[Mike Nolan]

Actually, I'd never heard of pairing cinnamon rolls with chili until we moved to Nebraska, it's something Lincoln Public Schools has done for a long time. Their cinnamon rolls are not very sweet. And because all the kids and most of their parents grew up with that pairing, most of the restaurants in the area serve a cinnamon roll with chili as well.

I've heard of it being done elsewhere, too, so it's not just a Nebraska thing.

Cinnamon actually goes well with chili, I've seen recipes that added some directly to the pot. We don't tend to think of it as a spice that goes with savory dishes these days, but originally that's what it was, as was nutmeg.

[Mike Nolan]

Soft cheeses spoil easily and need refrigeration, harder cheeses do better if kept cool. My grandmother used to talk about the root cellars and cheese cellars many Iowa farmers had, which kept their vegetables and cheeses cool (probably in the 60's) all summer.

The USDA is more cautious about leaving hard cheeses at room temperature for long periods of time, hence the recommended length in today's quiz. Mold that grows on hard cheese can generally just be cut off, though.

[Mike Nolan]

I've seen cheddar cheese left on an outdoor buffet that turned weird in a few hours, sunlight and heat will cause some hard cheeses to dry out and/or weep.

Pizza parlors will often have grated parmesan cheese in a shaker at tables, but there may be additives in it to keep it stable. Cellulose is one such additive, which some 'natural cheese' ads equate to 'sawdust'.

[Mike Nolan]

I make it one way, my wife makes it a different way. I make a béchamel sauce (butter, flour and milk) on the stove and then add the tuna fish, she makes it in the microwave and adds chicken bouillion. Most of the time she makes the creamed tuna and I make biscuits. (She prefers Bisquick biscuits over ones made from scratch, which are less work for me, so I really don't mind.)

Here's her recipe:

In an 8 quart microwaveable tall bowl melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter.

Add 1/2 cup flour and cook in 30 second intervals until you have a roux, stirring frequently.

Add 4 cups of milk, in multiple stages, about a cup at a time. Heat in steps until it thickens but don't let it boil over. Stir frequently.

Stir in a handful of chicken boullion (1-2 cubes worth), cook some more.

Add 2-3 cans drained tuna in water. Cook a little more. Serve over biscuits or toast. (Also good over English muffins.)

[Mike Nolan]

We wound up having salads and a cinnamon roll.

[Mike Nolan]

I think the theory on butter crusts is that you want a relatively high starting temperature to encourage the water in the butter to flash to steam. I'm not quite sure what happens to the fat in the butter when that occurs, though.

[Mike Nolan]

I found several different descriptions of how to do a single strand braid, including a YouTube video that may be the same one you found. (It has you make a letter 'e'.) I found the instructions in Bernard Clayton's Breads of France book were the easiest for me to understand and follow. It is a bread shape I will definitely use again, I used about six ounces of dough per loaf, which makes a nice size loaf for the two of us.

I think I actually managed to get too much cinnamon in the filling for the cinnamon rolls yesterday, but we're eating them anyway. I made a compound butter with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. I rolled the dough out to about 36 cm wide, spread on the compound butter and cut it into 6 pieces using a straight edge before rolling them up. (I got that idea from the Epicurous video about making cinnamon rolls, I find it works easier than trying to cut them after rolling it up.) Next time I may try making 9 pieces, these seemed a bit ungainly tall though they spread out nicely in the pan.

[Mike Nolan]

I wound up making 6 rolls rather than 9, in a 5x7 pan.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making a pot of chili today, and cinnamon rolls, of course.

[Mike Nolan]

No, star anise is a different plant than the one that produces anise seed. Fennel, tarragon and Thai basil also have a licorice flavor profile. Interestingly enough, the licorice plant itself is not edible.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making cinnamon rolls to go with chili today. I'm going to try making 9 smaller ones from the recipe that usually makes 4 larger rolls.
,

[Mike Nolan]

I can think of a few things I might want to order, but not $59 worth.

[Mike Nolan]

I had a turkey sandwich on challah.

[Mike Nolan]

The two types of hard rolls I baked last week went into the freezer. We got them out yesterday morning and they went in the oven for about 5 minutes just before dinner.

The breadsticks are supposed to be dry and crunchy, so I just left them out. The ones with cheese in them softened a bit, probably due to the moisture in the cheese.

The challah were made on Wednesday, I think it is best left to sit for a day before it is eaten anyway.

The cranberry nut muffins stay soft for several days, but I froze most of what was left after we got back yesterday.

The Brazilian cheese rolls were made Thursday morning and we packed them in an insulated bag with a heat pack underneath to keep them warm. Most of what was left of those went into the freezer last night, too.

I knew it would be way too much bread, but it gave me an excuse to try several new recipes and try a new variant on braiding challah, which I'm likely to use again, because a batch of dough (around 36 ounces) made 6 loaves, a nice size for the two of us.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife thinks of croquettes and hush puppies as similar dishes, and she's not fond of either. (Of course, Long John Silver's hush puppies have garlic in them.)

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