Smithy

Another fine topic, probably my favorite, is The Boy Ain't Right in the Head

Dammitall anyway. I never met him, but his posts here amused and informed me. I began to take interest in Louisiana's fare in large part because of him. I'd always hoped to see him in person someday.

Now that you mention it, my parents' kitchen had the same, or else very similar, pattern in blue. We loved it, but of course almost anything gets old after a while.

Ha! I admit to being massively envious of the pantry! The kitchen is gorgeous, and I too wish you many years of happy cooking in it. All that space! That elegant backsplash! Those appliances! And I'm with Elsie on the double sink...so much nicer for my purposes than a single basin. For me the big dilemma was the size ratio of the two basins. I'm pleased with my choice. I hope you are pleased with yours.

My batch of LGD did indeed mellow a bit, and as @blue_dolphin noted, it's better as a condiment than as a stand-alone dish. So far it's been on a hard-boiled egg and last night's potatoes. It was my dinner-prepping snack on tortilla chips. It was my midnight snack (must stop snacking while I'm cleaning up from dinner) on leftover chicken. I think it'll be a killer addition to potato salad. I'm going to try it in chicken salad, and of course there's the tuna. Nice stuff! Meanwhile, I started a batch of can-do kraut using a lonely head of red cabbage a friend gave me a month ago. I had thought I'd braise some of the cabbage for last night's dinner, but in the end did the whole head. I think I'll need to repack it in a day or so, though. It's in an oversized glass jar that's fine sitting on the counter, but in a few days we're headed out for the winter. A plastic container is much easier to deal with on the road, and if the plastic reacts to the kraut...well, it will be a lesson learned.

Do you have a link to the recipe you used, if you used one? That looks like something I'd like to try.

In truth, I think the cabinets look(ed) great once that awful countertop was gone. But I'm looking forward to seeing the new version of the kitchen. I am most surprised by the idea of raising the whole house. I tend to accept walls, grades, heights, and so on as they're set, rather than seeing the possibilities of changes. Very cool. (And I'll note that when I first read the phrase "raise the house" I thought you'd made a frightul typo! Glad I was wrong about that!)

I wish to correct myself. I said: I was wrong. I don't know what the bright green but mild olives were that I was thinking of, but the Mazetta Pitted Italian Castevetrano olives that I bought yesterday taste very much like Spanish olives, or Queen olives. I like them, but they aren't what I expected and I don't wish to mislead anyone. Since @Shelby agreed with me, I wonder whether there are different treatments and flavor profiles? My batch of LGD is sitting and, I hope, mellowing, as I type. It has a bit more bite than I expected. Perhaps because of the HUGE double shallot I used.

One root system, two bulbs or lobes. Typical for a shallot. My question is: is this one shallot or two? Not that it matters, it's all I have today, but I just realized I don't know the answer. I'll never forget the time when I used 3 heads of garlic in a sauce when the recipe called for 3 cloves of garlic! I've come a long way since then, but clearly I don't know everything.

Do you find that fire-roasting is critical to the flavor? I ask because I've had baba ganoush in Egyptian restaurants that was made over a stove and was DELICIOUS. However, my attempt at it earlier this summer, when I went the lazy way and cooked the eggplant in the oven, was a bland disappointment to me. Fortunately my husband still liked it, so it wasn't a total loss.

Here's something I hadn't imagined or expected: a shortage of spices because of a shortage in packaging materials! Washington Post article. I hope this article is included in their free pandemic coverage: A spice boom has left manufacturers scrambling, and packaging materials can’t keep up

@Anna N, I totally agree about Shelby's cookery! I just thought it comical, and hadn't gotten Shelby's joke earlier since I hadn't started the book when I saw her post. I agree that endive was shorthand for obscure (or poncy- love that word although my spell checker doesn't) ingredients. If VH happens to be following along on this topic I'm sure she'll be impressed.

How ironic. Doesn't she say specifically in the opening that if you're looking for things to do with endive you should look in another book? 😄 I'm really enjoying her writing style. Thought I'd done all the grocery shopping for a week or two, but since my Other Half has rationalized the need for Halloween candy there's a trip again today. Which means I can get a cuke for kraut and the ingredients for LGD!

Welcome, @BatchCooker! If you like science and cooking, you've come to a good place. Feel free to wander around the forums, check out what's here and join in the conversations. If you need help finding things, or understanding how to use the forums, feel free to reach out to a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger (PM) or take a look at our Help Files. I especially love German comfort food, and hope to learn a few things from you about it as you post here. What are some comfort food dishes you especially like to make and eat?

Indeed! Thanks for the reminder, Kerry. The Harvest Right and perhaps some other freeze dryers got a lot of attention a few years back. Those topics can be a great resource: Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1) Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 2) Welcome, @Tactical_Pickle!

I compromised and bought the Kindle version. I'm in a position where compact is better anyway, although less satisfying.

FWIW castelvetrano olives don't taste like what you might expect. They're green ripe olives, not green unripe olives unless my memory fails me. (If I'm misremembering, somebody please correct me.)) Very different flavor profile. I'm especially irked because I DO like mint, but neglected to collect any before it froze hard. Our herbs are done for the year, except some very hardy sage and rosemary. Now it's MY turn to damn you all. I don't need more cookbooks either, but will probably be pulling the trigger on this one soon.

Huh. Maybe I'll have to try that cut again. Yours sounds delicious! Thanks for reporting back on it!

It's several months since I baked bread, and yesterday for a variety of reasons I was none too sure there was any baking mojo left in my life. Nonetheless I'd been asked to bring bread for a dinner party. I went with a straight - lean dough no-knead recipe from Peter Reinhart's bread baking course, with some of the last herbs from my garden mixed in. At the last minute I decided to forget the steam and use my cast iron Dutch Oven as the baking vessel, per Jim Lahey. That works a treat for oven spring and color! The crumb was good and open, though I didn't get a shot of that. The bottom was a bit tough, but that may have been their bread knife. Figuring out how to get a good crust without having too tough a base is a project for this winter. Overall, I was pleased. They liked it too...but unfortunately the other host had decided on cheesy biscuits to go with dinner! That was a very carb-heavy meal. 🤣

I had decided that a 3 qt Ultra Instant Pot would be better for the trailer than the 3 qt Duo in there now. Behold, they'd sold out at that price! So I settled for a handheld carpet cleaning gizmo. Nothing else spoke to me.

Yes, I noticed that at some time yesterday the 3 Qt IP Ultra went from $49.99 to "available from these other sources". Must have been one heck of a sale! As for the clones, that's a good question.

That really is a good price, @rotuts, and I find myself sorely tempted. I've written before that I think the Ultra is superior to the Duo. As it happens I have a 3-quart Duo in our trailer, our home-away-from-home. I'm tempted to replace it with the Ultra. I'm thinking about it. The reason I hesitate is that the existing IP doesn't get much use when we're off-grid, and that's more of our travel time every year. Hmm.

I don't have the 3 qt Ultra, but I have the 6 qt Ultra and the 6 qt Duo. I prefer the Ultra and think it's worth a bit more money, but mainly because I like the customization that it allows. Being able to set the temperature (say, for slow cooking) is a huge plus for me. The Ultra has other features - both customization and ergonomics - that I prefer. I wrote in more detail comparing the two IP 6-qt models here. All that said, if the temperature control and "last program memory" aren't important to you, then I'd agree with mgaretz. I can't shed any light on later versions.

OK, here's my next question, which has probably been answered elsewhere: wash the cabbage before shredding, or after? If before, it won't be as thorough although most of the microorganisms are on the outside leaves anyway. If after, that adds a lot of water that must be eliminated or accounted for in the salt weighing. What do y'all do?

That's very clearly written. Thanks! After reading that article, and the comments above, I'm pretty sure I just haven't kept the kraut cool enough while it was fermenting.