YvetteMT

Salad for dinner- romaine, radish, onion, green olives, hb egg, red pepper, deli ham and blue cheese dressing.

I admit to not being a scraper of commercial condiments. Jars of homemade things like jam, get scraped. Toothpaste tube gets a doo-hickey put on it that magically squishes the last vestiges out. When lotion gets difficult to get out, its tossed. Shower gel gets water added and then thrown in a bath. Protein is where I get a bit rabid about "every. last. bit." Meat is not thrown away. period. end of discussion. If it was cooked poorly, figure out a way to eat it. (my first pheasant was so dry that I choked it down with ranch dressing. 20 years later, I can cook pheasant just fine). I grew up on a small farm (butchered poultry quite young), hunted at an early age and knew that some animal died to feed me whether I personally took that life or not. I still wont waste meat, nothing to do with $ at this stage.

An in progress shot but, it'll be dinner tonight with a dollop of sour cream, biscuits if i get a wild hair.... Not quite white chili- northern beans (that I canned), leftover elk roast, onion, garlic, fire roasted chilis from 505.

Oh thats dangerous. "I do not need the Staub 7qt or 6.25 wide oval in french blue. I do not need the Staub 7qt or 6.25 wide oval in french blue"................

Charcuterie for dinner- blueberry goat cheese, Jarelsburg, horseradish chive and tomato basil for cheeses. Spicy baby dills, jalapeño garlic green olives, dill sauerkraut. Walla walla onion mustard. Smoked salmon, dried thuringer, dry salami, pepper salami, Calabrese, and prosciutto. Simple Mills almond flour crackers not pictured

@Norm Matthews you nailed that turkey. I was firmly in the "i dont like turkey" camp until I spatchcocked one and cooked on the Traeger (pellet smoker).

@gfweb and @lemniscate I appreciate the veg tips! I followed a Serious Eats recipe and it was 184F for an hour. I'll give 190 a shot.

The elk was great. The carrots.... I followed Serious Eats, 183F for an hour. Little butter and some honey (they called for sugar). The carrots came out crunchy (with the exception of TWO that were perfectly tender). And when left on the plate for 5 minutes got that weird, chalky, dry carrot look. They'd have been better streaming in the micro, most certainly not my best veg and while not the worst, they were close. (Worst goes to asparagus that i forgot on the grill and literally reduced to ash. My bff and I still laugh about it, 20 years later)

SV elk roast, mushrooms, onion gravy and SV carrots that were horrible.

Elk turned out well. 140 for 8, seared hard. Partner said the seasoning was far better. (I tossed his in the skillet after cutting, he's not a fan of red) The carrots however-184 for an hour- nearly the worst carrots I've ever made. They were still crunchy with the exception of 2 measly carrots. I dunno what the malfunction was but they were horrible.

Attempt 2 at an elk roast. Previously partner said it needed more seasoning so..... onion and A1 sauce this time. 140F for 8 hours. Will be served with SV carrots (why not. Be my first attempt at veg), onion gravey and mushrooms.

2 week long work trip means comfort food when I get home. Temperatures below 60 mean something is being roasted. Roast duck with carrots and onion. (Domestic duck, muscovy, and raised by my parents). Easily one of my favorite meals.

Freezing doesn't kill T.nativa or T-6, the Trich found in Canada/ Northern US. (These bears were from Alberta Canada). Freezing should render the Trich unable to attach to a human host. Should. I've knocked my temp down to 150 and am fine letting that go for half the day if need be. Unconcerned about drying out with contraction- these packages would ultimately be cooked in something else and not served as is. Soup, pasta sauce etc. Thanks @Okanagancook that's my next stop!!(and bookmark!)

Saturday night dinner- SV elk steak (medium rare) and mushrooms. Freezer mishap means similar will be had the next 2 nights at minimum

While this may look like a fun way to spend a Sunday, it's not. There's been a freezer mishap. This is 6 1lb packages of bear sausage and I need some guidance. Trichinae (in Northern climates) is hardier than its southern relatives and bear meat needs to hit 160F to ensure that Trichinae is killed. Easy enough when cooking, I temp constantly. I've decided to SV these and hopefully just toss them back into a freezer. I've got the temp set at 164 but am unsure about time. These are quart bags, 1lb of ground bear/pork. Any insight into time to ensure the centers hit 160? (Id rather not stab all the bags for temps and reseal.) Thanks!

TJs gluten free everything bagel toasted with yellow onion, cream cheese and smoked salmon

I had one for about two years. I didn't feel that it did anything well. If I want something fried, I want it crunchy/crisp and the airfryer never achieved that.

First night without partner means a really simple dinner, always. I usually grab these for work trips when I don't have a kitchen and since that will be the case later this month, easy dinner tonight. Easy enough to chuck in a microwave. Added baby corn and rice(not shown) last night. From costco and has decent chicken in it (I've had the Kevin's green curry and their chicken is an unpleasant texture) (Apparently I can't rotate,turn your heads!)

Partner heads out to hunting camp tomorrow, so tonight was elk steaks and caramelized brussel sprouts with chili crisp. (Tomorrow- curry!!)

BLTs and corn again. No bread this time.

I said at the start of this round of salmon smoking that I hadn't tried the hatchery fish. Well, I have now and there is a marked difference, enough that I added where the fish was from to each vac packed bag. it's not bad. Its different. Much milder in flavor. And soft. Soft almost on the verge of what Id call mushy. Soft enough to nearly be off-putting, to me at any rate. Next time, the hatchery fish will get a way longer smoke , with heat, in an attempt to firm it up more. Tonight I'm going to try it in a pasta dish. Later this week it will go in dip for a function. It's edible, not bad. Just different.

@liamsaunt I can see why you wanted to stay at that home! Is that a deck off the back that would have been a widows walk once upon a time? And while I love the outside, the sign over the kitchen sink is the icing on the cake!

8 hours later, off the smoker and cooling off. 3 hours with only the smoke tube, 4 hours at 120 and the last hour at 180.

@Alex as someone that has to eat gluten free, your meal sounds superb! Too often GF feels like an imposition and a spread mimicking gluten filled foods. Your dinner is fantastic, please do share photos!

I haven't! I make jerky out of waterfowl breasts and venison but haven't done fish,yet! The bellies end up drier and a little tacky from the maple syrup, wouldn't be a far reach to do jerky. Thankfully we've got a bunch more in the freezer so maybe this is the year to try jerky! And thank you. Partner or I caught all of our fish. We try to get to the ocean (WA or OR coast. Blessed to get to AK this year and last) every other year and also try to ice fish annually. Some folks plan trips to Europe, I plan fishing trips.