Arey

For my homemade large loaves of rye and hearth bread, and white and whole wheat pain de mie I wrap them in aluminum foil and then wrapped them in Glad Press and Seal. When they got small enough I would use Glad 1 gal. twist tie bags which can be used for freezing. I would also use them to freeze rolls when I bake rolls. However, Glad has discontinued this product. Can zipper type freezer bags work well? Can I just cut the zipper off, and use the bag with a twist tie? I don't have the space in my above the fridge freezer for a 1 gal bag with one roll or a couple of slices of bread in it. Does anyone know of a suitable for freezing twist tie bag. I'm almost down to my last box of Glad twist tie bags, and I had to order them from Amazon. An observation: When a favorite item disappears from supermarket shelves, and turns up on Amazon your favored item is being discontinued.

My hall closet doubles as my cupboard and there are a pot and a pan in it still unused in their original cartons. They're they're duplicates of a pot and pan I have in my kitchen so if I ever have to replace the ones in my kitchen I won't have to buy some "new" and "improved" version. My old Revere Copper Bottom tea kettle gave out years ago and I've never been able to replace. I went on Amazon, and a one star review said "This is not your grandmother's Revere tea kettle". Instead I am making do with a Kitchen Aid whistling tea kettle has dribbled since the day I bought it, and I really intensely dislike it. A person really shouldn't have to put up with an appliance or kitchen utensil that he despises on a daily basis.

In the part of NJ I live in the ACME is the closest thing to an upscale supermarket. Which is why I go to a separate butcher shop, fish monger, produce shop, and cheese shop. I just got done browsing the FreshDirect web site and stopped the second time I said "Stop torturing yourself" to myself. I was wondering about the produce. How can you be sure they won't send you something that you wouldn't have selected yourself if shopping locally. I takes me forever to pick out Brussels sprouts and I always look for a zucchini that's aesthetically pleasing and hasn't led a hard life ,and green beans that are still crisp, and can't be bent so the two ends can be touched to each other without snapping.

My parsley looks pretty weak. We planted it late - might that be the reason? I misspoke earlier. The frozen parsley I used wasn't frozen in water, just small, frozen cubes of parsley. Its been my experience that parsley doesn't like warm weather. I plant it in the early spring, and hope it gets through the summer so I can harvest it. I also use a technique I read years ago in a book After planting the seeds, I pour boiling water over the rows of seeds. I don't over-winter the parsley I plant even tho' it's a biennial. The self seeded parsley I let go to seed the second year. Basil is the opposite. I don't plant the seeds until the ground feels warm to my hand.

There's a Mennonite farmers market in Williamstown NJ that I go to to buy things. Their pork chops are incredible. The last time I was there, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the poultry stand had stewing chickens for sale. Had I had the space, I would have bought one to make stock following Julia Child's recipe. Since I'm retired, I have the time, I have the energy, but I don't have the space to store it. As for the parsley cubes, I grown my own parsley each year in a bed that I share with the Swallowtail caterpillars, and I also have self-seeded parsley all over the year. Each fall I harvest a lot of parsley, hand chop it, and dry freeze it in a container. The parsley cubes are frozen in water, so I consider them to have limited usefulness. Right now the parsley in the yard is still putting out new growth.

Space is also a concern. I don't have room for a freezer in my house. When my mother moved in with me for the last years of her life, she had to leave her freezer behind because there was no place to put it, and it was a nice big freezer too.The only freezer I have is the one at the top of my 18' refrigerator. I have made my own stock (the stock pot sits on the top of the fridge with my all-clad 10" skillet on it} and I enjoyed making it. I even went so far as to make a Julia Child recipe for chicken in aspic. I have cartons of Swanson's chicken broth in my cupboard so I'm using my limited freezer space for things that can't be stored in the cupboard. I'm only cooking for myself, but I will cook four servings of some dishes and freeze three. I also bake my own bread, so that gets sliced and put in the freezer. I don't even have ice cubes in the freezer since they take up too much space. I also freeze split pea soup and leek and potato soup. The things people buy that I don't understand are things such as pre-scrubbed, wrapped in tinfoil baking potatoes, or those very expensive packages of chopped parsley frozen in little cubes of ice.

On a hearth cooking program years ago in one episode the appropriately colonially garbed cook roasted a chicken using a tin 3 sided gadget. The chicken was in the open side facing the fire, and the three sides reflected the heat from the fire onto the chicken. I don't remember what the chicken was sitting on, it may have been a skewer or how long it took to roast. The whole setup sat right on the hearth close to the fire, and the chicken looked very nicely browned when done. As a side note: Walter Staib on A Taste of History in recent series of the show has been cooking in a colonial era kitchen with a beehive oven next to the fireplace, so he's been doing a lot of recipes that wouldn't be possible in an open hearth.

I'm sure you could have more one swan to cook, and if you cut it into cubes and served it on skewers as catdaddy described it would be the height of authenticity. And maybe just one swan roasted and the head tail and wings re-attached and on a big platter would make a great centerpiece. Although, you might want to use papermache or fiberglass for the re-attached pieces. There's a limit to the degree of authenticity some people can take. I found a very informative source on the internet, http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/2012/08/24/roast-swans/

In another forum I read there has been much discussion about mute swans as an invasive destructive species. One of the posters goes on legal authorized swan culling where some of the cullers make jokes about "off to the Renaissance Fair you go". I was wondering if anyone here has ever had roasted swan, if so how did it taste, and how was it presented. It it was a Tundra or Trumpeter swan don't want to know about it.

Do you keep a separate laundry bag for kitchen things you have to wash such as dish towels,bar wipes, aprons, pot holders and place mats? In an effort to conserve water and electricity ( in an all electric house) I do them with my shirts. Otherwise they'd have to go in with wash cloths, hand and bath towels, socks, underwear and jeans. I've a couple of hutch drawers with table cloths, cloth napkins , and cloth place mats, but only the place mats get used. I worry that if I kept a separate laundry bag for kitchen cloth things, by the time I had enough accumulated to make it worth doing a load of wash, the older things might have gotten funky. Some of my cloth things say wash in cold water, gentle cycle, etc, but in they go with the shirts and I don't separate whites from colors.

Have you tried Vanity Fair paper napkins. They're more expensive than the regular napkins I buy Marcal Small Steps napkins preferably in the 400 ct. pack. Depending on what I'm having I may put two napkins on the table, under the knife or fork. My turkey, tomato, bacon, and avocado sandwich is a 3 napkin sandwich. I go through a lot of the Marcals since I use them for wiping up small spills, wiping the lips of bottles, wiping off knives and forks and such after I 've rinsed them off. In other words as a small paper towel. The brand of disposable tissues I buy don't lend themselves to substituting for napkins, too soft, and the napkins I use don't lend themselves to substituting for tissues, too coarse.

In the video linked to above I was wondering what was meant by tempering a chicken. I found a source that said a 3 to 4 lb. chicken should be removed from the refrigerator and set in a cool place for about 45 minutes before cooking otherwise it may not be fully cooked in the center. I'll try doing that in the future but certainly won't leave it out until it reaches "room temperature". Doing that in So. Jersey in the summer would be asking for trouble. I should think 45 minutes to an hour at most would be enough. Persons wishing to pursue this matter can start by googling "Bouchon temper chicken" I will not tell any of the dumb jokes running through my head while googling, "how to temper a chicken" and hope others will show the same restraint

If the link had not been on your daughter's facebook page, would you have followed it? If an article titled "Nourishing Thankgiving Foods." were in my morning newspaper, I probably would have read it, because 1) I hadn't finished my coffee 2) I didn't feel like getting out of my recliner already 3) I was bored. I only bought organic plum tomatoes today because the regular plum tomatoes didn't look particularly good. I stopped watching Ciao Italia because I couldn't face having to hear Rosemary Esposito say "EVOO" one more time.

My chicken was only about 4 1/3 pounds. The recipe says that a 3 1/2 to 4 1/2-pound chicken will take about an hour to cook. Every other time I cooked a chicken using this recipe, it usually weighed about 3 1/2 to 3 3/4. I get them at my butchers, and that is the biggest chicken he carries. So, I never had problems with the recipe before. However, the local market just starting carrying Empire Kosher "Broiler/Roaster" chickens. ( Do chicken designations really mean anything anymore? They used to.) I've been making the most of being able to get larger chickens, because eventually the market is going to decide there isn't enough call for them to continue carrying them.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. At 1 hour the breast meat was close to 130 and the thighs were 150. I cooked it for another 30 to 35 minutes and probably could have left it a bit longer. I like the recipe because it is easy and doesn't involve a lot of messing about even though the chicken skin is flabby. However, the next time I roast a chicken and I plan on enjoying the skin I'll use the Marcella Hazan recipe recommended by Patrick Amory.

In this case Cook's Illustrated Chicken in a Pot. The oven temperature is 250. For a 4 1/2 to 5 lb chicken they say it takes 80 to 110 minutes. For a 3 1/2 4 1/2 chicken they say it will take about an hour. The initial stove top browning takes 8 to 12 minutes. Today I plan on cooking a 4.23 lb Empire Brand Kosher chicken, and no way will that be done in a hour. I usually pay more attention to the dark meat than the breast meat, since the breast meat usually ends up in a sandwich. A recipe of my own for lemon rosemary roasted chicken that I've developed over the years starts out by preheating the oven to 450 and then: Put the chicken breast side up, and roast for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken on one side, baste with lemon, and roast for another 10 minutes. Turn the chicken on the other side, baste with lemon and roast another 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°. Turn the chicken breast up and roast for another hour until the thigh registers 170° on an instant read thermometer. Baste the chicken regularly while it is roasting using the pan juices. Add chicken broth to the pan if necessary. Total cooking time about 1 hr. 30 mins to 2 hrs for a 4 lb. Chicken.

It always seems to take me longer to roast a chicken than it should. I've been wondering if I should take the chicken out of the refrigerator for just an hour or so before cooking it. I have checked my oven temperature, and it seems to be accurate.

Last winter for the first time in years I bought oatmeal and made it for breakfast a couple of times. Then I decided that oatmeal was more of a nostalgia trip for me. Cold mornings getting ready for school, and for breakfast a steaming bowl of oatmeal with milk and brown sugar and butter melting on top of it. Accompanied by a mug of hot chocolate and buttered toast. The memory was all warm and cozy, but the oatmeal itself was added to my compost bin.

When I was in school and they did have Home Ec it was only for the girls. The boys had metal shop. woodworking shop and mechanical drawing. Home Ec. was basically "How to be a good little wife", and even boys like me taking the academic curriculum still had to take the three shop courses, because it's always good to have a trade to fall back on. Unfortunately while we were taking the courses, the trades were rapidly disappearing from the economy in So. Jersey. For years I browned bagged my lunch. Day in day out it was a baked skinless drumstick, some celery, an apple and Kame rice crackers, cheese flavored. I would cook up to 16 drumsticks in advance, have the celery all scrubbed and cut in advance, and could have my lunch packed in a couple of minutes. I've been retired for 14 years and nine out of ten days I'm still eating that same boring lunch, but without the kame rice crackers lately. On Saturday nights I treat myself to a real lunch for dinner.

A new cocktail - The Gimlet Eye Vodka, Lime Juice and Powered Sugar garnished with an eyeball.

I had no idea that there are some things I buy that were produced by Nestles until I followed one of the links provided above. My initial reaction to the posts about the Nestles boycott was that I don't buy cocoa so what's it matter. One of their companies is Gerbers, and Gerbers beef and gravy is one of my cat's foods likes. (Bryn, my avatar) I may not buy Hagen-Dazs in the future but will continue to buy Gerbers since few animals are as amoral, and indifferent as a cat. So even if he did understand me when I told him why he couldn't have any more Gerbers his reply would be "Shut up and give me my Gerbers". A lot of People can be a lot like that when it comes to a favorite food product It's easy to take a self-righteous stance about a boycott, if it's something you would never buy in the first case. I decided I should check out Barilla to see if I buy any of their products, but unfortunately, their website wasn't available right now.

With my wine bottle trap they drown and can just be poured down the drain. When my counter top compost bucket gets infested I usually close it with a twist tie and stick it in the freezer for a while.

There are home made fruit traps you can make where you cut off the top of a plastic bottle, invert it like a funnel and stick it in the bottom of the bottle. Put some apple cider vinegar in the bottom of the bottle and put it on your counter. I used to do that, but found an even more effective trap. Leave enough wine in the bottom of the bottle to cover the indentation in the bottom of the bottle, and set it on your counter. My experience is that a fruity inexpensive but nice pinot noir works best. Out of respect for the vintner I will not name the pinot noir that I and the fruit flies enjoy the most. This time of the year when I take the lid off my compost bin out back, clouds of fruit flies emerge, and I often suspect that some of the must ride back into the house with them. It's also the time of year when if I go out to sit on my deck with a coaster and a glass of wine, the coaster goes on top of the glass, not under it.

Maybe you could start out by asking him to go grocery shopping with you. Watch what he picks out, what he appears interested in, and what he says likes. Drop casual remarks such as "those pork chops look good don't they". If however, when you get to the market he says he'll wait in the car for you, you'll know you're facing a really big challenge.

I took the op to mean something that could be plated, served and eaten in half an hour. I 've noticed that the longer a thread runs the further away from the op the suggestions get. I'm just waiting for the caviar and blinis to show up. Surely everybody has a can or two of beluga caviar, in their pantry , creme fraiche in the fridge, and blinis in the freezer.