Shel_B

Thanks so much Deryn and TFTC. I appreciate your help, suggestions, and kind words very much. I'll be doing the cooking and final prep today. It should be an interesting and fun day.

I don't know what a "long time" is, but it could be as much as 10 to 12 hours +/-. It just depends on my pain and comfort level. I am working with about 10-lbs of potatoes, more than I've ever done. When I make the salad for parties and dinners, I've never made more than 4-lbs, and even when I'm feeling well, I work slowly and have to stand a while. Sometimes I'll sit at the dining room table and work sitting down. That's a big help, but, unfortunately, that won't work so well under the circumstances. The bed idea won't work in this situation. I have enough big pots, space in the fridge, and big mixing/storage bowls to get everything done at once. I hadn't thought about keeping the potatoes cold. Since you've done that, and for the time I'll probably need for my project, that's what I'll do, unless someone says that the idea is not workable, and then I'll investigate further. The event is Sunday, and I plan to start preparation this afternoon and, hopefully, start cooking this evening, but definitely by tomorrow morning. I want everything done tomorrow so I don't have to fuss on the day of the party. Thanks so much for your input.

I am making a huge batch of potato salad for our Mothers Day BBQ. I recently injured my knee, and cannot stand very long, and sitting is quite uncomfortable since I have to bend my leg and, even with pain medication, it's painful and the knee gets stiff. I may have to peel and dice the potatoes in stages, taking a rest every now and then. I don't want to leave the spuds exposed to the air for an undetermined amount of time, and thought that covering them with water for a while, before cooking, would be a good idea. How long can the potatoes be left soaking before they get waterlogged or in some way suffer? Or would they even get waterlogged or suffer from a long-term soaking? Is this something I have to be concerned about? Thanks!

Thanks!

A couple of weeks ago we had an event here at my apartment building. The woman who made the coffee told me that she added a small amount of salt to the freshly brewed coffee. I was stunned ... never heard of such a thing! A few days ago I was watching an old episode of Good Eats, and there was Alton adding a pinch of salt to his fresh-brewed French press coffee, saying that the salt reduces bitterness. Once again I was surprised. So, what's the story behind adding salt to fresh-brewed coffee? Is it done if the beans are mediocre or poorly roasted? Or when certain methods are used for brewing? Or is it just something people do because they heard about it and don't know better ... like how searing a steak seals in juices? Do you put salt in your coffee? Thanks!

How do you know it's "the real deal?" Not only 100% olive oil, but meeting the standards of a true extra virgin oil?

I couldn't see myself doing that. There are several very good olive oils in my cupboard as well as some excellent vegetable oils. It's much simpler to make my own blend both because there's no need to store another bottle/can of oil here (especially one of unknown quality and provenance) and the amount of blended oil I'd use in a year would be very small.

Thanks for confirming that. I'd make my own blend with oils of my choosing.

Earlier this month I spent about a week in Scottsdale, AZ, and we went to a few very nice restaurants. One had a dish I particularly liked, and I asked for, and received, the recipe, which was emailed to me a few days ago. One of the ingredients was described as "olive oil blend." Anybody have an idea what that might be? I'm thinking olive oil plus some other vegetable oil, yes?

How about a recipe? FWIW, I'm a big fan of the Massa brown rice. Been using it almost exclusively for several years.

2 cups cream + 2/3 cup sugar reduced to 2 cups.

This should help you ... http://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/173-introducing-lemon-posset

Hi ... I'm out of town and won't have a chance to do any cooking or play in my kitchen for about a week. However, I am glad you made the posset and that you posted your results. While researching recipes I found that some people felt their recipes were a bit thin, as you described. CI has a recipe in which the cream is cooked down a bit, and the recipe writer suggests that by reducing the cream the posset gets thicker. I will try that technique when I make my posset, and will also experiment with the amounts of sugar. I believe that by adjusting the sugar, the dessert can be made thicker or thinner. According to the CI recipe developer, the less sugar in the mix, the thinner and looser the dessert was. Having looked at Ramsay's recipe, I decided that I didn't want to use it because I thought it may be thinner and less than what I'm looking for. Here's my plan: I can get 40%+ butterfat cream here, and I'll use two cups of that. The CI recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar, but I plan to use a little less, and will start with 5 Tbs of lemon juice + some zest. I'll cook the cream with sugar until it's reduced to two cups, about 8 - 10 minutes, then, off heat, add the lemon juice and zest. When a skin forms I'll strain the mixture into ramekins and chill for a few hours. This will be my starting point.

Lemon Posset ... what could be simpler, right. It's a dessert I just recently learned of, and I've been reading numerous on line recipes and techniques. In the next day or so I'm going to make my first batch. However, I thought I'd ask for any tips or techniques that you may have used that give good results. For example, most recipes I've read call for using granulated sugar, but one or two suggested using castor or superfine sugar, reasoning that the finer sugar dissolves more quickly and eliminates the possibility of the posset being grainy. That makes sense, but is it necessary? Granulated sugar seems like it may need more cooking time to properly dissolve. I looked in several markets for superfine sugar and couldn't find any, so, if using it really results in a better product, I'll continue looking. One or two recipes call for reducing the cream/sugar mixture, while most don't. CI's recipe calls for a rather long cooking time and a rather substantial reduction of the mixture. How important is it for the mixture to be reduced vs just being heated and mixed long enough for the sugar to be dissolved? Anyway, you get the picture ... I'm open to suggestions from those of you who have perfected your posset techniques.

I have made the brownies from the triple chocolate mix sold at Costco. I add some Peet's Dutch process cocoa, some TJ's instant Colombian coffee crystals, and some vanilla. The extra ingredients really kick up the results from the standard mix.

Hi, Elsie ... both types of frozen brown rice and the frozen rice medley come in 10-oz packages. Toots and I enjoy them a few times a year. Each packet provides sufficient rice for the two of us when eaten with an entrée. I

Let me be more specific and detailed. I use a mini muffin pan. The meatballs are made to be just a scosh larger than the upper diameter of the cups, thereby resting on the edge of the cup lip rather than in the muffin cup. Much of the moisture or fat that exudes from the meatballs drips down into the cup and, therefore, away from the meat. When I've cooked them on a tray, the fat and moisture that runs out of the balls tends to gather around the balls, causing a certain mushiness and greasy taste and feel. In addition, the balls stay rounder (at least for me) than when they are on a tray. That may or may not be important for you, but it sometimes is for me. Finally, I coat the meatballs with bread crumbs, and cook them in a hot oven. Any fat that does exude from the balls is absorbed by the bread crumbs and aids in their browning, adding a nice accent to the meatballs. I got this technique from an old "Good Eats" show, and have been playing with it for about a year. The technique works well for me ... YMMV.

Been meaning to follow up on this for some time: the technique worked great for me.

Doubtful, even considering personal preference. I'd suggest you try making your pasta water truly as salty as sea water and see how you like it. Might be just right for your taste. http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/how-salty-should-pasta-water-be.html

Just curious ... what displeased you?

Toots is from Argentina, and this year, at Toots' request, I'm preparing Bife a Caballo, a very typical Argentine meal, although I'll be making potatoes roasted with duck or goose fat instead of what has become the more typical French fries. They'll be roasted along with some home-grown rosemary which I just picked a couple of hours ago, and which is very fragrant. Often a chimichurri sauce is part of this dish, but Toots doesn't care much for chimichurri, so I'll add a simple salad of butter lettuce and radicchio with a home made balsamic dressing. This past Wednesday a friend from Argentina brought us some chocolate and dulce de leche treats from the Havanna bakery in Mar del Plata, and we'll enjoy those for dessert. We love their alfajores, and we're looking forward to trying these chocolate havannets. Breakfast will include my first attempt at making scones, which will be served with my home made Meyer lemon curd and sweeties excellent, organic apricot preserves. The apricots were from her son's trees. The steaks will be a couple of rib eyes from grass fed cattle raised on a friend's ranch in nearby Livermore. About three times a year we'll cook beef at home, and we get all that we eat from my friend. His beef has proven to be consistently good. The Meyer lemons come from either another friend's tree in Berkeley, or from trees on a ranch in nearby Winters, CA, where Toots' son and daughter-in-law live. Last year I bought Toots a Meyer lemon tree, and we put it in her yard. The first crop of lemons look great, but they're not quite ripe now, however, soon we'll be able to enjoy our very own lemons. I hope everyone enjoys their dinner and time with their sweetie as much as Toots and I will enjoy oursz

This is a subject in which I'm very interested. I participated in the linked discussion and just had to jump in here as well. In January, 60 Minutes did a story about olive oil fraud in Italy. The problem may be more widespread and more serious than some people thought. In the above-linked discussion at least one person said that s/he could tell good oil from bad, but that doesn't seem to be the case for most people, and I doubt that this person could always discern real oil from counterfeit or adulterated oil. For example, Cook's Illustrated does tasting tests, and some time ago they tested extra virgin olive oil. At least one of their highly rated and recommended oils has been shown to be counterfeit, or at least not up to the standards of real extra virgin oil. CI holds themselves out to do rigorous testing, yet they were unable to detect crap from the good stuff. Once again, I strongly suggest that most people buy and use well-regarded California extra virgin olive oil. Some have complained that they don't live in California and therefore cannot get these oils. In fact, many of these oils are available nationwide, or at least in most parts of the US. I sometimes buy the TJ's California Estate EVOO and have found it to be quite acceptable. In fact, I may pick up a bottle today ... it's definitely a good, every day oil. If you care about quality olive oil, here's a site you might want to visit: http://www.bestoliveoils.com/

I bought two packages of the Thai Chili Burgers yesterday. They looked very interesting and I plan on trying them tonight or tomorrow. TJ's Fire Roasted Diced Green Chiles look good, and I will get them specifically for one of my pot luck dishes.

http://tuftyceramics.com/ I have the three pans shown on the linked page, and have been using one since about 1979, when I got my first one. They are wonderful for what I do ... transfer heat well, provide great browning, are just about non-stick (but I always use just a scosh of butter), and practically indestructible. Highly recommended, although I think most people would be more comfortable with traditional, contemporary pans. When my wife and I split, she took one of my pans, and I looked for many years to find replacements. Click here for more details. These pans are definitely worth considering.

A few days ago I was in our local produce market looking for some Bob's Red Mill products, and, to my surprise, came across these potato flakes: http://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-flakes.html which caused me to remember this discussion. I didn't buy them, and, therefore, haven't tried them, but I may. What I liked about them was their ingredient list: Potato flakes, nothing more. Maybe they're worth a try ... had they been in my pantry, I may have added some to my potato-leek-cabbage soup last night, just to give it a scosh more thickness.