thock

Thank you so much for this information, Andie!

That's why I like my Big Berkey. It doesn't remove minerals, as evidenced when I used Berkey-filtered water to run through the distiller, just for grins. There was a layer of scale left on the bottom of the previously pristine distiller reservoir. The white filter elements, which I have, will reduce chlorine, rust, sediment and organic chemicals about 98%. The black filter elements remove more stuff, but I won't get them until I need them.

Very cool. I was wondering how it was done without refrigeration (i.e. in large batches or before there were fridges), or if they just dealt with the separation. Did you then keep the lard refrigerated? Did you use lard for pie crusts? If so, and if you didn't refrigerate the lard, were the crusts as flaky as you get with cold lard and butter? How long was it, typically, until the lard became rancid without refrigeration?

It's nasty, rainy and cold, here, and I just finished straining a batch of chicken stock, so I put the solids in some water for a remouillage, then found some chicken carcasses I'd missed in the freezer, and some frozen veggies intended for stock, and threw in some celery and a bit of garlic and simmered for a few hours. I strained it, then added some dried celery, carrot, onion and mushrooms, a bit of Tabasco, a little soy, and some peppercorns. I ended up adding some sriracha, too, to add a little character. I threw in a 1" piece of Parmesan rind and some cut-up raw chicken. I'm cooking up some AmyLu andouille, which I will throw in when it's a little less fatty, and then I will put in some fideo noodles. I think it's gonna be good. And of course, I'll never be able to recreate it.

Ok, so here are some pictures: This is the fractionated lard, at room temperature, of which I spoke upthread. This is that same lard, reheated in a water bath, just before I stuck it in the fridge on a dry washcloth, straight out of the water bath. This is that same lard, recongealed in the fridge, but taken out to come to room temperature to see if it would maintain homogeneity. As you can see, it did. Very interesting...

We have fairly unappetizing tap water, so I filter it all, for drinking and for cooking, through my Big Berkey water filter. Like Andie's Crown Berkey (I'm jealous), it has to be hand-filled, but that's not a big deal. I can get five gallons of water out of it in about 8 hours, or so, if I keep it filled and filtering. I'm currently borrowing a friend's Kenmore distiller to make distilled water, but not for drinking or cooking. Instead, that will be used for my SO's semi-permeable contacts, and other health- and hygiene-related things, like rinsing my hair. We have somewhat hard water, although it's not as bad as it was when I lived in Rolla, MO, but it leaves a film on my hair if I don't do a final rinse with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, diluted with distilled water (to eliminate minerals). I LOVE my British Berkefeld filter system. I used to use a Pur faucet mount filter, but the cartridges are expensive, and the faucet mounts break after a while. Filtered water now costs me about 2.5 cents a gallon, where it used to cost me about a quarter a gallon with the Pur filters.

I'm not particularly brand-loyal, except for ham and Velveeta. I don't use much Velveeta, but the generic or store-brand stuff doesn't quite measure up. I LOVE the Wilson's Black Forest ham you can get at Sam's, so when I buy it, I get a whole one and have them slice it. Then I vac-pack it at home in one-pound packages. I have to hide it so my SO doesn't eat it all in a week. He is very brand-loyal when it comes to certain things: Gulden's spicy brown mustard, Axe deodorant, Colgate toothpaste, etc. I compensate by finding stuff on sale, on clearance and at surplus/salvage stores and Big Lots. I don't buy a lot of prepared foods, other than condiments and that Velveeta stuff. And I try to buy local and/or organic produce and dairy whenever I can.

Ok, I think I've found the answer to this question, at least. It appears, from the info at this link: Info on lard, that the separation is called "fractionation," and is caused by slow, undisturbed cooling of fat. It doesn't say how to "unfractionate" it, but I'm guessing, and testing that guess, that by remelting and recongealing the fat quickly, it will become homogeneous again. We shall see...

Thanks, all y'all. I had read the instructions (always do), but had heard some horror stories about people putting cold Pyrex in hot ovens and having it essentially disintegrate. I STILL don't like the idea of non-borosilicate bakeware, but that's me.

Andie, Do you put your borosilicate glassware in a pre-heated oven? I haven't been, because I'm concerned that it will crack. However, I do remember my mother putting Corningware and Pyrex in a pre-heated oven.

I have various fats, too. Tallow, lard (a couple of "qualities"), bacon grease, chicken schmaltz, turkey schmaltz... I have one question, however. Does anyone else have grainy tallow? My tallow (rendered from scrap fat), in a semi-solid to solid state, is grainy. It re-granulates when it's melted and resolidified. It smells neutral, and it's beautifully white, but it's grainy. I just don't remember this ever having happened to my tallow before, but that doesn't mean much. Ok, so maybe I have two questions. Some of my lard, at room temperature, has two distinct phases: a beige liquid phase on top of a lighter tan semi-solid phase. Is this something anyone else has seen? I canned that lard in a water bath canner, and am keeping it in the fridge, but I noticed this phase change when the jars were cooling off after I canned them.

Target has sold some borosilicate baking utensils from Green Apple, with a non-stick coating that is translucent. The coating is proprietary. I don't know whether Target still carries it, but I think you could search for it online.

I started some about 3 weeks ago with 5 beans (I'm guessing all Bourbon) in half a pint of cheap vodka. It started to color almost immediately. I ordered some Tahitian and Bourbon grade B beans from Vanilla Products, and I've started a bunch with 2 Tahitian beans and 3 Bourbon beans in 12 ounces of rum, half Bacardi Superior and half Bacardi Gold. I can't wait until I can use it! I also stuck a couple of beans in some dry oatmeal and some in some sugar, and some in stevia powder. I'm curious to see how the vanilla stevia will turn out.

Oh, wow, Andie! That looks good! I have a tiny 6" tall plant and a larger 18" plant. The little one is doing fine, but the larger one is having issues. The leaves look very dry, but the tree has been adequately watered, perhaps too adequately, if you know what I mean. I'm going to let it dry out a bunch before I water it again, but I hope I haven't killed it. I opened a jar of some dried bay leaves I've had for a while, and I don't get much smell from them, but if I bite off a tiny bit, I can taste something. I couldn't smell anything from the tiny tree, but I still got a little taste from that. I took both to my SO, who has a super smeller, and he said the dried leaves are fragrant, but the live tree is not. My guess is I have issues with my nose. Bummer. I can smell other stuff, like lavender and rosemary, so what's the deal with bay?

I wonder if you have to do something with them, like steep them in water, to get any fragrance or flavor from them.

Maybe I don't know what to look for, but I've NEVER been able to tell the difference when I've used/not used bay of any variety. Is it perhaps one of those tastes that is individual, so that certain people can taste it and others cannot? This concerns me a bit because I have tasted the fresh leaves from my bay laurel tree (in a pot) and they have not seemed terribly strong, and neither have the dry leaves I've obtained from various sources, like the grocery store or an Asian market.

Thanks, I will try that.

Awesome! Thanks! Do you know if anyone else carries a similar one that's a bigger diameter? I have been unsuccessful in finding one, mainly, I guess, because I don't know what key words to use to search... Tracy

Darienne, Do you have a link to the mortar and pestle you're talking about? I've been looking for one like that for a while. Thanks! Tracy

Hey, look what I found! http://www.quickspice.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/cookwarewokutensils.shtml?E+scstore I found that by searching for "wok utensils" on Yahoo. I hope the link comes through. It's called a wok spatula, and I saw one for $4.95 on another site. If you search for that, you may find one cheaper than that, however if you have an Asian market nearby, that may be your best bet. ETA: more info

I have no idea what it's called, but I have one. I got one in a wok set I got at a rummage sale for a dollar (a DOLLAR for the wok, ring, and utensils. Can't beat that!). It has a wooden handle that falls out easily. I've seen them at an Asian grocery in town for not much money, so try one near you.

Thank you! I will try that.

I will have to find some good recipes to try! I'll also have to go back to that store and buy more of this, if it's not easy to find, huh? I can't remember how much it cost, but it wasn't much, I'm sure. Tracy

Oh, thank you very much! That looks exactly like what I have. I will now see what it can be used for, besides as an anti-malarial Tracy

The other day, I went to a local Asian market and got a bunch of things, among them being a bag of what they claimed to be "dried nutmegs." They were a good price (I don't remember how much, off-hand), so I bought some. After getting home, I compared them with my neighbor's nutmegs, and they are not the same thing at all. What could these be? I'm fairly convinced they are NOT nutmegs, but they smell good. I cracked one open to see what was inside. I will, of course, be getting real nutmegs from Penzey's or some other place, but I am curious to see what they really are, and whether they're usable for anything. front of bag back of bag some of the not-megs the broken-open one Any help solving this mystery would be appreciated. I wish there was such a thing as smell-o-vision so that I could post the fragrance, but oh, well... Tracy