Smithy

You and me both, sister! The summer flew by. I wasn't ready to leave, but I've seen just how hard the cold is on him. It isn't simply a dislike of being cold.

All the leaves are brown... and the sky is grey... We hit the road a couple of days ago, not quite California Dreamin' although we're headed in that general direction. It's been uncommonly cold at home. I don't remember ever seeing the ditches and ponds freeze up so early. That gave me a chance to enjoy some cold and snow, although not much in the way of clear skies, before we left. My darling can't take the cold, and was miserable during the packing process. He was also terrified that the Princessmobile's pipes, which froze 3 nights running, would see damage. (Fortunately they thawed every day, and we see no evidence of damage.) He made the most of a bad situation by making a huge batch of chili. Some of it was frozen to make road food, and some of it warmed us during our week of packing. You'll see it sometime along the way. Packing the Princessmobile had its embarrassing moments. I found this all in a bag on the floor of our pantry: Note to self: do NOT stock up on herbs or spices on this trip! We'll see whether I manage to stick to that rule. We still have about half the Egyptian feta cheese we bought last spring in Tucson, and it's now in the Princessmobile's refrigerator. We have a lot of meat purchased from a favorite butcher over the Labor Day weekend, and flour I bought in Tucson last spring before I lost the time and motivation for bread-baking. The good news is that our house and garage refrigerator and freezer are mostly empty. The bad news is that I really should be cooking this stuff instead of enjoying local food as we travel! So this trip will no doubt be a hodgepodge of trailer-food cookery and travelogue...much as it has always been. Here are a couple of road-food breakfasts: nothing fancy, but not bad for eating in the truck as the truck eats the miles. This croissant sandwich looks like it's sticking its tongue out at me, but it was pretty good. The next morning's Subway breakfast sandwiches weren't quite as good. I liked my bacon, egg and cheese sandwich - with tomatoes, spinach and mayo added. My darling chose a straight-up sausage and cheese sandwich, and couldn't finish it. "No wonder they named this casino 'Terrible's!" he exclaimed. The first night out, we ate chili but after 480 miles I was in no mood to photograph or post. Last night, at only 380 miles, we stopped at an Oklahoma Welcome Center and enjoyed the view. The snow and ice are far behind us. I put (only slightly) more effort into dinner: These lovely sausages, from that Labor Day weekend shopping expedition, went into a pot of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice. I seem to have forgotten to take a snap of the finished product. Tonight we'll be in Texas, and dinner remains to be seen. The fridge is full, but we think we'll have access to good 'cue. We'll see what happens.

I'm getting more tempted.

I want to know from you users whether this grill really is smokeless -- as in, fine to use in the kitchen with the windows closed. The question also applies to those of you who take the plunge and buy the rotisserie attachment.

Genius Kitchen provides a "create a shopping list" option with its recipes. (Here's an example that caught my eye.) Judging by this recipe, FoodNetwork.com recipes offer the same feature.

That's beautiful and interesting handwriting, too! Is that really a "Solution for Soft Soldering" at the top? If so, what does that mean? (I can admire the handwriting without being able to read it easily. ) If it is, what exactly is soft soldering?

Have you ever shared that particular recipe? If not, would you / could you? I have loved lemon curd since my summer in York, but never been satisfied with my attempts.

I have also read that one should simply use the rind, but I generally use the entire piece of lemon (pulp and rind, but no seeds if possible). A little goes a long way, mind: I don't rinse, and so there's a lot of salt. There's also a lot of nice lemony flavor. For more information there's this older topic in the Middle East and Africa forum. It could surely use a boost: Preserved Lemons.

Absolutely fabulous! What kind of flour did you use? When I get back to bread baking - maybe next month - I'd like to try this.

What's making it go? Salt? You said little vinegar...although that fruit may be providing some acid.

Nice pun, @dcarch. Our neighbors and good friends in central California grew figs when I was little. I don't remember all those little limbs coming up from the ground; as I recall each tree had one main trunk from which limbs spread at a height of a few feet. Do you suppose they pruned those trees to get a single trunk? If so, why don't you? If not, do you think you're growing a different variety? (I can't ask those friends about the variety; the trees and those particular ranchers are all gone.)

The delightful book Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry has many preservation opportunities, including hot sauce, that only require a boiling-water bath. I think if your recipe includes enough vinegar you'll be safe with the boiling-water bath rather than pressure canning. I don't know about pretty bottles that can withstand boiling-water baths, and honestly I never thought of it. I can tell you that friends gave me the remnants of an excellent hot sauce that some of their guests had brought as a house gift. We never questioned how it had been preserved, so I can't say whether it was simply bottled hot in sterilized bottles or had the bath treatment afterward. (I assume the former.) I can say that it lasted with little deterioration for a year or two. The bottle seems to be a repurposed Old Bushmill's bottle. The light at this time of night ruins the image of the writing on the glass, but note that this was simply corked:

My dessert-making opportunities are vanishingly small, but I'd love to fantasize about making this. Care to share the recipe? Posting it in RecipeGullet would be even better. I do love a good Boston Cream Pie.

I had the opportunity to rejoice in having two IP's today! It all began with some Rancho Gordo "Eye of the Goat" beans, the leftover knuckles from our most recent smoked pork hocks, and a desperate need to start clearing out refrigerator drawers. I pressure cooked the beans with the pork bones. It took a lot more time and water than I'd expected to get those beans creamy, but when I did they were fabulous. Rather than dirty up a bowl to strain out the bean liquor, I decided to use the other IP liner pot. Then I thought: why not use the other IP? Into that bowl went mushrooms to become duxelles, then a touch of oil, then chopped onions, celery, red bell pepper and a couple of smoked bratwurst sliced into coins to brown. When that was all cooked, the beans (left pot) were spooned in along with some of the pot liquor. You can see the finished dish here, where I rhapsodize about the Rancho Gordo "Eye of the Goat" beans. We were both well pleased, although my darling shook his head at the display of IP's on the kitchen island, with our lovely stove languishing in the background. It's true, it could all have been done on stovetop...but I do like the pressure-cooker aspect of the IP.

I think this is from last year's batch, but tonight I cooked up a little more than half a package of "Eye of the Goat" beans, along with pork hock bones with leftover meat, some smoked bratwurst as meat insurance, and some mushrooms, red bell peppers, celery and onion that needed cooking. It took 3 cycles in the Instant Pot of 35 minutes on High Pressure, then natural release for 20 - 30 minutes, then adding a bit of water and repeating, to get the beans to the creamy consistency I'd expected. I'm glad I persevered. We both thought this delicious! I have a huge backlog of beans (and I haven't joined the club for that reason, yet) but when I'm ready to buy more the Ojo do Cabra beans will be on the order form.

I had a pork brisket, rubbed with spices, that we usually do on the grill. It was cold and snowy (yes, snowy on October 13!) and I tried it in the CSO on steam bake: 225F for something between 1:30 and 2:00. I lost track of the time due to other duties, and wasn't able to monitor the internal temperature. When I pulled the brisket its internal temperature was around 204F. It looked juicy, but only the end that had a fair amount of fat came out that way; the rest was on the dry side. The potatoes underneath it were dandy. The pork tasted delightfully porky: we both agreed that the flavor was great, but the meat was overdone. This pork brisket was around 1.5" thick. Now that the test is over, what would y'all have done? We have another pork brisket from this supplier.

Did the egg vessels get an extra induction kick, do you think, or were they strictly to contain the eggs?

Do you have an electric appliance that your wind generator can drive? The loss of jobs as well as food must be wearing for people too. This is quite a saga. Thanks for providing a firsthand account.

Dammit, @blue_dolphin, you're pulling me toward buying another book when I've barely cracked my new books' covers! Seriously, though: thanks for these great-looking photos and descriptions. Whether or not I end up caving, your posts are inspiring and tempting.

Sauerkraut, 4 days after the beginning. My good friend gave me a head of red cabbage that came out to 1.81 kg; I added 3% salt for around 54g. I'd have added caraway seeds, but we're all out...either that, or the backup supplies are hiding in one of several backup storage areas. This morning I punched it down and tasted the broth. I think it's headed in the right direction.

That looks beautiful, fug, and it's quite a first post! Is this a recipe and technique you'd care to share? I'm always on the hunt for good crab cakes, after having visited Maryland once or twice, but have never been satisfied with mine. Welcome out of the lurker shadows, by the way.

Would you please tell more about your pickled green tomatoes? A recipe would be welcome, especially if it were to go into RecipeGullet where people could find it easily. I have been playing with fried green tomatoes lately, but I think a pickled version would go over well in our household.

Following the idea above, I started with this very pretty assembly of tomato slices, onion, garlic, and jalapeno with a bit of oil drizzled over it. It didn't seem to need vinegar at that stage, so I hadn't added any. I cooked it, stirring once or twice, in a 400F oven until it had browned and collapsed. The final product before blending doesn't look as appetizing, but it was delicious. It's now sitting in containers to become pasta sauce or some other lovely accent note. I also found time to try this recipe for Oven-Fried Green Tomatoes. As usual, the photo by the professionals and my results are wildly different. We dipped the FGT in remoulade sauce or ranch dressing, as we pleased. They tasted good - much better than they look (which is not nearly as appealing as the picture on TheSpruceEats page) - but nothing as good as what I've had in restaurants. I have a very few green tomatoes left. I may try deep-frying them, just to get them off the counter and this FGT bug out of my system, or I may try one of TicTac's other ideas instead. That first relish is really great!

I've missed Lisa's voice since the holidays, and I'm sorry I won't be seeing her here again. She was clearly and patently a teacher: happy to answer questions and provide clear instruction. I learned a lot about knife skills from her, and a new and unusual technique for making hash over a campfire. I'm thankful for her presence and years here.

You've missed out, and I recommend that if you ever see Ferraro Rocher confections in a store you pick up a few to try them. They turn up, especially during the holiday season, at a variety of USA stores: Walgreens, probably WalMart, and I think even some grocery stores I've visited. They're light, airy, crunchy, and a pleasant blend of chocolate and hazelnut. I can only imagine what Kerry's version is like.