Smithy

How does Kira express food preferences now?

I will! Thanks!

I just looked at the recipe. I would never have imagined using fish sauce in a vinaigrette. Thank you for this mind-stretching recipe!

Thanks!

If I had a CSO I'd want to use it but keep it clean too. My house doesn't reflect that philosophy, but I do try. Hang in there. As for convection vs. steam: I can't give you a comparison, but I can tell you that Chicken Kiev in an air fryer on convection alone worked a treat. I used 350F until the internal temperature reached 160F, but you may have other instructions that will work better in your device. Let us know how it works out!

Avocado fries! Why have I never thought of that before?! That sounds delightful and decadent. Other dishes on your more recent restaurant post are also inspiring. Since you don't plan to do much in the way of restaurants in the near future, please remember that we are also fascinated with local grocers and what you do with that food in the rental kitchen.

You ain't alone. My scheduling runs along the lines of: Sunday through Wednesday: consider possible dishes for Saturday's party. Thursday: buy everything needed for almost all the dishes in question. Forget one or two critical items. Friday: start cleaning the house. Realize that I've forgotten some items on the shopping list. If something needs to be made in advance - for instance, a blind-baked pie shell, or beans cooked to make a spread - do that. Saturday: decide what to make, based on which dish(es) come closest to having the full complement of ingredients. Realize I don't have enough time to make everything I'd intended, and cut down on the menu. Start tearing around the house pulling things together. Dither over which dishes, table cloth, etc and have those ready for the guests to lay out when they come! Oh well, we have a good time, and nobody goes away hungry. The following week, I make the dishes I didn't cook for the dinner, in an attempt to use the surplus items I'd bought at the grocery store.

You lot are ganging up on me!

They'd look adorable as individual pots for, oh, lemon curd or pots de mousse or baby trifles, wouldn't they?

Thanks for checking. Ahem.

I absolutely do not need any of those cute jars, so I absolutely do not need to know where you (or Kerry, I think?) got them. IIRC they were a thrift store find. Whew - saved from making a shopping list for gizmos! Sorry if you wrote this before - but do you have a link to that ginger-carrot dressing? It looks gorgeous!

That's the plan, my friend...

Tonight I tried a recipe out of the included booklet: Accordion Potatoes. Slice the potatoes nearly (but not all the way) through. Dress with olive oil, salt and pepper; cook for a bit. Remove from heat, add chopped bacon and grated cheese, cook a few minutes longer until the stuffing is done. Serve. There was a more-than-optimal delay between the "cook until stuffing is done" and "serve" stages, and the final result was a bit drier than I'd have liked. Nonetheless, it was good. Some stuff in a counter corner has been moved or removed to make room for this fryer. It's well on its its way to earning a permanent home here.

ElsieD, I'll be watching your experiments with interest. An air fryer has found earned its way onto our counter, where I had thought there was no room. Now I'm starting to think that the CSO would have about the same footprint as the air fryer and toaster combined...hmm...and maybe do the work of both...hmmm....

I shall never again make an enchilada casserole using frozen Hatch chiles without carefully reading my freezer pack labels. I knew one package was Medium heat. I thought the other was Mild, but couldn't find the label (which was helpfully printed, in my handwriting, using indelible ink, on the bottom seam of the package ). I put approximately half of each package, juice and all, into the casserole. Lordy, that was hot! I found the label the next day. Unfortunately, we were out of sour cream. Fortunately, we had cream cheese and easily-shredded cheddar. Cream cheese isn't much like sour cream, but it tamed the heat.

I thoroughly enjoyed the blackberries I could pick off the roadside verge hedges in the English countryside, many years ago. They made a nice hiking snack. However, given the thorniness of those bushes I'd have needed much better protection if I'd wanted to harvest enough for, say, pie or preserves. Wild raspberry bushes have nothing on blackberry brambles! I didn't know until now that the blueberry comb is hard on the bushes. Not that I've ever had the chance to try one, but I appreciate the information.

Tastes differ. I like it, especially for chicken salad. My darling thinks sous vide may be the only reliable way to cook chicken breast without drying it out. To be honest we think it can be better fried, but only if we are lucky enough to arrive at the deli counter just as the chicken breasts are coming out of the fryer.

That reminds me of another possibility: Larb! eta: (Oops, that IS what Shelby suggested. Well, here's another recipe, in RecipeGullet.)

@MetsFan5, there's a wealth of information around here on sous vide, and it can seem a bit intimidating - especially where experienced users come up with different preferences. If you should decide to try it, you can do so for under $100 for a sous vide circulator. A vacuum-packer is nice but not necessary; simple Ziplock-style bags will do. You don't need a special container if you have a large stockpot (or canning kettle) or a small waterproof cooler. The Chefsteps web site has a week-long menu for sous vide newcomers; I haven't worked my way through it, but in reviewing it I see I should, since I'm still not using my circulator(s) to best advantage: Chefsteps' Get Started with Sous Vide: Your First Week's Menu. In addition, this topic does a pretty good job of showing how other sous vide newcomers became comfortable with their new technology: Sous vide for a newbie. This post in particular should inspire you to take the plunge. You can do this!

I had no idea that he was ailing. His voice on the KCRW podcast was so lovely, and his writing so delightful, I almost felt that we'd met. RIP, Jonathan. Thank you for the tours.

Chicken thighs tonight. I roughly followed the instructions for chicken tenders in the cookbook provided with the air fryer. In this case, that means I followed their procedure to dredge in seasoned flour, dredge in beaten egg, dredge in seasoned bread crumbs, then cook at 320F for 15 minutes. It took more nearly 25 minutes, with a couple of turns, to get the meat cooked properly. Adjustments were expected: their recipe was for chicken (breast) tenders; mine was for whole thighs. The bad news: with this setup, only 3 thighs could be accommodated, and they really crowded the cooker and needed extra turning. The good news: with this setup, we had to practice portion control. That isn't one of our strong suits...but we were well satisfied with 1-1/2 thighs each. (We had some broccoli salad as a side, but it doesn't show up here.) We liked the results. They were comparable to deep-fried chicken thighs from our favorite grocery delis. The deep-fat fryer is edging its way to the garage-sale box.

Wown! Very, very impressive. Nicely done, Kerry.

I think @rotuts has commented on the time and the "cured" taste and texture. Maybe he'll chime in after he checks his copious notes.

At that price, going out and picking the blueberries gets much more attractive...if you have time and mobility...but only if you have both of those. I've had some fine blueberry picking up in @Tri2Cook's country, but never tried it farther east.

That IS a surprising concept to me! Please tell more. Do you brew the coffee in cold fizzy water, or do you brew in still water and then dilute with the fizzy stuff?