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Almost a year later, I got to the bottom of the smooth shell walnuts. They are a variety of walnut from Xinjiang, Chia's westernmost province. Called paper skin or paper thin walnuts etc. Chinese Paper Thin Walnut –Xinjiang 185 More at the link.

Yesterday: Grilled five-spice chicken with grilled zucchini salad Today: Carnitas tacos! With guacamole (uh, would have looked better if I removed the plastic wrap), sliced radish, minced white onion, house guest's salsa verde, corn tortillas, and fried (burned, sadly) plantains. Cubed pork butt was simmered with white onion, garlic, pickled jalapenos, and Mexican oregano, sauce reduced, and then baked at 450°F with orange peel, orange juice, Coca-Cola, and black pepper.

Today I made the pappardelle and cabbage with whipped lemon ricotta and chile crisp on p 360. The whipped lemon ricotta (separate recipe on p 35) is made with ricotta, preserved lemon paste and lemon agrumato oil. I took a stab at making the paste with salt preserved lemons I made a while back and it worked out OK. The cabbage gets cut into wedges, coated with olive oil, dotted with butter and roasted. In lieu of chile crisp, I used some chile morita salsa macha with peanuts from Taco Maria that I picked up recently. This was very good and should be fun to play around with different chile crisps as I’ve got several on hand.

https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/shaikh-al-kar-brand-plain-halva-recalled-due-salmonella-1

One thing that occurs to me is to buy BBQ chickens. You get one meal when it's brought home and then you have cooked chicken pieces at your service for chicken salad sandwiches and in soups and casseroles and so on. Ed does all the shopping and most of the meals and this works for him. Of course, @Jaymes can make it last for five meals. Jaymes, if you please.

1st time seeing these in the store, so I took the plunge: Bison Back Ribs @$6.95 per lb. Looked like a fair bit of meat on the big bones, but I couldn't really check as they were double bagged and cryovac. Slow and low oven for 4.5 hours. Still a bit of chew but I like that! Slathered with a glaze then boiler. Messy meal but enjoyable. I was able to manage 2 ribs and hubby had 3. Still another meal - into the freezer.

I guess one question is 'why so tough?' now,, freezing is not a good tenderizing method . . . (sigh) if frozen is all you can get . . . for poultry I'm very fond of (oven) low temperature cook - like 200-210'F followed by browning/searing/grill marks/make pretty. without a single question this side of the moon, over cooking chicken/duck/turkey makes it tough. stop at 140'F, use the carryover heat.... poaching is an excellent method - fish/chicken, etc.. just barely simmering water - keeps the meat wet/moist. these method do not lend themselves to "instant dinners" however. example chicken breast - #1 if it's two inches thick, go to Chic-Filet.... I sliced in half thickness wise - poaching (starting with a frying pan of hot water) only takes <10 minutes. instant read thermometer highly useful.

Why not make your own sour cream or crème fraîche? Quite simple and using good heavy cream should get you close to the product you're both yearning for.

Yes, the pattern on that boule is striking!

You don't mention what temp/degree of doneness you cook them too, but I find too-rare duck breasts to be tougher than I like. Start skin-side down (and while I don't have a Jaccard, I use a sharp knife or trussing needle to piece the skin in multiple places) in a cold pan, and let that sucker cook on low-medium heat for quite some time, in order to render plenty of fat out. Turn over when the skin is nice and crisp and complete cooking to medium-rare to medium, and see how that works. Two duck breast dinners... No problems with tenderness.

The recipe is for a full batch. A half batch makes just a scant cup of mustard.

If no jaccard, can you just pound the heck out of the duck breast with a meat mallet?

Thanks for the warning about the sweetness. Is your recipe as posted for a half batch or a full batch?

Thanks for this. I have a Jaccard but it never occurred to me to use it on duck breasts. I will next time.

I’ve visited Munich plenty of times and have been to all the major brewery outlets, with one exception: the Schneider Weisse brewery, focusing on wheat beer in all its glory … So, this was the day ! They have seven different wheat beer on tap (and some more bottled) … The beer house also specializes in variety meats, which was just up my alley. See those numbers behind the dishes ? That’s the wheat beer pairing they suggest. Don’t worry - we tested all seven options (plus a bottle) anyway … First some starters … I chose the braised heart in a mustard cream sauce … My friend took the boiled skirt steak with fresh horseradish, which was super tender … After sampling the tabs I had the sweet and malty Eisbock … simply excellent 🤗 After finishing it was still early and we headed out for the Pschorr, a solid choice for Helles from a wooden barrel … And tuning in the nose-to-tail theme from earlier I got some roasted marrow bones with a healthy side of beef tartare … There was some Schnapps afterwards and some beer somewhere on the way back to hotel, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy. Credit card statement also refers to an ice cream, but hey … No complaints - it was a very fun evening 🥳

Do you have a Jaccard? It's a great tool, not only for tenderizing the meat, but quickly adding tons of skin punctures to help render the fat.

You do now … you do now … you do now …

Long story short, we decided to not replace the wall oven (already have the APO, the latest CSO and an airfryer) so microwave only. It has to be a certain size as it is a replacement for a built-in one and it also has to have a trim kit that works with it. So, at least 2 cu. Ft. We ended up getting a Panasonic, and stuck it in it 's "home" I.e. hole-in-the-wall until the installer could well, install it. Plugged it in to try it out. We'll, Panasonic has deemed a tiny little LED light sufficient for lighting the inside. You cannot see ANYTHING on the inside when it is running. When you open the door, the tiny little light comes on and dimly lights up half of the inside. We have been dealing with the same salesperson for years and he took it back and gave us our money back. The store now has to sell it as a floor model as Panasonic won't take it back. Luckily for us, due to being long time customers, they are not charging us a restocking fee. Since there is no longer a market for the larger counter type microwaves other than for those of us with built-in ones that go kaput, the store does not stock them. They will order one if we find one that suits us but won't take that one back if it doesn't suit us which is fair enough. We looked at them in a couple of places and one place only had a Sharp model. Guess what? Same light. The salesperson said all microwaves now come with LED "lighting". Rather than going to various stores, I'm going to do a bit more investigating via Google and the phone. Wouldn't it be ironic if we ended up buying back the same microwave?

I don't SV.

How about SV them for 4-6h @54 oC, then searing them hard as you would ..? I’d assume you’s be happy with the outcome, regardless of minor quality compromises you had to accept concerning the raw material …

My only option for Duck Breasts locally are frozen Maple Leaf Farms brand. I am pretty good at searing them after years of doing so. However these duck breasts are just a tad tougher than what I expect. I do not want a marinade that changes the taste/flavor. Señor Google suggests a salt brine. Anyone have an opinion on a way to tenderize duck breasts?

Beautiful!

Sourdough starter discard English muffins. And a small loaf of sourdough.

I should mention that the Gourmet mustard is quite sweet. I like it that way but you can reduce the sugar if you like. I also make mine in the microwave. I have a 750 watt microwave and I cook it one minute on high, whisk it well and then cook it twice at 2 minute intervals on 50% power, whisking it well at each interval. Because it contains egg, I don't keep it longer than 3 months although I don't think I've ever had it last that long. I only make a half batch at a time.

Helping @Tropicalsenior out here, because for some reason her link doesn't go directly where it should: Gourmet Mustard.