The food thread

We got the pasta roller/cutter kit for the kitchen aid mixer a ways back, used it all the time but it’s been in storage for almost 4 yrs now since building our new house......good news is we’re about ready (within a month or so) to unload into the new kitchen!

I highly recommend this gadget if you’ve already got a kitchen aid mixer. Other Pasta Roller & Cutter Set KSMPRA | KitchenAid
 
I use both the pink salt and the black (from India). Just received an order of both (2kg of pink). All salt is essentially sea salt, but the rock salt comes from ancient seas, and does not contain the crap that man has recently poured into our oceans.


When last in India, I bought some large crystal black salt, and analysed it at work. Contrary to some reports (from Wikipedia, then) I found it was 99%+ sodium chloride, and NOT high in Potassium chloride, as was reported. There were trace amounts of other substances, such as iron, which gave the salt its colour. The smell was from hydrogen sulphide (from volcanic gases) trapped in the salt.



I had quite a fgiht with Wikipedia about the Potassium content, until I pointed out that if people used it believing it was lower in sodium, and people became ill, then Wiki could be sued. They soon removed that part of the script.


I only use the black salt in 'chat masala', when it can give a 'meaty' note to a dish. Sulphur will combine with other foods giving strong flavours, the reason for using onion and garlic.
 
I use both the pink salt and the black (from India). Just received an order of both (2kg of pink). All salt is essentially sea salt, but the rock salt comes from ancient seas, and does not contain the crap that man has recently poured into our oceans.


When last in India, I bought some large crystal black salt, and analysed it at work. Contrary to some reports (from Wikipedia, then) I found it was 99%+ sodium chloride, and NOT high in Potassium chloride, as was reported. There were trace amounts of other substances, such as iron, which gave the salt its colour. The smell was from hydrogen sulphide (from volcanic gases) trapped in the salt.



I had quite a fight with Wikipedia about the Potassium content, until I pointed out that if people used it believing it was lower in sodium, and people became ill, then Wiki could be sued. They soon removed that part of the script.


I only use the black salt in 'chat masala', when it can give a 'meaty' note to a dish. Sulphur will combine with other foods giving strong flavours, the reason for using onion and garlic.

From Wikipedia
Before the advent of the modern internal combustion engine and earth-moving equipment, mining salt was one of the most expensive and dangerous of operations because of rapid dehydration caused by constant contact with the salt (both in the mine passages and scattered in the air as salt dust) and of other problems caused by accidental excessive sodium intake. Salt is now plentiful, but until the Industrial Revolution, it was difficult to come by, and salt was often mined by slaves or prisoners. Life expectancy for the miners was low.

In ancient Rome, salt on the table was a mark of wealth; those who sat nearer the host were "above the salt", and those less favored were "below the salt". The Roman historian Pliny the Elder stated as an aside in his Natural History's discussion of sea water, that "in Rome ... the soldier's pay was originally salt and the word 'salary' derives from it ..."

You have to wonder if they find fossils and other evidence of ancient life....
 
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I only use the black salt in 'chat masala', when it can give a 'meaty' note to a dish. Sulphur will combine with other foods giving strong flavours, the reason for using onion and garlic.


I've never taken to Chat, so would consider making chat masala one of those things that life it too short to do! Also wife being a life long veggie doesn't like 'meaty'. Took me 5 years to get her to accept marmite as a flavouring agent :)
 
Anyone roll their own pasta? (We had a box of GF pasta left over from #2 daughter-in-law visit, it was awful!)

Special occasions as a family effort. I'm a pro on the rolling and noodle-cutting (using the hand-crank machine), but don't know all what goes into my mom's dough. Well, semolina, eggs, water and salt. But what proportions, beats me.

One tip I can recommend for egg noodles is roll them out flat, dust them with semolina and let them sit until they're drier but not dried out before cutting them into ribbons. Like, say, 30 minutes or so. Then they can dry out as much as they want in ribbon form before cooking (keep them spread out so they don't glue onto each other), so they can be done well in advance and make service less stressful.
 
We got the pasta roller/cutter kit for the kitchen aid mixer a ways back, used it all the time but it’s been in storage for almost 4 yrs now since building our new house......good news is we’re about ready (within a month or so) to unload into the new kitchen!

I have it! only time I use it is to make kruschiki but it has the cutters to make fettucine.
 
I'd like to ask for some advice please.

I tried to make some bread
3.5 cups flour
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
etc...

My kitchen aid ultra power 300 watt stand mixer stalled, produce a whining sound that increased in pitch (as I got up and started to run to the mixer) and then made a snapping sound and no longer works. I use it quite a bit but this is the first time I tried to make some bread with it.

I need to buy I new stand mixer (I use it a lot.) How much power do you think I need in a stand mixer? Does anyone make bread themselves? What type of stand mixer do you use?

Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks....

When I make bread dough I use my biggest mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Only need to mix it enough to hold together for kneading. I tend to make the dough quite loose and incorporate flour as I knead. It works fine for batches big enough for 2 loaves (boules). Lately I have been using this recipe French-Style Country Bread | King Arthur Flour though not that brand of flour, and I only have unbleached all-purpose flour at the moment. I just finished a chicken sandwich and I can attest I like that bread. :)