Onion

What is the correct size for an onion in recipes? Some recipes call for small, medium and large onions. Compared to what? In general, a large onion is about the size of a 1-cup measuring cup, a medium onion would be about the size of a half-cup measure, and a small onion would be about the size of 1/4 cup. Or a small onion could be a different beast all together, such as a shallot (the small, pointed onions with gold/purple skins) or a spring onion. But notice the important words in that description: "In general" and "about."

Jeff Sharp of Baltimore wrote, "My wife has had a yearning for a thing she calls Baltimore Coddies. I do most of the cooking at our house and have tried several codfish cake recipes but none brought back the taste she remembers. She grew up in Highlandtown and says she always found them in stores around that area. Can you tell me where to find them?"Another request for coddies came from Judie Quent of Berlin who wrote, "Please help me. I'm homesick for coddies. Growing up in Baltimore we ate coddies all the time.

After the holidays, I always have a refrigerator filled with a little of this and a little of that. They're never enough to serve as a whole meal, but often I can devise interesting creations with them.This year, for instance, I turned the remains of a turnip gratin into a cream of turnip soup by pureeing the cooked vegetables and adding chicken stock and half and half to the mixture. I sliced some kielbasa, bought for a holiday breakfast meal, and sauteed it with onions to serve with mashed potatoes for supper another night.

* O.J. finds killer: Los Angeles -- After months of tireless searching, a triumphant O.J. Simpson announced Wednesday that he has found the killer of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. "I am deeply sorry for doubting you ..." said lead prosecutor Marcia Clark.This is the devilish work of the Onion. The weekly humor publication started as a college humor sheet by a couple of Midwesterners in 1988 and, until recently, enjoyed a faithful underdog following."People think they have discovered the Onion in the last two years," says Onion staff writer Carol Kolb.

The easy way: recipe ideas from the Web* Item: McCormick Bag'nSeason Cooking Bag and Seasoning Blend* What you get: 6 to 8 servings* Cost: About $1.75* Preparation time: 25 minutes to 2 hours* Review: During busy weeks when cooking seems too big of a chore, I've learned to fall back on easy meal-makers like McCormick's Bag'nSeason mixes. But when even the mixes seem too familiar to family members, what's a tired chef to do? Fortunately, McCormick offers a Web site with additional recipes.

When you know the answers to these questions, go to http://www.4Kids.org/detectives/1. How many varieties of sweet corn exist?2. Africans make up how much of the world population? To answer this question go to The Living Africa site at http://hyperion.advanced.org/16645/3. What is the primary topic of da Vinci's Codex Leicester?A Scientific MasterpieceYou've probably heard that Leonardo da Vinci wasn't just painter, right? Sure, Mona Lisa's face is on everything from spaghetti sauce to beach towels, but Leonardo was a serious thinker and a real Renaissance man!

From Box Elder, S.D., Pat Pfeifer writes: "I'm looking for a recipe to compare to the bloomin' onion which I had at the Outback restaurant in Kansas City, Mo. Also, the dip that went with it. Thanks for any help you can give."From Baltimore, Erin Branham responded: "This is for the dip and the bloomin' onion that she had at the Outback restaurant. It can be found in Todd Wilbur's 'Top Secret Restaurant Recipes' cookbook. Enjoy!"Bloomin' OnionServes 2 to 4 as an appetizer1 egg1 cup milk1 cup all-purpose flour1 1/2 teaspoons salt1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper1/4 teaspoon dried oregano1/8 teaspoon dried thyme1/8 teaspoon cumin1 giant Spanish onion (3/4 pound or more)

Baked beans like those made by the old Horn & Hardart restaurant was the request of Marci K. Weiner of Baltimore.Frank C. Alfonso of Baltimore responded with a recipe he said Weiner is sure to like. He added: "I like using an old earthenware crock and I sometimes place strips of bacon on the top of the beans towards the end of the baking period. What a hearty and tasty dish!"Cynthia Sparks of Baltimore wants to make spareribs like those she had on vacation this past summer at J. K.'s Ribs in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. She wrote, "My family cannot wait to go there again just for the rib's sake.

In my household, "SportsCenter" is a daily morning ritual, and Kenny Mayne is a god. This will mean nothing to you unless you, too, are hooked. Just accept the fact that when my family and my daughter's field hockey coach headed for ESPN Zone, the sports-themed restaurant and entertainment complex based on the world's hippest sports channel, we were ready to like it.But first, of course, we had to get in.We waited in line outside about 45 minutes on a...

Plaque for stadium too small only for ego of Treasurer DixonMaryland Treasurer Richard N. Dixon's ego is exceeded only by the capacity of Ravens Stadium. To have the audacity to insist that a new plaque, which will cost as much as $6,000, is warranted because the present one is "very small" is the epitome of egocentricity.Why is Bruce Hoffman caving in to this ridiculous demand, and where is this money coming from?Isn't Mr. Dixon supposed to get his reward, along with his salary, from serving his state to the best of his ability?

The Rabbit is finally at rest. Author John Updike, who died Tuesday of lung cancer at age 76, frequently referred to his most indelible character, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, as his alter-ego. In four novels - Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest - Updike chronicled his blue-collar protagonist adrift and disillusioned in mid-20th-century America. The books begin respectively in 1959, 1969, 1979 and 1988, and encapsulate the conflicts of their previous decades: the disenchantment with the American dream of the '50s, the Vietnam War and the hippie movement in the '60s, the conspicuous consumption and hedonism of the '70s, and the rise of drugs and AIDS in the '80s.

For years, William Abraham Beery Jr. owned the venerable Burke's Cafe in downtown Baltimore, home base of the gently fried 3-inch-wide golden onion ring and of club sandwiches so long they "would stretch from here to the Hillendale Golf course and back," a restaurant critic once observed. Mr. Beery, the amiable proprietor who was as well-known as the dishes his restaurant served up to hungry Baltimoreans for decades, died of heart failure Tuesday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 91. In 1947, Mr. Beery became partner with the owner of Burke's Cafe on Light Street, which had been established in 1934 and had earned a reputation of being a tough waterfront watering hole where fisticuffs were as common as the shots of Pikesville Rye and tall drafts of chilled Arrow Beer that traveled across its bar. "The story goes that Fred Sheaffer went out to Pimlico one day and put some money on a horse.

One of the classic bistro combinations is steak with bearnaise sauce. But in this day of low-fat, low-calorie emphasis, how can you get some of that great bearnaise flavor without the richness of eggs and lots of butter? Here's one solution. Take the main flavors of onion and tarragon and mix them in a lighter topping. We've made sweet onions the star. Saute Vidalias in butter until they become golden, then add tarragon leaves. Your steak will thank you. Carol Mighton Haddix writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis.

Betty Mathias of New Windsor was looking for a recipe for an onion casserole that was originally published in the 2006 Old Farmer's Almanac. She said she discarded the old almanac and "out with the old year went a darn good recipe." Fortunately, Linda Lupro of Baltimore held on to her copy of the 2006 almanac and kindly faxed in a copy of the recipe that Mathias was looking for. This recipe involves a lot of chopping. However, if you are careful and don't over-process, you could do most of the prep in the food processor, which would certainly be less laborious.

The products sitting on my kitchen counter the other night were all items to be tested at home: a can of cream of chicken soup, a jar of curry powder, a tin of tuna packed in water. To that lineup I added, among other things, a yellow onion and a $9 bottle of sauvignon blanc. After looking to the back of the soup can for inspiration, I found that these ingredients lent themselves to a homey casserole. The result is rather old-fashioned. This is how so many moms of my youth used to cook when they were being "creative" and enthusiasm outweighed real ability in the kitchen.

What is the correct size for an onion in recipes? Some recipes call for small, medium and large onions. Compared to what? In general, a large onion is about the size of a 1-cup measuring cup, a medium onion would be about the size of a half-cup measure, and a small onion would be about the size of 1/4 cup. Or a small onion could be a different beast all together, such as a shallot (the small, pointed onions with gold/purple skins) or a spring onion. But notice the important words in that description: "In general" and "about."

Hamburger Helper, that Betty Crocker standard of the '70s, fascinated me as a child. What was it? How did it help? When faced with some ground turkey for dinner, and tired of my usual turkey burgers, I decided the turkey would be easier to cook up in a skillet with a little help. To me, that meant whatever vegetables I had on hand: some onions and a couple of zucchini. After I threw in a red bell pepper for color, my dish was nearly done. You can adapt the idea to whatever vegetables you have in the refrigerator.

Eager to enrich the language and the lore of Maryland weather, we recently posted a query from Gene Heyler of Columbia, who wanted to know whether Marylanders had any colloquial names for early spring snowfalls. In northern Pennsylvania, he said, they speak of "Easter snows" or "onion snows." Ruth Ann Ches of Baltimore had one: "As a child, we talked about the `robin snow,' which occurred after the sightings of the first robins in the spring." Perfect.

If Marshall McLuhan was right that "the medium is the message," in the case of wildly popular fake news, the message must be: Laugh your head off or you'll just end up crying your eyes out. But what if a few angry and motivating tears are what we need? What if all this laughing is pacifying us - making us inert? I hate to say it - I love my Amy Poehler fix as much as the next gal - but I fear therapeutic irony is rendering us politically impotent. We are drawn to fake news for obvious reasons.

Serves 4 to 6 2/3 cup fresh mayonnaise or store-bought 1 tablespoon curry powder, or to taste 4 cups cooked chicken breast, cubed 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 cup diced white onion (about 1/2 medium onion) 1/4 cup currants or raisins 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise and the curry powder. Add the chicken, apple, onion, currants, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper and toss gently.