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AndrewJ
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« Reply #315 on: September 08, 2008, 11:02:15 pm » |
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This is sort of a recipe question: why does nearly every banana bread recipe out there (and most commercial brands of the stuff) have walnuts in? I like banana bread, banana cream pie, and banana cake (had for my birthday every year for the last ten), but I can't stand walnuts. I'm not allergic in the throat-swelling shut sense, but walnuts make the inside of my mouth hurt. So, who looked at a banana and a walnut, and said, "I bet these would go great together!"?
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"If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you're doing worse than anyone else in the whole world." -- Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #316 on: September 09, 2008, 01:23:13 am » |
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Walnuts have a slight bitterness that acts as a good foil for the sweetness of bananas. Myself, I can't stand bananas, although occasionally I eat banana bread.
You can always bake it yourself and leave the nuts out, or use pecans if those work for you.
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #317 on: September 09, 2008, 07:34:50 am » |
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...hungry now.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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Emma Bull
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« Reply #318 on: September 09, 2008, 01:05:21 pm » |
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Bao! And banana bread! *sigh*
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Falkner to Worth: "'Competent'" is not an insult."
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AndrewJ
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« Reply #319 on: September 09, 2008, 11:35:35 pm » |
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Walnuts have a slight bitterness that acts as a good foil for the sweetness of bananas. Myself, I can't stand bananas, although occasionally I eat banana bread.
You can always bake it yourself and leave the nuts out, or use pecans if those work for you.
Okay, that makes sense in a weird kind of way. I hate most bitter-flavored things, so I'd never have thought of that. (Bitter is nature's way of saying, "Don't swallow this!", IMO.) I never put tree nuts in anything, with the exceptions of almond bark and pecan pie. Pecans and almonds are nummy. I avoid cashews ever since I found out what harvesting and shelling them does to the picker's hands--cashews have a double shell, and the space between the outer and inner shells is full of urushiol, the stuff which puts the poison in poison ivy (a relative of the cashew tree). |
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"If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you're doing worse than anyone else in the whole world." -- Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #320 on: September 09, 2008, 11:59:58 pm » |
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Are you sure you're thinking of cashews there? As far as I know, cashews grow out of fruits, and are seeds rather than proper tree nuts. Perhaps you are thinking of macadamias.
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jeffy
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« Reply #321 on: September 10, 2008, 12:49:13 am » |
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According to Wikipedia it's cashews. MG's right that they're seeds, though. Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a dermatogenic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant toxin also found in the related poison ivy. I didn't know about the nasty properties. Ouch. |
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Emma Bull
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« Reply #322 on: September 10, 2008, 01:16:40 am » |
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Wow, that seems odd--I know that cashew fruit is edible. Huh.
ETA: Ooops, no, it's the pseudofruit that's edible. That explains a bit.
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« Last Edit: September 10, 2008, 01:58:27 am by Emma Bull »
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Falkner to Worth: "'Competent'" is not an insult."
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #323 on: September 10, 2008, 07:05:38 am » |
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The actually use cashew nut shell liquid in... I think it's brake liners. When I worked for the Peruvian export company I fondly refer to as Fly-by-Night Industries (Boy, doesn't this sound like the start of a Todd story?) one of the companies we did business with was the Cardolite Corporation, which is, according to their phone messaging, "The World Leader In Cashew Nut Shell Liquid Technology."
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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AndrewJ
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« Reply #324 on: September 10, 2008, 06:01:22 pm » |
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The actually use cashew nut shell liquid in... I think it's brake liners. When I worked for the Peruvian export company I fondly refer to as Fly-by-Night Industries (Boy, doesn't this sound like the start of a Todd story?) one of the companies we did business with was the Cardolite Corporation, which is, according to their phone messaging, "The World Leader In Cashew Nut Shell Liquid Technology."
If Todd doesn't have a story about involvement in an equally strange food by-product industry, I'd be slightly disappointed. |
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"If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you're doing worse than anyone else in the whole world." -- Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy
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greywalker
Full Member
Posts: 203
the mask behind the face
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« Reply #325 on: September 11, 2008, 08:32:29 am » |
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Yeah, that's a Todd, alright. Cashews as brake liners!
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"I have my fears, but they do not have me." -- Peter Gabriel
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jimsmyth
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« Reply #326 on: September 11, 2008, 08:28:59 pm » |
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The actually use cashew nut shell liquid in... I think it's brake liners. When I worked for the Peruvian export company I fondly refer to as Fly-by-Night Industries (Boy, doesn't this sound like the start of a Todd story?) one of the companies we did business with was the Cardolite Corporation, which is, according to their phone messaging, "The World Leader In Cashew Nut Shell Liquid Technology."
If Todd doesn't have a story about involvement in an equally strange food by-product industry, I'd be slightly disappointed. If Todd doesn't have this story about involvement in an equally strange food by-product industry, in several contradictory versions, he's not doing his job. Also, that cashew-shell dust is apparently a desensitizer for poison ivy. IF you can stand it. Cashew plant workers either become immune to poison ivy, or they find other jobs. Quickly. |
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"I wanted to tell you both. I've met someone."
"Danny, that's good," his mother said, sounding strange and strained and cautious. "What's--"
"His name's Grayson. He works for the State Department."
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ribby
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« Reply #327 on: September 12, 2008, 11:31:36 am » |
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I thought y'all might enjoy this one--it's two recipes cobbled together, since the original called for cake mix, and I hate using cake mix if I don't have to...
I bring you the richest, the gooiest, the store-in-your-fridge-so-you-don't-eat-the-whole-pan-iest, Gooey Butter Bars. (And trust me about storing it in the fridge. Preferably the back, where you can't see them when you go for the milk. It's just a coincidence that they taste *even better* cold. Really.)
Gooey Butter Bars
Crust/Base:
1 c. flour
½ t. salt
¼ t. soda
½ c. sugar
1 stick butter, melted
2 t. vanilla
1 egg
Filling:
8 oz. (1 pkg.) cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 to 2 c. powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
Heat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x9 or 11x7 pan with butter, or spray with baking spray (the kind with flour in it).
For the crust, mix the dry ingredients (flour through sugar) together thorougly in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla, then the egg. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan—it will be a thin layer. Scrape the bowl thoroughly and patch any thin spots.
For the filling: In the same bowl you mixed the crust (one bowl, whoo! Less dishes!), beat the cream cheese until smooth (I use a wooden spoon, but a mixer will do as well). Add 1-1/2 cups of the sugar in ½-cup increments through a strainer to remove all lumps. Beat until fully incorporated before adding the next ½ cup.
Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs and butter. At this point, taste the mixture. It will be runny, and quite sweet. If you want it sweeter, add another ¼ cup sugar, taste again, and add the last ¼ cup if you still want it sweeter. I used about 1-3/4 cups total, but you can use as little as 1-1/2 or as much as 2 cups.
Pour the filling over the bottom layer, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the edges are brown and pulling away from the pan, and the top is mostly set and spotted with brown. Let cool, and cut into small (1 inch x 1 inch) squares. Enjoy!
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"So it's not so much the Bluebird of Happiness as the Bluebird of 'Hey! You cats! Off my lawn!'" --me, discussing birdsong with my husband.
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kakiphony
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« Reply #328 on: September 12, 2008, 01:22:14 pm » |
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What are everyone's favorite pot-luck dishes?
I consider myself a fairly decent seat-of-the-pants style cook, but pot-lucks always throw me a for a loop. Most of my best dishes require a stove, a grill, or need to be refrigerated, none of which are usually available at dish-to-pass events. I always end up falling back on my Midwestern roots and taking cold salads or layered taco dip, none of which I even really like to eat. With the season of Harvest Parties upon me, I need ideas!
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Any connection between American art and American nature is purely coincidental, but this is only because the nation as a whole has no contact with reality.
'Ignatius J. Reilly' in John Kennedy Toole's -- A Confederacy of Dunces
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MadGastronomer
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« Reply #329 on: September 12, 2008, 04:16:33 pm » |
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I don't have a favorite, and tend to choose based on season, time I have to make something, and the event, but I've done my Midsummer Pork (created for the annual Midsummer Party potlucks we used to have), my quinoa salad, with variations, key lime pie, various cheesecakes, cheese plates, and occasionally, when I have no time at all, I buy something at the store. |
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