snowangel

Can a person put china with a gold or silver rim in the dishwasher? I use liquid dishwasher detergent...

What, no coffee? What's a mom with a child who doesn't sleep through the night supposed to do? Ditto on the sourdough toast in the morning, slathered with butter. And, in the breakfast section, is a person supposed to eat ALL of that? Yikes, by the time I get the kids out the door, it is 9:00 am, and then cook, then have a mid-morning snack? No coffee doesn't work for me. At all.

I don't like coating things in flour first. From the great Paula Wolfert, I got my best suggestion, from her daube recipes. Cook the braise the day (or two, or three!) before you want to eat it. Remove the meat, and strain the aromatics out of the liquid (if you have time and the kids aren't getting off the bus when it needs to be done, or you can whiz them into the liquid with the IB). Fridge them separate, the meat in a ziplock with all of the air removed. Next day, remove the layer of fat off the top of the liquid, reduce, and add the meat, put back in the oven at a VERY low temp (like 225 or 250). My liquids are never too thin, and heck, if they are, take some out, reduce the remainder, and thin out the stuff you took out with appropriate stock and make soup out of that and the leftover meat. Some leftover braises make remarkable soups.

Another option is an appetizery one -- thinly siced on toasted baguette slices with a dollop of horseradish cream on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onions or capers.

The inventory of what I have made to give is in. Most of it is some of the same stuff I gave last year. The inventory: 4 sets of days of the week dishtowels (I gave these as wedding presents for friends years ago, and after 2+ decades, they need replacing) 36 potholders one linen string bag countless "granny strings" for the reading glasses that us Women of A Certain Age require 12 jars of citrus/habernero jelly I haven't even baked the cookie dough that has been made and frozen For my female friends who work outside the home, I made 300 potstickers, and made recipe cards for how to cook them, and even will include frozen homemade stock. Fairly recent, but already posted photo of these beauties: I dipped into these and we had them for dinner a couple of nights ago, so I have more potstickers to make.

Santa: Please send me a $1,000 gift certificate to e-cookbooks. An awareness in my family that empty boxes should be not in the cupboard, but in the recycling bin. While you're at it, remind them that the grocery list has been on the fridge door for almost three decades now, and that they can add items to it. But, most important, Santa, please bring me a self-cleaning kitchen floor.

Another idea I had was creme putts with bacon in them, or would the bacon get lost? What about gorugeres with bacon? As sandwishes or with bacon bits in addition to the cheese? Sounds like the hubby (who put me up to the task will actually have to do something other than just run across the street for cheese and crackers; we do have a toaster oven he can take for a simple re-heat...). I can't attend the function, due to kid/school activities, but I really want to showcase my homemade bacon.

I'm on the hot seat. I'm in the "delerium" of cleaning a large house, getting ready for Xmas Eve, and a dinner for 30. And, now, I've been faced with a bacon appetizer that needs to be prepared the night before (unless I get up at 4:00 am or some other unseemly hour). Limited reheating availablable (read microwave, unless I send The Spouce with the toaster oven and very explicit instructions). Please help a mother with too many presents to wrap, too many tableclothes to iron, to many cookies to make, too many dishes that have been stored to rewash! How do I cook bacon the night before and keep it crispy? Bacon needs to be front and foremost.

Chris, for some great mashed potato advice, don't forget about jackal10's ECI Potato Course

Chris, this menu sounds wonderful, but the shrimp amuse sounds particularly beguiling to me! How about thin matchsticks of cucumber as a nest for the shrimp? You'd have more snap to them than with the "noodle" idea" but they might more easily be plated in the small dishes you have. Oh, and ditto on the regular dense white bread fried in duck fat! No wine suggestion, but serious envy as I'm bound by tradition (I'm the outlaw) as I will serve lutefisk and swedish meatballs.

Wanted: More ideas for appetizers featuring bacon (other than bacon candy). No cooking available on site (other than a microwave, which is not acceptable for bacon).

So Sam, how do I avoid the Oil Slick in the garlic/soy dip? No flour, please!

For a moment, let's leave flour in the dust, and think about my current question. For potstickers, I make a garlic/soy/sesame oil dipping sauce. How do I keep it emulsified? The garlic is better not pureed, but I want t avoide the dreaded Oil Slick on the top. ???

I don't know where I'd be without leftover gumbo and smoked meat in the freezer. Reheat the gumbo, and voila! instant dinner that requires almost no attention. The other night, it was a forgotten package of smoked pork (freezer gold) the morphed into posole. So, I'm in a rut, but then again, the deep freezer is not a safe deposit box, and the stuff needs to be used.

An appetizer party. The worst was the regular supermarket white mushrooms, stuffed with chunks of Velveeta cheese, nuked beyond belief. The mouthfeel was, well, suffice to say I was glad I had a napkin in my hand and that there was a trash can nearby.

Call me old fashioned, but I do love the snap, juice and sweet/tang of grapes. Yes, done to death, but for a reason. Will the mango chutney be somewhat spicy?

Welcome, Norman! I think it's advisable to ignore the suggested temps for beef on meat thermometers because the temp to which you want to take it depend so much on the cut of beef. For things like briskets and chuck roasts -- cuts with a lot of connective tissue -- I usually cook them low and slow to about 190F, a point at which all of that connective tissue melts. But for a steak, tenderloin, etc. -- I like them at about 130F -- nice and rare!

I've really enjoyed this cookbook. I love the way Molly organizes cookbooks -- at the beginning of every chapter is an index of the recipes in that particular chapter including page numbers. She does a nice job of introducing each recipe, and there are tips and notes throughout. And, you don't have to flip a page to read the rest of the recipe. So far, I've made the sausage/pasta dish (like Lori), the maple toast cups with eggs, the pork chile verde with posole, the sausage/grape dish, and the frozen lemon cream sandwiches. Two comments on the recipes I've done. The posole (I made mine with leftover smoked pork) was so good the kids wanted it for dessert. This one will become a standby; using leftover meat makes this a very fast on the table dish. The frozen lemon cream sandwiches were also outstanding, but a couple of notes. The cookies called for were expensive, and came 8 to a package, and the recipe calls for 12 of them. And, these are very rich, and they were just flat way too big. So, for our Xmas Eve meal, I'll be piping the filling into krumkake (sp?) for a more manageable size. My kids are enchanted with this cookbook. I usually get the kids a joint gift every Xmas, and I think this might be it.

Katie, the idea of ground pot roast leaves me beyond cold. Grey and, well, ground. What about a smoked salmon mousse for something "meatier" (well, fishier), and turning the leftover pot roast into a nice warm soup for some other dinner? I heard ground pot roast, and all I can think of is that jarred baby junk my friends fed their kids.

Lori, did you have lunch with Seth and his mom today? If so, anything to report?

I never score, or so it seems, but Peter scored big for me when we were wandering around HomeGoods (the home stuff only store run by the TJMaxx/Marshall's folks). Peter: "Mom, what is this?" Me: "Shit, grab it." A french Madeleine pan for $.99! Off to find that topic on potato madeleines. Edited to add a link to the wonderful Potato Madeleines topic.

Thanks so much for the nice description of the pleating process. I'm very adept at pleating potstickers, and I'm thinking that I'll do some pleating test-runs with marbles or something like that. But, let's talk about the dough. Do you think that the cold water dough creates a more silken wrapper?

Percy, more details on your cilantro pork, please!

There is something magical that happens with mustard or egg yoilks. Why? I don't know that they share anyting in common, but they can transform the orginary to to the sublime.

This is one of my favorite, and it works well as a salad for not only Thai, but farang food. It's also great on a tuna salad sandwich. (do we call that fusion?)