Category: Food

  • Chiles and Chillies

    Chile (Chili) Peppers The chile is the fruit of a plant in the genus capsicum, cultivars of capsicum annuum, a South American plant that travelled to Mexico before the common era. The plant grew in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America and was introduced to Europe and Asia in the 16th century in the…

  • Bread

    Introduction Bread is made by mixing flour and water into a dough, introducing a rising agent (historically, yeast), kneading the dough, and baking the dough: Bread is a combination of flour and water that has been baked. Over the years, its production has become increasingly more complex. Bread is a staple food in many countries,…

  • Potassium

    I had been taking prescribed hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg per day, a diuretic – to control (reduce) blood pressure, since 2011. It was not effective to counteract edema, a side effect of another medication. It has side effects that interfere with digestion and absorbing potassium. I was hospitalized for 2 days in June 2021 as…

  • Recipe error – Potatoes

    The recipe book is Anupi Singla’s Indian for Everyone, published in 2014 by the Surrey Books imprint of Agate Publishing; also a quality paperback 2016, and an ebook in the Amazon Kindle store. The problem in the recipes for Aloo Mattar at p. 95, Panak Aloo at p. 97, and Aloo Gobi at p. 98,…

  • (Instant Pot) Dry Beans

    Endless This post was published in 2021, with some later editing and further thoughts after more experience. Cooked or Canned Cooked dry beans are a staple ingredient. Some recipes provide directions for cooking dry beans as a step in a recipe, or by reference to another recipe for cooked beans in the recipe source/collection. Some…

  • Recipe error – Chickpeas

    The book is Madhur Jaffrerey’s Instantly Indian Cookbook, was published in 2019 by the Borzoi imprint of Knopf and as an ebook in the Amazon Kindle store. The error in the recipes for Plain Chickpeas at p. 20, Everyday Chickpeas at p. 22, and Chickpeas in Gingery Tomato Sauce at p. 24 is saying soaked…

  • Recipe error – Tamale Pie in a Skillet

    The book is Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook (2003, republished 2014), Sasquatch Books, Seattle. The authors are Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne. The error is in the recipe for Tamale Pie, at p. 113 in the 2014 edition, saying this is a recipe that can be done in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. While…

  • Cookbook Errors

    Lists of mistakes in the kitchen for home cooks: Kelli Foster, 10 Common Mistakes That Every Cook Makes, 2015-04-15, Kitchn Web article Ann Taylor Pitman and Tim Cebula, Common Cooking Mistakes, CookingLight Web article Such lists usually don’t mention problems with recipes, writers and publishers: Recipes with philosphical or ideological agendas. I am not a…

  • 100% Whole Wheat Bread Machine

    100% whole wheat loaves may be made with a bread machine in the whole wheat program. High WW flour formulas that aim for sandwich loaves with an moderately open crumb use a dough with enhanced visco-elastic properties; the dough is enhanced with vital wheat gluten or bread flour and enriched with fats – oil or…

  • Wheat Flour

    The Nafufians, hunter gatherers in Jordan, were making bread with wild cereal 12,500 BCE.  The master formula for ancient bread is to grind dried grain into a paste or flour, add water and yeast, let the stuff ferment, tear it in pieces and cook the pieces on a hot surface. People know how to grind…