Katie Meadow

If your buckwheat noodles were truly wheat-free and you really couldn't tell the difference between them and the typically available ones--which are made partly from wheat--anyone who avoids wheat would like to know what brand they are. For a period of time I was not eating wheat, and I could never find 100% buckwheat noodles. I eat modest amounts of wheat now, and I'm very happy about that, but there was a period of time during which $2.50 per serving would have been a bargain for a noodle that actually tasted like a noodle. (For those who don't know this, buckwheat is not a close relative of wheat and is usually okay for those who are gluten-free.)

Does anyone who frequents this thread make an "English Muffin Bread" loaf? We have tried one so far, and it was very good, but didn't really remind me of the taste of an English Muffin. Just want to be pointed in the direction of a recipe someone swears by. Thanks!

Our recipe is pulled from various sources and has evolved over the years. We've been doing this for many years since we realized that we liked marmalade far better than most jam and that most commercial marmalade wasn't what we wanted it to be--either too solid or too thick-cut or too sweet or too expensive. So this is what we do: Juice the fruit, and measure it and add twice the amount of water. Start heating up in a large heavy pot. Put most of the pips (I usually use about 3/4 of all pips) in a porous cloth bag--basically an old rag tied with sting. I try to add mainly the seeds and as little pith/pulp as possible. Add the pip bag to the juice and simmer 20 minutes. Meanwhile scrape the pith from the rind and cut finely or as you like it (I like it very fine, with no white pith.) After 20 minutes simmering add in the cut peel and continue to cook at a lively simmer 25 minutes. Take out the pip bag and let it cool. Measure the liquid and then put it back into the pot. Add 3/4 cup sugar for every cup of juice. I do sort of squeeze a little extra goop through the pip bag, but then toss out the rest. My marmalade does not get cloudy. The sugar and juice mixture then gets cooked down until the desired temp is reached. We like to pour the marmalade into pint jars when it reaches about 211 degrees. I believe the temp as which you get an ideal consistency (one you like best) is going to vary according to how much sugar you use and how many pips you use, but that's what works for us. Sometimes if we don't get at least 3 1/2 cups of juice from the sevilles at the beginning we will add a little of whatever is at hand--half a grapefruit, a lime, a lemon, whatever. Sevilles have a pretty distinct taste, so a little of some other citrus goes pretty much undetected. Bergamot IS detectable, especially the peel! In my post above I made an error. What I meant was 18-22 half pints total for the year, not pints.

Wow Kerry, that's the most different method from mine that I could imagine. Fp, I wonder if you get better or fresher sevilles in southern CA than we do in the Bay Area. My husband has a theory that as the season winds down the sevilles become less juicy. Last year the crop seemed better than this year. We make 4 batches a year and usually get 18-22 pints, which lasts until the next February, with a few for gifts. In the past we have made a batch or two of marmalade using some bergamot (not too much!) but this year for the first time in years we're not seeing any bergamot around. They are usually available from the very end of December until about mid February, although not easily found. Is there any bergamot in southern CA this year? Just curious. Maybe it was a small crop this year.

I base the ratio on volume, not weight, since sevilles give up varying amounts of juice. Sometimes 4 lbs of oranges will yield as much as 3 1/2 cups of juice. Yesterday we made marmalade and 4.5 lbs of sevilles gave up only 2 1/2 cups. Also the sugar doesn't go in at the beginning for my recipe. We simmer the juice along with twice the quantity of water and most of the pips and cook it down for about 45 minutes (zest goes in halfway). Then we measure the total liquid and use a ratio of 1 cup juice to 3/4 cup sugar, That gets boiled down further until the optimal temp is reached.

Toast. It's what's for dinner. Every toaster has its idiosyncrasies and most of us adjust. It is possible to spend buckets of money on a high tech toaster and still not get the toast you want, because toast isn't a science, it's an art. And ultimately of course the desired result is personal. Plus the fact that every kind of bread toasts in its own particular way. Me, I like toast that doesn't cook too fast or too slow. Too fast usually means dark, but not golden. Too slow often results in too dry, as well as much annoyance, and toast should be a peaceful enterprise, start to finish. Toasting should be like maintaining a good relationship: no fussiness, no hovering, but no negligence either. A healthy breakfast means you love the way your partner makes your toast or you are just as happy to make your own. The new $4 or more slice of toast craze is not news, really, but I found this article linked to from Lottie + Doof to be very touching. If you need your toast and other things very fast, this may not be for you. It's a long and winding road. http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/toast-story-latest-artisanal-food-craze-72676

Most of us who have cut back on salt in the past few years would agree that salt sensitivity is affected by overall consumption. The more you reduce salt in your diet the more restaurant food and processed foods seem too salty. If someone made a pie crust with salted butter I think I would be able to tell. And if I had to cook with a substantial quantity of salted butter I would taste frequently and adjust for the salt. Didn't it used to be more common to purchase salted butter? I grew up with it; I don't think my mother ever considered the difference. If a recipe called for unsalted butter you would have to go out and search for it. Now I use unsalted butter routinely, but every once in a while salted butter seems so right: for instance on rye toast or on a toasted bagel with sweet cream cheese on top of it. My husband hates salted butter, but for me I guess it's nostalgic, which seems weird now that I think about it. Salted butter rarely makes an appearance in my house, and when it does it is usually the result of an accident or someone else buying it, so it seems like a special treat!

Five years ago I bought a Breville Ikon stainless steel electric kettle for my daughter. She used it for a year (with several roommates) and then moved across the country and didn't take it with her. I'm the lucky winner and I couldn't be happier. Before this e-kettle I used a stovetop kettle. My Viking range has a high flame and most likely heats a kettle faster than many stoves, but the Breville is significantly faster. It's a tank, I admit (heavy and industrial looking), but all stainless steel inside and out, minimalist design, not ugly, no bells and whistles except auto shut off after coming to a high boil and it seems built to last. Costs about $70 or $80. I do understand the nostalgia for a stovetop kettle, because I had a beautiful Italian one that I couldn't replace after I wore it out. So if that kind of aesthetics is of primary importance, probably an electric kettle won't measure up, but the only other down side is that it uses counter space. And the older I get the more I know that any appliance without auto shut off adds a risky element to my life, or at least to the appliance. I'm a convert.

Anna, that's the tidiest club sandwich I've ever seen. The toothpick that sticks up is very important, whether or not it has a curly top, although yours is so pretty it deserves a fancy toothpick. Nevertheless, the architect of the club determines whether the poultry is ground level or second floor and the up-end of the toothpick pretty much seals the deal, indicating the maker's preference. Personally however I am in favor of turkey on top, so that it is easier for me to simply remove the middle slice of bread and toss it over onto my husband's plate. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that many people reconstruct a club sandwich as soon as it is served. Clearly the club sandwich will take over any given thread once it gets a claw in the door.

The hotness level of jalapeños seems pretty unpredictable to me, but yes, I agree that they have become tamer, often to the point of being insipid, especially the average super market supply. When I lived in New Mexico during the sixties and early seventies that was not the case. But generally here in CA they are oh so bland. I have found that if I shop at Mi Pueblo, the big hispanic super market, they tend to be hotter, although it varies according to the batch. When I buy them I always buy a few serranos as well, just in case I need them to add heat to the pickle. They are not so predictable, either. As for the end result, if they are hot to begin with when raw, then the pickle will be hot accordingly. I make pickled jalapeños or a mixed pickle with carrots frequently and I'm just resigned to the fact that the heat level is somewhat a factor of chance.

Okay, here's my two cents. First of all, the original post really seemed to be posing a moral question, so I'm gonna back up. Is the donut shop a small mom & pop operation or independently run part of a franchise, or is it inside of a large supermarket? I don't know about where you are, but here in CA most of the standard donut shops are owned by hard woking Cambodians who probably don't see a lot of profit. We are all of us amateur advice columnists, so I say leave well enough alone. If ya like their cronut, or whatever they are calling a cronut, buy and enjoy. If you don't then don't. The world really doesn't need a cronut police any more than it ever needed a cronut. Of course I admit I've never had one and wouldn't know a "real" one from an imposter, but in this case it seems like a little poetic license isn't hurting anyone. Reasonable? I know this doesn't address any legal issues, but where is the offense in all this, really?

I've never done it but here's what I know: Martha Stewart puts plain lightly salted Kettle Chips in the oven 5-7 min "until you can see the oil" and then removes them from the oven and sprinkles them with finely grated hard cheese and paprika. Another recipe I've seen is for BBQ Kettle chips in which you also spread the chips out and bake for about 5 minutes "until you can smell the chips. Remove and sprinkle with salt, sugar and smoked paprika. I would love it if someone else would make them and I could try a few, but somehow I just can't get up the energy to take something that's already salty and greasy and make them more salty and greasy. I could maybe see doing it with just a bit of smoked paprika.

From the video, facing the cooking grill, the line extends out on the right. That would mean it isn't the one on the southwest corner of 6th and 53rd, which is my fave. But the one on the SE corner has had scaffolding over it for a zillion years and wouldn't look so sunny. Unless the scaffolding has been removed. I have great fondness for the Halal Guys. They got me through the last few years of my mother's life. I spent many hours on that line waiting for comfort food.

How about an update on current good eats in Atlanta? It has been almost 2 years since anyone posted on this thread, and that person was me! My daughter and boyfriend have actual jobs now after getting their MPH's but the two of them are almost as frugal as when they were students. Public health has never been about the money, just about the lack of it. My daughter's birthday is coming up, and I thought they might like to be gifted a splurge restaurant. Her horror of expensive eating has abated, at least if someone else is paying for it. What about Woodfire Grill? Anyone eaten there recently? Looks appealing to me, and isn't too far from where they live in Decatur. They like the idea of locally sourced foods, don't really care for white tablecloth dining or excessive noise, and they both are into cocktails and wine. She has worked in food service and can't abide snobby or stuffy waitstaff. Any other suggestions?

Made a b'day dinner (husband and a friend one day apart) for five last night using three recipes from Prune. Apps included the garrotxa with buttered brown bread and salted onion (thanks to my husband for baking a wonderful dark pumpernickel the other day.) Super good! For a main I did the Farmhouse Chicken Braised in Hard Cider (universally praised) with a side of Roasted Beets with aioli. The recipe for aioli is excellent and seems fool proof. The good news is I have practically a full pint of aioli left over. The bad news is I have a full pint of aioli left over. It's been a long time since I had a book with so many recipes calling to me. And no, I did not use leek bottoms for a table decoration--and I never will! But I'm thinking that it would be fun to go to Prune this spring when I come to NY.

My favorite recipe is Clair Robinson's flourless peanut butter cookies. http://whisksandwhimsy.com/2012/01/12/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies/ I tweak them just a bit by adding a T or so of buckwheat flour, which helps manage them, but isn't necessary. Without flour the pb taste is BIG. I use natural unsweetened chunky pb, Adams or Laura Scudders--both easy to find in supermarkets. Then I add a few sprinkles of goodies, such as some cocoa nibs and/or black sesame seeds. They are really pretty great. Along with the sea salt on top I also sprinkle a little large-crystal sugar so they are sweet and salty on top. These are not super-sweet cookies, but I find the sugar can be cut back a bit for excellent results.

Question: what's the advantage of using a smoked ham hock vs a smoked ham shank? Way more meat on the shank and flavor wise the resulting stock from the shank is at least as good. I always tell the butcher to cut twice through the bone in each shank so the marrow is exposed. Perhaps smoked shanks used to be less available than they are now?

I know this isn't exactly the point of this thread, but let's say you had beef, drippings, apples, onion and bit of flour. If I were going to make a curry I might make a beef and onion curry using drippings and them make an apple chutney on the side. Let's say I was really flush, and had a few potatoes. I would braise the meat with the onions and drippings, make some potato pancakes and some apple sauce to go with. The curry recipe as written might have come to mind if I only had one pan and one utensil and limited fuel.

For lunch yesterday I had a club sandwich. At least that's how I remember it.

Too bad those people didn't have any jam around the house, they could have made a pretty decent sandwich. Without the jam however, one crucial step was ignored. The knife should be kept at hand until the sandwich is consumed in order to pry open your jaw afterwards.

How did the name "club" come about? Because it was so big you could club someone over the head with it or because it resembled the ugly architecture of the club house itself? Or because the club house had so much extra stale bread they needed to come up with a triple decker toasted sandwich? Or maybe because they had so many of those frizzy toothpicks and they seemed more necessary if the sandwich was too high to stay together otherwise? I really always thought it was called a club because it was always served at a club house, and the two times I ever went to a club house that's what I had, because I thought it was the "house sandwich" and a specialty. I can see that a reasonable sandwich would basically be a BLT with turkey or chicken, although frankly I am happy without the poultry. That third piece of bread is just plain dopey: it makes it hard to eat and dilutes the bacon. Ham and cheese on a club? But why? You might as well put fried squirrel in it. Oh wait, if you catch the squirrel and then club it to death you really do have a club sandwich. I like to keep a foot in both camps. One foot in the so-called "open minded" camp and the other in the camp that allows you to acknowledge a really bad idea. The methodists were truly minimalists: only two pieces of bread, and no lettuce or tomato. And they spent a lot of time trying to flatten their bacon. No wonder it got cold.

At the risk of repeating myself (wouldn't be the first time) I am a huge fan of Dorie's custardy apple thing. So easy, so fast, so good. That one looks perfect. My apples are cut a bit thicker, since I've done it by hand, but I now have a mandoline, so my next one will be upmarket. Until the last few days I really didn't know what a spiralizer looked like, nor did I think I needed one. I'm going to keep my eyes....peeled. http://twistedsifter.com/videos/how-to-peel-apples-with-a-power-drill/ I thought this was pretty funny. I'm sure I would lose a body part if I tried it.

I'm a broth person. I love soups of various kinds, mostly non-creamed, but truth be told I am very happy with a mug of strong broth, be it chicken, turkey or beef. A little squeeze of lime in turkey broth never hurts. My freezer is mainly a stock and broth staging area. Plain bones may not contribute to flavor much, but they definitely add health benefits and emotional support. It just feels good to have a few bones in the soup pot. My best stocks and broths are the result of variety. Chicken stock needs wings, backs and feet and benefit from a fair amount of meat on the bone. Turkey stocks are especially good when made from roasted parts--necks and wings. Of course having a roasted chicken or turkey carcass is a gift from heaven. Beef stocks are richest when made from lots of cuts and various bones: oxtail, shank, marrow bones, veal knuckle, whatever. I just make an assumption that everything contributes in some positive way. I don't dwell on the difference between stock and broth; there seems to be one, but it's a rather murky distinction. Most definitions of stock imply that you wouldn't want to drink it straight, that it's meant as a cooking ingredient. My technique is a short cut, I guess. If a recipe calls for a stock or braising liquid I might dilute my broth a bit before using. If I had to pick a source for where I found stock and broth tips when I first started cooking, I guess I would name Julia Child. Her basic rules seem to be to throw lots of meat and bones into water, add a bit of onion, carrot, whatever, simmer very low for several hours and don't cover the pot.

This is a discussion that gets more complicated the more you look into it. Besides the issue of the two types of corn--dent and flint--the issue of nixtamalization is very confusing. When you buy masa, or nixtamalized corn for tamales/tortillas, it usually specifies "lime," which means it is nixtamalized. But neither polenta nor grits says whether it is treated with alkali. Yes, hominy would mean it is nixtamalized, but most ground corn for either polenta or grits does not say "hominy" it just says ground corn. Perhaps it used to be more common for the grits in the south to come from nixtamalized sources, but I don't see any indication that this is the case with artisan products that are grown and ground in the south today. As far as I can tell, most corn destined for drying and grinding is not nixtamalized. I read through the rather lengthy treatise re corn products on the site for Anson Mills and that question is not answered. That last paragraph about hominy doesn't actually address whether or not the Anson Mills grits are in fact made from hominy. Unless I am reading this wrong, which is entirely possible.

Okay, I'm working on a theory for large kitchen appliances. Here's my theory: purchased appliances seem to last about half as long as the the previous one you bought. When we bought our house it came with a 30 yr old Kitchen Aid dishwasher that was still limping along, but pretty grody. It soon broke and we replaced it with another KA. That one lasted 15 years. The next one lasted about 10 years. Now we have an Asko and it is still going strong after about 5 years, but it gets lighter use since it is now the two of us only and I don't use it for large pots and pans. Aside from the mechanics, the Asko is incredibly smart in design; that may be just a lucky coincidence due to the size/shape of our dishes, but it holds a lot of dishes. The GE dishwasher at my in-laws' beach house is about the same size, and holds a third less dishes due to really poor design. So bad design in this case means having to use a third more cycles in the same time period reducing its life by the same. Taking a sample of your dishes when checking out dishwashers is very helpful. We settled on the Asko rather than the Bosch simple because its dimensions fit our space better. Both European models were well designed. I have had similar experiences with washing machines and dryers. Each generation seems to be half as good as the previous one. The one exception was a Maytag washer that was bought 30 yrs ago and is still working, although not very energy efficient. If my theory has any validity, soon appliances will last about 5 years, tops, and that will be considered good.