goodeatsgal's Profile
NOLA Cook's Stores? Vintage/Antique Cookware?
Hi Kaleo, I assume you're back from your New Orleans trip? Any good finds you'd like to share? I'm going there in a couple of weeks.
Thanks!
Will you be looking for anything specific at yard sales this season?
I will be looking for a glass lid for the vintage slow cooker I recently bought. It's from the 70's and has a Lexan lid. It works okay, but I'd prefer glass if I can find the right size. I'm also looking for old Pyrex beakers and Ball jars. And the old Revereware and copper pans & pots that the Chowhounders talk about!
Where to buy frozen crawfish / crayfish?
Thanks! We've recently gotten to know Cook's a little better and they seem to have good quality seafood (at least, the fresh things we've tried). Good to know about the frozen for our next etouffee!
Breakfast strata or egg casserole without cheese?
Thanks for this idea, especially the nutritional yeast which I've never used. Since this is for my husband's family and we try to rent a house together every year, I know this issue will come up again. :-)
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
Okay, thanks. I can always add heat if I'm putting it in a soup or stew.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
Would you recommend it, though, for the flavor if not the spice?
Breakfast strata or egg casserole without cheese?
Hi, stillnotdon - sorry for the late reply. I didn't work off a specific recipe. I sauteed mushrooms, put them aside and sauteed/wilted the spinach, and cut up the roasted red peppers. All of that got mixed in with a dozen eggs, plus some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little bit of milk for fluffiness. I poured it into a rectangular dish and baked until done (I don't recall how long - maybe 30-40 minutes?). Hope that helps!
BREVILLE COUNTER TOP SMART TOASTER/CONVECTION OVEN
Hi Gourmanda - there are three sizes of the Breville Smart Oven. The smallest, the toaster oven size (I think they call it the Mini Oven) just came out a few months ago, and I think it's only being sold at Williams-Sonoma. That's the one we bought. It fits 4 slices of bread. We love it!
Where to buy frozen crawfish / crayfish?
My friend ended up finding frozen crawfish at 99 Ranch. They were in a box, had been pre-seasoned, and were from China. After pulling off the tails, we were left with a small container of mostly mealy and mushy crawtails. Big fail.
We did learn, however, that Cook's Seafood in Menlo Park will order live crawfish for you if you call them ahead of time.
Where to buy frozen crawfish / crayfish?
I'm hosting a birthday party with a New Orleans theme and found a recipe for crawfish (or is it crayfish?) étouffée that uses frozen tail meat. Anyone know where I can find it on the Peninsula?
Thanks.
Rice Cooker - NOT non-stick?
You're welcome. :). I hope it's still available 2 years later! Enjoy!
homemade tomato sauce - what do YOU do?
MrsButterfingers, I hadn't heard that tomatoes become acidic after cooking for 20 minutes. Do you know the reason for that? I usually cook my sauce for more than 20 minutes, and yes, I have to add sugar. I haven't tried the quicker cooking method.
Marina Foods - gone downhill?
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the Marina Foods market in San Mateo has gone downhill in the last 6 months? The store seems to have a funky smell that I didn't notice before. It seems dirtier and not as well maintained. The food court area has fewer special order items (vs. the buffet).
And the big bummer - they don't seem to sell the Chinese brand of fresh rice noodles anymore (I've forgotten the name). The last few times I've been there, I've only seen a Vietnamese brand. Unfortunately, these noodles don't taste as good. I'm really disappointed, as the fresh rice noodles were one of the main reasons I shopped at Marina. (Other than Ranch 99, which refrigerates the noodles thereby causing them to be brittle, there are few places that sell them on the Peninsula.)
If it weren't for Marina's convenient location right off of 101 and the fact that they sell fresh rice noodles at all, I would probably stop shopping there. :-(
Sprinkling salt and pepper -- so basic, but...
Although I usually try not to waste things, and in fact, constantly try to think of ways to reuse things rather throwing than throwing them away (for example, plastic bags, empty jars, ribbons and gift wrap, etc.), I don't worry about salt and pepper. Perhaps because they're relatively inexpensive. I always mix together the amount of s&p that I think I'm going to need in a small bowl, and use my fingers to scoop up and sprinkle. My kosher salt is kept in a salt cellar, and I have a Peppermate mill into which I can grind extra pepper ahead of time. Worse comes to worse, if I run out of the s&p mixture, I can wash my hands once and then pour some additional salt and pepper into the bowl.
Breakfast strata or egg casserole without cheese?
Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. I went ahead and made a mushroom, spinach and roasted red pepper strata without cheese, and it came out just fine. I'm sure it would have been better without cheese, but the lactose-intolerant folks appreciated the fact that I left it out. :-)
Share your recent cookware/kitchen-related purchases here!
Mine is great, too. I bought it last year and loved it so much that I bought a couple for gifts. I looked at Amazon just now and there are two listings for the same product. One received 4 stars and the other, with more recent reviews, received only 2 1/2 stars. I wonder if the quality declined over the last year.
Need new toaster/convection oven - Breville? Cuisinart? Something else
Breville now has a new Mini oven, which is truly a toaster oven size. It's currently sold only at Williams-Sonoma. It has settings for bagel, toast, frozen pizza, and more. We've had it for about 10 days now and so far, it's worked perfectly. It's not convection, though, if that's important to you. Also, it's $149; however, it's the cheapest of the three Breville ovens. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/4306833/?catalogId=97&cm_ven=Shopping&cm_cat=Froogle&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=4306833
Roasted turkey/chicken help
I copied the below as a note to myself, but unfortunately, I didn't write down the reference and can't recall where I read it. But I've noticed that the joint area is often pink even when the chicken is cooked to the correct temperature, and this explanation made sense to me.
"But of those, only temperature is the real indicator of a fully-cooked chicken. The USDA says that as long as all parts of the chicken have reached a minimum internal temperature of 165°, it is safe to eat. Color does not indicate doneness.
The USDA further explains that even fully cooked poultry can sometimes show a pinkish tinge in the meat and juices. This is particularly true of young chickens whose bones and skin are still very permeable. Pigment in the bone marrow can color the surrounding tissue and make the bones themselves look very dark. Hemoglobin in the muscles can likewise react with air during cooking to give the meat a pinkish color even after cooking. The chicken's feed and whether it's been frozen can also affect the final color.
Even knowing this, it's startling to cut into a chicken and see pink. Reprogramming the automatic association between pink chicken and under-cooked chicken is going to take some work"
Breakfast strata or egg casserole without cheese?
I will be responsible for breakfast for 10 people, half of whom are lactose intolerant. I would like to make some kind of egg strata or casserole type of dish so that I can put it together the night before and bake the morning of. I can use lactose-free milk for the milk portion. But, every recipe contains cheese! Cheese is really an issue for some of the folks. I've looked all over the web for a recipe that doesn't contain cheese, and I found one - only one; it was smoked salmon based, and that won't work as the next morning's breakfast will be bagels with smoked salmon.
There must be a reason why all the recipes contain cheese (other than taste, of course). Do I really need to add cheese? Is there a good substitute for a cheddar-type of cheese? Or do you know of any egg casseroles / stratas / frittata recipes which don't contain cheese? Thanks!
Can I cook turkey half way, transport, and restart cooking 30 minutes later?
Very helpful, pamf. Thanks!
Can I cook turkey half way, transport, and restart cooking 30 minutes later?
Thanks for your feedback, everyone. I will NOT cook it part way. :-) Using the 30 minutes as resting time is a great idea. However, we probably won't eat right away, so the total resting time could end up being an hour or more. So, I may have been panicking for no reason; I was thinking the turkeys would take 3 or more hours to cook. But at 6-10 pounds, it might take 90 minutes at most. So, perhaps I will just arrive earlier than the others. Thanks again!
Can I cook turkey half way, transport, and restart cooking 30 minutes later?
pamf, do you recall how many minutes per pound your turkey cooked for?
ISO Cedar Plank in S. Bay, Peninsula, or East Bay, CA [moved from General Chowhounding Topics]
I've seen them at Cost Plus World Market, but I'm not sure if they'd have them at this time of year.
Can I cook turkey half way, transport, and restart cooking 30 minutes later?
I thought I had seen a similar query but it didn't come up in a search, so apologies if this is duplicative.
My parents live 20 minutes away. I will be roasting 2 Diestel petite turkeys (6-10 pounds each), unstuffed, on Christmas Day. Can I start the turkeys in my oven, take them out halfway, wrap and transport them to my parents' house, and continue the cooking there? They will have the oven already at the proper temperature.
There would be a pause in the cooking of 30 minutes, 40 max. It seems to me that wouldn't be enough time to cause food safety issues. Any reasons I shouldn't do this? Thanks for the advice!
What is the coldest part of a bottom-freezer refrigerator?
Traditionally (I think), the advice to store things in the coldest part of the refrigerator has referred to the type of refrigerator which has the freezer on top, and to store things on the bottom. My understanding is that is because heat rises, notwithstanding the fact that the freezer is on top.
I have a French door bottom freezer refrigerator. I think the bottom of the fridge closest to the freezer would be the coldest, not only because it is nearer to the freezer, but because of the heat rising factor. Does my logic sound correct? Is there any reason that the bottom wouldn't be the coldest area?
Looking for Dungeness crab fat (tomalley) recipe
The SF Chronicle had an article in yesterday's edition on Hayes Valley chefs' holiday dinner challenge. One of the recipes was for Seafood Gumbo, which uses crab tomalley. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/18/FDKF1M8HJN.DTL
Williams Sonoma Friends & Family - 20% entire purchase
I received this coupon via email, forwarded by someone else. Does anyone know if it will work? The coupon says "The original coupon must be presented at time of purchase." The word "original" worries me.
BREVILLE COUNTER TOP SMART TOASTER/CONVECTION OVEN
Breville has just released a mini oven, basically a toaster oven. It's being sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. I'm excited to see it in person as we also need a small size toaster oven, and the two larger sizes have garnered such rave reviews. :)
Question about Immersion Blenders Safe for Enamel or Non-stick Cookware
I had the same concern with using my Kitchen-aid immersion blender in a Le Creuset pot full of soup or sauce. It's hard not to drag it across the bottom (in fact, it seems to be sucked down by the liquid). So, I dug up my old plastic Braun that I had in a bag to give to Goodwill and am keeping it for use with my Le Creuset and Chantal enameled pots.
A Fantastic Site for Vintage Copper
Thanks for sending the link, Kaleo. The items are wonderful. Even better, the site helped me identify a copper bowl I bought at a garage sale for $10 that I think must be worth much, much more.
I haven't purchased a copper pan yet, but all the posts on copper on Chowhound have had me salivating. One of these days!
