Smithy

It happens that I bought granular citric acid recently for another project. I know that sodium citrate is a salt form of citric acid. What is the practical difference between the two for this purpose? Can I substitute citric acid for the sodium citrate, and do I need to adjust the formula? Or should I order sodium citrate if I want to make melty cheese?

I whittled your first-of-this-season post down to the points I wanted to comment on for the sake of space, but I too want you to know that I'm looking forward to this, as I do for all your huntin' and cannin' and gardenin' blogs! First, a question: is this the first time that hunting and canning have overlapped because the garden has gone on later than usual? If that isn't the reason, what is? Second, a comment: I enjoy and am impressed by your chalk drawings. You may think they're simple, but to this graphically-challenged soul your artwork is gorgeous and almost magical. Third, another question: do I spy a melty cheese on that egg sandwich? If so, what cheese, liquid and proportions did you use? I'm about to try my hand at using the melty cheese calculator and am looking for ideas/encouragement.

I finally got around to trying egg bites. I very loosely followed this recipe from Anova for bacon and gruyere egg bites...very loosely, considering I used cheddar cheese and heavy cream, and no neufchatel or gruyere. No matter, 172F for 1 hour cooked these beauties to a good consistency. By the time I was ready actually to eat one, they had cooled. 45 seconds in the microwave warmed them perfectly. This would be a good make-ahead breakfast for a gang. Said gang will be visiting in a couple of weeks to help with the wood-cutting and stacking, and will need sustenance.

That's beautiful! I know nothing about making sushi or sashimi, but we have folks here who do. I can just tell you that I'd be pleased to see that on my plate.

Oh, how disappointing! Sorry, you probably feel I misled you. The jar I finished off used sunflower oil (and olive oil), the artichokes were firm but not tough, and the grilled flavor came through. I'm using the remainder of the oil in other dishes. I guess before I actually buy more at TJ's I'll see whether the label indicates it's changed. Maybe the formulations are different on the two coasts?

I had to look up crocchè. Thank you for that new-to-me food! I'm looking forward to more posts here.

@blue_dolphin, that Flagship cheese is a favorite cheese of mine also. I discovered it during a trip to Seattle and was delighted when I could find it in Duluth for a while. I haven't seen it around here in years. I'll add it to my list of things to look for at TJ's next time I go. Thanks!

I could as easily have put this in the Dinner topic, but I might not have tried this at all without the CSO. It happens that Fine Cooking magazine (No. 160, Aug/Sept 2019) has a recipe for Herbed Artichoke Galette that caught my eye. The CSO manual and recipe book has a related recipe for Caramelized Onion and Two-Tomato Tart. Well. I had to try them. I had to try playing with puff pastry, and I had to do it in the CSO. The result was a bit of a hybrid between the two recipes. The shallot and garlic filling was started under supersteam, with oven-roasted tomatoes added at the last minute to soften. The puff pastry had been shaped, then brushed with an egg wash. The filling was added -- along with cheese and chopped artichoke hearts -- and the lot was convection-baked for 35 minutes at 400F. Before: and After: (No, the finished product was not that fuzzy...Sorry for the photo quality! ...Yes, those colors are true. It wasn't burnt, but it was slightly overbrowned.) Things I'll do differently next time: load more filling onto the gallette (it was delicious, but a bit thin) and cook the gallette / tart for a bit less time. Caveats notwithstanding, this is a dead-easy Friday night dinner. Finger food, with the cleanup done by the time dinner was ready. It's worth fine-tuning.

Woe is me, I finished off my last jar of TJ's Marinated Grilled Artichoke Halves tonight. The marinated artichoke hearts available for antipasto platters just aren't the same; their flavor isn't bad, but these artichoke halves are meatier, more savory and less acidic than the typical "marinated artichoke hearts" I find in the grocery store. I think I'll have an opportunity to visit a TJ's this fall. If I do and I can still find this product, I'm going to stock up.

I don't remember, but there was a "special price" deal going on for a while. Seems like it was under $100 then. Maybe someone else remembers?

Whew, I'm safe! Price is back up to $249. Even with free shipping that's enough to remove temptation...but I'll be following this topic with interest. 🙂

@Shelby speaks for me...word for word...!

Oh, this will be fun!

@TicTac, I haven't tried them without any sort of coating. That sounds good too. Thanks!

I still haven't made it, and it's still on my list to try. Thanks for the reminder.

As @heidih and @Katie Meadow noted above, FGT can be a revelation. Properly done, they are tart and firm, with a delightful, lightly crunchy and spicy coating. They are an excellent transport mechanism for ranch dressing or the classic remoulade sauce. IMO they are a delicious use of those last tomatoes of the season that won't ripen properly and will never become "tasty, juicy and perfectly ripe". (My father talked about how his mother would make a relish that she called "chow chow" from her green tomatoes as the season closed. It was another frugal use of the garden's tag-end. I wish I'd seen her recipe.) I thought the idea of FGT seemed odd too, but tried them and became a convert. My husband is still unimpressed by them, however, so mileage varies.

As rotuts notes above, the link is for the F.Blumlein JU-3200 10-in-1 Steam Convection Oven, with Air-Plus Technology, Large Capacity 1.1Cu Ft, and 32.2 Oz Large Water Tank

OK, I'm going to bust in here and ask what you do for rice. Last night I did rice (jasmine) in the bottom of the IP pot after soaking and washing and soaking again said rice. I used 2 parts water to 1 part rice (that is, 2 parts water to the dry rice before I soaked and washed it). I cooked on 4 minutes high pressure, then 10 minutes natural release. It was gummy. I let it steam, covered but without active heat, for another 5 - 10 minutes. It was still gummy. It worked out reasonably well since we wanted it to mix with and soak up sauce from another dish, but it was not what I'd been planning. I could swear I didn't have this problem last year, but it seems I didn't keep notes. What do you do: rice type, ratio of rice to water, IP settings and time?

That's a fascinating article. In fact they are sequencing the DNA and RNA to see how these strains are different. I hope more articles will be written, or that someone who follows Seamus Blackley on Twitter will keep us apprised of new developments.

It may depend on your machine. I think I've read that some models start the timer when they've finished preheating. My model, which I bought refurbished, starts the timer when I press "start". It is definitely not up to temperature until it's been running for some 3 - 5 minutes.

If a pot that is magnetic on the sides as well as the base is put on an induction burner, will the sides get hot as well as the bottom? If so, will they get as hot as the base, or will the magnetic field be weaker going up the sides?

Dammit, @blue_dolphin and @TicTac, you're undermining every one of my reasons not to buy one of these things.

Speaking of enabling: RCWilley is now advertising the FirstBuild Paragon Induction Cooktop for $69.97. I first noticed the price drop last month, and don't know whether it's permanent or temporary. (The URL includes the phrase "August campaign" but I'm writing this in September.)

Sure, I'll do that. I'll let you mention the smaller box size for backups, though. I'll mention here that the Instant Pot Ultra 6 quart multicooker is now at Amazon for $83.77. I've been enjoying mine and posting about it over here. I think the extra flexibility of the Ultra makes it a far better unit than the Duo, and this is a heck of a good price.

No, we're all about enabling.