jackal10

You mean you want to eat that? Peggt Bracken's "I hate to cook book" championed onion soup mix. That and Campbell's concentrated cream of mushroom soup as the basis of all savoury cream sauces, Sometimes both. Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate are flavour enhancers. Partial hydrogenation is now considered a potential health hazard. Maybe time for a reformulation... The soy is there for umani flavour, otherwise its sugar and salt and dried onion powder

But do they cloud in the dishwasher?

Sure. Its delicious, like slightly sweeter low fat beef. What possible reason, besides sentimental twaddle, is ther not to eat it while still eating beef etc? I can understand a position of eating no meat, or no factory farmed meat, or only kosher or halal meat, or avoiding poisonous foods, but why not horse? Bunnies or chickens will be off limits soon...

Bavarian and Munich specialities surely: Eisbein/Hazen Sauerkraut Weiss-wurst Large Pretzels Leberkase Eintopf Strudel yumm...

You need a burst of superheated steam at the beginning of the bake. After about the first minute or two its pointless, even a disadvanatge. THe steam gelatanises the surface starch to give the crisp but thin crust. Put an empty thick (e.g. cast iron) pan in the oven to pre-heat. Professional ovens have cast iron plates. When you put in the dough throw a cup of water into the hot pan (care hot steam) and shut the door. The water evaporates instantly to give the burst of steam. The stone does a different job, It acts as a heat reservoir, and gives good thermal contact to the bottom of the loaf. The bottom heat souffles the dough and helps the bread rise.

This year our annual apple pressing party coincides with 2nd day Rosh Hashonah (we are not observant), so catering for 150 and counting, about half of them kids. That number (and I hate washing up) it will be hand food. Thus delicious and traditional as they are, chicken soup and potato kugel just aren't practical. Well, maybe chicken soup in paper cups Whole lamb roasted on a spit - one of my neighbors lambs, hamburger buns, stuffing, mint jelly, Brisket - local Dexter, overnight cooked, buns etc coleslaw, salad etc hamburgers and hotdogs for the kids Do it yourself pizza in the brick woodfired oven Breads (I guess including round rasin challahs) and cheeses Apple Strudel Honey cake Other suggestions welcome...chopped liver perhaps...

Plain Bacon Buttie: Thick sliced white bread Butter hot fried Bacon Ketchup You must eat it over the sink as the melted butter, bacon grease and ketchup drip...

Dinner Jacket (Tuxedo). Its what they are for. The cummerbund hides the expanding waistline, and the loose trouser top. Academic gown at formal college dining keeps food stains off the clothes

Rejoice in your good fortune, slice with a bread knife into thick sllices and fry the slices in butter... They won't keep.

Are they Damsons? Of so myiad of uses: pies, jam, pickles, Tkamaly (a sauce from Georgia), Damson Cheese, Damson Gin, etc etc Just not good for eating raw. Here are Damsons on my tree Tkemaly Sauce 1.5 kg of damsons 50-70 ml of water 1 head of garlic 1 tea spoon of red hot pepper 50g of fresh coriander 50g of fresh dill 10g of fresh mint 1 table spoon of salt Slice damsons in two halves, put them into a stainless steel pan, add water and simmer stirring slowly until peels start separating. After that put damsons in small portions to a colander and grate the mass to separate peels and seeds. Remaining smooth mass put back into the pan and simmer stirring constantly until it reaches required density (similar to the density of single creame). Add crushed garlic, pepper and herbs (thinly cut) and simmer 3-5 minutes. Cool it down (below room temperature) and serve with Shashlyk (or any other meat dishes).

Where to begin with the chicken or the cooking, There is so much that can be told. a, Is the chicken itself the best it can be? Organic, free range, slow grown, properly hung. Getting the right raw material is more than half the battle. It really is worth seeking out. Anything else is a compromise, and often a poor one, especially if its been frozen. b. Most chicken is overcooked. An hour at 450F certainly is. Buy yourself a digital meat thermometer that can be read from outside the oven. Cook your chicken to an internal temperature of 140F, no more, and hold it at that temperature for 15 mins. c. There are three separate processes going on when the chicken cooks One is browning a crisping the skin, the second is cooking the meat, and the third is dissolving the collagen in the tough connective tissue. Each of these processes needs different timing and temperature, and its best to separate them if possible. The skin can be browned and crisped with high heat, for example by turning in a hot pan or under a salamander. Meat is cooked at 140F, but different thicknesses take longer to reach that temperature, so its sensible not to put the chicken in a very hot oven and overcook the thin bits, while undercooking the thick bits, like the thighs, but to put it in say a 160F oven or poach it at that temperature (the stock pot is handy) for much longer so the temperature can stabilise throughout. The long gentle cooking will also help the collagen to dissolve and make the chicken even more tender. You can then brown the outside separately. Here is Midsummer House's way with chicken http://www.midsummerhouse.co.uk/pdfs/catererhotel.pdf

I hate words used to descibe dishes that have no bearing on the original and specific meaning. "cassoulet of green beans" for example. What then is the dish from southre france made with dried beans? It makes the language lose precision and become sloppy. Au Jus, now institutionalised, is another example, and no longer means dressed with the meat pan juices from the cooking. Maybe its just US English. In that context there are several UK phrases that don't carry well Knock up has been referred to (also means wake up, as in "knock someone up in the morning"), which you don't say in the US unless you know them very well. To bum, meaning borrow, has a different meaning in the US, as does rubber (eraser), or fag (cigarette). There are a whole class of words deemed politically incorrect. Blackboards are now chalkboards. You can no longer call someone "a Lady", but you can call them "a bitch"

Like the man said. Put it in a large clean jar and pour on as and when the ends of wine, corked bottles, the undrinkable wine someone bought to the party, and mother will be happy. When the jar is getting a bit full, or it seems right poiur off half and bottle it. Vinegar fermentation is aerobic (needs oxygen) so leave the jar open, covered with a cloth or something to keep out the dust and flies

Foie gras is soft goose fat just held together and flavoured by what was once the liver. Its all about this semi-solid melting fat, neutral to slighly meaty tasting, smooth, delicious, like ethereal pate.. Unctious and cremy have already been used but they are right. The solidification point of the fat is such that it melts on the tongue, going from solid to liquid with body heat, hence the mouthfeel. Its as much or more about texture than taste; the taste is pure Unami. The cooking is to clean the liver and keep the texture: melt it and the magic has gone. Maybe add some browning on the surface, and a glass of sweet wine. Sydney Smith (1771-1845) defined Heaven as "eating Foie Gras to the sound of trumpets" . He didnot specify the preparation, but elsewhere has a fine rhyming recipe for salad and dressing "Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day"

Wow Dan! Another must have...

Starter storage jar. Can't say I do anything special. Mostly it gets forgotten between bakes (weeks) and the hooch layer seperates. Don't seem to have a mold problem. I suspect they are worse with young starters. Once they are mature they are very tough.

! use only plain unbleached flour and water in my starter, My view is that adding raisins, yogurt, grapes, old boots, or anything else just makes it take longer to reach a stable culture. You can use rye if you want a rye culture. I always cover the starter in the fridge. I keep it in a canning jar with a clip on lid ("le parfait") http://thecookskitchen.com/browse_2553 . These are designed to gas out, but not in, but snapwrap would do just as well. Most of the flavour is added from the preferment, not the main dough, so if you want sour bread ferment out the preferment for longer, like 24 hours.

Adapted from HMSO Bulletin 21 Apricot Jam from dried fruit 2lb pitted dried apricots 6lb sugar 6pt water 6 oz almonds Juice of 2 lemons Soak the apricots in the water for 24 hours Put in a preserving pan and simmer for 30 mins Add lemon juice, sugar and blanched almonds if liked. Boil rapidly until setting point (221F) Yield 10 lb

I love a good zin, but I also decry this tendency to fruit bombs, usually designed for fast consumption. I guess I compare a good red zin to an old fashioned Rhone that matures for 20 years or so. I doubt if these high alcohol, sweet, low tannin monsters would last. They are like fast food, and probably best drunk with same.

Here in the UK there is a popular daytime TV program called Ready Steady Cook where the chefs ae presented with a mystery bag of ingredients and have to cook a 3 course meal in 20 minutes Recipes and more on http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/rea...ook_index.shtml The classic book is Eduard Pomaine's "Cooking in Ten Minutes"

Sure it works, and the jam is different to the fresh fruit. Dried Apricot jam, for example, is well known. The jam would not be cheap though. and you may need to add pectin and acid.

Yes, poach in the plastic wrap. As it happened I put these back into the baraising casserole and back into the low oven for an hour, but you could just as well poach in simmering water for maybe 15 mins until the internal temperature is over 60C and the mousseline is firm. For restaurant use I would make and cook them, cool, then just reheat for service

Part 2: This isn't as neat as it could be. I'm sure you can do better. Please post your results... After an overnight slow braise: Let it get cool enough to handle, but if it gets too cold it will stiffen up and set with all that gelatin Boning is easy after cooking; the bones just fall out. Boning before cooking is a pain. The anatomy is basically shin and foot, complete with toenails, or alternatively a shortened version of forearm and hand. Lots of small metatarsal bones and hard pads between the joints. Split it down the inside centre - it was probably split here anyway from where they hung it in the abattoir. Try not to break the skin more. The pile on the left are the waste bones; on the right is the succulent skin, with some meat and the tendons turned to sticky yumm. Run your fingers through it again and remove any hard bits you might have missed. The bones are replaced with a forcemeat which will hold it all together. Here is a simple chicken mousseline (raw chicken breast, egg white, cream, salt and pepper. Whizz the chicken and the egg white; keep cold; sieve and incorporate the cream). You can have much fancier stuffings, including morels, sweetbreads, truffle, and its nice to have some texture components in it. The chicken breast was the most expensive component of this dish, and you could make a poor mans version, just as nice, with say mushroom or panada, or even sausagemeat, so long as it sets when cooked to hold everything together. Lay out he trotter on some clingfilm, skin side down, and put on a spoonful of the filling. Roll it up and reform the trotter; Poach in the normal way to set the forcemeat. Here its with some gravy made from the cuisson; Serve it with say mashed potato and cabbage; its hearty food

DEMO: Pig's Trotter I thought we needed some pictures. The local butcher supplied two pigs legs. These are Tamworth, and incredible value for money: they were about 50p each, roughly a dollar each, and enough meat to feed a family for a week. Ideal protein for impoverished students. I separated them into the hocks and the trotters, Note the tendon to cut through I'll freeze the hocks for another day: lots of delicious things. I particularly like the German ways: roast or grilled (Haxe) - mmm crackling- or Boiled (Eisbein), or cooked with beans, cassoulet style, or cooked char sui style or what you will... The trotters are braised very simply: 2 Tbs soy, 2Tbs sweet wine (Mirin, or sherry. I use Madeira), ginger and spring onion, star anise if you like. They will make their own braising liquid. Braise at 90C overnight. They used to be cooked in the cooling bread oven. Turn after 8 hours or so. Luscious stickiness in the making More tomorrow, When falling apart cooked and cooled I'll bone them and stuff them with a mousseline forcemeat, and braise some more to finish.

A classic preparation is Pierre Koffman's "Pieds de cochon aux Morilles" Braised pigs trotters stuffed with a mousse of chicken, sweetbreads and morels. He bones the trotters before braising, I normally bone mine after, Any opinions on which is better? There are essentially two routes, after braising a) Yummy melting unctuousness, served as a braise, either Chinese style or boned and stuffed as above; 2) Bread-crumbed and fried or grilled until crisp. For example Midsummer House serves a Salad of Smoked Eel and Crispy Pigs Trotters, where the meat from the pigs trotter is reformed into cubes and then bread-crumbed and fried.