tim irvine's Profile
Tater Salad: How Do You Take It?
Had one the other day with tarragon instead of thyme. Loved it. Living in Texas I will substitute Mexican mint marigold for tarragon.
Wanted: A 10-cup Coffee Maker That Will Also Make 2-4 Cups
Gotta agree strongly with the FP option. They make large ones that are SS and insulated. Make as much or as little as you like plus throw in an electric kettle (with the puchase, not the coffee) and you will get better coffee, faster, and the ability to get a pot of boiling water for other uses. The Melitta makes fine coffee, but it is more work, more variable, and more time-consuming and I have never seen aten cup Melitta. I have an old ceramic Melitta, and when I use it I put a tea cozy over it.
Home Made Instead of Purchased
I started mine several years ago with nonchlorinated water, some fresh AP flour (probably KA), mixed to a sludge. I left it out to catch wild yeast from the air, fed it occasionally with more flour and water, augmented with a small amount of sugar. Over time it gets more and more robust. I "treat" it now and then to a little organic WW or even a little rye. I wouldn't characterize the resulting loaf as at all similar to San Francisco sourdough, which is what most people seem to imagine. It has a very complex nutty taste, like a real French baguette. I feed it weekly to replace the cup I take out to make bread or English muffins. After feeding it rises crazily, settles down in about half a day, and goes back into the refrigerator.
How do you dress up your Kraft mac & cheese?
Kraft dinner, no change to the recipe, as a side dish with a bag of Oreos.
Tips for slightly freezerburned chicken
Throw it in a pan with thick sliced onions and peppers, Garam masala, and broth; put on very low het a couple of hours; drizzle a liitle honey and toss in handfuls of dried apricots and some slivered almonds 10 minutes before serving; add instant cous cous five minutes before serving. Forget it was freezer burned chicken.
Great Western chef's knife for someone with small hands?
My beloved has very small hands and likes her Thiers Issard 8" carbon chef knife. It is delicate and light. They also come in a stainless version, to which I cannot speak. I assume they are comparable in size and weight. Even lighter and more delicate is their Nogent line. I believe that is what Julia Child used, but she doesn't seem like a woman who would have looked for a knife for small hands.
Do I need these knives?
You could, of course, not buy them wine, but if my neighbor talked me out of the use of my favorite knife for a few days I would guilt them into a bottle of wine and surely they'd be embarrassed to give me a bottle of plonk. They'd want to show their undying gratitude. Surely that is good for a nice Willamette Valley Pinot noir. Don't forget, once they have borrowed the magic knife they will magically become total foodies. Heck, I am guessing that a month or too from now, when they have bought some blade of mythical greatness of their own they will be mortgaging their all just to get one more! Is wine too much to expect of such people?!?!
Do I need these knives?
I like that idea. In the case of Victorinox/Forschner cheap means inexpensive, not inferior, plus they are fairly lightweight. 27 plus s and h for the 10" chef. You'd spend that much on wine for the neighbors who loaned you their knives and end up owning the knife!
Do I need these knives?
A sharp ten inch chef is the closest thing in a knife to a fait tout. Mine is French, carbon, and light. I usually use it even for paring tasks because it is quicker than grabbing, honing, using, and washing my paring knife, and it slices bread as well as or better than my henkels serrated bread knife. the only thing it is necaary to use a different weapon for is boning.
But you'll love it the way I cook it!
Agree. I hate cooked spinach but this is good.
Ok clever cooks! Money/time saving tips on multi-purposing items!
Cookie sheet as a lid for large pans, nimble 10" Chef's knife for any cutting job other than things demanding a cleaver or things where uniformity or high volume favors a mandoline. Seriously, my big knife cuts bread better than my serrated bread knife and is nimble enough to flute a mushroom cap. Microplanes are true miracle tools and get used or everything from grating cheese or nutmeg to ginger.
Sautéuse - favourite sizes and brand
Since 1975 my favorite pan, a 24 cm BIA, 2.5 mm hammered copper with tin lining. I'd look for an older heavy copper pan. Even if it needs tinning, you will likely be money ahead. Even if you get a new one, like A Mauviel cupretam, it will amaze you how much less expensive than SS lined tinned copper is and IMHO better. Mine had been returned with lightly bubbled tin when I got it and still is fine.
Copper cookware with copper diffuser: overkill?
And tableware, although notably lacking vis a vis the heavy stuff, is IMHO than most clad cookwares. Tableware also invariably comes with brass handles. Use pot holders or a towel to move them on the stove.
Grease splatters on All Clad stainless---how do I get them off?
They also make a lemon scented ammonia. It doesn't really smell like a lemon but it isn't such an overwhelming ammonia smell. Of course we'll probably learn in a few years that it does something horrible to us. O well.
Artichokes!!! Any low fat alternatives to butter with garlic & lemon????
Unless you need to avoid fat entirely, a scientific test tonight confirmed one can enjoy a very large artichoke with one tablespoon of mayonnaise. When you think about it that is less than a tbsp. of oil for what was probably enough artichoke for three to share.
Cheeseburger All the Way - give me your best!
Sorry to have forgotten the thread. I was busy swilling Evan Williams single barrel and eating cheeseburgers. (Oh yeah, and working.)
Bring to a boil, simmer an hour and can the following: 7 1/2 pounds sliced green tomatoes, 6 sliced long peppers (I use Anaheims), 4 sliced large onions, all of which were salted and left in a bowl overnight, and 6 tbsp of brown sugar, 4 oz. of yellow mustard seed, 1 tbsp. Dried mustard, 3 pints of cider vinegar, 1 tbsp. black pepper, 1 tbsp. celery seed, and two small bottles of horseradish. Amazing on cold roast beef.
Grease splatters on All Clad stainless---how do I get them off?
I have not found any grease on SS situation,, including charred fat and BBQ sauce cooked onto grill grates at 900 F, that didn't yield to a good soaking in a heavy ammonia bath followed by SOS.
Did this tin-lined copper pan get too hot?
My first piece of heavy copper was my sauté pan, and I got it for half price because it had been returned because of bubbled tin, much worse than yours. Nearly forty years later it still looks the same and works great. Don't sweat it.
The best garlic bread ever!
Hmmmm...individual servings, a new concept in Garlic bread/toast, like maybe one loaf per person. I have yet to find a recipe I will not devour, even the kind you get in the freezer case. I'd like to build a meal around it with different things in which to mop it, like Bolognese, caponata, fried eggs, or pan sauce from steak au poivre. I even like to sop up any leftover vinaigrette from the bottom of a mixed salad, that is if any garlic bread/toast is left after the salad ourselves (which, at least here, follows the entree).
soft shell crab
To me soft shell sandwiches are the preferred way to consume them, but as with crab cakes, too much bread is not good. I'd toast a thin white bread like Pepperidge Farms or home made, flour the crabs and brown lightly in a little butter and peanut oil, and go with minimalist toppings, like a light spread of capered tart mayo on one of the slices. Mmmmmm. I miss callinectes sapidus.
The best garlic bread ever!
I slice a loaf of sourdough, melt unsalted butter with a like amount of olive oil, let crushed garlic steep in the mixture, brush it liberally over the bread which fills a half jelly roll pan, grate Romano over it, and broil. Freshly chopped parsley and a twist of black pepper finish it. Salt is optional, depending on what I'll be mopping. My son Sprinkles his with Tony Chachere's. .
greasy hangover vegan breakfast
But liquor, like cheeseburgers, is LOADED with important psychological nutrients. Those essential dietary elements are harder to find in vegan foods, but thick slices of grilled eggplant and roasted corn slathered in plum preserves have some. Also roasted brussel sprouts. Also a habanero red onion lime and mango salsa can make even an unsalted piece of hardtack taste good.
What 20 dishes should I know how to make without a recipe?
Based on my own personal usage, assuming frequency of use is a good predictor of importance:
1- an Old Fashioned 2- a real martini 3 - cottage fried potatoes 4 -- mayonnaise 5 - a quick Bolognese substitute, 6. -- steak au poivre 7 -- chicken piccata 8 -- anything puttanesca, 9 -- pizza 10 -- saltimbocca, 11- repeat number one nine times.
Knife Sharpening: How Much is Too Much?
My knives are all older French carbon steel. They are subjected to actual sharpening before July 4th and Thanksgiving. They are honed with each use. They do not seem to be thinning, and they are always sharp enough to cut a tomato into slices through which you could read, using no pressure.
Moving to Claremont
A fond memory. Now I am in Texas but my college and grad school time there bring back great memories. I search the web for the old haunts and usually one up dry. What was that neat old deli in Pomona?
