What I learned today

If you start a yeast batter but keep the bowl in a cool spot, would that slow it down enough to be ready 20 hrs later?

What I would do is put it in the fridge. If the batter normally takes 1/2 hour to activate, I'd take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before it's needed to allow it to warm up and start activating.

-Paul W.

When I make sourdough waffles (which are very light and crispy), I just leave the batter in a bowl overnight on the counter. No room in the refrigerator anyway.

Jeff, your regular yeasted waffle batter might be over proofed at an even cool temp for 20 hours. Hard to tell you exactly not knowing your recipe or temperatures but in general, ways to slow down the yeasty beasties are 1. use a lot less yeast less yeast. 2. lower temp to fridge temp after a brief time of room temp proofing 3. eliminate sugar 4. add more sugar than 1/2 c for 4 c flour- at this ration yeast is retarded.
If it's flavor you're after then a long, slow rise in the fridge is the answer.

[Jenise]

What I learned two days ago is to check for holes in 2 lb bags of berbere that you see in an Ethiopian market because if there's a tear the pressure of your hands will cause it to go POOF in a big cloud, half of which will be on your face and the other half will sink down the top of your blouse and turn your bra orange. Permanently.

LOL.

What I learned today that a bag of Home Style Select Dippin' Corn Chips contained some great-tasting chips for only $1. I looked for reviews online and found some YouTubes going ape over them and asking why buy Fritos? Where are they found? Dollar Tree. I'm as astonished as you are, and I've eaten some.

[Jenise]

What I learned yesterday was that California cheesemaker of note Point Reyes makes an American Roquefort. They don't call it that, but they have absolutely nailed the creaminess, tang and green veins of the French original. I bought this at a supermarket and it comes wrapped in an ugly opaque wrapper such that you can't see the cheese you're buying which I've not seen before. That is, I have bought Point Reyes cheeses in the past but never were they wrapped like this. The store I was at had several Point Reyes options presented this way with slightly different names. Unable to see the cheese itself (pretty poor decision IMO), I just randomly picked one--and got lucky.

I learned today that the tapioca-rice sheets that you use to make spring rolls are not. in. the. least. suitable for making soup dumplings. I will go get proper dumpling skins now.

And, um, er, anybody got a good recipe for spring rolls or lumpia?

[Jenise]

Last Friday I made a chocolate pie dough in my food processor. I don't usually make doughs there but the recipe recommended it and like a dolt I did as I was told--whizzed the flour and chocolate powder together, for a start. At which time I found out that my ancient food processor, lid on, locked in place, isn't airtight. FLOUR EVERYWHERE.

What I learned yesterday was that California cheesemaker of note Point Reyes makes an American Roquefort. They don't call it that, but they have absolutely nailed the creaminess, tang and green veins of the French original. I bought this at a supermarket and it comes wrapped in an ugly opaque wrapper such that you can't see the cheese you're buying which I've not seen before. That is, I have bought Point Reyes cheeses in the past but never were they wrapped like this. The store I was at had several Point Reyes options presented this way with slightly different names. Unable to see the cheese itself (pretty poor decision IMO), I just randomly picked one--and got lucky.

I
My favorite blue cheese used to be Maytag, wrapped in a light foil, much like the Point Reyes. When I could not find the Maytag anymore, it was the ugly wrapping that led me to Point Reyes. I keep it in a Food Saver bag, sealed and it seems to keep well.

What I learned yesterday was that California cheesemaker of note Point Reyes makes an American Roquefort.

I
My favorite blue cheese used to be Maytag, wrapped in a light foil, much like the Point Reyes. When I could not find the Maytag anymore, it was the ugly wrapping that led me to Point Reyes.

I like Maytag blue a lot, too, but I never really cottoned to Point Reyes. (But I've got lots of choice around my nabe so I can almost always fall back on Saint Agur or a random Danish blue. I also love Stilton but quality is so inconsistent.)

What I learned yesterday was that California cheesemaker of note Point Reyes makes an American Roquefort.

I
My favorite blue cheese used to be Maytag, wrapped in a light foil, much like the Point Reyes. When I could not find the Maytag anymore, it was the ugly wrapping that led me to Point Reyes.

I like Maytag blue a lot, too, but I never really cottoned to Point Reyes. (But I've got lots of choice around my nabe so I can almost always fall back on Saint Agur or a random Danish blue. I also love Stilton but quality is so inconsistent.)

I'm with you. I also like Saint Agur.

FWIW, the Point Reyes website has a number of interesting recipes.

I like Maytag Blue. But I more often buy the local blue cheese, Great Hill, made in Massachusetts.

-Paul W.

If you ever get down to the Point Reys Station area, be sure to visit Cowgirl Creamery and Cantina. We used to travel that coastline in our RV with another couple and always loved stopping there. So much to see, taste, and buy. Love their Toma cheese too.

[Jenise]

but I never really cottoned to Point Reyes

Actually, same here. But this last one I bought was a different animal altogether, really fine stuff.

After lots of talk about rice and less carb substitutes found out that the only rice easily available 60 years ago Uncle Ben's Converted is now being marketed as a rice that diabetics can eat. In fact it does indeed have the lowest glycemic index and any parboiled rice has a lower GI than not parboiled. I hadn't had it in decades but Nigerian Jollof rice requires a parboiled rice and I have been using it for that and trying it in other dishes. I am still unnerved at how it can remain shiny, individual grained and not sure I like that flavors and sauces don't cling. Also reminds me of bad supper club/diner rice. I would say that all of my other rices are much more interesting.

Re the paella rice question I would weigh in that there are different types of rice used for risotto and the one best suited as a bomba substitute is Vialone Nano. It is the most highly absorbent of Italian rices and is interchangeable for paella. I prefer it when making risotto because it holds the flavors and because of the technique of constant stirring is quite creamy but not mushy.

I learned today that my local supermarket carries Point Reyes toma and tomatruffle cheeses. Not the blue, though.

What sort of cheese is toma?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

A farmhouse cheese, and with that spelling likely an Italian style, whatever that would be.

I've bought the truffle cheese, it's good.

Speaking of those, though, the one time in the long ago past I bought Point Reyes blue and wasn't so impressed, it was cut in the same size wedges and packaged similarly to the tomas in clear shrink wrap plastic (vs. the short fat wedge with opaque wrapper of the blue I bought this time). What I didn't like about it last time was that it was dry and crumbly, and therefore poor for cheese-and-cracker purposes. I bought it last week though because dry-crumbly would have been perfect for the salad I was adding it to. I would never have chosen something as moist as a roquefort, though in style that's what I ended up with and was very happy to find out exists, even if it underserved the application.

So I bought a wedge of the Point Reyes toma. It's sort of Italy's answer to gouda, but a bit softer and blander. Reminds me of Monterey jack. Apparently it melts very well.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Would you call it boring? I actually love Monterey Jack, though in that same ouvre I gravitate toward Havarti as it's tangier and less dense in texture.

Not today, but recently and I've used it several times now.

Non-stick baking paper folded to use as a lining for bread tins does away with the need to grease the tins and the cooked loaves just slide out. No more coaxing out the loaf with a spatula and no more cleaning butter residue and left behind bits of baked in bread.

I like Monterey Jack, too. I would change the comparison I made--toma is more like edam than gouda. It's very mild, but not approaching the "mostly harmless" category of American pasteurized process chees food slices.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Not today, but recently and I've used it several times now.

Non-stick baking paper folded to use as a lining for bread tins does away with the need to grease the tins and the cooked loaves just slide out. No more coaxing out the loaf with a spatula and no more cleaning butter residue and left behind bits of baked in bread.

Excellent. Parchment's a lifesaver.

[Jenise]

After lots of talk about rice and less carb substitutes found out that the only rice easily available 60 years ago Uncle Ben's Converted is now being marketed as a rice that diabetics can eat. In fact it does indeed have the lowest glycemic index and any parboiled rice has a lower GI than not parboiled. I hadn't had it in decades but Nigerian Jollof rice requires a parboiled rice and I have been using it for that and trying it in other dishes. I am still unnerved at how it can remain shiny, individual grained and not sure I like that flavors and sauces don't cling. Also reminds me of bad supper club/diner rice. I would say that all of my other rices are much more interesting.

As a child, I loved rice. But pretty much the only rices I knew were Mexican and Chinese restaurant rices. Mom bought Minute Rice for me to cook for myself at home (I know I know) with butter, and her only rice dish, which she called Spanish Rice, included tomato sauce for red color and large green bell pepper chunks. I have no idea what her base rice was MJB (the coffee brand) in a big green box, probably also parboiled. When I asked about the bags of long grain rices we'd see at the store, she said we couldn't cook those without special equipment. She made them sound evil.

When I was 12 a new friend in a new school invited me for dinner and her mother made Curry Rice. LOVE AT FIRST BITE. The rice came in a tight plastic tube of a bag with all the seasonings, Reese was the brand name--just add water and butter. It was sold in the closet-sized Gourmet Section at Alpha Beta, our local big chain supermarket. I had never experienced curry flavor before, and the rice had potently flavored little black specks in it I now recognize as unsulfured porcini mushroom bits. The base rice I also now recognize--Uncle Ben's.

I bought that rice mix until it disappeared from the marketplace and eventually made my own version of it. And so began my love affair with Uncle Ben's. But eventually I fell in love with all the other rices in the world and Uncle Ben's became a relic of my past until a camping trip about ten years ago where in some small town in British Columbia I needed easy one-pot dinner ingredients and bought a seasoned Uncle Ben's 'Roasted Chicken With Herbs" rice mix to cook with a few chicken parts and peas. I returned to the U.S. determined to stock up on these for future camping trips, but in the U.S., or at least my section of it, Uncle Ben's is now either the plain rice (and even then it's harder to find) or packets of already cooked, heat-and-eat rices--yuck.

But still, I'm a fan again. It's just one rice among ten or so different types I have, though. And I never cook it alone as plain rice. I always season it and the flavor and texture in especially good IMO for mushroom rice (great for pot roast), curry rice, parmesan rice and a few others. But always 1:1 rice to water ratio. I like the individual grained texture and limiting the water enhances that even more.