauces. ...Shel

I'd like to find a place in the San Francisco Bay Area, preferably in the East Bay, where I might be able to buy this Scotch by the glass. Any suggestions? Thanks! ...Shel http://www.winechateau.com/sku1556627_CHIVAS-REGAL-SCOTCH-ROYAL-SALUTE-38-YEAR-OLD-STONE-OF-DESTINY-750ML

Hi Jaymes ... those Central Texas sauces sound remarkably similar to the Down East and Lexington style sauces of North Carolina. Not quite what I was looking for in my original question, but simple and easy enough to make at home. Thanks for the "reminder." ...Shel

Is there any comercially prepared BBQ sauce that's made without a lot of sugar or high fructose corn syrup, or even sugar free, and preferably one that's medium hot to hot? ...Shel

What's the material of the insert? I couldn't determine that from the Amazon site. Thanks! ...Shel

Not a single good review on BB&B site. One person mentioned it's made in China. I'm not going to underwrite the cost of experimenting with this one. ...Shel