trillium

trillium, hope it's not too late: the perfect match for apricots would be camomile! The idea comes from Claudia Fleming's GT dessert book: roasted apricots with camomile flowers: i made this into gelato with great success, so it should work for preserve as well i guess. Thanks, it's not too late. The figs ripened before the apricots did so this weekend was fig preserves, I think this week will be apricot. Did you just use the dried flowers from the camomile tea? regards, trillium

Big flame is good... just not burned garlic! Bitter is indeed a flavor in its own right, and used in Chinese cookery, but the bitter you get from burnt garlic has this awful acrid flavor you tend to want to avoid. You want fresh bitter not burnt bitter...does that make sense? regards, trillium

She (uh-hum...my namesake is a flower!) indeed did mean Yangchow chow fan! Thanks for the clarification! regards, trillium

Her recipes were written for those gasket and clip type jars too, weren't they? Not the ring and lid types we use on this side of the pond. I've been using my Le Creuset french oven to make the jams, because I don't have to worry about sticking, but I was eyeing the copper pots too! I've been looking at the one offered by Professional Cutlery Direct, which tends to have better prices then Surly Table. But since the French oven is working so well I can't really justify it the $60. What I would really like to find is a skimmer like the one she has a photo of, I find it really frustrating to use what I'm using (a slotted spoon), a flatter bigger skimmer would work better. regards, trillium

True. My default recommendations when people ask me are gewurtztraminer or riesling. No clue on reds though. It depends on the food and your tastes! I like a nice dry minerally white with something delicate (Viogner, Pinot Gris, Semillion is great with seafood, the St. Suprey Sauvignon Blanc is nice with things with herbs like green onion and cilantro), a fruity, non-oaky red with things with a little more garlic and spice. I think some southern Italian reds go very nicely with the heartier dishes because they don't have so much oak. For something like char siu (the bbqed pork) a chilled rosato or rose can work well too (Saintsbury vin gris would be a good place to start). regards, trillium

Another small tip for you about fried rice and eggs. Don't pour the beaten eggs onto the rice itself. This will cause the rice to soak up moisture from the eggs and thus make it very soggy. You may cook the eggs separately and throw back in to the rice (cutting in strips or just scramble the eggs as you cook them). Or, if you are an expert or just being lazy (I am the latter kind ) , you may create a "hole" (empty space) in your pan/wok of fried rice then you pour in the beaten eggs in the middle. Keep scrambling. After the eggs are hardened, you simply use the spatular to mix them with the rice. This way there is no need to cook the eggs in a separate process. I don't think there is one right way to add eggs to stir-fried rice, it depends on the dish and the cook. Yang chow fan (Yang style fried rice) for instance, I think traditionally has the cut-up omlette, whereas the Hokkien-Singapore style stuff the partner makes never does. This is actually a bone of contention in our house, I prefer the omlette bits, he prefers to coat each rice grain with egg (and the way he does it doesn't make it soggy! ... the rice is hard and dry enough to take it) so it depends on who does the cooking. We had a very fortuitous discovery that scrambled duck eggs make a much fluffier and delicious salted-fish fried rice then chicken eggs. Using them made it taste like the hawker dishes of his childhood. sequim, I'm guessing you might have got the idea of letting the garlic get browned from the eGullet cooking class I did. There the garlic was in whole crushed cloves, and is just used to scent the oil for a high temp vegetable stir-fry. When (and if) you have chopped garlic you want to be a little more careful because it can get bitter very easily at high temperatures. Also, the ethnic Chinese in residence has a SE Asian sensibility when it comes to garlic, onions, and shallots, and believes they all taste better a little browned, which influenced the dishes we did for the class (I think I mentioned this influence in the intro). As you can see, this preference is not true for all cooks of Chinese food. It's a vast country with a huge diaspora. I earn my living by my ability to be accurate, precise, and able to repeat experiments resulting in the same outcome each time. I was surprised that I found it insanely frustrating to write the recipes with actual amounts and times for the eG cooking lesson I did, because there can only really be guidelines. Take for instance garlic... in the spring it is milder and wetter, so you might add more of it and cook it differently then how you would cook with winter garlic (which is dryer and much stronger). I think the best teachers impart this kind of wisdom, not just a list of ingredients and cooking times. I admire them for it, because it's much harder to do via the written word then it looks! regards, trillium

A French baguette should have a hard, dark crust (not straw colored) with a crumb that has large irregular holes, a nutty taste and be sort of creamy in color, as opposed to pure white. It should also be chewy, not soft. What I think kai-chan is attempting to make has a much lighter, softer, fluffy pure white crumb with small fine holes, and has a thinner, lighter colored crust. Not to be offensive in any way, but it's sort of the Vietnamese interpertation of bad French bread (but that doesn't mean I'm saying it's bad bread). I know that my Vietnamese friends actually preferred the real French baguettes over the other sort, but most of the commercial banh mi I've eaten have come on the ones with soft, fluffy insides. I'd be willing to try making the recipe out of curiousity, but not while it's still 80 F in the kitchen at 11 pm! regards, trillium

Maybe you're thinking of "Rote Grutze" (umlaut over the 'u') ? A kind of pudding-like dish with red currants and raspberries? I think I have a recipe for this somewhere but can't remember where... That is a good idea for using red currants though for those lucky enough to have them! Yes! That's the name. You thicken the juice of currants and raspberries slightly with a starch to make a kind of thin jelly type pudding. It sounds very tasty and light, I think it would be especially nice in hot weather. regards, trillium

Almonds and cherries are a classic combination too. I think the Ferber book has one with sour cherries, slivered almonds and dried rose petals. It looks lovely in the book. If you don't like her method of flavoring the confiture with pits, you can roast the pit stones first to kill the enzyme in the pits that converts the amygdalin to cyanide. I believe that is what the cautionary note in the American edition of the book suggests. regards, trillium

I think it's just the style of jams. I'm guessing the stickiness is from the natural pectin, the amount of sugar used, and the temp you bring it to. It's more like what we would call preserves, I think. People that grew up on pectin pouch jam (like me) find it strange at first, but people that didn't (like a lot of my European friends) find the super-gelled texture of home-made American style jams odd. If you really don't like the texture you can always use the flavor combinations with your favorite pouches of pectin. I have a feeling the flavors will not be quite as clear, but I'm sure the jam would still be good. regards, trillium

With the amount of sugar used in the recipes (80% by weight ) in my experience mold is really the only thing you really have to worry about. I'm sure that American canning regulations may have a different take, but for some things they tend to err on the side of super, super cautious. It's like those FDA regs that ban fresh unpasteurized cheese (but we see more listeria cases from things like baloney, hotdogs and pasteurized cheese then some countries that eat fresh raw milk cheeses!) or tell you to cook your fowls until they are inedible and dry. I think you have to educate yourself about the risk involved and look at the data and then decide what you're personally comfortable with. They way I look at it, water boils at 212 F, you've sterilized the jars and lids, you're bringing your jam to 221 F and putting it directly into the the sterilized jars. I fail to see how boiling them in water for another 10 minutes is going to accomplish anything, but if it makes you sleep better at night, then you should do it. regards, trillium edit because I can't spell baloney

That tends to be my philosphy when cooking Italian food, but the outside of the hazlenut is very prickly. I've thought about trying a nocino type drink with it but I worry about strainly off all those really fine prickly things. I'm sorry you had to buy your green walnuts, there are old abandoned trees everywhere here in Portland and it's always easy to find a source. regards, trillium

I like the Trois Petit Cochons products a lot, including the country style ones. I didn't like any of the Fabrique Delices I tried, especially the smooth ones. They didn't have as good of a complex flavor or a smooth rich mouth feel. Now that I've started making charcuterie at home, I've taken to trying out whatever is on the menu at various restaurants. You might just stop by for a glass of wine and a slice at some of Seattle's French influenced places. regards, trillium

Thanks for the recommend. We do liters of pomerola in the summer and we were thinking of upgrading our food mill...ours is a little dinky thing that was purchased on a grad student buget. We were just talking last night about looking into getting another one and I thought I'd ask on eG, and lo and behold, the thread was right here waiting for me. I love the kindness of strangers who cook. regards, trillium

Thanks (umm, I think). For the seasoning, I guess it depends on how your m&p is made and what you do with it. We were under strict S'pore granny instructions to not make anything in it until we had pounded rice that didn't turn grey anymore. Who were we to argue? It took a few times, but it was kind of fun. And we did wash and dry it between rice poundings. Some of the Thai ones look like they were manufactured differently though, they seem smoother inside and have a varnish or something on the outside. Maybe those don't have to be seasoned as much. Granite is impervious to a lot, but ours is actually getting smoother on the inside, and the pestle is for sure smoother, that rock is going somewhere...I've decided that a little granite dust never hurt anyone...minerals are good for you, right? regards, trillium

If you can't get them right now, don't give up hope. They're not really in season, and I can't find them either. Dec-Jan is more the season for them to show up in stores, even though citrus bear the whole year round. I promise to give you the heads up when I start seeing them again and I'll bet the buyer for my grocery store could even tell me where he gets them from. I'm looking forward to trying your Earl Grey MarTEAni with some when I get more. Right now all I have is the marmalade I made with them and the peels candied in syrup. Maybe I could try adding some the syrup to the drink.... I hear you on the West coast vs. East bit... I asked the Whole Foods produce buyer in Chicago to carry Meyer lemons for 5 years before they finally got them. I had completely taken them for granted when I lived on the west coast. regards, trillium

Your bread problems sound like they can be solved, but first a few questions. Did you knead the dough until it was smooth and elastic? It will change in texture and you should be able to feel the difference, it will get smoother and stretchy. This is from the gluten forming. When you were raising the dough, did you let it double in volume each time? Did you handle it gently when you were putting the loaves in the oven so as not to deflate them? Did you check with a thermometer that your oven temperature was what you thought it was? Can't help you on the pâté but I'm guessing that Andrea will pipe in any second now... regards, trillium

I think our MIA moderator for this forum, Ed Schoenfeld is coming out with a recipe book for recreating your favorite take-out recipes at home. Of course, you'll run into trouble there because he is New York based, and the Chinese-American take-out style food is different there then on the west coast. But it might be worth a gander once it's out. Off-topic for this thread, but did I miss when he stepped down as moderator? With all these fine Chinese cooks as potential candidates it seems a shame we are moderator-less...although we are doing quite nicely without one, aren't we? regards, trillium

Chez Panisse Fruits has a translation of some important food guy's recipe for Cumberland Sauce... maybe Brillat Savarin? If I remember I'll try to post it. More on red currants, my German buddy stopped by and was eating the left over bits of red and black currant jellies sitting out in the kitchen. He's asked me to get him some red currants this weekend so he can make his grandmother's version of "red grits". I'm blanking on the actual German name for this. Anyway, for those that have too many currants, it might be something to check out. regards, trillium

There are several thread that mention nocino, but for some reason when you search all of eGullet it doesn't pull them up. However, if you search just this forum, you'll pull them all up... You'll see from browsing the threads that Jim Dixon prefers to use grain alcohol (like Everclear). I've used either that or vodka. The vodka does need a longer steeping time. Really, you can leave the nuts in the concotion until you're ready to drink it, I haven't found that they can oversteep like limoncello does. This year I'm going to make a red wine based aperatif with the walnuts and I'm using half vodka and half brandy to for them. I will mention that the longer the nocino ages, the more pronounced the spice flavors become and the less nutty it gets. So if you plan on keeping it around a while, I'd go very easy on any spice add-ins. Have fun, I'm sure whatever you do will taste wonderful. regards, trillium

Well, it's not friday, and it's not five o'clock, but I'm off work and have my first two days in a row off in a month or so, so that counts, right? Trillium, you probably remember my mentioning my earlier abortive attempt to find sour oranges, so I have to admit I didn't use them. But serendipitously, I was skimming over Diana Kennedy's newest book and happened upon her suggestion for a replacement in Mexican cooking, which is a combination of Meyer lemon, lime and regular orange juice. Well, lo and behold, I have all those on hand, plus the other ingredients, so here I am drinking your fabulous drink, with my weird sour-orange-juice substitute. It's very good this way, but one of these days I'll find sour oranges and make it the way it was intended. It's a sort of cross between a Corpse Reviver II (gin, lemon juice, triple sec, with a splash of a pastis) and my own After School Special (gin, Lillet, Meyer lemon juice, and orange bitters), but the Chartreuse is a brilliant addition. To me, it will always be a "Friday After Five," even though I'm drinking it on a Wednesday (no, make that a very early Thursday morning). I like that name a lot. I'm not so good at naming drinks, so I do feel some sympathy for all those misguided people naming their cocktails xtinis. Let's make it official. I hereby declare the above drink to be a Friday After Five. It even sounds as swank as drinking the drink makes me feel. Now, could you please get to work on that other drink (hee hee)? I flirted with the idea of naming it something that referenced Calabria, but in fact it's closer to all those Trader Vic rum drinks so I couldn't decide. It would probably work with your sour orange juice substitute too, but I don't know of any grenadines that are as dry and tart as the homemade kind. regards, trillium

Correct. There's always Five O'Clock. But things haven't gotten that bad...yet. In truth, the pendulum is on the return swing, and I'm eyeing the Charbay vodkas salaciously. If you're anywhere near a BevMo, they are selling Charbay vodka for $15/ bottle + tax. regards, trillium

It's going to depend on the conditions you keep something out in and what's in your stuff to preserve it (it varies from brand to brand). It also depends on how fast you go through something. You might just have to play around and figure out what works best for you. We make most of our own chilli sauces and they will mold very quickly. They stay in the fridge or freezer unless they're oil based and then they stay in the outside. The Thai oyster sauce stays outside, the Chinese stuff is sweeter and molds so it goes in the fridge. The hoisen doesn't get used fast enough and will mold or dehydrate, so it stays in the fridge too. Fish and soya sauces never go in the fridge. We don't use premade black bean sauce, so the fermented black beans are perfectly fine in the cupboard. I think it's what works best for you. regards, trillium

The question was whether or not Rose's Lime was the best brand or if there were others out there. The general opinion seems to be that Rose's is the best brand. It has also been established in this thread and others that some people like the taste of Rose's in a gimlet (JAZ), and some people really don't (beans). Since this war of the roses has even spawned a sig file, I'm very tempted to go out and buy a bottle and taste a gimlet for myself. I'll make sure it's not the $16 bottle and I'll let you know if I catch any of those little gimlets doing the old in and out. regards, trillium

Just a couple of hints for people shopping for the granite m&ps at their local Asian grocery stores. SE Asian stores in general have a better selection then East Asian, and they're not always displayed with the pestle. The pestle stays wrapped behind the counter. I love our m&p brought back from Singapore, but it really isn't big enough for the double batches of curry pastes we like to pound, so I agree, get the biggest one you can find. Oh, and for lemongrass, roots, and rhizomes, you want to pound not grind... hope that makes sense. It's important to pound rice in them until the rice no longer takes on a greyish tinge, unless you don't mind eating extra granite dust in your food. regards, trillium