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🤣 OMG what a jerk! More for you at least....... I DO need a friend in the kitchen. However, I will confess that I might get a tad grumpy at times. I recommend making some gizzards soon. I should do them for just us more often. It's way more manageable when I'm not trying to make tons of them.

Shelby, you have outdone yourself. Also? I now want gizzards, So.Very.Badly. [Aside -- over a decade ago, I was dating a man who lived far away, in a relationship that involved a lot of travel. He liked livers and gizzards, and I was collecting them over months, chicken by chicken, cleaned and frozen in milk. At about the time I had a reasonable volume, he dumped me.] But where was I? Um. You know how Ronnie gets to have a Friend in teh blind? I think you need a Friend in the kitchen. My guess is, there may be a lot of e-Gullet friend/applicants for the position, but I definitely think it should be me. As I said several hunts ago, I am willing to mop, and I would pour the wine. More important, as Designated Friend, I would have your coffee ready this morning. It would be Irish-style! So then you could go right back to bed.

I should have asked here sooner--would have saved me a panic attack lol. Super steam would really do the same thing as the IP? Would I use the same amount of time?

*putting the teapot away*

Yeah. 鸡内金 (jī nèi jīn) is another of the ludicrous things that are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for various complaints, with no scientific basis. No culinary value and no medicinal value either.

You're very right. I think deep down I enjoy making things harder on myself 🙃

I’m not particularly knowledgeable but I’m a pretty good looker-upper and the yellow stuff is a protective membrane made of koilin that lines the inside of the gizzard to protect the muscle from acidic stomach secretions and any grit, stones or other sharp material. The muscular gizzard contracts to sort of grind up whatever’s passed through the stomach. It can pass the material back to the stomach for more enzymatic digestion or on to the intestine. Apparently people make a tea from that gizzard lining and use it to treat digestive ailments. This Amazon listing for them (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) includes what looks like a Chinese name for them so maybe @liuzhou is familiar with that usage.

Looks fab! You could cook the potatoes in a baking dish and have easier clean--up.

We use diversol to remove stains from coffee mugs and whatever else needs stain removal. We buy it at our local brew-your-own place. It works very well.

It's like you're in my kitchen 🤣. The cast iron is a complete mess. It's soaking as we speak. I HATE cleaning it, but clean it I shall. They've gotten bigger ones and they try to always get bigger than before. Plus, yeah, I really want a nice dry doe. Bucks are SO tough. It's been years since I've had some really good steaks and roasts because I turn the tough guys all into hamburger.

Scrambled eggs with roasted chile Poblano, onion, garlic, serrano chiles, cumin, thyme, Mexican oregano, and feta cheese

@Shelby I just had a thought - if (next time) there's not enough PCs, you could use a SteamBoy on Supersteam at 250F which would pretty much completely recreate the environment in a pressure cooker at full pressure....

Wow! That is so much work and the results all look marvelous! A lot of love goes into your cookery. I can imagine your stove looking a right mess. What about that cast iron pan? You mentioned buttering the hell out of it, but I can still imagine it being crusted up with stray bits of cooked-on cream, butter, potatoes, whatever. Mine would. Thanks for the tutorial on the gizzards. I think I'll try that, on a much smaller scale since it's just me. And thanks especially for the photo of the revolting stuff you DON'T want in your cooked gizzards. Ewww. Maybe someone with more knowledge of fowl biology ( @blue_dolphin? @YvetteMT? Someone else?) can explain what that yellow stuff is. Did the guys explain why those bucks weren't considered worthy targets? You mentioned looking for a dry doe before. Is that what they're holding out for?

To answer in reverse order, I am lucky that I live in one of China's few provinces with a coast line, namely the Tonkin Gulf beside our border with Vietnam. This means we have an excellent supply of seafood. Few people, if any, cook the scallops at home, though. It's seen as a street food treat. I prefer them simply seared but cooked through. I find the garlic here too aggressive which overpowers their delicate taste.

Happy Saturday! It's another frosty kinda foggy morning. I'm trying to decide if I want any of my mostly cream and sugar coffee.....it seems like a monumental decision for some reason 🤣 I think I really just want something warm for my hands to hold. So I should just do a mug of hot water lol. I knew yesterday was going to be a long one and it was lol. I started frying a little after three and got done a few minutes before 5. I had 4 trays of chicken gizzards which I knew I wasn't going to do all 4 because that would be too much. Then I had a long panic because I hadn't thought far enough ahead about how I was going to fit all of these guts into pressure cookers. I have a big IP which is what I had initially thought I'd use for the chicken gizzards and then I'd use a normal size IP for the duck/goose gizzards BUT it hit me that I don't have a large sized rack of any kind for the big IP. I need to rectify that but there was no time to do it yesterday. So, I finally decided to do the goose/duck gizzards right away and then keep them warm in a steam boy. Thankfully that worked! PHEW. Like @Smithyand I were talking about yesterday, you do need to clean gizzards very well. Store bought ones should be pretty clean already but I go through them all just in case. More often than not I run across this: You don't want that yellowish piece of tough whatever-it-is on there. It peels off easily though. Chicken gizzards Taking a swim in buttermilk Goose/duck gizzards In their buttermilk pool Frying Chicken gizzards fried and ready to pressure cook for 40 mins Inside the IP with a cup of water below I split the chicken gizzards between two regular sized IPs. I used this tray thingy for the other batch--I didn't use the middle tray. All done! Goose/duck gizzards all done and keeping warm Chipped beef cheese ball, leftover deviled eggs and meats and cheeses for appetizers Once the guts were all merrily pressure cooking I started on scalloped potatoes. I used my mandolin and thinly sliced potatoes (I listened to @rotutsand left the skins on ). Then I buttered the hell out of a cast iron and put a layer of potatoes down, sprinkled with Lawry's and black pepper and then sprinkled with sharp cheddar. Repeat until the pan is full. Pour heavy cream in until you can see it surrounding the potatoes. Cover and bring to a slight simmer. You want to watch because it's easy to burn the bottom of the potatoes. Once the potatoes are tender (poke a knife in to test), remove the lid and let the rest of the cream cook into the potatoes. They're great just like that or you can sprinkle with a bit more cheese and pop them under the broiler: Salad to go with My small plate lol--I was almost too tired to eat Lots of leftovers for today to snack on. No luck this morning but I got sent some good pictures of some nice boys I've gotta clean my stove. You should see it 😮

They look delicious, although small. How do you prefer them? And did you have a different preferred treatment for the larger Scottish scallops? Finally (for now): do you know where they come from and how they get there? I ask because you say they're usually only found at evening street markets...for some reason that makes me think of either a very scarce or very local source.

You need Urnex! (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)! -

@Smithy too bad that GCCB didn't hit the spot. My Tj's never asked for a receipt . just the box.

I use this one all the time, only for tea. It's a bit stained.... It matches my wife's mouse pad....

you are a woman of steel. I am here to continue my X-mas enabling. Made In and Faulk are both running pretty good sales. Faulk is selling out fast, at least on the copper coeur line.

If I recall correctly, Kate Weiser uses the method of shipping her chocolates when frozen and uses special packaging to protect them. Especially during the upcoming holiday season, there is no guarantee as to how long a package may sit around, so some sort of serious protection needs to be used.

Scallops are very popular here. Known as 扇贝 (shàn bèi), literally, ‘fan shell’. They are usually only found at evening street markets and grilled with garlic and scallions. Not how I prefer them. They are also much smaller than those I ate in Scotland.

One favourite I forgot to post. Another gift, perhaps in recognition of my Taurean nature.

Some no particular name soupy rice noodles with vegetables, pork and a fried egg. Fridge clearance noodles, perhaps

Very simplified Cassoulet from Dinner by Recipetin - made in the oven with pork sausage, bacon, cannellini beans, cherry tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, tomato paste, white wine, chicken broth. Topped and finished with a mixture of panko crumbs, parsley and olive oil and quickly browned under the broiler