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Food and Drink Essential to sustain life; near the top of the hierarchy of needs

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Old 05-20-2013, 12:12 PM   #16
chrisinhouston
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When my wife and I rented a small home in Crete a few years ago the owner invited us up to their place after dinner. She was making loukoumades, the Greek version of donuts. They fry the balls of dough up in oil and after draining them they sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and you can eat them plain or dipped in honey!

I asked her what oil she was using and she said extra virgin olive oil of course (there were olive trees everywhere in Crete). I remarked that in my country we would use canola or peanut oil. "Why would you do that," she asked with a distasteful expression on her face. She thrust her hand in the air and said, "We use olive oil for everything, it's a gift from God!" I always think of her frying those puffs of dough when I hear Rachel Ray saying never use olive oil for frying as it has a lower flash point.

Her husband said he was going to have to get more olive oil from the local mill later in the week. He showed me a 50 gallon plastic drum like the kind we have here that soda companies use to hold their syrup at the bottling places and I used to make my rain barrels from. He said they went through a barrel every month or so.
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Old 05-20-2013, 01:28 PM   #17
footfootfoot
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Originally Posted by Clodfobble View Post
I'd be more interested in the balsamic vinegars, myself. I can definitely taste the difference in the various options at my grocery store. I wonder what $50 balsamic vinegar tastes like.
no comparison. at. all.
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Old 05-20-2013, 10:46 PM   #18
gvidas
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Just to go back to 2006, the floaties are probably okay. You can see them come and go seasonally (meaning, with ambient temperature) at the grocery I like, an Arab-owned joint in Hamtramck. I suspect those dudes (and dudettes) understand their oils. We Americans seem to really like visual homogeneity in our foods, and ask for a certain kind of arbitrary and artificial perfection. You'll know a rancid oil when you smell it.

As for balsamic, I've heard that you can substantially improve the flavor and excitement of your cheaper balsamic vinegars by simmering it, like any other reduction, until it is thicker. I've never tried it.
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Old 05-21-2013, 10:15 AM   #19
footfootfoot
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I bought a case of this, a few years ago and I'm on my last bottle.
Quote:
I Legni Selection For real connoisseurs, here's a serie of special products. Three varieties of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, refined respectively in barrels of Chestnut, Cherry and Oak. This is a very peculiar selection, since the product matures in barriques of one single wood, that gives a specific flavour and aroma to each of the variety. They come with or without single gift box.
http://www.acetum.it/acetumbrand.htm

This is not for salad dressing or cooking with. It is meant to be used as a dipping sauce or poured directly on the food in teaspoon sized portions. It is your "Sunday go to meeting" vinegar. The way it is made is fairly complex, the vinegar is aged for a number of years, then half of it is drawn off and aged further in a secondary barrel. The first barrel has new vinegar added to the aged half that remains. When a number of years go by, half the contents of the secondary aging barrel are moved to a third barrel for aging, and half the contents of the first barrel are added to the remains of the second barrel. New vinegar is added to the remains of the first barrel.

If that weren't complicated enough, when the third barrel is finished aging, half of that is added to the first barrel. I left that part out of the first description for clarity.

The flavor of this stuff is really amazingly complex. The wood flavors come through clearly. I don't care for the smell or Cherry wood, I find it unpleasantly spicey. It comes through quite clearly in the vinegar, but is somewhat tamed by the other flavors. It's not my favorite, but it is interesting how the cherry which I find unpleasant is ameliorated to the point where it becomes fascinating, like one of those people you are not sure if you love them or hate them.

I also use their
Quote:
Aceto Balsamico di Modena Biologico Balsamic Vinegar of Modena obtained from grapes from Organic agriculture and certified by CCPB in Bologna, the Control Consortium that carefully follows all the production steps. This Organic Balsamic Vinegar has the same high sensory features of our Acetum products, and it is addressed to health-conscious consumers.
as an everyday vinegar
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