drloripalooza's Profile
What do you think are the best parts (tasting and texture) of a goose, a duck, and a chicken?
breast of goose and thigh, same for duck
chicken: pope's nose --tip of butt
Best Ginger Beer for a Dark and Stormy?
At home I've tried Reeds, Reeds Extra, Saranac and Stewarts. The latter two are the best. Maine Root, which I've had in a restaurant, is also quite good. I would love to brew my own ginger beer from galangal and see what kind of a flavor profile I would get.
ISO Twelfth Night / King Alfred Dark Fruitcake Recipe!
I have lost my favorite dark fruitcake recipe, published in the Tampa Tribune in the 1970s. I have googled relentlessly! What distinguishes this recipe is that is uses honey as well as sugar, and it uses orange juice! It is a dark fruitcake with lots of spices, grated citrus zest, glaced or candied lemon and orange peel and citron, and little if any glaceed cherries or pineapple. It also includes nuts and dried fruits.
I don't remember if this was part of the recipe, but I usually iced it with marzipan.
Any help would be vastly appreciated!
Thanks
Glut of apples, but no-sugar, no-flour diet. Ideas?
Mmm, got to try that! Bacon makes anything better, and so do potatoes in my book!
Glut of apples, but no-sugar, no-flour diet. Ideas?
A dish we like in my family is steamed sliced yellow squash, steamed sliced apples, and steamed sliced mild onions. You can also saute this. Add fresh or dried herbs of your choice.
I would also suggest baked apples with cream and sweet spices such as cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon. Cardamom is my fave. Or use almond, rice, or soy milk.
If you are gluten-sensitive, but not as concerned about other grains: make cornbread or spoonbread the southern way: without sugar and without flour. Use grated or chunked apples. Also you can add them to rice and other grains in pilafs, stuffings, etc.
Dried apples, as suggested, are always great to have around. You can reconstitue them later. Also you could make fruit leather.
T-day dinner scorecard
Well, the first T-day was at 4 a.m. Success: everybody awake, not too intoxicated, very hungry (I paced the accessories), 3 of us plus I Irish wolfhound (guest), I brittany mix puppy, I lab mix, I golden retriever. They all counter surf. The wolfhound is counter height already. This makes things a little complicated! Second T-day was Sunday with 3 teenagers, 3 adults, our 3 dogs. Many things freshly cooked for Sunday.
Hits: Potato gratin with organic yukon gold potatoes, organic portabellos, smoked gounda, virgin olive oil, organic oil, portobellos, organic cream, evap. goat milk for that smoky flavor.
Simple appetizer of fresh chevre cheese rolled into balls, 2 rolled in smoke paprika, 2 rolled in herbes d'provence with Stonewall Kitchen's roasted garlic crackers. Boy, am I ever doing this again! Easiest thing ever!
Oyster stuffing with 1/2 pumpernickel, 1/2 white bread, tarragon, aniseed, butter, sherry, chervil, lots or rosemary, 1/4 tsp. fresh sage, some thyme, fennel seed, celery, chopped shallots, lots of celery seed.
Emeril's creamed onions with bacon. (new recipe)
Fresh green beans with serrano with smoked duck.
Wild rice and white rice (mixed) salad). (new recipe)
Boone tavern (Berea College, KY) spoon bread (new recipe)
That weird cranberry jello salad (new recipe for me) Some trouble unmolding due to all the bits of stuff in it.
Fresh fruit salad with Macs, oranges, pomegranate seeds, frozen rasperries & wild maine blueberries, fresh strawberries. One teenager was amazed that you can make fruit salad instead of buying it at the store.
Herbed gravy made with roasted turkey legs. (new recipes)
Pumpkin Panna Cotta with fresh pie pumpkin and organic cream despite losing my favorite recipe from from the old Budget Living. Had to reduce the sugar massively. Although no one else noticed, I would strain out the ground spices next time for ultra smoothness.
Near misses: Golden Retriever stole Harrington's cob-smoked turkey heating on the grill and ate rear end and drumstick meat. English Setter and Lab may have been involved. Irish Wolfhound ratted him out, and Golden was caught red-pawed.
Irish Wolfhound stole some bread crumbs and licked some gougeres.
Homemade cornbread made into stuffing (we call it dressing) with 1/2 white bread, apples, celery, parboiled onion, nutmeg, cardamon, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, grated apples, chicken stock grated orange peel, orange juice, and apple cider. Some liked it, but I found it a little underspiced. Also, I didn't have any apple jack.
Apple pie with Northern Spies and cardamon, streusal cinnamon topping. Everyone liked it, but I had crust problems. My store-bought Vt butter crusts got rice stuck in them when I pre-baked them, so I made my own sour-cream butter crust. Wouldn't hold together. Back to Crisco and white flour, I guess...
Misses: BF's chipotle, ancho sweet potatoes with sour cream on top. Too spicy. Also he forgot the brown sugar and pineapple. His first try at sweet potatoes.
First gratin in glass pan blew up in R2D2, our 1950s roaster. This one had manchego, fennel, sliced turnips as well as potatoes.
My pie crust as above (new recipe)
Harrington's brandied cranberries. BF prefers my cooked orangy, lemony, less sugary, spiced-up ones. First time he ever said anything, of course...
Chocolate chip panna cotta, except for 1 teenager. Too sweet, and chips negate the smooth textures.
Smoked gruyere gougeres with smoked paprika appetizer. Not what I expected. Tasted okay, but too much work for weird texture. (new recipe from a blog)
Let the sandwiches begin!
My first organic Thanksgiving
Good for you, Trish! Sounds as if you are getting a few cranberry converts. Cranberries rate highest of fruits to buy organic for safety -- I'm not sure why. I even buy organic citrus because I save the peels for cooking no matter what I use I have for the fruits. My Thanksgivings have been almost entirely organic or natural since moving to Vermont. Some were even gluten-free, nut-free, and with cow's milk and cheese replaced with goat milk and cheese! Almost anything to please my guests except tofu loaf (I can't eat soy!).
I looked up Ridgefield on Google, and I see that you live in Fairfield County, a rather expensive place, from what I remember....I googled a farm there, the Hickories, which was in the National Organic Association but has switched to the CT Farmer's Pledge. I would encourage you to google CT NOFA (CT Northeastern Organic Farm Association), as well as Fairfield, County, Green Resources, Dept. of Ag. Pick Your Own Resources by County, Buy CT grown, CT NOFA Buy CT Grown, Pickyourown.org. A lot of these sites also have farmstands, natural or organic meat and produce, etc. If you buy chicken by the share, pork or lamb by the half, beef by the quarter, and eggs at the farm you can save more money. We have a moderately sized chest freezer for this purpose in the basement. We love the family that runs our CSA (they have an art gallery, too), it is natural, not certified organic, but they don't always have the vegetables we want. We want more radicchio and fennel for the grill in the summer, for example. You have to learn to work with what they give you, but our CSA provides recipes, all the herbs you want, and 15 stems of flowers a week. We only have to pick peas, summer snaps, and cherry tomatos. They sell 2nd grade tomatos at a discount for sauce. We also get local cheese of the week, goat or sheep. I'm trying the winter CSA for the first time this year: monthly greens, carrots, small potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, a few parsnips, winter squash, pie pumpkin, and small turnips.Unfortunately their scorzonera seedlings failed this year. I'm trying to find a few more recipes for winter squash. I'm inundated with it. And the farm is trying to make prosciutto
! Still getting cheese, monthly --- there's also bread.
I'm enjoying it; there's a lot of camaraderie. I split half my share with a friend and her family --- buying a 4 person share is cheaper than a 2 person share.
Best food all over New England?
The Kitchen Table and Sonoma Station in Richmond, Vt (on the way to Burlington from Montpelier.) For traditional, the scallop pie at the Red Parka Pub in North Conway (I think), NH. I wish I could find that recipe.....
Homemade maple syrup recipe needed
I'm not sure what grows in your area, but something seasonal is more inexpensive, usually. The chokecherries sound like a great idea. For gifts, maybe you have nopales (sp?) or could make Christmas pickles or tomato jam with cinnamon. If you want something seasonal, you could copy the delicious pumpkin butter from Williams-Sonoma, or apple butter. Also, sweetened, lightly spiced stewed apples are good on pancakes.
As someone who lives in sap country in Vermont, I feel compelled to speak out regarding the horrifying fake maple syrup! Don't do it. I'd rather you weakened Grade B. It's more flavorful and preferred by woodchucks here. Grade A is for tourists and flatlanders. I agree with the 40:1 sap to syrup ratio. Here in northeastern VT sap rises in late February to early March when the days are warmer and the nights stay cold. Oldtimers even use it in their coffee rather than having to buy sugar.
Anyone starting to cook Thanksgiving Dinner as late as we are? (Wed. night)
Menu for tomorrow: Smoked gouda gougeres (my first time,) local cheddar & store bought crackers, gussied up soft chevre, local whole grain rolls, Emeril's creamed onions with bacon (my fiance's experiment,) fresh fruit salad with berries and pomegranates seeds, wild rice salad with nuts, dried blueberries and apricots & orange, green beans with smoked duck, fiance's experimental ancho & chipotle sweet potatoes, smoked turkey, gravy, cornbread apple dressing, the guest's mashed potatoes with cheese, my gratin with fennel, goat milk, manchego, potatoes, and turnips, that weird cranberry jello thing (fiance's request!?!), Harringron's brandied cranberry sauce, and fresh pumpkin panna cotta along with some chocolate chip panna cotta for the guest, who only eats chocolate desserts. Pumpkin and yams are cooking. Cream for panna cotta will steep next.
For Friday, I will add oyster dressing, Boone Tavern spoon bread, and sour cream apple pie made with Northern Spy apples. Whew! I wish I could think of a soup for Friday. Whew!
Anyone starting to cook Thanksgiving Dinner as late as we are? (Wed. night)
Actually, I think I will try this for my turkey legs, etc. for gravy in a roasting pan. Fortunately I cheated and bought a cob-smoked turkey from Harrington's--they're pretty good. It's hard to home-smoke in the north, as you need to finish in an oven. In Michigan we once tried to smoke a 23-lb turkey for 22 hours! The portable roaster is cooking pumpkin for the pumpkin panna cotta, so that the panna cotta spices can meld tonight.
Thanks for the idea!
Best apples for applesauce?
You are right, you do get better flavor and color with peels on. I was going by experience and Roger Yepsen's book "Apples." I leave the peels on only if the apples are IPM, organic, natural, and unwaxed. It depends on what you can find. I live in apple country, so I'm pretty lucky. Just tasted some Roxbury Russets (very good), but my favorite is still Spitzenburg's cinnamony flavor.
Anyone starting to cook Thanksgiving Dinner as late as we are? (Wed. night)
Despite all the best planning and intentions, my fiance and I are faced with the usual last minute dilemmas: an overly ambitious multiple course dinner, nothing prepared (he's still out shopping), picky guests, and a single 1950s portable roaster plus a stovetop and a Weber grill (outside in Vermont!) Of course, almost everything is cooked from scratch, we have limited counter space, etc. At least we are eating late, around 7 p.m or so. The guest will have to content herself with appetizers. Then we are cooking more the next day for 3 or 4 less picky eaters (plus heating up the leftovers because I always cook too much.) Ack!
Best apples for applesauce?
Where do you live? McIntosh, Mutsu if you leave the peels on, Jonathan, Idared if you leave the peels on, Golden Delicious if you leave out the sugar, Northwestern Greening, Winesap (not Stayman Winesap). Perhaps more than you wanted to know, but I tried to cover the country and the more common apples. Reply with what you bought, and I can tell you which are best. I sound like an apple geek.
Apples for a Pie?
Definitely precook. It stabilizes the pectin, and the apples cook down a little without getting mushy. You will not need any kind of thickener, which causes you to lose the bright flavor the apples. I would pick Honey Crisp for a tarter pie, to contrast with whipped cream or ice cream. Of course, I prefer Winesap, Northern Spy, or Winesap.
