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One of my main objectives during my time at O'Hare was to locate the Frango mints. For those of you who have not been introduced to this Chicago tradition, it is a chocolate mint truffle, coated with a light bit of chocolate. It was manufactured for many years in the Marshall Field store (although Wikipedia reveals that they were invented at Frederick and Nelson in Seattle). When manufacturing moved out of Chicago, a great hue and cry erupted. But I still like them.
I broke open the box as soon as I got home. They were just as I remembered them: creamy, chocolaty, minty, well-balanced. Mmmmmm, Frango...
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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