Mottmott
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Posts posted by Mottmott
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Wooden drop-lid? Wassat?
It's a flat lid, traditionally made of wood, that is a bit smaller than the circumference of a pot. It is used when simmering and is directly dropped on top of the food being simmered. It keeps the food from moving around and breaking up, and allows the food to suck up maximum flavour from the simmering liquid.
A must-have item for the Japanese kitchen!
I thought that's what pot lids are for, just use the next smaller size.
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If I had an island (particularly without cutouts for sink or stovetops), I might consider one of these stones or manufactured stones for their appearance. After all, it becomes a focal point visually.
But for countertops, I like laminate formica. It's very serviceable and inexpensive enough that if you do damage it or get tired of the color, it's reasonable to make a change every few years if you care to. I don't have acres of counterspace and could afford whatever I surface I choose. But it seems so wasteful to put so many thousands of dollars into something that provides minimal benefit over formica. After using my (black) formica countertop for 20 years, it is just now beginning to show a trace of wear in the space between the sink and stove where it gets the most use.
The only thing about the stone counter that tempts me is that it might improve the resale value of the house. Does anyone have hard information about how useful stone is from that point of view?
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Not to discourage dls from donating her microwave.
Big round of applause. But: I used to think I didn't use my microwave enough to justify the space, too, until I gave it to my DIL. Now I have a new one (also small). Living alone usually (though not at the moment), I find it's great for reheating little serving sized ziplocks of stews, soups, etc. that I have from leftovers. I use it to heat water for green tea without dragging out a pan. And I LOVE it for steaming veggies (and even some fish), especially steaming cabbage (put in deep bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cook using only the droplets of water from washing the cabbage -hardly even needs that much water; time varies according to how much cabbage there is). It makes the MOST delicious, sweet cabbage that you can then either eat as is or use in some dish. Of course it works with other vegs as well, but the cabbage is my fav and better when done in the microwave as well as easier. It's particularly nice to use it in hot weather, avoiding heating up the kitchen.
About the tea ball. The ones I like are made of mesh and they keep everything in. They're on a chain that can be hooked to the side of the pan. The biggest I've seen is about 3" and often comes in a box. I've also seen one that's oblong and about 4" long, a good shape for herbs with stems. I give them as gifts.
Another mesh gadget I like and give to people I like: a mesh insert for the kitchen sink. It, unlike the one sinks come with, catches everything. I have several and cycle them through the DW. I use it in the side without the garbage disposal. Iti's a real drain saver.
It's funny how there are so many expensive gadgets we all get (and groan about their uselessness), and then there are the handful of really cheap useful ones like microplaners, etc.
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the one thing i could have lived without and never missed is any kind of fancy food processor......i want to puree my own stuff (if i have to, i can use a blender...ugh....but a blender is great for slushy drinks), i want to chop my own stuff, and the day has not come when i can't mix up a batch of dough without a machine, thank you very much.....the only good thing a food processor ever did for me was act as a door stop when i was moving stuff.........
It's not that I use my food processor often, but when I'm making large quanitites of food, it's a godsend. For instance, It's one thing to grate a cup of cheese by hand, but a couple of pounds? Food processor. Likewise for a couple of heads of cabbage. And it's indispensible for my cheddar-ale spread.
Here's a new one for you: Really useless,
a gift set of 4 single serving brioche tins I can't give away. Like I'm going to do all that work to make that 4 brioche? 
Or maybe go out and buy a bunch more tins? I don't think so. (I am considering making a loaf of brioche plus 4 individuals on the side just so I can say I've used them once).Now, playing catchup on the thread:
Processor: I don't think I'd enjoy cooking nearly so much without my processor. I find it has relegated the blender to only making drinks or an occasional puree. I use the processor for all sorts of things, from making bread crumbs to slicing cucumbers or onions, mincing instead of dicing large amounts of mirepoix or mushrooms when it's all going to be pureed later. Since I've started making doughs in it, I make pies and breads much more often, and in the case of pie dough especially, much better. And I don't find cleaning it such a big deal. It's only annoying when you have to dry it between jobs, but storing an extra bowl would be more annoying. I also have the small processor which I don't use a lot. I could give it up.
Virtually useless? The Bron mandoline. I'm so afraid of slicing off my fingers I seldom use it. I'm considering getting one of those mesh gloves. Anyone! A useless fix? Good money after bad?
My Atlas pasta maker found at a yard sale. I'm going to give it away to my DIL when they move into their own house. With kids it would be fun to use. But I very seldom use it. I do use my Kitchen Aid attachment.
Love it, love it, love it. (Make the dough in the processor.)Useless for me? A suribachi I've never used vs the large granite and small marble mortars I use a lot. The small one is perfect for grinding up pills to slip into my cats food as well as more usual kitchen chores. The big one's great, too, but oh so heavy.
(If anyone is keeping score, I'm in the no column on garlic presses and peelers (I use the bottle opener pad), mixed feelings on the cherry/olive pitter that seems to depend on the particular batch of fruit, and use the shrimp peeler if I have a big batch.)
No offense meant to the do-it-by-handers. I'm with you in spirit, but as standing for any length of time becomes ever more painful, having these time savers keeps me cooking. A kitchen stool is becoming a useful tool. The long resisted electric can opener is still resisted only by virtue of so seldom using cans.
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I just looked through the drawer and found a tea ball. When I was growing up we had a tea ball that never got used. I guess I'm just upholding an old family tradition.
No one I know deveins shimp including me. Lobsters yes, shrimp no.
Nick, I'm playing catchup on this thread. Like you, I don't use the tea-baller for tea. But I use it all the time instead of a cheesecloth bag for a bayleaf, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, etc. that I don't wish to fish out of my braises and poaches. In fact, I found a one big enough (in an Asian grocery) that you can stuff a bunch of herbs in, too.
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You could check out the Sandra Lee cookbook.
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eG's own Bouland has a beautiful website which includes many recipes, alacarte, at:
http://www.hertzmann.com/index.php
Also, it's worth a search on the names of chefs, many of which (Pepin, Blanc) have sites that include many recipes.
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I just bought some pears for poaching. I'll probably add whole spices while poaching (cinnamon, allspice, lemon zest). I usually do it in wine rather than sugar syrup.
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Here's more (frightening) news about testing procedures or, rather, lack of testing procedures:
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Okay explain this to me -- in yesterday's show -- which I did watch to see if I had somehow misjudged her.. she dippes lemon slices in raw egg white and then in sugar and says " now leave this out here for 30 minutes or so" -- I am sorry is that not WRONG? Salmonnela (sp?) or does that only affect people who dont cook from cans!
She did the same thing in the infamous holiday cake episode--which is one I think even SL would have a hard time beating. You may have even caught her sticking her finger into the Cool Whip after she put it on the pie. I suppose it's possible she buys her eggs from a small organic farm that tests for salmonella, but it seems unlikely.
Mottmott said:
Few among us who consider ourselves scratch cooks do not use some commercially prepared foods. I use canned tomatoes in winter, I don't make my own olive oil or salt my own anchovies. I do sometimes bake bread or make pasta but more often buy them. Some people grind their own flour and roast their own coffee beans. We fall at different spots on the continuum.This is why I brought up the distinction between an ingredient and a 'convenience food'--something designed to be used like an ingredient, but with less work. And arguably basic staples like flour and coffee are processed to some degree. Chocolate is a manufactured product--it's almost impossible to make in a home kitchen. I use, for example, dry buttermillk, because I use it only occasionally and I hate wasting the leftover in the carton. Even though I know the consistency does not come out the same. We do have to make choices based on our abilities and circumstances. On the other hand, that dry buttermilk consists of buttermilk, and nothing else. So can we say there's a dividing line, or just a sliding scale?
I agree with you totally. For myself, I try to draw the line based on the ingredients list and try to draw the line at chemical additives. Few of us can make everthing we eat.
If it is a traditionally preserved foodstuff that has been dried/salted (cod, tomatoes anchovies, capers, dried beans) or "canned" or flash frozen without a bunch additives (tomatoes, most jams, flash frozen vegetables or fruits), I personally have no problem and think of them as basic ingredients, one step from fresh. And indeed some of these things cannot be made in the average modern home.
In a pinch I use canned stock. A stretch more from "natural" and I use many condiments: catsup, mayo (though if it's important in the dish I may make it), many Asian condiments such as fish and soy sauce, shrimp paste, etc. I also use olives, pickles, etc. I also use dried pasta, filo, bakery breads, chocolate, roasted coffee beans, and many other items that I think of as basic food elements.
Sometimes I'll bake cakes and pies, sometimes cookies, I occasionally bake bread. And while I get these at a good bakery, I've given up getting them in prepackaged form filled with chemicals.
My line is drawn at dinner in a box (unless it's the order in pizza which I can luckily get at neighborhood place that makes their own dough and delivers fast). I don't want something that has been cooked and then preserved with who knows what.
I'm not as much offended by Lee's use of things that have been prepared by others as by her steering people to use foods that are chemically contaminated (IMO), pretending it is for their benefit by saving them time and energy, when the big beneficiary is the food factories. Her books and shows are infomercials.
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Bushey~
I also love my (coddled) eggs to death with chili powder. Just gives em a nice ZING that black pepper doesnt.
Pitter~
*quote from Bugs Bunny cartoon....After all, they laughed at the man when he discovered Penicillin!*
The first time I told someone I put a mustard/mayo mix on coddled eggs over toast they looked at me like I was nuts.
Can someone say DEVILED EGGS? or EGG SALAD?
You do it cold so why the hell not HOT?
I LOVE coddled eggs! These coddlers hold two eggs each with enough room left to pile on the herbs, spices, and meats. Four coddlers is barely enough to serve two people.
I think I'm going to get a couple of these for myself. They're so cute! I did buy some many years ago for my inlaws.
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I've been playing with several different pumpkin/butternut squash recipes, and there always seemed to be something missing - a heft, or substance to the taste (not the texture). I discovered recently that a tablespoon or so of good balsamic vinagar adds a background to the flavour that's unidentifiable, but makes all the difference.
Have you tried adding some amaretti to your pumpkin ravioli?? If so, how does it compare with the addition of balsamic?
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there are some wonderful and very easy recipes to prepare this dish using ricotta cheese.
Talking of Ricotta cheese, me and my wife made Milk Cake a couple weeks back only,
- Take 2 cups ricotta cheese, cook in a non-stick pan on low heat for approx 5 minutes.
- Add 1 cup milk (we used 2%) and cook another 10 minutes or so.
- Add 1/2 tsp cardamom powder or a few pods of crushed cardamom seeds.
- Add 1/2 cup sugar and cook (bhunno) till milk dries up and it forms a soft lump.
- Put the mix in a greased pan and let it cool.
- Cut into square/diamond pieces
It really came out very good and was the mitthai of Diwali for us.
Enjoy
Perhaps this recipe might be posted in the eG recipe file? It sounds so simple and good. But in case you don't, I'm putting in in my personal file. Thanks.
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Sounds like a plan. And if you can keep most of your expense in the new equipment, you can't do better than that. The one change I would make in my kitchen if the space allowed is to have a larger (and better) stove and a good downdraft exhaust. I'm tempted because my less than 2 year old GE (with oven cleaner) could be passed on to my kids.
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The old cookbooks thread also reminded me of some old cookbooks I have here, that I picked up at a flea market. It is worth remembering that Sandra Lee is not completely unprecendented. For as long as there have been convenience foods, the makers have issued cookbooks telling you what to do with them. I have here a particularly nasty Campbell's book from 1951 and a brilliant Jell-O book from 1974. I'd say the photos tell all, but the recipes do seem to assume the use of lots of frozen, canned, and dry mix ingredients. I've also got "Quick Dishes for the woman in a hurry (322 recipes in 30 minutes or less)" that indicates that some concerns are not really new.
So that we may bring our Sandra Lee-bashing to a proper intellectual level, it may be worth considering her 'historical context'. Is Sandra Lee merely the logical end-product of the convenience food tradition, or has some line been crossed somewhere? For decades, millions of people have made those Campbell's and Jell-O recipes, and many others like them, even after the Gospel of St. Julia and St. Jacques was made freely available to all. Convenience food companies sold their convenience, and wanted people to use their products, that was no surprise. But 'real' cookbooks, and TV cooking shows, remained relatively free of this; there was something of a divide. Are we offended now merely because she is so blatantly in our face, instead of in the back of the supermarket somewhere where she could be safely ignored? Also, Sandra Lee is unusual in not being oriented toward a particular brand or product or company, she's built a whole 'cuisine' around convenience foods. This, I think, is taking it to a new level, and perhaps accounts for her following.
On the other hand, this suggests that since on some level she's "always been with us", that she always will be. Or someone like her.
Also, it is worth considering the difference between a dry or preserved ingredient, which probably many of us use regularly, and a 'convenience food', which by its nature is designed to save time and steps--containing multiple ingredients mixed together, often but not always involving some amount of precooking.
You raise some good points. Generations of home cooks have been using prepared foods and convenience foods as elements in preparation from canned tomatoes and anchovies to jello and canned soups. Sandra Lee wants to take that to a whole other level, to make expensive, chemical filled factory foods the basis of our entire cooking. Many of us have our suspicions that she is also taking "product placement" to a whole new level and that her shows are a complexes of infomercials. Ron Popil, watch out.
Few among us who consider ourselves scratch cooks do not use some commercially prepared foods. I use canned tomatoes in winter, I don't make my own olive oil or salt my own anchovies. I do sometimes bake bread or make pasta but more often buy them. Some people grind their own flour and roast their own coffee beans. We fall at different spots on the continuum.
The question is at what level does commercialization not merely tarnish the author/cook but obliterate that person's credibility. We move from "food expert" to "entertainer" to "hawker."
The question is also what we consider good food. Recently more people have begun to pay more attention to the quality of their food both from the point of health and taste. To suggest factory food should be the level to which we should aspire is to move in the wrong direction. It's food disinformation.
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I remember these tiles. They were all the rage in the late seventies; they also came in blue. I remember kitchens that looked JUST like this. All you need is a Marimekko wall hanging and a couple of joints being passed around...
Kitchens get really dated; this is a perfect example of a kitchen that would have recieved oohs and aahs thirty years ago (well, except for the layout, but even then some of his architect buddies probably thought it was clever.) I predict all the kitchens with granite counters, light wood cabinets, and lots of SS appliances will feel this dated 20 years from now. For me, I guess the takeaway message is not to assume you are doing a kitchen that will last a lifetime; spend only as much money as you feel comfortable investing in something you are going to want to gut in 20 years.
Wonderful advice. I understand you're a dedicated cook and frustrated by a poorly laid out kitchen, but will you be satisfied by half measures? And are you sure the next layout won't contain its own imperfections and frustrations? From all the wonderful descriptions of the BBQ it doesn't sound as if your kitchen keeps you from good food and good fun. Kitchen architecture is a fad. Your kitchen has personality and history to it. It doesn't look like some merchandiser's dream and your bank balance nightmare.
Small changes can make a big difference in the appearance of your kitchen. Your floor looks functional and neutral. But tired of red tile (for example)? replace it with an economical black formica counter (for example). You can save much money by doing the removal itself. It will work well with what you have and last 20 years or til you get the itch to renovate again. And besides, it's a wonderful background for food.
And as Marie-Louise points out all the new glam items are tomorrows time warp. Update the equipment, throw some rugs on the floor (even cleaning them will be cheaper), and put 20/40 K in the kids' college funds. Reward yourself with a few super-splurge meals and bottles of wine or a great family vacation and calculating the beauty of compound interest.
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I still use the cookbook that first got me excited about cooking: "Cakes and Pastries" from the California Culinary Academy. I marveled at the magnificent works of edible art, chocolate mousse cakes with huge chocolate ruffles, perfectly piped whipped cream on Gateau St. Honore, the 1980s-style sleek glamour of the glossy Strawberry Mirror Cake, and wondered if I would ever be able to make anything that magnificent.
It's a masterpiece of 1980s extravagance, and really fired up my imagination. I've done a lot of the simpler recipes in there, but have never tried any of the recipes that made me go "wow". Either I'm afraid of screwing them up if I'm not "ready", or I always need to keep a few challenges ahead of me...
Ouch. The 80's as history! By that standard, Julia Child, and the early NYTimes Cookbooks are very old, the Rombauer Joy of Cooking(s), Boston Cooking School II have my MIL's from the 30's) & Fannie Farmers antiquarian! It's true that they do give snapshots of the food of their time, but for home cooking they're still useful.
This is a wonderful thread. I love checking out old cookbooks. Or contemporary books on older cooking.
Dorothy Hartley's Food in England is a history book, but inludes recipes, drawings of old equipment and kitchens. It's a great read and particularly interesting as she emphasises the link between food and its originating local, the consonance between the foods the animals eat and the herbs we use to garnish them (i.e., Lamb & Mint).
For really old food, check out Phyllis Pray Bober's 1999 Art Culture & Cuisine includes some ancient recipes and has extensive footnotes and bilbio if you want to follow anything up. And don't forget Clifford Wright's Mediterranean Feast which has lots of recipes.
My favorite "old" book is Graham Green & Norman Douglas' Venus in the Kitchen, though its interest is not solely historical. There's supposed be a second volume in the future.
I do have some recipe books and pamphlets that show old fashioned home cooking, mostly reprints or more recent compilations. For example:
The King's Bread: 18th Century Cooking at Niagra by Hallatt & Lipa (publ Youngstown, NY, 1986)
Ma's Cookin' by Sis and Jake (pub Osage Beach, Mo, 1966)
Cooking with the Pennsylvania "Dutch' edited by A Monroe Aurand, Jr (pub. The Aurand Press, Lancaster, Pa)
Cape Cod Secrets by the Yarmkouth Branch ...CapeCod Hoispoital Assn 1961 edition (1st ed. 1949) some of these are printed as handwritten
Good Savouries by Ambrose Heath (Faber & Faber, London, 1934)
Mountain Makin's in the Smokies by the Great Smoky Mtn Nat'l History Assoc (pbl 1957)
Recently my DIL gave me a set of 5 books from Heirloom Publishing in the 50's covering Early America, Young Republic, Westward Empire, Ante Bellum America, and Victorian America. These have drawings and photos of old kitchens and equipment.
Edited to include a really comprehensive 12 volume encylcopedic review of Women's Day recipes from the 50's and 60's (Fawcett).
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I think the problem is partly due to researchers who believe that their work proves beyond any doubt something that it clearly doesn't, and media journalists who know little or nothing about what they're writing about and are looking for a good sound bite. By the time anybody's actually read the research, the brouhaha has died down, and there's no incentive to retract any exaggerations or misinformation.
If anybody does point out the shortcomings in the research, the reply they get is yeah, well, even if this study/every study yet is badly done/inconclusive/proves just the opposite, the conclusion has been repeated in the press so many time that this makes it true.
Add to the list: those of us who, understandably, want a simple answer: "eat this, it's good for you" and "don't eat that, it's bad for you."
Firstly, the answers are evolving and tomorrow's information will cast a different light on what we think we already know. This is a given of how we know the world and we should add to everything we read, "as far as we know now...."
Secondly, we the public want a simple resolution to very complex issues. The more I read about nutrition, food contamination, etc., the more frustrated I become. As far as I can tell almost every food can be either good or bad for you. Sometimes a little is ok but a lot isn't. We "know" that too much fat will clog arteries and kill some of us before our time, but we also know that we can't live without some oils. I'll forgo listing all the foods that will kill us but that we can't live without. But I will indulge myself by citing an example of something I could but prefer not to live without. I'm particularly fond of the bitter almond flavor even though I know it contains some poison. It would take a lot of Amaretti to kill me off, but I can't buy the oil in this country. And so far I've survived using the pits of apricots (arsenic?cyanides? I forget which) when I make jam. Many of us seek out raw cheese, also illegal to protect us. So even non-essential foods are at issue.
We can contaminate ourselves with otherwise nutritious protein in meat, poultry, and dairy products that have been fed growth hormones and antibiotics. Or produce and grains grown with the aid of pesticides. (And, by the way, HAS anyone done a study on whether there is a correlation between the use of growth hormones and the rate of cancer in this country?) How much is too much? Without these practices would there be as much food? Without preservatives could we store food as we need to do under present food distribution practices. While we may revert to a system that does not require these additives at some future time, our current one seems to do so.
We could kill ourselves on the healthiest and purest foods if we eat so much of them that we need to be mechanically hoisted from our houses to be taken to the hospital for lifesaving measures.
No protein, vitamin A, C, etc., would be very bad for us, too much could/would be very bad, too. Do we eat it? don't we?
As others have said, keeping oneself as well informed as possible, and eating a wide variety of foods in moderate amounts is our only solution.
Except chocolate. Chocolate in the morning, Chocolate afternoons, Chocolate at night. Chocolate, chocolate.....
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I try to keep the Spanish Nunez evoo on hand and use it for most everything. I like it because it's organic according to what I've read. And while it is evoo, I think it is more neutral than many others - or maybe I'm just used to it.
Because of the many negative things I've read, I've given up using canola when I need something really neutral. Instead I use grapeseed oil, which I've read has similar health properties to olive oil. And as it is pricy if you're deep fryinging, you can go to peanut oil which aso appears to be one of the less harmful oils.
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About eight years ago I purchased my first house - a tiny (650 sq feet) one story place built partly on wooden pier foundation with crawlspace, partly on block foundation, a rear laundry room on a slab and a "utility room" with a dirt floor. I wanted to gut it, add a second story, open up the first floor space and completely rebuild all but the shell. The first two contractors advise me to get a bulldozer and knock it down. I got lucky on the third guy - he was young, newly in business for himself and shared my vision. I did the bulk of the detail work and all the demolition but by acting as my own general contractor I save a bundle of money and made the project work. This approach is not suitable for everyone nor do they have the skills, time or flexibility to do it but it worked for me.
I went low end on all but the cabinets as I knew I would resell the house. I knew what price the neighborhood would support I did resell it two years later and eked out a small profit despite a sagging reals estate market at the time). Even the cabinets I got at a steal by waiting for the right sale. I'm including some pics here just to stimulate discussion (pics aren't too great - it was pre-digital camera era for me). The kitchen and rest of the house were not completely finished but the overall plan is visible.
First I took what was a confined and boxy space and opened it up by putting in 2x10 headers to eliminate the two load bearing walls at the front and back of the kitchen where it previously had doors into the laundry room and rather cramped dining room. Note that on the header face towards the front end of the kitchen (above the peninsula), I put multiple small cabinets that are originally designed to go above a refrigerator. They weren't terribly convenient but were perfect for those rarely used items that still need to be in the kitchen. They did wonderful job of covering the header and visually pulling together that space with the rest of the kitchen. I also put an angled cabinet in the 90 degree corner where the small cabinets met the rest of the kitchen, a butcher block counter top between the stove and refrigerator and had the under the peninsula cabinet equipped with rollouts for pots 'n pans. I bought a conventional cabinet with rollouts and hired a very competent part time cabinet maker to farbicate a false door for the back side of the peninsual cabinet (where it faced the dining room - that's the room in the pic with the black chair in it). He also built me a maple front panel and a curved center support for the side of the peninsula cabinet, which was now under the peninsula overhang (where the stools are in the pic). I did the finishing myself with Minwax "Wipe-On Poly" and the finish was indistinguishable from a factory finish. That tactic alone (fabricating the peninsula cabinet myself) saved hundreds of $$.
Despite the relatively small space, this was a really easy kitchen to work in. Friends who visited were just wowed and loved it plus the open space in front and behind gave people a place to hang out when I cooked. The butcher block top was the only feature that really didn't get used - the space was too cramped and I ended up doing my cutting on a block set on the peninsula.
Look around for novel ways to save money. I knew I needed to have formica counters due to the cost factor but I wanted a maple beveled bullnose edge. The counter shops charge about $3 per linear for for this feature. After inquiring, I discovered that the price is so high because they must wait until evening hours when there's no production dust in the air before they can aply the coatings. I got mine unfinished at about 85 cents per linear foot and finished them myself after installation with careful taping and Minwax "Wipe-On Poly" (a miracle product if ever there was one).
A smart use of space to achieve a very good result, Owen. And your opening up that space really makes a difference as does having that wooden floor. Also, I love the way you've used rugs in the kitchen space. I'm a messy cook, so I keep washable cotton rugs in my kitchen so I can just toss them in the washer. It's practical, easy on the feet, and attractive.
Dean, for your floor problem. Either use scatter rugs
or get a keg, a bunch of sledgehammers, and invite your friends over. $4000 to lift the old floor?If you life allows it at all, just hiring subs can make a difference. I've done my own kitchen, though I haven't completed my "punch sheet" and have some odds and ends to finish (which I've postponed while my son's family are still living here).
Also, take note of Owen's pointing out the importance of keeping your kitchen renovation in line with the ultimate resale value of your house unless you intend never to move.
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Ms. Lee is pretty much a big tub of cool whip, really. All plastic and fluff, no flavor and chock full o' enough preservatives so that she lasts way longer than you would think possible.
I'm betting one of these days we'll find out she's 175 years old...
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I especially like the inventive way you used the whole duck.
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I've no hankering to do it myself,
but perhaps someone might want to try some of her formulas to see how they turn out. But then you'd have to do chemical as well as nutritional analysis to really compare it with made from scratch food..
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Happy birthday, and congratulations on your splendid celebration feast. Everything looks so tempting. The soup was beautiful and the glaze on the breast, the stuffing oozing out from the legs!
I've been meaning to ask (having read read your amazing Christmas blog) whether you do all this alone in the kitchen or do you have recruits? I've pulled off solo cook feasts, but I find the effort of coordinating time and space, pacing the preparation and finding space in the fridge, almost more work than the cooking itself.
Corian vs Marble vs Granite
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Nothing a quick squirt from can of Painless Stainless couldn't fix.