Smithy
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Posts posted by Smithy
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2 hours ago, lemniscate said:
I've been making kefir on and off for years. I have about a 1/3 cup of active grains. I've had success with using powdered milk (Nido brand, whole milk) in making kefir without having to search for milk that's not ultra-pasteurized or altered.
Yikes! You mean that ultra-pasteurized milk with kefir grains / culture added won't work? I haven't been paying attention to that bit, and I don't recall my friend mentioning it either.
BTW I apologize for previous misspellings of the stuff. Not going back to correct it now. I think I was confusing kaffir limes with kefir.
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A lot of non-culinary activity has interfered with keeping up this narrative, but I have time to share a few things. While I was in San Diego I had a great deal of exposure to my best friend's recent research into the health benefits of fermented foods. As a result I came home with some of her keffir culture and 2 jars of actively fermenting kimchi. The kimchi has made its way into tuna salad - I quite liked it, though my darling thought it much too salty. Putting it atop these triscuits made the saltiness worse. I loved it. 🙂
Since arriving back I've been breeding my own keffir. I've discovered that the super-cheap "buy us now please" bananas in the grocery store bargain bin are perfect ingredients for breakfast keffir shakes. Once again, the cordless wand blender is earning its keep.
There's a wonderful grocery store near her house that features good organic produce and products. I came home with a loaf of their kalamata olive sourdough and their cranberry walnut sourdough. Both are excellent. Makes me wonder if I should try sourdough bread making again. In my spare time....
Finally, we've had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises. On this particular morning, the sun was half hidden by the southern (right hand) wall of the notch until it cleared the entire mountain range.
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33 minutes ago, Shelby said:
Finally attempted another SV venison roast. This one was part of the hind quarters. Weighed almost 3 lbs. I SV'd it at 130 F for 4 hours. It wasn't quite done enough....a good sear remedied that. It was SO good. Next time--and I think I'll nail it without needing such a long sear--I'll do 137 F for 4 hours.
Was this a venison roast from a tough old buck, such as we discussed here? Or was this particular deer tender already?
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I recently visited my best friend and her husband for a few days. One night for dinner they served marinated and grilled chicken tenders, kimchi, rice and broccoli to be placed atop kim and eaten out of hand like a taco. (For those who are unfamiliar with "kim" as I was: kim seems to be the Korean version of nori: seaweed, cut up and mixed with oil, then dried until crisp.) We each got to choose our chopsticks from the assortment they have: beautiful metal, which I was warned were the most slippery and difficult to use; plainer metal that were less tapered and looked more like cylinders; restaurant plastic, and wood. I think I chose the wood.
The spread, as you see, quickly succumbed to standard forks for dishing onto our kim or plates. That's the kim in the background, in the plastic container.
After a slice or two of kim I placed the rest of my portions atop the rice and ate it that way. But I served my portion with chopsticks!
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My oh my, that's a busy picture!
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Now it's Quaker Oats Granola Bars (and related products) being recalled due to salmonella risk. Click here for more information.
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3 hours ago, Pete Fred said:
Steamed Cranberry Pudding...
For once, a blogger's hype actually delivered. I don't know what kind of diabolical alchemy is at play here, but it was delicious.
The blogger's hype is entertaining to read. This isn't something I'm likely to make but it looks delicious. Thanks for posting about it!
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On 12/14/2023 at 2:49 PM, horseflesh said:
Got my Control Freak!
I have just barely plugged it in but it's obvious it is going to require a very different way of doing things.
What do you set if you want water to boil ASAP? Maximum speed and 212F / 100C?
What if you want water just barely simmering? Technically, that water is still at 100C right?I can imagine the true target temps would depend on your pan too, and how it conducts heat to the central spot.
Edit: I see it prints guides like "simmer" and "high" so for crude tasks like boiling and simmering you can just go my the overall percentage?
Congratulations! I don't have a Control Freak, so I can't advise you on settings. I can, however, answer your question about simmer temperature: no, it isn't 100C. I learned, from reading and my own experimentation, that a low simmer is as cool as 85C. It also depends on your altitude, just as boiling point does. You can read the discussion in full, here.
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Heidi hosted and oversaw the eG Foodblogs for years when she was a host. She also took a turn at the wheel. In case you've never read it, or would like to reread it, here it is.
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I'm still reeling. It's so very difficult to believe, and terribly unjust, given her family circumstances. She was my window into the L.A. food scene, and we had similar reminiscences about food trends. RIP, Heidi.
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3 hours ago, JAZ said:
Thanks. This is a very specific question, which you may or may not be able to answer. Apparently, my bother-in-law wants this mostly to open cans of coconut milk. In my experience, some brands of coconut milk don't work well with safety openers. Do you have any experience with your opener on coconut milk cans? (I know, weird question.)
Not at all a weird question, and as it happens I'll be able to test it by early next week, maybe as soon as Sunday. I'll report back.
3 hours ago, Laurentius said:Good for you. No doubt smooth edges are better than sharp ones, but really, aren't sharp can edges a First World problem?
How many revolutions of the opener does it typically take for the cutter to free the lid?
My particular electric opener seems to need 2 revolutions, maybe 3, to get the lid off. I let it do its thing and decide when it's finished. (If I'm looking for entertainment I just watch it go; otherwise, I work on other kitchen tasks while it's working.) The Oxo manual safety opener I had took many more turns around the can, and -- as somebody else pointed out earlier -- was difficult to attach and then, later, release.
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3 hours ago, gfweb said:
The chorizo looks pale.
It was. Its principal seasonings seemed to be salt and various pepper flavors. The base meat was also probably something like pork loin, with none of the internal organs. I'm guessing at this point, but I know I won't buy it again from that source.
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1 hour ago, JAZ said:
Any updates on safety can openers? My brother in law has asked for one for Christmas. My Rosle is still working fine, but they apparently doesn't make them anymore. I usually have good luck with OXO products, so I feel confident with that choice, but is there something better?
I didn't like my Oxo safety can opener. At all. Couldn't make it work properly, and it was more trouble than it was worth.
This summer I "splurged" on a battery-powered safety can opener on Amazon, and love it. I have no idea how long it will last, but it's a hoot to watch and works on both 14-oz and 28-oz cans. (I haven't tried any other sizes.) I wrote about it here. That particular model is no longer available -- that is, when I try to look at the product page I get a 404 error -- but this looks much the same: Talowaric Electric Can opener New 2023, One Touch Automatically open the can for Any Size Smooth Edge and Safe Best Gift for Chef Senior and Mom (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). If you look on that page you'll see a lot of similar designs.
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Thanks so much for bringing us along, @Shelby! I'm always inspired and impressed by your spreads, and I love the context you provide by telling about the hunt (or non-hunt).
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3 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:
If they do this year, I'll be SV'ing them in January!
And please show them to us!
I love lobster. My DH is 'meh' about them, so I rarely indulge. Some very dear friends who were married on New Year's Eve used to celebrate their anniversary with a lobster dinner. He's gone now, but I still associate lobster dinners with them. Hmm, maybe I'll get lobster tails for our New Year's feast!
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We blew right through New Mexico on our way west this year; consequently I didn't manage to get chiles rellenos in Columbus or Palomas. I've been wanting them. I remembered earlier discussions in this topic about chile relleno casseroles, and how they took some of the effort out of the dish. I found this recipe by Elizabeth Poett on The Splendid Table's web site, and decided to try it. (The recipe is taken from Poett's book, The Ranch Table (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).)
Well, it's still a labor of love. I had purchased poblanos for the purpose. I needed to roast and peel them, and because I'll be gone most of this week I decided I'd better do the same with the jalapenos and red bell peppers I'd bought for some other purpose. I blistered them all under the broiler, loaded them into a bowl and covered it so they could steam themselves. Overnight.
This morning I set to work on them. This collage shows the before, intermediate and after pictures. I managed to get one or two poblanos peeled and seeded enough that they might have made decent chiles rellenos in their own right, but I think I now understand instructions I've read elsewhere to remove the stem and core before roasting.
(Note to self: wear gloves when handling jalapenos, even after they're roasted. My hands are still burning, hours later!
It occurred to me that the recipe as written didn't involve meat. I thought of my darling. I remembered that there was a package of chorizo in the freezer. I pulled it out.
Why I bought chorizo in Duluth I don't know. Why I bought it in October 2022 is a further mystery. I don't know whether it made the round trip with us last season, but here it was, and out it came. I didn't think of it soon enough and had a fine time getting it cooked slowly enough to thaw and break into chunks for the casserole. While it was thawing and heating, I grated cheese using the Lunar Lander.
Here's a chance to show off a toy I bought last summer on Amazon, one of those Lightning Deals. For $15 I figured it was worth a try: an electric, side-cutting can opener. I wish I could show you a video of this thing in action. You put it atop the can with the cutting wheel along one side, and push a button. It clamps itself to the can, then around it goes -- several passes around the can -- until the lid is loose. When the lid's loose, the opener stops and releases the can. It works on 28 oz. cans as well as 14 oz. cans like this one. For those interested: the specific unit I bought is no longer available, but this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) looks much the same. We're really glad to have this. The side-cutting Oxo hand-cranked unit I bought in Texas a couple of years ago has long since been donated to some other hapless person.
I took liberties with Poett's recipe: she uses poblanos only, no meat, and seasonings in the eggs that I decided were unnecessary because of the chorizo. But I followed her basic outline: put a thin layer of tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish; scatter a quarter of the peppers atop the tomatoes; scatter a quarter of the meat atop that; scatter a quarter of the cheese atop that. Repeat the layers until everything is used except some of the cheese. Pour a mixture of beaten eggs and cream over the whole thing; give the custard time to settle through everything; top with reserved cheese. Give it a few minutes to sit before baking, to make sure everything is settled.
I gave it a couple of hours while I washed dishes and admired the gaps in the refrigerator shelves. Look at that empty space! 😄
When it's time to bake, bake it at 350F for 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked and puffed, and the top is golden brown. After pulling it from the oven, give it at least 15 minutes for the mixture to set. This casserole was still runny, but I think it's due to the extra liquid from the peppers, possibly also from the chorizo, and possibly because my egg/ dairy ratio was off.
It was good! Is good! (There are a lot of leftovers.) We both agreed that salsa and sour cream helped: salsa to sweeten it slightly, and sour cream to tame the heat. This chorizo had red pepper, black pepper and white pepper, according to the ingredient label. It also had a lot of salt, and I'm glad I didn't add any. (I swear I can taste a bit of freezer burn also, but my darling couldn't -- and the salsa and sour cream helped cover that up too.)
I'll do something like this again, but I won't do it with Duluth chorizo! The stuff is much better down here.
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You're so ambitious! ALL we had for dinner yesterday was green beans cooked to death with bacon...and they were leftovers from a previous dinner! 😅
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On 12/1/2023 at 10:07 AM, TdeV said:
Reading a new cookbook from my library VEGAN AFRICA, Plant Based Recipes from Ethiopia to Senegal, by Marie Kacouchia. She says Bobotie is traditionally made from meat, similar to the French Hachis Parmentier. She says the dish was brought to Africa from Indonesia and adapted by the Cape Malays, descendants of slaves and political deportees.
Her dish uses green lentils, onions, carrots, walnuts, apples, raisins, apricot jam, garlic, soy sauce, cinnamon, cumin, pepper, cloves, paprika, turmeric, lemon, wheat bread and plant milk. There is also a sauce.
PM me if you would like this recipe.
This may or may not be of help to the original question, but I've found a few links here relevant to Bobotie
From the Dinner topic (no specific recipe)
and here is @JohnT's post on the topic:
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It was fairly predictable, I suppose: the final two slices of pork roast didn't make it to dinner. Sandwiches just seemed to call our names today. Especially since there were juices begging to be soaked up with the bread.
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43 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:
I love the idea of hand pies or other pastry-filled breakfasts. Kenji made Thanksgiving leftovers hot pockets with store-bought pizza dough.
I wonder if one could freeze leftovers in an appropriately shaped blob so that when there were enough, you could make the pastry or dough. wrap them up, bake and freeze. You could work up quite an assortment that way.
I've wondered, along those same lines, about making a sweet pie filling in the appropriate shape, then loading it into a pie crust for baking. I've wondered, but not gotten farther along than actually making and freezing peach pie filing. In 2022!
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35 minutes ago, Pete Fred said:
zhuzhed up
That is a delightful expression, and I plan to steal it! Glad the cheesecake zhuzhing worked.
Too bad about the browned-butter cookies and the bread, but I'm very curious about almond cookies that punch well above their weight. Got a recipe, or a link to one?
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Ooh, ooh! @Kim Shook's suggestion of breakfast pockets reminded me of this recipe for crawfish hand pies, from Acadiana Table. I bet you could do a good riff on that. I plan to start experimenting with hand pies as soon as I get back from a trip later this week and can lay my hands on puff pastry. You, my dear, could make some of your bierocks, or use some of your good pastry methods (or whomp crescent rolls) to make something like that.
Edited to add: Kim's suggested breakfast pockets sound darned good, too. I'm glad she added a link for those!
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Yesterday we packed up the trailer enough to move it, and went to the nearest RV park to dump the waste tanks and refill the water tanks. We know several of the people there and enjoyed seeing them again. Packing up for a short trip like that isn't as big a deal as breaking camp altogether, but it still all takes time. As practiced as we are, it's somewhere between 3 and 4 hours from getting ready to travel to being set up again. The upshot is that we worked on leftovers for our meals. For dinner, the question was how to reheat the pork roast and potatoes.
In March 2022 I found these charming enameled baking dishes at a shop in the Salton Sea and picked them up for a song. Brand new, they cost $6 each. Last night they proved to be the perfect reheating and eating dishes: put what we wanted for ourselves into a dish; put them both into the oven on a baking sheet, cover with silicone lids, and heat gently until ready.
I have so many cooking vessels in this trailer that I know I'll be swearing when we move out of this Princessmobile, whenever that is, but it's nice to have Just The Right Thing.
Today we don't have any errands to run, so I hope to spend time puttering in the kitchen. I have chiles that need to be sweated, peeled and used; I have fresh red bell peppers; I have a bunch of eggs bought in anticipation of baking another huge hot dish; there's other stuff too. It all needs to be used before it goes off, and Monday and Tuesday will be busy.
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I love the mug and wineglass! And the charcuterie spread! And that pizza'
But this really broke me up:
21 minutes ago, Shelby said:was too scared to use the new Breville pizzaolio--I'm still having a hit and miss relationship with it--so I had to take all the pots and pans out of the oven.
😆
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VacPak-it VMC10DPU Chamber Vacuum Packaging Machine
in Culinary Classifieds
Posted
@StanHam, the member who posted that ad, hasn't been on since last July. You might try sending a PM (Personal Message). I've just added a "shout-out" in case that helps get his attention.