All Activity

As I mentioned earlier, for baking I do wait until they are black and almost semi-liquid. Fortunately, I can buy them in that condition or close to it.

The ones I had recently looked similar to the bottom photo, bit of blackening toward the stem end, definitely ripe for eating and soft enough to mash.

Ok,ok. Serious answer this time. Thai bananas take longer to ripen due to higher starch as I mentioned. I have noticed that when eaten on the less ripe side there is often a bit towards the center that is wooden and fibrous. This would not mash as one does for banana muffins. I would wait until they are black before making them into muffins. Ok, that’s a lie. I would try one now. The ones towards the middle of the bunch that are thinner due to encroachment often ripen first. I’m looking at the one fourth from the bottom in your picture. I would then proceed to eat a bunch of them in a frenzy. Corn muffins are nice too. Lot of folks like those

I don’t mean to alarm you, but in addition to becoming riper, they seem to be reproducing as well. The bundle up top is only six bananas across. The one below is larger. When one buys bananas for oneself and has three boys in the house, counting becomes second nature

Ha. I'm defrosting my chest freezer and have excavated several containers of frozen dark cherries, washed, pitted and preserved back when I was actually making ice cream and trying the Cherry Garcia recipe. The grandsons who helped me are now fathers, if that tells you anything about how long it's been. Maybe I'll have to try that recipe again, provided I can find someone to help me eat it!

I did as you suggested and dry brined my last chicken thighs. Was a very tasteful bird!

Thank you for chiming in. As you can see, they have become considerably riper since when I posted that picture. For comparison purposes,the two pictures below show them when I brought them home and today. I just tested them and there is no give to them yet nor will they peel so it looks like they need more time. Since I want to use them for baking, should I wait to do anything with them until they are almost/completely black?

Your link and comments filled in some blanks for me and provided food for thought. Thanks!

As I checked today, it has gone up from $5.39/lb. to $5.99/lb. for whole birds (which run around 4 lbs.). I often buy only thighs - and they are currently $6.99/lb. Another high quality chicken they offer, Snowdance Farms, run $7.49/lb. for whole birds. All of the above products are greatly enhanced by pre-salting - I usually try for somewhere between 24 - 48 hours, and leave the bird or parts partially uncovered at the bottom of my refrigerator.

They tend to get soft and lose their crispness, colors become muddy, flavors can become harsh or unbalanced. If there’s sufficient acidity, they shouldn’t be unsafe to eat, just unpleasant. Here's an article with several pickled onion recipes that can be made as refrigerator pickles or waterbath processed to make shelf-stable pickles. As they note, brines that include citrus juice don’t keep as long in the fridge and don’t process well either.

Pickled red onions are on the to-do list and I am curious about their longevity in the refrigerator. Various recipes that I've seen suggest that they'd be good for about two to four-five weeks. In the past, I've made 'em in small batches to be used over a short time frame, and have not been concerned about longevity. Now I want to make a bigger batch for both longer-term storage and to distribute to some friends, and there's no knowing how long they may keep them. What happens to the onions when they go bad? Do they lose flavor, texture, color, or become inedible and perhaps unhealthy? Are there cooking or storage techniques that will preserve their goodness for a longer period, perhaps for six months, or even longer? Might vacuum sealing, such as used when jarring preserves be helpful?

@blue_dolphin I think its terrific you tried it . how do you rate it taste wise ?

Yeah, a $35 chicken isn’t affordable for most. I don’t eat much meat - this was my first chicken purchase of the year- so I can afford to make an occasion of it.

Those go by “Thai bananas,” at the local Asian grocery store by me. They are a favorite. They are higher starch and than Cavendish bananas. Our family has a preference for less ripe bananas and won’t touch one with the slightest bit of black on them. Thai bananas are inedible if eaten that way, super bitter. My rule of thumb is one to two stages further along then you normally take your bananas. Those look about 4-5 days away to me. They should at minimum have a bit of give to them and should peel easily. If the top part won’t peel or the peel splits into layers you need to wait. They are however, utterly fantastic when ripe

@blue_dolphin and @weinoo thank you for that info. Im going to stick, initially , w what I can get locally . ie Tj's and MarketBasket and concentrate on the cooking technique . Id feel bad ruining a $ 10 / lbs bird ie $ 35 . once technique is perfected , and my Vax Card is updated ( bleak prospects these days ) I might venture into WF . BTW , out of curiosity , @weinoo what do those Belle Birds cost ?

Just a couple of random lightweight thoughts/updates, for those who are still following along at home. Although we've not had many sales of rabbits for breeding purposes since spring (that's when people want to buy breeders), we've had a steady trickle of sales for pets. Just yesterday a young couple came to pick a male from our recent litters of weanlings, a sibling of little Polly's. He looked much like her, only bigger. Last week, when I ran down to NS, I also took along two young bunnies (a grey one from our other litter of weanlings, and a brown one from the older batch which are currently 12 weeks) for a repeat customer. I should explain that the sale of bunnies for pets dovetails neatly with those for breeding: people buying breeders typically want one buck and 2-3 does, but those buying pets overwhelmingly favor males. That's partly because the bucks as a whole are more docile and tractable with humans, and because they're less likely to have an issue with the household's other pets. Also, while relatively few vets have experience/expertise with rabbits, it's easier to have a male neutered than a female spayed. Rabbits are tricky to anesthetize safely, because of how they metabolize the anesthetic, and spaying is a more complex and time-consuming exercise than the relatively quick snip of neutering. It's *very* problematic to have a doe spayed, and the likelihood of a fatally unwelcome outcome is high. So when you put those factors together, it creates what the business-guru types like to call "synergy." Earlier in the summer, it resulted in us selling out a couple of litters entirely (except for the ones we retained ourselves for breeding purposes). Our random flock of "barnyard mix" chickens is maturing apace, and the adolescent roosters are now beginning to work on their crowing technique (month-end is when those from the first hatching have their date with destiny, in the innocuous guise of a freezer). It's as funny as you'd expect, with their voices breaking as frequently as those of 12-yo boys. One of them sounds startlingly like a loon, which amuses me greatly. This morning as I walked into their run to feed them, I looked down at the flock of 50-ish birds of all different sizes (some of the adolescents are fully as large as our big rooster, but Prissy's little guy is about half the size of a quail), all with their beady little eyes fixed on me and the mash bucket, I couldn't help putting on that big, booming, baritone "event announcer" voice and declaiming "...AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR..." The birds didn't get it, but my uncaffeinated brain thought I was hilarious. When I was feeding the quail, one of the red tuxedos (for whatever reason, the "red" breeds seem to be feistier and scrappier, which amuses my ginger GF greatly) decided he'd take advantage of me opening the door to leap out and go hang with with the big birds for a little while. In the five or so seconds it took for me to put down the feeder, pin the door closed with my knee (to prevent any further breaks for freedom) and nab him, he'd already been swarmed and pecked by a half-dozen of the chickens. He wasn't hurt, but he sprinted straight to the back of the cage when I popped him back in, and his body language pretty clearly said "Okay, I'm done!" Reverting back to Prissy and her single chick, she has relaxed enough that they can be out among the general population now. She still reacts violently to any of the other birds taking too close an interest in the little guy, or (God forbid) taking a peck at him, but she's now past the point of constant, boiling, protective rage. At one point this morning, as I was wrapping up, she was just sitting and watching the world go by when his little head suddenly poked up from between her feathers. It was awfully cute, but sadly I didn't have my camera with me. Some of our "barnyard mix" hybrids have really interesting coloration, in varying shades of white/cream/pink/red/gold on some birds, and striking black/gold/silver on some of the others. A few have feathered feet, and have grown much larger than their peers; my GF tells me that's the influence of one or another Polish breed. I'll make a point of grabbing a few pictures at some point, just to show some of the more striking combinations.

She didn't specify how she bought them She may have bought a few sample packs.

Lunch was Arancini containing peas and mozzarella with a little salad. I think I’ve mentioned before that the small red veined leaves are sorrel. Greens ( lettuce ) are growing in the veggie plot again.

Shio Koji-Marinated Flank Steak with Grilled Brussels Sprouts with Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette (both recipes from CI) - flank steak gets marinated with some shio koji for 7 hours (to get a flavor similar to an aged steak), heated in the oven and finished with a quick pan-sear. Brussels sprouts get nearly quartered (too enlarge surface area) and wet-brined. Steamed on the grill in an aluminum foil pouch and subsequently directly grilled to brown. Served with some not-homemade roasted potatoes with pesto

Moisture sensor

Oh, and as I recall, the cherries needed to be cut into smaller chunks than halves, or else slightly cooked. I remember the halves freezing so solidly that they had an unpleasant quality. Still, it's a good starting point. 😀

Go for it! I would absolutely use dark chocolate.

Oh you're just taunting me now 😉 I'd definitely swap that hershey's for a real chocolate, and it was little chunks instead of shavings. Can wholeheartedly recommend sending a few quid to the wayback machine. It's a very useful tool, so much so that my last employer sends them a fair bit of cash

I read over here that @Ddanno would cheerfully un-retire his sweet tooth for Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia, which has been discontinued. I've just resurfaced from a long trip down the rabbit hole. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I've recovered a recipe for Cherry Garcia that appeared in The Splendid Table (my onetime-favorite radio program) all the way back in 1997. The recipe has fallen out of their archives, so I've found it from the Wayback Machine and am posting a link to that page. I made it here at home, years ago (my sweet tooth isn't doing much these days either) and remember it being pretty good. Here's the page link: https://web.archive.org/web/20001025114754/http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/dessert_garcia.html And here, lest that link not work, is a PDF of the recipe and writeup. Cherry Garcia.PDF With thanks to The Internet Archive, a.k.a. the Wayback Machine. Like us, they are a nonprofit organization. Donations help, both there and here. Hint, hint.

Almost time for the cook's privilege @blue_dolphin. Grab those oysters!