The maple syrup I have is labeled as "Grade A dark color with robust taste". When I've made Chewy Maple Cookies with it (also using the maple flavoring sold by KAF in place of the vanilla) the flavor is great. That is the cookie I always get compliments on. I also add some rolled oats to it to firm up the dough a little.
I made my usual semolina/rye/wheat sandwich buns yesterday topped with KAF Everything Bagel topping. While doing so, I noticed that some of my KAF baking supplies are low and I just missed out on a free shipping offer. But, I know those offers are like busses, if you wait long enough another one will come along. If I recall, they usually have an offer around Valentines Day, I can wait that long.
For lunch on Wednesday—and it will last into the rest of the week--I made New England Clam Chowder, using the recipe from my 1978 Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (p. 83). I sauté the onion in olive oil rather than bacon grease and forego the bacon. I note that instead of 8 oz. cans, the cans in the store are now 6 oz. I use more potato, and I use 1% milk. What really sets it apart, however, is an innovation from my college roommate, Marianne, of adding ½ tsp. celery seed.
I also prefer the dark maple syrup. When I experimented with a cookie recipe last October, I replaced honey with dark maple syrup and maple sugar. They were pretty good, but my next experiment will attempt to increase the maple flavor. I do have the maple extract that KAF sells and have used it in a couple of other recipes, such as the KAF maple scones (back when I could eat scones), but it's best to keep the amount added low (1/8th or 1/4 tsp., depending on the rest of the ingredients).
That's why I prefer grade B maple syrup (not sure what they call it these days.) It is harvested later in the season, is much darker, and has more solids and IMHO a lot more flavor.
I used a combination of butter and Crisco. Looking at Susan Purdy's recipe, I see she uses butter and margarine, so I'm not sure if it was her recipe I was using. (It's been a couple of years since I've made it.)
I knew this one! Although most people still refer to it as a fifth, the liquor industry (distilled spirits) went metric in the late 70's (if I recall correctly), what we are getting now is a 750 ml. 750 ml is real close to a fifth, about 25.4 ounces v 25.6. Not much difference to the consumer but I imagine it amounts to many extra bottles for the producers. Also, what used to be a quart is now a liter, which is slightly larger than a quart.
When we were in Hawaii we ate at a sushi place where the plates come past you on a conveyor belt and you grab what you want, though you can also order specific dishes if you don't see them. The biggest challenge was trying to identify something as it moved past you. The color of the plate tells you how much that one costs, ranging from $1.99 to $7.99 or so. They figure the bill by counting the used plates.
The quality was excellent, and they had a lot of cooked fish dishes as well as raw fish ones, so my wife (who like several of you won't eat raw fish) found plenty to eat. Dinner for the 5 of us ran under $100.
I prefer the cooked sushi ( broiled eels mainly) and vegetarian sushi to the true raw fish sushi.
On Monday, I made a hearty soup for dinner using ¾ cup Bob’s Red Mill hull-less barley, which I initially cooked in chicken broth for 80 minutes, then allowed to rest. I sautéed onion, celery, and carrot in olive oil, then added ground turkey to brown. I added mushrooms, then the barley, turkey broth, and about 1 ¼ cup of the BRM “vegi-soup mix” (a bit of barley, lentils, green and yellow split peas). I brought it to a boil, then simmered for an hour. I added torn kale leaves and 2 tsp. cider vinegar along with freshly grated black pepper, then covered and allowed to stand for 10 minutes. I added the cider vinegar because another recipe I have (Pork Tenderloin with Butternut Squash and Barley) brightens up in flavor with just that little bit, and it works for this recipe as well. I'm sure there is cooking science behind it, but I'm not sure what it is.
We had the soup with leftover cornbread.
I was working a trade show in Chicago for one of the computer trade papers some years back and one of the other journalists invited a number of us out for the evening. We wound up at a sushi place having freshly killed raw lobster. (The tentacles were still moving.) I think I prefer cooked lobster, though.
Supposedly ceviche shrimp is safer to eat, but I don't eat shrimp because it sometimes bothers me.
Aaron--It does "tame" the flavor in small amounts and is often used that way. However, it also creates lift. (I wish Cass were here to explain if acidity and lift are related.) I recall that RLB in The Cake Bible recommended with cakes that if you could not bake the entire batch at once, hold back the baking soda from the batch that needs to wait, then add it when you are ready to do so.
I make only small batches of pancakes, as I don't have the breakfast crowd that you do at your house. You might need to make two separate batches of batter--and remember to stir in the baking soda to the waiting one before proceeding.
On Saturday, I baked cornbread to go with the rest of the stew. I used two pans, each with five hearts arranged in a ring. With the Grease, they popped right out. These are the pans I used. I bought them from King Arthur, years ago, but I didn't pay anywhere near the now advertised price:
https://shop.kingarthurflour.com/items/mini-heart-pan-set-of-2
I also baked blueberry tartlets on Saturday afternoon. I had 1 cup of my homemade blueberry pie filling left from when I’d made sweet rolls for New Year’s. I pulled out another pint jar and combined them, along with 1/8 tsp. allspice. I have two Chicago Metallic tart pans. Each pan has four wells, each with a removeable bottom. I used my oil pie crust recipe, which I've posted here at Nebraska Kitchen. After bringing the dough together, I divided it into eight equal parts, then rolled each out to 13cm (metric is so much easier), using a little rolling pin that came with my ravioli form, and fit them into the pans. After refrigeration for an hour, I blind-baked the crusts for 10 minutes at 400F, using 4-cup coffee filters that I’d bought a while back for this purpose and filled with beans. I used slightly more than 1/3 cup of filling for each tart. I sprinkled with a half-recipe of the streusel I use for blueberry pie, then baked for 10 minutes at 400F before checking. I let them go another 4 minutes until bubbling, then removed them from the oven to a rack. We each had one for dinner, and they are delicious and look elegant.
-
This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by
BakerAunt.
-
This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
-
This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
That compote sounds good Len.
Tonight we had BBQ pulled pork & brisket from a local BBQ and I made coleslaw and baked beans.(My husband ate really well today that steroid shot worked a miracle yesterday!)
Nice save Choco! I still proof my yeast even though I use instant which probably the only reason I always remember it. I have forgotten ingredients many times. Kids walk into the kitchen and need attention. I've tried to setup a system like Mike's with marginal success.
If anyone is watching the latest Kids Baking Championship there is a boy from West Hartford on. He made it through the first round which was making shag cakes (is that really a thing? Why!?!?) So if you're watching cheer on Sam.
Hmm-the air is along the side where the windows slide up and down. That seems to be the case with the ones from the first reno (different contractor) and this second one. It was particularly an issue last night with an onshore wind. We will do some investigating.
