Smithy

I bombed it today. Still got to see the associated fact. Phoodle #1283 X/6 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net

It's taken over a year since his death, but I finally reached the point where I wanted pork steak. Not just pork steak, but pork steak cooked the way my darling preferred it. First, I had to make the breading mix we'd worked out and he'd codified in writing. (You can see why we never played Scrabble together.) Then I unearthed a pork steak I'd vacuum-packed and frozen about a month before he died. The procedure, once the breading is mixed, is: pat the pork steak dry, shake in a bag with about 1/4 cup breading mix. Bake at 425F for 25 minutes. I took the bony half for tonight, still more than I needed, and half of a twice-baked potato courtesy of his daughter. Red wine to accompany it. More than I needed. Delicious.

Plate, table, spoon, sauce, saute, bacon, crepe...

Looks like that's their hope, but if yesterday is an example I won't be in their market group!

Thanks for the reminder on both the pizza beans and the chickpea recipe. I'd forgotten them, and agree that they might lend themselves well to this project. Another idea is for the Homesick Texan's Sunday Pinto Beans. It's dead easy, and delicious although as I reported here I found it much much too salty as originally written. I settled at 1/4 of the amount of salt she specified, but it's important to note that I wasn't using kosher salt. My fine salt by volume would have been considerably saltier. (Now that I'm reminded of this recipe, maybe I'll try it again -- and post the results somewhere.) Although the recipe is written without meat, I think it would be easy to add meat if you wanted.

They explain their idea of the connection in the Phoodle Fact that follows a win. If I understand your question, I agree that it isn't strictly culinary; still, I think their explanation and commentary is interesting. Phoodle #1282 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net

I confess that I don't remember hearing or reading the word ASHET (yesteray's answer) before solving that puzzle. But hey, I have serving platters. I wonder how many funny looks I'll get if I say, "Hand me that ashet, please" to someone?

Good point! There's a feedback button that might be useful in this case.

Bean salad would fit that category. (3-bean, 5-bean, it goes by lots of names...mine usually relies on a vinaigrette dressing, and it benefits from sitting.) I'd be pleased to open a refrigerator and find that.

"Rivels"? More information, please. And is that a plural word or singular, as in one could have "a rivel"?

Given the curiousity and playfulness of many eGullet members, I have no doubt that we have many puzzle lovers: word games, crosswords, jigsaws, and so on. However, discussion of such puzzles is outside our mission and so never discussed here. Until today. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Phoodle. The objective is to guess a 5-letter culinary term in no more than 6 guesses. If you solve it, you'll see a bit of extra information about the term in question. Here are the rules: This is the first culinary-specific word game I've seen. I have to admit, when I got today's answer I was glad to get an explanation; the word is brand-new to me. I'll have to try to work it into conversation around here, or in real life. Anyone else want to play? I got it in 4. It doesn't seem to have a share function and I don't want to show a screen shot, because it will give away the answer. Edited to add: discussion about the answer, on the following day, could also be fun. I'm curious to see who here already knows today's word.

Mercy me. Oreo has set up a series of Thanksgiving-themed Oreo cookies! Here's the Oreo.com web announcement, complete with image of the product. For those who simply want to cut to the chase, I quote the parts from that announcement that bring me up short: I realize it's a market test. But I think, in this case, "unforgettable" would not be good.

Last night's dinner was a NYT recipe for roasted eggplant and chickpea salad with an olive dressing; I wrote about it and described the process here. My best friend, who was visiting, had comments about the fennel seed being overpowering, and she noted that she'd as soon omit the leafy greens and add more roasted vegetables. So that's what I'm having for lunch today. Oddly enough, I find the fennel more intrusive today; maybe we just didn't mix it well enough while roasting. It's still good. Will I omit the lettuce as I just did? Maybe, maybe not. She says she definitely will. Anyway, it's a good recipe. I'm glad I won't have finished all the leftovers quite yet!

My best friend has been visiting, and tonight was our last night to try new recipes together. We chose another New York Times recipe: Eggplant Chickpea Salad with Olive Dressing. (The recipe should be unlocked in this link.) Basically, you cut chunks of eggplant into 1" cubes, add a couple cans of chickpeas that have been drained and patted dry. Put them on a sheetpan, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed fennel seeds, and roast at 450F until the eggplant is soft and the chickpeas are starting to crisp. In the meantime, make a vinaigrette of lemon juice and olive oil, and mix that with chopped olives and finely chopped shallot or the equivalent amount of red onion. Serve the lot over chopped or torn lettuce. Top that with crumbled feta cheese and, if you wish, yogurt. (The recipe says "drizzle" with the yogurt, but it calls for full-fat yogurt. I only have Greek yogurt, which isn't amenable to drizzling. So it goes.) Garnish with herbs if you have them. We both liked it, to different degrees, and with different adjustments. She thought the fennel seed was overpowering, and she would prefer rice or beans to the lettuce. I loved the lettuce and didn't find the seasoning too strong, except in a couple of bites. Maybe we didn't mix things well enough. She would have added more roasted vegetables (red bell peppers, for instance). We think that a tahini sauce would do better than the yogurt, and we both thought it needed crunch of some sort: toasted walnuts or pine nuts. A trick I learned from her tonight was to ease the punch of fresh onion by soaking it in vinegar for at least 10 minutes, then draining it, before adding to a recipe as fresh onion. Without that vinegar soak she gets a violent headache although she loves the flavor. With the vinegar soak she gets the flavor without the headache. I'll keep that in mind. I do think it tamed the onion's punch without robbing it of flavor.

I am very, very impressed with what you're doing and how well you're doing it! Since you're looking for ideas, and given the photos you've posted, I wonder whether you've done any sort of baked potato casserole, with cheese, cream, even maybe an appropriate meat? Here's where I got the idea for something I wanted to try duplicating sometime, and this recipe looked like a good starting point for my attempts at duplication. (I still haven't gotten to it.) What about macaroni and cheese, with ham if you can find it? Tuna and noodle casserole? My best friend and her husband have cooked on occasion for a homeless shelter in their area. One she remembers is called "Dump and Bake Chicken Alfredo". They literally dumped all the ingredients into the pan, baked and served. She remembers chunks of raw chicken, pasta, milk, and either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. (She's looking right now for the recipe to see what the cooking time and temperature is, but not finding it.) There is a meatball and marinara sauce version that starts with cooked meatballs. She says that when they've made that dish they've assembled it, baked and been ready to serve all within an hour. Edited to add: she hasn't found the chicken recipe, but she sent me a meatball and rice recipe. I've attached a PDF of it. Dump and Bake Italian Meatball and Rice Casserole.PDF