[Italiancook]

I'm heading to the kitchen in a couple of hours to make my dad's chop suey for lunch and a few other meals. I'm going to use frozen Riced Cauliflower in place of the serving rice. I've never done this before, so I don't know how it'll work out. The Riced Cauliflower is bland, and it's harder than cooked rice, so it should work out okay. The recipe calls for pork shoulder, but I don't have any. So, I'm going to use ground pork from the freezer. I hope I don't ruin it.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Len, I donate to a food bank. I heard from one of their constituents that the bank was giving away canned goods a year old. I called the food bank to find out why. I was told that some government agency, don't recall which, says they're good for one year after date on can. But all that is heresay, so you probably want to do some Internet searching to check this out. I agree with BakerAunt, I'd never use a bulging can -- that spells trouble! I'm also leery of dented cans, although I don't know if there's any science to that.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Since you only want 12, I suggest English Batter Buns from Taste of Home. Here's the link: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/english-batter-buns/
They're good using the shortening called for in the recipe. They're excellent substituting 1/2 cup butter for the 1/2 cup shortening. I've made them both ways for guests and never had a complaint when using shortening.

Have you considered making more than a dozen rolls and freezing the extras? I buy cheap sandwich bags & put one roll in each bag, then put all of them in a freezer bag. When I want a roll or two, I take them from both bags and microwave them. You'd have to experiment with your microwave, but in mine, one roll is adequate defrosted in 25 seconds; two rolls in 50 seconds. To thaw out more, you'd need to put them in foil and place in heated oven. I don't know the particulars of temperature or time, but I've seen KABC state this. A call to their Hotline or message on the website might clarify this for you.

Like Mike, my favorite rolls are Parker House. They are time intensive but oh so worth the effort. My second favorite are Butterhorn. I use the recipe in a Mennonite cookbook.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, you come across interesting articles. Thanks for sharing them with us. Regarding the onions in ice cube containers -- since they leave an odor in the wells of the trays, I'd be worried they'd leave an odor in my freezer, even if covered with foil. I'd rather use a container with a lid. I'm glad I saw the picture. My first attempt at caramelized onions must have been perfect, because the color of my finished product was the same as the picture. This cancels out my mistake with the Swedish Pearl Sugar!

[Italiancook]

Does he have a recipe for his hot dog buns in the book?

[Italiancook]

I have Sara Moulton's Shortbread cooling for the freezer for future strawberry shortcakes. I mixed the dry ingredients 2 days ago and set aside with a lid on the bowl. The recipe says to brush biscuits with milk before baking. I've never done that before. Because it was so late when I started, I didn't feel rushed and used the milk. I don't like it. The tops are more brown than I prefer.

Mike, I found the edit button. It's now at the top when it used to be at the bottom. Sure took me a long time to find it!

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the pearl sugar link, BakerAunt. It gave me an, "Oh my" moment. My pearl sugar completely coated the centers of the muffins. Around the edges, it was sprinkled properly. I put the sugar directly on the batter, so the sugar adhered to the muffins.

I agree with the writer of the link that cardamom goes great with citrus. When I make Oatmeal Coffee Cake, I use cardamom even though it's not in the recipe and the orange flavor comes from orange oil (KABC).

[Italiancook]

cwdesign, I hope you don't develop a fever or Covid. What did your market put on the sign to let customers know why they're closed for 10 days. I have a friend who went to a bank and saw a "Closed for Covid" sign.

[Italiancook]

Joan, I'm so glad you don't have Covid. I hope you completely recover soon.

[Italiancook]

That's good to know about the Vidalia onions being too sweet for caramelization for a savory soup, Mike. I don't like them to start with, but now you've saved me from buying a big bag of them at Sam's. Thanks. But don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the finished onions with my steak even though they were made with yellow onions. So did my husband, who claims to not even like onions.

It's interesting you mention a lid. I debated whether to use a lid. But the Food Network Kitchen article and video didn't use a lid, so I did not. The article said to leave the pan of onions alone for 15-20 minutes. I went with 15 but next time, I'll let it cook for 20 minutes before stirring. Altogether, caramelizing the onions stovetop (glass stovetop) took 40-45 minutes, but my meal timing was off. The steak turned out to be thicker than I had anticipated. So my onions cooked longer and became a deep, deep brown. Not off-putting -- actually pretty and still tasty.

I don't make French Onion Soup, but I've heard on Food Network that caramelized onions will keep for a few days in the refrigerator. Somewhere I read they can be frozen, although I wonder if they lose flavor in the freezer. So it's good to know how to do a large batch in the oven. Thanks, Mike. I'm now sold on caramelized onions.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, Oh! I put the Swedish Pearl Sugar on thick. I didn't realize it was to be used sparingly. Thanks for the tip. Live and learn.

[Italiancook]

My caramelized onions turned out good in spite of my missteps. I used instructions from Food Network Kitchen. They said to use all olive oil in the pan. But I've seen a Food Network chef use butter. So I used a tablespoon of butter with the olive oil. Next time, I'll use only olive oil. The FNK directions didn't include sugar, but some of the recipes did. I didn't use it. If I ever make this again with Spanish onions, I'll put 1/8 teaspoon sugar between each layer of onions and see if that improves the flavor. Probably a quarter teaspoon would be better, but I have an aversion to adding granulated sugar to savory food. I still think caramelized onions would be best with sweet onions, but we enjoyed what I made.

[Italiancook]

For lunch, I made Egg Drop Soup. Dinner will be sirloin steak, baked potato, and my first ever attempt to make caramelized onions. I'm using Spanish onions, and I think it's supposed to be sweet onions. So I may end up wasting butter and onions. I thought about frying onions for a crispy treat, but decided to try caramelized onions.

[Italiancook]

No edit button -- with the sugar, I didn't achieve the light browning I usually have on the muffins. They were done, but I gave them an extra minute. I think that's because of the coating of sugar.

[Italiancook]

I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and the freezer. The berries were tart, so I put Swedish Pearl Sugar (KABC) on the tops before baking.

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