fifi

Ok... That is a start. A couple of more details please. Is the dutch oven on a grate over the fire? For some dumb reason, I am remembering it sitting in the coals but that doesn't seem right. I would think that would be too hot. I have a reason for being so interested in this method even though I don't anticipate going camping any time soon. My nephew is a really good cook. During hunting season he gets invited to some pretty high toned deer leases if he will promise to do some of the cooking. Often they have a campfire thing at lease one night. (Must be a male bonding thing. ) Anyway... I have already promised to teach him about biscuits if I figure it all out. If he could pull off biscuits on the campfire that would be a real wowser. I plan to "charge him" a lot for the service. I wonder if it works to make and cut your biscuits and plop them into the freezer, thaw and bake later? I was thinking that he could put the pucks into the camp box and by the time he got to the lease, they would be just about fine for that evening. Then, as I think about it more, that would be a handy thing for me, too. The reason I don't do stuff like this more is because... who is going to eat all that stuff? But, if I could take a couple of pucks out of the freezer at a time and bake a couple of biscuits, I would be a happy woman. I promise that I am going to really make some biscuits... as soon as I get enough real work done to pay for the ingredients.

I used to live around the corner on Pine when we first got married and would stop at Plum St. Snoballs on my way to work at Carrollton Station. Plum St is also the official purveyor of snoballs at the Jazz Fest. My ex-husband grew up near there so that was the nostalgic go-to place. The one on Metairie Road was near where we lived so that was the usual haunt. When I was pregnant with my daughter my absolute have to have craving was amaretto and anisette snowballs. Way back then, the machine of choice was an Ortelaney. (spelling questionable) My sister visited, we went for snowballs, and she started researching how to get one. She was going to import the concept to Houston and become a snowball tycoon! At the time, the only thing available here was the ground up ice version and even those were hard to find.

I don't have this one but I did look at it closely in the store the other day. It was doing a fine job of holding a big, heavy hard bound book. I liked the adjustability of the glass for different thickness books. Also, the tempered glass is much superior to the plexiglass that I have seen in others. The fact that it breaks down flat for storage is another good feature. The price isn't bad for the quality. If I were in the market for a holder, this is the one I would probably go for. (The reason I am not in the market is because I have a Le Creuset cast iron one that I got as a freebie with an order at the outlet store. Hmmm... that one would make a good shower gift. Then I could get this one. GET THE BEHIND ME, SATAN! )

Concurring with all of the above. This is one recipe that I got out of a magazine that has become a family favorite.

Echoing what jackal10 said. I lived in south Louisiana for a few years, in Mayhaw Man's part of the world. I used to watch the roadside in the spring when they were blooming, remember the spot so I could come back. For the life of me I can't think of another use for them other than jelly. I did experiment with mixing them with other fruits for jelly. The straight stuff has a pleasant flavor, just not too distinctive. But you can take advantage of the natural pecten to boost other ingredients. One time, I combined the crabapples with elderberries and made a beautiful jelly. I made it for gifts and labeled it "Swamp Jelly". It was a big hit.

I live alone and cook on a whim so I don't do much planning ahead. I probably go to the store 4 or 5 times a week and just pick up a few things at a time. My lists are usually pretty specific and I am usually assembling ingredients for a specific "project". I don't cook dinners often, mostly "projects". The specificity of the list may even include quantities, brands, whatever. Even more compulsive... I make my lists on these 3x5 sticky notes. I group things by category, produce, meat, staples, etc. Then I stick the note onto the back of the kiddy seat in the shopping cart. All of the impulse buying traps are pretty much wasted on me. If I am in the mood for a project but don't have any specific direction, I often see what the weekly specials are and play the what-can-I-do-with-that game.

I would agree with that. However, there is so much difference in performance from model to model that could get really complicated so I don't think I would go there. I think the other factors are applicable, though, and apply when leaving gas out of the equation. (Excepting grease fires, maybe.) In my whole life, I think I have met two people that have chosen to "seal up the gas line". There was some paranoid fear thing going on about explosions, open flame, whatever. In one case, the person was quite proud of the gas logs in the fireplace. Go figure. I think they had other "issues".

Shows how much I know...pull out shelves? Sounds interesting but wouldn't that decrease the space you can put things within the cabinet? Another plug for pull out shelves. The alternative is all drawers. That space in the back of a conventional cabinet is no good if you have to get on the floor and grovel to get to it. Inevitably, stuff gets shoved back there, forgotten about, and is rendering that space unuseable so you haven't gained anything.

This is becoming a fascinating glimpse into the field of ergonomics, human factors engineering, man/machine interaction, whatever. To summarize: Heat response - Now, this could vary quite a bit by model. It could also vary by experience. If you have cooked a lot on electric, it may not be much of a change. If you "grew up" in the kitchen with gas, electric of any design is usually a hard sell. I am not sure that this factor is any different than the gas/electric thing with any other type of cooktop. Cleaning - This one is interesting. Looking at the glass ceramic, the immediate impression is "Hoo-boy, that has to be a breeze to clean." Yet, that is not entirely true... spills spread and stick, you need a new set of cleaning tools (another new thing to confront). But, objectively thinking, is that really any worse than disassembling grates, drip pans and such? I dunno. Fear of breakage - This one seems natural to me. We have been conditioned all of our lives to know that glass breaks. Now, I was in materials engineering for many years and know that some of these materials are incredibly tough and durable. I know that intellectually. Instinctively, if I drop that big Le Creuset lid, my tummy is going to lurch. Some of you have gotten over it and the statistics may prove you right. (I can't find any.) I am certainly not, and this audience is not, a scientific survey but I have yet to hear of anyone breaking one under normal useage including typical mishaps. It's a counter! - This is the duck thing all over again. (You know, looks-quacks-walks) In a kitchen I instinctively know that that burner grate or electric coil is a cooking thing and can get hot and burn you, melt things, and set things on fire. It looks like something that might be hot or could get hot if a button gets pushed. If you have any experience at all in a kitchen, you are going to treat it accordingly. The glass ceramics look like a counter top. You can add all of the lights, big H's, bells, whistles, alarms and whatever. It doesn't instinctively shout "burner". With experience, individual users probably adjust. But I would be wary of the uninitiated visitor. This probably isn't as much of a big deal in a range where it is obviously a stove. May be more of a problem in those sleek looking cook top only installations. The dancing pot - This probably varies by model and would be determined by rate of heating. The power of steam will not be denied. It can lift a lot more than you would think. If a cooktop heats at a rate where pots can dance, lack of a rail or other obstacle to keep a pot within bounds is a design flaw. The problem should be reported to the manufacturer. (Somehow, the cynic in me says that will do no good. After all, adding a rail would detract from that sleek, countertop look. ) Spills and boil overs - They spread. On most conventional cooktops, the typical boil over is usually restricted to the immediate burner area and its drip pan. In the best case with a glass ceramic, you may have a bigger mess to clean up that could get worse if an adjacent burner is in use and the stuff burns on there, too. But that bigger mess clean up may be easier to accomplish. (See above.) One post up-thread mentioned a case where a boil over can head for the floor and maybe your feet. If this can occur with a typical boil over, this is an inexcuseable design flaw. Hot soup is bad enough. Hot jelly is pretty scary. I don't even want to think of a deep frying mishap. (But then, with gas, you could get a fire.) This has been an interesting discussion. I am not sure that the perceived problems are any different than when any new thing is introduced. I will bet our great grandmothers had adjustments to make when leaving the old wood stove behind.

Keep it up, guys. Ya'll are making me feel better. I was getting a little discouraged. The daughter was just starting to get more interested in cooking when she got confronted with this very unfamiliar roadblock. I am getting some ideas to encourage her.

Thanks for the link, Melissa. I will probably send her some. She also complained about the cleaning problem. I am beginning to think that if she would just get used to it all will be OK. That's the ticket... She has to cook more often.

I have been meaning to bring this up... A couple of months ago, my daughter moved into her new condo. It is equipped with a GE Profile kitchen and generally very nice appliances. Her previous apartment had the kitchen from hell but did have a pretty nice little gas range so that was what she was used to. She has now had a few incidents with the new cooktop and I thought I would relate them here. Keep in mind that she is not a kitchen freak like myself and her brother. Her cooktop is one something like this one. Also keep in mind that these observations probably apply to any of these types of cooktops, not just the GE Profile. The first problem is that she has burned herself a couple of times not knowing what was hot where. She also says that she tends to get forgetful that it isn't just more counterspace and has scorched some things (dishrag?). Her opinion is that the regular cooktops have grates or coils and you don't tend to treat those like just more countertop. Possibly, this is one of those things that you just have to get used to. The other problem is one I have never heard of. She is using ChefMate cookware that has nice flat bottoms. She had put a saucepan on a burner to heat something. She had rinsed the pan and had not dried it completely before putting it on the burner. She turned to do something else when she heard this odd sound. When she turned back around, the pan was merrily dancing its way toward the edge on a cushion of steam from the water on the outside of the pot. If she had not caught it, it would have probably gone off onto the floor. She now is careful to be sure that the cooktop and the pot are dry. She has now developed a mistrust of the appliance and will probably replace it at her first opportunity. (Or, maybe she will get used to it and just leave it alone.) She is also paranoid about dropping a pot or lid and breaking it before she is ready to spend the money to replace it. Anyway, it is now lovingly referred to as "that cooktop that is out to get me". This is one of those things that, to me, seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, when she told me what she was getting, I thought it was a pretty good idea for her as she is not a serious cook (no fanatic about gas like me), it would be easy to keep clean, and it looks cool (looking cool is important to her). Now I am not so sure. Opinions... experiences? How hard are those things to break, anyway?

I would have to second that opinion. A guy that I work with is a big time Cajun cook. In the new house, he got this damnably expensive induction cooktop. Then, some of his "heirloom" pots wouldn't work. When his grandmother's cast iron skillet wouldn't work (warped bottom?) that was the last straw. He sold the house, moved across town and went back to gas. (Not because of the cooktop but I continue to accuse him of that. ) He said that the thing also made him really nervous. He envisioned dropping some heavy cast iron gumbo pot and breaking it.

ruthcooks, thanks for that sweet cornbread recipe. Would you be willing to put it in RecipeGullet? Since it is an heirloom recipe, a preamble regarding its origin would preserve the history as well. I actually like the sweeter, lighter texture bread on occasion. Would I eat it with chili or pinto beans? Probably not. But I do enjoy it as a side to, for instance, a "leftover meat" dinner salad with a tart vinagrette. We used to do this a lot for weekday dinners when my son lived with me. But, I have to confess that I defaulted to Jiffy Mix muffins because I really didn't have a recipe I was crazy about.

The fame is spreading... I just stumbled on this on the FoxNews site... click. Scroll down to "Hero of the Week". At least busybody is better than cockroach.

I just don't get headaches. I never have. If I have a headache, there is something else wrong, like coming down with flu. And I don't have any food allergies that I know of. But there is one thing that has given me a blinding headache for several hours about three or four times. The only common trigger I could figure out was white wine, German only. Weird. The clincher was the last time it happened. I had been avoiding German whites because of my suspicions. Then, I was helping my sister prepare for a big party. She was serving a local wine shop's private label stuff and she asked me to taste it to see what I thought. I had one small mouthful of the white. Four hours later and I was in pain and went home. I had assumed that it would be from California. We called the shop the next day... Yep... German.

I am not sure that will work. My only reason for saying this is all of the notes I have from way back say "do not double this recipe". You can easily just make multiple batches and turn them out whole and wrap in foil. Then you can reheat them and slice them later. That is what I do when feeding a crowd. It works really well because you can make them a couple of days ahead and store in the fridge. This assumes, of course, that your skillet is seasoned enough so they fall out in one piece.

This sounds like what my great aunt would make when I was a kid. But, these weren't baked. We called it "cracklin' bread" or, for reasons completely unknown to me, "bump-bides". When she was finished making lard, she would reserve the cracklins and whack us kids with a big wooden spoon when we would try to snitch. Then she would cook up a thick batch of cornmeal "mush". This was surely made with coarse whole grain cornmeal. She would stir in some cracklins and let the whole thing cool just enough to handle. I remember her coating her hands with lard and forming these round "cakes" about 3 or 4 inches across and almost an inch thick. These were then fried in a frying pan in some of the lard until nicely browned. We ate them with cane syrup sometimes. I may have to recreate this the next time I make lard. edit to add: I am not at all sure about this... Now that I think about it, she may have stirred in some baking soda just before forming. This may make some sense because I can see them going from her hands into the skillet as quickly as possible. With that kind of timing, she possibly got some "puff" making them lighter. Not that I remember them being particularly light. I will have to ask my sister.

AAANNNDDD... Are you hiding state secrets or are you willing to share technique and pictures? Interestingly enough, I do vaguely remember biscuits in a dutch oven and a campfire. I think it was when we would go and camp out on some land that a cousin owned on the banks of the Brazos. The purpose of the trip was to catch catfish and pick up pecans. I also think it was a yearly family excursion. He sold the property before I got old enough to remember it well.

Heh heh... When you get to the part where you "toast" the shrimp paste... Pick a cool and breezy day and open all of the windows. You do NOT want that in your air conditioner filters.

Good catch, Mabelline. You may very well be right. Of course, by the time I was born, they were cooking on a gas range. She never really gave up the lard dip though and that is how she did it most of the time. I am going to do the baking sheet and skillet thing side by side so we will see what happens. Report to follow when I get the first chance.

My recipe is has been in our family since at least my great-grandmother. It is essentially just about identical to andiesenji's. It does have that tablespoon of sugar but is not sweet. I think it is there to help brown the crust. Heat oven to 425F Place 3 tablespoons lard, bacon drippings or corn oil into a heavy iron skillet. Put skillet into the oven to heat. Combine dry ingredients: 2 cups cornmeal, stone ground whole grain 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar Combine: 2 cups buttermilk 2 lightly beaten eggs Stir eggs and buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Do NOT over mix. Remove pan from oven. Pour ingredients into the pan and return to the oven. (Technique tip: Put the pan on a level surface and pour batter into the middle so it spreads evenly. There will be a lot of sizzling going on and it will make an attractive crust on the outside edges. Makes for a prettier final result.) Bake for 25 minutes.

I knew you guys would come through. Mabelline, I had forgotten about Light Crust Flour. Ye... Haaa. Actually, Aunt Minnie never "rolled" her biscuits. She patted out a slab of dough about a half inch thick. That made for surface irregularities that browned at different rates. She always said that a rolling pin "suppressed the character and independence of the biscuits". (I am not kidding. ) Brooks... I really can't take you on while your kitchen is "in the yard". It just wouldn't be fair.

I am wondering if the "fishy palates" don't perceive things differently than those of us who were not exposed to it from a very young age.

OK... Maybe the first thing that I will do is a "pan" of biscuits that are my best guess at a version of my Aunt Minnie's. Note that I am not an experienced biscuit maker but I will do my best. Actually, the recipe for buttermilk biscuits is pretty static. Any variations are probably superfluous to technique. After all, the end results seem to be due to variations in technique.