Smithy

Here are some older topics on the subject, both about cooking with it and about making it.

I think you're probably right as to the reasons. We've seen that happen, at least in the USA, with other cheap cuts of beef and, for that matter, chicken wings. When peasant food becomes chic it becomes more expensive. I hadn't thought about the relative scarcity factor, though. One tail out of all that carcass is pretty slim pickings. Reason to raise the price? Yes, if it's chic.

Well, it came out as well as you commenters predicted! Better than I'd expected, in fact. This being a happy desert climate at a good time of year, the main courses were outside and I didn't take any photos. There were clam chowder, corn chowder and onion soup, all made by the hostess. The clam chowder was my favorite. There were also some wonderful cheese biscuits, made by the host. I didn't know he'd been a professional baker at one point in his life. I told him that if he weren't already taken, I'd be proposing marriage on the strength of those biscuits! The dessert table was already groaning by the time I arrived. I took some good-natured tweaking for bringing a round cake to a thing where small portions were to be doled out. Who knew? I hadn't known! But the good-natured tweaker, who is a friend and made sure I knew she was teasing, started the process and then left me to figure out how to cut slices. That's when I took my money shots. 🙂 It did turn out well. I was surprised that I couldn't actually taste the Guinness. No stout flavor at all that I could discern. The chocolate came through. The frosting, cloyingly sweet on its own, played well with the cake. A lot of people commented on how moist the cake was, and how delicious. I came home with maybe a third...more than I'd hoped, but still a compliment given the variety and quantity of desserts available. Maybe I can foist some of it off on my current landlords and neighbors. @FauxPas, I love your idea of the stencil -- but that definitely wasn't in the cards for today! Maybe sometime. Also, the oven explanation and shots will have to wait until I have better light. The oven light glares too badly. But consider this a placeholder. Will I bake this particular cake again? Maybe. If I do, I'll try the Leite's Culinaria frosting to which @Dave the Cook linked above, and I'll increase the Guinness content. I'll also use the proper springform pan, assuming I wait until I get home, and I'll adjust the oven temperature down a bit for more even baking.

Well...I dunno about this cake. The grand opening, so to speak, will be in a few hours. This is a preliminary report. With stories, of course. Story the first has to do with making sure I had all the ingredients...and then discovering that I didn't, or that I had to work to find them. I've already noted, I think, that I had the cocoa powder (etc.) but not Guinness, a cake pan, enough flour, or sugar. So I got those. Yesterday I realized that I also had no baking soda! So I grabbed some while I was out doing more errands. I really hadn't wanted to go into a grocery store again, but there it was...I had to. Okay, so I had everything. I thought. Today I started assembling ingredients. Large eggs, check (a dozen brought from home). Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, butter, check. Uh-oh. Where's the vanilla? I know I packed vanilla! But it wasn't in the spice cabinet! It wasn't in the pantry! Oh. Ahh! No need to agonize over a substitution, or another trip, or a change of plans. I started pulverizing the sugar, since the recipe called for superfine sugar for the cake batter, and confectioner's sugar for the frosting. I hadn't wanted to buy a bag of confectioner's sugar for this recipe. Surely I could get the granulated stuff fine enough. Eh, not bad. It isn't as fluffy as proper powdered sugar, but it should work. I mixed the ingredients and put together the cake batter per directions. Let me tell you, that batter has a wonderful taste by itself! Very promising! I did wonder whether my cake pan was too small, though. I put a parchment paper collar around the rim of the pan, in addition to the circle I'd put on the bottom, and put the whole thing onto a baking sheet as a spill guard. I had fun figuring out how to get the oven racks where I wanted them. They should adjust easily, but I'd fit the topmost rack into the topmost slot and had a tough time getting it out again. It took a flashlight to figure out why: that slot is designed differently because of the oven light and temperature probe. I'll post pictures if anyone's interested. Then I dug out my oven thermometer -- first time this trip -- and tried to get the oven set to the requisite 350F. What an operation! I think of gas ovens as being more steady than my electric oven at home, but this one took the better part of an hour to get it adjusted right: too cool, too hot, too cyclic. As it happened, i was gathering other items and trying to get some organization into my thoughts and processes, so the oven adjustment added to the confusion but didn't delay anything. I had a pretty good mise en place before I started to mix anything; it's the best way I know to not get stuck looking for something at the last minute. But it can dirty up a lot of dishes. Each time I emptied a bowl or finished using a spoon or spatula, I dropped it into the dishpan. When the cake was baking, I washed all those dishes and then got going on the frosting. (As a side note: my trailer tank gauges say that one grey water holding tank is full and the other is somewhere above half. They're labeled Grey 1 and Grey 2 but I can't find any plumbing diagrams or labels telling me which is which: whether Grey 1 is the kitchen, or the bathroom sink and shower. Based on my water usage, the kitchen sink tank is likely the "full" one, but the only way I'll know is when that sink refuses to drain. So I'm playing "chicken" with it. I also know that I may find out the hard way that it's the shower that won't drain because I guessed wrong and it's the bathroom grey tank that's full! I'm hooked to the sewer, ready to dump, but I hope the Moment of Truth happens at more or less a convenient time. Every time I dump the dishpan, I wait to see whether the sink will drain. It's a puzzlement.) The frosting was an interesting process: stir the "powdered" sugar to break up any clumps; stir in the cream cheese and work them together until smooth. This Tillamook cheese was a bit more crumbly than I'm used to, probably because it has no gums, and I wish I had a "before" photo of it sitting atop the sugar. I was too busy at that point to think about pictures. In this collage below, you may be able to make out a slight graininess at the left that's gone by the time I took the right-hand picture. That sugar just dissolved into the cream cheese; everything smoothed out. Then I added the heavy cream and stirred to get it smooth again. The time came to take the cake out. Looks like that collar was a good idea. Look at that rise! It also looks as though maybe the cake baked too quickly (oven too hot) or else the pan is simply too shallow. The recipe does specify a springform pan but I didn't want to buy one; I have a good selection of those cake pans at home already. Hmm, there's also a crack in the middle. As I worked on another batch of dishes, the crack became a crater. I hadn't made a double batch of frosting, because I only had enough ingredients for a single batch, but there's enough here to cover the top and sides anyway. I fear it's going to come off almost like a tunnel cake in the center -- I filled that hole with frosting! -- but so it goes. That frosting also doesn't look anything like the foam head of a pint of Guiness, and I don't think it would even if I'd only piled it on top. Well...a food stylist I'm not, and I'm sure they all know that. I hope I can get this over to the party without any sudden stops. I'm trying to figure out what I can carry it in / on. If I get a chance, I'll take a money shot to post later. Maybe if I feed everyone enough Guinness they'll like this cake!

@liuzhou...you've made me proud!

I was taken by (yet another) moment of self-indulgence at a Walgreen's recently. They were "buy one, get another at 40% off" and I was feeling nostalgic about the Easter baskets my mother used to put together for us. What the heck, I said. For 6 or 7 bucks I can have TWO sets of ears to bite off!

I responded earlier to this with a link to bon appetit's instructions that make it look easy. One thing to note, that may make things not so easy: the recipe specifies the need to avoid ultra-pasteurized milk and cream, because they won't curdle properly. I don't know your shopping situation, but I often find it difficult to avoid the ultra-pasteurized products in the places I shop.

Thanks for all that, Dave! Including the comment about frosting only the top. I'm with you on that one.

It's one of a pair of coyote statues near the back wall.

Brrr. I simply must try harder to check all the windows before going to bed. It's 52F outside and 62F inside. I know that's warm by most USA locations right now, but it's uncomfortably cold for me without turning on the heat, and I don't want to do that when I was too foolish to close all the windows last night! This is at least the 2nd night in a row that I've thought I'd closed them all and discovered my mistake in the morning. Incidentally, this is the view outside now. I don't like it. The neighbors are fine, I just prefer scenery that isn't loaded with buildings and pavement. (I do like my amaryllis, though! It was part of my sister's Christmas present to me.) I have reasons for staying here at least a month, but I'll have to spend a lot of time going elsewhere or else ignoring the outside and taking care of business inside and around the trailer. Baking and cooking are part of it, of course. Following up on some of yesterday's posts: @liuzhou and @C. sapidus commented on Guinness Stout and its various strengths. Yesterday I was rather fuddled by all that in the beer store. They did have a draught version, nitrogenated, at something like 6.9% alcohol. I wasn't sure I needed the extra alcohol, and I'm not sure I'll get the desired effect in baking from nitrogen instead of the usual (in bottles, at least) carbonation. So I went with this: It's true, 5.6% isn't a very high alcohol content. Shouldn't matter much to me! In reviewing yesterday's post, I noticed this fine print on one of the boxes I showed above: They do, actually, still call it Neufchatel. I hadn't noticed yesterday. I still think all those gums are a good reason for trying the Tillamook, which doesn't have them. @Maison Rustique wondered how difficult it is to make one's own cream cheese. I hadn't thought of that! According to Mr. Google, there are lots of recipes out there for making it, all claiming that it's easy. Since I trust Bon Appetit, here's their story on it: Make Your Own Cream Cheese. Maybe I'll try it...but for right now, I'm glad to have the Tillamook to try. I cooked quesadillas last night, using some of the tortillas I'd bought and a hodgepodge of stuff from the refrigerator: some of the shredded chicken I bought last week for the soup; some sliced turkey; slices of cheese; pesto from a Trader Joe's jar; even some lettuce. The cast iron pan mentioned up here when @SLB asked about it was perfect for them. The quesadilla on the right looks greasy because I'd used all the oil cooking the flour-tortilla quesadilla at the left. I'd thought there was enough oil to cook the next one, using corn tortillas. I was wrong. I ended up pouring a little oil on the tortillas and then flipping them, but still didn't get them to brown the way I'd expected. Does anyone know whether corn tortillas need more oil, heat, or both than flour tortillas to brown? Or had I simply mismanaged the oil?

I've been shopping again. Worse yet, I've been buying. My best friend, who has known me for more than 50 years, would not be surprised at the way I'm packing things into the formerly-sparsely-equipped Princessmobile. Nor would my darling have been. I am rather surprised at myself. I suppose that just means I'm still not realistic about my weaknesses. The first big purchase was a bunch of herbs and seasonings from Penzey's. I wrote about it here, complete with a money shot. My motives were good: I wanted certain spices and mixtures for recipes I plan to cook soon, starting with that lime soup. I'm almost ready to try making it. Of course, I saved money by buying a selection of herbs and spices I don't need yet! That package arrived in the mail today. Oh, heck -- I might as well show the money shot here too. 🙂 Then I went to the grocery store for the ingredients to make Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake. I've been invited to a "soup and dessert" party in a couple of evenings, to celebrate the birthdays of March friends. The idea is that the hostess is making 3 soups to give us a selection, and we each bring a dessert to share around. Whatever doesn't get eaten goes back home with the person who brought it. Given the contents of my larder(s) and the way I eat these days, I was inclined at first to bring a fruit salad for dessert. But I've been wanting to try that cake. I once had a chocolate stout cake at a favorite restaurant in Duluth, and it was fabulous. Will this recipe be close? Only one way to find out. So off to the store I went. I have cocoa powder. I had some flour but not enough; no sugar; no cream cheese; no Guiness; no cake pan.I have everything else (sour cream, baking soda, butter, eggs, cream). The recipe actually calls for confectioner's sugar as well as superfine sugar. I plan to just pulverize the heck out of the sugar I bought; confectioner's sugar also contains cornstarch and I see no need to use it. The first surprise was flour prices. I very much like King Arthur flour, but at first only saw their organic all-purpose. It was a bit spendy! Maybe I'd have to go with Gold Medal, for the smaller package size and price. Finally I spotted the KA non-organic AP flour. Whew. The cream cheese was the real eye-opener, though. I've always preferred Philadelphia Neufchatel for its slightly lighter flavor and lower calories. They didn't have it, unless this was it: "Philadelphia Original 1/3 less fat". Hmm. If it's the original and they aren't calling it Neufchatel, what's in it? Seems like a lot of gums to hold it together. I looked at the Original Philadelphia Original. Well, it only has carob bean gum...no guar or xanthan gums as the lower-fat version had. (Cue the Monty Python "spam" sketch.) Has this stuff always had those gums and I just never noticed? I looked at a newcomer. I have a winner! I'll let you know how it tastes. I had to go to a beer and liquor store to find Guiness. I'd have settled for another stout if necessary, but Fry's had none and this store only had the one type. I suspect Yumans aren't into really heavy beers. On the way home I remembered that I'd forgotten a cake pan. I stopped at a Family Dollar store and got a cheapo. The recipe calls for a springform pan, and I left mine of the right size at home. Wish me luck getting the cake out of this...at least I have parchment paper! As for the soup -- well, I STILL don't have everything I need! I think it'll be quesadillas tonight. I bought tortillas at the store, and heaven knows I have plenty of cheeses and vegetables.

This all started because I needed Mexican Oregano for a soup I plan to make. (I'm pretty sure I have some from Rancho Gordo still, but it's at home in Minnesota and I'm in Arizona.) So I went to Penzey's, having heard great things about the quality of their herbs and spices. I'm pretty sure I saw an appealing advert as well. Then I remembered that I also need some Herbes de Provence for another recipe. That herb mixture that I left at home is probably old enough to vote by now. I wanted fresh. Then I saw the trial packets. And the "you only need $xxx more to qualify for free shipping!" and down the rabbit hole I went. Where exactly I'm going to store all this -- so I can lay hands on it later, you understand -- is a mystery. But for right now, I have the seasonings I need for recipes I plan to try soon!

Deboning chicken wings sounds like a lot of work! And Stovetop Stuffing...oh, dear. But you're being good to your sweetie. Since you Frenched the drumettes, I take it you were only removing the bones from the middle part of the wings? The tibia, so to speak? And what do you do with the tips? Your grandkids' reaction to the quail bones reminds me of my darling. He liked finger food -- fried chicken, for instance -- but if it had a lot of bones as it sat on the plate he thought it was too much trouble. Because of that, it's been a decade or two since I cooked Cornish game hen!

I'm not in a position to SV anything right now, but I bought some corned beef briskets on sale and put them in the freezer. I look forward to trying the sous vide technique later. Thanks for your detailed discussions about it.

I'm at a music festival this weekend. It's a WONDERFUL change of scenery for me and my animal companions: open space, where we're camped! It's been raining off and on, and the moisture is nice too. A few flowers are starting to bloom. I'm told that just happened within the last 2 days. Last night we had a potluck dinner. Eek! A potluck! What could I bring on 1 hour's notice? I brought chips and salsa. There were plenty of other dishes: potato salad, beans, fresh vegetables, lots of other chips, plenty of desserts including 4 pies. (It was, after all, Pi day. One of the musicians recognized it with a charming song about pie and how it can cure many ills.) Burgers were the main feature. I didn't do photos. This morning they started breakfast at 8. I didn't. I'm not much of a breakfast eater under most circumstances, especially at that hour, and decided to pass although I'm sure there was plenty of good cooked food of a type I rarely have any more. I went instead for a good long walk with the dog, who romped as he hasn't been able to for weeks. Right now I'm finishing my own breakfast before heading over to the festivities. Pursuant to the question of Key limes vs. Persian limes: When I make the soup in a few days I'll find out just what it takes to juice those little babies, and maybe have a few choice words on the matter.

...and if rolling up the awning in your rig is a manual operation, it must be a real challenge. I remember all too well how much heavier sails are when wet!

Do keep in mind that these are Key limes: significantly smaller than the Persian limes we usually think of. I'll post a photo in a day or two when I have time. Still, these were a bargain!

The chefs who made the soup and stew I so admired from the Returned Peace Corp Volunteers of San Diego's "Taste the World" feast have been good enough to give me their recipes, along with permission to post the recipes! I'll be doing so, and giving them credit, and sending them links to my posts, when I get to cooking the dishes in question. Yesterday I began the search for key limes, required for this particular version of Sopa de Lima. I struck out at Fry's. Today I went to Albertson's. I'd forgotten just how nice this particular grocery store is, until I walked in for the first time this year. You're greeted by the ready-to-eat (or reheat and eat) section. If you don't want to cook, there are plenty of offerings without visiting the freezer section. Someday, if I get tired of cooking, maybe I'll remember it. This is a very small sample of their offerings. Beyond that is the produce section, which was my main destination: They have good-looking fruits and vegetables, both organic and not. I was intrigued by the size variation amongst the asparagus spears. Then I hit pay dirt! Look at that price! My recipe calls for 20 key limes. I bought 40. I also bought green onions, kale, jalapenos, a bunch of spinach, and fresh herbs for the sauces and tabbouli I want to make when I leave my current parking spot. I wandered over to the egg section, to see what's happening there, in light of the current uproar over egg prices and availability. (I'm still carrying the dozen I bought from a farming neighbor before I left home.) Yep. Big gaps in the stock, and the prices are about 50% above what I'm used to paying for the brands I buy when on the road. Ouch. Because I'd found the key limes and other ingredients I needed, I revisited the ready-to-eat section for cooked chicken. Sure, I could roast or poach an entire chicken if I wanted, but these recipes didn't indicate that was critical. I was after (relatively) easy. Albertson's claimed "rotisserie" chicken (according to one sign) and these were the offerings, for $8.99. On the other hand, this was sitting in the "ready-to-eat" section: I went for easy, and came home with my plunder. I got home...and opened the refrigerator...and remembered the hot Italian sausage, sitting thawed in the refrigerator lo these many days, waiting for me to find time to cook it. Oh, er, yeah! I've been planning to make the Smitten Kitchen's Pizza Beans! Either version 1 or version 2. Really, that hot Italian sausage needed to be cooked. I chopped an onion, some garlic, and about half the kale I'd bought (with Smitten Kitchen in mind) and got going. In addition to those items my version of the dish included a can of canneloni beans, a can of diced tomatoes, a bunch of tomato paste, a LOT of shredded cheese of various types, and about a cup of frozen corn because I am determined to get that stuff out of my freezer and my life. Finished, in the pot (the plating doesn't bear showing): It would be excellent on garlic bread, as they suggest, but this was more than plenty. Quite good, though I can taste the age of the sausage. I'm glad I didn't wait longer to cook it. Now, I just have to work out where to put the planned-overs! (The freezer is about as fully packed as the refrigerator.)

Thanks for explaining that! It really does look like the hands are hovering over a couple of grill bars. 🙂

I would never, except perhaps at gunpoint, order coconut cake, but I'm surprised and disappointed on your behalf that even the dark chocolate ice cream wasn't worthwhile! Too bad about the rest of the meal too, but as MaryIsobel notes above you generally seem to do well. This helps us see that you aren't prettying things up for our benefit. 🙂

It seems so unlikely that an auto factory would have 'a handful of skilled employees' (I paraphrase) making sausages, I presume in the same factory, according to a secret recipe. Original Equipment!

Thanks for that article. I had no idea VW was associated with sausages of any sort! (My father did used to refer to his as a Spam-can, but that had to do with his size relative to the car. 😉 )

It's raining!! Oh, happy day! I've even heard a bit of thunder along with heavy rain! I realize that many of you won't think that rain is wonderful. You've seen enough already lately, thankyewverymuch. But I've been kvetching about how very dry it is here. If this keeps up it may help revive my (our) beloved boondocking spot. I'm on an odd cookery/eating schedule these days. After that huge breakfast I worked (paperwork, chores, nothing interesting) and then decided along about 3 pm that I needed to eat something before going out to my 4 -6 pm music event. I made a sandwich: turkey, salami, cheese, pickle, mayo, mustard, lettuce. One slice of sourdough bread -- granted, a largish one -- cut in half. I got home at 7 pm, wandered around the block as a leg-stretcher, got back at 8 pm. Still not hungry. Should probably eat something. That's the last of the latest batch of green bean salad. Tomorrow, social activities or no, I'll need to do something with other green vegetables that are in the fridge. I also have the ingredients thawed and ready to cook for a recipe I want to try. They've been thawed, with my good intentions, for several days now. Yet tomorrow is a late-afternoon potluck and Thursday is a midafternoon party, and Friday I move. It's going to be a challenge to fit in that cooking project! (The rain sound is almost deafening. This will be a good test of the new Princessmobile's seals!)

Well the food looks good even though it took forever. Is that an actual stiltwalker, or just a good statue / sculpture beside the "Sails Beachside" sign?

Those prawns have beautiful coloring. I may be misconverting: is that rather expensive for shellfish in your area?