Toliver

I watched the Italy episode last night. It was a little too fawning in certain parts ("This was the BEST! EVER!") but overall, a fun show.

I've never made the candy-maker version of fudge. It's always been the recipes that use marshmallows or marshmallow cream. I always stir in the chocolate and the nuts at the last minute and just pour that into the pan to set up. Other than that stirring, I don't overwork the fudge and still get dull fudge.

I had thought something like a melted square of chocolate painted on top but didn't think it would re-solidify/dry with a shine. How simple! I will have to see if it imparts any kind of flavor before brushing it onto the fudge. She would never guess how I did it. And I certainly don't feel bad about the con game. Thanks!

I've posted about this before but haven't found a decent solution/recipe. My mom swears that Christmas fudge is supposed to be shiny. I think she isn't remembering correctly. Fudge is shiny when you pour it into the pan for it to cool, but as it cools, the fudge absorbs the butter/fat and the shine/sheen goes away. That's it's nature. I'm looking for a trick, something as simple as some sort of liquid chocolate recipe/ganache I can brush on top of the fudge, to fool my mom into thinking the fudge is finally shiny. She won't be in the kitchen when I make it for her so she doesn't have to know it's a charade. Yes, I am shameless in that I want to fool her, but in the end she will finally be happy with her shiny fudge and I can finally stop trying endless recipes that don't solve the "shiny" issue. Does anyone have a suggestion/trick to add shine to the top of the fudge? Thanks in advance.

Late at night, of course, I was thinking about this "sandwich" and thought it could be improved by adding bacon. My mom will fry up a package of bacon at a time and what she doesn't use right away she puts in a ziplock-type freezer bag and freezes. Then when she needs some bacon for a sandwich or breakfast, she takes out how ever many slices she needs and nukes them to reheat...which would be perfect to add to this tater tot grilled cheese sandwich. Mmm...grilled cheese bacon tater tots [/Homer Simpson]

My mom has an old Black and Decker Steamer and she loves it mainly for the convenience of setting it (the timer) and "forgetting" it. It has a dial timer that "dings" when it's done steaming and shuts itself off. Unfortunately, they've stopped making the model she has and the newer versions don't have anywhere near as good reviews as the reviews of the original model that she has. It's not huge so you're limited to a set amount of veggies that will fit in the steamer basket. Newer models (from other companies) now have stackable baskets, like what Asian cooks have been using forever, so you can steam multiple items at one time should the need arise.

Sorry to revive an old discussion but... O.M.G. Tater Tot Grilled Cheese Sandwich (YouTube Link) https://youtu.be/XUDY01Mj2Us

Egg prices seem to be normalizing. I was in Trader Joe's last night and a dozen large was priced at $2.79. So maybe the shortage due to the bird flu is over?

I think the concern is keeping the eggs from hitting each other and cracking during cooking. Though if they're just being steamed on a rack, then I don't know how much of a concern that would be.

You are not alone. I'm not a big fan of fruit in my savory foods. And fruit in a salad with greens?...uhm, no thanks. Keep the strawberries and mandarin oranges away from my salad, please. Perhaps that's another reason why I'm not a big fan of mint in savory dishes because I associate it with desserts too much. And while we're at it...keep nutmeg out of my bechamel sauce ...nutmeg is only for desserts, of course.

The McDonald's in my area are promoting the new Buttermilk Crispy Chicken sandwich. While the piece of chicken in the sandwich is crisp (served in one of their new boutique-ish buns), it was a complete "meh" experience for me. The chicken was blah and I could not discern any kind of seasoning or spices in the crispy coating on the chicken. I couldn't believe they let this out of the test kitchens as is. Back to the drawing boards, MickeyD's!

I recently made Kim Shook's Dream Cookies recipe. It calls for 1 cup of butter to be creamed with 1 cup of sugar. So my stupid question is, could I use powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar for the sugar in the recipe instead of the called-for granulated sugar? Would it make a difference and why would it make a difference?

I made these this past weekend...Kim Shook's "Dream Cookies" recipe. I used Cinnamon chips in the batch on the left and used Nestles Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips in the second batch on the right. The Cinnamon chip version, still warm from the oven, tasted just like coffee cake! I was able to find the Cinnamon chips at my local Walmart Neighborhood Grocery store. The next day, both versions of the cookie were still crisp.

One man's failed red currant jelly is another man's successful red currant cheesecake sauce. Regarding the abundance of cooked rice...rice pudding and fried rice come to mind.

While old recipes have always intrigued me, I've always hesitated making them due to their vagaries ("Add a coffee mug of flour"...what size mug is that?...How many ounces? ). If my mom, for instance, tells me to bake something in a "slow" oven, I know she means 325°F whereas a slow oven to me would be 250°F. I guess you could say it's all relative. But I enjoy hearing about the history of cooking and recipes. I always enjoyed OldFoodie's posts on eGullet and I also enjoy reading andiesenji's posts about her childhood and her cooking/recipe history. edited to add punctuation!

Welcome, Daniel. If you can, please post pictures of your progress. I find it all fascinating.

Jaymes, what a wonderful essay on mayo (and Miracle Whip). It makes me miss the heydays of the Daily Gullet on this board.

Maybe an SSB will weigh in on this but regarding the long expiration date, perhaps they're gassed with nitrogen (like grocery store meat is) to make them last longer.Once you open the package then the gas is gone and normal expiration occurs (7 days mentioned above). Just a guess on my part...

To make it taste more like Miracle Whip.

We never bought our lunches in the school cafeteria...that cost money we didn't have. When we got old enough to make our own brown bag lunches, we were on our own. If we didn't like our lunches, we only had ourselves to blame since we were the ones making it. Lunch boxes that came with a thermos were used when we were much younger but the thermos always easily broke so they were all ditched rather early on. I tended to like cheese sandwiches made with Miracle Whip ( ) on white bread. With our sandwich, we always included some sort of potato chip or Fritos followed by the ubiquitous piece of fruit. edited to add that we could buy a carton of milk at school during lunch. I seem to remember the low price of 7 cents (subsidized, I believe) for a small carton. They also sold small bags of shelled and salted Planters Peanuts but they were more expensive...a whole quarter, I believe.

Pickled tongue is a local favorite...don't know if it's Basque-related or just an agricultural community thing. Regarding tongue, I've posted this before but I make it a rule to never taste something that can taste me back. Some folks around here just call it "pickled beef" (which, technically, it is) to get the inexperienced to eat it. edited to add the pseudonym

Butter beans. They sound great, don't they? It's just another name for horrid little Lima Beans.

What you're calling your cherry tomatoes look like grape tomatoes to me (oblong in shape), which I prefer over cherries. Sometimes cherry tomatoes are too big for one bite...grape tomatoes, not so much. My mom would be so jealous if she saw your peach pictures. She used to always freeze summer peaches so she could make a nice cobbler for one of the autumn/winter holiday dinners. But she tells me the only peaches she's finding in her local grocery stores these days are as hard as rocks. Did you ever do anything with your black walnuts? Maybe you can strike a deal with those Mennonites and trade summer peaches for autumn black walnuts. I've said it before, but you've got gold in those Black walnut trees.

eGullet is also the reason I purchased that cookbook for a friend who loved reading the Master and Commander books. She had mentioned some of the dishes in the book which the cookbook had recipes for and successfully tried quite a few of them. Oy, the money I've spent on cookbooks thanks to eGullet!

I have Googled for that steel mushroom going on years now...to no avail. I did, however, find a small-ish, heavy metallic 2-sided coffee tamper at BB&B that felt like it could be a good garlic smasher. I haven't tried it out yet but I think it will do the job nicely. Not as pretty as Fifi and Andie's mushrooms but it'll do.