Smithy

Thanks for the information about and encouragement on catfish (and other mild fish preparations). Yesterday, bolstered by my newly-lost fear of catfish, I bought some when we went shopping at Bozo's Seafood in Pascagoula: This is a place where you can come in and order your po-boys and eat them on the spot, or take them out (we saw a lot of people doing both) or buy your own seafood from the little shop area in the back. This place has always smelled clean when we've come in; their product is fresh! The shrimp selection alone is massive. I showed better than my usual restraint, knowing that we wouldn't be cooking for ourselves that night or the next and that it would all be going into the freezer. I picked up some catfish filets, large deveined but not peeled Gulf shirmp, and some tiny (60-70 count) little guys that were already peeled. I have plans for all of it, but am happy to have multiple options for the catfish. If we like it and I can keep finding it I'll be pleased to drop the tilapia from our shopping. We then went next door to the Jerry Lee's grocery store. Here's something I've never seen in Minnesota: Tells you something about the weather on the Gulf vs. the weather in our area, doesn't it? Here's a shot of the fancy-beer shelf at Jerry Lee's. There were some interesting selections, but we've been bitten before by taking a 6-pack of something we both detested. I stuck with the Southern Pecan ale, and wished they offered a mix-and-match option. The meat counter had more special sausages and hams. We spent some time looking for a smoked picnic ham - not that we wanted one here, but we've noticed that smoked picnics seem to have fallen out of favor: they're almost impossible to get in the Duluth area. That seems to be true around here as well. Does anyone know? In the produce area, I eyed collard greens with Vivian Howard in mind. They weren't on the shopping list but this seemed a good place to get them. I noticed a woman who'd been standing in line behind me at Bozo's, and spoke to her: something clever along the lines of 'great minds think alike'. We laughed, and then she asked me whether I ever put okra in my collard greens. Well no, it had never occurred to me but I didn't care to admit that I'm in the okra-loathers camp. Heck, I might learn something. She told me it was delicious. I picked up collard greens and okra. My darling didn't notice either one until we were in the checkout line. "Okra?" he exclaimed, "you're getting okra?" "Yes," I said, "to go with the collard greens." He gave me the fisheye. This is a new line of cookery in our household. I got more instructions from the bagger about how to cook collards according to her mother's method. We'll see how it goes.

Gautier, Mississippi is a small town situated on the Singing River (isn't that a lovely name?) between Pascagoula and Biloxi. It has a lovely old coastal-city feel, with marinas as well as houses with their own docks. Newer houses tend to be built on stilts unless they're already on high ground, a lesson learned (more than once) from hurricanes and storm surges. There's a lovely little park, formerly part of the Mississippi State Park system but turned over to the City of Gautier; the City has upgraded the recreational facilities and repaired damage from severe storm flooding a few years ago. Bike trails, hiking trails, a disk golf course and an extensive archery range are all part of it. We like to come here partly because the park is a good stopover point when we reach the Gulf, but also because there are some great opportunities for seafood. Last night it was Huck's Cove. It took us several stopovers before we were able to catch the place open; the owner seemed to have scant respect for the posted hours of operation during our visits. I don't know whether it's under new management now or we're getting luckier, but we managed to try the place a couple of years ago. We keep coming back. Huck's Cove is the kind of place that greets you with gentle party lights strung outside, and signs that inform you that this is not a fast-food place: things are cooked to order, after you order, and you should be prepared to relax and enjoy the time. There's a deck on the waterfront, with a dock for customers' boats. We're told that boaters often come in for lunch and dinner. The deck has a sign warning you not to feed the alligator ($2000 fine in Mississippi). This poster board greeted us at the entrance: The interior is festooned with license plates, Hollywood memorabilia, life rings from bygone boats, surfboards...you name it, you'll probably find it. TV sets were turned on, with the sound off, to various channels so you'd have your choice of viewing if you so desired. The kitchen and part of the bar: The ceiling: Despite the admonition that the food takes time, this crew was very fast. It took little time for a waitress to stop by to see, first, what we wished to drink and second, whether we wanted any appetizers. Last year I'd order fried green tomatoes. I wanted to see if they were as good this time. We ordered a Blue Moon Hefeweisen for him, a Southern Pecan ale for me. This southern beer is produced in Mississippi and has a limited production range; we enjoy getting it when we can. The 'maters were as good as I remembered. They were served with ranch dressing by default, but remoulade was quickly added when I asked. Once again they left my darling cold. What a shame: more for me! This could and should have been my dinner. The waitress quickly engaged us in conversation: where we were from, where we were headed, what had brought us here. When we mentioned Texas she recommended San Antonio and the River Walk, and talked about how HOT it was there during the day. That assertion surprised me, coming as it did from a southern Mississippi native; I guess in her case the humidity doesn't much matter. A local customer joined in the conversation. They all described how much busier the place is - absolutely packed - during the height of the summer and fall, and told us we should be arriving earlier in the year to see the place at its best. Meanwhile, we pondered the menu and ordered. Here's a menu excerpt: Our dinners arrived. Based on posts by @kayb and @Shelby, nothing would do but I had to try their catfish. It isn't a regular menu item, but they had ordered some as an experiment. I'd written catfish off before now as muddy-tasting and uninteresting (at best), but this was good. I'm glad I tried it although I couldn't do it justice after the 'maters. (The leftovers became breakfast the next day.) Not shown in the picture: the accompanying hush puppies, which came out very hot from the kitchen, slightly behind the rest of the meal. That cook was hustling! Later, he was happy to let me snap his picture: My darling considered catfish or some other unusual-for-us dinner, but in the end opted for fried shrimp and onion rings: one of his favorite meals that I really hate to make. I still hate frying. The local customer, sitting at another table, continued the conversation. He was a distinguished-looking gentleman who reminded me of member John Whiting (whom I never met in person), based on demeanor and depth of knowledge. Along the winding conversational way it came out that he'd worked as a chemist and food scientist, and had traveled extensively negotiating food safety agreements between the USA and other countries before he retired. When I asked about the safety of China's food chain, he said he'd be more worried about the US food safety, particularly because US companies own a significant portion of the Chinese companies that sell our food. I don't know how to corroborate or refute this, but I thought of @Thanks for the Crepes when he said it. By the time we left - waddled out, really - we'd made friends with Mr. Garrett and with the staff. They all assured us that we needed to come back earlier in the season to see the place at its best. ("But come prepared for mosquitoes...oh, but you have them in Minnesota too, don't you?") We'll be back. Maybe we'll be able to hit the high season.

My luggage would be a fright on the way home...overloaded with gadgets for which I'd need homes....

Great photos, indeed! Are those circular chopping blocks stacked in the picture with the Shek Lung Street sign? I'd be goggling all day in a place like that, amusing the locals no end as I tried to work out what things were for.

Thank you for this: your succinct explanations are of the sort that stick in my mind. Just to be sure I have the right mental image: are you saying the fat *decreases* gluten's ability to hold air bubbles? That the low- or no-fat recipes will be flatter as a result?

Probably, more or less. I suppose the grind may differ from one supplier to another. In my experience some of it has a stronger flavor than others - perhaps from the particular variety of mesquite? or the age? or the processing method? None of it remotely resembles the smell of the wood chips, to my nose. Its flavors are warm and slightly sweet - reminiscent of chocolate and cinnamon, but not so like either that you'd confuse them. For more information about mequite flour and what affects its qualities, here are two writeups: Mesquite flour says its flavor can even vary from tree to tree; Desert Harvesters: Sources of Mesquite Flour and Mesquite Cooking lists multiple suppliers and their varied sources. Neither of these pages is likely to do you much good because of shipping costs to Ontario, but they provide additional information for the interested reader and may be useful to USA purchasers.

That's an interesting point about "ribs" not applying to lamb here. In this country we'd call it a "rack of lamb" or, in the fanciest presentation, a "crown rib roast" in which the rack is rolled into a circle and then roasted with a stuffing inside the circle. So yes, we do lamb ribs, but we don't call them that. I agree with Kerry and Anna that the default animal for "ribs" is pork over here. At the risk of Too Much Information: a place name modifier can specify the animal. "St. Louis Ribs" or "Memphis-style Ribs" will definitely be pork; "Texas ribs" are beef.

Welcome to eGullet, John/Roxby4. Can you explain more what you mean by the 'Latin' style prep? Is it a seasoning mix, or spatchcocking the turkey that makes the style?

I love tamarind! Please tell more about that soup. What was in it? How did it taste? Were there contrasting textures?

I'm not liamsaunt, but you may find this topic interesting: Cornbread.

Alas, neither of these is in my kitchen arsenal.

I'll take a look at the hard copy when I get a chance, but I'm enjoying the Kindle version and its pleasant portability.

Kitchen sink meal tonight. We've been laid up in one place awaiting trailer repairs for several days. The gentleman assigned to help us arrived, harried and overworked, after dark. He replaced the failed glide motor (supposedly sent overnight express on Monday, but apparently really sent UPS ground) and got our trailer fully functional again. My darling and I had taken turns cycling in the campground, not knowing when Brandon would appear. After he left - bless him for coming after a long day - dinner was a question of 'what can we eliminate from the fridge?' We'd bought a 20-pound sack of freshly-dug potatoes back in September. There were 2 spuds left, both of them turning green. I peeled them enough to get down to the white flesh. There were carrots and a small red onion left over from a farmers' market a few weeks ago and schlepped along in the trailer, and celery (provenance forgotten) and Cajun sausage from the local grocery store visit a couple of days ago. I cut the onion more finely after this photo, but the beautiful striations of white and wine-red forced me to photograph them first. There's a bottle of Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest in the background. It's good stuff. When dinner was served I set up sour cream, mayonnaise and mustard as masks for the dry meal I was sure I'd produced. I was wrong. We resorted to small pinches of salt, simply to see whether it could be improved. No, we decided: seasonings were just fine. Earlier today I had a bit of schooling from our neighbor. We'd gotten to talking and I'd expressed frustration at the lack of communication from our trailer repair man. It turned out that our neighbor knew him. "Let me call him," our neighbor exclaimed, "he owes me a favor. I gave him some bagels about 5 years ago." "Oh," I asked, "are you a baker?" He looked at me funny. "No...I mean those huntin' dogs with the floppy ears." He meant "beagles". Northern ears, meet Southern tongues.

You're farther along than I am, so I'm glad for the pointers! Thanks for that video link. I'll keep working at it.

C'est charmant!

Well done, @LucyInAust! I hope you show us the finished project. This has been a cliff-hanger for me.

It's morning in America. Appropriately misty here. We stumped around for much of the day, doing chores and riding bikes and reading news and then going back outside. I decided to try a couple of recipes I'd been wanting to try, and to make another stab at the sourdough rosemary loaf I like. This Food52 recipe for Brussels Sprouts Caesar has been bookmarked for a while. We both like sprouts but I'd say I have about 2 ways to do them, neither reliable. When I get them right, the sprouts taste good. When I don't, the bitter comes out and I wonder why I bother. We like Caesar Salad. This might be wonderful. First up, let me say that a food processor (something I didn't bring) would have been most welcome. Ever try mandolining 2 pounds of sprouts? I used the food pusher and a cut-resistant glove, and got through with no bloodshed, but it was a pain. Next up: I realized that I didn't have anchovies - not even anchovy paste. Well, we had bottled Caesar dressing. We'd use that for proof of concept. The bread dough came together and rose nicely. I wanted to follow up on @Kerry Beal's suggestion to use cast iron or a dome over the loaf. None of my baking stones fits in this oven, but I have a cast iron grill pan from last spring, and cast iron pots. I decided to try putting the dough in a preheated cast iron pot; the technique seems to work well for @Anna N. In retrospect, I should have read more about it to refresh my memory. It looks pretty from the top, no? But the oven spring wasn't good, and the bottom nearly burned. I think the oven wasn't hot enough, but I also think the bread needed to have come out of the pot after the shape had set. I have had problems with shaping this dough in the past. Maybe I'll stick with the batard shape, or try a loaf pan. The flavor was good, though...except at the very crisp bottom. I love scallops when they're done properly, and I am forever trying to get them right. We were in a mood for self-indulgence, so I thawed the scallops I'd been saving for a special occasion (purchased in Duluth) and got ready to try Sea Scallops With Brown Butter, Capers and Lemon from the New York Times. I had capers and lemon, and always have butter. This was a fun and easy recipe. I was downright hangry by the time dinner went on the table, and almost didn't bother with photos. After we had a couple of bites I realized that the scallops were well worth doing. We mopped up the sauce with the bread, and would have licked the plates otherwise. As for the sprouts: well, I actually don't like that bottled Caesar dressing of his, but the proof of concept was good. Next time (and I have a LOT of shredded sprouts left over) I'll make the dressing and the croutons. Time for another grocery run, to get some anchovies. And at twilight in America, the fish were jumping and feeding. One fish kept flopping just to tease a fisherman - who didn't get a bite but could see that fish flopping around. Do fish fin their noses? The rings they left on the water made beautiful interference patterns.

I bought this Peugeot electric pepper grinder for my darling in 2010 and it's still going strong. It's his favorite pepper grinder because it has a generous output and he can use it one-handed - very practical for handheld foods like corn on the cob. The light in the base helps see where one is peppering in low light conditions. I can't speak to its adjustments because he prefers a coarse grind. It's pretty easy on the batteries. I think we change them once, maybe twice a year - and this gets used at least one meal each day.

I love the creative cocktail names. That food all looks good. Now I'm pining for mussels. Thanks so much for the wharf shots, too! I've only been to Pike Place Market a couple of times, but it was a hoot.

Batesville, Mississippi, is a smallish, pretty-looking town that is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year. Its main street has a neat, kept-up look that invites one to wander the block or two worth of shops. We went into a hardware store that, although it didn't have what we were after, had an impressive range of offerings. Hand-crank meat grinders were the first things I spotted. If I'd needed any canning supplies I could have gotten them there. The best grocery store is out on the highway, in a busier area. Piggly Wiggly is an older grocery store chain that has disappeared from my neck of the woods. Here, they're keeping up with the times. The old store site, with its funny pig logo, looks closed. The new store has forgone the logo in favor of lettering only, but the logo lives on in their posters and ads. The interior is clean, bright and spacious. They have an excellent produce section, and we spent time admiring the murals as well as the produce. We picked up brussels sprouts and breakfast fruit, then moved on to the meat section. My darling is always especially interested in seeing what regional specialties we can find, and they had an impressive selection. I was especially interested in this display, far from the refrigerated bins: I guess I knew that country ham didn't need to be refrigerated before cutting, but I didn't realize that it could be vacuum packed and stored without refrigeration afterward. We came home with these meats: The sandwich and biscuit slices sounded especially interesting to me. Guess I'll have to make some biscuits now. I could use some advice here. The back of the package gives cooking instructions. It doesn't say anything about soaking the ham, but it's cured with a LOT of salt. Am I supposed to soak it first, or would that be heresy? What say you country ham experts?

I grew up with cornflower Corning too, and let most of it go when my parents downsized. I've occasionally regretted not having it, after my husband brought a piece or two to our marriage and I rediscovered its value. This piece is an especially useful size and shape for us. The garage sale at which I found the Corning piece also yielded a small set of calibration weights ranging from 1g up to 100g. I've always wondered whether my cheapo kitchen scales are accurate, and with this set I was able to establish that they are. Total cost for the weights and the Corningware: $3. If I could have worked out a way to get their soapstone lab table home (and a place to put it) it would have been a much more expensive outing.

All this discussion about grapefruit spoons (yes, I have some) and knives (new to me) reminded me of the peach pitting spoon my parents found for me at a garage sale one year after a massive canning session at my house. I'd never heard of one before then, but I use it a lot on clingstone fruits. Here's a USA source: Stainless Steel Pitting Spoon at kitchenkrafts.com.

Good idea, thanks. Would a stainless mixing bowl discolor in the oven heat? Otherwise I have some cast iron that may fit.

For tastings, what about something edible along the lines of pretzel sticks? One of our markets does that for their salsas, jams and other condiments. I'm not much of a jam-and-pretzel stick fan, but for getting the idea of the flavor it works. Cash is of course preferable for all concerned, but what about checks? Is your venue too large and potentially dishonest for that?

It's been a month or two since I made bread. Two days ago I decided it was time, since we'd be 'home' and I had time to putz in the kitchen. This was my first test of bread-baking in the new trailer oven. I would expect a gas oven to maintain a more steady temperature than an electric oven. My baker's oven thermometer suggests that I'm wrong about that, but we were pretty happy with this loaf. The crust was soft - I'd like to get the hang of the crackle and haven't got there yet - but it made a good accompaniment to an otherwise disappointing dinner. Sourdough rosemary olive oil loaf. (Yes, I brought along my starter.) Hmm, I hadn't realized just how blurry that photo was until just now. Symbolic of how the night went, I fear. The next day - yesterday - most of that loaf became sandwiches. Here's some of the chicken salad and the braised tri-tip I wrote about earlier. I made a sandwich of each type, and we split them. I'll tell about our trip to town in another post.