The Baked Potato Fiesta

Tonight I am having people over to play cribbage and I think I will serve a Caesar's salad and a Baked Potato Bar.  With all the fixings.  As I write this, I am trying to think up items for the potato fillings. So far I have come with the normal things: butter, sour cream, bacon crumbled, shredded cheddar cheese and maybe grilled chicken.  I have to put my thinking cap on.  I am going to bake the potatoes the old-fashioned way in a hot oven for a few hours after they have been rolled in oil, crusted with kosher salt, then wrapped in foil.

Another Topic: Mustard

No hot dog or corned beef sandwich is complete without it.  In fact, since prehistoric times, mustard has grown so readily in so many places that, next to pepper, it is the condiment mot commonly available in the world for adding happiness and flavor to food.  The oil from the black mustard seed  is widely used in India in cooking, hair tonic, and as a liniment.  It once represented fertility to Hindu.  The Chinese are more likely to use the greens a flavoring vegetable a did the ancient roman.

When the tiny seeds are crushed, they release an oil that forms a paste.  Brought into contact with water, this results in a volatile, pungent compound that gain strength for about ten minutes and then begins to diminish.  The idea is to let the flavor develop and then stop it at the chosen strength by adding an acid, such as vinegar.  The result is "made mustard" in a form ready for ue.  German, French and American mustard are made this way, with the bright yellow of the American type created by adding the herb turmeric.

In France, Dijon became the center of mustard making in the 14th century and by the mid-15th century, Louis XI was traveling with his own pot of it.  The process and the ingredients have been regulated since that time, and white wine and the juice of unripened grapes are used instead of vinegar.  It was here that Antoine Maille' developed hi mustard and vinegars in the 18th century and where in the next, Maurice Grey invented the Poupon mustard he named for himself.

Across the Channel in England at about the same time, Jeremiah Coleman was popularizing his brand of dry mustard, using and old technique of making a powder of the seed.  The powder wa then mixed with water when needed, producing a far stronger mustard than the French and rivaled for bite only by the Chinese.

An excerpt from "Life is Meals" by James & Kay Salter

Though I didn't make any baked sweet potato for tonight (though I probably should have), I have a great Sweet Potato recipe that you can make in your slow cooker.
Candied Sweet Potatoes
6-8 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
20-oz can crushed pineapples, undrained
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cook sweet potatoes until soft.  Peel. Slice and place in slow cooker.  Combine remaining ingredients.  Pour over sweet potatoes.  Cover.  Cook on high 4 hours.

It doesn't get any easier than this.  This is from "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook-Feasting with your Slow Cooker" by Dawn J. Ranck & Phyllis Pellman Good.  It sells on my Amazon storefront for $4.99.
www.amazon.com/shops/oneofakindcookbooks

Happy Cooking!