Ilaine

Do they make panini presses that flip around to a non-grill side? Because, if so, you can use it for Cuban sandwiches, and any other sandwich will benefit from a nice toast in the sandwich press.My grandmother used a sandwich press in her restaurant for poorboys and burgers. Hot ham and cheese, yum! But to answer your question, according to the manufacturer, you can use a Foreman grill for panini. I admit to having a Foreman grill, but have never actually used it. To approximate a sandwich press, I use the trusty cast iron skillet, with another cast iron skillet on top. You have to flip it, which you don't have to do in a sandwich press, but you can hang it up on a rack when you're done with it.

Pumpkin is squash. I have read that a lot of canned "pumpkin" is really canned cushaw (squash).The densest, sweetest, meatiest squash around is kabocha. If you are going to use puree anyway, just put it on one side, cut off the stem, and then split in half with a little stab and then a rocking motion. Scoop out the seeds and bake cut side down. Peeled and cut-up butternut chunks are sold at the better grocery stores like Wegmann's. I think butternut squash tastes a lot like pumpkin, but actually nicer. I use a smaller bird and boil just long enough to cook (about an hour). Save the broth and boil another chicken in that.I love the resulting broth.

Agreed.My favorite way to achieve that look is Julia Child's recipe (I saw it in a video), steak at room temperature, a little butter, a little oil (I like olive), melted in a hot cast iron pan, sprinkle some salt in the pan, saute the steak 3-4 minutes on one side, salt the upper side and flip, cook the other side 3-4 minutes, eat. (It's even nicer if you render a little steak fat in the pan first.) Sauce is superfluous.

Perhaps it's rather early in the year for whole nuts. I think this is a seasonal item. Just about any grocer will have them later in the year, in bins in the produce section.

Knowing my husband, I expect we'll be bringing a pot of his Thermonuclear Chili. Personally, I'd rather bring the New Braunfels smoker and a cochon de lait, but the smoker won't fit in the car. Re: chili style. It will have beef. It will have beans. It will have tomatoes. It will have habanero peppers. I don't know what all else goes in there. Before he finishes it, he puts a bowl aside for me that doesn't get the full treatment. I just shelled three pounds of fresh Jacob's Cattle beans I got at Grand Mart in Centreville. I bet they would make excellent chili.

Different folks for different folks. Just remember, if only $1 goes to Slow Food, you can only deduct $1 as a charitable contribution for this event.Or, you could just donate the entire $250 directly to Slow Food. Link Your choice. And, to your second question, I submitted my question directly to the person's email address.

You're right that the DC Slow Food events are horrendously expensive compared with most of the rest of the country. The link I posted had a lot of other events all over the country that, in my opinion, do more to promote the ideals of Slow Food for ordinary mortals who don't have expense accounts and don't work for lobby groups or corporations. I just take the easy road and go to Charlottesville, where they do things that are more consistent with Slow Food's ideals. Decided to see if I can get a response, sent this email. Dear Ms. Gimes, I am a member of Slow Food, considering whether or not to renew my membership. I have some questions. First, why are DC Slow Food events so expensive? I don't work for a lobby group, and am not on an expense account. These prices seem tailored to the super-rich and those who work for corporations. Second, how much of the cost of these events goes to Slow Food, and how much to overhead? As you know, payments in return for goods and services are not tax-deductible. Third, does Slow Food "comp" tickets to desireable attendees? If so, who have you comped tickets to in the past? I look forward to your reply. You might consider replying here: http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=3933 Sincerely, Ilaine Upton

I belong to Slow Food -- take a look at other Slow Food events if you don't believe these prices are totally out of line. LinkAlso, they aren't giving you any guidance as to what goes directly to the charity, and what's going to overhead. If the money is going to overhead, then it's not tax deductible. Of course, if you work for a company in the industry, maybe your employer can deduct your ticket as a business expense. Or, you could skip the fancy party and give directly to the charity.

At $250 a ticket, the message they're sending to me is that sustainable seafood is too expensive for ordinary mortals.

Clyde's happy hour is a pretty good deal if you like half price oysters (and who doesn't?).The oyster shucker at Mark's Place is a gem and a whiz. I don't think I've ever had pieces of shell in with my oysters there, which is more than you can say about most places. The bar menu during happy hour also includes half price burgers, half price crab cakes, artichoke dip, caesar salad, nice things to eat along with decent draft beer. Hits the spot after a hard day at work.

I liked the older content more, lots of recipes. It's more about shopping than cooking now. Probably reflects the demographics but I like to try new recipes.

Nothing you can do with a pastry cutter/blender that you can't do with either a fork or a food processor. If your fork can't do it, the food processor will.OTOH -- I was married too long ago to comprehend modern trends in wedding registries. Back then, you registered for stuff you couldn't afford -- china, crystal, sterling. At $5 a pop, a pastry cutter/blender would have only been a gag gift. Heck, I'd happily give you mine -- if I still have it. Haven't used it in decades. Not since I got the Cuisinart. Now that is a wedding gift worth giving -- and receiving. But maybe y'all already have one.

If you mean Chef Peter Chang, me too! Boo, hoo!

Lee Kum Kee makes a chili garlic sauce that looks very similar to the China Bowl sauce, looking at the ingredients list, Salted Chili Pepper ( Chili, Salt ), Garlic, Water, Sugar, Rice Vinegar ( Contains Wheat ), Modified Corn Starch, Acetic Acid. LinkIf and when you run out of the China Bowl sauce, this may be worth a try.

Last night opened up a bottle of "heavy cream" from Trickling Springs Creamery, purchased at Whole Foods in Springfield, and it was milk. Not cream, much less "heavy cream". Huh.

Corn maque choux. Prep: dice an onion (put in one bowl), a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, and jalapeno peppers to taste (put in a second bowl), cut kernels from six ears or more of corn (third bowl), scrape the ears and drain the corn milk into a fourth bowl if you plan to use cream, otherwise put this in with the corn. Sweat onions in butter, bacon grease, or oil (olive oil is good but not essential) in a heavy skillet or heavy bottomed pot until translucent, add peppers and cook until softened, put in the corn and cook until softened, add some cream, just enough to pull this together, and the corn milk, and simmer until it's sort of thickened. Cream is optional. There are as many ways to make maque choux as there are Cajun cooks. Some put the corn in first and cook so it gets brownish (low temp, keep stirring), some add tomatoes and a little water, some add tomatoes and a little broth, some add bacon, some even make a roux, some even add shrimp and make into a main dish.

What you perceive as "dryness" may simply be hardness. I decided to try to find you a place to buy White Lily flour, which I always stock up on during trips further South. Can't remember seeing it further north than Fredericksburg, VA.First place I tried, Food Lion, which is where I look for funkier stuff such as pickling supplies, didn't have White Lily but did have Martha White, made from the same wheat variety, Southern white wheat, low in gluten so has a softer texture. What you have to know about the designation "all purpose" when it comes to biscuit recipes, is that they don't mean Gold Medal or Pillsbury or King Arthur, all made from harder red wheat, more gluten, better for bread. They mean, "it's not self-rising". Self-rising flour has the baking soda and a little salt added and can only be used for "hot breads" like biscuits. All purpose Martha White is exactly the same as self-rising Martha White only it doesn't have "hot rize". A five pound bag of Martha White's, either way, is $1.79 at the Food Lion in Chantilly. After thinking about biscuits over the past few days, I've decided to make my next batch with Crisco. I have some sticks of butter flavored Crisco that I use in pie dough if the recipe calls for vegetable shortening. I keep it in the freezer and it seems to last forever. Pie doughs made with all butter shrink. This may be a flour issue, as well, I don't always have pastry flour on hand. BTW -- biscuits ain't health food. At least, not the fluffy white biscuits you seem to be dreaming of. They are high in calories, low on nutrients, but they give you "the strength to do what needs to be done." (As for overcooking -- maybe. Also, maybe overworking the dough, which activates the gluten. You need a light touch to make light biscuits.)

The name of the place on Eisenhower Avenue is Restaurant Depot. Link Free to join but you need to have a business to join. Doesn't have to be in the food industry, either, they just want a copy of your business license.They'll let you walk around and "just look" so you can decide if it's worth your while.

You may already have a thermometer which will register this temperature accurately at home, but if not, they aren't expensive, and may be useful. We have one that digitally records both temp and humidity that I use in the winter to decide when to turn the humidifier on. Size maybe 2x3 inches, cost less than $20.I suspect that what you'll find is that the hardest variable to control for is how many times the refrigerator is opened and closed during any given time period. We tried dry aging at home in the spare fridge, which reliably keeps an internal temp from 37 to 40, but never planned far enough in advance to do for more than a couple of days. I did note some improvement in flavor and in texture but we don't eat enough beef to make the effort cost-effective, except for special occasions. Haven't tried the salt yet, do you just rub the meat or let it sit on a bed of salt?

It does, but where? A big pit for a big pig makes a big mess.

I like cilantro with chicken. Examples, chop and sprinkle onto chicken stew or chicken soup. Also, it's essential in my favorite chicken salad, which is made from chicken, mayonnaise, chopped celery or sliced water chestnuts, and sliced almonds, and cilantro! Cilantro is very nice in chili, too.

The dog would probably love them, she will eat anything. I was thinking about microwaving a couple at a time in an oiled cup and adding to tuna salad, potato salad or egg salad -- not as a substitute for whole boiled eggs but to amplify.Also thinking about souffles but all the recipes I've looked at so far call for using whole eggs, separated, and beating the yolks into the souffle batter. What about slipping in extra egg whites into recipes? What sort of recipe might an extra egg white be good in? Ramos gin fizz, what else? How long will frozen buttercream keep in the freezer? How do you freeze, in a plastic container?

There are flours that are ideal for biscuits due to the composition, made from soft white Southern wheat. All purpose flour and bread flour are much harder, pastry flour is too soft. White Lily is probably the most famous. Indeed, generations of southern biscuit makers will accept no substitute. Many prefer the self-rising, which is good for biscuits, but I just use the regular. Another brand is Martha White. I have read that you can make a substitute for White Lily by replacing 2T of all purpose flour per cup with 2T cornstarch, but never tried this. I do something that is very, very bad, but also very, very good -- brush the tops of the biscuits using melted butter before baking, and after baking. If you do this before baking, you may need to use a pan with a lip, because the melted butter will drip unless you were very, very careful. Or you can just dip the biscuits in melted butter so both sides get buttered, but then you definitely need a pan with a lip. Popeye's biscuits are dipped, although they don't use butter, just butter flavored grease. Buttermilk is a classic ingredient, the acid in the buttermilk will interact with the baking powder to make the biscuits rise higher. But cream is a classic ingredient, too. Crisco is the Southern "standard" but I use butter, cold butter, and the food processor to mix the dry ingredients. I have to "eyeball" the liquid, as this is the hardest part to get right. (The right amount is when the dough isn't sticky.) Mixing in the liquid gets done in a bowl, with a fork. Pat out on a cutting board or a pastry cloth and you won't need to use but a little bit of flour to keep the dough from sticking.

I made Joe H.'s ice cream and now we have all these leftover egg whites! Carefully separated so they can be whipped, but is there anything else to do with them besides meringue and angel food cake? (From natural, organic, free range eggs, if that matters.)

Do you know if this meat is available at all locations? How was it prepared?