Smithy

Pulled pork, left over from a long-ago picnic. It had been frozen and vacuum-packed, then kept frozen until now.

I found a frozen container of cooked rice. It looked like a good bed for the stuffed chiles. After careful consideration of the suggestions uptopic, and of what we had on hand, I went with this: 1. Lay stuffed chiles on a bed of cooked rice 2. Drizzle with barbecue sauce from Cooper's (my favorite, and he wasn't cooking...so there!) 3. Drizzle with bread crumbs mixed with melted butter 3. Bake covered until chiles starting to soften and brown 4. Bake uncovered until bread crumbs properly browned Serve at table with preferred barbecue sauces and, in his case, toast. Pretty good. Worth repeating? Not unless the ingredients happen to be lying about in need of use. Not worth seeking out the ingredients to make it happen, but definitely a good use of things we needed to use. The leftovers will not be a problem. Incidentally, neither of us thought cheese was necessary. 🙂

Anna and rotuts have convinced me. This pork is flavorful but bland (who knows about the chiles) and probably needs something other than cheese to offset it, either in texture or flavor. A drizzle of barbecue sauce, topped by seasoned, buttered bread crumbs? I don't want to overdo the sauce because that's more a table condiment for us, but a little might be good.

I take it neither of you is a fan of bratwursts with cheddar in the mix? Edited to add: never mind, I see Anna acknowledged the cheddar smokies. Probably the same thing.

Yes, that coring tool worked reasonably well. The triangular teeth along its spine helped clean out the ribs of the chiles. Is it any better than a knife to cut and teaspoon to scrape? I dunno...I'll need more practice to work that out. I agree that the stuffing looks like tuna and mayo, but it's just the pulled pork as purchased at the picnic. The creamy appearance seems to be from the pork juices and seasonings. When they served it on sandwiches at the picnic there was barbecue sauce on the side so you could add your own as you wished.

It's been rainy today, a good day for puttering around in the kitchen and writing. We will have some of our leftover pork steaks from last night. I see no point in showing them again. Nor do I think it's worthwhile to show the potato salad or chopped vegetables we've been noshing on. It may look as though all we eat around here is meat, but the salads and fresh vegetables are abundant as well. What I'm going to show you instead is the prep for tomorrow's dinner. I've rescued another package from being a round-tripper. We Won't Talk About When I Collected This Pulled Pork. Suffice it to say it's from a pre-pandemic airport picnic. I thought it wonderful, and bought extra, divvied it up into vacuum bags and froze it. What came with us this winter almost made it home again. Then I remembered the jalapenos in the crisper drawer. I also remembered the special chile-cleaning knife I picked up in Yuma at a closeout sale. It worked pretty well. I still ended up slitting the peppers down the side for easier stuffing. Here they all are, stuffed. They've gone into the refrigerator for tonight, since we have leftovers. Besides - after the last time I started stuffing peppers late in the day I promised myself to do the prep work in advance. The top two chiles are half of a poblano. The rest are all jalapenos. I had originally thought I'd add cream cheese, and wrap with bacon, then bake. The bacon seems like overkill. Cheese, and hot sauce, maybe. Bread crumbs? Put them all in a casserole dish, cover with cheese and bread crumbs, then bake? What do y'all think? It will happen tomorrow, our last day here in Kansas.

Let's see if I can help here. The photo I was asking about was of his stove / oven. This photo, and its companions, were in links in this post.

Lovely dinner! By "needs mass dampening" do you mean for thermal control?

I like the camp stove/ oven combo you show in one of your smugmug photos. I've looked at them in stores but never been able to justify buying one given our venerable Coleman 3-burner stove and a trailer oven. Have you used the oven portion yet? Is the unit propane powered? Does it ride in the back of the pickup?

That's a great explanation, especially with the linked photos. What a great-looking device! I can believe it helped save your sanity during lockdown.

You know what? As I reread the discussions about butter quarter sizes and shapes I think I have it exactly backwards. I've been buying Challenge Butter in Arizona and it's been the Elgin quarters. The last place we shopped, I found Challenge again - in Western Stubby shapes. Now I'm really confused. Quick, the rest of you! Where are you, and what shape is the butter in your household? I think Challenge is just messing with my mind.

The question of different butter shapes has been discussed on eGullet before (what a surprise!): Eastern v. Western US Butter Sticks. Basically, the reason is history. The Elgin shape (long and skinny, named for the machine that dominated the market) was the standard and continues East of the Rockies. According to this article in The Kitchn, when the Western states started catching up on dairy production the classic equipment wasn't available. The "Western Stubby" butter quarter was born. I'm sure @andiesenji has discussed this in more detail, but I haven't been able to find her contribution to the topic. I'll be pleased to tell you what I think of the wines, once they're opened. Maybe I'll open one tonight. If I like it, there'll be time to go back and get more. Welp, I'm back to yogurt and granola for breakfast. I may have to make more granola before we get home.

I meant to ask about this. What is a Solo fire pit? (Incidentally, you should get a notification that you've been quoted. A quote is another way to get someone's attention!)

That's a lot of driving. Travel photos will be welcome, if you have time, energy and inclination. If not, show us what you will! I've already learned about Earnest Mickler, and his name hadn't registered on me before although his cookbook(s) had.

Some of the honkers (Canada Geese) that inhabit this lake have babies afloat. We don't know whether all have hatched yet; the behavior of some of the geese on shore make us think there might still be nests. At any rate, the little floating puffballs are charming. I like the adults too but they make a frightful mess on the grass! He cooked dinner tonight. Well, I prepped it and he stuck it in the oven, else we'd still be palavering and nothing would be cooking yet. These are not schnitzels. These are pork shoulder steaks, done his favorite way with the breading and baking. You've seen it many times already this trip. Now I have a question that may deserve its own topic: why are the pork steaks getting so huge? Are the pig farmers killing off all their brood stock? If so, what happens next? And no, we didn't even try to eat all that in one sitting. One steak would have done the two of us handsomely, with leftovers - but then we'd have had to argue over who got the bone. This way, each of us has leftovers. They may be tomorrow's dinners, rather than the crab cakes I'd envisioned. Heck, they may be tomorrow's dinner and lunch the day after.

Thanks for the well-wishes. I admit that I'll be glad to be home too. By this time in our trip, I'd be glad to be home even if the trailer were working flawlessly. As it is the trailer isn't working flawlessly, and my bicycle lost a crucial part - probably when we were packing up in Mineral Wells - so I'm restricted to exercising on foot. I'll be glad to get home to repair stations, and more living space. Still, these trips have their compensations. I see places and eat foods that I wouldn't otherwise experience, and I learn a lot (not just about trailer mechanics) on every trip. I even get silly pleasures out of knowing which side of the Rockies I'm on by some of our purchases. We're back in the land of short, fat butter.

... and how long will it be? If it isn't too personal, where are you/ will you be going?

Hello and welcome, Bryna! Ask and you shall receive. This topic discusses sous vide tongue, and corning beforehand: Sous vide tongue? Feel free to add to it with questions or, better still, documentation of your own efforts.

I too appreciate the comments on grapefruit vs. medications. I'm not at that stage yet, but I note that the antihistamine I use a few times a year - and this is such a time - can be made less effective by grapefruit. Who knew?? I only have a few more grapefruit to enjoy, and enjoy them I will. Ahchoo! The macaroni puttanesca was finished for lunch. Sour cream helped tame the flavor and smooth the texture, but it was only a minor improvement. If I remember what I did (almost 2 years ago!) I won't repeat this recipe. We drove into town for propane and beer. I discovered a couple of wines I've never seen before. I generally look askance at wines from Lodi, but the shopkeeper said these wines get a lot of repeat business from his customers. It's a small town, and he caters to his base. I had to try them. I didn't notice the alcohol content until we got home. I'll have to go easy with these! Dinner tonight looks like we're going to the wolves. Tube steaks of our choice; potato salads of our choice; beverages of our choice. Simple cleanup. I'm about to go do it.

Nice start! I like your take on stemless wine glasses.

The topic Free Cookbooks is a good giveaway site, but it's traditionally been a place that titles were actually listed. If @Janet Helm is interested in going to that level of detail, it's another possibility.

Welcome, Janet. I hope you stick around, even after you find new homes for the cookbooks and cooking pamphlets! Please don't hesitate to ask for help from a host - I am one - if you have questions about how to use the forums or where to post. Since you have such a wonderful collection, you may be interested to peruse and participate in the topic Vintage Cooking Booklets and Pamphlets. @David Ross, another host, also has quite a collection and has been keeping a discussion going. Anyone can participate!

Breakfast. I still have a few giant pink grapefruit left from Yuma. This isn't the classic presentation of the fruit, but it's the way I prefer to eat it: standing over the kitchen sink, savoring that juice. We've got the back gate ready to be raised if necessary today, to block the wind. Yesterday it was gusting up to maybe 30 mph and kept blowing the window panels out. Today it's forecast to gust to 50 mph! With the deck rails folded in at the bottom, all we'll need to do is raise the tailgate. The wind will no doubt do most of the work.

It's springtime in Kansas. We left Texas a couple of nights ago and spent one night in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas. It was a long, very long drive to get there. I think we ate leftovers and promptly dropped into bed. The next day I picked up some things from Walmart. One of them was this road-food sandwich: their Italian Hero Sub. For once we tried it with the sauce they provide. I didn't know what to expect of that sauce, and I still don't know what it is exactly. It's spicy-hot with peppers of sort, and some vinegar, and a slight touch of sweetness. As you see we didn't leave much of it behind. As this road trip winds down I'm a bit embarrassed to realize that some food will be making the full round trip with us. Some of that is accident: a smoked pork shank was hiding in back of the refrigerator, and we thought we only had 1 shank when we really had 2 to cook. Some of that is the realization that what he wants - his comfort food - and what I want - my experimentation - aren't necessarily compatible. Will I ever get a good grip on Indian or Thai curries? There are several cans of coconut milk and tomatoes that left with us and will be coming right back. And then there are the freezer contents. I give you Exhibit A. Did that come with us last year too? I don't think so, but it didn't get used last summer either. Tonight I decided its time had come. There was leftover cooked elbow macaroni from my last batch of mac 'n' cheese 'n' ham. I gave that a quick reboil, nuked the puttanesca sauce, and served. It needed...something. Either something to be added, or something I wish hadn't been there. You can see that the texture of the elbow macaroni isn't right for this sauce. We experimented. Cheese didn't help. At least, the grated cheese I had lurking in the fridge drawer didn't help. He added White Wine Worcestershire, his preferred remedy for almost anything that's too salty or tart. I had to agree that it helped a bit. I had better luck with sour cream. The creamy texture added some cohesion and the fat helped mute the salty tart flavor a bit. I like puttanesca sauce, at least I used to, but I think this was too heavy on the capers and/or the olives. I wish I could remember which recipe I used back then! All i remember is laughing at the cognitive dissonance of making and freezing a sauce that's supposed to be quick, easy and a la minute. The best news about this particular dinner is that it emptied 3 containers. That's progress! In other news: one bedroom glide motor has failed, and the glide won't slide out. There's no manual crank. Unless we can get an emergency repair here, we'll be living without access to half the closet until we get home, and one of will be crowded against a wall at night. At least we have the rest of our living space here, while we wait for the weather to improve at home. Once we leave here the back room will resemble the laden pickup from The Grapes of Wrath or, more humorously, The Beverly Hillbillies. It'll be a fast dash for home when we leave here. 2 nights should do it, we hope. I'll be ready.

Welcome! We love having members from around the world; it's a good learning and sharing experience. What is one of your favorite things to cook? Is your restaurant fairly traditional and classic French cooking, or do you experiment?