Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Aliska]

Thank you for the informative post. I didn't know about aged flour which could be the cause of some of my failures. Also I don't bake yeasty items very often so my yeast loses potency. And I learned not to buy 5# of whole wheat flour because I don't use it fast enough and it went bad quickly so I started keeping it in the freezer the little packages I was able to get. Also polenta which is hard to find locally, used a lot of that in place of regular corn meal.

The whole wheat I had to have for my steamed brown bread. And I got those down pat where it didn't seem like so much work, using large cans and a big dutch oven with a rack for a steamer.

Don't expect too much of me. I don't like making bread because it has too many steps to it to do it right. I want to make some more square sandwich rolls which were a great success last year and have been putting it off. (Phyllis Stokes on youtube).

I did want to try, however, that one you gave me because of those Croque (sp?) Monsieur sandwiches. Those are a lot of work, too. Also Bruno Albouze made the most absolutely gorgeous bread pudding from pannetone I have ever seen. I haven't gotten around to making that either, and he puts expensive glaceed citrus peel (lemon and orange) to make it pretty and tasty. Yeah I've made my own orange peel and it's a huge amount of fussing.

But I get hours of pleasure thinking of all the things I would make again if I had the energy and ambition I used to. And it is a shame because the internet has opened a whole new avenue for improving my cooking skills I wish I had known all those years ago when I had to cook a lot.

Thank you again. I might try your basic pullman recipe but I've looked at pumpernickel and rye recipes and would rather just buy those. I love those breads though. I like the little square pumpernickel loafs for cheese, etc., snacks and the other makes great grilled cheese sandwiches.

[Jamestown1630]

"But I get hours of pleasure thinking of all the things I would make again if I had the energy and ambition I used to. And it is a shame because the internet has opened a whole new avenue for improving my cooking skills I wish I had known all those years ago when I had to cook a lot."

That's exactly how I feel about creative things in general. I've got so many little ideas saved up, for when I finally have time (and there are so many new resources available to us) - not to mention books to read, craft-stuff to do.

Sometimes it just gets all too 'busy' in the mind, and you have to really sit down and figure out what intrigues you the most, and concentrate on that.

It makes me sad when I hear stories about retired people who don't know what to do with themselves - I'm dying to be retired (hopefully soon!) I think it will be a blast - especially having more time to just be quiet and contemplative.

[Jamestown1630]

http://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/elephant.htm

(Hat-Tip to the Freeper who first directed me to this funny thing ;-)

[mylife]

Licorice?? LOL!!

[Silentgypsy]

Heavenly goodness! Elephants are the cats’ pajamas! Please include me out!

[Jamestown1630]

For the past week, I’ve been suckered-into watching the YouTube feeds of April, the giraffe who is going to give birth (hopefully sometime during this millennium!) at a Zoo in NY.

Watching it made me think that I’d love to work at a Zoo; but I’d like to work with the Elephants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuYR4cTNbB0

[Silentgypsy]

April does a cute little ballet movement with her left hind foot/hoof/whatever. Elephants are so wonderful—especially the fuzzy little babies—so huggable!

[Little Bill]

Her is a bread pudding recipe that I get standing O’s for.

2 cups light cream
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 or more cups of brioche cubes
1/2 cup raisins, if desired
Whipped cream, for topping.

Soak bread in liquid mixture, fold in 1/2 cup raisin's.

Bake at 350 until a knife comes out clean.

Brioche is a pain to make, you can get it at the store it is expensive.

[Jamestown1630]

That looks very good. I make a similar one that calls for bourbon, but I use rum.

[Aliska]

Thanks, and I will try yours after I finish my apple streusel cake tomorrow (have all the ingredients ready to go and pooped out), then my cheese pie with cherry pie filling topping, then key lime meringue pie, and the bread pudding recipe I saved from youtube by an Hispanic woman.

You don't use a water bath for yours?

I don't want raisins in mine. To make the one I want, you put a burnt sugar syrup in the bottom of an 9 X 13 pan. And I had to order some spices, stick cinnamon from Walmart, star anise from Amazon, and my daughter found me some whole cloves. It's an Hispanic woman's channel, made with evaporated milk. And I have 2 baguettes where the whole loaf dried out on the counter. One for the pudding rehydrated and the other for stuffing maybe.

I have so much lined up to do I will never get it all done.

But thanks for the recipe. I made a brioche back in 2012 when I was big into learning to bake bread but didn't like it. I like these and learned the 6 braid on youtube. They are too much work, too.

Too much crust but a Jewish recipe I used to make called for Challah bread. I tried to make baguettes but my yeast was bad. I got some fresh; now I probably should get some more fresh.

I don't think I will like the one with a spice tea (with the star anise) but my daughter wants me to make it. I dug out a nice roasting pan with a rack for the water bath. It does have some nutmeg in it, too.

[Jamestown1630]

Today, the baby seems to be moving around a lot; and April throws her head back toward her flanks, when it does.

She’s been very restless today/tonight, prancing a lot and laying down less often, as far as I’ve been able to watch; maybe things are imminent. But I think the zoo folks may have gotten her dates wrong - apparently it’s very hard to gauge all of this, with Giraffe ladies ;-)

(Tonight my husband and I were wondering why in the world God dressed her like that; husband thought that she and those ‘decorated’ like her, may have developed in a dry area, where she would look like dry, cracked earth; or maybe like a rocky landscape. Other giraffes seem, to the eye, to be more “spotted”, their coats less delineated):

http://www.planetexperts.com/world-giraffe-day-how-many-species-of-giraffe-are-there/

[Jamestown1630]

Today, the baby seems to be moving around a lot; and April throws her head back toward her flanks, when it does.

She’s been very restless today/tonight, prancing a lot and laying down less often, as far as I’ve been able to watch; maybe things are imminent. But I think the zoo folks may have gotten her dates wrong - apparently it’s very hard to gauge all of this, with Giraffe ladies ;-)

(Tonight my husband and I were wondering why in the world God dressed her like that; husband thought that she and those ‘decorated’ like her, may have developed in a dry area, where she would look like dry, cracked earth; or maybe like a rocky landscape. Other giraffes seem, to the eye, to be more “spotted”, their coats less delineated):

http://www.planetexperts.com/world-giraffe-day-how-many-species-of-giraffe-are-there/

[Jamestown1630]

Today, the baby seems to be moving around a lot; and April throws her head back toward her flanks, when it does.

She’s been very restless today/tonight, prancing a lot and laying down less often, as far as I’ve been able to watch; maybe things are imminent. But I think the zoo folks may have gotten her dates wrong - apparently it’s very hard to gauge all of this, with Giraffe ladies ;-)

(Tonight my husband and I were wondering why in the world God dressed her like that; husband thought that she and those ‘decorated’ like her, may have developed in a dry area, where she would look like dry, cracked earth; or maybe like a rocky landscape. Other giraffes seem, to the eye, to be more “spotted”, their coats less delineated):

http://www.planetexperts.com/world-giraffe-day-how-many-species-of-giraffe-are-there/

[Jamestown1630]

Very sorry for the triple post! Something’s going wrong - when I try to post, it just hangs forever; and if I try to interrupt it, and initiate the post again, I wind up with numerous posts. The ‘hanging’ has been going on for months; this is the first time that my attempts to override have resulted in multiple posts.

?

[kalee]

Bookmark for recipe.

[Covenantor]

Just had to follow your interesting giraffe link.

And, OMG, the Rothchilds global tentacles extended to the animal kingdom. Though what international banking has to do with giraffes puzzles me.

;>)

[Jamestown1630]

I wasn’t aware of ‘Rothschilds’ being involved with animals; but there are a whole lot of them out there - huge family - and a lot of them are into more interesting things than ‘international banking’ - things like the Arts, charities, writing...

[Covenantor]

??? Your link listed nine types of giraffes, among them the Rothchilds (or Ugandan) variety. Ahh. poor globalist joke on my part.

[Jamestown1630]

Oh. From Wikipedia:

Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi was named after the Tring Museum's founder, Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the Ugandan giraffe.

I didn't know; but like I said, this large family has spent their money on a lot of valuable things, besides trying to Take Over The World...(and I doubt there's anyone named 'Brain' or 'Pinky' in their lineage :-)....

[Covenantor]

Okie dokie...returning to giraffe babies and food we have...