Mmmm . . . Getting Better (was: Dried Apricots)
 

In my next experiment, I used dried wild blueberries.
I prepared a hazelnut butter in the Champion juicer,
mixed it with the blueberries, and ran it through the
meat grinder twice. The result was deeply colored,
and had a bright blueberry flavor. I liked it better
than the apricot experiment.

It was still very stiff, as compared to pure hazelnut
butter which is a liquid (like a thick milkshake).
In my apricot experiment, I used a 1:1 mixture
of hazelnuts to fruit. In this experiment, I used
2:1 (more nuts than blueberries). I think I'll
go 3:1 in the next experiment. I'd like to get
a spreadable consistency, without losing the
strong fruit flavor.

I'd still like to get a finer grain than the meat grinder
can provide. I don't believe a blender of any
kind can handle the stiff consistency of my present
mixtures. I'm thinking maybe the device used in
Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.

Does anyone know what that's called, or where
I can buy one?

Mark Thorson wrote:
> In my next experiment, I used dried wild blueberries.
> I prepared a hazelnut butter in the Champion juicer,
> mixed it with the blueberries, and ran it through the
> meat grinder twice. The result was deeply colored,
> and had a bright blueberry flavor. I liked it better
> than the apricot experiment.
>
> It was still very stiff, as compared to pure hazelnut
> butter which is a liquid (like a thick milkshake).
> In my apricot experiment, I used a 1:1 mixture
> of hazelnuts to fruit. In this experiment, I used
> 2:1 (more nuts than blueberries). I think I'll
> go 3:1 in the next experiment. I'd like to get
> a spreadable consistency, without losing the
> strong fruit flavor.
>
> I'd still like to get a finer grain than the meat grinder
> can provide. I don't believe a blender of any
> kind can handle the stiff consistency of my present
> mixtures. I'm thinking maybe the device used in
> Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
> It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
> to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
>
> Does anyone know what that's called, or where
> I can buy one?


It's called a "croquet mallet". For bigger production runs, you might
try a "SledgeOmatic". <http://www.gallaghersmash.com/>

HTH :-)

- Bob

Mark Thorson wrote:
> In my next experiment, I used dried wild blueberries.
> I prepared a hazelnut butter in the Champion juicer,
> mixed it with the blueberries, and ran it through the
> meat grinder twice. The result was deeply colored,
> and had a bright blueberry flavor. I liked it better
> than the apricot experiment.
>
> It was still very stiff, as compared to pure hazelnut
> butter which is a liquid (like a thick milkshake).
> In my apricot experiment, I used a 1:1 mixture
> of hazelnuts to fruit. In this experiment, I used
> 2:1 (more nuts than blueberries). I think I'll
> go 3:1 in the next experiment. I'd like to get
> a spreadable consistency, without losing the
> strong fruit flavor.
>
> I'd still like to get a finer grain than the meat grinder
> can provide. I don't believe a blender of any
> kind can handle the stiff consistency of my present
> mixtures. I'm thinking maybe the device used in
> Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
> It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
> to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
>
> Does anyone know what that's called, or where
> I can buy one?


It's called a "croquet mallet". For bigger production runs, you might
try a "SledgeOmatic". <http://www.gallaghersmash.com/>

HTH :-)

- Bob

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> Mark Thorson wrote:
<snip>
>> I'm thinking maybe the device used in
> > Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
> > It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
> > to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
> >
> > Does anyone know what that's called, or where
> > I can buy one?
>
>
> It's called a "croquet mallet". For bigger production runs, you might
> try a "SledgeOmatic". <http://www.gallaghersmash.com/>
>
> HTH :-)
>
> - Bob

Excellent Bob! Excellent! <grin>

Charlie

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> Mark Thorson wrote:
<snip>
>> I'm thinking maybe the device used in
> > Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
> > It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
> > to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
> >
> > Does anyone know what that's called, or where
> > I can buy one?
>
>
> It's called a "croquet mallet". For bigger production runs, you might
> try a "SledgeOmatic". <http://www.gallaghersmash.com/>
>
> HTH :-)
>
> - Bob

Excellent Bob! Excellent! <grin>

Charlie

>Mark Thorazine:
>
>In my next experiment, I used dried wild blueberries.
>I prepared a hazelnut butter in the Champion juicer,
>mixed it with the blueberries, and ran it through the
>meat grinder twice. The result was deeply colored,
>and had a bright blueberry flavor. I liked it better
>than the apricot experiment.
>
>It was still very stiff, as compared to pure hazelnut
>butter which is a liquid (like a thick milkshake).
>In my apricot experiment, I used a 1:1 mixture
>of hazelnuts to fruit. In this experiment, I used
>2:1 (more nuts than blueberries). I think I'll
>go 3:1 in the next experiment. I'd like to get
>a spreadable consistency, without losing the
>strong fruit flavor.
>
>I'd still like to get a finer grain than the meat grinder
>can provide. I don't believe a blender of any
>kind can handle the stiff consistency of my present
>mixtures. I'm thinking maybe the device used in
>Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
>It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
>to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
>
>Does anyone know what that's called, or where
>I can buy one?

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=158486



---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

Mark Thorson wrote in message >...
>In my next experiment, I used dried wild blueberries.
>I prepared a hazelnut butter in the Champion juicer,
>mixed it with the blueberries, and ran it through the
>meat grinder twice. The result was deeply colored,
>and had a bright blueberry flavor. I liked it better
>than the apricot experiment.
>
>It was still very stiff, as compared to pure hazelnut
>butter which is a liquid (like a thick milkshake).
>In my apricot experiment, I used a 1:1 mixture
>of hazelnuts to fruit. In this experiment, I used
>2:1 (more nuts than blueberries). I think I'll
>go 3:1 in the next experiment. I'd like to get
>a spreadable consistency, without losing the
>strong fruit flavor.
>
>I'd still like to get a finer grain than the meat grinder
>can provide. I don't believe a blender of any
>kind can handle the stiff consistency of my present
>mixtures. I'm thinking maybe the device used in
>Japan to prepare a sort of paste from cooked rice.
>It is like a wooden sledgehammer, which is used
>to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
>
>Does anyone know what that's called, or where
>I can buy one?

i don't know what the tool is called, but i think what you are describing is
for making mochi. yum!

--
saerah

TANSTAAFL

Short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us, we won,
let's eat.

PENMART01 wrote:

> http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=158486

Thanks. That wasn't what I was looking for, but
it just might work. Maybe even better than what
I had in mind.

Now that I think about it, my manual wheat grinder
might work, too. It would probably be a real mess,
though, because it ejects the ground material around
the circumference of the grinding discs.

Mark Thorson > wrote in message >...
> PENMART01 wrote:
>
> > http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=158486
>
this sounds good!

www.alexander-schmidt.de
cooking and more

On 10/12/2004, Mark Thorson wrote:

<snip>

> I'm thinking maybe the device used in Japan to prepare a sort
>of paste from cooked rice. It is like a wooden sledgehammer,
>which is used to beat rice in something like a wooden mortar.
>>Does anyone know what that's called, or where I can buy one?

The mortar is a usu. The rice is beaten with a thekine. I saw an
episode about this on one of the cooking shows a long time
ago and found more information at:

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/fo...Wong/home.html

Kevintsheehy wrote:

> The mortar is a usu. The rice is beaten with a thekine. I saw an
> episode about this on one of the cooking shows a long time
> ago and found more information at:
>
> http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/fo...Wong/home.html

Thanks. Too bad they used preground rice, instead of the
traditional tools

What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)
I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
a lot of work.

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Kevintsheehy wrote:
>
> > The mortar is a usu. The rice is beaten with a thekine. I saw an
> > episode about this on one of the cooking shows a long time
> > ago and found more information at:
> >
> > http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/fo...Wong/home.html
>
> Thanks. Too bad they used preground rice, instead of the
> traditional tools
>
> What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)

They exist and a former neighbor had one.

> I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> a lot of work.
>

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Kevintsheehy wrote:
>
> > The mortar is a usu. The rice is beaten with a thekine. I saw an
> > episode about this on one of the cooking shows a long time
> > ago and found more information at:
> >
> > http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/fo...Wong/home.html
>
> Thanks. Too bad they used preground rice, instead of the
> traditional tools
>
> What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)

They exist and a former neighbor had one.

> I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> a lot of work.
>

George wrote:

> "Mark Thorson" > wrote:
> >
> > What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)
>
> They exist and a former neighbor had one.
>
> > I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> > a lot of work.

Found it, though at $358, it's a bit expensive just
for doing some experiments:

George wrote:

> "Mark Thorson" > wrote:
> >
> > What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)
>
> They exist and a former neighbor had one.
>
> > I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> > a lot of work.

Found it, though at $358, it's a bit expensive just
for doing some experiments:

George wrote:

> "Mark Thorson" > wrote:
> >
> > What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)
>
> They exist and a former neighbor had one.
>
> > I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> > a lot of work.

Found it, though at $358 it's somewhat expensive just
for a few experiments.

http://www.zojirushionline.com/files...rushi+bs-dac55

By the way, the mallet is a "kine", not a "thekine".
The latter is a mispelling that only appears on
Cynthia Wong's mochi page. Note that there
are many missing spaces on that page.

George wrote:

> "Mark Thorson" > wrote:
> >
> > What I'd really like is an electric usu/thekine. :-)
>
> They exist and a former neighbor had one.
>
> > I've seen mochi being made from rice, and it looks like
> > a lot of work.

Found it, though at $358 it's somewhat expensive just
for a few experiments.

http://www.zojirushionline.com/files...rushi+bs-dac55

By the way, the mallet is a "kine", not a "thekine".
The latter is a mispelling that only appears on
Cynthia Wong's mochi page. Note that there
are many missing spaces on that page.

On 10/14/2004, Mark Thorson wrote:

<snip>

>By the way, the mallet is a "kine", not a "thekine".
>The latter is a mispelling that only appears on
>Cynthia Wong's mochi page. Note that there
>are many missing spaces on that page.

Thanks. When I originally saw the TV show that featured this,
they referred to this so quickly that I missed the precise names
of the utensils and the mochi, but I could recall them phonetically.
SO, I went to the net for more info and came up with Cynthia's page. Since I
believe everything I read on the net, I took her info as gospel. Guess I was
Wong.

I run a notebook on my computer in which I save incidental items
of trivia (maybe trivia isn't the right term, but - you know, things
not of universal, worldwide, pressing, five-alarm fire urgency) may-
be in case I'm on Jeopardy someday. I put thekine, usu and
mochi in there. Time to do an edit.

Got to run. Got to get those potatoes out of the washing machine.

On 10/14/2004, Mark Thorson wrote:

<snip>

>By the way, the mallet is a "kine", not a "thekine".
>The latter is a mispelling that only appears on
>Cynthia Wong's mochi page. Note that there
>are many missing spaces on that page.

Thanks. When I originally saw the TV show that featured this,
they referred to this so quickly that I missed the precise names
of the utensils and the mochi, but I could recall them phonetically.
SO, I went to the net for more info and came up with Cynthia's page. Since I
believe everything I read on the net, I took her info as gospel. Guess I was
Wong.

I run a notebook on my computer in which I save incidental items
of trivia (maybe trivia isn't the right term, but - you know, things
not of universal, worldwide, pressing, five-alarm fire urgency) may-
be in case I'm on Jeopardy someday. I put thekine, usu and
mochi in there. Time to do an edit.

Got to run. Got to get those potatoes out of the washing machine.