mgaretz

I use them to make Carbonnade a la Flamonde (Belgian Beef Stew) - cook them for 6 hours in the slow cooker.

I used to sell refrigerators (for Sears for a while, but mostly Best Buy) - when I needed a fridge for my new house I choose a side-by-side - a Whirlpool with the ice storage in the door. Partly because the french door models are more expensive and having ice and water in the door is kind of a kludge, even on the best of them (the LG). Adn I love my ice and water in the door! Yes you can fit a sheet pan in a bottom freezer, but that's not something I need to do enough to justify the incovenience of the bottom freezer. I also have a nice dedicated freezer in the garage (frost free, non-chest). As to the "cold goes down so it's more efficient" theory - it would be true if the compressor and cooling coils were at the top, but they aren't - they're at the bottom - so you need to move that cold air up to keep the refirgerator compartment cool.

I prefer a silicone brush with a stainless handle.

I don't know about "normal" food, but I know for hops (for beer) they make new varieties with genetic modification. Nothing as spohisticated as gene splicing - they chemically induce mutations with a compound like colchicine, It's a shotgun approach - you just hope that some of the mutations are useful and propogate them. Colchicine tends to make sterile and seedless plants - my guess is that it and compounds like it were used to come up with seedless varieties of many things we eat today.

I am intrigued by the cauliflower and peanut combo since I find cauliflower to have a nutty taste. Can you give us a synopsis of the prep? Sure Heidi. Normally she makes this with green onions and cashews but since we had neither we substituted peanuts and yellow onions. I actually liked this version a little better. Wash and cut up a head of cauliflower. Thinly slice about 1/2 a medium yellow onion and break the half rings apart. Steam the onion and cauliflower together. While they are steaming, lightly crush 1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts. When the cauliflower is tender, transfer to a bowl and stir in butter to taste (we used about 1/4 stick of unsalted). Once the butter is melted and distributed, mix in the peanuts. Salt and pepper to taste, if desired (we used none, but the peanuts were salted). I think this would also be good prepared as a stir fry.

Last night I made London Broil with a Cherry and Balsamic Vinegar reduction and my wife made cauliflower with onions and peanuts.

Tonight I made "Balsamic Chicken" - it's braised in a balsamic vinegar and red wine sauce with whole shallots and potatoes.

Tonight we had homemade crab cakes, homemade cole slaw and roasted beets. The beets were from the CSA box (which we just signed up for and are liking it a lot!). I roasted them for 1 hour then carmelized them in butter with cream sherry. Yum.

Works for me (since I'm lactose intolerant!). With the BlendTec I have found that a ratio of 2 parts frozen to 1 part of liquid (by volume) works for frozen desserts and 1 to 1 for smoothies. And you need to add some kind of emulsifying/smoothing agent. In the BlendTec demos they use banana. I don't want to use banana since it's high in carbs. Instead I use xanthan gum. For a 2 cup total smoothie (1 cup frozen fruit, 1 cup liquid) I use 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. For frozen dessert I use 1/2 tsp.

3 tbs Dijon mustard 1 tbs Honey 1 tbs port wine (or Zinfandel) 1 tsp orange extract 1/4 tsp black pepper I grill the salmon for 6 minutes on a side with indirect heat (covered). Put the salmon on the grill for 6 minutes then baste with the sauce, flip and baste the top. Cook for 6 more minutes.

The "hot" item at this year's Alameda Count Fair was chocolate dipped bacon. I didn't try it since I couldn't eat the milk chocolate but others said it was really good.

I haven't made a mole in my BlendTec but we routinely make a version of the tortilla soup - whole tomato (skin seeds and all), celery, carrot, onion, chicken bullion (paste), water and seasoning. Comes out super smooth, so I imagine a mole would be just as smooth. I would be sure to remove the seeds from the chiles though.

Crab cakes with mashed potatoes, steamed spinach and cole slaw. I meant to take pictures - really!

Thanks for the very clear explanation. Malt has always been one of those things that I just didn't understand! Would it make a difference to the flavour if the germinated grain is rice rather than barley? I'm seeing a lot of 'malt syrup' results when I do a search for maltose. Many of them say the base grain is rice - yet speak of a fragrance of malt... Personally I use organic ingredients and was searching to see if there was such a thing as organic maltose. All I came up with is the maltose syrup sourced from germinated organic rice. Thoughts? I'm also thinking the the milk powder component wouldn't be necessary if using it to make a malt chocolate or ice cream float where milk/cream is predominant?? The source of the maltose really doesn't matter, but barley is the grain used most often. And you're right, the milk component doesn't add much, except that on it's own, dried matlose is very hygroscopic meaning it absorbs water like crazy. If you leave it unsealed in a few days you'll have solid lump. The milk may keep that from happening. Maltose is "organic" by it's nature, but you probably mean you want the base grain used to be organically grown. Haven't heard of it, but organic malted barley is certainly available. A homebrew store would be your best bet.

Wait - are they both the same temperature when you do this? Close - I don't bother to chill the coffee but it's at room temperature. It still fizzes like crazy.

I like to mix Coke with black coffee.

Malted milk powder is a mix of dried non-fat milk with malt sugar (maltose). It's the malt sugar that has the characteristic "malt" flavor. Malted barley, whether whole or powdered does not yet contain malt sugar. It has starch and enzymes (alpha amylase) - the enzymes are created in the malting process. To convert the starches to sugars the malted barley powder would have to be steeped in 158 degree F water for a few minutes. That allows the enzymes to attack the starch and convert it to sugar. (This process, btw, is called "mashing".) So powdered malted barley probably won't give you the flavor you're after. (Don't be fooled by tasting the powder because your saliva is full of alpha amylase and will covert the starches to sugars in your mouth.) I haven't looked for malted milk powder in a while (primarily because I am lactose intolerant) but it's hard to believe you can't find it. Look in the ice cream aisle where they have the toppings. If you still can't find it then try a homebrew supply store. They will sell powdered malt extract which will be close to pure maltose - get the lightest they have.

Bruce, that chicken looks fantastic!

Well I meant to take pictures! I haven't been posting for a while, not because I haven't been cooking, but because I haven't made anything new.... Tonight we had friends over and I made London Broil with mashed potatoes (no milk, just butter), porcini sauce for the meat and potatoes and salad with my raspberry vinaigrette. The sauce was made with dried porcinis, reducing their soaking liquid and adding cream sherry, garlic, butter and a touch of balsamic vinegar.

Tonight was a pretty straight-ahead beef stew with carrots, celery, onions, potatoes. The only stranger was pearl barley, added for texture and a thickener. Made it in the slow cooker.

Last night (Saturday) we made ham - but note that we're Jewish and since all Jewish holidays start the night before, we called it "Erev Easter Ham"... Anyway it was done in the slow cooker with a brown sugar and orange glaze. Served with carrots cooked in the slow cooker with the ham, baked yams and steamed cauliflower. Tonight we had the left-over ham with my braised potatoes and onions dish. Sorry no pictures as I cut the ham too soon and it wasn't pretty!

Mine too.

Tonight I made my Chunky Red Sauce with homemade pasta.

Looks like it's been a long time since anyone posted here, but... I looked at a Bamix at Williams Sonoma and I am concerned that it would really tear up the bottom of a non-stick pot, and I have a few large pots that are non-stick. (I'm also concerned that it would wear/scratch the bottom of my stainless and enameled pots.) Are there any good ones that have plastic "blade protector" housing? Cooks Illustrated like the Kaloric which is very affordable. Comments?

Pizza! Whole wheat homemade crust (actually about 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 unbleached with some gluten flour added in), lactose-free mozarella, spinach, mushrooms, onions, red pepper and pepperoni.