jackal10

Err...Cod is now an endangered species and its consumption is to be discouraged. However conssumption of fish oils with omega 3 and 6 are now thought to give health benefits.

If you search on http://www.Bookfinder.com under "housewife's manual" you will find several reproduction copies at about $25. However I'm not sure I would start with it as the guide to Scotch cooking. Be aware that what you are buying is a period book, which is not written like modern cook books, for example it uses the language and spelling of the time, and assumes you know about cooking - measurements and exact times are rarely given. It comes complete with wonderful footnotes about conversations of and obscure references to the characters in the Walter Scott novel. Its an interesting historic book, with most of the recipes not specifically Scots, but typical of the middle class of the time. An example: 863. Dutch Pudding or Albany Cake Mix two pounds or rather less of good flour with a pound of butter, melted in half a pint of milk. Add to this the white and yolks of eight eggs seperately well beaten, a half pound of fine sifted sugar, a pound of cleaned currants, and a few chopped almonds. or a little candied orange peel sliced fine. Put to this four spoonfuls of yeast. Cover it up for an hour or two, then bake it for an hour in a wide flattish dish. When cold it eats well as a cake* The footnote says *This is the bonne bouche at the substantial rural tea parties of the State of New York. The feast, begun with fried eggs and bacon, ends with buck-wheat cakes and the above preparation. I wonder if this is an ancestor of cornbread?

Amen Shalamanese! The bottom of my Aga oven is hot. Thats is why I recommend putting it on a pre-heated pizza stone. Herve This, in an article on Souffle in his Molecular Gastronomy book, just released in English, says you should beat the egg whites to a stiff, dry foam, and suggests briefly grilling the top to seal it to give an even rise.

As usual Adam has nailed it. He doesn't mention cold deserts such as cranachan (cream, whiskey, toasted oats. raspberries), sometimes called Athol Brose, nor that modern Scottish desert, fried Mars bars.. For books, I like F Marian MacNeill's Scottish Kitchen. Comprehensive but of more historic interest is Meg Dodds "The cook and Housewifes Manual" 1826 (Meg Dodds was the innkeeper of Cross Keys Hotel (or Cleikum Inn in Peebles) was built in 1693 as a town mansion by Walter Williamson of Cardrona. Later, this inn had strong associations with Sir Walter Scott, the famous Scottish novelist, and its 18th c. landlady was the original for Scott's portrait of Meg Dodds in his novel "St Ronan's Well".) Amazon have both availabel second hand (in reproduction). I'm sure American Scots have different traditions

I'm afraid the answer is experience and experimentation. I know for my sourdough starter, under my conditions (about 30C/90F), for straight bread (not enriched or sweet), 2% salt, the answer is about 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. For instant yeast, about 45 minutes. Change by 10% for each degree C difference in dough temperature (say 5% for each degreeF). YMMV. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=82234 As I showed in the demo, one way is to put some of the dough in a glass jar, and when it is about doubled, it has proved. In the old days they used to put a ball of dough in a glass of water, and when it floated the bread was proved. Many domestic recipes prove too long. Try halving your proof times, and you may be surprised!

Biggest variable is degree of proof. The loaves need to be not fully proved for biggest oven spring, and overall lightest loaf. Lots of bottom heat, and a hot oven

Tada! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=26540 eGCI on Consomme

Ah, but the legs on one side are longer than the other since they only run one way around the hill

I was told that Haggis were wild, and shot on the moors...

I' mot sure about the origianl statement that T&M no longer offer rainbow chard. They, and many other seed companies offer "Bright Lights" chard http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/45/2 I grow it, and very good it is too. Overwinters well. Really does grow the colours in the photo.

Yes, you can taste the Brussels sprouts. I guess you could accentuate the flavour by frying them a bit first. Meat is indeed used - ham and cheese for example. Start with a mousseline force-meat and add the eggs. Escoffier gives recipes for many variations - ham, duck, chicken such as for a truffled chicken souffle, (whizz raw chicken breast with some cream, add a little truffle oil, before mixing with the eggs), and then you can play on that - add mushrooms or asparagus, for example. Fish - smoked fish such as smoked haddock is well known for its affinity with eggs. Need strong flavours as they are diluted a lot by the egg.

Rustic Souffle I'm sure there are people here who make better souffles, with flat tops... However here is my rustic version. Very good it is too for a light lunch or supper. Fantastically versatile recipe. You can use almost any filling or flavouring, sweet or savoury. Use the same mixture in a flat pan to make a roulade. Any souffle left cover can be left to deflate and go cold, then reheat in a sauce for a double cooked souffle. Winter vegetable and cheese Ingredients. Left over veg Here sprouts and carrots An egg per person Grated cheese (this is cheddar and Parmesan) Salt, pepper, butter Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Souffles like bottom heat, so put in a baking stone if you have one. Separate the eggs. Butter the ramekins well, and if you like put a "surprise" in them . Some ham or bacon would also go well if you eat them, or a cube of cheese, or for a sweet liquor souffle a cube of bread soaked in the liquor. Whiz the ingredients other than the egg white. Season well - all that flavour is going to be diluted by the egg foam. Beat the egg white to soft peaks. The puree and the egg white should be about the same stiffness, and roughly equal volume. Mix a little of the egg white into the puree to lighten it. Fold the rest of the egg white into the puree. Don't beat out all the air - its OK for some to be not fully mixed. Fill into the ramekins Tap to settle the mixture then run your finger round to clear the edge Put in the oven for 25 mins. Serve immediately. This deflated a bit while I was fiddling with the camera. Should be just runny in the centre. Enjoy! You can use many different vegetable purees. Courgette is good in summer. For a cheese souffle use a Bechamel (white) sauce For sweet souffle add sugar, and coat the inside of the ramekin with sugar. Fruit puree are good, or just a liquor, like Grand Marnier beaten with the egg yolk. Chocolate is classic: melt the chocolate and beat with the egg yolks. Keywords: Easy ( RG1626 )

Those are 3 inch diameter internal

Old recipes for souffle used bechamel as the flavour carrier and to give body. More recent formulations are flourless to give more intense tastes. You can leave out the bechamel for cheese versions, and just add the grated cheese to the egg yolk but the cheese can come out a bit grainy, or melt the cheese with some cream, but I rather like the softness a bechamel gives for cheese souffles.

I'm sure there are people here who make better souffles, with flat tops... However here is my rustic version. Very good it is too for a light lunch or supper. Fantastically versatile recipe. You can use almost any filling or flavouring, sweet or savoury. Use the same mixture in a flat pan to make a roulade. Any souffle left cover can be left to deflate and go cold, then reheat in a sauce for a double cooked souffle. Winter vegetable and cheese Ingredients. Left over veg Here sprouts and carrots An egg per person Grated cheese (this is cheddar and Parmesan) Salt, pepper, butter Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Souffles like bottom heat, so put in a baking stone if you have one. Separate the eggs. Butter the ramekins well, and if you like put a "surprise" in them . Some ham or bacon would also go well if you eat them, or a cube of cheese, or for a sweet liquor souffle a cube of bread soaked in the liquor. Whiz the ingredients other than the egg white. Season well - all that flavour is going to be diluted by the egg foam. Beat the egg white to soft peaks. The puree and the egg white should be about the same stiffness, and roughly equal volume. Mix a little of the egg white into the puree to lighten it. Fold the rest of the egg white into the puree. Don't beat out all the air - its OK for some to be not fully mixed. Fill into the ramekins Tap to settle the mixture then run your finger round to clear the edge Put in the oven for 25 mins. Serve immediately. This deflated a bit while I was fiddling with the camera. Should be just runny in the centre. Enjoy! You can use many different vegetable purees. Courgette is good in summer. For a cheese souffle use a Bechamel (white) sauce For sweet souffle add sugar, and coat the inside of the ramekin with sugar. Fruit puree are good, or just a liquor, like Grand Marnier beaten with the egg yolk. Chocolate is classic: melt the chocolate and beat with the egg yolks.

Pizza (batter a pizza slice and deep fry it. Try it, you'll like it) Mars bars (of course) Steak (often in restaurant, as in who ordered well done?) Cailiflower Christmas pudding The occasional dish cloth and trainer...though not for consumption

I'd be happy to do a souffle demo. Any requests as to type/flavouring? (cheese or chocolate, or veg or fruit puree, or Grand Marnier etc etc)

I meant Heinz Baked bean; no other brand is the same Branston has a baked bean (larger, spicier beans than Heinz) that some like; I dont. I guess you could put Branston pickle in your beans Yes to Worcester sauce sometimes. No to vinegar

Its curious that the romantic rural idyll is of small locally produced artisanal produce, including cheeses, breads, and the like. Yet in practice in most of small town USA (and most of the developed world) its the poor end of mass production, and the place to get "artisanal" goods are in expensive stores in big towns, manufactured by refugees from that life trying to live a dream that never really existed... I guess it may be different in Amish and other special areas.

T thought that the food ethnic to Berlin was a jelly donut "ein Berliner". although why JFK claimed to be one, is one of those culinary mysteries lost in time...

Heinz and plenty of butter. If you make your own, can't do better than the Durgin Park recipe 2lbs beans 1lb salt pork 2 tbs sugar 1/2 cup molasses 2 tsp dry mustard 4 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 onion Soak and Blanch the beans. Put eveerything in a bean pot, cover with water, cook 300F for 6 hours, stirring and topping up from time to time

Not on my tree, that I know of. My branch of the Lang family camw from the village of Durmenach in Alsace. Its possible some emigrated to the US, but we have no record of them.

I wonder if we are by chance related?

If you like your beef cooked that well, so that it is no longer pink, then you would do better to start with a cut that has more connective tissue in it, such as a rump or brisket, as in a BBQ style. The collagen melts to unctious deliciousness. Cooking a cut with little connective tissue that well such as a filet or rib roast, can just lead to dry, shred like meat as the muscle fibres fall apart. Tender, certainly, but you will have paid much more than you need to, and the cheaper cut will eat better.

One thing you might want to check (and the information is hard to get) is what is the lowest and the highest temperature the ovens will reliably run at? I would hope to see under 45C/100F for the lowest temperature (sous-vide fish) and over 300C/600F for pizza..