Woohoo!
Partly in response to the recent hype, I went to the Scottsdale Penzey's today (in the strip center on the SW corner of Hayden and decor" to it, but, well, welcome to Snottsdale.
Took a friend who had no idea Penzey's even existed, and, well, she wants another shopping trip there for her birthday.
Answer to "Who stole the kishka" 5630In the case of the song, which is the subject of the thread, the context was Polish. This recipe is from the guy who's behind TheSausageMaker.com where I buy my...
I noticed that they do not have those metal cans that everyone was going on about a few years ago when Penzey's became a big rfc topic. They seem to work exclusively in glbutt and plastic jars, or plastic bags. The nice lady behind the counter also explained that they don't sell mortar and pestle sets (though, she added, they get requests about three times a week) because they want to focus on the spices. Doesn't explain the cookbook and the do-it-yourself gift kits, though...
One thing I didn't know about it beforehand but it makes perfect sense now is, for every spice they provide a separate shelf, and on each shelf is a large stoppered jar with the spice in it specifically so you can give it a little shake, open it up, and bask in the aroma; maybe even sneak a taste. Brilliant marketing. When we hit the chipotle, I grabbed a basket and started throwing things into it.
REC: Mussels in hot spicy sauceOmManiPadmeOmelet We eat a lot of mussels and prawns at home, but crawfish I only have (occasionally) at "fancy" restaurants...
Answer to "Who stole the kishka" 5629Victor Sack Your newest name must be Bubba Wise-Guy. Sausage stuffing is made of mostly meats in natural casings, Kishka is mostly bread crumbs or matzoh meal and flour and fat...
Actually, I only ended up with all the stuff I'd picked out of the catalog, but the chipotle effect was the catalyst.
The damage:
Almond Extract, (30% alcohol) 4 oz bottle $6.29 This smells fantastic; very clean. I got it to put in tea, because my favorite almond-infused tea doesn't come decaffeinated.
Chipotle Pepper, ground 1.2 oz jar $3.49 This smells unbelievable. This is what southwest food should always smell like. Smoky chili, like you're on a trail drive.
Chipotle Peppers, whole 1 oz bag 3.99 Three or four pruny, leathery, dried chipotles. The smell of these in the sampling jar was almost as good as the ground version.
Ancho Chiles, whole 1 oz bag $1.89 Two big, flat, leathery dried Anchos. Not as dramatic as the chipotles, by a long stretch, but the differences will be apparent in cooking.
Guajillo Chiles, whole 1 oz bag $1.89 Three long pods. I'm interested to see what these do.
Piquin Chiles, 0.5 oz jar $3.79 There must be fifty of these raisin-sized red firebombs in this tiny pot. I tried a small flake off of one, and after about 30 seconds got a very nice, very hot but not painful burn going (I was careful to examine the flake for seed or membrane remnants; so ymmv). These are going to work great with the other peppers.
Cumin, whole from India 4 oz bag $3.09 I needed some whole cumin to try out in chili.
Net: $24.83 with tax. Only 40 cents tax. Weird, because it means that only some of the items were taxed, and the nominal rate around here is 8%, and there's nothing that fits...
Anyway. That's my first time at Penzey's, but never my last.
--Blair
