Shel_B

Do you leave the items in the drawer when the oven is on?

Perhaps you're painting a generalization with too broad a brush. There are brands of beans packed without sugar, such as Eden organics, and I believe Trader Joe's have no sugar as well. There are only a few brands that I buy, and to the best of my recollection, none contain sugar. A couple of years ago I discovered fresh, raw garbanzos. They're sold in the various farmers' markets here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and they sure are a treat. Highly recommended - great in salads.

Based on some articles I read since posting the question, it's possible that there was too much fat in the coconut milk or that I didn't let the gelatine sit long enough on the coconut milk. It's also possible that I did not use a wide enough diameter container for the liquid thereby not getting enough of the gelatine moist. I used a different cup for the liquid this time, and the diameter was about 1/3 that of the vessel I usually use.

I used one packet of gelatine to a half cup of liquid.

My gas stove has a drawer at the bottom, beneath the oven heating element. I was wondering how safe it would be to store a few items in that drawer. I was thinking about some skillets, baking trays, and so on. It would seem that those items would not suffer from any heat produced by the oven. However, there are also some Tupperware type storage containers that I'd like to find a home for, and if they's be safe in the drawer, it would go a long way to freeing up some needed space in the cabinets and on the shelves. So, how might such items fare in that environment?

I tried two types that I picked up at TJ's, one of which was basil and I don't recall the other- m aybe parsley? I was not satisfied with the flavors, but that's part of the price one pays for convenience. It's up to the individual to determine the degree of compromise that's acceptable.

I'm a senior citizen, and so is my lady friend. She raised a family of six, and for fifty years she cooked three meals a day for her family. She's 82 years old and she deserves a break. Well, once a year she makes a huge amount of goulash for her kids' birthday. Last year she asked me to help her dice 8-lbs of onions for the dish. Although I was willing to help, her daughter, for whom she was making the goulash, offered us the loan of her Vidalia Chop Wizard. My initial reaction was to dismiss the Wizard as just another goofy kitchen gadget, and, in a way it is. However, after using it to quickly dice 8-lbs of onions, I liked that goofy gadget quite a bit, and let the daughter know how much I liked it. She bought me one of my very own for Christmas last year. Now, the Chop Wizard sits in the cabinet all year. There's little or no need to use it for an onion or two, or the more typical daily kitchen jobs. But come December, when it's the kids' birthday, that Wizared makes an appearance. Today is the party, and a couple of days ago I diced 8-lbs of onions, including peeling them, in about 30-minutes. The Wizard ain't high tech. it has no high quality engineering, and is not endorsed by any Food Network star. It's even cheaply made, and I have no thoughts of handing it down to my great grandchildren. But, it does the job quickly and efficiently. And it goes into the dishwasher, too. So, when you get to the point in life when your hands hurt, or your back gives you pain, and standing for long periods of time doing repetitive tasks at the kitchen counter is the last thing you want to be doing, think about that cheap little plastic gadget as a possible solution.

Last night I made a panna cotta and used, for the first time, coconut milk as an ingredient. I tried to dissolve the gelatine in the coconut milk, but the results were poor. The (powdered) gelatine just sat atop the milk and didn't soften, and when mixed into the milk and warm cream mixture, endend up with a number of lumps and clumps. Is gelatine and coconut milk somehow incompatible? BTW, I used a light coconut milk. Might I have had better results with regular coconut milk by using the thinner, watery portion to dissolve the gelatine and adding the thicker cream later? Thanks!

Since posting my original question, I found this page: http://www.meyergroup.co.uk/cookware/MeyerCookwareGuide2.html?Lang=1

I have heard that there are two or three methods for attaching the disks to the bottom of pans. Does anyone know how the disks are attached and whichof the methods may be "better?" Is it possible for the disks to separated or detach from the pan under severe use or abuse? Thanks!

Since I read this post several months ago, I've been geting the bread regularly. It's one of my favories. As it happens, one of the local senior centers that I fraequent has a del with several bread producers and sellers to get their day old and close to expiration bread, and it's passed along to us for free. So, since I almost always end up freezing bread as I cannot eat an entire loaf before it starts to go bad, this is a great deal. I love toasting it in the oven.

It would be interesting to see how well it holds up. Over the past few years there have been many reports of poor quality for enameled cast iron made in China. With that information in mind, and the good results I had with earlier LC, my latest "Dutch oven" purchase was LC. Staub also has a good reputation.

Hmmm ... I never thought of it before, but does shredded, dried coconut freeze well, or is it even necessary to freeze it?

Like others, I'm not a big user of prepared foods. That said, there's usually frozen blueberries, raspberries, sometimes mango chunks or halves in the freezer, as well as some vegetables like spinach, corn, peas, bell pepper pieces, and edamame and lima beans, sometimes green beans, and rarely, broccoli or cauliflower. Most of these are organic or pesticide-free items from Trader Joe. I also keep cooked rice in the freezer. I'll make up a large batch of brown rice and put it in a large zip lock bag, layed out flat, and then just break off a chunk whenever it's needed. Rice freezes very well, and since it takes a while to make brown rice, it's very handy to have around. And there's always room for leftovers ...

Judy Rodgers mentions using clean cloth napkins to filter stock and other liquids. I tried that technique and had good results. I imagine a t-shirt, or even a clean handkerchief, would work as well. FWIW, I don't use laundry detergents with dyes or fragrance. However, a coffee filter seems like a good idea for some liquids - others, those that are thicker or filled with solids, seem to clog the coffee filter, and a cloth works better since it can be squeezed to force the liquid through.

In a way this is more an academic question than anything, but curiosity has prompted me to ask. Toots makes a nice pot luck dish (eggs, spinach, corn, the ubiquitous cream of mushroom soup, etc) that we both enjoy for its ease of preparation and flexibility. She prepares it in an 11" x 7" Pyrex dish. I have a Corningware casserole with square dimensions, 8.25" x 8.25" approximately, which is slightly deeper than her Pyrex. The overall volume of the two dishes is about the same. Given similar volumes, how do the dimensions effect cooking time? Are there situations where dimensions are more critical than others? And what about shape, such as round v square, assuming similar volume? Just curious ... Thanks!

Wednesday I made my first cheesecake - a lemon goat cheese version - which came out pretty well and was liked by all who tried it. The crust, made mith Trader Joe's Meyer lemon flavored cookies, was very tasty. However, it was crumbly and pieces broke off leaving quite a few crumbs. Is this typical of traditional graham cracker crusts? If not, maybe the different texture and makeup of the lemon cookies contributed to the problem. In any case, how might I make the crust so it will be more likely to stay together? Thanks!

Is the upper rack hotter than the lower rack? Thanks!

Thanks for all the input thus far. Ideas abound ... off to the market tomorrow to get the eggplant and some other ingredients and play around with some recipes on Sunday.

Thanks for the pointer and your comments. Looking forward to playing with this new recipe idea. Kind regards,

Toots loves eggplant with black bean sauce, and has asked me to prepare it at home. I've never made it, and can't tell from recipes I've found on line what may be good or not. So, perhaps the mavens at eGullet can help. I'd appreciate any good, proven recipes and techniques, bearing in mind that we don't have a wok and Toots' apartment stove doesn't lend itself to wok cooking. It would be nice to get some suggestions for a prepared black bean sauce (I bought some Lee Kum Kee sauce yesterday, but perhaps there's a more interesting version out there) as well as a recipe or ideas for making my own. Toots does not care for green peppers so recipes that include an alternative, as opposed to just leaving them out, would be especially appreciated. In any case, any ideas would be welcome. None of the recipes I've looked at thus far have suggested salting and eliminating water from the eggplant which, I understand from other recipes, may be a good idea. Comments on this technique? FWIW, I'm not a big fan of eggplant so I've never prepared it - this is just for Toots. Thanks!

Thanks for the input. I've now a better idea of why my intended results have been erratic.

Sometimes I use a blender to puree,other times a food processor. Sometimesthe results are excellent,other times not so terrific. When do you use which tool? Any rules of thumb? Thanks!

Yes, after cooking the meat is shredded off the bone and goes into the sauce. Thanks!

There's a recipe that I'd like to make, a pork ragu, which calls for riblets: "Get three pounds of ribs and cut them into riblets," it says. I checked on line and the results seem to indicate a lot of wasted ribs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riblets So, what are riblets? Thanks!