I'm sure it must be the same thing, looking at Wikipedia. Trailrunner probably said "leaf" and I substituted the more recent word I heard. From what I read, "flake" might be a corruption of "flare" which seems to be the name of the region of pig where it's found. Or maybe a reference to what it does to the pie. Maybe it's regional. "Leaf" appears to be much more common.

ROTFL about bringing Bob bling. :D

Congrats on bringing out your beignet!

bbstx, I also had to read twice to figure out the buffalo chip earrings! That’s pretty funny! Thank you for sharing the story. I had no idea buffalo and bison had different flavors (yeah, I’m meat stupid at times). And I think you get a special star since you got beignets in there!

plllog, I’m so glad you’re feeling better. This is crazy, but I couldn’t sleep the other night and let my mind wander to the odd foods I liked when I would be sick, and of course it depends on the symptoms, so I totally get salad and chips, although I admit, salad would be my last thought for some reason. When I’m nauseous, I often find myself wanting large meals just after I… uh, you know. Weird, huh?

Yep, I feel sure if I’d not told hubs that it was bison, he’d never know. His taste buds aren’t that fine-tuned.

I couldn’t post yesterday for the longest time, then got busy, but even before I read your answer, I knew, I shoulda picked up the lard for authenticity. Durn it. Thanks for reminding me what I was going for : ) Duck fat or leaf lard here in the Land of the Limited? Nope. I went on a quest for the perfect fries a few years back, looked for duck fat. None. Butchers? You mean the humans who stand behind the meat counter of my local grocery and pretend to know things? I once asked them to break down a chicken for me (to save myself time). Came back to find they’d cut everything into little squares. Nothing was recognizable. And they tossed the legs. Tossed the legs!

So, my Grandma Bird wouldn’t have used leaf or flake yard if it were even a little expensive as they were poor. I’m thinking that bucket of lard will do (I never thought I’d type that last sentence for any reason! LOL). But, here’s another issue. When I do find my dutch oven I’ve got the fry bread tacos covered. The bison is in the freezer, and I intend to prepare and season it as I would a taco (including my own chunky salsa). But to go with it would be the Three Sisters (which my young mind had a hard time grasping as I thought she was talking about her sisters). Recipes online aren’t at all like hers. Now, Grandma Bird, don’t take this wrong if your up there in heaven or nirvana or just ghosting about, or you’ve returned as our cat, Snow, but you didn’t season much. So, now that hopefully I won’t suffer any bad vibes or juju, what do I do with pinto beans, corn, and summer squash (not turning it into soup or adding meat as she didn’t) to make it as authentic as I can, but still… edible. ? I mean, salt and pepper I know, but I was thinking pre-roast the squash (DH hates squash), or give it a bit of browning in the skillet, then add the beans and corn, S & P… and then what? That’s a step further than Grandma B ever went. I feel lost on this. I mean, authentic is one thing, but tasteless, naw.

I should move. You talk about best butter ever. I can’t even get duck fat, and you’re over there eating amazing butter on bread. Killin’ me, plllog! BTW, I agree about the zested sugar on fritters or beignets. I think it’d add a really nice little layer of flavor. You mentioned glaze, but instead of a glaze, what about using the zested sugar as just.. dusted lightly with the sugar?

So, when are the fritters? I can almost see you, butter knife in hand, snickering slyly, sliding a melty pat of butter onto a warm fritter, thinking Land of the Limited, eat your heart out! ; )

Did I tell you my matzah meal came? Now I gotta find some spare time! I need to re-read your well explained latke how-to again, as well. What does one serve with latkes? I mean alongside latkes? DH would want protein of some sort… can it be anything? (thought about cheating atrociously and asking about beignets, but won’t).

I used the term “buffalo” but I think all you get in North America is bison. Buffalo and bison are the same family but there are some differences (beard and hump are the big ones).

From Encyclopedia Britannica: Contrary to the song “Home on the Range,” buffalo do not roam in the American West. Instead, they are indigenous to South Asia (water buffalo) and Africa (Cape buffalo), while bison are found in North America and parts of Europe. Despite being a misnomer—one often attributed to confused explorers—buffalo remains commonly used when referring to American bison, thus adding to the confusion.

I hear that they will not eat beignets.

yeah, 'Bison Bill' also did not appreciate a good beignet

Yes, American buffalo is bison, same thing. The difference was hunted wild vs. ranch raised as cattle, where the grower controls the conditions, diet, and how much/far they walk, which all affect flavor. Ranchers also breed for things like size and fat content, but they haven't been at it with bison for long enough to really mess it up. :)

2Many, I think there are two choices with the fry bread tacos. Either make them authentic, as close to your grandmother's as you can, or reinterpret them for today. Both are legit. Do either one kinda sorta is on the road to perdition.

So if you're making the meat the way you like tacos, and your memory of the three sisters is that it was underseasoned, I say go for something that will please the both of you. Although I think I've eaten three sisters, it wasn't heritage or home made, just food in a diner, and not memorable enough to be sure that's exactly what it was, so let's think it through.

What does your husband dislike about squash? Flavor? Texture? Wateriness? Bitterness? There is little so delicious as yellow squash in chunks lightly steamed so it's cooked through, but still very firm. No wateriness nor bitterness. Really sweet, with lovely texture and exquisiteness. How are you with a steamer basket? Or did you get a steam oven?

Squash, corn and beans all cook at different rates. All turn to goo at some point. If you cooked them all together from fresh and ripe, the squash would be goo and the corn would be pretty well cooked down by the time the beans were cooked. That might be really good! And that might be how it started and why it's sometimes soup. If you want them to be more of a warm salad, the easiest way is to cook each separately, then just toss and/or heat them up together. In the combination, you can add herbs, fat (too bad no duck fat!), heat, acid. Whatever takes your fancy. I'd probably go fenugreek, but that's just me loving fenugreek. :)

You could also take a portion of each of the sisters and puree them with some oil and citrus juice, S&P and, if you like it, cilantro, or tarragon maybe. Heat iup your three sisters dressed in that.

Make boats out of the squash and fill them with refried beans, with corn on top.

String them like beads and smoke them on the grill. Or use one of those grill basket things and barbecue them. Toss with some salt and chipotle powder or chili powder.

The potentials are endless. I think I might have liked your Grandma Bird's simple version. All the components are tasty and may not need a lot of help.

2Many, I am horrified by what the non-butchers did to your chicken!

All it takes to elevate the food culture is to have a few pushy people push the needle forward. Maybe start by finding some like minded people who want to get together and order some rare stuff through the local stores. Then have fine foods parties and invite non-foodie influencers. All that stuff. Maybe after your kitchen and garden are done. :)

So, re latkes, they can be the focus of the meal or a side or something in the middle. Traditionally they're served with sour cream and applesauce as condiments (either or at one time, though there are always some of mushed them together since childhood). Go for real cultured sour cream. Some people like other things like sour milk (leben), "white cheese" which isn't something Americans eat much, thick (strained?) yoghurt, or anything along those lines. Others could go towards ketchup or similar, hot sauce. You can put just about anything on a potato latke.

For a meal, it would depend on dairy or meat. Dairy would have the sour cream, some smoked fish, vegetables. Meat would have no sour cream, maybe a fancy sauce or gravy that's good on both the meat and the latkes. I'd think anything lean. Generally, if you go to the bother of making latkes, they're the star, so less likely to be a side for meat. OTOH, take some out of the freezer and they'd go well with anything from chicken skewers to fillet mignon to sloppy joe's.

One thing a latke is not, however, is a beignet.

The crazy people finally backed off, I got a decent amount of sleep, and I was feeling pretty good. And those bananas, while not totally black, couldn't have been any riper. Out of their debauched yellow dresses, however, there wasn't quite a pound, so I added half of a perfect banana, oh so delicious before the full sugar set in, sacrificed to a bubbling end. The banana fritter recipe called for 3 TBSP dark rum. I didn't have any rum in the house. When I was young everyone drank rum, but I never liked it unless it was fully tarted up in a daiquiri or something. All the places we'd go did this thing with sweet girly drinks. They'd do a light pour on the first one for the young ladies. But then if a second were ordered--and why not when they were so light and refreshing and we were dancing off the calories?--they'd give you the full tot plus the bit they held back on the first one, thinking you weren't such a lightweight after all and someone was paying for the booze. Dangerous, those, especially because you can't taste the amount of rum. Demon rum.

So, with this in mind, I was perusing the shelf at the snooty grocer near the computer store (see thread on the weight of sugar), since I'd forgotten to get any at the normal people store the day before. In California, you can buy alcohol at any licensed premises, including grocery and convenience stores. The owner/operator just needs to be an upstanding citizen, and not in a blighted area, to get a license.

The liquor department at the snooty store has shrunk mightily, probably because of stores like Costco and BevMo cutting prices. The shelves literally shrank. (Well, replaced with shorter ones, at least.) Not much to choose from and I didn't want a big expensive bottle. An older gentleman who I guess runs the department, saw me looking confused and showed me where they had all the same brands in smaller bottles. I've never heard of arranging the bottles by size. I mean, not small on the high shelves and large below, which is normal, but fifths over here, tenths over there, we mostly sell wine here anyway, you lush. There was a 375 ml flask of Myer's Jamaican Dark Rum. Check. Good enough to serve if someone asks for rum, but really just for the baking. (Fritters are pastries, but they're fried, can it really be called "baking", and if not, what do we call it?)

The recipe allowed for substituting a couple of teaspoons of vanilla for the 3T of dark rum, but that didn't sound good, and I thought the lesser amount of alcohol might also affect the crumb, so I didn't want to do that. When I thought I'd get a chance to make them but didn't have any rum, I was thinking Kahlúa would do. I still think it might be a good flavor. I tasted the rum left in the corner of the measuring spoon and didn't like it at all. It's fine in the fritter, but I was hoping for more of a caramel flavor. It just tastes like the rum (not boozy). Kahlúa might be really good!

Anyway, I put the batter in the mixer because it seemed just like the kind of thing that does well that way. The recipe said it should be like soft peak eggwhites. Um. NO. I finally figured out that that meant a mound wouldn't just sink back into the pool. I know all about beating eggwhites. It's nothing like that.

The setup was simple. Cast iron frying pan, not too large, plenty of oil to cover (Safflower), pie plate with paper towels to drain and another with the orange sugar, rack to set them on, spoon to drip from, tongs to turn and move.

The first two batches weren't quite there. The first were too light, the second weren't quite there and too big. I thought of the color of the very best apple fritters ever and aimed for that. Just right. The amazing thing about frying on induction is you don't have to worry about fire. I could turn my back on the ones cooking while I rolled the others in the orange sugar, or even step off for a sip of water. No open flame, no overheating, still a place of caution, but no problems. :)

Patience is a virtue. The batter sinks, then puffs and floats. Turn over and brown the other side. In the end, it took about a minute + fiddle time on each side. The color was a good guide, but even better, they started bubbling like pancakes when ready to turn. Number 6 was the perfect setting on my highest powered single element. I didn't need to adjust it at all.

The orange sugar, however, didn't stick. I did the right hot out of the pan. I did the after draining. I spoke misleadingly earlier when I said I don't like glaze much. The orange sugar was supposed to be instead of glaze. It's really yummy! And brings out the bananiness really well. But didn't stick.

You know I was testing. Um, not just corners. I was kind of starved for carbs and even the not right ones went down really well.

In the end, I loved the orange sugar so much I just dropped it loose all over the fritters, and omitted the called for powdered sugar glitz, hoping more orange sugar would stick, or at least stay on.

The actual flavor of the fritter is very mild and too much like rum. I think less ripe bananas might suit me more, and I might like some small chunks. The texture, however, is divine. The crust is very tender. The crumb is airy and soft. There's just a whiff of banana. The rum doesn't taste rummy or strong. I'm just aware of which note it's singing. What I love is that they're not very sweet, even with the sugar on top. The only sugar in the dough is from the bananas.

Can you see the crumb? I adjusted out the overexposure. It's all lacy and airy. So much so, that tearing doesn't show it. I had to bite that one. :) Such hardships! Now that they're cold, there's more sense of fried in oil, but they're not greasy. The flecks are the orange zest sugar.

The whole mess look lovely stacked under the cake dome. Though, I think, in terms of flavor, I may have made banana beignets.

Bravo!

pillog, I LOVE the way you write!!

5:00am this morning on the back porch, still dark with a light drizzle, holding my 2nd cup of coffee. Squinting at my cell phone... and I see those fritters. Those banana fritters. With orange sugar. I scroll to the crumb shot and have to get up for my readers. Staring intently at the airy holes, the delicate crust, and think 'she must have had her oil at the perfect temperature for that'. I read this: "The only sugar in the dough is from the bananas." {sigh} The gentle sounds of the pond falls fade away. I no longer register the hummingbirds squabbling over the feeders. I re-read 'airy and soft; a whiff of banana'. And finally, the piece de resistance - the 'whole mess' stacked on top of each other, in all their golden glory, needing to be eaten. By me (selfish reasoning). Because of your delightful account, I can taste them, even smell them. Then the cat runs directly in front of me and comes full stop at the porch front (she's white, so I can see her). Something white on something dark moving slowly on the ground 5 feet away distracts me for a moment. I look back at the stack of what I wish were beside me. The cat hisses. I'm jolted from my golden-brown, airy fritter reverie by the sharp scent of skunk. Whhhhyyyyy??? (said in the Sally Field Terms of Endearment wavery cry sort of way).

I second Islay... Bravo indeed!

You were right not to dust something so perfect with powdered sugar. I'd choose those fritters any time over beignets : ) Anytime.

plllog, you’re right, about the bison tacos and 3 sisters. Authentic to grandma Bird (who truthfully, was not a good cook), or reinterpret them and make them good. I’m choosing good. I think DH doesn’t like the flavor, wateriness, or texture of squash. I’ll just use less, and yes, I’ve a small steam toaster oven that’ll work just great. If you’ve not figured it out, and I feel sure you have for some time, I’m not thinking clearly, or I’d not ask for help with something like a 3-veg dish. Embarrassing to admit, but I might have added the squash too early, and made a mess of it all. Tired from remodeling work, unpacking, caring for my little dog (whose prognosis is grim), everyday work, and several other significant things going on. And here I sit, wondering if I’ll mess up such a simple dish! I need to take a wee break. Concentrate on what needs to be done, not what I want to do, right now. Cooking (and eating what is cooked) is my major love. (Gardening, the other. Well, aside from DH of course). I’ve been clumsy at cooking since I started in the new kitchen, stupid mistakes. Can’t really blame it on new appliances, though that has a little to do with it. Not whining, mind you, just realizing that perhaps I need to slow my roll a bit : ) Fritters, stroopwafels, sufganiyot, sfogliatelle, zeppole, and beignets have been rolling through my brain, but will wait until I’m sound of mind and far less busy again!

I think, though, I could finish the remodeling in record time, unpack by tomorrow, and cook anything, including latkes, if only I had a banana fritter or four right now : )

Thank-you, IC and Roxanna!

Overnight, under the dome, as I had hoped, the sugar melted from damp into the fritters. Even though some zest remained, a lot of it melted under the tutelage of the sugar, as well, and the flavor was apparent on the fritters.

Ah, 2Many, if only I could wing them off to you. So, 15 seconds in the old microwave on a Corelle bread and butter plate is the perfect warm up. They do release a little oil, as they must, but that's just the nature of zapping fried things. I took your advice and tried a little butter, and it was good. What was brilliant, however, was St. Nuage cheese. Brilliant. Happy accident. It was open and needed eating.

Thank-you! For the lovely musings on the fritter by phone reverie. Beautifully descriptive, I can see it all.

Re the Three Sisters, tired understands tired. I knew you were looking for thoughts to put together and choose bits of. We know you know how to cook! The other day, I was too tired to recognize a kindred spirit when Writersblock posted about a recipe for ... salad dressing? And I, stupidly, asked if she actually needed a recipe? She was very nice about it, and informing my clueless self that she was looking for inspiration. Which I would have known if I wouldn't get very literal when tired. And voluble. And the words get bigger. When I'm tired. So I understand your tired and your need to turn away from the zeppole. It's still Summer though, and we agreed to wait until the weather changes to do them.

I still have the strawberry ice cream and shortcake-biscuits next week., and the puff. The butter man has not gotten back to me. One of our vendors kind of disappeared for the last few days too. My theory is that they just closed up and went on vacation and the butter man might have too. I haven't heard back from the local dairy about their butter either. Blame August.

So for Saturday, I"m making a barbecue chicken lasagna with blueberry-peach and tomato barbecue sauce. I was thinking I should try your FP pasta, but they had such beautiful sheets at the store, I couldn't help but buy them. But they're nothing like beignets.

Ah! So you did have a warm fritter or two for breakfast! : ) I was wondering! I'm glad it re-heated well in the microwave - often smaller things re-heat pretty nicely. I've never eaten or seen St. Nuage cheese, so of course I googled it. Saw a pic, read 'triple cream' and... Dear heavens! Why can't I find wonderful things such as that locally! (pouty face). I'm so glad you made such lovely fritters, and so happy you're enjoying them. After a case of The Crud, no matter how long or brief, one deserves a bit of heaven : )

Shame about the butter man. Eventually though. And there is always the flour in the butter if you can't find the dry.

Funny, I told myself to chill about cooking anything for a while (and you could tickle me until I wet myself, I would not tell anyone what concoction I made for last night's meal!). Then, there I sat, on the back porch (the only place with comfy seating) last night and started thinking about your comments on the 3 sisters, and of course, that got me thinking again. Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions. I'm not good at making recipes as I go. I'm good at adding or subtracting to existing (new) recipes, tho', to suit my tastes or 'fix' them if needed. I came to the conclusion your suggestion of cooking the 3 separately (and seasoning each with the other slightly in mind), then combining to heat, was the best way to go for a warm side.

Than, last night I woke up and thought of latkes! Ha!

My brain 'froze up' trying to grasp lasagna that's also BBQ, with blueberries and peaches in the sauce. Sounds fantastic, and very unusual!

Today I baked a couple loaves of plain white bread (been a year since we've eaten home baked, which was all we used to eat). Not enough flour to make more, sadly. That's the extent of my puffy baking lately! I use milk, eggs, and butter, but it's a far cry from a beignet.

And yeast! Where there's a yeast, there's a puff!

Making up stuff, like a new sauce, takes contemplation. Like should I grill the peaches first? I'm substituting the fruit for brown sugar and molasses. I've going to put some orange juice in too, probably, because someone wasn't careful getting out the milk and lost the new bottle of OJ on the floor, breaking the top and the safety seal. Ugh. I've made bbq chicken lasagna before. Think bbq chicken pizza with more cheese. Or, wait, you probably don't have that there... Basically, chicken or chicken sausage (I have two kind of mild Italian chicken sausage, and a pound of ground chicken which I'll brown with barbecue spices), smoked cheese (I have mozz, and a couple others of different textures), normal ricotta...maybe I should put the oj in the ricotta instead instead of the sauce, or both...red onions for looks, or Spanish, mushrooms, multicolored bell peppers, and any other veg you think will go with barbecue. I have some mixed riced veg from TJ's I got as a cheater, and some wild arugula and basil.

ack! The time! Off to be useful.

Reading about your foray into reclamation of your baking oven, i was wondering, if you dropped balls of white bread dough into hot oil, would you get anything like beignets?

Well of course yeast! And flour ; ) Mentioned the milk, eggs, and butter because not everyone uses one or all in plain bread. I like it rich, of course. Ha! I think I over-proofed it a wee bit, but will know when I slice it later tonight.

No! We don't have bbq chicken pizza here - hey, you're catching on to my pitifully limited stores! But... I can make it someday if someone, like my friend plllog, reminds me : ) Your lasagna sounds so unusual... do you ever wish you could taste other's dishes here? Well, of course you do. Me, I'm still day-dreaming about fritters. Banana fritters.

Gonna toss in my 2 cents and say, yep, I'd grill the peaches, just because that sounds like it'd go with the bbq lasagna. Have you made this before, or some rendition of it? Or am I the last on earth to know about such a thing? It does sound good : )

I'd imagine so, now that you mention it - the doughs are so similar. Huh. Never occurred to me. I still can't find my cast iron, my dutch oven, or the fry daddy I've tucked away. Unpacked two more boxes earlier this morning and no joy. Eventually they'll turn up.

Ok, back to work for me as well. And I can't think of a single beignet comment.

ROTFL!!! I knew you knew you used yeast and flour! I just meant the part about the puffing and the possible relationship thereby to beignets. I might even learn to like chicory coffee if a lovely man were bringing it to me every morning with beignets. Did I mention I took most of the fritters to lunch yesterday. The one who is a trained cook, but not a natural cook and with limits on cooking and food knowledge, asked if it was supposed to be soft. Yes, I said. Crispy was a different kind of dough. The bananas are far too moist to crisp. "Oh. Yeah. But what about apple fritters? They have crunchy bits." But those are the thin edges that dry out while the center of a big ol' apple fritter is getting cooked through, and they get hard and then are soaked in icing, which hardens crunchy, and keeps them on the chewier side of too hard. But I didn't say all of that. Just a few words so as not to cause embarrassment. BTW, you can call your bread "enriched". It's a thing. And if you did a ritual sacrifice and made your loaves with an uneven top you could call your enriched loaf "challah".

Without invoking the evil eye, I'll mention again that my cast iron grill press has not showed up to this day after the remodel. I saw it out of a box, put it somewhere because its drawer wasn't lined yet, and it has been gone ever since. Sending you brownies and cooperative fairies to locate all your cast iron and safely restore it to your hands.

I've made barbecue chicken pizza before. I can't remember exactly what I put in it besides some leftover roast chicken, chicken sausage (might have been roasted red pepper chicken sausage) and the less sweet, more tomato-y barbecue sauce I invented when FOAS was looking for something for pulled pork (or something like that) that was less cloying than the norm. But I've also seen peach barbecue sauce and blueberry barbecue sauce, and oj used in barbecue sauce, and I've made countless lasagnas of the clear the fridge variety. I'm still consider the fruit. I like the idea of the acid from the oj, but it may be too sweet. I could use red wine vinegar. But still may use some oj in the ground chicken. I'm going to concentrate on the peaches, because they need using, and only add the blueberries if the sauce seems like it needs it. I also have a few spoons left of meat juice/demi-glace leftover, and I might add some or all to boost the savoriness. I'm also considering serving the mushrooms on the side, sauteed and cooked to get them a little charred. This is the way I cook, often. If the outcome is stellar, I write it down, like my pumpkin lasagna. :)

By other people's dishes, do you mean that laundry list of everything you cooked sous vide last year? Hmmm? Oh, boy!

Give your dog a kiss of encouragement for me.

I think I've earned a nap. I'll be dreaming of Italian waiters with curled mustachios bringing me demitasses and beignets.

You had to know it was coming:

Banana Fritter bread pudding. With the end of last week's challah to have a bit of variety. Also pecan halves and banana slices. I thought about spicing and toasting the nuts, poaching the bananas, flavoring the custard, etc., and decided it was too much. No added sugar even. If I were serving this to impress, I'd make a cinnamon icing and Gran Marnier hard sauce, but simple is good. :)

I'm not so sure about making bread pudding from beignets.

I didn't mention, the lasagna got pushed to Sunday. I just made the barbecue tomato sauce. It's AWESOME! I've been doing a lot of recipes recently. It felt so good to just go in the kitchen and cook.

It's about two two-handed handfuls of small diced peach, one normal double handed handful of blueberries, a skim of lite olive oil to start them in, until they were shedding juice and beginning to melt. (The peaches were too soft to grill.) During, I added some Penzey's Adobo seasoning and BBQ 3000 (if it were "important", I'd make my own blends but for just cooking, I check what's in it and if sounds like what I'd use, I put it in. In the long run, the proportions don't really matter unless they're whacky. I just adjust as I taste.) Added a big can of organic diced tomatoes and a medium can of fire roasted. Turns out the latter have jalapeño, which I didn't realize (I read labels, but last time I bought the same product it didn't have them--ETA: It does say on the front in small print. I'm sure I bought it on purpose but it's been too long to remember and it was just sitting insouciantly in the pantry waiting for an invitation to dance) until I tasted the sauce after adding cumin, smoked spanish paprika and a little chili powder, and evening it up with some s&p. It has a little kick. :) I hope the lasagna will mild it out for the old folks. :) Oh, I also put in about a fifth of a big plastic spice bottle of dehydrated onions which were self rehydrating. Perfect way to use them up. And then I dumped in the beef braise from the doggy bag. SO good. You can have your Worcestershire! Demi glace with the addition of beef juice, braising veg and salt. What an impact! It's not enough to single out the flavor. Just an umami bomb come to court the tomatoes.

Yeah, this is off topic, but I'll bring along some of the fritter pudding for afters since I'm completely out of beignets. :)

ETA: The final picture doesn't do the color justice. It's a deep, rich barbecue sauce red, but the flash makes it a lot lighter and brighter.

OMG!! The bbq sauce was so much even better this morning. I know this is off topic, but it started with the pasta, which I didn't make, but which did follow from the FP thread. :) I figured something out today. In my big Bunzlauer baking dish, one pound equals one layer. I can't remember which is where in the stack, but the fillings are mixed grated cheese (smoked gruyere, smoked something white with an odd American name (ETA--ewww. Picked the label out of the trash for the third time and finally remembered it long enough to tell you: It's Beecher's Smoked Flagship cheese, from Washington--it's very good), and semi-dry (as opposed to fresh and wet) mozzarella). The ground chicken was cooked with adobo seasoning and pancetta (it wasn't ever going to masquerade as kosher, and since that's a binary state, c'est la vie). There was some bought cooked sundried tomato and basil chicken sausage. Ricotta with eggs and OJ. The riced veg medley cooked in OJ until dry, sprinkled with wild arugula as it was layered. And, of course, the peach blueberry tomato barbecue sauce. Stacked high, with sauce on top, and covered with gooey fresh smoked mozzarella mixed with some of the semi-dry mozz to give it something to cling to. I was very careful with the moisture content so it would travel well, but still be moist. Served with brown butter cabernet crimini mushrooms. The kick settled down to just flavor and everybody really liked the lasagna.

They liked the banana fritter pudding, too, which I only took because I had it, and just a little bit. Not a lasagna informed choice. :) "Stuffed" was heard. :) It might have been nice to have the puffer kind of flyaway beignets.

plllog, before I forget, and I'm liable to given the photos and commentary above... Thank you for mentioning our little dog. I kissed her cheek from you and told her : ) She's been getting a lot of cuddles, top of the head and cheek kisses.

How do I put this? Your killing me ; - ) In a wonderful way, yes, but killing me! I want to taste it all! I love bread pudding. But those fritters as bread pudding? I'd not have thought of it. And I'd have eaten half that dish right out of the oven. Do you even realize how tantalizing that looks? Do you understand how stomach-growling inducing that is? Aaaah.

While I cannot make up recipes, I am good at looking at ingredients and technique and knowing if it's good, or should I clarify and say good to me. Most of us here can, at this point in our culinary lives. So again, the ingredients, technique, and the description of the sauce had me salivating. I've never tasted anything similar, yet I could from your commentary. Odd, huh? The sauce in the tupperware? I wanted it. I'd have put it on anything! Ha! I was so thrilled for you that your sauce was so amazing.. and then I saw the lasagna this morning. Again drinking coffee on the back porch. It's cooled off here, and each layer of that lasagna looks outrageously good. I'm counting 4 layers. I can't ever get past 3. Need your lasagna dish (lovely, BTW!). Wonderful job of keeping the moisture content to 'just right'. I might have gone overboard with such amazing sauce. We have 2 kinds of mozzarella here: The processed floppy kind, and the fresh wet kind (at least we have the fresh!). Reading, every time you added one more ingredient, I thought I'd die from just desire. I mean, ground chicken with adobo, then pancetta? It was the crimini that finally did me in : )

OMG! I laughed so hard when I read that you got into your trash for the label, more than once! - I've done that! It's gross, I know, but sometimes one does what one does! And sometimes... one must repeat!

Busy weekend, so no joy finding a fry bread vessel. Yellow squash in the fridge needs to be eaten now, but DH won't touch it. Jumped the gun on that, thinking I'd have more time for box unpacking. Eh. Not puffy, but I need the same for latkes too! Not to mention beignets.

The enriched (!) white bread came out lovely, albeit a bit off kilter (rushed and pretty much dumped the dough in), shared half a loaf with the fella who's building our garden. Also made Ann's artisan bread, did not screw it up this time, and managed an 'ear' on one boule by pure accident. I'm posting it on another thread but double pic's aren't outlawed are they? : ) I feel I must contribute something puffy!

Oooh! Lovely bread! Of course, double posts are allowed, and we needed puff! I'm working my way toward a few weeks of ultra-low carbs, so much as I'm showing all this fun stuff, I'm actually slowly backing off of the carbistry. I have until Thursday (the last birthday dessert, since I'm still running down butter. I had a nice answer from the local butter who check ed with their lab. The like any butter info on the website is what they're currently selling). I want bread. I want to make bread. I have to feed my starters whether or not I make bread. Sigh. And I want to see what happens if I fry regular bread dough. :)

I sorry (a little) for tantalizing you so. The barbecue sauce is mostly easy to make. The tricky part would be the leftover beef braise, but one could buy a jar of demi-glace (Amazon, if not available near you, or you can make your own), reduce some beef stock with some aromatics, and add some strong seasoning. Or...Make braised beef and make sure to reserve a quarter to half cup of the juices. Even the peaches and blueberries can be gotten frozen if not fresh, though now's the time to do it for fresh. :) Which is a long way of saying, I wish you could taste it for real too. Your enthusiasm for the description is very gratifying. BTW, I have some leftover cheese mix. I'm thinking a bit of the sauce for quesadillas.

Yes, that's four levels of filling in the lasagna, plus the topping. Five levels of pasta. That's because of the flat fresh pasta sheets. Even better are the lasagna pan sized sheets from the Italian deli, but pasta machine sheets are still great. That's what I want to learn to make when I'm back to carbs using your FP recipe and my inexpensive roller machine. Even the sheet style dried pasta doesn't make such nice layers. The "lasagne" with the ruffle edges come in two types (which you probably don't have there)--the noodleier large ruffles and the harder, more open textured micro ruffles. The latter are higher quality pasta but don't make as nice a lasagna casserole. The former are nice enough, but they rehydrate very thick and pasta-y, unlike the sheets that are thin and just divider-y. The sheets are more elegant and do better with crumblier fillings. The ruffle pasta is great for a heavy, traditional, meaty cheesy, saucy, carby comfort bomb.

So, given a three inch side to your pan, the secret to getting so many layers is to have a good control on lumps. My regular meat sauce tends to be lumpy.. The lumps in the tomato barbecue sauce, crumbled sausage and ground chicken were all pretty even. and not too huge. Also, put a sheet pan on the bottom rack and let the top be above the rim of the dish. It doesn't usually drip, however. It sinks as it cooks and the cheese melts. Re sauciness, I actually used a lot--I just reduced it to very little loose water. I put the mushrooms as a side dish, however, because even totally cooked down, they can release unexpected moisture. Similarly, I made sure the veg were tender but cooked until dry, and having forgotten the bell peppers and onions until I was half done, I decided they'd be too wet anyway. Not having the lasagna drip over the sides in the car is priceless. and being able to lift out a clean square from the first corner on makes serving beautiful.

It passed the ultimate test this morning. The leftover cut piece was great cold for breakfast. The fritter pudding is much better piping hot. Cooling it was very good. Cold from the fridge it's only okay. Zapped with some drippy cheese on top? Fab!

I think I'm going to have to wait until after the carb hiatus to make beignets.

“Carbistry” – I love that! Gave me a very nice chuckle : ) Ha! Never apologize for tantalizing me… you never know, maybe someday I’ll ‘create’ something such as your lasagna… or maybe not. About the only thing I can create is chicken or tuna salads. I just toss things in until it tastes good. That’s simplistic though.

I think my issue on lasagna layers is that I put too much in between. Of everything. DH’s favorite is a lasagna that uses 4-cheeses stuffed ravioli (I make the ravioli a day or so ahead as I can never do the whole thing in a day). It’s pretty decadent, but once a year is fine : )

That lasagna, I’d have gotten up in the middle of the night and had some, cold. I do that when I really love something, especially if I’m lying awake and can still smell the cooking scent of whatever it is.

See, there ya go again, talking about those fritters. I had nada for breakfast. Cabinet people and garden fellow here, trying to cook and do deskwork. But I thought about those banana fritters and the banana fritter bread pudding. Truthfully.

I’m hoping this weekend I find the cast iron. Getting antsy to make either the fry bread meal or latkes. Both, really. As agreed, when it’s cooler, beignets : )

Oh, I have your permission re tantalus. Remember (or not...I'm not sure if you were in that thread) the raspberry jam experiment? I made a test before the real jam for the princess cake. I used the low sugar activator style pectin. Annie had mentioned that it could give a weird texture. I also over reduced the tester. I think maybe there is an odd texture, but it's only noticeable if eating straight off the spoon. Anyways, since I didn't need it for the cake, I bethought me to try it on the banana fritter pudding, which I had zapped with a piece of havarti. The latter was a dud. I can't get the really good havarti that was amazing melted onto stuff. This was just cheese, and didn't melt in. The "bad" jam, however, was so much more amazing than any slice of cheese could be. The intensity of the raspberry flavor, without seeds to navigate, is awesome!!! It didn't hide the flavor of the fritter pudding, but bumped it up a couple levels of complexity. I ate too much of it though. Unlike regular jam, it doesn't have that squishy candy taste because of the lower amount of sugar.

I've made ravioli pizza (pizza sauce and toppings atop ravioli rather than crust), but never ravioli lasagna. That does sound decadent! It seems a bit of a shame to make nice ravioli just to bury it in a lasagna, but I just just imagine the pleasure of that lovely cheese oozing out of the middle of the pasta. Couldn't you just fake it? Lay down a layer of pasta in your lasagna, dot it with ravioli filling, and cover it, then continue layering up? If that's your pasta, however, no wonder you're not getting as many layers!

So, if you can be creative with tuna or chicken salad (I am!) you can create anything. You know how to anticipate flavors. You just said so. And you know how to cook. The big stumbling block most people have is that they really don't know how to cook. They think they do because they can produce meals, but they really only know how to boil and bake according to the directions. So, you've adjusted recipes, right? Creating a recipe is mostly a combination of that (though the recipes might be part of the knowledge base in your head) and what you do when you're inventing what to put in the tuna salad. That is, figuring out flavors and textures while go together and with your main protein. If you want to test yourself, grab (mentally) four things that you want to use for dinner at random, and figure out how to make them work. This isn't a competition, so if you really want to use the fennel but it just doesn't seem to go, it's okay to put it back.

The carb hiatus has been pushed. The birthday girl has to get her teeth attended to on Thursday. She was concerned when she told me about her strawberry ice cream. I promised we could do it Saturday night. :) But biscuits, not beignets.

Yes, I did follow your jam experiment, and I though I didn’t post much on the Princess Cake thread I followed it as well. Well, there you go again talking about those banana fritters and the pudding. I’ll come round to that again in a sec…

I once (once, mind you) made raspberry jelly/jam for fancy truffle filling. Not having a clue what I was doing, I just winged it (ok, so apparently I’ve made up a few recipes?), tossed in lots of raspberries, a wee bit of water, added probably way too much sugar, and the pectin I found at the grocery. Never used pectin before, and it blobbled up right off the bat, but melted in. Somehow, by chance, it cooled down to the correct ‘thickedness’ (ha!) for inside a dark chocolate truffle. When you took a half bite, the raspberry didn’t ooze out, and the texture was good and clean (no seeds), the flavor just strong enough. It was the only non-ganache truffle I’ve made. But I ruined a sieve pushing those seeds through, the jam was so thick. One of my favorites. I’m with you, not fond of raspberry seeds. Or blackberry seeds.

So, plllog, is it just you and I now on this thread? Are there any silent readers? If not, I’m fine with that as I’ve so enjoyed our sharing and our conversations. Much like the F.P. thread Kool Beans started, I love the curves and side roads we take : ) But it would be nice if someone else was reading about your recent creations. Two nights ago I was up, sitting outside on the back porch, quite late (darned muscle spasms in my legs from too much work), and I could not stop thinking of your fritters. That crumb shot did it for me. And your description. And the fact I’ve never eaten a banana fritter, but love banana. Then I thought of your unique lasagna, and the photos posted, and it occurred to me, you should have posted those on separate threads. I feel very sure others would have been dreaming of fritters, and mind-tasting that lasagna, as I did. It bothered me a bit, actually. Thought about it again last night, late, again, muscles being naughty. Finally I poured some emergency zero-sugar Powerade, which I hate, but it’s the only thing that helps. Water, potassium tablets, and yes, even bananas, don’t work. I thought of that decadent bread pudding from the fritters, and snacked on that awhile in my mind as I sipped that awful drink, then again to the lasagna, wondering if it tasted anything like my day-dream brain said it did.

I’d agree, a shame to waste ravioli (and clearly you made ravioli, or you’d not have thought that!) in a lasagna, except… it’s just that good. And it’s just once a year. What? Did you say fake it? That did not come out of plllog’s mouth! Ha ha! Well, that’d just be lasagna then!

You know what? I did ‘create’ a meatless pasta recipe once. I forgot all about that! Had garden tomatoes, Vidalia onions, and tons of basil from the herb garden, and I made (ok, I actually got this recipe online now that memory improves) – Vidalia onion pesto. Pasta went back into the tomato sauce, and when done it was topped with the Vidalia pesto, which was mild enough not to overwhelm the other flavors. I made it 4 times it was so good. No garden tomatoes of late, but there is next year. Still, nothing like your lasagna. That’s far more intricate, far more complicated with layers of flavor.

4 things, huh? Ok… For the fry bread tacos (yeah, back to that old thing again), I’ll make up the sauce (tomatoes, sautéed onions, a few spices, toss in some fresh herbs – but that’s all standard…), and… peppers, not too hot coz I’m a wimp, but enough to add heat-flavor. I’m sure I can find those here. Surely. I wonder… what if I mixed cheese into the fry bread batter? No. It’d just burn probably. Maybe I’ll try it anyway. Mexican crema to top it off. I’ve crème fraiche. Yeah! Not Grandma Bird’s version, but mine! And for the 3 sisters… I’ll wing that too (create it), since my memory is that it was bland. So my plllog-inspired task is to make 3 sisters as a side dish, without looking at any recipes, and make it my own. {Big Smile}

So I’m confused, are you making the ice cream? Are you making the entire dinner? Are you traveling with it? Me thinks so : )

I’m taking a couple weeks off from GW and anything not related to remodeling or deskwork – and cooking simple meals. Though truthfully, I may try to pop in now and again. But we’ve got another big push coming, and I have a few wounds to lick before we start. Pick up where we’ve left off then?

It’s decided. Soon as I catch up on things, the weather will be cooler (we can hope!) and I’m making those banana fritters, maybe even before the beignets.

(I really couldn't blame anyone for not wanting to read my ramblings!)

Travel is a grand word for a few miles. ;) I changed my mind when I saw the chickens at the butcher counter. Huge. Ugh. I got boneless breasts. I wasn't originally responsible for this birthday dinner, just the ice cream. That was the birthday girl's request. But because it's now on Saturday, I'm making the dinner, so it was going to be roast chicken because she asked for Marsala but it thought it didn't go with strawberry ice cream. Now I have breasts, but didn't think to go back and get mushrooms. I don't know if I'll have a chance to get them, and I'm thinking some kind of lemon (not piccata) would be better with strawberry ice cream to follow. Oh, and she asked for onion rings rather than biscuits, and I'm not sure lemon goes with onion rings.

So, maybe lemon, ginger and garlic. I don't know why that sounds like good with onion rings, but it does. And I don't even like ginger with garlic!

So, why post here? I felt like chatting about the lasagna and bbq sauce and chicken, because this has turned into a freewheeling chat, but I don't do the WFD threads, and they're just food. Maybe we need a just food chat thread? But I still have my mind on the fry and puff experiments. I'd love it if others would join in. I do think some are reading. BTW, I asked about the butter today and the man I spoke to said that it looked like they had probably worked on it but not resolved the issue.

If you're disinclined to continue here, feel free to stop. I've been enjoying the chat immensely. Enjoy your respite and heal well! I'm writing this not for a response, but in case you and anyone else reading wants to read it. I like your ramblings.

Your winged it raspberry truffle filling definitely counts as creating your own! So does the pasta with tomatoes and onion pesto. I've never heard of onion pesto, but it sounds like something I ought to learn about.

Yeah, I don't think cheese would improve fry bread. Too heavy. You could make a side of battered and fried cheese using the end of the fry bread batter. Cheese poppers, basically. Brava on the three sisters with no training wheels project! So it's three things--close enough. Whatever you come up with can't be bad. The three with just some salt would be fine. So anything you think of to make them really good should work.

Why not fake stuff? I'll take your word that rolled out ravioli that haven't been sealed and cut would not be the same. I was going to do a whole stuffed thing, experimenting with wonton, ravioli, and similar. I got a ravioli press for my pasta machine, and a really cool flippy dippy folded maker, thinking about quantity. I can do it by hand but am slow, and the only such thing I willing to make in large quantity is borekes. But something happened and I've never gotten back to it. Maybe after puff and fry, I should go back to stuffed. :) But I don't making faking it in the kitchen. I mind fake food, and I really mind mayonnaise substituted for cooking or seasoning, but I'm not anti-jars and cans if their good--I don't often use them, but am glad to when appropriate--and I don't mind inventing short cuts. :)

So, for now, I'm just getting through this weekend's special dinner, then on to the cooler weather and the beignets.

FWIW, I’m skimming the thread from time to time. We seem to have been pretty busy lately although I can’t tell you what we’ve been doing....but there’s been lots of it! HA!

I am not here. Since I am not here I will keep this simple. Oh that's such a strain for me. I will be returning, and a food convo thread that meandered would be awesome. But this is that. Please post your B-day dinner pic's. Please? I can ogle them. I am still not here.

FWIW, almost anything goes with strawberry ice cream (not oysters). Lemon, ginger, and garlic are lovely together, and I've done it with chicken piccata. Mayhap your tastes prefer something else? Burgers, onion rings, and strawberry milkshakes are wonderful, so why not chicken, onion rings and strawberry ice cream? : ) Again, still not here.

bbstx, so glad someone else has witnessed plllog's fritters and lasagna! As an aside, I meant it when I said the ice cream recipe was NOT a dud.

Not here.

The chicken was never an issue. I just can't feature following up mushrooms and marsala with strawberry ice cream. Pistachio maybe, but not strawberry. But I have to go to the post office, so I could buy some mushrooms and do it anyway. :) But chicken marsala and onion rings? If she's feeling better today, I'll ask her.

I don't know if there will be pictures of the meal or not. I have to make the onion rings, and frying and iPads shouldn't be in the same room. :) I'll try...

ETA, yes, she sounded happy and interested in orange ginger chicken, which sounds much better with beer battered onion rings, followed by strawberry ice cream. I'm going to try to keep the chicken on the sour, spicy, savory side, so it won't turn into a carbtastic coma affair.

This is the chicken recipe. I was in the middle of looking for influenes when I read this and it sounded good. Thinking on it, it says "fresh garlic" so maybe the oj was meant store bought and the ginger and zest dried. I didn't do that. I used oranges and ginger. It was really good. Perhaps with fewer fresh ingredients it would still be good. It calls for 1.25 lb of chicken. I was a couple ounces over that with three b/s breast halves. There was plenty enough sauce for another breast or two. I brought the extra home. Because we had onion rings, I didn't make rice. The sauce would be great over rice. I served the whole thing over baby spinach, letting the sauce wilt the spinach. That worked great, but could have used another couple handfuls. The chicken was just the right amount for four moderate appetites.

Sorry about the lack of pictures.

i overslept and ran out of time on the ice cream, so It's back to strawberry shortcake with strawberry ice cream on Tuesday with someone else cooking. I'm not sure if I should churn it tomorrow and let it get too hard in the freezer or let the mix sit in the fridge--the eggs and cream are cooked, but not the strawberry puree. Whatev...

Again, I'm not here... Your chicken recipe sounds quite good, and I bookmarked it. Thank you : ) I made an Orange Chicken Instant Pot recipe some while back, and curiosity got me so I looked it up to compare as it was just awful. I did not use fresh juice, it has sugar AND brown sugar... no rice vinegar... in other words, I will be swapping the recipes! I like the idea of serving it over baby spinach (which I adore!). It's Tuesday now, but I'd have suggested making the ice cream ahead for the sake of ease. But we all know fresh made, soft, is to die for. I also like the idea of strawberry shortcake with strawberry ice cream.

Ok, so I really am here... trying not to be ; )

PS: for another time, though I feel you know this already, if serving all or most of the ice cream, you can soften it in the microwave once without creating ice crystals. 10 seconds at a time. I don't care for too frozen ice cream either. Can't taste it well.

Yeah, tongue numbing isn't good! I forgot that it was two days between, not one, so churned it Sunday. It'll be very cold I will definitely try to remember to put it on the counter for awhile before serving. I also need to remember to take my sawtooth scooper. :) Thanks for the MW tip. I didn't know. I'm not sure about putting my fancy ice cream container in, though.

Re the chicken recipe, even though the instructions say something like "or stir fry", I have no Asian cooking skills. It said to cook the chicken strips in a skillet. I used a cast iron pan. After both sides were good and brown, I stirred them around a bit, but that's not stir fry. :) I don't know the dishes the author was comparing it to, but it is good and all the flavors are distinct. It did seem a little salty, but I used up the end of a bottle of lite soy sauce, and that might have reduced some over time. OTOH, I'm sensitive to salt content. But, yeah, the flavors are well balanced.

I hope the not being here is having a good effect!

Sorry. No pictures. The strawberry shortcake was served in shallow cereal bowls with spoons, which turned out to be a good choice. The biscuits had a strange texture but tasted fine. I may have overdone the buttermilk. The strawberry sauce was nice--fresh tasting and not overly assertive. I looked at it when it was theoretically done but still too lumpy and decided I didn't want to stir it any more, so thought about the Vita-Mix, but I wanted it to have some texture and thought I'd lose too much in the pitcher. It was shallow, but I risked the immersion blender. It was just deep enough not to spray. Yay! Perfect texture. Which is why I have a lot of tools. I didn't forget the sawtooth scoop, and I remembered to take out the ice cream just as people were starting to finish the dinner. It wasn't icy and scooped okay with M. Sawtooth. No beautiful rounds, but it was fine. And being so frozen, it didn't melt before it even landed on the table. The birthday girl was thrilled.

Yes, I'm getting things done, thank you : ) But it's hard to stay away, uh, clearly! Your strawberry shortcake dessert sounds wonderful... I am glad you mentioned using the immersion blender. I've recently purchased one, my first. I love it, but need to experiment and use it more so I am familiar with what it can do. Shocked at how well it blends. Far better than a blender. Of course my blender is just a basic unit. I'm glad the birthday girl was thrilled with your gift of food, but I would not have expected any less.

Ok, the sawtooth scoop - that had to be a joke, right? I laughed aloud when I read that the other evening on my cell... surely heard by at least 3 neighboring homes! You didn't ask, but I like melty ice-cream (sensitive teeth and mouth I suppose).

I miss cooking, plllog. Terribly. Oh well. When relaxing, I look up recipes, think on what I'd love to make. The latkes occupy my mind of late. More so than beignets. Your fritters have not left my thoughts... darn it!

Well, that's natural, that you should miss cooking, and think about it. So long as you aren't sacrificing nutrition, think of it as recharge time. Please don't mythologize the fritters, however! They were good. Beignets are better! I hope the no-cook pledge is giving you greater progress toward the finish line.

The sawtooth scoop is no joke! The fat content of ice cream keeps it from getting too hard, but I really was trying to make fat free frozen yoghurt. It's refreshing in a way ice cream can never be, But it really needs to be eaten right out of the machine because it ices up so fast and hard.

2many, I also have sensitive teeth and almost never eat ice cream because of that. I'm that person that stirs the ice cream around in the bowl until it's nearly melted and then it's too messy to eat. I just gave up on it. (sigh)

Plllog, I was going to try to make frozen raspberry yogurt for Mother's birthday, and you have just convinced me that it's a bad idea. Back to whipped cream on the raspberry slab pie, as Mother doesn't care for cake. Fine with me, I much prefer pie too, but I'm thinking I need to sieve out t least some of the seeds...

No pictures. Well, that's disappointing. (grin)

Annie

I like pie too. :) Frozen yoghurt is fine if you're serving it right out of the churn. It's when you put it in a regular 0°F freezer that it goes icy and hard. I've done both regular and drained yoghurts. Just throw the fruit in and some breaks up and becomes part of the yoghurt while some stays in small bits. Or you can do the puree thing, but I think it makes it that much icier. BTW, when I did it with peaches, the resulting color was like the peach crayon. I guess the color "peach" is really peaches and cream. That was probably Flare peaches, certainly orange fleshed.

Pie is good. :)

I have a real problem with frozen yogurt. I really like the way it tastes. But it hurts my teeth. Ice cream has no affect on me. Strange, right?

It may be the higher water content or lower fat content makes it feel colder?

My dentist told me that new cold sensitivity was because if the gums recede a little, they expose little fissures that convey the temperature to the nerves. I got aggressive with the gum stimulator and it went away. :)

BTW, I just remembered Linda's suggestion to put a little alcohol in ice cream to lower the freezing point. I would guess it would work for yoghurt as well, Annie, if you want to try it for your mom.

Back to beignets. And puff pastry.

I was in Trader Joe's looking for the buttermilk which isn't with the milk and the thought hit me. If I can't find my dry butter, I could, perhaps, make my own! I could put some butter in my cheese press and just squeeze out some extra water, right? If I weigh the whey I could figure out the approximate percentage.

It was all I could do, at a meeting this week where the Jewish ladies were planning a lunch with blintzes, not to volunteer that I knew how to make hoop cheese. I won't even be there, and if they can make them without, that's fine. It's a big bother and expense to make retail. :) But, having made proper blintzes for Shavuot, the dairy holiday, I'm now thinking I need them for Sukkot, too. ;)

But pressing butter does seem to be a viable alternative to flouring it.

Nothing to do with beignets.

How about homemade buttermilk?

It should do for blintzes.

4 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar, OR fresh lemon juice (I like lemon juice)

1 cup milk

makes one cup. refrigerate til needed. need more? make more. I hate paying more for buttermilk when it is so easy peasey...

of course, still, nothing to do with beignets ...

That's not actually buttermilk. :) If you're baking something simple and don't have buttermilk but need the acid to make your baking soda rise, you can use the milk to do all the milky stuff and add the vinegar or lemon juice to do the acidy stuff. You can also use vinegar instead of buttermilk when you make cheese. But that doesn't make milk plus acid into real buttermilk. :)

What has buttermilk to do with making blintzes? I was looking for the buttermilk when I thought of making my own butter dry for the puff pastry, using the cheese press I used to make the hoop cheese for the blintzes. ... Oh, yes, I do use a recipe which calls for milk plus buttermilk to make the curd cheese that becomes the hoop cheese that fills the blintzes. If that's what you meant, then, yes, if I didn't have buttermilk (I usually have a quart (plus dry)) I could use vinegar.

Dave, thanks for your contribution, but is that what you meant about the blintzes? Or am I missing your point?

Other than it still having nothing to do with beignets.

I thot it was all non-sequitur.

Rule 1: never overthink my posts.

Rule 2: never forget rule No. 1.

Just trying to help keep this wonderful thread going. It's darn fun. But does it have to be relevant?

My prime rib and sweet corn today also had nothing to do with blintzes, puff pastry, curd cheese or beignets ...

Nope. Doesn't have to be relevant. I was pretty sure you were being silly, but I have a tendency to react with deadpan straight, which tickles my fancy, even though people don't always know I'm giggling. :) I'm so glad you're enjoying the thread, and I'm sure it'll pick up steam when the weather cools down and we can actually deal with frying beignets.

Would the combination of buttermilk, sourdough starter and cornstarch cause some kind of science disaster?

I am thinking of making sourdough buttermilk waffles tomorrow. The overnight mixture consists of 1 cup of starter, 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 cup of AP flour and 1 TB of light brown sugar.

What if I reduced the flour to 3/4 cup and add a 1/4 cup of cornstarch to crisp them up a bit? Would that cause fountains of batter to erupt all over the kitchen?

Have you used this recipe before? The basic one? If that's a proper waffle batter, I don't know that stubbing the starch for flour would affect its hydration enough to make it erupt. I'm guessing it would be fine. The acid in the starter and buttermilk and the overnight development will condition the wheat in a good way, but without baking soda for it to react with--and that reaction would start discharging right away--I can't imagine an eruption on that point. In terms of puffidy crustify, I'd be very interested to know if the cornstarch works on the crisp.

OTOH, intuition should be listened to. Maybe do a small tester in the middle of the waffle iron and see how it does. If it erupts, it'll be within the machine.

I'm trying to recall a guy who kind of seared off waffles (hard enough outside to handle but raw/wet inside) and threw them into the fryer to finish. I wonder if you can make waffle beignets?

I think I am going to try it. I will let you know how it works out. The baking soda doesn't go in until the next morning along with the egg, salt, vanilla, and butter. There is always a reaction when I add the baking soda so that I am expecting. With cornstarch I probably should be more worried about ending up with a blob of flour. (cornstarch as thickener). I can't help it - I really love to experiment, lol.

Experimenting is good! Cornstarch as a thickener is just like flour as a thickener, but starch is refined down to the part that does the thickening and dissolves, whereas flour is more floury. :) I don't think the quarter cup will steal enough of the hydration to mess up your batter, but you could always soak the flour in the buttermilk for a couple of hours before you make the batter if you're worried.

Good thing we don't have to worry about hydration rates with beignets.

Well, I chickened out. I just couldn't do it. The waffles ended up being crispy until they were no longer crispy (after about 15 minutes I'd say). It's just the nature of the waffle, which is why every single recipe says turn the oven on to 200 degrees and put the waffles in there until you are ready to serve. We never get to that point. My DH gets them right off the griddle so they are always nice to eat. Then I flash freeze them and when we want one for breakfast it gets popped into the toaster oven.

Only one thing went wrong. That lovely starter that you helped me with two years ago? It died (it succumbed to pink mold). I had to begin a new starter and it just doesn't have the developed taste that the other one had. Rats.

I saved this article for you. Thought you might be interested. I am going to try it one of these days when the new starter is more robust.

Challenging sourdough starter convention

Cool article, Jerzeegirl. Thank-you! It jibes with what I've experienced, but it's so great to see a good experiment. But as the author said, the cold rest. That helps the smaller amount of starter to catch up.

I'm so sorry about your poor starter! Your new starter will age and improve. Or if you'd like me to send you some wubby, send me a message. Or send an envelope and a buck and get Carl's Oregon Trail. Now that you can catch your own starter reliably, you have nothing to prove.

So...once your new starter is well developed you can try drying it. I haven't done this, but if I remember, I'll try it too. You hydrate a portion of starter until it's loose, and brush it on a piece of parchment paper and leave it flat to dry. When it's good and hard dry, crinkle the paper over a sheet pan (line with clean parchment if you like). As you crinkle the dried starter will fall off. If you put paper under it and are nimble you can roll it in a cone and put it in a jar. Otherwise, use a funnel in the jar, and a soft dry pastry brush to help the powder out of the pan into the funnel. It's supposed to last nearly forever that way. I'd be tempted to freeze it. It's important to do enough to do an experimental rehydration in a week to make sure it's alive. :)

Re waffles, you're right. They steam out and get uncrispy. I used to make the best, airy crisp outside waffles, and then they weren't coming so crisp, and I haven't figured out why.

I wouldn't mind drying a bit of starter. If I put it in my freezer, I might never find it again.

I can't wait to try baking a loaf with the reduced unfed starter. That promises to be interesting.

BUTTER!

Long version: I was at the Kroger local subsidiary. They have some weird butters there so I was looking for anything new. There's a black label Land O Lakes "extra creamy" with the 110 Calories per 14g serving, 12g fat that the butter labelled 86% butterfat has--but the LOL nutrition info says 82% butterfat. It has 0 carbs and 0 protein. Their regular unsalted butter says 11g fat per 14g serving, and older, but probably still true, info on the web says their butterfat percentage is between 80.93% and the note from CS said 80%. I sent a message. asking about the disparity for the extra creamy butter and was told it was rounding error. I had assumed that, but ....

Is it a measurement issue? Standardizing volume is tricky. How even and flat is the measure? How much is lost as residue? Etc. So my assumption was that the 14g on every label was the real standard. Perhaps I'm wrong. If one assumes, however that the 14g is exact, 12.0g is 85.71% and 11.0g is 78.57%. So, therein lies the rounding. But how do we get the same number of Calories as in the 86% butterfat butter? I'm thinking it's some kind of standardized number. The note from LOL said that they were following the FDA guidelines, which may dictate exactly how the math is done, including rounding by truncation rather than up or down from 5.

So then I looked at Vital Farms, again. It's not cultured, but it is from pastured cows at smaller farms (implication is that they eat grass as well as feed). It has the same 14g serving with 12g fat and 100 Calories, and claims 85% butterfat. In the long run, I might prefer the cultured butter, but short of ordering it from a store 3000 miles away, it's going to take a lot more effort to get hold of. I can at least practice with the Vital, even if it may have slightly less depth of flavor.

So now I just have to clear off the small appliances, etc., and clear some time, and I can at least make a start on the puff project.

The weather has to turn before I commence beignets.