ChefPip

Saw this Blog article today in Yahoo "Southern Food" and thought I'd post it here. It may be enlightening for those browsing the thread for the first time. https://www.yahoo.com/food/hopelessly-hooked-on-pimento-cheese-100686606711.html.

If you look at each of your cookbooks, which are all non fiction books, on the back side of the title page there will be copyright info, publishers address and info about the publication etc, and on down below that there "should" be a paragraph of "pre-cataloging information". That pre-cataloging info (or Cataloging & Publication Data if it's LC) is what cataloging and acquisition Librarians use to sort the books into the Dewy (which would be in the 600's applied science) or LC (Library of Congress) cataloging schemes. There are plenty of free software's you can download to use for this task. Including using the ISBN (international Standard Book Number) Remember, not every book will have the pre cataloging info. This information is similar to what web sites use as meta tags and meta descriptions. You may have to look for it on the first few pages of your cookbook. There some ideas on this thread at Chowhound com http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/328149 And you can look through this Google page regarding free software to organize cookbooks. Remember, some of it is free and some of it is shareware or trial software. Google page query: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=free+software+for+cataloging+and+a+collection+of+cookbooks&start=0 You may even shop at some culinary specialty shops and find software for organizing cookbooks or recipes. If you want to spend some time, you could go to the New York Public Library and look to see if you can find your cookbook by title and see what Dewy number that they assign to it. Similar with the Library of Congress and see if you can find each of your books and see what LC number they assign to it. Then organize your cookbooks by those numbers. These are BIG Libraries and may have all or most of your cookbooks. NY Public Library: https://catalog.nypl.org/. Library of Congress: http://catalog.loc.gov/

Sounds good, with Oktoberfest at hand some Kartoffelpuffer or Latkes (potato pancakes) would be tasty.

gfron1 brings up an interesting point, whether it is actually the issue of the OP's question or not. My family raise Potatoes too and on digging them would allow them to lay in the sunlight to dry some. But sometimes they got busy and they lay there too long and began to turn Green. This is something to beware of when dealing with potatoes as it denotes a toxin. The quoted comes from this article: Harvesting Potatoes by National Gardening Association Editors http://www.garden.org/foodguide/browse/veggie/potatoes_harvesting/574 Even if you sit the potatoes on the table where the sun can come in on them through the kitchen window this process can begin. My old folks didn't really understand why the bad taste in their Kennebec variety potatoes. until they found an article in "Organic Gardening" magazine that addressed what the article above sums up. This particular variety was ready to harvest here while there was still hours of daylight and 75 degree F temps. So it was easy for them to get "sunburnt" as they would say. It is important for them to air dry, but just as important to protect them from the sunlight. By the time they were obviously "green" they were nearly beyond using. Again, I don't know if this is the actual issue the OP is dealing with but it is good to know about it.

Yes Dcarch, I see what you mean. I watched an evaluation of several Fresnel Lenses. I didn't know where people were getting them or the differences in the focal lengths.. I could see using this with Cast Iron ware for a number of things as the food would be covered. One of the lenses that was evaluated by the show's host was thought to be a possibility for an otherwise solar oven. I'm guessing the Fresnel would be mounted at the outer edge of the "funnel" instead of at the bottom where the glass window would be mounted. I'm sure the Fresnel would significantly amplify the solar energy better than just a plate of glass. It's an interesting idea. Here's the Youtube video. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExXjXm0YV0

I've been gathering materials to assemble a solar oven of my own. At this point I know I don't want it sitting on the ground and it will probably be more of a novelty at first until I can determine how well it will perform. Then what types of baked goods it could best be suited to with consideration to temperatures and baking times. This is the site I am considering. http://www.williamgbecker.com/MakeSolarOven.html.

This is approximately my course right now. I'm in the USA, Appalachia, where we were known for good food before the fast food industry all but eliminated the small family restaurants where "Blue Plate Specials" were once a standard fare. But with the Internet, things are changing. More and more people are developing the Net with vintage content now that we can find much of our heritage to replicate once again. To give you some place to start with this question. Go to Google and type in "OLD DINER MENUS" and when the page comes up at the top click "IMAGES". You will be able to see many old Menu's which will give you some ideas of things you could create and cost out such that you could be profitable serving them at $10. I did this for you with the link below. Now after clicking it look above the sample images to where the navigation menu says "Images". https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Old+Diner+Menus&spell=1 You will have to use the interface of your browser to enlarge the type so that you can read those menus, but you can get some ideas from what was once offered. Some of these menus represent Drive Inn Diners which were very much in the main stream here in the Post WW2 era until the 70's when the fast food shops began to dominate with their burgers, fries, and drinks. Some of these were small family restaurants, others were the lunch counters at the "Dime Stores" (often called "Five and Dime's") Some of these menus were even printed on the inside cover of book matches. Even Tea Rooms offered menus targeted more towards the ladies who chose more a female centric environment away from mixed company with working men during the lunch hour. You may come to realize how we are a different people nearly 70 years after WW2, both socially and with the conditioning of our appetites. I'm meeting with great success offering this cuisine in the Historic Park my Cafe is located in. Back then 'Short Order" cooks produced this fare. Ironically, today, this Chef is doing it.and offering even better quality foods to his diners. The main thing I'm trying to do is use farm raised meat which is free ranged and purchased at local slaughter houses. Thus eliminating the Grocery Store chains from my supply lines as they offer feed lot meats. Unless you've eaten pork, beef, or chicken from the farm and know the difference in flavor it will be difficult to appreciate these vintage menus and how satisfying those dishes they advertise would be to consume. .Much has changed since then with the supply of foods to restaurants.

Many years ago I was working for an employer and there were real Sign Painters still working in the town. I mention this in reference to the discussion concerning "websites". Today's sign technology revolves around cut out vinyl letters and the sense of style and panache just doesn't seem to live on with it. When the "sign man " came to produce a gold leaf entrance door where I worked it was amazing to watch him make magic with that small brush and some other strange tools. This guy was retirement age back then and had worked as a commercial artist and ad man when younger I learned as I listened to him talking with the owner of the business. He has picked up sign painting as an avocational interest so he would have a second line of employment if he were without work. But what really took me was a slogan he had lettered on his Van. "A good sign on a business is a sign of good business". I think that this same attitude could apply to websites for restaurants. How many Chef's see their work as a form of art ? Or notice their diners experiencing it that way ? Are these diners merely hungry hounds or epicureans ? If you haven't seen sign painters working, here are some Youtube videos where these aging men and a few young devotees speak of their attitudes toward their work. Particularly when it comes to the painters opposed to the vinyl cutters. http://youtu.be/IXNbWqnvXuM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXNbWqnvXuM

This article just appeared in Yesterdays News Paper, by Michael Felberbaum. "Pimiento Cheese making a come back as trendy bar food" Article even contains a recipe for Pimiento Cheese http://www.jconline.com/story/life/food/2014/09/29/pimento-cheese-comeback/16422071/ In the article it mentions that some diners are incensed to see Pimiento Cheese on the menu of high end southern restaurants. They think it is something that would be eaten at home instead of a fine restaurant. But then people travel and may not come from an area where Pimiento Cheese is available. Some may have grown up in the south and moved elsewhere and on those occasions that they are back home for a day or so, it is a chance consume an old favorite with a meal.

I'm at a mature age. My cafe is located in an Appalachian Heritage Park and people who visit are those with an interest in "older" things. They bring their kids and grand kids to this "Time Machine" to show them how their older relatives lived and what they had when building the community they are growing up in.. Imagine something like "Colonial Williamsburg, Va". Special event weekends are held such as the "Cast Iron Cookoff" held recently to showcase Pioneer Cooking techniques. This helps to attract people of various ages. I have culinary students helping out from local schools during these events. Yes, I have customers who are much older than I am. This is why my menu is a revival of the Pre Fast Food restaurant fare similar to that of the 40's and 50's. "Old Fogeys" isn't as common as hearing, "I feel like a kid again".. And there is the constant buzz about the things that they see here that they haven't seen since childhood. One of the assets I have is the team of researchers associated with this operation who look for old recipes & menu's to go with the database I've been building for the past decade. We have older IT people and web masters who bring a lot of experience to the table. Some of these same people wear "Period Costume" and also work as artisans. My goal is to offer cuisine that can't be found within a 50 mile radius so that those who visit can have a dining experience on par with their tour of the park. Now, I'm not a big Android user, but I see so many of these older folks toting Smart Phones and Tablets that it surprises me. Especially when I see tablet users on the Net and I realize someone is sharing their Cell as a WIFI node.

In the past some Web Designers used Dreamweaver and set their clients up with Adobe contribute so they could upgrade certain parts of their site themselves. Such as the menu for that day or week etc. Rather handy if someone associated with the Restaurant had the skills to use "Contribute" to make those updates. Thus the Web Master wasn't constantly having to do those updates. But with Dreamweaver CS7 and Muse (which replaced Contribute as I understand) there had been some issues. But the concept was ideal. Those involved with updating the site would have areas in the site to add or delete information to keep the site current. It has been mentioned regarding the aging population who have the money to dine out but lack the vision to read small type or flashy type faces, The graphics designers I've spoken to say never more than 3 type faces to be used in any composition. Type faces should be clean, crisp, and readable at a glance. If the eye is confused it will want to look away. Perhaps tot he Restaurant down the street with a better designed site. All the site needs to do is attract the customer to the business. Those with sales experience know better than to over-sell. This is probably the root of the problem with so many sites. It also has to be remembered that so many of the older set don't really know how to tuse the GUI of their browser. (Internet Explorer and Firefox dominate the browser usage) They don't know hot to click "View" and drop down to "Zoom In" and enlarge the point size of the type so they can read it. I see so many older seniors now days using smart phones and iPhones with confidence. They are "mobile" with broadband and they may be the ones leading their less computer literate friends to the restaurants. So having a site that plays well with the Cell's has to considered.

It's hard to believe web design and web sites were in their infancy just 20 years ago. It was something new as anyone could do it if they had the skills. Back then it was HTML and note pad and the sites were mostly black and white. But as Photoshop, Digital Cameras, Scanners, and other wizard-work software evolved just about everybody and his dog were cranking out sites with little understanding of what they were doing in this "power to the people" movement. Some of the best web designers & developers I've met understand HTML 5 and CSS3 and have no issues with WYSIWYG web editors like "Dream Weaver". Before the internet arrived these people worked in Photography, Technical Writing, Graphic Design, Print Publication and even had business marketing experience. There are all kinds of "artsie" types out there. Just visit an Art Museum and you can see where their minds are. Unfortunately this has carried over tot the technology of Web Design. Who can forget the "Dancing Hamsters" site in the late 90's. I've seen a reliance on "Templates" in so many sites and shudder at the Photoshopped collages where I've seen shadows actually running towards the light source. I'd say anyone wanting a web site should be able to sketch out the 5W's the Newspapers relied on. The Who, What,Where,Why, and When. Who we are, What we offer, Where we are located, Why we pursue this kind of dining experience, and our hours. This can be done with one page, a Photo of the front of the establishment and parking lot, and a Google Map screen shot or two that show where it in in the area and a close up which shows the access from a main highway or interstate. The rest can be the current menu, At the bottom of the menu there could be some encouragement to the view to check back often as the menu changes frequently. Of course those things which are daily standards or specialties of the house could be indicated in the menu. When you consider something that is "The Straight Skinny" it is a refined essence and it's harder to do than it looks. This is where those with the experience I mentioned above can make the cut and the others are producing pages of nothing of interest to the customers. Just my thoughts. .

You see them used on some of the cooking shows on TV. Generally they are browning the tips of a meringue on a pie or some sugar confections. The browning adds to the eye appeal. As torches go, I've seen some with instant ignition triggers which work something like the ignition of a gas BBQ Grill. Some of these are propane and others butane. If you have a Husband with some tools in his shop, he may have a torch already that he would use to solder or losten rusted bolts. If he does you may be able to purchase a simple flame spreader attachment to use with that in the kitchen. I don't think you will get much of a fuel smell as those two gasses burn fairly clean. Instant start torch image: http://media.toolking.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/275x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95 /B/e/Bernzomatic_Corp_94023_TS3000T_Trigger_Start_Prop_Torch_Head_Propane_-_Each.jpg clamp on flame spreader http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31tTCr-2nqL._SY300_.jpg

Looks good ! I'd only suggest that you grind a sample and see how fine it grinds. Also see if you can in any way adjust the grinding mechanism. If you can't adjust it, look and see if you can find some wire sieves of various mesh sizes to sift out the finer grindings and save the more coarse ones for grits. Then you can put some of the fine grindings in with the coarse ones to suit the cooking characteristics you want.

Time was when every little country General Store had a grain mill. Some were large and others small. They are still around and can be purchased new or used. eBay perhaps. You can look at a few photos on this site: http://historiccookingschool.com/early-1900s-flour-and-cereal-grain-mills/ I own an antique wooden coffee grinder like this one: http://www.taltopia.com/view/146580/Antique-Coffee-Grinder It belonged to my Great Grand Parents and was handed down to me. I used to grind the white field corn Grand Dad grew with it and we had Grit's for the cold winter mornings and corn meal for making Corn Bread. It was adjustable with the wing nut at the bottom left. I remember the Corn Bread Grand Mother made with it was coarse as a piece of sand stone, but it dissapeared from the table almost instantly. Always met with approval from the older menbers of the family who had grown up with that sort of thing. So if you can find an antique coffee grinder like I have or even a grain mill like the small general stores had, then you should be able to get coarse corn meal or even more coarse.....grits. An iron skillet of that cornbread always seemed to help empty jars of apple butter, and sorghum.

Why don't you offer a good recipe as the OP is requesting ? Your observations are accurate no doubt, and this is a 23 year old whose experience and time seem to be limited could learn much from it. "Puttanexca" actually occured to me first when I read the OP,. but I wasn't sure if it would be in line with his taste/needs.

Let me offer this style of spaghetti sauce to you. "Bolognese". It's what you are probably used to getting at restaurants. It has meat in it, several veggies, and is a thick dark red tomato sauce with several spices which may even include chili powder. When I was in high school it was were I started. Pasta Sauce is a natural place to learn to cook. From Spaghetti you can move up to fabricated dishes like Lasagna which will use your sauce and other things layered and baked. When you get a good sauce that you like then you can move up to Lasagna and impress your family and friends. So let me offer you this link to a tutorial in "Instructables" for Blognese Sauce where you will be around a lot of other students. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-great-Bolognese-sauce-recipe/. . You can use ground beef with any combination of ground pork, sausage, minced bacon or what ever. You can even use minced green bell pepper too. So just experiment and take notes in a note book when you cook. It never fails that when you get something really good you won't have taken notes. LOL So take notes. The internet abounds with Bolognese recipes so just Google.

Welcome Matthew, you may be pleased by wide variety of people you'll meet here. You may even find others like yourself here.

I'm quite happy to find this thread. The first Ginger Beer I ever tasted was somewhere in the late 60's bottled by a soft drink maker known as Faygo. They are still in business even though they dropped "Faygo Brau" ginger beer from their line in the 70's. There has been a movement, I myself having written several letters to Faygo Botteling Compan, to lobby Faygo to reume production of the wonderful beverage. But to no avail. About as close to it as I can get is the Vernors Ginger Ale now days. Occasionally I see 10 ounce 4 packs of Ginger beer for around $6 dollars or so and I break down and buy it and sip it slowly to savor it. I once saw it bottled by Schweppes also. Where I live there is a large number of colleges and Universities and they have an "international Days" celebration each year and I try to get my fill of the Ginger Beer those students from the Caribbean produce and sell in small sample size cups. I always praise their efforts and explain to them that Ginger Beer is something quite rare in this market although most people have heard of it. So I hope they pass the word along to keep Ginger Beer a tradition on this one day of the year and I can guzzle away several dollars of it to get my fill. I should mention for everyone that I've even gone to Youtube to watch the videos where kind people teach how to make it. There are several pages of video here for making it as an alcohol beverage or non alcoholic concoction. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Youtuve+and+Gingerbeer Here is a youtube tutorial showing the use of 2 liter plastic bottles with fittings purchased on eBay and a small aluminum Co2 tank. If you know someone at a Bottling company where they have a Co2 recharging facility for the restaurant fountains that they service you may be able to strike a deal with a salesman to get a tank with regulators and some hose for cheap. They generally only fill those tanks a certain number of times before they retire them from service. This is how a lot of guys who own MIG welding equipment get theirs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLFvw4CVKgY

If I were to barter my goods & service they would be kept to small ticket venues. I would rather keep the arrangement to baked goods and pastery opposed to meat, luncheon, and dinner fare. Depending on how well I knew the other person in this partnership, I'd probably put a $500 cap on any trade offs. But such ventures are not something I'd seek. Especially during election cycles.

I had this aunt and uncle who had a fruit cake they made each year. She called it Applesauce Cake but it was just a lighter textured fruit cake. Then Uncle would pour a generous quantity of Mogan David Concord Grape Wine into it. It then sit for a week or so sealed up in plastic wrap in a Metal container. Ironically when everyone else had those heavy dense fruit cakes that they couldn't give away, that Applesauce concoction seemed to disappear first. I had tried it on a few occasions and was impressed with it. But something my Dad came up with was an all time favorite. He would take left over fruit cake no one was interested in and chop it up rather fine. Then he took a mixture of brown sugar, Dark Rum, a little butter and hot water and made a syrup to pour over the crumbled fruit cake. This went into a serving dish with vanilla ice cream scooped over it. It's very similar to Date Nut Pudding. It is ironic to me how comedians have lampooned Fruit Cake and invented words like "re-gifting" to mean giving a gift you don't want to someone else. But the same item can be re structured and served and you'll run out of it every time..

Interesting point Bill. I've often wondered if York isn't using the "Hershey Tropical chocolate" (of Military Ration fame) to coat those patties. http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhcjau44it1qzvu9x.png. When I began to study chocolate some time back I read a book titled:"Chocolate - A Healthy Passion" by Monica Bearden which reviewed different nations chocolate and what qualities sets them apart. It was a surprise to see how Hershey isn't held in very high esteem anywhere other than the USA. Since that time I've tried to purchase chocolate bars from all the different countries where the sample was made in that country. Often various brands have their production taking place in other countries where the labor is less expensive. I've tried to stay with 70% cocoa content as those are most common. That had me shopping when I traveled and was close to some ethnic communities of German, Swiss, and Italian people to find these samples. One of the least acceptable chocolate substitutes I've found is "Carob". It's usually found in health food stores and is good for those with allergies to chocolate. I understand that during WW2 the Military made carob coated pitted prunes for the GI's in the field. It was a thinly disguised way to get something into them that was "good for them" and could still be called candy.. But it in the end it will all depend on what one's goal is in making such confections. If it's Mom or Grand Mother making a sweet for the kids, I'm sure they will be delighted and show no evidence of chocolate snobbery.

In the late 70's I had tried both the York and Ludens pepperming candies. York was an obscure brand that was just out there on the shelves. Perhaps Peter Paul secured an Ad Agency to market or re-market their product. The over the top Ad's brought York to where they all but ran other products like Luden's out of the market. Ad's like these made York a commercial success even though many felt it was a hyped inferior product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HItVDGs49o

Shel, if there are any cake and candy supply stores in your area, you may be able to find some invertase there. You'll probably be there looking dipping dipping chocolate, flavorings and so forth anyways. The reason invertase would even be used at all is to get a softer creamier patty inside the chocolate covering. Again, this may or may not be of interest to you but I thought it may be of interest to you and others in the thread to bring it up. I used to enjoy the Luden's Mellowmint patties before York aggressively took the market with advertising campaigns for a product I never thought was as good. To me the solid patty was more about it's endurance for shipping over long distances and storage durability. I figured a small quantity of invertase in the sugar patty would render a more pleasant "melt away" mouth texture to the confection. You could get some "After Eight" mints and some small "York's" and do a taste comparison if you wish and see what you think of the two qualities. In my view York creatd a product that was more focused on durability for storage and shipping and with their advertising managed to position the product so favorably in the minds of the consumer. For these reasons I think it is why York has become a favorite with retailers. But for me the After Eight chocolate covered peppermint confection is the superior form of this type of candy.

I have experience with Smoking meat and can offer some insights. First, this is a good time of year to find one at a reduced price. Smokers tend to come in Charcoal, Gas, or Electric. Many women prefer the electric models for cleanliness and being less of a fire hazard. The idea behind Smoking is to use low and slow heat for an extended time. You may be looking at 225 to 250 F as the highest temp for this purpose. I'd say that if you have 18 inches or more around your Smoker that you will probably be safe. You could find a piece of thin piece of ply wood to use for an insulation/reflective surface to cover any surface you are concerned about. Wood will help reflect heat away from a fragile surface and has good insulation properties too. Unless you are just sold on the Weber brand, there are other brands like this Brinkmann electric model http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1287362&KPID=996016&kpid=996016&pla=pla_996016