Darienne

I guess I should say thanks, but that is one depressing article!!!

Thanks Andie. I think I have a lot to learn about Galangal. Somehow I thought it was quite like ginger, more than just belonging to the same family. I thought ginger from Thailand was called Galangal. Obviously that was not the case. I'll go back and read about it more carefully. I noticed that it has all sorts of little side 'branches' in the rhizome which make it hard to peel. And the peel is different. So, after 2 1/2 hours of constant steaming, the slices are finally tender-ish. And the taste is less hot and less peppery, but still quite sharp and pungent. I am candying them anyway in a syrup made with orange flavored sugar (from a confused mistake). Won't hurt them I am sure. I'll get back with the results. I like the idea of candying tiny hot peppers. My friend Melanie would go wild for them. Did you do anything different that I should know about? Thanks.

Hamilton may be pretty far east, but I am further east yet. And north. I have never seen sour cherries at a farm stand in our area...we are in a different zone than Hamilton. I think that barring driving south and west, a grocery store may be my only source. And we do not have any grocery stores here like Trader Joe's or Whole Earth.

Next day: Galangal, purchased frozen, was thawed, sliced properly across the grain and after 40 minutes steaming, it was still as tough as old leather. I took a small bite of the galangal yesterday and WOW! was it hot and peppery!!! Just to make sure, I bit into the Chinese ginger also. No comparison. Perhaps it is very old and that's why it's so tough? Perhaps this is what galangal is like? Perhaps no one candies it anyway?

Thanks Kerry. If the Niagara grows sour cherries, then I find it hard to believe that you can't get them in Peterborough. Perhaps my friend is mistaken. I'll call the produce managers of some of the local grocery stores. Thanks as always.

There are all sorts of rules and regulations on both sides of the US/Canadian border. And they change. I know that it is against the law for a private car to take fruit into the USA from Canada. I don't know about the other way. What I might do is check with some of the larger grocery chains nearer to Toronto. See if anyone brings them in. As I said you can get them canned or bottled and perhaps you can get them frozen...the trouble may be getting them fresh. Thanks for the information.

Moving sideways slightly to Galangal. We can buy it only in a frozen state. I am currently defrosting my package in order to candy it. I read in another thread in the Asian cooking section that frozen galangal might well defrost to mush only. Not sure what to do now: stick it back into the freezer at once or continue defrosting and see what I get. Help!

I'll give it a try although, not being a true cherry lover, I don't think I have ever noticed fresh sour cherries for sale here. I have purchased bottled sour cherries. I'll look for them this year. Did not get around to candying rhubarb this year...but I did get my ginger planted this morning!!! And, of course, I have another batch of candying ginger under way. A woman cannot make too much candied ginger I have discovered. Thanks, as always, for your help. ← My friend, Mel, who loves sour cherries, tells me that she has never seen them for sale in our area...east central Ontario. Are they available in Toronto does anyone know?

Hi Jon, Embarrassed to say that I have not made the Fleur de Lait or Leche Merengada yet. The Cheesecake Ice Cream and other things...like two varieties of ginger and a bag of Clementines to candy...got in the way. So many things to make...so little time. I will report back when I have made them. If they are very sweet then DH will love them and I won't. I would imagine that the Black Pepper could well be an orangeless variety of the Orange-Szechwan. As far as I have ever been able to find out, we cannot buy 36% cream or slow-pasteurized milk. Actually I have never even heard of slow-pasteurized milk. Learn something new every day. And kudos to you for having made almost every recipe in the book. I am still using the library copy and awaiting my own copy in the mail. Can't write in the margins yet!

Good point. I am not sure if they can be washed or not. The canister ends are tiny fine mesh...really tiny...and so perhaps the water would get in. I did not use them yet anyway. However, as noted earlier, I did dunk each pop into fruit sugar and knocked the extra off...that means the edges are coated too...and packaged them immediately. It is now several days later. The humidity is still in the 90s...as it will be all summer...and they are fine. The sugar is still visible on them and they go for sale on July 4th (Canada, not a holiday). Another learning experience. I think I'll make a sign with the ingredients listed on it. I had a phone call from our library the other day...I had donated butterscotch lollie there for their book sale...asking me if the pops had some ingredient in them that her child was allergic to. (Our laws in Canada are so lax compared to the various US regulations)

I have faithfully followed the directions to candy little Clementine oranges. Poked full of tiny holes with a thin pin and partly skewered from the blossom end. Now they are now in the sugar syrup in the slow cooker...floating. Does it matter that they are floating? Should they be turned often? Be weighted down? Have I made an error of some kind?

Was putting out the pills this morning...dogs and humans...and realized that two of the human supplements had little plastic canisters in them. 3/4" D x 1" Both contain desiccants, both say 'do not eat', but presumably both are GRAS. And, although the wording on each varies a bit, they are both manufactured in NM. I wonder if they would be satisfactory to put in with wrapped lollies. I can't see why not if they were in with unwrapped caps which go straight into the mouth. Any thoughts?

Time to buy some fresh cardamom pods. I hate to tell you how old mine are and, like many ideas which do not come to pass, they were never used. Thanks.

I am so pleased you have tried and liked this. As soon as I read your post about the orange szechwan ice-cream I started thinking about doing these flavours in a ganache and wondering wehther to go white chocolate or dark. I have the Recchuiti book so I will try and work with the recipe you mentioned. How much pepper did you use in the ganache? many thanks Lapin ← For 12 oz of dark chocolate...54%...it's all I have at this point...I used 1 tablespoon of pepper corns and then ground them. I could have used more I think. Next time...

Thanks for all the information. Too bad the quality of the shows is not very good. I'll eventually download all the schedules and see what I might watch. The food shows seem to be mirroring the regular TV shows. You'd be hard pressed to find much to watch anymore...unless you watch reruns. Fortunately I am a bear of very little brain and I can forget who is the bad guy every time on Law & Order and CSI.

Will do. All my disposals predate my eGullet life by years. It's my new eGullet life which has contributed to my secondhand/brand new/ acquisitions! Not to mention a zillion or so cookbooks. You are never too old to learn how to cook!

Thanks, Andie. I just looked up your photo demo on search and got...the above message only. Can you please give me the information to find it?

Excellent point. We were very lucky this past year to be living in Moab, UT, which has THE MOST INCREDIBLE thrift shops in the world, I am convinced. Not only was I able to pick up some of the stuff I needed which I hadn't brought with me, I was able to buy those 'waste of money' things which I had disposed of: an ice cream maker, a waffle/grill, a bread machine, a Chinese cap, a couple of slow cookers, etc, etc, and all for minimum prices. I mean...like $5. The irony was the many of the appliances were old, made of ...gasp....metal and will last me forever. They were 'a waste of space and money' to their owners. (As noted above somewhere, the slow cookers are perfect for candying ginger, etc.)

That's a lovely memory.

Last night I made the most delicious ganache using as a basis Michael Recchuiti's 'Force Noire' from his Chocolate Obsession and with the flavorings from David Lebovitz's 'Orange-Szechwan Pepper Ice Cream' from The Perfect Scoop. I don't have a very good knowledge yet of ganache bases and I knew that the 'Force Noire' is easily slabbed and cut and dipped for me. I prefer to slab and cut the ganache, rather than to roll it into balls at this point. Just don't have good hand dexterity any more. Add the mixture of orange and pepper to my obsessions.

Once again, my thanks to all. I just might have to make that Orange Souffle today...it's the old girl's birthday today. And I'll look up the Citrus Cookbook on the Canadian Amazon. It was such a treat ordering books on the American Amazon. You have no idea of how much more it costs in Canada, both the cost of the book and the S&H. And I'll try the onions...but not today. Thanks again. I also have a recipe for a filling/frosting for a Chocolate-Orange Dessert in an old chocolate book Chocolate Sensations, bought in an earlier life. Full of cream cheese and whipping cream and liqueur and all. It might just make a sinful dessert on its own, without the little cake part.

The above quote says quite a lot. I have disposed of things which I had owned for years, even decades, because they were useless to me, a complete waste of money, etc....then my cooking style changed and where were these so-called useless things? Gone. And I had to go out and buy a new one. Fortunately, having a Drive Shed on our farm property, a number of things were never quite thrown out and now have been retrieved. Suddenly these discarded waste-of--money items were VERY were very valuable and useful.

I did like the one show I saw with Anna Olson's Fresh Last night on the news, Gordon Ramsay, who never knew a curse word he couldn't use apparently, has now apologized in Australia for called a female chef some choice epithets. I did watch him the other night. I didn't catch the name of the program. This being the summer, I don't turn on the TV very often. I'll no doubt learn the lineup slowly as I go. I thought Ramsay was on Restaurant Makeover, but last night the word Hell was involved. Like Chef from Hell, or something. Amazing how they can take such a wonderful topic, like cooking, etc, and turn it into the silliest, most appalling shows. Like the rest of the TV lineup....

Thanks Merstar and Ruthcooks for the ideas. Downloaded the Lawson cake and might try it. I like the fruit salad idea. Not sure about oranges and onions.

I always love looking at your desserts...I would love eating them better I think. This one is a winner!!