ruthcooks

Thanks, everyone. I'll look into buying "Bittersweet" soon.

I have finally found "my" chocolate, but have no idea how to use it in my favorite recipes which I've always made with unsweetened plain ole Baker's chocolate. Is there a formula for this? For example, my brownie recipe calls for 2 squares unsweetened chocolate and 1 cup sugar. I used 3 ounces of 65% and just reduced the sugar slightly. The brownies were great tasting, but seemed sweeter than usual. Any ideas? I've used the usual expensive chocolates, Scharffen Berger, Vahlrona, etc., but found a new (to me, anyway) chocolate in the supermarket made by--of all companies--Hershey's. They have several different 100 gram bars (3.53 oz.) under the "Cacao Reserve by Hershey's" label. This particular one is labeled 65% Extra Dark Chocolate. I liked it for eating and in the brownies both. This bar is both smaller and more expensive than their regular large eating bars, and was located in the candy section. I would guess I could subsitute 1 for 1 in recipes calling for semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate. Ya think?

Tavern Romance There once was a wench--ah so fetching Whose cooking sent strong men a-retching “I’d chuck the whole thing But I first need a ring Then the lads can go elsewhere for leching.” A stranger stopped by in a blizzard And bragged he was really a wizard He conjured a cake A flask and a hake Some soup and a cock with its gizzard. “You’re hired!” cried the lass to Houdini, “But first, we must toast a martini, For you I shall wed And after,” she said, “You’ll cook and I’ll raise the bambini.”

Here's what one website has to say: "THE CASTELLAMMARE DEL GOLFO METHOD Melt butter and mix in equal amount of garlic juice with melted butter. Lightly toast bread. Spread melted butter-garlic juice combination on bread. Again, lightly toast until butter & garlic juice combination are slightly bubbly." Of course, these people are selling garlic juice, but I wonder if it wouldn't work. I once made the best butterflied shrimp ever, in which the shrimp was first"painted" with garlic juice, but I haven't used this product in a very long time. Has anyone tried using garlic juice? Personally, I like to cut the bread lengthwise as it's so much easier to butter.

If I have several by the same author, I will group those together, e.g., James Beard, Julia Child, Bert Greene. Big books have to go on the bottom shelves, which are taller. Reference and diet/healthy books are on a shelf behind my computer, where I often am when I wish to look something up. There is a section of tried and trues (Betty Crocker, BH&G, Joy of Cooking), a section of restaurant and take out shops, a baking/dessert section, geographical section, and probably a few more I don't remember. (I can't go take a look, since about 2/3 of my books are still in storage.) Most everything else is lumped by author as either women's or men's cookbooks. I almost always remember who wrote the cookbook I'm looking for, so I'm cutting my looking in half automatically. Alphabetically doesn't seem to work very well, considering the wide range of sizes.

There is probably no other chain of restaurants that has such range of quality as Applebee's. Most of it goes from mediocre to inedible. And it's not really cheap. Surprisingly, the best fajitas I ever ate came from Applebee's. It would be nice if Tyler could raise the quality a bit, but I'm not changing my mind about never eating there again unless it's the only food between me and starvation.

Three more for me...Dorie Greenspan's new one, a slip of a book my daughter brought home to me after her cabin vacation at Mackinaw, and the Bush family cookbook. After the bad press on the latter, I had to check it out, especially for $6. Not as bad as all that, about the same food that most of Americans eat, I venture. Biggest question, why are only three kinds of pie allowed in the George/Barbara Bush household? Huh? Evidently there were only two and the author got called down when he served the third. OK, I won't keep you in suspense, they are Blueberry, Pecan and Chocolate Pecan.

My recipe for Italian Cream Cake seems to have disappeared, but it definitely contained no banana or pineapple. While most versions have cream cheese icing, mine had an icing which started with a cooked milk and flour mixture, which after chilling was beaten into a sugar and butter mixture until light. I can't remember whether the coconut and nuts were in the (white) cake or icing. Just because it's made in the South does not make it a Southern recipe...opinions are mixed on the origin. Hummingbird cake is Southern, and is something quite different.

I just don't understand what happened to flour weights/measurements. Back in the 50's and 60's when I was learning to cook, I was told "A cup of flour weighs 4 ounces, which means that each 1/4 cup weighs one ounce." I have used that rule for 50 years without problems until people started using the dip and sweep method and calling 5 ounces a cup. You really need each book author to tell you how he/she measures, as Dorie has done. I don't have my copy of the book yet, but am enjoying everyone else's reports. "Baking with Julia" is one of my all time favorites.

Last week a "baby blog" and this week a "sweethearts blog." What fun! I missed the forum for two days, but my vote would have been for peaches, too.

You mean he isn't already? I thought he would be enrolled at birth, as for Harvard. How many 1 year olds have birthdays at an Indian Restaurant.? Do we know what PJ stands for? He's a cutie and all the girls will envy his curly hair.

One of my favorite eggplant preparations I call "Summer Eggplant Parmesan". Place eggplant slices from mid-sized purple eggplants on a broiler pan or jelly roll pan and brush with olive oil. Broil until it turns brown, then flip, oil and brown the other side. Saute slivered onions and bell peppers, any color, in olive oil and season. Layer eggplant rounds, thick slices of garden tomato, onion-pepper mixture and fresh basil leaves, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go, about 4 layers beginning and ending with eggplant. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and bake at 325 for about an hour. Add cheese later if you wish a barely melted layer on top. The peel is rather hard to cut, so I sometimes peel part or all of the eggplant. Everyone who eats it begs for more. I also make a very tasty, chunky caponata and serve slightly warm, as a vegetable. It can be chopped to serve with bread.

Check out one of my favorite easy desserts here: Baklava Tarts Sometimes I fill those tart shells with a fudge filling and top with a half pecan.

The Amish make a potato filling to stuff poultry. Basically it is mashed potatoes with the seasonings you'd put in dressing/stuffing, and some bread cubes also, but I don't know of any with noodles. Nothing else is known as "filling" that I know of, so maybe it was potpie, which could contain both noodles and potatoes. Or a rivel soup, but the "noodles" would be more like tiny, irregular dumplings. If it was German, they make a dumpling of potatoes with bread cubes in the center, but again, no noodles. Was there meat served in it or with it?

Yes, I know that...I'm talking about the pale stuff.

Mostly to cut meat. And they really come in handy when your relatives only have dull knives to carve the turkey at Thanksgiving. They also do a good job on bread and spongy cakes, but not as good as my MAC serrated knife (which also does meat).

To make your cake more chocolate-y, why not substitute black cocoa for part of the regular kind? I usually put a rounded tablespoon in the bottom of a 1/4 C. measuring cup and fill it up with Hershey or Scharffenberger regular, for example. I don't like Dutch Process at all. I've always heard it's better to overbeat than underbeat chiffon cakes. Perhaps they were referring to the whites?

Since there is no apparent basis for the love I have of all things Russian, I just say that I was Russian in a former life. My fairy tale vision is of a beautiful lady wearing a green velvet hooded cape and riding a horse through a gorgeous icy winter forest like Vanessa Redgrave in a scene from "Camelot". (Unfortunately, I'm closer to the Russian peasant woman in her babushka!) So this blog is all fascinating, Alina, and thank you for doing it. Russian cuisine is very tempting to me with all its rich heavy foods, dairy products, mushrooms, breads and my favorite herb, dill. I even like kissel. Some of my favorite recipes come from "The Best of Russian Cooking" by Alexandra Kropotkin, published in1964 and first published in 1947 under another name. The Foods of the World Russian volume is inspirational. Do you have any favorite Russian cookbooks that are printed in English? How about a good recipe for Kurnik? Looking forward to reading more...

Unused: a Bron mandoline my bread maker an avocado slicer a yogurt maker slicer attachments to my processor silicone muffin/cake pans in the shape of mini-bundt pans Used once: stovetop griddle (can't find it) stovetop smoker (don't have an exhaust fan)

When I lived in Louisville back in the 70s, the Cincinnati chili influence was very evident. I swear there was only one tomato-meat sauce. If you ordered spaghetti, they poured over the sauce. If you ordered chili, you got the same "sauce" and spaghetti with chili beans added. Neither was very good. I don't mind pasta in my chili, but think macaroni is better. Oh, those pork tenderloin sandwiches! Here's a hint about dealing with the overhang: tear off the pieces that stick out and pile the pieces inside the bun. That way you get condiments with every bite. This is my kind of junk food. I swear this thread makes me hungrier than the dinner thread! Too many years of fair deprivation.

Brown sugar (or Whey Low Gold) and heavy cream. Butter only if I do not have the cream. The cream should be kept in a separate dish to keep cold, and each spoon of warm oatmeal dipped into it. I read somewhere that they do this in the UK and I have done it ever since.

And three more: My Life in France, Bill's Food and The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking. See what happens when the rest of the family goes on vacation? Idle hands get busy on the computer and order cookbooks.

After mashed potatoes, spaetzle is my favorite starch. I used to have a small broiler pan with 1/4 inch holes in it. I would force spaetzle dough through with a rubber scraper. Now I have the rotary grater type which sits in thin board with a hole big enough for the grater to sit in, and it's lots easier than the sliding type my daughter has. Here's my favorite trick for seasoning spaetzle: when making something from phyllo pastry, I never clarify the butter. The fat part will cling to a pastry brush and leave the milky solids behind. I save the solids in the freezer for seasoning the spaetzle, using about 1/2 cup or more to a batch. You pack in the flavor this way, whereas if you used this much straight butter the dumplings would be greasy. If I serve spaetzle with gravy or sauce from a meat dish, I add only a little butter. For a vegetable/starch dish, combine seasoned spaetzle with sauteed matchstick cut vegetables like carrots and zucchini. If reheating the spaetzle, no need to precook the zucchini, but do steam carrots until barely tender. Or, combine barely cooked chopped spinach with spaetzle. I just throw the spinach in the cooking water before draining the spaetzle, then drain and butter all. I'm likely to throw in some chopped green onions or chives with the vegetable versions. Edited to add: you can use the spinach trick with egg noodles, also, medium cut preferred.

Cracker Barrel Restaurants sell small boxes of formed maple sugar candies. Look there also for MalloCups, Bit O Honey, Goo-Goos (otherwise not sold out of Tennessee) and many other old time or hard to get candies. Interesting toys and merchandise, too.

Of course, I eat things that go together. We're not talking about foods that were never meant to be eaten separately--a bite of ketchup or mustard, anyone? Some combinations are meant to be, or are a preference of the diner's taste buds. It's that gravy-mingling-with-the-applesauce thing and the cold-mixing-with-the-hot thing I don't like. I love contrasting foods, therefore I like one bite to = one food when it's on my plate. Then I can eat the foods in the most pleasing order, and savor them separately. It has nothing to do with two-year-olds. It's having discriminating taste.