When I pulled my Kitchenaid pasta rollers out of the box, I noticed that one roller wobbled as it turned. The wobble was a good quarter inch---totally unacceptable for any sort of rolling. I decided to take apart the rollers to see if I could fix them. I made a little progress but was unable to take off this plate; on the other end, the thickness knob had no set screw and seemed to be tightly fitted. Even if I had been able to take it apart, getting it back together would have been difficult---those tabs are the main supports of the roller box.
I have owned these rollers for many years but have used them only infrequently, perhaps a dozen times over the past many years. I am disappointed that they haven't given me more use. I am not completely surprised that their demise came so soon. Just another reason to go back to hand methods.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...

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