Yes, Alton Brown knows *everything*...

[jducoeur]

... including how to make Hais, which he's doing on the episode we're looking at right now. And it's really useful, because he deals with the fruit in a meat grinder, which would never have occurred to me. (Mincing the fruit is the hard part of making hais.) We'll have to remember that, next time we make it...

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I had to look it up -- is this the fruit-and-crumbs confection? There's a pdf online which references the Miscellany and suggests using a food processor for the chopping, which sounds good if you don't have a meat grinder.

[jducoeur]

I don't know that I'd call it "fruit and crumbs" (it's more about fruit and pistachio, with the crumbs just as filler), but you're probably thinking of the right thing.

And yes, many people say to use a food processor. Having done so, however, I don't recommend it: it can be hard on the device. Chopping the gluey dates is fairly hard on the motor, and the pistachios can grind away the plastic of an average food-processor bowl. I lost a Cuisinart to this dish.

So the idea of making it in a metal meat grinder instead is quite intriguing, and makes a certain intuitive sense...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Aha, ok, I understand now!

[serakit.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't a blender work if a Cuisinart won't?

[jducoeur]

Possibly, although I don't know if it would "flow" enough for a blender. A blender works well on semi-liquid things, but past a certain point of solidity you just get the blades chopping the stuff at the bottom over and over, without enough movement of the food to chop it evenly. I *suspect* that might be the case here, but I don't know for sure.

(Also, I wouldn't do it with a plastic pitcher -- it might have the same abrasion problems as the Cuisinart. But a good blender usually has a glass pitcher, so that's less of an issue...)

[ilaine-dcmrn.livejournal.com]

cranberry relish is best made with a meat grinder:

1 sack cranberries, 1 orange, 1 apple, 1/2 lemon, 1 cup sugar

dump whole fruit in the top, grind, mix in sugar.

[jducoeur]

Intriguing. I'm going to have to remember this general technique -- it's simply never occurred to me...

[soteltie.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's how I learned to do it. Of course, that was back when most kitchens were equipped with them.

I wonder how the sausage grinder attachment to my Kitchenaid would work (for both relish and hais)...

[jducoeur]

Interesting idea -- I do have a Kitchenaid, although I don't have that attachment yet.

(OTOH, I believe we have a good steel meat grinder as well, so that might actually be the most convenient approach...)

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

We do - 'cause I couldn't bring myself to dispose of Mother's perfectly good meat grinder. I kind of fancied I might make sausages someday.

[ilaine-dcmrn.livejournal.com]

My mother used the hand-crank grinder, which used to be my grandmother's when I was little. It was a mess, with berry juice everywhere. Now she uses a food processor, which also works.

I use my kitchenaid with the grinder attachment and I love it. I think it has the advantage when doing multiple batches at once.