All Activity

The cucumber is fine because they didn't have to cook it. One of the few things the locals will eat raw.

@Tropicalsenior Wow! Your breads look very good. I have not been able to get good slash marks on my only-sourdough starter breads. I did not know the term was preferment. I just called it aged yeast. A long time ago I read that commercial yeast cannot reproduce itself as the hybrid it was made, and will revert back to wild yeast if kept alive by repeated feedings. I don't know if that is as true with newer instant yeast or not. When someone gets some sourdough starter from me, I tell them "it's not a pet, it's ok if it dies. It isn't hard to start another one. I have not been in touch with other sourdough bakers before now. I didn't realize there are so many of us. Up to now it has just been trial and error for me.

For what I can see. The cucumber is good quality, and probably a short rinse would make it edible again. The steak is breaking my knowledge of physics.

Thanks, @blue_dolphin.

At one time I worked for a business that was a combination of butcher shop, fishmonger, Deli and Catering kitchen. It was a huge building. One day a lonesome little shrimp got dropped down a little floor drain that was hidden under a work table. We were closed for 48 hours while we hunted for that little sucker. It was amazing how much stench one little morsel can create.

Speaking of mice, it's October, annual dead mouse season. Our farmhouse is probably 150 years old and although Ed has rebuilt the entire interior living quarters...it had zero insulation...the bottom layer is a cellar, not a basement, certainly not a rec room...and every fall the little critters come into the cellar. How they get in I really do not know, but they do, some years seemingly by the carload. Back to the topic at hand. This morning when Ed did the morning rounds, the worst possible occurrence...besides the dead mousies, ...there were two traps missing and no signs of mouse nor trap. (Ed has designed trap containers so that the mouse will for the most part meet its end head first and quickly.) So now we have dead mice somewhere in the cellar...

Yes , I know that potato smell. there is another aroma here , gladly a rare one : the dead mouse MC did not put for display .

The reason for the 10 min boil for kidney beans (a fairly large family that includes cannellini) is to denature lectins like phytohaemagglutinin that can cause unpleasant nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Slow cooker temps aren’t sufficient to denature them. Boiling does. Because I don’t know the lectin profile of every bean I cook nor do I know which lectins I might be sensitive to and I’d prefer to avoid those symptoms, I go ahead and start them all off with a 10 min boil. I feel like it gets them moving about and off to a good start. Or, in the words of Steve Sando, it lets them know who’s the boss 🙃. If you prefer not boiling beans, don’t do it. I’m sure you can boss them about in other ways.

I got an All-Clad D3 All in One 5 qt pan. I haven't used it yet. My Sweetie is on very soft food for awhile so I'm cooking small portions right now.

Well, they've stopped selling fresh English muffins in Costa Rica. I haven't made them in years but I thought I'd give them a try. They are a little too thick and a bit overdone but not too bad for the rush job that they were. I had to try one and it was fine.

Made this last month. White beans imported from Spain, with charred grape tomatoes and shrimp. At our US home I am a big fan of Sheet Pan Dinners. Here in Mexico my oven has no thermostat, so I make Skilllet Dinners.

Normally I find my weekly (and slightly diet-y) food to boring to share. But this was pretty good: rabbit hind legs, sous vide for 4h @ 62oC with a healthy amount of hoisin sauce & mirin in the bag. Scored and air fried for 8 min @ 240 oC. Very, very tasty. Quick smacked cucumber salad with sesame dressing on the side. No complaints 🤗.

New question, though I've probably asked it before. When one starts cooking dried beans (r.g. Ranco Gordo) is it necessary to bring the soaked beans to a hard boil* ? RG Green Baby Limas have been soaked for 6 hours. *(except for Kidney beans which must boil for 10 minutes) @blue_dolphin ?

chicken thighs are a bit more forgiving that white meat - 'make ahead' seems entirely doable. since it gets reheated, I would only cook the thighs to about half done - then prep the whole dish and chill. I agree with Tropicalsenior - make extra "sauce" - and perhaps a bit thin to start, as it will thicken on re-heat. then reheat at a low temp - high temps in my experience makes for tough meat(s). ~235'F - _covered_ - for a longish time. 2.5 lbs of chicken+sauce, I'd be guessing at 60-70 minutes to heat thru from chilled + finish temp the thighs. hold off on the fresh parsley until service.

Before I read the description I thought: that looks damn sexy for a giant white beans prep. And I guess I‘ll do exactly that in the near future - swapping your Gnocchi for some giant whites. Thanks 🙏

I've never experienced the rotten potato smell, but this reminds me to say that I will never again leave a bag of frozen shrimp out on top of the freezer (which was in the middle of our living room)... We walked in one day and thought that there was a dead rat hidden in the walls, which would have been impossible in our 21st floor, poured concrete and steel apartment!

Yeah that's a terrible smell.

Lunch was meat and three as it is often referred to by us southerners. The meat was pineapple and brown sugar seasoned venison sausage from a deer that my nephew shot. It was processed by a small seasonal butcher in Causeyville MS. The string beans and creamed corn came from the freezer from produce that I put up this summer. The au gratin potatoes were prepared from trim that I had leftover from preparing T Keller's potato pave. I'm going to start my nap after one more bite of the corn!

That's happened to me. Oh, the stink!

Yes! I remember that small from childhood when Mom sent me to the root cellar to get potatoes and when I shoved my into the bag I gagged.

I will never again forget the smell of rotting potatoes.* I've spent the last week looking around and sniffing and trying to work out the source and location of that foul odor. WHAT had the dog or cat brought in? Where was it hiding? Just now I finally recognized the stench, found the culprits and put them outside. On the plus side: a lot of the surrounding household is now washed or scrubbed. *(Alas, I have smelled this before, so "never again" may not apply here.)

@Norm Matthews I've created more starters than I can count and I've always had good luck just with flour and water but eventually I, too, neglect them and they die. I'm not a good babysitter for sourdough. Also, I have the disadvantage that I make all my bread in a small countertop oven. I have a large oven that will reach the high temperatures but because of the tropical heat here I don't like to use it. I have also started using the preferment method and although it doesn't give me a full sourdough flavor it does make a big difference. The day before I make my bread I make a mixture of one cup white flour, one teaspoon yeast and about 3/4 of a cup of water. I usually make it about 18 hours before I am ready to bake. It may not be the best bread in town but I'm certainly happy with it. This was today's result. These are some rolls from last week.

Gnocchi with bacon, shallot, spinach. Reduction of white wine and lite chicken broth. The gnocchi is the standard softish shelf product; though I freeze them in meal-size baggies when I get home. Directions are to throw the frozen ones into boiling water for a few minutes. I decided to see if I could steam them in the same pan as the other ingredients, rather than dirty another pot. After the bacon, shallots were done, I did my reduction in the pan. Then added both the fresh spinach and the gnocchi. Covered with a tight lid. Took about 4 minutes. Very happy with the outcome.

Leftover from last night's dinner...sort of Thai red curry with chicken and spinach.

Moe's breakfast. Navy Bean Ham Bone Soup.