JAZ

Last week we bought a bunch of scallions at our usual market. They were slightly larger than usual, but otherwise looked normal. But when I sliced them, they were filled with a slimy residue. At first I just thought it was the membranes between the layers, which can be a bit slimy. But this was something else entirely -- more like okra slime. It was especially pronounced in the greens; when sliced, the greens were hollow as usual but filled with this colorless slimy goo. Has anyone else run across this or heard of it? What's up with the slime? (The next bunch we bought was fine.)

Pam, I used to make an appetizer with sauteed mushrooms and roasted garlic in pastry shells topped with a little piece of Brie. The combination of mushrooms and Brie is excellent.

If you're looking for ideas to use applesauce itself and not additional ideas for apples, you could try Julia Child's recipe for apple tart -- it uses mostly applesauce with a top layer of apple slices. Here's a version of it.

A reply from LA magazine: Hold the Salsa, NY Times! Never having tried tacos in either New York or LA, I can't say who's right. But it's an interesting, if biased, read.

This will sound obvious, but if your pans have "stay cool" handles and you're used to using them on the stove top, drape a side towel or oven mitt over the handle when you take it out of the oven. Otherwise -- if you're like me -- you'll forget that it's hot and grab it and burn your hand.

I've used both Le Creuset and Staub dutch ovens and braisers a lot, both at home and when we teach. Both have good points, but overall, I prefer LC. I find the smooth enamel interior much easier to clean than the rougher black enamel of the Staub. If I'm using the pan to sear and then deglaze, it's much easier for me to gauge when I've got a good fond against the light interior of LC. On the other hand, the lids on Staub fit much tighter than those of LC (and come with stainless knobs instead of the bakelite on LC, which means they can withstand greater oven temperatures). I suspect that it's the tight-fitting lids and not the "self-basting" bumps on the lids that account for more moisture retention, but that's just a guess. One thing to avoid is any of the Staub pots that come with the honeycomb textured bottom. It's supposed to reduce sticking, but all it really does is make it impossible to brown anything evenly.

I know several people who regularly use wonton wrappers for ravioli. For my taste, the wrappers are a little thick, but if you don't want to make pasta, it's worth a try.

I thought that kale, like spinach and chard, contains oxalic acid in amounts that interfere with the absorption of calcium and iron, so that it's actually better for you if cooked.

The author of Smitten Kitchen was on NPR a few days ago talking about raw kale salads. Here's the piece, with her recipe. Personally, this quote about sums it up for me: "I don't actually think that a world where people are eating a lot of kale versus a lot of, I don't know, potato chips or bacon is a bad place," she says. "I just don't understand the fervor."

If you stretch your definition of "pantry" to include relatively long-lived fridge items, you could make quesadillas (tortillas, cheese, salsa).

NPR's All Things Considered ran this story on "kitchen pollution" a few days ago, and while it's not terribly helpful for your situation (their main fix is to buy a better exhaust fan), it is interesting in what it doesn't mention, which is carbon monoxide. They do have a few tips if you can't buy a new fan that vents outside. I'm not sure how much of a difference they'd make, but they're easy enough to do.

This may sound boring, but a combination of sweetened cream cheese lightened with whipped cream is great in chocolate sandwich cookies. Like the best version ever of that 60's icebox cake with Famous chocolate wafers and whipped cream. I use the mixture for a brownie "cheesecake" sundae and students go crazy for it.

What does more sugar do, besides making the dessert sweeter? What does the alcohol do? Both sugar and alcohol affect the freezing temperature, so if what you meant by "icy" is that your dessert freezes too hard, adding either will make it softer.

I don't have this book yet, but I know Ivy and can say that she always does substantial recipe testing, so her recipes always work. I don't have the book but have seen a couple recipes from it online. Here's one for rye crackers: Swedish Caraway Rye Crisps and one for amaranth and cheddar crackers.

Shel, I'm unclear about what you mean by "caramelized." You can brown carrots either by roasting or sauteeing, in which case you're really talking about the Maillard reaction, or you can glaze them with sugar or syrup, which you can then actually caramelize. Which effect do you want?

We actually like this drink -- maybe it's not A list, but definitely B list. A couple of things -- we use white grapefruit whenever possible in drinks, and my guess is that the red grapefruit doesn't have the acid necessary to stand up to the vermouth. Also, we use Beefeater, mostly because that's our bar gin. Again, it seems to me that Plymouth would get lost. And third, we use M&R sweet vermouth. I'm not very familiar with Dolin, but I'm not much impressed with it. The one odd thing about this drink, as we make it, is that it really doesn't taste of grapefruit or sweet vermouth -- the combination ends up tasting like something else entirely. We happen to like it, but I guess if you're expecting a grapefruit drink, it would be disappointing.

I've used several brands and models since they came out. In my opinion, it's not the brand that matters as much as the type. Although I prefer swivel blades for regular peelers, they're a disadvantage in julienne peelers. So go with a fixed blade version. Also, I prefer a Y-shape handle over the straight version.

Large eggs average 2 ounces by weight and one would probably be around a quarter cup by volume. For salmon cakes, I'd imagine that one large egg would work fine.

We almost always make two drinks at a time (both shaken and stirred). For stirring, we use the metal half of a standard Boston shaker or the bottom of a large three-piece shaker. I've never measured the amount of ice but the shaker is mostly filled -- the ice level is way above the level of liquid. Either stirring or shaking, our drinks in the shaker range from 22F to 32F, and since we pour into very cold glasses (kept in the freezer), the final drink temp is even lower. How much colder do you want your drinks?

Lisa, I'm using a recipe that calls for starting in a cold oven, so there's no preheating at all. I'm quite happy with the recipe I'm using -- it's actually very similar to one on "Cook's Country" (CI's sister show/magazine/website). And in my experience, Kimball and the folks at CI often often seem to have a block against a certain technique, so that the entire recipe is dependent on avoiding that technique, whether or not it results in the best or easiest method. My guess in this case that they use cake flour precisely so they don't have to sift. Pretty close to sea level -- high altitude isn't the problem. Thanks, everyone. I have a few ideas to go on; I'll report back.

I'm working on a small-batch pound cake recipe for a class and have a couple of questions. I started with this "cold-oven" recipe and divided it by four. I'm happy with the texture (light and tender for a pound cake but firm), crumb (fine) and flavor, but my cakes fall in the middle. I'm using two mini-loaf pans (about 5"x2.5") and the amount of batter seems right. The cakes rise evenly but fall either right as I take them out of the oven or as they cool. It's not a deal-breaker, but I'd like to know if there's an easy way to correct that. Lower baking temp? I mixed everything very thoroughly at each step; is it possible that I overmixed the batter? I also have a question about the directions to triple-sift the flour. As I understand it, sifting aerates the flour and helps keep the cake light, but I can't find any sources to substantiate that belief. I don't mind triple-sifting, but I know that my students will ask if it's necessary, and I don't want to give them incorrect information. I know I can make a batch without sifting to see if there's a difference, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

If you're still interested, I do have a recipe for 2 servings of chocolate mousse. It's here: chocolate mousse for two.

What is it that makes cooking one portion "too much trouble"? I lived alone for most of my adult life. Granted, I love to cook and I teach classes on cooking for one, so I have double motivation, but I've cooked many dinners for just myself with no leftovers. I've made single portions of (among other dishes) sherry braised chicken, beef stroganoff, quiche Lorraine (with homemade crust), braised short ribs, stuffed bell peppers, macaroni and cheese, chicken and dumplings, enchiladas, salmon and vegetables in parchment paper, risotto, pot pies, Thai curry, and any number of pasta dishes (usually with one portion of fresh made pasta). For side dishes, I've made single portions of rice; grits; mashed potatoes; roasted or steamed green beans, asparagus or broccoli; spinach, broccoli or potato gratins; all kinds of salads from potato salad to coleslaw to grain salads. Baking can be a bit tricker, but I often made 2 biscuits or a single serving of fruit crisp, and I came up with a successful recipe for enough pastry dough for a 4-inch pie tin. Sauces can also be difficult to make in very small quantities, but many of those are possible too -- Hollandaise or lemon curd (with one egg yolk) or bechamel with (3 ounces of milk). In most of those cases, it's no more difficult to make one serving than four. In many cases, it's much easier. It does help to have the right cookware: for the sauces and grains, it's essential to have a very small saucepan. I have a .75-qt. copper saucepan that I use for sauces and 1-qt. saucier with a lid for rice and grits. If you want to braise small amounts of meat, a 2-qt. cast iron pot with a lid is nice. It's true that there are a few dishes that aren't possible to make for one without having leftovers. Roasts fall into that category and whole roasted birds can too, unless you can find poussins or Cornish hens (although a Cornish hen is still two dinners for me, it's much more manageable than a regular chicken). Most other dishes can be made for one. That doesn't mean you won't have leftover raw ingredients -- if you make one serving of braised cabbage, you'll still have the rest of the cabbage in the fridge. In those cases, I plan on other meals within the next week or 10 days that use cabbage -- coleslaw, a stir fry dish, etc. You've already said you don't like the casual approach suggested by some -- you want a "proper" dinner. You don't like cooking extra food and freezing. So what's left besides learning how to make small amounts of what you do like? What is it that's problematic about that for you? Is it that you don't know how to reduce recipes? You don't know how much to make? That takes practice, but it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. (I've written articles on both those topics which, unfortunately, I can't repost here, but if you're interested, I can post links to them). If it's motivation, that's another problem entirely.

That's the set I have and I've been very happy with it. The 5-qt. will easily make enough stew, soup or beans for 4. I've used it for small amounts (about a quart) of stock as well, but you won't be able to make more than a couple quarts in it. I use the small "fry pan" as a pressure cooker but also quite often as a regular saute pan.

While you can use a food processor or blender to puree the fruit, a food mill also strains out the solids, so you would need to pass the puree through a strainer after blending.