Zabby,
Fortunately we can shop at the commissary to get those things. They sell baking powder in little packets here but I'm not sure about baking soda. They do have different types of flour but they are number based so I would have to crack the code first. Except the pastry flour that I bought in Belgium which was clearly labeled pastry flour - in French. It is always an adventure. They have a sugar similar to brown sugar in the netherlands except that it is a little more granular and less 'clumpy'. Based on the great cane vs. beet sugar debate, I suspect it may be the 'painted' beet sugar. As you know from Canada, there is a word for brown sugar (cassonade) in French. I confess when I was touring the grocery store in France, I didn't really pay attention to the sugar aisle. But the pre-made creme brulee that I bought at the Picard had a little packet of cassonade packaged with it.

>Think of those who have mortal and pestle and an open fire...outdoors. Nothing wrong with that, just no other options. I have other options, Deanna (Lord! Do I have options). But often use a mortar and pestle (hymmmmm. another gadget, if you think about it) because nothing blends certain things the way they do. Try making, say, a garlic paste, without one. Nothing else produces the same consistency and texture. Similarly, compare a pesto made in a mortar with one made in a blender or food processor.

Many herbs and spices, too, are harmed by heat. So an electric grinder isn't the best thing for them. But a mortar and pestle gives you the exact grind you want, without hurting the spices.

In reading your response Gardenlad, I realized I had written MORTAL and pestle.............hee hee

THERE'S a vision for ya!

The GOD and pestle is much more expensive I'm sure!
hee hee hee

Aw geez....isn't it time to go home yet?
Deanna

Hand blender deal by Hamilton Beach.. Wish I had seen this before I bought mine..

Here is a link that might be useful: IKitchen

Deanna, LOL! (I figured you just meant you got a DH or a son or daughter to do the grinding for you!)

But you're right, we should be grateful that we have the luxury of choosing to sneer at certain gadgets and embrace others!

Melly,
In Paris even the American Store, which had chocolate chips (and canned cranberry sauce --- I think it was around Christmastime I was trying to bake cookies), didn't have real brown sugar, but something that soudns like what you described --- bigger grain, and less moist. Maybe demerrara? Anyway, it was brown in colour, but I suspect it of being the reason the cookies weren't much good, because I did manage to find everything else, and even mixed hard bread flour and pastry flour to get somethign like all purpose (which, btw, is harder in Canada than in the U.S., go figure), yet the texture of the batter was not quite right and the cookies came out waaaay too crisp. Now that I know more about what brown sugar is, if I needed to I might try just using white and adding a little molasses....

(Of course, my French neghbours wondered why I would do a weird thing like bake desserts myself when there was a patisserie on every corner, and I will say they had a point. The tradition of home baking never really took hold in a country with heavenly fresh bread and millefeuilles on every block! But it was my kid sister's birthday and she was homesick.)

Zabby

Zabby,

That sugar you mentioned is also called Turbinare and is close to raw sugar with the molasses still attached. The turb is a smaller grain like regular white sugar, while the Dem is a larger crystal. It does look nice on the top of sugar cookies though. Usually the crispness has to do with the amount of eggs butter or liquids used. The various flours are mostly interchangable for each other, unless there is a lot of mixing/kneading, which brings out more of the stretch in the gluten. A cross between whole wheat and bread fllour can do done, and if the recipe calls for a liquid, a bit of milk will help to brown and loosen the gluten a little. The use of butter vs. margerines also has a major effect on cookie texture. Food chemistry was one of my high school courses back in the 60's.. Imagine that when I was in HS, I could buy a dozen frosted cupcakes for .35 cents, and a dozen sugar cookies for .20. A loaf of bread was .12 and then was increased to .15 per loaf. A nice big 12 inch decorated birthday cake was only $2. Ahh that was the good old days. We had high school baking clases for guys. Some became bakers once they graduated from the trade school.

The sugar in Dutch is basterd suiker. Yes, we are amused by that name... It is somewhere in between demerra sugar and brown sugar in terms of consistency. You have a point about the bakeries. The pastries here are not quite the same as France, so I do bake desserts. I guess it is because they always have cake with coffee but anytime I have had it here, it has been dry as dust. Blech! But nice grainy breads I don't have to bake.

My hubbie came home with a boiled egg maker yesteray. I cracked up. He used it this morning and liked it. I think it was the fact that is turns itself off. He is not as reliable when boiling eggs. Since it is 220 volts at least I know it isn't going home with me later.

Oh I had to laugh at this post. I am a sucker for kitchen gadgets, but only very old ones. They usually do only one thing but they do it oh so well! I own lots of old cast iron grinders and mixers of all kinds and would never part with them. That being said, I like my old ever trusted blender but I had a fit over the very poor results I got with the food processor. HUH.... anyone else own eight potato ricers?..............lol

Marie

Had a potato ricer, but its plunger bent and was totally usless. It got tossed as it was only 2 bucks and wasn't worth fixing or straightening. I just use a regular masher now and don't mind a few small chunks.

melly, I guess I shouldn't laugh since turning off at the right time is the only service my rice cooker does for me, and I LOVE my rice cooker. Every Chinese-Canadian family I know has one that they use every day. But my Indian-Canadian friend's mom mocks it. Actually, she said, "What do you need now, an egg cooker to cook your eggs?" I think she thought she was kidding....

Zabby

I've owned a few rice cookers and have given more as gifts (some recipients actually use the ones I gave them!!!!). When I am mocked for having one (or more) I ask the mockers if they own a toaster or coffee maker. Same principle, right?

How often do you cook rice, toast bread or brew coffee as compared to, let's say, make square eggs?

Jim

My MIL loves her rice cooker. I have so many other things that I have run out of room. So I'm a rebel and still cook my rice on the stove with the aid of a timer - that's another gadget I won't give up. (I especially like the one with the thermometer probe so I don't have to open the oven door to check the temp of whatever is cooking.) I admit, my rice is not as fluffy as hers. But white rice does not excite me that much. I'm a potato girl at heart. My latest favorite is to buy a sack of little tiny potatoes (1 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter - the latest bag was from Israel) cut them in half, toss with a little olive oil and sprinkle with coarse french sea salt (cheap over here) then roast at a high temp until they are brown. The egg cooker is really an egg steamer. I wonder if that makes a difference in the end product? I didn't eat one the other day since boiled eggs really don't do much for me either.

melly,

There may be a carbohydrate out there I don't like but if so I haven't met it yet. ;-)

New potatoes are my fling of this season. As a gardener I've never bothered with potatoes, preferring to concentrate my efforts on things like tomatoes and greens and corn that are so astronimically better when just fresh. I mean, potatoes keep for months, so why bother? But this spring, our second in our small town, I've been getting most of my produce right from the farmers (now I know where all the stands are and their hours, etc.). Bought some wee potatoes in June when they first appeared. OH MY GOODNESS, they were SOOOO good! Just steamed, tossed with a bit of olive oil and a snipping of frish rosemary, I was in heaven.

Some friends came for dinner the next day and though I already had rice on the menu I cooked the last six teeny potatoes and served them also, two per person. Well, I got distracted, and the water boiled out of the pot so there was a teeny burned spot on the bottom of each potato. (Guess I need a special thermostat-off machine for those, too!) I just cut the burned bits off. The potatoes were so good that after dinner one of my friends marched into the kitchen, picked up the pot, grabbed all six little cold, cut-off burnt bits and popped them right into her mouth.

Now we're later into the season, the potatoes don't have QUITE that same buttery brand-new taste, but hey are still darned good. I'm gonna try roasting some like you say, Melly.

Zabby

Zabby, you might check out Wood Prairie Farm's catalog, and see how various potatoes work in different ways, depending on their texture, moisture content, waxiness, etc. Facinating reading. And almost makes you want to convert to nothing but potato growing.

I have a garlic roaster! It can roast three small heads of garlic in only 28 minutes! It actually works really well and roasts it far more evenly that you can do it in the oven or on the grill, in about a third of the time and with far less energy wasted. It really is a single use item, but worth it if you use a lot of roasted garlic, as we do in our home.

Melly, I also roast small new potatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, some garlic, salt and freshly ground pepper, occasionally a snip or two of basil in place of the garlic. I roast nearly everything else the same way, big trays of roasted vegetables: tomatoes, zucchini, sweet potatoes (my favorite), beets, onions, asparagus, snap peas. I have learned that different vegetables take different amounts of time, as was aptly demonstrated last night while eating snap peas so well roasted that they crumbled in my mouth. But the sweet potatoes weren't done yet, and they are my favorite.

Vegetables are also good with a drizzle of maple syrup and some chipotle or habanero, just add the peppers to the syrup and let sit, overnight is usually good. Drizzle....

Annie

flutesee,

Is your garlic roaster a sort of ceramic plate with a cover that you put in the oven (I have a mini one of these, which does just one head), or an electric gizmo that actually heats up (haven't seen anything like this before)? Glad you mentioned it--- haven't roasted garlic in a while and it is time!

GL,
If I try potatoes, I'll start with domething basic and easily available, and may work up to checking out the wide variety from there. But I'm currently pretty committed to tomatoes as my over-the-top obssession. Only so many things one can go crazy with at a time....

Z

Zabby,
It is an electronic gizmo. I used to have a terra cotta one that I stuck in the oven. That makes roasting garlic in the summertime really rough! This little guy is great, and it cost about $30. I got it from the Solutions catalog; I think the website is solutions.com. Warning: this is a very dangerous catalog if your a gadget addict! Enjoy!

Chris

Z,

Everybody and his brother is a tomato freak these days. You are a trend setting type of person. Take my word for it, potato is the next tomato. Beans are interesting too, but GL has that covered. Get into potatoes and go crazy.

Jim

A long way from having it covered, Jim. But thanks for the thought.

I doubt that potatoes will supplant tomatoes as the most popular garden plant in North America. People perceive them as being too plebian and too hard to grow. Neither of those are factual, of course. But truth is how things are perceived, not necessarily how they really are.

If anything comes close to overtaking tomatoes, my money would go to chilies. More and more people are discovering the diversity of flavors and heat levels that are available. Plus they are fun to grow and pretty to have around. I'm growing five of them myself, this year, including one that was a Shaker variety back in 1848.

Will a rice cooker do a good job with sushi rice?

Jim: I cook rice in my rice cooker at least twice a week. I don't eat much toast, so I can't say much about that - but I did just buy a toaster oven so I can bake outside my kitchen and not heat up the house.

As to the square eggs molds that I own, I only use them when I'm bringing to a party - as deviled eggs. The presentation is what is so fun, and people get a kick out of them. Heck I don't even make deviled eggs for myself - too much work, LOL. Do I need them? Heck no. But I love them!

jessy, I dunno about Jim, but I'm just yankin' your and GL's chain about the square molds. I can see the fun. Really, it's no different from, say, cookie cutters (I bought a lovely set of snowflake ones last fall froM Kitchen Krafts.) But hey, I could see the fun in the "just a pinch" "measuring spoons" that started this thread. Kitchen stuff makes me smile, bottom line. I guess I just like food and everything that goes with it!

Zabby

A rice cooker will do a good job on any kind of rice. The cooking time is determined by the amount of water. The thermostat shuts it down (and puts it in 'keep warm' mode) when the water is used up. With a bit of experience, you can use a little more or a little less water, depending on the type of rice. For example, use more water for brown rice, use less for basmati.

My latest rice cooker (Proctor Silex, cheap from Shaw's supermarket) came with an aluminum steam basket which can be placed on top of the pot and under the glass lid. Sometimes I steam a vegetable in the basket while the rice is cooking. Rice cooks in about 20 minutes. If you want to steam the veggie for 10 minutes, wait 10 before adding the basket.

This is not a single use gadget. I use it for cooking grits, the real stone ground grits, not instant. They cook up just like the rice. We should start marketing these in the South as 'Automatic Grits Cookers'. I haven't scratched the surface of this thing's possibilities.

Jim

Jim,
Now you have my interest. I mail ordered real stone ground grits last year. They were really nice. Maybe I'll have to try it when we visit home next Christmas.

I would love to try grits, but here in Canada, we only read about them. Marie

Marie,

I can bring you some next time I am in Tennessee visiting my BF's mom if you like (probably U.S. Thanksgiving this November)! They are sure easy to find there --- I think there is a whole aisle in the grocery store, right next to the biscuit aisle and the lard aisle.

Jim,

Hmm. Tomatoes are old hat, are they?

Perhaps I will need something more exotic than Potatoes to become obssessed with. Hmm; there is already a garlic guru in my area, Known as Ted the Fish Lake Garlic Man. Maybe next year I will try leeks? Zabby the Leek Queen --- has a nice ring to it!

Zabby,
who for now keeps drifting out to the garden to stare longingly at my 75 plants and will the fruit to ripen sooner!

Would sound better with some of the varietal names, Zabby.

Let's see: Empress of the Blue Solaize; The Lyon Queen; Goddess of the Giant Musselburgh.

"Tomatoes are old hat, are they?"

Well, not really old hat. As GL says, tomatoes will remain the most popular garden vegetable, probably forever. But it's time for something else to become the "over-the-top obssession".

I'm betting on potatoes. Yes, they're thought of as mundane. However, they have lots more variety than most people realize and there is a certain mystique about growing them. First time growers dig their spuds with much anticipation. It's great fun to see what has developed out of sight in the dirt.

Many others have not yet had the WOW! taste experience you did with freshly dug potatoes. When they do, potatoes will attract new interest.

Jim

There is definitely something appealing about the mystery of things that grow underground, like leeks and potatoes!

Zabby

In that case, go whole hog and really be different by growing roots and tubers such as:

Salsify; celeraic; parsley root; Peruvian carrot; turnip-rooted chervil; skirrit; Chinese artichoke....the list is endless.

You could, too, explore the myriad worlds of radishes, particularly the diverse colored-flesh varieties.

Of course, the ultimate in underground mystery comes from growing peanuts.

Don't forget that horse radish root.. Mine are coming back from an almost extintion two years ago. A friend of mine is now trying to grow peanuts in Z6 on Cape Cod. Not sure if the season is long enough, but there its certainly a bit milder in the fall.

I present this photo as an apology for being one of the instigators of OT fun. The others can apologize for themselves if they care to. They know who they are. When seats were not assigned, they always sat at the back of the classroom, whispering and passing OT notes. My brain runs OT much of the time. It is a constant source of entertainment. But I realize that forum threads are supposed to stay on topic so far as possible.

So, what is it? It's one of the items cluttering my kitchen gadget drawer. It was a yard sale item. Must have been cheap enough that it was bought without a second thought because a second thought would have vetoed the purchase. I have never used it and don't expect to. If you guess what it is and want it (but why would you?), I will be happy to pay the postage to get it very far from my kitchen.

Jim

Gee, I have one of those.. Its for cutting all the kernals off the corn cobs in one stroke. Mine is a bit closed more and teh two halves actually overlap come. Its a bit messy and you do need a strong nail to push the cobs on vertically so they stand up. Mine had riveted rings, and I sharpened the teeth a bit with a Dremel tool so it would cut smoother. I use this, as well as one that lays flat, but has a curved blade that you slide teh cobs past 3-4 times to cut off the kernals.

But Jim, this is the perfect thread for a bit of meandering. That's part of what I like. Stream of consciousness, baby. Anyway, I think this is on topic. I was looking online yesterday at waffle irons. I have decided that the children eat too many eggos (the cinnamon toast variety) and maybe I should make them some healthier ones.

First, I came across a combination toaster, egg steamer. Relatively cute. But the one that truly amazed me was the toaster oven/egg steamer/coffee pot combo. If one part quit working you would have to replace the whole thing. Then again since it only cost $24.99 to begin I suppose you could expect that. I also expect at the that price that it wouldn't work very well. But if I had a camper of something I suppose the space saving aspect might have appeal.

Jim, how can a picture and discussion of a kitchen gadget be off topic on this thread (not that we've exactly stuck to our muttons). Nor, in my mind, is an apology needed even if it was off-topic. This is the Harvest Forum, after all. When have we ever stuck to the subject at hand?

Anyway, your gadget is for removing the kernels from an ear of corn. It takes a little practice to learn how tightly to hold it against the cob; and you need a large cutting board or counter under it, or the kernels go everywhere.

What you do is cut the stem-end flush. Stand the cob upright on that flat surface, and sandwich the cob inside the ring. The simultaneously press inward and downward.

Do it right and the ring will follow the cob, shearing off the kernels as it moves downwards.

Jim, I am a willing recipient. You can always send it this way. It looks old and has the home country feel that goes with the other old canning stuff I have exhibited in the store. These things are great conversation starters and it is lots of fun watching the kids trying to guess what all this old stuff is for, adults too, for that matter. Actually, any old gadget, can be sent this way, the door is always open hehehe, but the potato ricers need be a different color than the 8 I already own.........

Marie

Marie, be very careful what you say or you may get a package containing Annie's ex-husband. I am not sure if he is a different colour from any you may already own.... ;-)

Zabby

Lad,

I wasn't apologizing for the picture, the picture was my way of making ammends for being so OT in previous posts. Anyway, I get the point about letting this thread meander wherever it will go. I'm not trying to police the thread. Now, that would be a sure way to lose friends!

Melly,

A rice cooker works for steaming eggs. I finally got around to trying it. Just put a cup (not an 8 oz. cup but the little one which comes with the cooker) of water in the pot, put eggs in the steam basket and press the button.

Jim

My bread maker has a jelly making mode too.. Never tried that though as it would only do about 2-3 cups.

Hummm, Zabby

I meant kitchen collectables...lol. One DH is enough, thank you very much. It's good to be back online, missed being here.

Marie

Who knew the rice cooker was a multi-use item? Rice cooker, grits cooker, and now egg steamer. Any other uses. Maybe I'll have to get rid of something to make room for one. I bought an inexpensive faux-Foley food strainer the other day. The body of it is a thin stainless steel, don't know about the parts. The girls want me to make them watermelon popsicles. I couldn't see picking out all those seeds by hand or getting out the kitchenaid strainer attachment either. It will fit in one of my plastic storage boxes that I keep canning stuff in down in the basement when we finish with it.

I should add that the rice cooker has one drawback as an egg steamer. Even though it shuts off when the water is used up, the keep warm feature continues and keeps the cooker pretty hot. So you really need to remove the eggs when they are done to prevent overcooking.

Jim

> My bread maker has a jelly making mode too..

Now if it had a peanut-grinding mode you could get the whole sandwich with one machine....

;-)

Zabby

jimster,

How do the steamed eggs come out? Like soft boiled?

Zabby

Using one measure of water they cook for about ten minutes and come out hard boiled. It probably is possible to use less water and get them soft boiled, but timing may be more critical and tricky. I never make soft boiled eggs.

Jim

Had an opportunity to use the hand blender last night. I had mixed up some mustard powder and also a jar or prepared mustard, and when it was added to vinegar it left a lot of clumps floating. I took that hand blender and placed it in the hot pot of vinegar and was able to easily get all those floating globs to mix and break down very fast. It has two speeds and, once placed on the bottom, has a sort of 'suction' action going on. Its almost difficult to pull out of the liquid once its running. Thats a good thing though, as you would not want to have that blade throw stuff all over your kitchen. The mustard pickle sauce came out nice and smooth.

Ken,

Your comment about the suction of the blender reminds me of a story about someone who was using one of those propeller-like paint stirrers that you use with an electric drill. You've probably already guessed the ending. Yep, he had the drill set in reverse. When he started the motor, one gallon of paint rose from the can and was distributed about the room. A reversible stick blender would indeed be a dangerous thing.

Jim

Love that! What an easy way to paint a whole room all at once!! The Mythbusters tried to blow up a gallon of paint and coat the whole room, but it didn't work very well. Luckily, the only reversable blender blade I use is on my Vitamix from 40 years ago. Great for making ground up ice cukes into a sort of slush for a sugar free drink.. Would work with this hand held unit though, way too tough if I was trying to grind up ice.