browniebaker

Wow. Great post. You inspire me to try different variations with my butter-mochi recipe. Sesame seeds, toasted coconut, and other crunchy additions sound good. Until now I didn't know that Hawaii had its own butter-mochi traditions. The butter-mochi recipe I have is from my mother, who got the recipe from another Chinese-American woman from Taiwan (who calls it "French Rice Cake"!). The recipe combines sweet rice flour, whole milk, white sugar, eggs, unsalted butter, baking powder, and vanilla extract into a batter into which scant teaspoonfuls of sweetened red-bean paste are dropped just before baking. The recipe calls for baking in a tube pan or a 9" x 13" rectangular pan. I have baked it in both types of pans successfully, but I especially like the attractive presentation that my Nordicware "Festive" Bundt pan makes. If you bake in a tubve pan, be sure not to turn the cake out of the pan until it has totally cooled, or the cake will slump; to serve, slice before reheating slightly in the microwave. I agree that the golden-brown crust is the best part. My mother goes as far as to pan-fry slices of butter-mochi in vegetable oil just before serving.

The places I go to several times are year are: (1) Fortune Star Buffet: the best of its kind, and a step above the usual Chinese buffet because of the excellence of the cooking, the authentic offerings, and the large-ranging and ever-changing selections. It's on Nicholson Lane at Rockville Pike, behind Eatzi's. (2) New Fortune: a little north of Rockville, in Gaithersburg, but the best in the the area for traditional dim sum from carts. It also offers critically and popularly acclaimed dining from a superb menu, but I have only ever had dim sum here. (3) Seven Seas: where I go for dinner and for holiday banquets, especially when my seafood-loving parents come to town, for excellent Chinese cooking and fresh seafood. It's behind the Federal Plaza that is on Rockville Pike. (4) City Lite Buffet: actually in Gaithersburg (on Lost Knife Road), but I mention it because it is another Chinese buffet that offers authentic dishes and is better than most. I guess all my recommendations are for Chinese restaurants, as that is what I tend to have when in Rockville. Maybe I ought to branch out more when in Rockville . . . nah!

Unctuously delicious red-braised pork shoulder! Cubed, nicely fat and well-marbled pork shoulder is browned. Minced garlic and chopped scallion are added and sauteed to release their flavors. Then the ingredients of the sauce are poured in, to cover: 2 parts water, 1 part soy sauce, and five-spice powder and salt to taste. Optional additions are large chunks of bamboo shoot, whole or halved dried shiitake mushrooms, large squares of fried tofu, and peeled, whole hard-boiled eggs. Served over white rice, this is the comfort food of my childhood. In fact, my mother made this dish for me just last week when I went home for the holidays. There's nothing like it. Oh, lest anyone forget -- my mother's particular injunction for this dish is, "No sugar!"

Does anyone who uses any of the ploys described above to elude recipe-seekers really think that people do not see through the ploy? I think the reason that recipe-seekers back off is not that they believe your words. Whenever I hear those old excuses for not giving a recipe, I just know someone does not wish to share. Does it bother any one of you that you might come off seeming ungenerous, not to mention mendacious? I think it is not rude to decline to give a recipe, merely petty. As an amateur baker, I do have a handful of recipes that I cherish because I have taken years to develop and perfect them, but I cannot see what I would gain by keeping the recipe to myself. If someone asks me for a recipe, especially if the recipe is my own, I am flattered and honored. I want to share, so that others can enjoy, too. I've seen it all: those who leave out an ingredient; those who change the amounts of ingredients; those who pretend there is no recipe; those who claim they are sworn to secrecy; those who suddenly have misplaced the recipe; and those who say yes but never do produce the recipe. It is all very tiresome. It seems to me that one of the saddest things is when someone takes a recipe to the grave, and the survivors have only the memory of that special dish but no way of replicating the dish they crave. So, share before it is too late. You never know when you might expire. Finally, on a technical note: the law is that the recipe itself, i.e. the method, is not intellectual property; only the words describing the method are intellectual property.

I grew up in the U.S., putting cold pats of butter on hot toast so that the pats partially melt and cool nubs of butter remain. The face of the toast gets softened by the butter. This is the way I always thought toast should be. Then I went to graduate school in England and had the "croutons" you refer to. I began to think that I had got it wrong all those years, since the English must be the world's authority on toast. Are they not? I still prefer the toast of my childhood, but I can't help but have a niggling feeling that, the way I make it, it is not true toast -- not English toast.

For security, I always keep at least three pounds of butter in the freezer, at least five bricks of cream cheese in the fridge, at least ten pounds of all-purpose flour, at least ten pounds of bread flour, at least ten pounds of White Lily all-purpose flour, always replenished whenever on sale, never at retail.

My mom used to do this, too! Now she puts the butter in a small Corning Ware dish and covers it with a paper towel (the dish is a deep one so the paper towel doesn't make contact with the butter). Now if it goes "pop!" it gets the paper towel and not the microwave oven. Very good tip. Thanks! (Sometimes I do learn something.)

. . . microwave the butter too long when trying to melt it. You hear a loud "pop!" and have a greasy, spattered interior of the microwave oven to clean up. Problem is, I say i'll never do this again, but I keep doing it!

Can anyone resist the cherry Chapstick? (I keep one in every room of the house.) People magazine is such a good read!

goose duck ham chestnuts brussels sprouts gingerbread dark spiced fruitcake mincemeat shortbread spiced mulled cider the holy trinity of Christmas spice: cinnamon, ginger, and cloves

I will never again squeeze out a dirty dishrag right next to a freshly baked pumpkin pie. Squirt! (But I carefully blotted up the dishwater off the surface of the pie, and no one was the wiser.)

Hi, fellow Nashvillian! I live in the D.C. area now but grew up in Nashville and still return for the winter holidays with family. I recommend the National (made by Panasonic) SR-GE18N, which I bought a couple of years ago and have used with excellent results at least once a week since. It has the "fuzzy logic," which automatically adjusts the cooking so that, if the amount of water you put in is slightly off, it does not matter; a timer; and six different settings: stcky rice, non-sticky rice, quick cook, porridge, steaming, and brown rice. The non-stick interior pan is terrific, and still shows no sign of wear. Cleanup is easy. I use this rice cooker to cook not only Asian-style sticky rice but also non-sticky long-grain rice; Chinese eight-treasure rice using glutinous/sweet rice; steel-cut oatmeal; steamed vegetables, fish, and buns; rice porridge; and Southern-style dirty rice. I don't remember the name of the store from which I ordered it on-line. All I know is that I did a Yahoo search with the key words and chose the store offering it at the lowest price and best terms. I think I paid something like $169 or $179, shipping included.

Tea only. With breakfast, with snacks, with "afternoon tea," after dinner. Oddly, the only coffee I can stand to drink is Taster's Choice instant, which makes me no coffee-drinker. Luckily I married another tea-drinker who, even more coffee-averse than me, cannot even stand the smell of coffee. We have no coffee or coffee-maker in then house. My husband's parents have been known to leave our house for Starbucks and return after they have their coffee fix. I'm sure people can love both tea and coffee. It's a bit like cat-people and dog-people, right?

I'll never again roast Scotch bonnets over an open flame on my stovetop. Cough, cough. The whole family was choking. In fact, I'm never cooking with those peppers again. A week later, I must have touched some contaminated surface just before putting my contact lenses in my eyes. Ouch! edited for typo

Subject near and dear to my heart. I make this version of mac and cheese all the time, and the reheating has to be on low, low heat. Yours curdled in the microwave, having reached too high a temperature, starting at the edges. Unlike the béchamel-based version, this version cannot take high heat. I reheat this type of mac and cheese only in the microwave, on only 10 percent or 20 percent power for a long time. Every so often, stir to distribute the heat, using a soft or silicone utensil to avoid harming the pretty little noodles. Return to microwave and heat on low heat again. Stir. (For the most even heating, the best configuration on a round plate is to form a ring of mac and cheese around the perimeter. But I have reheated the entire casserole dishful successfully by stirring.) Repeat as needed. Patience will be rewarded, with mac and cheese as creamy as it ever was.

I guess that I'm still not understanding what you are getting at. At first you talk about the "pretentious wooden box" presentation. Now you mention "I got a cup with a tea bag next to it" in a fine dining situation. Which one is the one you don't like? Both? (I ask because if I label something as pretentious, then there is something about it I don't particularly care for). Also, I don't understand how to assign the perception of second class status to ordering a cup of tea. If the tea water is cooling down fast, why not ask your server to microwave the water to the point of boiling water? (I don't care for boiling hot tea, so the hot water that is usually dispensed from the coffee machine or a special plumbed-in faucet is fine). Or if there are other choices? Or if you'd like another cup, in anticipation of enjoying the last bit of your current cup? No, no, no. As any lover of tea will maintain: Tea leaves (or, faute de mieux, tea bags) must be infused in water at a rolling boil. The boiling-water requirement holds, no matter at what temperature one prefers to drink one's tea. Tea must be hot, so that the addition of milk will not make the tea too tepid. Those who do not add milk but prefer tea at lower temperatures simply wait a bit. What will not do is microwaved water, in a pot of which some areas may not be at boiling temperature. What also will not do is hot water in an open cup; even if the water is poured boiling into the cup, it cools off too quickly during the three to five minutes required to infuse tea. At restaurants what I want is tea leaves (or, if I must, a tea bag) infused in boiling water poured into a preheated teapot with a lid. No more, no less. I'm an easy diner to take care of, except when it comes to tea, for then I am exacting. And I am always amazed at the quizzical looks I get from servers at my request for boiling water. So many are the instances when I have been brought a tepid cup or pot of water with a tea bag on the side, that I preemptively spell out the requirements at the time of my order for tea. As a non-coffee-drinker living in the U.S., which is really a coffee-culture, I do feel second-class when I order tea after dinner. The request for tea is unexpected, extraordinary, usually obviously a bother to the server. The method of preparation is rarely up to minimum standards. I always feel a bit stressed out, wondering whether the server will get it right. Add to all this the fact that in many circles drinking tea after dinner is considered low-class, and you have why tea-drinkers have reason to feel second-class.

Stick by your guns. I think the thread is belittling and pointless. Agree. Another trivial thread. No emoticon for me, thanks.

Got my period today, which explains the pimiento-cheese spree that I have been on for the last two days. Pimiento cheese on soft eggy white bread -- incomparable.

Wow, someone else who makes another Thanksgiving meal as an antidote to a bad one! I thought I was the only one who did that. The only gravy at my mother-in-law's table is a bland, pale, dietetic one that she makes from turley stock thickened with cornstarch -- no pan drippings or other fat allowed. The broccoli, peas, and sweet potatoes are all prepared the same bland way: steamed with just salt and pepper -- no fats, again. The stuffing is made with wild rice! And, as a strange counterpoint to all this healthiness, the rolls are Pillsbury Crescent Rolls form a tube. A bakery-bought pumpkin pie and a bakery-bought apple pie, both with that indefinable factory taste. By the way, there's no medical necessity in the family for avoiding fats; my mother-in-law just has to work at staying the size-2 that she has always been. After two or three years of my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving meals, after which I always felt cheated of a proper feast of plenty, I started preparing and serving to my family my own full-blown, no-holds-barred turkey dinner the night before "to Grandmother's house we go." Makes her dinner bearable. And my two kids know better than to tell Grandma that we did this the night before.

Standing at the children's table at a dinner party last year, I snuck off my child's plate a forkful of mac and cheese the hostess had prepared from a box -- cheapo brand, not Kraft, she had said. Horrible stuff. Now, I admit that I have never had Kraft, but I have had mac and cheese in various school dining halls which is presumably made from mixes or powdered cheese, and I think homemade just has to be better. My recipe is like the John Thorne/Cook's Illustrated recipe, very creamy and based on eggs, evaporated milk, and lots of sharp (but young, for good melting quality) Cheddar. Mustard powder is a must. Cayenne pepper is a must. Also a must is a final broiling of shredded cheese spinkled on top, until browned and bubbling. Also like the custardy, old-fashioned, Southern mac and cheese of just cheese, milk, and eggs, baked in a casserole. Also like the béchamel-sauce-based variety that is finished with a long bake. Hardly ever met a mac and cheese I did not like, but -- Don't like nutmeg in it. Don't like bread crumbs, crackers, or anything else crunchy on top.

I eat before or after going to the house of one particular friend who cooks the most deadly-dull, bland food. And I never take her up on her offers to give me her recipe. But I do compliment her on the dinner. I have no problems with the compliments meaning any loss of integrity on my part, since it's plain good manners. What's the alternative? Losing a friend over the issue of food-preferences? I think not.

I eat before or after going to the house of one particular friend who cooks the most deadly-dull, bland food. And I never take her up on her offers to give me her recipe. But I do compliment her on the dinner. I have no problems with the compliments meaning any loss of integrity on my part, since it's plain good manners. What's the alternative? Losing a friend over the issue of food-preferences? I think not.

I never ever lend my books, just as I never ask to borrow another's books. If I am asked whether I will lend a particular book, I tell them I can't part with the book and offer to find them a copy through the public library or find the book at a good price. No one's ever taken me up on the offer, though. To get a book back, consider trying this ploy, a variation of which worked for me when someone borrowed a dress-pattern of mine and kept it for ages: "I need to use X recipe from that book. May I borrow it back for a while?" Wheh you have secured the book in your hands, run away fast and never lend it again.

I love the salmon patties that Suzanne described and make them often, but my secret guilty pleasure is eating canned salmon straight from the can, especially relishing the tender bones. (But, then again, I love eating all the pieces of cartilage in a chicken, too.)

The Deep Dark Chocolate Cake from the back of the can of Hershey's cocoa is my family's favorite.