Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of sweet
water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly

"Polly Esther" > wrote in message
...
> Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
> day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
> lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
> made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
> create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of
> sweet water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly

I don't think I've ever had any Easter failures. Even though I used the
wrong pasta in the Easter pie, everyone loved it and was happy to take home
a pie. Note that we actually celebrated yesterday.

I did have extra Marinara sauce so I bought some pizza crust at Central
Market and some cheese. Costco now sells the Daiya cheese and I can get
three packs of shreds for just slightly more than I pay for one pack
elsewhere. It is packaged as 2 Mozzarella and 1 cheddar. Wish I could get
all cheddar or more cheddar than Mozzarella but... Anyway... Decided to
make 2 pizzas.

Not really a failure but the dough acted weird. I think they had frozen it
at some point. One seemed much colder than the other and hard in the
middle. Took me about an hour of leaving it out for the one to get to the
point of stretching. And it took longer than usual to keep it from
stretching back on itself. I know now that when it does this, you need to
let it rest longer.

The pizzas rose up to somewhat shocking proportions. At the edge, it was
about 2" thick. If I buy this dough again, I'll use one package for 2
pizzas. Mine tastes good. Husband hasn't had his yet. I used lots of
sauce, the Daiya cheese and pinenuts on mine. And some whole Greek Oregano.
Husband's has a blend of Italian cheeses and pepperoni.

On 2014-04-21, Polly Esther > wrote:

> water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly

Two.

The first is a spinach recipe that I've seen more than once and have
been too embarrassed to relate. I'm too old to care, anymore, so here
it goes: It was labeled The World's Greatest Spinach Recipe, or some
such nonsense. It was in a rather impressive collection of
Thanksgiving recipes in a new Thankgiving cookbook I'd jes purchased.
I called for several lbs of spinach leaves and 1 lb of butter. Each
night on four consecutive nights, one was supposed to cook the spinach
leaves in one cube of butter. On each successive night, one added
another cube and cooked. At the end of four days one would allegedly
have the this great spinach dish. What I had was one lb of butter
with some cook-to-death spinach leaves. I tossed it. Looking back, I
wonder how I could've fallen for such an obvious gag and why were
there so many copies of this absurd recipe floating around. I don't
like to think about it. 8|

The second was a stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving turkey. It was by
the much loved and respected Paul Prudhomme, from one of his early
cookbooks. Autographed, no less! Anyway, it called for everything
but the kitchen sink. Veggies, sausages, oysters, cornmeal (?, I
forget). Anyway, the crux if it was, you baked the stuffing first.
Then you put the stuffing in the bird and roasted the bird (unless I
read it wrong). Anyway, the stuffing came out very tasty, as any PP
recipe usally does, but the stuffing was way overcooked and soggy.
Plus, it took all freakin' day. I never worked so hard on any recipe,
before or since.

Actually, a 3rd story. From my fave enemy, Rick Bay-Ass. It was his
molé from his 1st book, One Plate yada. Made it twice. First time it
was bliss. Sublime. I ate most of it directly from the pot. Second
time, it was a disaster. Tossed the entire batch. I've yet to
discover what I did wrong on 2nd try. It's pretty involved, though,
which is why I recall it. Took all day to make, each step long and
exactingly involved. When it works, it's worth it. When not, ya'
wanna cry.

nb

"Polly Esther" > wrote in message
...
> Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
> day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
> lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
> made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
> create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of
> sweet water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly

My energy ran out before the guests. I had fun, they had fun, but I was glad
to see them go.

Cheri

On 4/21/2014 12:05 PM, Cheri wrote:
>
>
> My energy ran out before the guests. I had fun, they had fun, but I was
> glad to see them go.
>
> Cheri

I called my 90 year old aunt last evening to wish her a happy Easter.

Most of her children and grandkids live nearby. They all came over for
dinner. (Hmmmm, she didn't tell me what she made for Easter dinner.)
Naturally they helped out. By the time I called her, around 7:30pm,
they'd all gone home. She was like "Whew! They're gone!"

Before he left, one of my cousins built a fire in the fireplace for her.
She said she was going to just sit back and relax in front of a nice
crackling fire. With a book.

Jill

On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"
> wrote:

>Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
>day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
>lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
>made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
>create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of sweet
>water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly

This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
food processor.

It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.

Doris

"Cheri" wrote:
>"Polly Esther" wrote:
>
>> Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
>> day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
>> lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
>> made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
>> create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of
>> sweet water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly
>
>My energy ran out before the guests. I had fun, they had fun, but I was glad
>to see them go.

Last week the market in town had Alexander & Hornung hams on sale so I
bought one, this is the one that was on sale:
http://www.alexanderhornung.com/hone...ed-p-1107.html
Sunday morning I decided to cook it for sandwiches to eat during the
week, not for an Easter dinner... for Easter dinner I cooked pork
chops with yellow rice and black bean pilaf. I had never bought that
brand of ham before, upon removing the wrappings it didn't look very
attactive, had a thick whitish opaque gloppy film covering it. Well,
it did say glazed so I figured it would melt during cooking but sure
didn't look the color of honey, brown sugar and cinnamon, so into the
oven it went. An hour and a half later I pulled it out, let it rest
some and removed the foil tent... what a revolting development... it
looked awful, that coating didn't melt, it got thicker, rubber
cement... looked like an entire football team ejaculated all over it,
really! Well, I took one small taste, spit it out and thought no one
can eat this. Then I looked on their web site, says the glaze is
honey, brown sugar. and cinnamon... no way! So I called the store,
they said they'd be open till midnight on Easter and to bring in the
receipt, they didn't want to see the ham so I tossed it in the trash,
I didn't think it fit to feed the critters, probably would poison
them. An hour later I drove into town with my receipt and they gladly
gave me my money back and a $5 manager's store coupon for my
disappointment. I've been attempting to phone the number at the web
site but all I can do is leave a message (I left two), don't ever buy
any Alexander & Hornung products, I know I never will. Next time I
want a ham I'll buy my usual... Cook's, never been disappointed.

On 21/04/2014 10:31 AM, Doris Night wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"

>
> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
> food processor.
>
> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.
>
> Doris
>
>
Did you use cake & pastry flour or all purpose? I always use the former
and have no problems.
Graham

On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:58:52 -0700, graham > wrote:

>On 21/04/2014 10:31 AM, Doris Night wrote:
>> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"
>
>>
>> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
>> food processor.
>>
>> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
>> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.
>>
>> Doris
>>
>>
>Did you use cake & pastry flour or all purpose? I always use the former
>and have no problems.
>Graham

I used all purpose flour, same as always.

The difference, I think, is that the way I had always made pastry, you
cut the butter/lard into the flour. (Or you can use a cheese grater
and grate frozen butter into the flour.) It doesn't get fully
incorporated, leaving small lumps of fat that will make the pastry
extra-flaky.

I've been making pastry for ~40 years, and this is the first time I've
had an unacceptable product.

Doris

"Doris Night" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"
> > wrote:
>
>>Assuming ( I know) that some of you have family feasts to celebrate this
>>day, what are your grand successes or "never again" ? I did add a little
>>lemon juice, zest and a spoon full of sugar to my waffle recipe and that
>>made them very special. I labored and used every tool in the kitchen to
>>create a lovely strawberry pie. It was lovely - and had the taste of
>>sweet
>>water. Anyone want to confess to a "Quoth the Raven" ? Polly
>
> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
> food processor.
>
> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.
>
> Doris

Did you pulse it in short spurts just until it came together. Ina Garten's
recipe is wonderful, but you do need to follow it closely to have it turn
out light and flaky.

Cheri


Ina's recipe


Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water


Directions

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the
flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food
processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the
butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of
peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and
pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a
floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for
30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a
circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough
to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in
a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

"Brooklyn1" > wrote in message
...

> site but all I can do is leave a message (I left two), don't ever buy
> any Alexander & Hornung products, I know I never will. Next time I
> want a ham I'll buy my usual... Cook's, never been disappointed.

I'm sorry that turned out like that for all your trouble, but nice that the
store stood behind it. I will say that I was pretty disappointed with the
special order, twice smoked, honey glazed spiral ham, especially for the
price. It really had no smoke taste at all, was way too lean, and the spiral
slicing only went about 3 inches into the ham which made it hard to carve. I
would have much preferred Cook's myself. I sent most of what was left of the
ham home with the kids, and I have leftover lamb for the next couple of
days.

Cheri

"Doris Night" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:58:52 -0700, graham > wrote:
>
>>On 21/04/2014 10:31 AM, Doris Night wrote:
>>> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"
>>
>>>
>>> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
>>> food processor.
>>>
>>> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
>>> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.
>>>
>>> Doris
>>>
>>>
>>Did you use cake & pastry flour or all purpose? I always use the former
>>and have no problems.
>>Graham
>
> I used all purpose flour, same as always.
>
> The difference, I think, is that the way I had always made pastry, you
> cut the butter/lard into the flour. (Or you can use a cheese grater
> and grate frozen butter into the flour.) It doesn't get fully
> incorporated, leaving small lumps of fat that will make the pastry
> extra-flaky.
>
> I've been making pastry for ~40 years, and this is the first time I've
> had an unacceptable product.
>

oh come on now - tell us about your very FIRST pie crust!

I did half a pork loin cut into steaks and brined then onto the gasser for 4 mins per side. Got rave reviews. We had a left over hunk for supper last night.

Cheri wrote:
>Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
>> site but all I can do is leave a message (I left two), don't ever buy
>> any Alexander & Hornung products, I know I never will. Next time I
>> want a ham I'll buy my usual... Cook's, never been disappointed.
>
>I'm sorry that turned out like that for all your trouble, but nice that the
>store stood behind it. I will say that I was pretty disappointed with the
>special order, twice smoked, honey glazed spiral ham, especially for the
>price. It really had no smoke taste at all, was way too lean, and the spiral
>slicing only went about 3 inches into the ham which made it hard to carve. I
>would have much preferred Cook's myself. I sent most of what was left of the
>ham home with the kids, and I have leftover lamb for the next couple of
>days.

Some may think Cook's is an ordinary ham but it's never disappointed
me... and I really appreciate that the glaze is in a separate
packet... I don't use the glaze on the ham, makes it messy and my cats
won't eat it. I don't much care for that glaze either. I buy a
spiral sliced cook's ham like 2-3 times a year, for sandwiches, not to
serve to guests... and I don't clean the bone, I leave it meaty and
use it for pea/bean soup. I will never buy any Alexander & Hornung
products again... it's a disgusting product and they annoy me that the
do not answer their phone or return messages... they're probably
operating out of an abandoned garage in a ghetto slum. I think a
company that offers a phone number should answer their phone or they
are fly by night... stay far, FAR away from Alexander & Hornung
products.

On 21/04/2014 12:40 PM, Doris Night wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:58:52 -0700, graham > wrote:
>
>> On 21/04/2014 10:31 AM, Doris Night wrote:
>>> On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:29:49 -0500, "Polly Esther"
>>
>>>
>>> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
>>> food processor.
>>>
>>> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
>>> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.
>>>
>>> Doris
>>>
>>>
>> Did you use cake & pastry flour or all purpose? I always use the former
>> and have no problems.
>> Graham
>
> I used all purpose flour, same as always.
>
> The difference, I think, is that the way I had always made pastry, you
> cut the butter/lard into the flour. (Or you can use a cheese grater
> and grate frozen butter into the flour.) It doesn't get fully
> incorporated, leaving small lumps of fat that will make the pastry
> extra-flaky.
>
> I've been making pastry for ~40 years, and this is the first time I've
> had an unacceptable product.
>
> Doris
>
The machine will over work the dough in no time at all and AP, at least
in the northern US and Canada, is quite high in gluten. Your by-hand
method is much gentler and doesn't allow the gluten to develop.
Try the softer C&P flour with the processor and see if you get better
results. I use AP for pizza bases and even bread.
Graham

On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 13:31:24 -0400, Doris Night
> wrote:

> This year, for the first time in my life, I made my pie pastry in the
> food processor.
>
> It took 5 seconds to mix up, it rolled out beautifully, and the pies
> tasted like I'd lined the pie plates with cardboard. Never again.

Wow, I LOVE the FP method. The only trick is not to add too much
water (or over mix), but that's the trick with any method.

--
I take life with a grain of salt, a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila