TeakettleSlim

I love caramelized onions, and have an aversion to any crispiness in onions whatsoever. This is inconvenient if I just want some onions in a quick omelet or something. Was hoping to find an easy way to make a vat of onions done just so to use in everything. Hoping this was the answer, I tried crock pot onion confit last night after reading the first two and last two pages of this thread. (Probably the answer to my exact question is buried in here somewhere, but I ain't got time to find it). A simple version: Crock pot, low heat, 16 hours, 5 lb yellow onions, 1 stick butter. They turned brown but not caramelized; were soupy, not thick. The flavor was a bit boring ("hello, I am a thoroughly cooked plain onion"), so I added about 5 oz of red pepper-garlic jelly, some dried thyme, black pepper, and a bay leaf and let it go a bit longer. Still kinda boring (now sweet and boring), and still soupy. I'm finishing it off in the oven right now, trying to reduce the liquid a bit and get it thick like I thought it was supposed to be. I didn't expect it to be like true caramelized onions, but I did hope for more complex oniony flavor notes than what I'm getting. Am I doing something wrong, or did I mis-imagine what the final product should be like? Should I put it back in the slow cooker and let it go some more? Maybe on high heat?

To the good advice you've already gotten, I'd add that not every soup recipe can be canned, no matter what the method. In addition to concerns about the acidity of the ingredients, the recommended ratio of liquids to solids has to be followed pretty carefully, and no thickeners like flour can be used, since the soup's density can affect the ultimate safety of the final product (my understanding is that if it's thicker, the heat may not penetrate equally through the entire thing). The best bet is to find a tested, approved recipe (from the NCHFP site the Sparrowgrass linked to, or from one of Ball's publications) and use that. You can adjust the amount of dried spices to your own tastes. Or you can always freeze it!

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, and think it deserves a bump! And I will add to it: apple and thyme blueberry and lavender plum and tarragon peach and basil molasses and dark chocolate

We recently discovered His Place on the east side of town-- on Shadeland Blvd, in an unassuming (ok, kind of rundown) little strip mall. Soul food/southern style cooking, very very good. I had fried catfish, collard greens, macaroni and cheese; husband had smoked meatloaf, candied yams, bourbon creamed corn. We split an order of banana pudding for dessert--it was perhaps the best banana pudding I have ever had. Everything was superb, enough to make two displaced Southerners' hearts glad. (Well, I didn't care for their sweet tea, but that's hardly a deal-breaker, and the large squeeze bottle of hot sauce they provided more than made up for it, albeit in a different capacity). Next time we will be trying the ribs (which get both dry rub AND mop treatment!).

This morning, Balijan Assam GBOP, since the Panitola finally ran out. Now, some Pi Lo Chun. I'm embarrassed to admit the purchase date was 2006. I have that bad habit of saving the best teas for special occasions that never arrive. Today's special occasion: Thursday!

I like to saute some smoked sausage rounds and garlic, toss in some broccoli florets, then toss with rotini, parmesan, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Here I am, reviving another long-dead thread. For me the most urgent question is not "what kind of mint?", but "what's the technique"? I use a mix of gunpowder green and spearmint (Upton Tea's Moroccan Mint blend, or home blend with my homegrown spearmint), but my results have not been authentic, no matter how strong I try to make the brew. I have been served North African mint tea twice, once by a Malian Tuareg woman, once by a Senegalese man. It knocked my socks off each time! It was to my American mint tea what Italian espresso is to McDonald's coffee. I didn't get to watch the process very closely, but it seemed more involved than just boiling water, steeping, straining and sweetening, and pouring from up high (I don't even think they did that part, but I'm not sure). Anyone know the proper procedure?

Chris, the fries are just deep fried, and the egg broken over the top right in the fryer before they're pulled out. You end up with a nice tangle of greasy fries/egg. Andie, I didn't know there was going to be a Mma Ramotswe cookbook! I love McCall-Smith...something to add to my Christmas list!

Ok, it's not a really a sweet, it only looks like one. For a potluck I'm attending today, I couldn't decide between making cupcakes and making my pasta salad...so I compromised. Basil sweet-corn mini-muffins with chevre-tomato 'frosting'. Toasted pine nuts for garnish.

You might try Pomona pectin for the tomato or the basil infusion. Don't think it would work for oil, though.

I spent 2 months in Tanzania in 2003 learning Swahili. A couple of foods that I encountered that I don't see mentioned here (and that I occasionally have an unrequited craving for) are maandazi (little doughnuts, about the size of hushpuppies, but a little bit sweet), chips mayai (french fries with an egg fried over the top, to be eaten with pilipili sauce), and maharagwe (red beans, usually cooked in coconut milk). Fried plantians with pilipili sauce. I could do the fried plantains here at home, but it's not the same without the Tanzanian chili sauce. One thing I would love to learn more about are the local adaptations of Indian food in the coastal areas, esp. ner Zanzibar. There's long been a large population of people of Indian descent living in East Africa-- in Dar Es Salaam I had some of the best Indian food I've had in my life. Surely some local variations and specialties have emerged over the centuries. I know there's a variant of chapati that has made its way into local, non-Indian cuisine. I'm not sure, not being a chapati expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the way the dough is formed is different. After kneading the dough, they make a hole in the ceneter and gradually elongate it into a very long rope/doughnut. Then this is laid down, rolled up into a spiral, and rolled out flat before frying. It causes a distinctive tearing pattern in the finished bread. And there were so many street food vendors whose wares I didn't get to sample. One thing I tried that I'd like to have identified was something we got at an Indian-run grocery in Dar es Salaam. There was a leaf (3-4 inches long, iirc), and a number of things to spread on the leaf. The guy layered them all on, then rolled it up. I got a bite of a friend's-- it was very aromatic. There was definitely some aniseed in there, but other than that, I have no idea. Anyone know what that was?

I'm nursing a cup of Panitola Estate Assam. I'm very near to the end of my supply, and no more is available right now, so I'm treasuring every sip.

A show teaching about home canning and preserving-- given the resurgence of interest in this, a show talking about the science of it, as well as giving new, safety-tested recipes would be timely. Jams, preserves, pickles, fermentation, pressure canning...