Smithy

We've been out in the desert for a couple of weeks, finally in an area where we can have campfires when it isn't too windy. We've had a few wind storms (it's blowing again right now, but supposed to grow quieter this evening) but also some beautiful weather. There's an art to building a fire ring suitable for cooking something more than hot dogs on sticks, and my darling is pretty good at it. The main tricks are to build the ring with an opening so wood can be added after the grate is down, to have the grate support at the right height above the fire, and to have a level top so the grate can be level. I've seen manufactured rings that allow the grate height to be adjustable. We aren't quite that enterprising; we simply adjust the fuel instead. One of his favorites is hash: potatoes, onions, and some sort of sausage. I think this particular sausage was a leftover from Louisiana. (Yes, we still have some!) I prefer fireside salads, when possible. This one had potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, asparagus and seasoned chicken, all cooked in a grill wok then tossed over fresh spinach. A lemon and garlic vinaigrette completed the ensemble. There's a story behind the new salad servers. I'll tell it in another post.

Arthritis is indeed awful. I don't suffer from it, but some of my family members do. After my father passed away, my mother, sister and I took to doing a "Ladies' Weekend Out" to someplace my mother wanted to see. As her mobility and energy decreased we began to consider renting an RV that would accommodate her needs and shorten the distance from restaurant to bedroom. As it happened, her final illness came before we had the opportunity to try a road trip in an RV together - but I know the possibilities are there. As the Baby Boomers continue to age and retire, I suspect the opportunities will improve. Traveling allows one to see interesting sites. This is a little exercise area at a truck stop in Gila Bend, Arizona, where we stopped to fuel up and eat. I don't remember what we ate. Probably sandwiches.

Welcome, Bryce! You'll find a lot of like minds around here - from those who enjoy figuring out the whys and wherefores to those who simply want to appreciate the results. I assume you've started diving into the forums already. If you have any questions about where to find things or how to post, feel free to ask a host privately by PM (Personal Messenger) or publicly in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum. Have you taken any steps into the Modernist Cuisine world yet - for instance, acquired equipment? Books?

Thanks so much for this photo! I really wanted to see your booth, and I'll bet I'm not the only one. The copper jelly pot is a nice touch. Did you feel like you had to watch it carefully to make sure it didn't walk away?

@Shelby, we've never had trouble finding that size prime rib at (a) a butcher's willing to cut one for us or (b) the meat section of a good grocery store, again willing to cut it if necessary. Have you asked? I agree that a pre-cooked prime rib, unless it's from a good smokehouse , is a travesty.

Funny, I'd forgotten all about that approach. I did it a few times, inspired by excellent meals at Lawry's Prime Rib Restaurant back in my L.A. days. The salt collects the juices and turns into a hard crust that seasons the exterior of the meat. It probably also affects the heat propagation through the roast. I remember it being delicious. I'm not sure it would be any better than my current approach of seasoning the exterior, searing it and then cooking the roast at high heat until the interior is 110 or so: What does the Oregonian article say about the salt crust, the method and its benefits? I might try that again for a comparison.

Will you be able to vent to the outside? I think this is critical for odor and grease control regardless of the heat source.

This is basically it. We have a cutting board rigged to act as extra counter space, but it extends the peninsula so much (over the trash bin at the lower right) that I've taken it down for the nonce to give us more room. I'll cheerfully show other shots (even of open drawers and cupboards) if anyone's interested. I don't think I've shown the 'dining room' (also known as a spare bedroom, or a garage, depending on how it's set up at the time) but the light's too bad right now. I'll have to look around online and see what "Tiny House" ideas I might be able to steal. Thanks for that.

I think rental is an excellent idea. There are least two RV rental companies whose rentals I see frequently on the road. I've never investigated their pricing, though. I am terrible at planning for meals more than a day in advance. The pantry and refrigerator are well-stocked to the point of being overstocked, but that doesn't stop us from picking up new odds and ends anyway. We like testing out the local specialty foods (fresh seafood on the Gulf, locally produced sausages in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, 'cue in Texas) and almost always overbuy. I still have scallops, catfish and shrimp in the freezer even though we left the Gulf behind before Thanksgiving. We may manage to stick to meal plans about half the time. On travel days we plan in the morning what to cook that night, and let it thaw during the day. Those are always easy meals, because by the time we're set up I'm not likely to want to do anything fancy. A package of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice, with one of the cherished sausages chopped up into it, is an example. When we're stationary and the weather behaves as forecast I'm more likely to be able to plan: if we know it's going to be cool and windy then I can plan for a cozy warm-oven or warm-stove meal. We've had a lot of those lately, and it's given me the opportunity to use up odds and ends. On a recent cool, windy day I decided on stuffed baked squash. We still had a couple of carnival squash that needed to be cooked before they died. We had chorizo and corn in the freezer. I had leftover red pepper sauce from making crawfish (shrimp) samosas from Acorns & Cattails, @gfron1's book. There was cheese. We traded 4 containers of bits-and-pieces for 2 containers of leftovers. This was more or less planned, although of my own design. On another windy, cool day I set out to try a book I picked up last spring. The Border Cookbook is an interesting read and has lovely-looking recipes, but for some reason I haven't actually tried to cook from it. I picked a recipe that would use some chicken and peppers, and another for Mexican red rice. First check: all I had was carnaroli rice! I've used up all my basmati, and I only packed 2 types of rice. My careful plans quickly turned into a very loose riff - following the recipe the way, say, a cross-country ATV ride would compare to a AAA planned route. The Jamisons probably wouldn't recognize their instructions. Still, it was good - and emptied some more cupboard stock. I still can't find any extra space. It must be around here somewhere.

I had to drop out for a bit and deal with Life issues - those things that happen whether you're traveling or not, but can be even more inconvenient when you're away from normal Home Turf. I am thrilled to see the questions and interest! Most of the questions have been aptly addressed already, but I can add a few comments. As @kayb noted, there is an extensive network of horse-trailering campers. We spent time last spring camped next to such a rig. I hadn't realized before then that horse trailers could also have living facilities, but this one did. We saw our neighbors in the evening, either attending to their horses or sitting outside after dinner, but during a week's stay we saw them only once during the day when they were giving the horses a rest. We have seen many campgrounds with special camping areas for horse folks...but as kayb notes: We have both ridden and enjoyed it, but are not horse owners ourselves. I'm happy with the idea of finding a riding stable occasionally. Regarding the issue of rig configuration and kitchen size, let me tell the evolution of our setup. (This story may already have been told, but it was many posts ago.) A year or two before my husband retired, he bought a used camper that rode on the back of our pickup. The camper had a small kitchen, a bed over the cab, a dinette table that could convert to another bed, and a small bathroom with a toilet and sink and a shower head. We camped in that and I cooked well in that kitchen, but as often as not I set up an outdoor kitchen with the venerable Coleman stove I'd inherited from my family, a small barbecue grill and a lantern. That arrangement worked quite well for our summer camping trips that lasted a week or three. It was especially good for letting us go along backwoods dirt roads and get close to good fishing lakes. After our first trek across the US (Los Angeles to Duluth in 7 fun-filled days and 6 dark nights!) we agreed that we liked the travel well enough to pursue it for longer stretches when possible, but we wanted more room. We began the search. We already had a good tow vehicle, so the question of RV (van/motorhome) vs. trailer didn't come up at the time. By the time we found something with a kitchen that I considered suitable for weeks or months on the road, we were up to a 37' used 5th-wheel trailer. (That's 3 trailers ago now.) I admit it freely: I don't seem to be as willing as @Nancy in Pátzcuaro to put up with very limited space. The price we pay is that our larger rigs won't go places that the smaller ones will. Nancy, I do hope you'll post about your adventures next time you bring out the RV - and @quiet1, if you join the club I hope you'll post about it too! We have looked over the years at RV's. An advantage that hasn't been mentioned is that if one person takes a hankering for a sandwich or a nap while on the road, most RV's allow access to a kitchen or couch without having to stop the vehicle. (Not all do, however; you have to look at how they're set up when their glides are pulled in.) Most larger RV's that we see are towing a small vehicle for easy mobility while camped. We think our current arrangement has more space and mobility for less money overall, but the equation may change with the size of the motorhome or van, so that a small RV would involve less capital outlay than a small tow vehicle and trailer. @quiet1, mobility can be an issue. My mother, in her final years, was barely able to get up the steps of our last trailer. The steps of this one would defeat her utterly. We do have to consider the weather when we decide to leave for the day. If we're someplace with electricity we can leave the air conditioner running for the comfort of our 4-footed family. Right now we aren't, but it isn't terribly hot. A trailer doesn't heat up (or cool down) as quickly as a car, so our gang stays comfortable with the right combination of vents and shades. One of the nice things about travel is seeing how the country changes. Consider the lush greenery of Avery Island, above. Now consider the transition from east to west, as we moved through Texas and New Mexico, and into Tucson, Arizona: We pulled into a favorite park for a couple of days. Tucson is a good place to restock on groceries, and we always love to visit the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. So far we've learned something new at every visit. Consider this item: We ate lunch at their Ironwood Grill. The restaurants have been remodeled and are under new management. I thought they were good last year, but there seems to be more emphasis on local and sustainable food sources than before. I discovered, too late, that they offered tamales and interesting salads featuring local foods. I might have gone for one of those, but I'd already opted for my favorite: a green chili burger. My darling had a brisket sandwich. Brisket was a surprise in that country. The meat was very tender and juicy, but we weren't crazy about the too-sweet sauce that bathed the brisket. (That yellow stuff is mustard for his fries.) We met a couple of park volunteers who were great fun, and invited them over for dinner and a thoroughly enjoyable evening of conversation. I don't have pictures of that dinner, but in this kitchen - using great care sequencing, and using a lot of time - I concocted oven-roasted pork steaks, pan-grilled potatoes, a salad with a variety of dressings (everyone chose the Caesar dressing from this recipe) and fresh bread. They brought beer and wine: a sampler of Alaska Brewery beers, Ghost Pines Red Blend, and a Bota Box blend titled RedVolution. Here's the after-the-fact evidence, for reference for others of you who enjoy complex, dryish, inexpensive red wines. The wine bottle had a very cool a wiggle-picture advert on a loop around its neck. A good time was had by all.

I bought a vacuum-packer last summer and have been amazed at how ridiculously fun it is to vacuum-pack things. Who knew? It certainly added to our freezer load, and hence our waistlines. Welcome back, Ben. Here's hoping we see you around a lot: first as an enabled, and then - if you really have a lot of fun - joining the ranks of enablers. If you have any questions about forum changes since you were last here, feel free to PM a host or to ask in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum.

Thanks for that recommendation, kayb. We didn't get that way this time around, but we have taken 55 in the past. I'll add Middendorf's to our stop list. I hope you recover soon!

That can cooker looks huge: 5 or 10 gallons' worth. Why such a large vessel? Do I spy some fry pans on that back wall also, to the leftof the can cooker? It looks like a good All-Clad stainless skillet near the lower left of the board. I see what you mean about a nice fatty doe. Do you use the fat for anything?

Hmm, no more deer photos for the day. I hope the hunters aren't regretting that they passed up those shots this morning. By now you're all probably stupefied with a fabulous pasta dinner. Incidentally, I wish I'd had such a photo tutorial the first time I shot a deer. My hunting buddies were nowhere around. I had seen the process in previous years but never done it myself. I worked at one end until I ran out of ideas, then worked at the other, then back again. I kept wondering where the heck the hearts and lungs were, until I realized that the diaphragm was blocking my view of those organs.

Thank you, Okanagancook! I'm glad to see that recipe. I suspect I'll have access to okra again in the next few months. This sounds very good. Susan, how nice to see you here! I have often wondered - and I am not the only one - how you're doing and whether The Cabin is still in your lives. (I know I speak for more than just myself when I say I'd love to see cabin updates again - hint, hint. ) Yes, I'm retired from my full-time job and we spend the winters on the road...but still live in Duluth during the summer months. We have generally gone home for a month in the winter as well - without the trailer - but haven't decided whether we'll do that this year.

Those are darling! It's a good thing I don't live near you. I'd lose all hope of maintaining a decent weight.

Yes, unless she's relocated since her most recent Foodblog.

On we went, through a larger display of TABASCOTM in popular culture. They had recipes from celebrity chefs, and a large mural of chefs who've been involved in the promotion of the sauce. I'd intended to include a picture of it to see how well the rest of you did at identifying them, but the picture didn't come out. We got a kick out of this poster: By this time we'd completed the tour and worked up a powerful appetite. Of course there was a restaurant to help us with that problem. The menu inside: We had had a preview of the menu from this chicken-wire menu outside the door. So many! I've included closeups of our final dish choices. Pirogue sampler for me, red beans and sausage for him. Note the sampler of the bottled products at every table. We had a fine time sampling and comparing them. Of course there's a gift shop. OF COURSE I had to add to my condiment creep and trailer overload. Thanks to the lunch sampler, I knew what I wanted. To my surprise, he didn't even want a bottle of those that he'd preferred. That's all right. I bought these, my favorites, and a package of seeds for a gardening friend: The special reserve sauce is fermented 8 years instead of 3. I thought it had a more complex and slightly mellower flavor. As I paid, the checkout clerk announced that folks who make a purchase get a lagniappe, and she added to our bag. We rolled home by a route almost as circuitous as the original, stopping to buy more shrimp at a place I spotted along the way, and stopping at a grocery store for a few things. We admired far more groceries than we bought. This is the first time I've seen rabbit for sale at a grocery store. I didn't buy any. There was still no room in the refrigerator.

We're hunkered down in a wind and dust storm right now; it's a good time to backtrack to an earlier stop. Palmetto Island State Park, in the heart of Louisiana's Cajun country, is a nice new state park set up for RV's as well as tent-camping and backpacking folks. There are paths through the (very dense) palmettos with signs to help one learn how to distinguish poison ivy from Virginia creeper. They have a Dutch Oven cooking festival every month that we still haven't managed to hit, but someday we may make it. We walked into the registration station. "How many nights?" asked the registrar. We answered as one voice: "One," said my darling. "Three," said I. We looked at each other. Apparently he hadn't registered my discussion about a side trip I wanted to make. We compromised at two. We set out the next day, our destination only 10 or 15 miles as the crow flies but 30 miles away by road due to the low land, rivers and channels that jigsaw the land. Our GPS took us around Robin Hood's barn, supposedly by the most direct route - which then required considerable backtracking due to road closures. The benefit was that we saw interesting scenery along the way: sugar cane fields in every possible stage of cultivation or harvest, and a lot of water. Shallow waters abounded with herons and egrets. 45 road miles later we arrived at our destination. The factory tours are self-guided. You walk at your own pace, see what you want to see for as long as you want to look, and snap as many photos as you wish. (You can pay for a guided tour with a docent, but we chose not to.) The tour begins with a museum that gives the history of the company and the McIlhenny family. It also gives an overview of process, from cultivation through the bottling. I did not know before this trip that the peppers in question are grown in multiple countries on small farms. The company states that they work with their farmers to ensure sustainable practices and fair prices. In the bottom image above, the worker is holding a red stick that is used as the ripeness gauge for the tabasco peppers. We saw that color a lot - even in a room with one wall painted that particular red. TABASCOTM sauce has 3 ingredients as shown here: salt, vinegar, and pepper mash. Time, the process and the equipment take care of the rest. In addition to family information and artifacts, they had amusing cultural displays. The next stop is the greenhouse, where more information is given about the peppers that they cultivate for their sauces. One distinguishing characteristic of the tabasco pepper is that the fruits grow upward...or so the sign said. It looked to us as though some drooped slightly, but they didn't hang down the way the habañeros and jalapeños did. The cooperage had a fascinating short video with one of their coopers explaining his work, and with a number of barrels on display. I've forgotten the source of their white oak barrels, but the barrels are disassembled, scraped inside, and then rebanded with stainless steel rings instead of the original metal (zinc? tin?) bands before being put to use for the TABASCOTM process. The peppers are mashed. (I think salt is added at this point, but I may be misremembering.) The mash is put in barrels to ferment - for 3 years, for the basic sauce. The barrel tops are covered with a couple of inches of salt to keep out impurities, and the barrels are stored by lot in a fermentation building. The building is closed with a grate that allows air to pass through freely while keeping out unauthorized visitors. I think the powerful odor would keep out most visitors, but the local bears might find it appealing. After the necessary aging, and after quality control tests, the fermented mash is strained and added to mixing vats with vinegar and perhaps salt. The vat batches are checked for quality, and the mix sits and brews for some weeks before being bottled. This was the stage at which the operation became clearly quite high-tech: with speed control and temperature control and very careful sanitation control. As someone who used to work in industrial process control I loved being able to see so much, at my leisure. This is the view of the vats from the ground floor. From upstairs, you can see the open vats with controllers, piping, and workers going about their business along catwalks. You can also press a button to turn on a fan so you can smell the room. The aroma is much more mellow than in the fermentation area. The bottling plant looks efficient and well-controlled. There were 4 lines running 4 different sauce products. Machines did the bottling and process monitoring, and humans monitored the equipment. At one point some bottles went awry - it wasn't clear to us what happened - and a worker rounded them up off the belt for, we were told, rebottling the sauce in question. (I don't know whether I believe that, but it's the answer we were given.) The monitoring and quality control were impressive. I was just as impressed by the company's apparent interest in worker safety and esprit de corp. Those workers were kept informed about what they were making, how well they were making it, and where the product was going. In addition, safety notices abounded. My former employer had a motto: "Whatever you do, do it safely. Someone expects you home tonight." This plant had that feel. If it was all only PR, they made a convincing show of it. The last stage of quality control is a tasting panel that convenes every few weeks and samples the product. I'm trying to imagine doing that, year in and year out: first, whether my taste buds could survive and second, keeping a taste-standard in mind. It would be like perfect pitch for the taste buds. I couldn't do that. Apparently some people can. This post is already long. I'll finish in another installment.

I am always interested in finding more uses for dates, @David Ross. Whether or not you decide to make that vinegar and date sauce, would you share it, or at least describe it?

Shelby, I think you've just inspired me to trot out the pasta maker. That looks really good.

Aren't there drop-off programs for the hides? In Minnesota we have drop-off boxes set up so hunters who don't want the hides can donate them (preferably rolled and wrapped neatly). The hides are tanned and used for leather; the proceeds go for some charitable organization. (Hides for Habitat? I've forgotten.)

My extended family has essentially abandoned roast turkey and ham in favor of prime rib, with the question of how it should be cooked. One family branch gives it a good salt/herb rub and barbecues it over a hot gas grill; another branch smokes it. Either way we get a good, hot, brown crust on the outside and plenty of rare meat inside, to everyone's groaning delight. The question came up this year about branching out a bit. The duck posts above have me really jonesing for duck. If I could lay my hands on some I'd be happy to roast it for another night's family feast. How much duck should I acquire - if I can - for, say, 10 people?

Shelby, how you make me wish I'd found room for an Instant Pot in our trailer! That pork looks wonderful with its accompaniments. The rifle deer season is already over in Minnesota, but hunting by other means (bow, for sure, maybe black powder?) went at least through Thanksgiving. I think it's interesting that your season is so much later than ours. Are your hunters using rifles? There's been commentary in other topics about the backstrap. I do hope you and your hunters find time to do something wonderful with it in this blog, so readers can see what they're missing.

Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday was the kitchen challenge I'd been expecting. Just as last year, I baked 2 different types of bread (soft dinner rolls, and sourdough rosemary loaf and rolls). They occupied the dining table during the rise. For the first time, I trotted out the new heavy-duty double pan I'd bought on a whim from Sur La Table last summer. See it in the lower right of that cabinet? See how much has to be moved to get to it? But get it out we did. It was the perfect size for what I needed. There aren't many pictures. I was too busy working out where to put things, stepping around things, stepping around animals, and making or receiving telephone greetings. The dinner was scalloped corn, prime rib with roasted potatoes, green beans with bacon, and the above-mentioned bread. I took @Anna N's advice about final formation, as well as watching and testing more carefully for the final rise. The advice was very helpful. Happy Thanksgiving (wishing it a day late), everyone.