All Activity

It's Poulet de Bresse! Of course it's expensive!

I got my final shipment of panettone from Goûter this afternoon: one Three Chocolate and another Apple Pie. Ooh, yum!

P.S. : hopefully there is one P at Aldi ?

I delivered the planned CFM earlier today, but now I’m getting ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I will post about it later! Merry Christmas!

When you’re already feeling miserable, the pain of every inconvenience is amplified many fold! I’m so sorry you’re under the weather and hope this will pass quickly!

I feel for you and your husband. What a terrible Christmas present. I came down with a nasty cold Monday and now my plans to make tourtiere have been put on hold. I just can't summon the energy. I'll probably make it for New Years Eve. I have a pork roast thawing out and we'll just make do with that.

@FauxPas Oh no! Of all the times to get sick. Wishing the two of you and speedy recovery

Thank you @TdeV. I have tried Goûter's chocolate panettone and it is delicious but my favorite is their traditional panettone. As a seasonal chocolatier, I see far too much chocolate this time of year! I'm ready for fruit sorbets and citrus tarts. Please report back on your panettone.

Thank you @TdeV. I have tried Goûter's chocolate panettone and it is delicious but my favorite is their traditional panettone. As a seasonal chocolatier, I see far too much chocolate this time of year! I'm ready for fruit sorbets and citrus tarts. Please report back on your panettone.

Best wishes to you and DH, @FauxPas. Thankful. I have no space or energy to add a vegetarian tourtière to my task list. 🙄

@blue_dolphin thank you for that thoughtful review. Ill make a point of going to Aldi Friday , and get one if they still exist. and indeed , Ill use it for French toast , thick cut , and pre-infused w the eggs ++ via the chamber vacuum thank you again.

Purolater finally delivered my order back to Goûter yesterday and they very quickly re-shipped by FedEx and it’s already made it to Memphis! In the meantime, I enjoyed a slice of the $6.49 Aldi panettone this morning. This is the one The Wirecutter named as one of their top 10, specifically, best under $10. I think there was only one other under $10, the Trader Joe’s panettone 🙃 which I have tried in previous years and found dry and relatively tasteless. In comparison to TJ's, this one is quite good. I’m sure it doesn’t hold a candle to premium offerings but it was pleasantly moist with a floral vanilla aroma and flavor. The inclusions are golden raisins and candied orange peel, both with good texture, neither dry nor mushy. The crumb obviously isn’t as airy as the Goûter photos show but it’s quite light, not stodgy, dense or gummy. I’ll probably cut this up and freeze in portions to be used in French toast or maybe a breakfast casserole but it’s honestly quite pleasant to eat on its own, with or without a smear of butter. I’d say it was $6.49 well spent!

Unfortunately, husband and I have just come down with a particularly nasty virus and had to cancel our Christmas dinner plans. I'm not up to cooking (or even for shopping for the last few required items) and we certainly don't want to pass this bug on to others, so tourtières will stay in freezer for now. Tentative plan is to reschedule for NY Eve dinner. We'll see how we feel, we are really quite sick right now. 😞 A local restaurant chain (White Spot) does a fairly decent packaged turkey dinner for two. It's designed for reheating with par-cooked veggies, etc. We were able to pick one up yesterday and will have that tonight and/or tomorrow. Also, our heat pump shut down overnight. We reset the breakers and the fan started to run, but it doesn't seem to be heating house. Waiting for a service call. We do have a gas fireplace and it's not really cold outside but still.... 🙂

Pulled pork from yesterday, smoked overnight and then finished in the oven. Chilly last night so it was easy to keep the smoker around 225', which yielded a nice smoke ring but also used up a lot of charcoal. Mopped the butts every few hours, and finished with a glaze of homemade BBQ sauce. These were huge pork butts, probably took 17 hours or so, and even so the meat near the bone was more in slicing than pulling range. Still, no complaints. Pulled pork sandwich with homemade BBQ sauce and coleslaw on a potato roll. Leftover bacon and chorizo potato salad to go with, courtesy of Mrs. C. The BBQ sauce was a Paul Kirk recipe, jazzed up with ginger, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

@curls, yesterday I was able to purchase a Three Chocolate panettone for shipment to Canada. They won't get it for Christmas, but they'll get it soon.

The finished baba-savarin au rhum, basted with rum syrup, glazed with apricot jam/rum. This will be served with whipped cream. Verbena cake , a pale green crumb, studded with red raspberries, will be served with a raspberry coulis. Now to transport the 3 cakes along with other goodies!

@Duvel that chicken was wrapped in burlap ? @ 30.20 euro's a kilo ? for the burlap ? hope to see pics of that roasted . please

Roasted salmon with melting cherry tomato sauce over spinach

It was statements like this that convinced me that a low oven was probably OK. I do avoid as much thermal shock as possible, usually putting the dishes in a cold oven (my CSO doesn’t have a preheat function on Steam Bake anyway) and placing hot dishes on a rack or insulated pad rather than directly on a cold countertop. I think a lot of people assume that “oven-safe” means anything up to baking and broiling at 500°F so manufacturers may want to avoid the term. They really are a high quality product and I hope you’ll get as much use out of them as I have!

I roasted a small rack of pork for dinner last night, just because I wanted pork gravy to serve tonight with our Christmas Eve Tourtiere . Nothing better than rich pork gravy.

@Maison Rustique, I asked them over and over if I could put the Duralex in the oven, and while they never said Duralex was oven-worthy, you'll see above that they came as close to saying the Duralex could be put in the oven as possible. Some corporate rule, probably. 😂

She's in Toronto now.

I asked Duralex this question: "I don't need to cancel the order if I can put the Duralex into a low oven. A friend puts her (defrosted meal) in a Duralex into a Cuisinart Steam Oven at 275ºF for half to full hour. And has done so for years, apparently. Can I do that? (I'd like to have an official okay)." Duralex has responded: To answer your question, Duralex glassware is specifically designed for durability and versatility. Our products are shock resistant, meaning they are manufactured to withstand sudden temperature changes ranging from -4°F to 266°F. This makes them perfectly suitable for both hot and cold liquids. For your convenience, they are also: Microwave and Freezer Safe: You can take them directly from the freezer to the microwave without any issues. Dishwasher Safe: Designed for easy cleaning and daily use. [\end quote] AND they decided to ship me my containers!

I just finished reading "Toast" which I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but he does talk about a number of British foods that I was unfamiliar with or had never tried. I now want to either make or buy some mushroom ketchup. I see @andiesenji's recipe above. If I wanted to buy some here in the US or order online, any recommended brands?

@Shel_B I am pleased to report that the new cheese blintzes are quite tasty. I don't think that there are any changes from the original recipe. I went back to Trader Joe's and got a few more boxes of cheese blintzes. 🙂