lancastermike

The other night after work my wife wanted to get a pizza for dinner. We stopped at our favorite local place that makes a nice pie, nothing special about it, just a nice basic pie. As we live in a college town there are a bunch of pizza places and these guys are the best. Maggie said get soem beer as well. This being a college town place they have all sorts of six and 12 packs of stuff I have no desire to even think about drinking. But amid all the college student drek beer, they also sell Sam Adams. And I got a six pack and I had a good beer with my pizza. My point to this little story is how amazing it is what they have been able to achieve. To make really good beer and get it distributed to places that may only have Miller Lite or Bud. I don't live far from some micro breweries and have access to lots of great beer. But when I walked into the pizza place it was good to know that my backup plan did not have to be something I don't care to drink

I used to love watching "Three Sheets" on the MOJO cable channel. With the demise of MOJO I wonder if it may show up someplace else? Does anyone have any info or know if it is even still in production? Lots of chatter on the Three Sheets mesaage board, but nothing definite.

The 5 in Sam's first list is what I would LOVE to see on the shelf of my PA LCB store when I walk in. We don't get Pikesville or Rittenhouse distributed in PA. That leaves us with three, which I could live with for my mixing rye selection. I can easily get Pikesville in Maryland, and it is perhaps my favorite of the bunch. I like Overholt and the Wild Turkey has the advantage of being 101 proof. Rittenhouse is a tough get even at the places I go to south of the border. All the real high end sipping stuff is great and one of those once in a while would be a treat, I just want something that I can make a good Manhattan with.

I tried and tried Katie, to no avail. The distributor would not do it. I even asked if they would send three bottles, but they would not. Yeah, I know I can go get the Overholt and neither of those location are really that far from me. I guess I was just irked that the one "speciality" store in Lancaster Co, would not have any. The guys at the specality store are good guys and I know they would transfer a bottle of Overholt in for me.

In Pennsylvania the liquor is sold only in the state run LCB stores. I was in yesterday and I need a bottle or rye. My choices were exactly one: Jim Beam. There are many I like better but unless I want to travel 35 miles across the border it is what i can get. My question is this: When you walk in to your local liquor store what sort of rye selection can you expect to see? And I do mean walk in and pick up, not a special order or a long trip to a special store. Thanks

Each and everyone of us has chronicled our various displeasure with the LCB. In most cases I think things are pretty good. But, here is my latest issue. I need a bottle of rye whiskey. We trek over to the specialty store we go to on a regular basis. All they got is the damn Jim Beam rye. That's it. One variety. I understand there is not huge demand for this stuff. They must have a hundred or more selections of vodka. And that makes sense as that is what sells. But they ought to be able to have Old Overholt or Wild Turkey rye at the least. I can special order rye but the distributors all want a minimum case order. I love my rye Manhattans, but a case is a lot just for me, I sent an e-mail to LCB headquarters and got a very nice reply from some guy telling me they were looking into this. And the guy at the store understood what I meant when I leaned on him a bit. I guess I need to head to Maryland for my rye.

I would be interested in Lancaster recommendations, though I would have to drive out of the way for that. Anyone familiar with the Harrisburg area? ← In considering my reply I thought to myself, "Were in town would I drive 30 miles out of my way to eat at?" I'm not really sure I have an answer to that. The best places in Lancaster, like, Carr's and Gibraltor are really good. But there are lots of towns with places just as good. There is no place here, like Morimoto, that would be worth that sort of trip. But, if you want to come to Lancaster, my tips in this topic are really still validLancaster The one recent addition to the Lancaster scene is Gusto Gusto I was there only once and it was not as good as I hoped for and other reviews have also been mixed. The chef, Ralph Macciano, is one of the best around and the owner Gus Photis comes from a family that has been in the business a long time. It was early on for them when I was in

Sort of depends on your route and the time you want to eat. State College to Lancaster is about 2 hours or a little more. If that sounds like the right time frame I can help you out. If you want to take the turnpike from Harrisburg to Phila Lancaster is just a little bit out of the way. I'm not much help with Harrisburg tips

We have been there before Phillies games and I echo the parking issues. But, if you can get there it is a nice place for some decent food.

We are headed to Florida for a week of sun and spring training Monday so I won't be joining in. As Saturday is my typical shopping day I took a look around just to see how we would do for a week. Like many of the non big city dwellers I have a chest freezer full of protein good stuff. Lots of pork of every kind. A couple of perdue chickens I got on sale last week, some shrimp, and a Costco size bag of frozen ravioli. The pantry has three kinds of rice, some couscous, and lots of canned and dried beans. Canned tomatoes and paste as well. Some pasta and a jar of sauce. AP, bread and whole wheat flours, white and brown and super fine sugars. And a three pack of yeast. In the garage is whats left of a box of Florida citrus I bought from the local Lions club. There are still a number of jars of jam I made last summer and some peppers that I put up as well. We could eat like royalty with what i got. Like others, the only thing I'd be lagging on is dairy. Only a little milk left. I get a gallon every week, half of which I use to make yogurt every Sunday. There is a box of powered milk on the shelf. Only two eggs, but we are not big egg eaters. and of course, no fresh greens or veggies of any kind other than some spuds and some onions. Lots of liquor and wine as well. We'd do fine, except I do like my milk. I could walk over to my friends farmette were he keeps a milk cow and a couple goats and he would GIVE me some. Have fun you creative cookers

I seem to recall once on the "Soprano's" after the whole group of mobsters stiffed a waiter on a big tab that the waiter chased them into the parking lot and Christopher shot the guy.

Taking their advice I did blanch some of the salty bacon a little and than cooked it up. It was very good if still a little salty. The ham is out of the brine and resting in the fridge. It will be smoked tomorrow and I am looking forward to see how this did. If is goes as well as Chris H.'s did I will be very happy.

I use Morton's Kosher salt and measure by weight. Oh well, it is a learning experience. Next time I'll go a little eaiser on the cure. Thanks to everyone for the replies and the tips

It seems the only two variables are amount of cure and time in the cure. I would suspect amount of cure. I laid it out and pressed it in on both sides. I would guess it was more than the 1/4 cup he says to use. He says that one could put the belly in the bag and put 1/4 cup of the cure in the bag and just urge it around. I spread the belly on a sheet tray and rubbed the cure in on both sides. I'm sure it was more than 1/4 cup. I guess this was the issue as it was in the fridge in the bag for six nights. The question to all the other bacon makers is how much cure do you use?

Took my belly out of the cure and gave it a little smoke today. It is VERY salty. In the book, they say if this happens to blanch it before cooking. I guess I'll have to do so because it is really not going to be edible as it is. I did what it said to do, but this just did not turn out for me. Really sort of disappointed

a little hog update: The belly has now given up some liquid and when I "overhauled" it this morning all looks well The ham is in the brine. It is in a cooler in my garage. Temps are real good, but it is due to warm up here over the weekend. I have lots of ice and ice packs so I think I'll be ok. Ambient temps are supposed to push 50 on Sunday and than come back down. I'll keep a close watch on the brine temp over the next few days. I did inject a little brine in to the deepest parts of the ham. Not alot as I have no idea what is a lot or a little. I guess we will see. I've never had anything this big on the WSM, but that's a concern for next weekend, not this one

I'd like to echo what I believe Katie is saying. How can this in any way be a bad thing? Rachael talking about cocktails can only be a positive for Katie and everyone else who makes a living in the business. Ripping this woman for having a bottle of store bought grenadine is just a little much for me. Cocktails: I like mixing them and I like drinking them. If I need to pass a purity test to be considered as part of the cocktail "culture" perhaps I'll pass on it and just enjoy my drink

Thanks for the help, Chris. and BTW i find that quote to be very funny for some reason. " My Conversation with Ham Makers" would be a great title for a book

I just took delivery of half a hog on Saturday. I have the belly in the fridge and I used the cure from the book. As of this morning there is not much liquid at all in the bag. They say it should give up a lot of liquid. Should I add more cure or am I rushing the issue? It is lovely to see Chris ham as I am planning to do one as well. And there is no way it will fit in my fridge either so temperature control is a concern of mine as well. I have brined pork butt and turkeys for 18 or so hours and even in the summer I can ice it enough to have no concern. But for the 8 to 10 day I expect this to take that is a concern of mine. As Chris says no way is one gallon of brine going to be enough for my ham. Chris A. Do you advice injecting brine into the ham? As Chris H. did I was not planning on doing so. Please advice as I do have an injector. It is one big hunk of pork some some injection makes sense. For the soaking brine to do its job deep in that hunk o hog worries me. I am finally getting around to trying this and don't care to spoil the hog or kill those eating it. Thanks guys for any input.

Mechanical mishap? Did it get run over by a truck?

I'm just wondering what's in liquid smoke? ← I believe here are two different process used. One is to send smoke through a vessel full of water thus causing smoky water. The other way they make it is to smolder wood at high temperature and than condense out the smoky liquid and filter it. Neither of these beat the Susan F. method of producing REAL smoked meat.

The Philly Surf and Turf is a fish cake sort of mushed on top of a hot dog. I'm sure Holly Moore can tell you lots about this Philadelphia speciality.

Were was your place located, Holly? I mean address, not up the stairs.

My apologies for bad spelling in the original post. I used the Salton yogurt maker yesterday for the first time and it really did a nice job. The milk was thick and tangy. I than added a little sugar free vanilla syrup and it was damn tasty. Nothing to it either. This looks like a gift I will get good use out of as I enjoy yogart most days in my work lunch

A hog will be butchered soon and half of it is coming my way. I am getting the belly for bacon and I will be making sausage. And the shoulder? That I know what to do with. Smoke it and pull it. What else do you all think I should do? I am thinking of doing one of the hams, but am leery of a dry cure method. I don't really have the space. How about a wet cure and a good smoking? That I can do. This pig is coming down the pike soon and I need to be ready