Text 15519, 127 rader
Skriven 2014-08-05 19:39:07 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
  Kommentar till text 15468 av Dave Drum (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: Gummint Cheese                                           [1]
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Hi Dave,

 DD> I don't find the macaroni in boxed mac & cheezoid substantially worse
 DD> than that in a Barilla or Ronzoni box. My rule-of-thumb on pre-made
 DD> pasta is - If the instructions tell you to rinse it, that is a sign of
 DD> the lowest quality. I do not waste time (or treasure) on it.

 RH> I don't spend time or money on the white stuff either. I was raised on

 DD> You *do* have your "enthusiasms".

Don't we all?


 RH> either Muellers or the A&P house brand of white pasta, and my mom
 RH> always oveer cooked it. IIRC, she rinsed macaroni after cooking but not
 RH> spaghetti. Those were the 2 types of pasta she used most often. We'd,
 RH> on the rare occaision, see lasagne noodles and even rarer times, egg
 RH> noodles. OTOH, I've got probably half a dozen pasta shapes/sizes on
 RH> hand, all whole wheat plus a pack of soba noodles.

 DD> I probably should have noted that if the instructions tell you to
 DD> rinse the pasta *before* cooking it's dreck. A number of recipes will

OK, I've not seen that. Some rices I do rinse, but not pasta.


 DD> call for the pasta to be rinsed. But, I usually recognise that that
 DD> call is akin the the call-out for "Kosher" salt or Canola in the
 DD> ingredients. Farce of habit and it often makes no difference - unless
 DD> reason is given in the directions part of the recipe. Often any salt

Usually given as a different one will affect the taste in a way not
intended by the recipe originator. A very fruity olive oil will have a
much different effect on the taste of something than a light canola oil.

 DD> will work. And, while there is sometimes a good reason to use a
 DD> specific oil, more often any oil, animal or vegetable will work just
 DD> fine. The trick is knowing the difference.

Agreed, and various salts weigh differently for the same amount. Thus,
one teaspoon of kosher salt may weigh more or less than the same amount
of sea salt. The recipe was written with a specific taste in mind.

 DD> Most "macaroni" is white or very pale yellow (from the eggs and the

 RH> The mac that goes into the boxed stuff is not a high quality type,
 RH> especially if you get the non name brand stuff.

 DD> Who cares? Certainly not me. I'm not paying for high quality, am I?

I don't buy the boxed; it's just as quick and easy to make my own.


 RH> I don't do straight mac & cheese very often now, too many carbs for me.
 RH> When I do make it, I use the sharpest cheese I can find, whole wheat
 RH> macaroni and usually add a shot of spicy brown mustard to the "white"
 RH> (made with whole wheat flour) sauce. There's rarely any left over. (G)

 DD> I thought nearly everyone added mustard to their M&C. Many also add
 DD> milk/cream.

Both Steve and I were brought up without mustard in mac & cheese. Nobody
we know does it unless they learned from me. As for milk/cream--I'll use
milk in the cheese sauce most of the time but have also used home made
chicken stock with good results.

 DD> specialty aisles or a specialised market. I do see the occasional WW
 DD> macaroni or buckwheat spaghetti at Hy-Vee or Schnuk's. But those are
 DD> considered "high-end" super daddy-o markets. We don't gots a Whole
 DD> Foods or Trader Joe.

 RH> I'm seeing WW pasta at a lot of mainstram grocey stores now. Even
 RH> Wal-Mart carries it, suspect Super Target does as well. Used to be, I'd

 DD> I don't *ever* buy *anything* from Wally-World. And I usually eschew
 DD> the big box stores for reasons stated previously. Meijer and now
 DD> Hy-Vee being the exceptions around here. But they have entrances that
 DD> let you park near the part of the store which you wish to purchase
 DD> your merchandise, get in and get back out without trudging miles and
 DD> endless miles just to give them your hard earned money.

Your choice. Same as my choice, we both can shop wherever we want, for
whatever we want.


 RH> I do a mix of stores. W-M gets business for some staples (no meats); we
 RH> get a lot of basics (including meats) at Lowe's. We go to Aldi's for
 RH> chocolate and odds and ends, a fair amount of buying at Whole Foods and
 RH> odds & ends at Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's. Some groceries at Target
 RH> if we're there for other shopping, not on a regular basis tho and a lot
 RH> of local produce at the farmer's market.

 DD> As I have said (above and many other times) I *never* do business with
 DD> China-Mart. Mostly because of their business practices and the way
 DD> they treat their help. And where they source most of their merch -

Our older daughter worked for W-M for some years when she & her husband
lived in Charleston. Could have been that particular store but they
worked with her to accomodate her school schedule, to include student
teaching.

 DD> although it's becoming hard to find any merch NOT "Made in China"
 DD> these days.

I'm not thrilled with so much made in China or other Asian countries but
as you say, hard to find some things not made off shore.


 DD> Pasta is meant to be neutral (essentially flavourless) which is why we
 DD> put sauces, etc. on it.

 RH> WW pasta adds its own flavoring to the sauces, etc. It's not detracting


>> CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... A truly wise person knows that he knows not.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)