Vintage in My Cozy Winter Home

Day 10 of My Cozy Winter Home with The Nester ... Vintage.

These shelves of vintage items help set the homey tone in our kitchen, year-around.

These pieces from their respective kitchens also bring in my grandmas, mom, and mother-in-law to be with us everyday.

Simple Tool for Simple Task

...At least for tasks that produce in small amounts.

For most of my married life, I had a couple of rudimentary ways to chop nuts... I could use a knife, or I had 2 "choppers."  

Example of #1 from this Ebay listing

#1 had an X-shaped blade attached to a spring loaded handle on the lid of a jar.  When the handle was pushed, it pushed down the blade, and the spring helped created an up-and-down chopping motion.  The blade could twist in order to hit nuts in all areas of the jar.  But it often missed some, and the size consistency was difficult.  



#2 was a hand cranked version with plastic components.  It was slow and cumbersome.  The nuts didn't feed through the chopping contraption well, so it was hard to hold the jar steady and get the job done.

Cuisinart Mini Prep chopper

Then I discovered the electric chopper... Like a mini food processor.  So wonderful -quick and

consistent- for chopping the amounts of nuts needed in a recipe, measured in partial or full cups, which is how we usually used nuts.  It chops or grinds, so can cut coarse, for things like granola or the top of an apple crisp, or fine, like for the nut crust we use in "Lemon Lush." (Can't believe I haven't shared the Lemon Lush recipe.  I'll have to add that to my future blog posts list.)  In a clutter clean-up of the kitchen, I got rid of the old choppers and didn't miss them.






More recently, however, we've been enjoying chopped nuts on more things... Like yogurt, salads, and, this week, Cream Cheese Apple Butter Bagels.  For a serving at a time, the electric chopper with the need for electricity, and 4 pieces to put together, was a lot of hassle for such a little amount.  Cutting nuts with a knife is a hassle, too, so I found myself forgoing the nuts for things one which I really wanted them.  I was now missing the manual choppers.


I hadn't forgotten the complaints I'd had about my former models, though, and thought there might be something better.  

Progressive International GFNC-2 Nut Chopper with Non-Skid Base

I decided on a 4-star rated chopper much like my old #2, but this one has metal blades instead of plastic, so dispatches the nuts much more easily and smoothly.  We can now have a sprinkle of nuts in just a few seconds.  Simple and effective.  And highly recommended.  :-)

31 Days at The Nesting Place

The Applesauce-Making-Things Face Off

I retrieved my tried-and-true chinois sets from their shelf above the freezer, and decided which one to use.  My own old one has a broken handle, and, from the looks of it, had, inadvisably, been washed in the dishwasher, leaving its finish dull.  That gave me the feeling, right or not (probably the latter), that it might leach aluminum into the applesauce, so I chose the shiny one for the competition.



It was competing against my friend's food mill.  

She had described it as "really large," but I tend to forget that, as a mother of 8, my definition of "really large" can be different than that of a mother of 3.  To me the 2-quart contraption looked sort of average, since I was imagining something that would dispatch a (16-qt) potful of apples with a  couple of turns of the handle.  Since, I think, this is as large as mills come, and my imaginings were on the ridiculously fantastical level, I adjusted my expectations. - I was certainly appreciated the loan, and happy to have it to help.  It looked on par, sizewise, with the chinois sieves.

First, I compared the set up.  The chinois stand limits the size of bowl that can be used to catch the applesauce.  The frame is only so wide, so the bowl must be narrower.  Also, height can be a problem, since a tall bowl pulls the legs up off the counter, and gives the whole set-up the opportunity to tip.

The mill, however, hooks onto the sides of any container, so it will adapt to whatever you have.  I'd say the mill definitely gets the a point for this important feature.

I measured 1 quart of the cooked apple mess into my sieve.  Within a minute, I'd use "the bat thing" in a circular, and sometimes, up and down motion to squish the sauce through the holes, leaving the seeds, stems, skins, etc. behind.  There was a good coating on the outside of the sieve that I had to scrape off with a rubber spatula.  A little messy, but not too much of a chore. 























Next, I added the same amount of cooked apple to the mill.  I turned the handle, and in a minute had applesauce in the bowl, but there was a wad of apple and skins still following the handle around the inside of the mill.  

I found that the problem was that the bottom was lined with apple skins.  The skins were pretty much burnished and pressed into the mess, which made it difficult to clean out in order to finish the batch.  The only place this tool excelled was in having the wire on the bottom to whisk off the applesauce as it came out.  But, frankly, it wasn't really a perfect answer, as there was still applesauce I felt I could save by running over the surface with a spatula.

I was still thinking the attached handle of the mill and the wire underneath gave it some added points over the chinois, until Princess Sassy came in and presented some important information.  She was confused by looking at my set-up.  She said that the last time she made applesauce, she was able to turn/spin the sieve against wires on the side of the frame to clean it off...

Sure enough, the frame to my original set had different sides than the frame I found at my in-laws' home.  I switched frames, turned the sieve after pressing some apples, and Voila!  The applesauce was cleaned from the sides and it ran down the frame into the bowl.

The last thing I compared was ease of cleaning.  It was easy to scrape out the apple scraps left in the sieve.  For the mill, though, in order to get all out from under the blade-like part, and out of the crevices around the screw that holds in the wire, I had to take it apart.  It was messy and a little difficult to unscrew.  Not terrible, but definitely more work than the chinois set.  And the little wire piece would be a losing-hazard in our house.

The clear winner, for me in this moment, was the chinois set.  I can see that IF I'd peeled the apples, it could have easily been a tie.  

"I'm not smart, but I like to observe.  Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."  -  Bernard M. Baruch

31 Days at The Nesting Place

The Tools

With big pots of applesauce, and many more to follow, it was time to get out my chinois sets.  

Truthfully, until a couple of years ago, when a friend on the Gardenweb Kitchen Forum saw one of them in a photo and referred to it in that term, I called it the "applesauce making thing with the other thing sort of like a bat."  According to Amazon, it's a Canning Accessories Food Press with Wooden Pestle.  

Anyway, it's what my mom always used.  I either picked up one like hers years ago, or she gave me one, and I also found one when we were cleaning out my in-laws' basement.  I think it may have belonged to Hubby's grandmother.  So I have 2.

 Multi-purpose Wall-E Sheet

My Bible study friend was here for dinner when we had the 9 bags of apples hiding under a "Wall-E" sheet, in order to keep them safe from fruit flies.  (Fruit flies find previously benign openings into the fruit, then expand the injury and make it easier for the apple to rot.  And we all know, "One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel," so best to shield them from the little buggers.)

She knew I had a big job ahead of me, and offered her "really large food mill."  At first I declined, thinking my chinois sets could handle it.  But by the time I'd started on the first batch, I wondered if I was passing up the opportunity to use something better (AKA "faster"), and called to accept her offer.



After a false start for Prince CuddleBunny, who had initially attached the wire thingy on the bottom of the mill upside down, but didn't have an excitingly successful outing even after it was fixed, I thought it was time to put them through a side-by-side test.

Wire-thingy upside-down

Wire-thingy installed as intended

Since I'm trying to keep my posts short and sweet, and covering 31 days... I'll keep you, presumably, on the edge of your seats until tomorrow to see how the tools fared in ''RHome410's Test Kitchen.'' 

31 Days at The Nesting Place

Dividing and Conquering

The 9 bags of apples were a beautiful gift.  But some of the apples themselves wouldn't be described as beautiful.  We certainly had the confidence that these were organically grown... chemical and pesticide free.  

But we all know that homegrown apples, raised under those conditions, are often far from the grocery store ideal when it comes to size, shape, and appearance.




We sorted through, and separated from the rest those that were "prettier" -- round/symmetrical and less blemished.  

Prince CuddleBunny made quick work of these with our peeler/slicer to make pie fillings.  (For more on the peeler/slicer see No Wonder the Kids Fight Over This)


We froze 4 pre-made fillings to enjoy at later dates, and, of course, had one filling for our friend's pie.

The rest of apples (a major share) were heavily freckled with scabs, and had worm holes and other things we'd want to pare away.  Our peeler/slicer works best on symmetrical apples, so the misshapen ones had to be sorted in with the damaged fruit.  


For these, it would've been a lot of work to pare, then peel and slice by hand for pies.  So I opted for the easier route...to make applesauce of them instead.

For that I only had to wash them, cut out the bad spots (and worms/worm leavings), and half or quarter them before tossing them in my 16 quart pot.  

I don't always add water, but with these I needed to add a cup of water to get the steaming started and to keep them from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot.   

I cooked them over low heat, and because I left them in pretty large pieces, and filled the pot so full, they stayed on the stove for several hours, with occasional stirring.

 




When fully soft, the flesh had to be separated from the skins, seeds, and core.  I will talk about that process in a future post.  Click here to read it .

"You can't make apple pie with applesauce."

31 Days at The Nesting Place

Rotissing: Didn't Love It

I know using it once probably isn't giving it its due, but I am not feeling a connection with the rotisserie feature in the new oven.

I will tell you what I did and what I didn't like and maybe those of you with more experience can tell me how to do better, or get more out of this thing.

I started with 2 roasting chickens.  I knew I was supposed to tie them up, particularly so the wings didn't hang and catch on the rack, preventing the unit from turning properly.  I should've looked up a diagram online, but I was a bit lazy and figured I could do well enough to tame the wings.  I also used button thread, because of not knowing where someone had put the string.  With a bad tying job with the wrong material, I was off to a good start!

Following the diagram in the manual, I turned the oven onto broil at 355 degrees.  I put the pan with the rotisserie contraption at the bottom rack position, as instructed, so the shaft  inserted into the proper space in the back of the oven.  It turned!  So I'd done that part correctly.

Everything looked good and the chicken was browning beautifully.  But that was the outside.  How long it would take, and what was going on in the inside was only a guess, since with the rotisserie, I can't, of course, use the probe.

I noticed all that empty space under the chickens "going to waste, " so cut up potatoes, garlic, and onions to take advantage of the hot oven, and whatever dripping juices would be provided to baste them. 

After about 50 minutes, I used my instant read thermometer to check.   It wasn't to proper internal temperature, so I had to continue to check every 10 minutes or so.  This was disappointing to do, since with every prick, lovely juices poured from the chicken, no longer inside doing their job to keep the meat moist.

The legs were loosening, the moisture was visibly boiling under the skin, but the thigh and breasts continued to stay too cool for what seemed to me to be too long.

Finally, they jumped past the temperature I was looking for, and I removed the pan from the oven.  THAT was a feat.  It wasn't so bad going in... With everything cool, I didn't notice how awkward and  heavy the unit and 2 chickens were.  It was another story when the whole thing was sizzling and about 400 degrees.  I didn't care if my arms bumped the metal stand when I put it in, but not so when getting it out!

Now I had 2 steaming chickens locked onto a hot, metal contraption.  I let them rest, of course, but they were still hot, as I'd sure want them for serving.  

The birds were so done (and the veggies well past ready, too), the meat and bones of the extremities fell to pieces as I attempted removal from the rotisserie unit.  (It was a messy process, and I didn't stop to wash my hands and get photos.)  I guess I could've cut the meat from the carcass without removing them, but then I'd risk undesirable knife-metal skewer contact, so I'm not sure that's a better remedy.  Plus, I just don't know how I'd cut the breast into servable portions that way.

I served what I thought was a mess of meat and chicken parts.  It was moist enough, I guess.  Frankly, I was exhausted and disappointed by that time and really didn't notice.  But I don't remember noticing dryness, so I guess it wasn't too bad, especially considering the overcooking.

I'm just not convinced this is better than rack-roasting while using the probe.  It seems like a lower oven temperature might help.  

Any other suggestions of why I had these problems, and how my experience might improve for next time?  

Any suggestions of food choices that would be a better fit for success with the rotisserie process?

So Simple

I suppose these have been available forever, but I only saw one on a recent commercial...


I had previously cut biscuits in squares for expediency's sake, and because I didn't have an actual biscuit cutter. I had been looking, and thankfully, I saw that commercial before I bought a round one.

 Stainless Hexagon Cutter

This new cutter allows me to cut biscuits without (as many of) the little scraps left in between that end up getting squished together, over and over, making biscuits of lesser quality, texture, and appearance.  


On this first try, it's obvious I have something to learn about shaping the dough in order to use the edges in the most efficient manner, and could even get the cuts cleaner.  I still had some bits of dough to recombine and recut, but much less than with cutting round biscuits. (Or with the flower-shaped ones I showed here, along with my favorite biscuit recipe.)

Ateco Stainless Steel (Multiple) Hexagon Cutter

There is also a cutter made with 6 of these attached together, for even faster, more efficient biscuit cutting.  But I don't mind the time, as long as I don't have so many of the tough and lumpy, "scrap biscuits" in the end.  

Yogurt Making, Improved!

When I last made yogurt, I said it'd be SO much easier, if I didn't have to keep running back and forth, trying to catch the milk as it rose, then cooled to specific temperatures... and that a thermometer with alarms for both heating and cooling would be ideal.  

Well, a conscientious and kind reader remembered that wish and sent me a link to ThermoWorks' EcoTemp Alarm Thermometer.  


At $39, I felt it was an affordable convenience for something I intend to use consistently and often.  I added a few accessories... a clip so it can hold onto the sides of pans and bowls, a protective cover, and an additional probe that allow it to be used in my probeless bottom oven.  So my overall price was about $65.  I've used it SO many times in the several weeks I've had it, and I just finally used it to make yogurt again this past week.


In making yogurt (using the same recipe and methods as the first time), it's the first time I've tried setting the alarm or using the clip.  


Either I'm not setting it up right, or the clip is a bit flimsy and awkward, but it does the job.  


The alarms, though, were WONDERFUL.  There weren't any directions for using it, but I found setting it to be pretty easy to figure out.  








I set the high temp for 200 as the milk warmed slowly, on a medium-low flame.  Heating the milk not only allows it to ferment in a reasonable amount of time, but taking it past 185 will denature the proteins and it will be thicker.











When the milk was transferred to a bowl to cool, I set the alarm for 112, so I had time to get there and cover the bowl for transfer to the oven, without it getting cooler than the 110 degree fermenting temperature.  














Then, as before, it went into the oven, set on Proof at 110 degrees, and stayed there for hours.  Since I used a gallon of milk and I didn't know if the quantity in the bowl needed more time, I left it to ferment for about 8 hours this time, before carefully transferring it to the fridge for an overnight sit... instead of 4 to 5 hours in the oven like last time.




I think that made it a little more sour, and I won't leave it that long next time.  But there will definitely be a next time, because this thermometer made the job easier and more certain.  

Finding the Flavor, Part 2

Continuing from Coaxing the Flavor out of those Beans!...

My coffee-roasting friend was a tremendous help in helping me out of the confusion of trying to figure out what contraption might get me the most coffee for my daily treats.  She listened to what I wanted to accomplish and said I'd never do it with a drip pot, like what I was using, because what I wanted was something full-bodied, like espresso.  She also didn't think I wanted a French press, but thought she might know the answer... A Moka Pot.


She wasn't sure how the flavor would compare to an AeroPress, and thought she might have the opportunity to find both and compare.  --She did, and let me know that the flavor produced from a Moka Pot was much closer to what I wanted.


I wondered, what is a Moka Pot?  You may be asking the same.  It is a comparatively tiny and simple, stovetop espresso maker, apparently popular in Italy. 

Basic 6-cup moka pot

I trusted her judgement and was intrigued.  I was additionally excited to find that 3- and 6-cup moka pots sell for about $25 on Amazon.  My friend told me that the "cups" referred to in a moka pot description, are the size espresso shots (1.5 to 2 oz), not actual 8 oz cups, so she recommended I go for the 6-cup.  I filed this all away on my mental wish list, waiting for the day I felt I could make that splurge.


Meanwhile, as previously promised, my friend sent me a pound of her personally-roasted coffee beans... Yum!  We could smell what was in the package before we opened it.  Another thing I noticed is that the box had a notation:  "1 of 2."  She let me know she was sending something else... I thought maybe it was another type of beans to try.

I was so pleased and surprised to open package 2 a few days later and discover a Bialetti 6-cup Moka Pot!  It is a pretty little thing, with a bit more style than the basic model I'd chosen for myself on Amazon.


First I had to figure out how to use it.  My friend recommended I watch this video.  It was helpful to refer me to the internet, where I found a few videos to watch.  The included written instructions were a bit brief, and used interesting word phrasing.  It sure didn't seem to be written by someone who speaks English as their first language.   


The videos helped me get started, but I still wasn't sure if I was supposed to grind the beans fine, like for the electric drip pot, or coarser, as for an espresso machine.  I stumbled along for the first few tries, trying different sizes of grind.  Since my Cuisinart bean grinder doesn't allow any adjustments, it was always a guess.  It was fairly easy to get a consistent, fine grind, but with anything coarser, I always had pieces of varying sizes.


In finding the answer to a question from Prince Steadfast, whose engineer's curiosity needed to know how the moka pot worked, I found an excellent diagram and helpful explanation offered by espresso-machines-and-coffee-makers.com, and also some great written directions.  These let me know that the finer grind was what I needed.  It also let me know that the gurgling sound was the end of the process, while the written instructions said only that it's finished 'when the pot is full.'


My opinion of this little pot is that it's great!  Our coffee drinks, hot or blended with ice, are much richer and tastier.  

Click to see larger

It's easy to operate... Fill the base with water up to the steam valve, put in the coffee filter/basket and fill it with fresh-ground coffee (starting with a rounded 1/4 cup of whole beans), then screw the top to the bottom, 

and heat over medium flame (just enough to heat the bottom without flames coming up the sides).  















It takes just under 5 minutes until I hear that wonderful little gurgling sound.  




I use about 1/4 cup with about 1 cup of hot soy milk, a splash of cream, and a bit of honey, almond milk "creamer," or coffee syrup (my favorite is Hazelnut Torani Syrup) to taste.  It's so much better, that it's more fun to make my daily cup, so I broke out my AeroLatte again to add some froth and do it up right.