[Sca-cooks] Looking for Crab recipes

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> twitch... twitch... left eye blinks rapidly and independently of
> motor control...

Sorry, A, but since I was intimately involved in that dish, I couldn't
refrain from comment ;-)

> My theory, for lack of a better one, is that almond oil is _the_
> perfect waterproofing material for rice, and that rice to be cooked
> in almond milk either needs to be precooked in water or stock first,
> or bruised or pulverized in some way to speed up the process. Maybe
> it was extremely hard or soft water, I don't know. What I do know is
> that rice, even in quantity, shouldn't take two hours to cook in
> plenty of liquid and a heat range providing between a full, rolling
> boil to a steady simmer all that time. And just as obviously, the
> longer you cook it, the greater the likelihood that it'll burn.

OK. Have you considered testing your theory? Doing up a batch with, and
without, almond milk, and seeing what happens? I kinda wonder about oil
acting as a water proofing agent, simply because so many modern recipes will
saute the rice in oil before cooking it. And you're right about the cooking
time- at my feast, using the "boil the water, add the rice, stir, bring to
second boil, cover and set aside off the heat " method for the Greek fried
rice worked beautifully- maybe an hour, all told.

> Actually, I believe most blancmanger recipes do specify pre-cooking,
> or at least cooking in stock or water before adding the almond milk.
> Unfortunately, they don't say why, or warn you what will happen if
> you don't.
>
> A.

Well, more adventures in Medeval cooking- if we all knew exactly whay was
going to happen, it would get boring ;-) And, besides, the rest of the feast
was wonderful- even the gawdawful cabbage in fennel scribal error, which was
as far as I could tell, perfectly cooked, if completely inedible ;-) (I hate
licorice flavors, folks, and that one had it in abundance).

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....