Subj: Cooking Basics #27

Your cooking basics tips are generally right on, but ...

DD> CREAMY MASHED POTATO ... you don't necessarily need to invest in
DD> a potato ricer.

I don't make mashed potatoes very often anymore but when I do a
ricer is much superior to a masher. They are also inexpensive and
not too bulky to store away. I really recommend them.

  Subj: Cooking Basics #28

DD> FLUFFY RICE: The foolproof way to cook long grain, basmati or
DD> jasmine rice is to use double the volume of water to rice.

That depends on how old it is and how humid its storage conditions
are. In Japan freshly harvested autumn rice needs only 1 1/2 cups
of water to 1 cup of raw rice. (You and I never have access to
fresh rice here.) Cooks gradually add additional water throughout
the winter and end up using a full two cups by spring. My winters
are so arid that I need noticeably more water in the wintertime than
the following summer.

Briefly frying the rice in a little oil rather than pre-rinsing it
in water is a superior way to make non-sticky long grain rice.

  Subj: Shopping was: Guzzles

 SD> I love to shop at several grocery stores in a day to get the best
 SD> deal

 DD> I shop like Sean, a route around town planned using the weekly
 DD> sale ads.

I don't. The time spent and the gas burned doesn't equal the
savings obtained. I shop at the store directly between work and
home, watch their on-line flyer, use their loyalty card and get
their "members only" additional discount promotions.

  Subj: Gas Guzzles

 JW> My last fill was at $1.60/L so $6.04 per gallon and that was "old"
 JW> gas at the "old" price. I just know it will be higher the next time I
 JW> need to fill up, as the tanker trucks coming north from the refinery
 JW> will be hauling "new" gas.

 DD> YEEEOWTCH!!! My local station just went to U$4.19/gallon
 DD> yesterday - which is bad enough.
 
It's always higher in Canada; our various taxes are significantly
higher. (But so are our highway maintenance budgets.)

 JW> Remember "freedom fries"?

 DD> American Legion's Mess Hall restaurant - where they still list
 DD> "Freedom Fries" for pommes frites.

Why? That was a 2003 protest thing because France was against the
American invasion of Iraq. (So was Canada although we fully
supported the US in Afghanistan.)

 DD> "French Fries" is a misnomer anyway. Properly, they should be
 DD> "Belgian Fries".
 DD> During World War I (1914-1918), American soldiers who
 DD> fought in Belgium were introduced to fries

Nah. They are much older than that. Thomas Jefferson had "potatoes
served in the French manner" at the White House long before that.

Odds are the Spanish, who were the first Europeans to come across
potatoes and bring them home, were the first to fry them. And
Belgium was part of the Spanish Netherlands before its
independence.

Humans have been deep frying foods for at least 4000 years if not
longer.

 DD> That's settled, right?

Maybe, maybe not! [g]


Cheers

Jim


... Mashed potatoes are the rice of Euro food.

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