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The Pistachio warnings from Health Canada, as far as I could see, started in September. I just did a quick count of the alerts and there have been over 50, which is why I was so surprised to see so much of it on the Costco shelves.

So I googled Crown Pastries, the sole source of contaminated pistachios in the last food recalls : Crown Pastries sources its pistachios from "Pistachios Land", a term they use to refer to the origin of the high-quality nuts used in their products. While their marketing uses this general phrase, Crown Pastries is an authentic Syrian bakery with deep roots in Aleppo, Syria, and they likely import pistachios that align with the traditional Middle Eastern standards, possibly from major producing countries like the United States (specifically California), Iran, or Turkey, which are the top global producers and suppliers to the Canadian market. Specific details on the exact supplier or farm are not publicly disclosed, but the company emphasizes using premium, high-quality pistachios as a core part of their authentic recipes.

I agree it does seem rather odd. There was a recall of pistachio cream in the US early in the summer but nothing since. It was a rather limited issue with few affected. The US is the world’s largest producer of pistachios (followed by Iran and Turkey, I believe) and the largest exporter but we also import them, presumably from the same places as Canada so you’d think there might be some of the same issues here.

This will be with good friends of ours. We've been making dinners back and forth for 35 years. "BYO" = Build Your Own. The first two wines are from Michigan. BYO BliS char roe, Terra potato chips, crème fraîche + sour cream 2 Lads Sparkling Rosé 2020 Alaskan coho salmon sous vide, lemon dry brine Carnaroli risotto with butternut squash and sage Brussels sprouts à la plancha Bluestone Chardonnay Reserve 2023 Pear-caramel ice cream Bayley Hazen Blue (+ a little sour cream) on challah croutons Cockburn’s 20 Year Tawny Port

It really is a hoot and I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I should get back to it as I’ve quite enjoyed the silly sandwiches I made!

Thank you blue_dolphin for telling us about A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. It's hilarious! Might even be good bedtime reading . . . .

Not below the border. Curious.

Thursday, lemon and garlic marinated chicken with sweet potato and a really good NY Times recipe for mustard glazed roasted broccoli Friday, pasta with eggplant, spinach, tomato and basil

@weinoo and interesting idea . Im just not a fan chicken fat . if that was duck skin , you bet-cha .

Why not make chicken skin "bacon?" Or gribenes? https://toriavey.com/schmaltz-and-gribenes/

I was at Costco the other day and saw a lot of edibles with pistachios. With all the pistachio warnings, I wondered who was buying the stuff. The warnings against pistachios have been unrelenting, and I trust no pistachio products.

I had some baby back ribs that I was thinking of grilling and making Greek ribs for breakfast, but decided to use them instead for Chinese steamed pork ribs with black beans. One of our favourite dim sum dishes. I know that baby back ribs aren't the ribs traditionally used for this dish, but I actually like them better.

"Pistachios are not currently grown commercially in Canada due to the climate, but could become a possibility in certain regions like the Okanagan in the future due to climate change. Canada's climate is too cold for commercial pistachio cultivation, as the trees require hot, dry summers and cool winters to thrive, conditions that Canada does not consistently meet. "

Grilled salmon with stuffed mushrooms. I bought the prepped mushrooms at Safeway . They grilled nicely next to the salmon, took the same amount of time. They were good, but the cheese wasn't needed on them. Served with cherry chipotle dipping sauce.

Not sure. I thought of this when I saw the ginormous bags of pistachios, candies with them, etc. at Costco the other day.

Thinking some more, I remembered we also get these segmented delivery containers.

Dumpling soup again, this time has kale, pumpkin, lots of coriander and Vietnamese mint.

Why is it only Canadian pistachios? Don't US ones come from the same trees?

...and one more. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-7

Ask, and ye shall receive! https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/mount-kumgang-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes Of course, we also get a couple of the same old, same old. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-raw-pistachio-kernels-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-pistachios-recalled-due-salmonella-3

I really wanted to like this but can't recommend it. Got at Costco 2 days ago. Best by date is tomorrow but I had to spend too much time picking out the black slimy lettuce. The dried apple is in such tiny pieces that you can't taste it. The dressing doesn't have enough Dijon. Way too sweet. Just a big disappointment.

I started w a tray of thighs . I wanted to see how easy they were to trim away the skin // excess fat , and if S&S gave you that extra flap under the thigh : they did ! trimmed . note : the every day price of the thighs is higher than the legs ! these went into the IDS @ 185 F , full smoke , for 3 hours , shifting trays ever hour : as it was still early in the day when the thighs started their smoking , went back to S%S and got a tray of CkDrums ; these were actually a bit easier to trim : I learned from the last tiem I used these , its impossible to get all the skin off, as the bit around the end of the bone is stuck there firmly . Soooo I cut around the skin , right to the bone , about 1 " up from the bottom of the bone. then bluntly dissected the skin away from the bone , which was fairly easy to do . I cut the freed up skin down to the end cut , and peeled the rest off the leg. It stuck fairly firmly in one area. I then bluntly dissected the skin all around the leg , down to the bottom 1 " before I cut the released skin to the bone end. Easier this way : these also went into the IDS for 3 hours , 185 F , hourly rotation . I measured the ' trim's ' weight , and as I thought : the trim on the thighs was 31 % of the chickens weight , and was 17 % of the legs weight. as I thought , they do slip you more skin // fat w the thighs . these leg are very very large , much more so that MarketBasket so if you use slimmer legs , you wont get as much meat // leg. I was initially planning to use the thighs for ' SV IDS thighs ' , as I recently just SV'd a pack of skinned legs , w/o IDS'ing , and was pleased w the results. but Im going to make IDS smoked CkStock w the thighs via the iPot. and SV the legs , as Ive done in the past. Ill saute the thighs first , to get some fond and Maillard flavor first. learned this : stick w the plump legs @ S&S . thighs are not worth it. And remember here the color on the legs // thighs is from the smoke , not the Maillard Rx.

There’s a fair few videos like this on YouTube

Two new pasta shapes Haven’t tried the radiatore yet but the rigatoni is nice. Some rigatoni is awfully big and this is a nice bite size. The cooking time on the bag is 13-14 min. I tasted at 10 min and it was ready to go into the skillet to finish another min or two in the sauce.