On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:15:32 -0500, Gary > wrote:
>> My grandfather made several crocks of kraut every fall for over 50 years.
>> Once he discovered sturdy plastic bags, that was the only method he used.

FWIW: My son gave me a beer making set two years back, when we were
still speaking. SW gave it away, including the wonderful food-quality
white plastic pail with seal. That's why I'm making kraut in a glass
crock from Uh..... Oh Yeah, garden Ridge Pottery. Holds maybe
2 gallons.

For those of you who swear by wooden slabs to weight down the
cabbage, I'm w/you. My Dad did his tomatoes this way (after first
frost), but we lived in place where he could buy (borrow/steal) oak
planks. In today's urban world, I find I have to get my butt to a
specialty wood supplier and pay through the nose. Everything is
either pressurized or termite-treated or some such c**p.

Not on *my* plate, thenk you veddy, veddy much.

Did those stuffed (mango) peppers. Stuffed with white/green
cabbage, brine w/liddle salt, vinegar 2 to water 1/2, mustard
seed, bay leaf, garlic clove, a Hungarian Hot Wax pepper in
the orange stage, tinted with beet juice.

Yes, yes. I'm sure there are at least 2.5^3 of you who will
say I did it wrong. Kay! At least I did it. Your grandmother
was not my grandmother. <G>

Alex - trying not to poison himself. Those Reubens, are to
be made with my own corned beef. Already made it. Used
flatiron steak, not brisket. Cheese will be Sissi's goat cheddar.
The wheel is in the fridge as we speak. She's wierd. Why make
cheese when you can buy it so reasonably priced? I mean, who
*really* wants to milk a goat?