meadandale's Profile
I am drowning in honey!
Make mead...I used to make a ton of mead and it was expensive to procur enough honey.
A 5 gallon batch typically requires 12-15lb.
Fourteen ounces is the new pound
It's called the "grocery shrink ray" and is discussed frequently on a consumer website I frequent. Companies routinely shrink the package size but keep the price the same. I guess they figure that people will be happy paying the same price for less rather than just raising prices. Most people aren't real happy with the approach. Consider that when they do this they incur fairly consequential costs for changing their packaging which further erodes their bottom line.
Seems like it would be simpler and more honest to just increase the price rather than sell a 48oz container of ice cream and pretend that it's a half gallon.
Raw kale salad
"but the kale was expensive..."
On a tangential note, kale grows like a weed in my yard. I've been giving bags of it away over the past few weeks. I had completely harvested it all and cut it down to the ground and in two weeks it as all over a foot tall again. I get similar results with swiss chard. If you like it and have a yard or even a sunny balcony and even a moderately green thumb you'll get a bunch with little effort.
I'm growing Russian Red, Lacinto and Dwarf Blue Curly.
Espresso Machine
Great advice. I bought a Rancilio Rocky (grinder) and a Rancilio Silvia (espresso machine) about 5 years ago. Then I bought a Technivorm Moccamaster coffee maker. I find that I make drip coffee most days and rarely use my espresso machine much anymore unless I have guests over.
Definitely spend your money on the grinder. You'll use it whether you are grinding for french press, drip or espresso and a good machine will be worth every penny.
Egg Slicer?
The plastic didn't break...the wire did. The same wire in the metal version.
Refills To Go at Sit Down Restaurants
But restaurants that allow you to doggie bag allow you to take what you have left on your plate. The don't give you a fresh entree.
I think that the correct analogy would be getting a to go cup to take the soda you had left in your glass versus getting a freshly refilled to go cup with more soda then you had left at the table.
KitchenAid dishwasher choked to death on olive pit!
Yep, there is usually a large hex key provided with the disposal for this purpose that allows you to insert it into the shaft from the bottom and unjam it.
Refills To Go at Sit Down Restaurants
IMO the refills are for while you are dining at the restaurant. Asking for a soda refill to go would be like expecting a buffet restaurant to let you fill a to go container with food from the buffet.
Egg Slicer?
I bought the plastic version of this egg slicer (AMCO) and the wire broke ON THE FIRST USE. Horrible product quality IMO.
KitchenAid dishwasher choked to death on olive pit!
I have a whirlpool gold DW. It has no filters or anything to clean because it has a food grinder (hard disposal)that is designed to make short work of bits of stuff that get left on the plates. I've never intentially put an olive pit in my DW but I'm pretty sure that it would handle it without so much as a hiccup or the need for the heimlich.
I paid under $600 for this unit about a half dozen years ago. IMO $500 seems a little steep to repair a DW that can't handle an olive pit. I'd probably opt for a new, better built unit if I were in your position. You can probably find a decent one for only modestly more than the repair.
Fish fillet knife
I'm one of those SoCal tuna fisherman and I have that exact knife. It has broken down hundreds of tuna, yellow tail and dorado.
I also have this one, which is good for filleting rockfish and bass:
http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Cutlery-6-Inch-Semi-Stiff-Boning/dp/B0000CF94L
Best Mail Order Bacon?
By the way...I found these guys because they were featured in an episode of crave. They make bacon the old fashioned way: salt cured and then hickory smoked. The bacon hardly shrinks when you cook it and it has an amazing smoky flavor that permeates anything you add it to.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/crave/episode-cj0100h-title/index.html
Best Mail Order Bacon?
Father's Country Ham's wins my vote.
http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/
I liked this sampler:
http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/12-Americas-Best-Country-Bacon-Selection/productinfo/ABBS/
After I worked my way through that I ended up ordered 5# each of pepper and cajun.
Knife Sharpening: How Much is Too Much?
If you are honing them every time you use them (just a quick couple of swipes on a steel) and are treating them well (hand washing, not using them to open beer bottles, using a good material for a cutting surface) then having them resharpened once or twice a year should be plenty.
If your knives are dulling after only a few uses then either you aren't honing them correctly or something else is going on (see above about treating your knives well).
What is a 2 Quart Saucepan useful for?
I only have the 2 and 3 qt sauce pans (I have the butter warmer but it doesn't really count). I use my 2qt sauce pan all the time. Making rice (especially boxed versions like near east blends), making oatmeal, heating soup.
I typically use my saucier pans for sauces however since it is easier to use a whisk in them since they don't have any corners.
Do I really need stainless and Le Creuset?
I have a couple LeC baking pans and a dutch oven that see frequent use as well as a couple of GOTO cast iron pans that I use almost every day. However, I could never see myself without both some small stainless sauce pans and some stainless skillets. I use my All Clad 2 and 3 qt sauce pans as well as my 10 and 12" fry pans weekly, if not daily. My 10 and 12" saute pans are used only slightly less frequently. There are just some things I cook or ways that I cook that I can't do in a CI pan or dutch oven.
YMMV...
Skinny Pigs??
Father's Country Hams....cured the old fashioned way and hickory smoked. Tastes like bacon should IMO.
Costco worth it for a couple?
It's worth it for me and I'm a single man. I also have the executive membership.
There are lots of things I won't buy because I know that I won't use them before they go bad..unless I'm cooking for a party and I need a quantity of something. However there are some good deals.
Things I typically buy:
Dry goods/toiletries:
toilet tissue
paper towels
deodorant
toothpaste
soap
shampoo
Meats:
sausages
pork chops
tritip
whole chickens
chicken breasts
Cheese:
cheddar
feta
blue crumbles
shredded mexican
parmesian
romano
Bread:
whole wheat
bagles
muffins
sourdough
Pasta:
tortellini
raviolli
dried mixed noodles
sauces, etc
dijon mustard
peanut butter
jelly
pasta sauce
Then there are things like towels, laundry detergent, socks, coffee, dish soap
Some comments..
Dry goods keep virtually forever. I buy TP and it lasts me for 6 months or more. A two pack of shampoo lasts me well over a year. Things like pasta sauce and peanut butter have long shelf lives as well, even after they are open. They are usually still good long past their 'use by' dates.
It's really hard to beat the prices on cheese at costco. You'll pay a fraction of what you'll pay even at places like Vons, Albertsons. I buy things like the feta and blue cheese crumbles and add a splash to salads, use to stuff chicken breasts, make stuffed pasta or just sprinkle over left overs. Having it on hand means you can use it and it keeps a long time. Similarly, hard cheeses like parm and romano are VERY expensive elsewhere and they'll last 6 months or more in the fridge if stored correctly.
I also freeze the extra loaves of bread when I get it there (they typically come in a two pack).
Most of the meats I'll repackage and freeze. That large tray of porkchops ends up in a half dozen vacuum packed bags with 2 chops in each bag. Enough to cook either a meal for two or a meal with left overs for the next night. Same thing with the sausages; that two pack of sausages each with a 8 or 10 links gets repackaged into vacuum packs of 3 or 4 and frozen.
Meal planning is much easier when you have a variety of portions of meats and cheeses already on hand. You just pull the meat out of the freezer and put in the fridge for the next night.
Oh, and if you need a good vacuum sealer? Why costco of course! My original one was purchased there and lasted me 10 years. I finally gave it away only because I upgraded. It was still going strong.
I rarely shop at the mega marts anymore. I shop at a small local grocery for small amounts of bulk items (rice, beans, flour) and most produce. I buy cheeses, dry goods and most meats at costco. The likes of Vons, Ralphs and Albertons can't compete with either on price..not even close.
What else can I use tahini for?
One of the first things I made with my vita mix was tahini. I kept a container in the fridge and used it in my morning smoothie:
One peeled banana
1/4 cup of blueberries
1 peeled orange
cup of ice
about 1/2 cup of water
heaping tablespoon of fresh tahini
Delicious!
Aluminum exposed on the rims of tri-ply cookware
Many of my all clad pans have the cross section 'exposed at the rim'...and they are anything but inexpensive.
With all due respect to the OP...I think this is all much ado about nothing.
Was Tyler's Ultimate canceled?
They are soon going to have to rename the network. A typical day is 90% filled with Chopped and DD&D. It's become pretty pathetic.
homemade sauerkraut--is it supposed to smell like this?!
Unless you are working off of a specific kimchee recipe that calls for using miso and no salt I'd seriously recommend that you go with a well known recipe for either saurkraut or kimchee and withhold the miso if you have to. You can always add miso to the finished product to spice it up when you are cooking with it.
The salt is THE one ingredient you have to get right or you are basically creating a bacteria and mold cocktail. If you don't use the proper amount of salt you WILL have spoilage. Deciding not to add salt because miso is salty was a mistake unless you are SURE that there is the same amount of salt in the amount of miso you added to be equivalent to a standard sauerkraut or kimchee recipe.
Typically you don't add water to saurkraut at all. All of the water is pulled out of the cabbage by the salt and some mechanical manipulation. In the case you have to add some liquid so that the cabbage is all under the surface you never add water...you always add brine with a specific salt content to emulate the natural brine formed from the salty cabbage.
Edit: after reading more of the comments it appears you were working (loosely?) off of some kind of recipe. The recipe sounds suspicious to me since it breaks most of the rules about making kimchee or saurkraut...both of which basically start with salted cabbage. I'd take that recipe with a grain of salt...so to speak.
Paula Deen eating a cheeseburger
See, this is my problem with all this Paula Deen hate.
I criticized The Obamas for their eating choices that were being reported in the press when Michelle was actively lobbying for changes in national food policy. I figured that was a little hypocritical. I was amazed at how many people were quick to jump to her defense.
Those same people are all on the "let's villify PD" bandwagon. However, PD isn't lobbying to influence national food policy. The first lady is. That's a substantial difference and why I care about one and not the other.
Milder alternative to habanero pepper
What kengk said. I made the standard batch of habanero gold and while it was warm it was not even close to the heat of fresh habs.
You can alway try cutting down on the hab and replacing with red or yellow bell pepper to cut the heat some.
What size bamboo steamer for 14" wok?
I recently bought a flat bottomed 14" wok as well. I bought a 10" bamboo steamer and found that the steamer sits almost flush on the bottom of the wok. Clearly the idea that it would rest part way up the side of the wok over the water was misguided on my part.
I considered several solutions:
* buy a bigger steamer (e.g. 12")
* buy the steamer insert for the wok and just put the basket on it
* buy the ring that allows you to put the steamer basket over a regular pot
In the end, I realized that I have several of those folding steamer inserts for my stock pot and it would be easy enough to just stick that in my stock post and set the bamboo steamer right on top.
I concur with Chem that boiling water in your seasoned wok for steaming may not be the best idea. I had some trouble with my seasoning process (it still isn't resolved but I decided to move on) but I did notice that when I tried to go back and make a second attempt to remove the protective lacquer after I'd already supposedly seasoned the wok, boiling water ate right through the seasoning and was causing rust spots to form in various places as the water came in contact with the surface. It's probably best to just use another pot if you have a carbon steel wok.
Restoring Cast Iron (Pics!)
Nice work. I recently decided to refurb my old cast iron pans that I bought from sears back when I was in college (circa 1987). They don't have quite the smooth finish of griswold but they work and they've been with me for awhile.
I'd love to pick up some vintage griswold pans some day..
Gnocchi!
I add the egg to the potato mixture and make sure it is all incorporated and then add the flour to the wet mixture. Like making muffins, you just want to mix until the dry ingredients (in this case flour and salt) are moistened. You don't need to knead the dough like you would with a regular pasta dough.
Then you just quarter the dough and roll each quarter into a tube with your hands until it is about the diameter of a AA battery. Then using a dough cutter, cut about 1" lengths. Then roll each one using the back of a fork or a gnochi board onto a floured sheet pan. They won't be perfect but they should all have approximately the same shape. The key is kind of push in with your thumb as you roll so they get a little hollow space in the middle that will hold the sauce.
Thai Red Curry Paste - to refrigerate or not?
I'd look at it like miso paste...and refrigerate it. Should last awhile and should be fine if it is sealed.
Oven calibration?
You can do the same thing with a couple of bricks wrapped in aluminum foil for a couple of bucks.
Gnocchi!
Concur about the kitchen scale.
You should also remove the harder outer portion of the potato under the skin after baking. You only want the fluffy interior
