[Sca-cooks] This 'n that

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 9 Dec 2002, at 22:38, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamant wrote:

> Also sprach Robin Carroll-Mann:
> >I need to make simple syrup (2:1) for a beverage.  Some websites
> >insist that it will keep fine for a few days or for months at room
> >temperature in a clean, well-sealed bottle.  Others say it must be
> >refrigerated.  Who do I believe?
>
> Believe the former, with emphasis on clean and well-sealed. This is
> not supposed to be brewing, and there's no reason bacteria, yeasts or
> molds should get into your bottle of syrup and mess with it. Also, I
> would wonder whether sucrose (which is, I believe, a complex sugar)
> would do anything in that concentration other than to cause most
> bacteria to explode on contact (plasmolysis). I wouldnae worry about
> it.

I am inclined in that direction.  As the feast draws near, my fridge
will be overflowing with the things that *must* be refrigerated.  I
have a few plastic soda bottles soaking in a mild bleach solution,
which should do the job nicely.

> >What is the best way to wrap large quantities of chicken parts for
> >the freezer?
>
> It kind of depends on what you're doing with them. If you need to
> cook them from a frozen state (which _is_ doable),

Does one have to do anything differently when starting with frozen
chicken??

> you should
> probably pack them with something like parchment between them, if
> appearance matters, so they can be easily separated. Maybe you could
> lay them out flat on a sheet pan (or reasonable, freezer-sized,
> equivalent), freeze, and then remove and bag them. If for stock, you
> could probably just put them in large, heavy zip-lock bags and be
> just fine.

Most of them will be for the hen in quince sauce, so appearance
does matter.  Some will be for stock.  I may cook the stock
immediately, and freeze it in one- or two-recipe portions, so I can
cook the chicken in batches.

Brighid, who foresees bugging the list with a lot more questions in
the coming month


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net