Ask the A2K cooks!

you need a cleaver, beav...

(be sure to count your phalanges when you finish...)

The brand I have (and posted a picture of) is. I use it to shred butternut squash and sweet potatoes for quick breads, soups, quiche filling and potato pancakes.

Be sure to peel them first.

Can't vouch for the durability of the less expensive ones.

Most times, if I'm prepping a lot of veggies, but not enough to warrant lugging out the food processor and all the cleanup included, I'll choose the mandolin over the knife. Takes about a quarter of the time and the results are more consistent. We've had ours for over 10 years and it is still sharp...sharp enough to get some bad cuts, so be sure to always use that hand guard.

Farmerman

Interesting about that ceramic knife. Have been thinking of indulging.

I have a Chinese friend who chops pumpkin with the cleaver. Looks a bit dangerous, though. (I'm not allowed near things like cleavers...)

You can give a cleaver a good hard smack with a wooden rolling pin when cutting pumpkin/squash.

Do you like pillows?

I like Pillows... I'm not allowed anthing hard.

I ran across a pumpkin roasted pear soup recipe I cannot manage to not post, on a food blog that is new to me (woe is me, another one) when I was looking up the spinach cheese souffle (watch out, this site could be addictive).

http://briciole.typepad.com/blog/2010/11/zuppa-di-zucca-e-pere-arrosto.html

So, obsessive type that I am, I looked at all 97 LATimes photos with recipes re thanksgiving, and found 13 that had to do with pumpkin or squash. If you have the patience, the numbers are 1, 4, 5, 9, 14, 19, 26, 33, 36, 38, 59, 78, 90. I'll not mention the parsnip, turnip, or persimmon or celery root ones..

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-thanksgiving-pictures,0,5711369.photogallery
(To go from one row of numbers to the next, double click on the end arrow.)

Olga has asked me for my recipe for chopped liver. This is going to be a challenge.

2 hard-boiled eggs
1 large onion or 1 medium and 1 small onion
2 slices white bread
chicken liver (4 to 6 ounces; I'm guessing)

Slice the onions and saute them in a large saucepan. Use vegetable or corn oil.

While the onions are softening, go through the livers. You'll see that they're kinda in two parts. Separate the parts and remove that yellow veiny thing if you can.

When the onions are partially softened, add the livers and smoosh everything around. I usually cover the pan at this point.

While the livers are cooking, peel the eggs.

When the livers are cooked through (no more pink), turn off the stove and let things cool down a little. My mother and grandmother waited until the liver was cold. I don't have patience for that, but if you start chopping too soon, the livers won't hold together.

Start chopping the livers and onions. I usually start with two pieces of liver and some onions. When the size of the chopped pieces are very small, add more liver and onions and chop. At this point, things will be very liquidy. Add one of the eggs and chop. Things will now be less liquidy. Take one of the pieces of bread--no crust! Tear off about a third of a slice and toss it into the mix. Chop it in.

Things will now be much dryer. Things will stick to the sides of the chopper. This is good.

Keep doing the same thing. After about four more pieces of liver and onions, add the second egg and some more bread.

You're done. Refrigerate.

Note: You can add salt to the livers when you're cooking them. You should not add salt to the chopped mixture. It will probably need some, but don't do it. Salt at this point will make the whole thing separate and become watery.

Chopped liver is traditionally served as an appetizer with sour pickles and radishes. Bread on the side. It would be at the ready to serve stage that you would mix in chicken fat. I don't have any of this. My grandmother rendered the fat and saved it for cooking. It's called schmaltz and enriches everything. It's also at this stage that you could add salt if it needs any.

I make sandwiches. Challah, roll, or rye bread. I usually add some mayo. My mother added lettuce.

Eat and enjoy.

Note that this does not keep long. So eat it while you can.

Thank you very much, Roberta!

Hard boiled eggs?
Who'd have guessed?
Obviously I know nothing!

I'm going to make this.

hi , msolga !
quite a task making chopped liver , i believe - and think of the clean-up job later !

quite a few websites under : " making chopped liver " .

perhaps you can find a jewish deli in sidney ( ? ) that might sell you some chopped liver .

or just buy some gooseliverwurst - it's always available locally .

GOOD LUCK - and good cleanup

Clean-up, hamburger?
I hadn't even considered that!
So you're saying it is super messy to prepare?
Hmmmm ....

I live in Melbourne. (Not that there's any reason you should know that, of course. )
For Jewish food one heads east, to St Kilda.
Food heaven!
The chicken soup!
And the cakes! The pastries! To die for!
I'm not sure if chopped liver is available (never having looked for it before), but I'm about due for a tram trip east, I will definitely check out that option.

I'm not big on cleaning up. If there was that much to do, I probably wouldn't bother.

1 saucepan
1 knife for cutting up the onion
one pot for boiling the eggs
one chopping bowl
one chopper
one fork (for smooshing around and tasting)

Not a lot.

BTW, I have never had chopped liver from a deli that was worth eating. Maybe I'm spoiled. Thomas said that he had chopped liver somewhere, and he liked it.

You are very convincing, Roberta!

I think I'm persuaded.

My concern is that you have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. And, as you can tell from my instructions, texture is major.

I admire your sense of adventure. And I hope you enjoy it. Please report back.

BTW, if you decide to make a sandwich, don't use white bread. The white bread goes into the liver because it's relatively tasteless. Use a roll or rye bread. But the best bread for making a chopped liver sandwich is challah (egg bread).

What's missing is a bit of Madeira wine and a handful of majoram -
chopped liver is so healthy, tons of B-vitamins in it.

OK, I'm now 100% persuaded now, Roberta.

Texture.
OK. Got it.

Of course, I won't know how "authentic" my result will be.
But so long as I enjoy it, that's the main thing, yes?

No problem finding the livers and the bread at my local market.

I will definitely report back.


Jane, say a teaspoon of Madeira?

Yes MsOlga, that's sufficient. Madeira has such a distinct taste, a small amount
goes a long way.

OK.
Thank you, Jane.

Any thoughts, pro or con, on the Madeira, Roberta?

I gave you my family recipe, olga. I doubt that my grandmother knew what madeira was.

My suggestion (for what it's worth): Start with my basic recipe. Try it. See how you like it. Then you can start adding stuff. But it's entirely up to you. You're the one who's gonna eat it.

Okie Dokie.
Thanks again, Roberta.

Just think: I will be using your very own family recipe!
I really like the idea of that!

Me too. I hope you're not disappointed.