Smithy

Ooops. I baked bread yesterday. While the oven was preheating, I remembered - just a bit too late - that I keep the Tucson starter at the back of the stove to get a little heat from the pilot light. I cooked part of the starter! Fortunately, I also had a larger container back there for building my first batch of bread from the Tucson colony. It hadn't overheated yet, so I was able to discard what you see above.

Do get that book out, and check it out! Maybe we can explore it together, in a "Cooking from..." type topic.

I'm not in a position to watch it right now, so I have a question: why the "final" table? The title made me think it might be someone's dying request. Apparently that isn't the case.

Thanks so much for the link to the spring roll recipe. You saved yourself many requests (or one, supported by many "likes" ) by doing so. Right now I'm on another kick altogether, but now you have me inspired to try spring rolls - maybe when I'm in a position for a group cooking project! Like the others, I'm delighted to see this blog opening again. It's always interesting, and I love to see what you do with the game. It's wonderful to see a working windmill be put to its intended use. We pass so many during our drives that are missing blades or are otherwise clearly remains of an older time. They seem to me to be elegant and useful, and I hate to see them die of neglect. That venison roast and the chili look delicious! Thanks for including information about time and temperature on the sous vide. I have read that it isn't wise to put salt on meat before the sous vide cook, because it gives the meat a "cured" taste. Is that only for longer cooks, or does that not match your experience?

By the way, that link of @Darienne's led me down a fine rabbit hole to Yet Another Cookbook that I bought in anticipation of this trip. "Seasoned With Sun: Recipes from the Corner of Texas and Old Mexico" is a cookbook by the Junior League of El Paso, Inc. and it has an interesting selection of recipes. There's a Chile Relleno Souffle, a Green Chile Pie, and - yes - a Chilie (sic) Relleno Casserole, compliments of Old El Paso Company, that is the inspiration for the recipe in Darienne's link. There are numerous recipes for Chiles Rellenos, enchiladas, tamales, salsas...and that's just in the "Mexican" section. The main part of the book is broken into the usual: Soups and Sandwiches, Entrees and so on. I am looking forward to trying "Chile en Escabeche" / "Cured Chile", which is a pickle. I thought of @Shelby when I looked at the Entree section: sure, there are plenty of chicken, beef and ham recipes, but there are also Glazed Duck with Plum Sauce, Dove Casserole, Fried Quail with Cream Gravy, Quail with Wine Sauce, and Pheasant with Brandy Cream Sauce. There are a couple of venison recipes as well. I don't have ready access to the wild birds or game any more, but if I did, I'd be trying these.

@Shelby, I've had that same casserole recipe bookmarked. Thanks for the reminder! When you order the fresh Hatch chiles, do they come really fresh - and then you have to roast and peel and seed them?

I like chiles rellenos. I really do. I want to learn to make them. So with that in mind, and spurred by some philanthropic project to boot, I bought this book some time last year: It sounds like a neat deal: mix up a stuffing, prepare the chiles, fill them, batter and coat them, fry them, eat them. No, wait. That already sounds like too many steps. Nonetheless, today was the day to start. I was on a trailer-cleaning binge, and the cleaning extended to the refrigerator. The stuffing incuded, in stages: chunks of white bread from a recipe test back in October (scary that it hadn't molded yet) chopped scallions hamburger pulled out of the freezer and mixed in at least a cup of cherry tomatoes, roasted and covered in olive oil, per @ElainaA's recipe (and no, @Shelby, the tomatoes were not peeled ) chopped celery - another bag gone from the 'fridge'! a peeled, seeded and chopped Hatch chile spices such as cumin, oregano and a bit of chili powder the last bits of Fagundes Farms' Hanford Jack - San Joaquin and Hanford Jack - Smoked Jalapeno cheeses with us (Ignore the lower right picture until later.) I got the stuffing mixed. I started preparing the chiles. I had a number of jalapenos, a couple of poblanos, and a couple of red (ripe) bell peppers. I've never bothered to peel bell peppers, but my book assured me that the poblanos and jalapenos needed to be peeled. I fired up the outside stove, blistered those babies, put 'em in a covered bowl, and went for a walk. I came back. Those peppers were staring at me from beneath the bowl cover. I peeled and seeded them. I stuffed them. I realized that (a) there were more peppers than we could possibly eat in one night and (b) I didn't want to mess with mixing a batter, firing up the outside stove and frying those things. The jalapenos went into a container for tomorrow (that's the lower right picture, two photos above). The bells and poblanos went into the oven. When they came out, we ate. Filling was runny. It needed rice (my preference) or orzo (his) to absorb more of the juices. I didn't have enough bread in the mixture. Nonetheless, it was good. Maybe tomorrow I'll have the gumption to batter and fry those jalapenos.

The Sonoran sourdough starter is alive and well. In this collage, the left-hand photo was just after refreshing and the right-hand photo was only 4 hours afterward. I put the "TUC" label on the container, with the bottom of the label at the top level of the starter, just after I took the photo on the left. In these pictures, the left-hand photo is of the newly-refreshed starter and the right-hand photo is of the discard. I think I'll mix some bread with it tomorrow.

I can't say anything about differences in quality, but I can tell you that Le Creuset was saying not to use metal utensils, at least as early as 2004.

I caved on that one too. My solace is that I bought it the first day Toliver pointed it out, so kayb's comment is more confirmation than enabling.

Thanks! I guess in this one way, I am a traditionalist. That green bean treatment has been one of our family holiday fixtures for as long as I can remember. My grandmother used one of her Wearever aluminum pots for it, and simmered those beans for hours. I have that pot set, although it isn't along with us in the trailer.

I hope y'all had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was typically quiet: we'll be with family for Christmas, we hope, but Thanksgiving has been on our own since we began spending our winters rambling. Yesterday was no different. One advantage to not doing Thanksgiving with others is that we aren't bound by the firm traditions. Turkey is okay, but we'd rather have prime rib. I have never liked pumpkin pie, and he isn't much of a dessert eater. Sweet potatoes aren't our bag, although they can be nice if simply roasted, perhaps served with butter - but none of that marshmallow junk, thankyouverymuch. So it goes. My first batch of sourdough bread, which was proofing during an earlier post, came out pretty well. It used the Sonoran wheat blend, and the sourdough starter is still my original starter from home. I'm glad I didn't pitch it. Could I tell a difference between this wheat blend and King Arthur white whole wheat? Well, no. I'll try the next loaf with commercial yeast to see if anything stands out. (I think I left the dough in the banneton too long. The surface was quite firm, as evidenced by the slashes.) The menu: scalloped corn, scalloped potatoes, green beans with bacon, prime rib with horseradish sauce, and the above-mentioned bread. The only stovetop dish was the green beans. The oven has a single rack and a small chamber. Consequently everything was done in stages - bread first, then the corn and potatoes (those two dishes could share a rack) and finally the prime rib. With the oven running at high temperature, the back of the range - where the oven vents - served as a good warming rack. The dishes were all kept covered until serving time. The bread is still in foil, behind everything else, in this picture. While the prime rib was cooking, I grated a small horseradish root and made sauce for the meat. I wrote more about it here. It's been a while since I tried making horseradish sauce. Are there any enthusiasts out there who'd care to share their methods? Dinner. This morning, all that remains is to re-squirrel away the baking dishes in their various hidey holes!

I found this topic yesterday while looking for advice on how to make horseradish sauce. The top entries in a general Google search all turn up recipes for horseradish sauce that all include prepared horseradish! I had young roots that a friend gave me from her garden. I peeled a root, grated it with a microplane, then began mixing. A bit of horseradish. A bit of white vinegar. Whoops! too much liquid! More horseradish. A touch of water to tame it down. Nope, that was a wrong thing to do. More horseradish. The final finish was to add a small amount of sugar (next time I'll try white wine vinegar) and salt to offset a bitter note, then a bit of sour cream and mayonnaise. It sounds a mess but came as close as I can remember to the horseradish sauce a favorite restaurant provides with its prime rib. I have 4 more roots for experimentation, not only for a meat sauce but for salad additions. I see some good ideas earlier in this topic. Is anyone else doing things with horseradish these days? What's your favorite preparation? Has anyone tried the leaves, as mentioned above? My gardener friend would be delighted to hear of such an idea.

@heidih, are you saying Orchard Supply is no more anywhere? 😞 I loved that chain.

Last night was our first campfire, and first campfire cooking. Hash. We're a bit out of practice, so the potatoes were a bit, er, crisp. No matter. It's my darling's comfort food, and the landscape was drenched with moonlight after the fire went out.

My mother gave me hers, but then missed it, so I found another in a thrift store, or on eBay - I don't remember - and surprised her with it. When she passed, my sister got that one. Since then I've bought at least 2 more when I found them: one for the trailer, at least one more for friends who admired mine.

I prefer the method @Chufi showed us in Pomegranates, the easy Nigella way. I haven't had much luck with the pith and seeds separating under water. I know it works for a lot of people, but I inevitably end up with bits of wet pith still stuck to those seeds. The Nigella / Chufi method is this: cut the pomegranate in half across its equator. Turn one half upside down over a bowl. Use a heavy spoon or other implement (I generally use the flat of my large chef's knife) and tap the sides of the fruit. Taptaptap. Turn the fruit and tap again. Keep at it, rotating the fruit. The tapping loosens the seeds from the pith, and the seeds will fall into the bowl. (This has an added benefit of letting you eventually see the interior structure of the fruit, since the pith stays more or less intact. Geeky, I know. ) Chufi's pictures are excellent, so I won't bother posting photos here about it. Besides, I don't have any pomegranates at the moment. I'll have to rectify that soon, I think. As for juicing them, I'm happy with my venerable Alcoa citrus squeezer for that. I suspect the juice isn't as clear as it would be from one of the commercial stand-type mashers, but it's worked for decades and two generations.

My domestic streak - most pronounced in cookery - developed when I was living alone. No need for sadness or apologies!

What a great idea. What crumpet recipe did you use, please?

(Cue Ella Fitzgerald, singing Cole Porter:) "Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above...Don't fence me in..." It's much more open and much less thorny here. I confess it's taking a while for my eyes to adjust to the relatively spare vegetation. We see evidence that there's been some rain since we were last here, but most of the trees and bushes are looking all too dry. No matter, our nearest neighbors are far away. I won't bore folks with repeated pictures of my sourdough starters. The North Woods starter is alive and well. The Tucson starter is still struggling. It has a more complex and tangy odor, so I hope it survives, but it didn't seem to like all the jostling that went with yesterday's drive. I have a batch of bread dough doing its first ferment, using bethesdabakers' test batch recipe. I used the Sonoran flour blend. It's clearly a mix of white and whole wheat flours, as seen in the left frame below. It pulled together quickly from a shaggy dough to a smooth, silky dough that passed the windowpane test easily. I may put it in the refrigerator to retard it until tomorrow; I haven't decided yet. It's intended for tomorrow's dinner, but with a small single-rack oven I've hit problems before with trying to time everything.

*bump* For a while I was making my own yogurt, then went off the idea and went back to my favorites: Chobani and/or Fage. Now, I have a new favorite: This is very thick yogurt, and not as tart as some. I was through the container before I realized/remembered that it was fat-free. It has the same rich mouthfeel as a full-fat yoghurt. I picked up one container as a test; I'll be looking for more. As a side note: I'm amused by the Yank fascination with Aussies. This yogurt is simply another example. In case you can't read it, here's the fine print on the back:

Please tell more about the little "stoves", @andiesenji. Did they run on Sterno? Were the intended simply to keep the coffee warm after brewing?

Please tell more about that canning project. I have generally frozen lemon, lime and occasionally minneola juice with mixed success. Never thought about canning any of it.

I'm very glad you're working to save that tree and use its abundance. Some of the older varieties of fruit - not just citrus - have fallen out of favor because they lack some commercial convenience or appeal - but they're much better than the stuff that's commercially available. OTOH some people are far more about convenience. My mother was staggered when one of her good friends, also a commercial orange-grower, admitted that she preferred buying orange juice (Minute Maid, at that!) because it was more convenient than walking out the door, picking the fruit and juicing it. My father solved the problem of "too much fruit from one tree" for my grandparents in an ingenious way when they moved to a smallish place in Fresno. He grafted several varieties of citrus onto a single tree: lemon, navel orange, valencia orange, satsuma mandarin orange, and I think grapefruit. They called it their "fruit salad" tree.

Norm, I'd take a chocolate pecan pie over a regular pecan pie any day, and yours looks beautiful!