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Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:31 am
by benhall.1
chas wrote:How would one go about making sauerkraut with whole leaves? I mead several batches (inspired by you, btw), but can't make it any more because my arthritic hands can't handle the mashing necessary to get it to give up enough liquid to cover it, and if I put too much water in, the reaction doesn't go properly.
I have spoken with the sauerkraut oracle. :wink: To answer the last question first, she never puts any water in. They just steep in their own juices. She does mash them, and then puts a weight on them until they're ready to go in the jar. She thinks it would be perfectly possible to do the same with whole leaves, although you'd need a much bigger container, both for the mashing and juice-extracting stage and for keeping it in. She reckons we can do it, and she's going to try, on the grounds that wrapping a sausage in a soured cabbage leaf and baking sounds too good to miss! :)
chas wrote:My mother used to make something she called franks and blanks. Slit hot dogs about 3/4 the way through, put a stick of really sharp cheddar in the slit, and wrap with a strip of bacon. Cook in the oven till the bacon is rendered and the cheese is melted.
That also sounds absolutely heavenly. We're going to have to try that now as well. :)

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:20 pm
by Nanohedron
chas wrote:How would one go about making sauerkraut with whole leaves? I mead several batches (inspired by you, btw), but can't make it any more because my arthritic hands can't handle the mashing necessary to get it to give up enough liquid to cover it ...
I was under the impression that mashing is more just a firm tamping to reduce air space in the mass to be fermented, and that you leave it to the salt to naturally draw out the liquid over the course of the process.

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:42 pm
by benhall.1
Nanohedron wrote:
chas wrote:How would one go about making sauerkraut with whole leaves? I mead several batches (inspired by you, btw), but can't make it any more because my arthritic hands can't handle the mashing necessary to get it to give up enough liquid to cover it ...
I was under the impression that mashing is more just a firm tamping to reduce air space in the mass to be fermented, and that you leave it to the salt to naturally draw out the liquid over the course of the process.
Yes, basically, I think that's it.

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:58 pm
by Nanohedron
Having again gone thru the thread from the beginning, I found something that cries out to be addressed, so please pardon the floggage of deceased equines:
DrPhill wrote:It sounds to me as if what the left-ponders call a grill, I call a griddle........
A stovetop grill, as in the pic I posted earlier, would not normally be called a griddle in the States, precisely because of its grill-like surface. I'm sure there will be the odd exception, and there's admittedly some overlap and variation of terms in the bigger picture particularly when it comes to commercial applications, but most typically for the Left Pond home cook, in broad terms a griddle's a sizable but portable - if heavy - cooking plate, usually steel or cast iron, with a smooth cooking surface and a low rim. Its shape will be optional, but rectangular is the most common. Functionally speaking, if you can cook pancakes on it, it's a griddle; if you can't, it ain't. For me, a proper griddle should be large enough for you to be able to cook several things on it at once, separately, and with room to spare, which is the whole point of having one; otherwise you might as well save your money and use a frying pan. But if you have a bunch of hungry kids yowling at you for their breakfast, you will bless the day that someone invented the griddle. Here's a pic showing the features of a reversible stovetop griddle/grill combo-thingum (a great idea, but what does one call it? A grilldle?):

Image

The upper image shows the griddle side; the lower one is the grill side.

And yes, there will be a test. :wink:

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:23 pm
by ytliek
I don't know how many neighbors use those stove top grilling plates because most neighbors I know use their outdoor charcoal burning grills for most of the year no matter the weather.

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 12:05 am
by oleorezinator
benhall.1 wrote:
Nanohedron wrote:
chas wrote:How would one go about making sauerkraut with whole leaves? I mead several batches (inspired by you, btw), but can't make it any more because my arthritic hands can't handle the mashing necessary to get it to give up enough liquid to cover it ...
I was under the impression that mashing is more just a firm tamping to reduce air space in the mass to be fermented, and that you leave it to the salt to naturally draw out the liquid over the course of the process.
Yes, basically, I think that's it.
https://youtu.be/g-rENVV0CTs

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:24 pm
by Nanohedron
ytliek wrote:I don't know how many neighbors use those stove top grilling plates because most neighbors I know use their outdoor charcoal burning grills for most of the year no matter the weather.
The stovetop grilling plate would be a solution for those who want to grill but for whatever reason either cannot, or do not wish to do so in the standard fashion. For me it's a pale substitute, but if you twisted my arm, I'd say I suppose it's better than nothing.

In my locale almost everybody has yard space available to them whether it's private or shared, so I've got a Weber charcoal grill sitting outside, but I only use it a couple of times a year, so if my fellow tenants want to use it too, that's fine with me, and usually they ask first - but even in the rare event they don't, I figure at least it's getting used. Most frequently though, apartment dwellers will do their outdoor grilling on small, portable so-called hibachis (a misnomer, BTW, but there you have it). Our city parks will often have a few pedestal grills installed for public use; these get a lot of mileage especially in the summertime. I suspect many park-going Americans would be familiar with this sight:

Image

It swivels so you can face the back of the brazier to the wind if need be. Obviously this one's brand new and hasn't seen a lick of use yet. Usually there's a picnic table close by.
oleorezinator wrote: https://youtu.be/g-rENVV0CTs
So that's the basic idea for souring whole heads of cabbage! I was wondering about that.

Re: Pigs in blankets

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:25 pm
by Nanohedron
Back on broiling again: We've got at least one attested - and I daresay respectable - incidence of the word in the UK. This from a discussion about Left Pond vs. Right Pond usages over at Languagehat.com:
“‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves…”
According to Humpty Dumpty in “Through the Looking Glass”:
“…’Brillig’ means four o’clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things for dinner…”
If Lewis Carrol was in the habit of beginning to broil his dinner at 4pm, I’d suggest he’d be likely to be braising it – but then again this is culinary advice from a large talking egg…
This was after prior commentary to the effect that in times gone by, broiling in Britain supposedly meant essentially the same thing as braising in a covered pot. Broiling in the New World sense had already been covered as well, so while it's hard to be certain, on the slimmest of indicators - only a hunch, really - I would assume that the author of the above post is himself from the UK.

So here's what I've gathered so far in this thread (and echoed at Languagehat), following the formula of Left Pond = Right Pond:

"braising" = "broiling" - but the word being obsolete in the UK, it doesn't really count anymore; looks like everyone says "braising" these days.
"broiling" = "grilling"
"grilling" = "barbecuing", I imagine, but we say it too.
"barbecuing" (the real thing) = I'm guessing probably "barbecuing" as well. So on to utensils:
"grill plate/pan" = "griddle"
"griddle" = "hotplate"
"hotplate" = I have no firm idea yet, but "electric hob" looks like a strong candidate.
"electric hob" would be met with blank stares in my environs, and so with that, this list must end.

If any of us plans to dine - or cook - on whichever side of the Pond, it behooves us to bone up on the proper lingo, otherwise we might be in for some surprises.

Although when it comes to grilled cheese sandwiches - what I believe are called toasties in the UK - all bets are off. They can be cooked in any number of ways, including by means of the grill they are named for (in both senses of the word), but the standard go-to I'm familiar with is a frying pan. Why they're called "grilled", then, is beyond me.