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Patti it is SO good to see you! I definitely remember you and always loved seeing your cooking (and your gorgeous Christmas decorations ) And I think what you're doing is wonderful. I'm very interested in this and I am certain that others here will be, too , and will also have great feedback. I'm impressed with the variety that you've made. I imagine coming up with new ideas each week can sometimes be challenging. (reading this on a growling empty stomach was not smart on my part) I have a few questions--and forgive me if they are dumb ones but I'm not sure about some specifics about how food pantries work. Does the pantry have specific ingredients and budget that you must work with/use each week or do you choose the ingredients yourself and it must be under a certain dollar amount? Do they provide the packaging? Do other people volunteer and do the same thing for the other days of the week? Are there ever any gluten-free options or other types of options for folks with dietary restrictions? Just questions I've thought of off the top of my head. While it's not exactly the same situation, I thought of this topic right off the bat --Cooking for 50 Senior Citizens. It might give you some helpful ideas. I can't wait to see more and tag along with your weekly updates

Hi, All! I’ve been away from eGullet for several years, so many of you may not remember me, but perusing current postings, I see many familiar names. 👋 I’m posting because I’ve been doing some cooking for one of our local community fridges, and I need help! Once a week I prepare and package meals for the fridge and my goal each week is 24 meals. While I often achieve that goal, a few times I’ve missed because I’ve miscalculated amounts and/or I make my serving sizes too generous. Also, I don’t get specific critical feedback, and sometimes I need it (she says before actually receiving critical feedback). My idea is to first share some pictures of meals I’ve prepared so y’all can see what I’ve done and then to post more in a sort of weekly blog about the meals each week. Any interest? I know many of you will have great ideas and guidance and feedback. Last week’s meal was a bagged lunch of tortellini soup with Italian sausage and spinach, accompanied by cheese toast. Sheet pan lasagna Sheet pan lasagna, cuke salad, buttered toast. Pasta salad, roasted sweet potatoes, buttered toast. Baked penne, salad, garlic bread. Corn salad Pulled chicken sandwich Pulled chicken sandwich and corn salad. Ham fried rice. Ham fried rice. Tamale pie, salad, dressing. Pork jambalaya, white beans, coleslaw. Chicken fried rice. Baked chicken thigh, baked potato, peas, buttered toast. Baked chicken spaghetti, two ways, broccoli, garlic bread. Red beans & rice with smoked sausage & ham, cornbread, two boiled cookies. Chicken fried rice

And I haven't been there but from the videos and photos I've seen, it is a gorgeous place!

Many, many years ago, I found a Nepali restaurant in London. Returned many. many times. Years later was lucky to visit Nepal. Wonderful food.

We have a new place near me. Aromatic Nepal is quite the step up for Liberty the home of restaurant chains/fast food. I hope they will make it because it is fantastic. I have a friend who is Nepali and had asked his advice on what to order for an authentic experience. He recommended starting with Momo and having the Special Thali platter, so I did. I failed to take a photo of the Momo. One of my friends ordered Chicken Biryani, which is shown below. It was huge! And my platter was just fantastic. I completely devoured the soup since I knew it wouldn't transport easily, but brought home a lot of other stuff, so will be eating Nepali for a couple of days. They have some fun Himalayan-themed cocktails/mocktails and a small but decent wine list. It is going to be a favorite place!

Chicken sale is back @ Stop&shop : Ive tried CkThighs @ Market Basket , but was very un-impressed : those thighs had a large skin and fat flap under each thigh which you could not see in the package. not so good a deal , as I get rid of the skin // fat. but S&S CkDrums were so much better , Ill initially try a pack of the thighs and see how they pack them. Im going to use the IDS to smoke lightly @ low temp , then SV as I SV'd some previous legs ( no skin ) worked out very well for chicken to use later for a variety of dishes . might even make a few more tubs // bricks of smoked chicken stock this week.

We need a "yuck" emoji.

Me: Dear God, no! KraftHeinz: Ummm... https://www.kraftheinz.com/kraft-mac-and-cheese/products/00021000086245-apple-pie-flavored-mac-cheese-macaroni-and-cheese-dinner

Pork Cutlet with Garbanzo Salad - salad had garbanzo beans, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, feta and parsley with an olive oil- lime juice vinaigrette. The thin-cut pork cutlets were pan-seared with red onions, garlic and fresno chili and for the last few seconds sprinkled with parsley, basil and mint

I haven’t read the whole book yet and so didn’t see his remark about farfalle but we actually like farfalle as it has slightly different textures and tends to keep sauce quite well

Our local Co-Op has ground bison but I've never seen ribs - I'll have to ask for them.

https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/dubai-chocolate-recalled-due-salmonella

My darling and I liked to split the roast into 3 pieces: one boneless; one with the bone; and one bunch of pieces already cut into chunks to be marinated, skewered and cooked as souvlaki. The souvlaki (kebabs) were my favorite treatment because I liked the marinade and I liked serving the meat and sauce over a pilaf. My darling, who was more of the meat-and-potatoes persuasion, generally did one roast atop potatoes, all seasoned with Lipton's Onion Soup Mix. The other he'd usually do with potatoes again, but add sauerkraut toward the end. Each of those setups would give us leftovers for at least another meal apiece. On one or two occasions we had the boneless portion cut into thick pork steaks, then baked them in a breading. Here are a few examples, possibly with a repeat: Pork roast and potatoes The way we had it cut (never mind muscle groups) Pork roast with onion soup

In the interest of completing the eGullet record on this topic: With the help of Kerry Beal and Luis Amado, the molds departed Istanbul November 3 and arrived at my front door today, November 5. They have been washed and are now air-drying, ready to be decorated and filled in the next couple of days. Thanks to these kind and thoughtful kingpins of the chocolate world.

Yeah, it's a butt. I imagine an 11 pound picnic shoulder would be notable.

@IndyRob just to be cealr with what you are starting with : you have a shoulder ie butt , rather than the picnic shoulder which is more of the upper leg and lower shoulder any pics ?

Good question. I’m pretty sure I lack the wherewithal to divide one of these up myself but I’d love to know what would be the best way to ask the meat counter to portion it. The one time I did, the guy who cut it was berated by his coworker for cutting it the wrong way. It didn’t really matter to me as I mostly wanted to make a big batch of pulled pork but needed to use 2 pots and grind some for sausage but I’d be curious what else I could have requested. Some pork shoulder steaks seem like a good idea.

I found a deal on an 11 pound (bone-in) pork shoulder today. I seem to recall an entertaining topic here on how many meals one could get out of a rotisserie chicken and am hoping for a similar topic for a pork shoulder. Rather than just roasting the whole thing (which would be wasteful for a two person household), how many, and what kinds of distinct meals could be made out of this?

Mi esposo continues to make oddball low-ingredient recipes. While called a "brownie" it's really more a fudge, but better (not nearly as sweet). Firmer, too. Recipe here https://kirbiecravings.com/2-ingredient-healthier-no-bake-cottage-cheese-brownies/

Mortadella /chips spring roll

My best friend is visiting from San Diego, and we have a series of delicious recipes queued up for dinners while she's here. Last night it was a New York Times recipe for Lemony Greek Chicken, Spinach and Potato Stew (gift article in the link). Delicious, and easy. Ground chicken, onions, garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth, frozen spinach, and seasonings (oregano, dill, rosemary, salt, red pepperf). Topped with crumbles of feta cheese. To go with it, we chopped celery, red bell pepper, red cabbage, and kalamata olives, and tossed them with her preferred vinaigrette: red wine vinegar, red balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, garlic. It was all easy and delicious, and we had plenty of leftovers. She's having some for lunch as I write this, and notes that the stew has thickened noticeably. Sorry the pictures didn't come out well, but the dinner is worth commemorating anyway. Edited to add: the flavors are even better, and the stew thicker, the next day.

there are two tendons w duck // chicken // turkey // Long Pork // beef breasts as there are two pectoral // breast muscles in all of the above. the most obvious is the rope like tendon , that connects the smaller breast muscle , the ' minor ' muscle it is the easiest to tease or trim out. its the first one you see , after boning out the breast form the carcass the tendon on the larger muscle, the ' major ', is very thin when it connects to the rib cage it can also be teased out , but then you probably have to ' pat ' the duck breast back into its original shape. the ' minor ' is under the ' major ' on an intact carcass , and and that reverses after boning out the breast. this is Chicken , but a new easy way to remove the minor tendon https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oDFAkpPsC80 should work for duck . just use the fork w close together tines .

@BeeZee poor trim / prep. there's a tendon that runs down the inside of the breast - just like a chicken breast. one resto sliced the breast - and half or more of the slices had a chewing wad one had to 'work around' that visit was the second disaster dinner, so we don't go there anymore....

I do look over and trim any silver skin, other bits. I cook mine far closer to medium than rare these days for a better product. While these aren't as tough as shoe leather, they could/should be more tender IMO. I'm going to do a dry brine when I make the duck this weekend. I have a standard homemade rub I use on many proteins and will try it on the duck and see if it helps tenderize.

Lunch concoction with bay scallops, green beans, roasted chile Poblano, and leftover carnitas. Seasoned with pickled jalapenos and carrots, garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, and crumbled feta. I made last night's carnitas mild for house guests, so I really wanted something a bit more pickled jalapeno-forward.