Matt Seeber

good advice from rachael and jason. ask yourself this - how long are you planning to keep this stuff in the freezer? if food product is wrapped in regular plastic and placed inside a ziploc bag, without a doubt it's gonna be fine for as long as two weeks. longer than that i would say that it might be a good idea to invest in a vacuum seal machine. i can certainly understand the practicality issue of needing to freeze things! a quick defrost and you’re ready to heat and serve! depending on what it is, you might even be able to just drop the sealed food package right into hot water and heat i like that!

another option would be to follow ed's instructions up until the point where suggests putting the squab in the oven. continue sauteing over low heat until the skin is very crispy. remove from the heat, flip the bird over in the pan and let it sit. the residual heat from the pan will continue to cook the flesh very slowly. this will give an even temperature all the way through the breast. i'm not going to give a specific cooking time, but rather suggest using your finger to test for doneness. if when you go to eat it, you find it cooked too much, do it less next time. trial and error has been the best instructor i've had. honestly, no more than 3 minutes after the flip. let the meat rest and slice it to have a look inside.

what the rat said...

wilfred, sliced, smoked salmon will keep in your refrigerator up to a week in most cases - assuming good quality salmon of course. after that it won't be "bad" but it'll start to take on more fishy qualities. if your knife skills are good and you want to try slicing your own at home as you need it, it'll last a bit longer. the slicing exposes a lot of surface area and shortens the shelf life.

ahr, thank you for that thorough analysis! for the life of me, i'll never understand why people think we egulleters are obsessive / compulsives!

thank you, jinmyo. i'm happy to be here! it actually isn't my first post (technically), since i previously had been posting under a pen-name. but i do feel quite naked now and can no longer be a smart ass without any repercussions!

i also would go with the assumption of coleman's mustard (powder). that doesn't necessarily mean it's the only way to go. the receipe looks similiar to a sauce used for steak au poirve. in it would be cream, prepared mustard (take your pick which type) and green peppercorns. fyi, coleman's is a brand name that is synonymous with dried mustard. it's named after the British chap who developed it, Jeremiah Coleman. as for what it is....i don't have the can in front of me but my guess would be ground mustard seeds (red and yellow, the red are hotter) and tumeric for the bright yellow color.