Mara, home cook for Maggie and Lisa, asks:
Why do you cut the eggs up into small, but not tiny, chunks? And, what kind of bone meal do you use?As I learned in the bookstore cooking section yesterday, it's all about "plating." With the eggs chopped up too small, all the ingredients of the dinner begin to merge into a indistinguishable, unappealing, green-tinged mush. Better to offer small segments of bright yellow, contrasting with the morsels of white egg. The lightly chopped greens can be scattered throughout, adding texture and appealing color. Small squares of carrots contribute brightness. Finally, the rice and oatmeal tie everything together and serve as a pleasing background.
An old-fashioned potato masher is the perfect tool to get to the right texture without a lot of effort. We've learned that Daisy has little appetite for the over-chopped amalgamation. She turns up her nose at the big chunks, or else carries them off to place somewhere in the middle of a room. So we have made an effort to construct a more delightful plate. It may be time, though, to rethink the giant round stainless steel bowl. The trend today is toward small servings on big plates.
"Crowding food is a no-no," according to How-to-Cook Gourmet.So we could go with an even bigger bowl, with less food. Or perhaps the same size bowl -- maybe in a more appealing green or red to contrast with the tan rice, though -- with smaller portions served a couple of times. What do you think?
Oh, and if you hard boil eggs often, you may have suffered through many a difficult peeling process. The shell sticks, it breaks into tiny pieces, it pricks your fingers. Here's the solution we've found:
Bring a pot of water to a boil.You can also place the eggs in a bath of cold water to speed up the process. One way or the other, they'll peel like a dream!
Place up to 20 eggs in the water and let it return to a boil.
Turn the heat down and boil for 5 minutes.
Turn off the burner and let sit for 45 minutes to cool.
Store the eggs in their original box in the fridge.
Here's a video of a fun alternate method. I did try it, but I think you have to have very powerful lungs to make it work.
As for the bone meal, we've recycled the jar so I'll have to report back after our next shopping trip. Any recommendations?
2 comments:
THAT EGG THING IS AMAZING! Will try!
So the careful preparation is all so Daisy will eat it? I can see that, although I've never experienced a finicky dog. The beauty of dogs, at least my chow hounds, is that they don't seem to care what it looks like, as long as they can swallow it! I tend to make them a lot of meatloaves and casseroles, which can take a number of ingredients in a compact easy-to-transport form. This is important because we live in two places, only one of which has a working stove.
As to bone meal, I use Solgar with Vitamin B-12. But, since much of their diet is meat, I also make sure that they get a few days a week of pure calcium without phosphorus, in the form of powdered eggshells. They get a lot of eggs on the weekend (I like to vary the protein sources) and I clean the shells and grind them up in a coffee grinder. So your peeling method might be helpful here. I'll let you know.
Thanks for the advice!
I watched the video again and see that I left out a step. Try it and let us know if it works for you.
What a great idea about washing the eggshells and grinding them up. This we can do! Right now we just put them directly into the compost.
The meatloaf and casserole idea is brilliant. Perfect for travel, or for those days when you know you'll have a quick stop at home only before going out again.
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