Smithy

Welcome, Chef Ruby. You've come to the right place for discussions such as these!

The Salton Sea Pelican Days Festival (3rd annual) was this weekend. I had hoped to be able to report on an actual tour of the Oasis Date Gardens, which we weren't able to get on our own last week. I'd also hoped for a covered-wagon tour (drawn by mules) of a nature preserve to the north, with information about how the Cahuilla lived off the land back in the day. I know they caught fish on this sea; they used mesquite; they used dates from the native fan palms. Those dates are much smaller and less fleshy than the commercial dates we know and love. The wagon tour ended with a barbecue. I couldn't get a booking on either of those trips. I did enjoy a wine and cheese meeting one evening! Yesterday's dinner was one of those things that belongs in the Journal of Irreproducible Results. Do you ever just throw something together and then wish you knew what you'd done? Last night's dinner was one of those, populated by things cluttering the refrigerator and counters. Onion, Japanese eggplant, broccoli, hot Italian sausage, the remainder of some citrus sauce and chicken juice from citrus roasted chicken, all over a pilaf. We agreed that the Italian sausage clashed slightly with the citrusy notes of the rest of the dish, but that it was well worth doing again. If only I could remember how. My notes consist of a simple listing, with my best guesses as to quantity. *(Screen goes all wavy)* Let the wobbly photo suggest nostalgia for a meal, rather than camera issues. I think it prefers sunsets. Today was, of all things in this desert, a rainy day. It was a great day to defrost the refrigerator and freezer, which desperately needed it, while ribs cooked in the oven. If we can move out of the slime tomorrow, we'll be traveling. I hate to leave this water, but it's time to go.

I'm a novice at fermentation, so most of my knowledge comes from books rather than experience...I hope more experienced people will chime in here. With my batches of sauerkraut I've kept an eye on the liquid level (make sure it stays covered), the odor, and the color / visible texture of the cabbage to see whether it was starting to soften and change color after about a week. The 'sniff test' happens every few days for me. With a clear glass jar I've been able to look see what's going on in terms of color and texture change; with an opaque crock I've had to use a clean spoon to lift the lid and poke down into the cabbage to see what's doing. Whether I *have* to do that so often is another question. After about 2 weeks I start to taste. The only part of these 'tests' that would require you to break the seal would be the smelling and the tasting. The larger issue, to me, seems to be the need to allow gases to escape. During active fermentation the bacteria are generating acid and carbon dioxide. If you vacuum seal your container, would you be leaving some head space so the gases could accumulate? I'm told that ferment explosions are, er, unpleasant.

It's true that lactobacillus fermentation is an anaerobic process; however, it isn't necessary to provide a totally air-free environment in the fermentation vessel. You just have to keep the stuff fully submerged in brine of the right concentration. You may find this article enlightening: Aerobic vs Anaerobic Fermentation Controversy in Sandor Katz's "Wild Fermentation" blog. Among other things, he says: "...lactic acid bacteria...do not require oxygen, but are not inhibited by its presence; in contrast, certain other bacteria (for example Clostridium botulinum) ... require a perfectly anaerobic environment." Unless kimchi is very different from kraut or cucumber pickles, I'd be leery of starting the fermentation in something where I couldn't periodically check the progress and make sure it's fermenting. I have no insight for you on the heat issue, however.

I'd forgotten about removing the backbone! Yes, I usually use shears for that.

I use more knife than shears, but the cuts sound much the same. I separate the leg quarters from the body, slicing between the thigh and chest and pulling the leg outward, then cutting through the joint. Wings get much the same treatment. Sometimes I use shears instead of a knife to snip the shoulder joints. (I haven't decided which works better for me.) Then I cut down the ribs to separate breast from back. If I'm going to do a boneless breast dish then I remove the breast meat from the bone at this stage; otherwise I mash that piece flat to break the breast bone and slice longitudinally down the middle. (My grandmother cut laterally instead, thereby ensuring an intact wishbone.) I've never messed with cutting the leg tendons. I'll bet your birds look better than mine. :-)

You mean the wish bone, as in you pull on it?

Anna, you're killing me. I have *got* to learn to make bread with such a texture. I'm enrolled in an online course; I only need to (a) set aside time and bandwidth, (b) go through the lessons, © do the exercises and (d) assimilate them as thoroughly as you have. That's all I have to do. Ha.

Hassouni, look what I found today! D'Artagnan's has posted Paula's recipe for Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Melting Tomatoes & Onions, with her permission.

I don't know. Doesn't pavlova get hard and crunchy? What would happen when you broke through it to the ice cream below? I think you need to try it and report back, Shelby. :-)

Welcome to eGullet, ChostChef. I'm with you on the 'classic' flavors: plain Ruffles or classic Lays potato chips for me. What does your friend's oven heating do with those chips, aside from heat them up? Do you think they seem more or less oily when they come out of the oven?

I second Haus Murphy's in Glendale. The last time we went they had an oompa band in the biergarten and excellent food inside. We were disappointed because the pork shank and sauerkraut which we'd been eagerly anticipating wasn't on the menu that night. We asked about it, and the watiress said, "Oh, we always have it. It's just that the regulars know to ask for it." One of us had that, the other had the sausage sampler, and we shared. The beer was good, too. That was over 5 years ago. I'm glad to know it's still there.

Does anyone else remember Grapefruit Alaska? It was the rage - the magic dessert - sometime in the late '60's or early '70's in our corner of the world. 1. Cut a good, sweet grapefruit in half and prepare it as you would for eating, with the segments cut from the membrane for easy spooning. Cut a bit off the base of each half so it will sit level on a baking pan, and put the halves cut face up on the baking sheet. 2. Put a scoop of ice cream at the center of each half, on the citrus flesh. 3. Cover the ice cream and exposed grapefruit flesh with meringue. Cover it thoroughly; there must be no breaks in the coverage. 4. Bake (or was it broil? probably bake) until the meringue is browned. 5. Serve with spoons. Wait for the gasps of surprise at the icy-cold ice cream inside the hot, browned cap of meringue. My mother did this with vanilla ice cream, since it was the standard in our house. I wasn't crazy about the combination of grapefruit and vanilla ice cream, but it wasn't bad; if I were to try this now, I think I'd try something like cardamom seasoning in the ice cream,or perhaps I'd try a complementary sherbet instead. What was fun about it was that the meringue insulated the ice cream so there was a nicely browned meringue top (as one would find over a lemon meringue pie) with a cold ice cream and that luscious grapefruit underneath. Physics in action. Cool, man.

I'm trying to imagine bittersweet vs. dark chocolate with orange (probably both good) or grapefruit (er, I'm boggling at both) but without chocolate around for experimentation, I'll have to let someone else answer that. I agree that the orange peel would seem more likely to crisp uniformly on a screen that on parchment paper.

I don't think it's the water so much as the milk she included with that water. The casein in the milk would help seal pores and small cracks (if any - but there shouldn't be) in the bottom. The liquid would also help keep the base cool while it baked. I don't remember doing that when I cured my tagine, but it's a long time ago.

It's been a lot of maintenance and non-culinary rambling in the last few days. One day I had to break down and go to the grocery store for "just a few things" (see notes above) and got lost in Indio trying to find the store that we usually go to. On the plus side, I found the location of the annual Date Festival (and Riverside County Fair) referred to earlier. The grocery store itself was bewildering - couldn't find things, unusual (to me) layout. I did, however, come away with some of the most toothsome and flavorful green beans I've ever seen, and the celery was also quite nice. The green beans worked their way into a meal last night, as did some oranges and salmon. I've posted more information on them in the eG Cook-Off #68: Citrus Fruits topic.

I've posted in the Camping, Princess Style topic about the riches of citrus available where I grew up, in the San Joaquin Valley. Part of what we came away with is a lovely variety of navel oranges: the standard Washington navel and the new Cara Cara variety. Do not confuse the Cara Cara with a blood orange! It is truly a navel orange, but with a slightly sweeter taste and lower acidity than a standard Washington navel. Last night I put the juices of these, as well as lemons, to good effect. I started with fresh green beans - washed and trimmed - sauteed in olive oil with a touch of garlic. After they'd browned slightly I added a bit of water, covered and simmered until tender. (I thought I'd added a squeeze of orange juice, but if I did, my notes don't reflect it.) Meanwhile I'd made something akin to gremolata, or perhaps it would be more nearly a parsley pesto: 2 bunches parsley leaves, 3 or 4 garlic cloves, 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil and the juice of 1 Meyer lemon, whirred together to a fine paste then whizzed up with grated Parmesan. That sauce dressed the finished beans. Salmon with orange vinaigrette over wilted greens was another experiment. I dusted a filet of silver salmon (with the skin on) with cumin, Aleppo pepper, and a bit of paprika, then browned it in butter. When the fish was browned on the flesh side it went onto a metal plate and into a low-temp oven to finish cooking. Into the skillet with the leftover oil and juice went chopped garlic; when it started to turn golden I deglazed with orange juice; when the garlic burned I threw the lot out and tried again . This time the steps were: a film of oil into the pan, without garlic; a brief saute of the sections of a Cara Cara orange; a deglazing with the juice of another orange and a touch of balsamic vinegar, and the lot cooked down. By this time the fish was, alas, slightly overcooked. Nothing to be done about it. The fish went onto a bed of chopped greens, the vinaigrette and orange segments went over the lot, and dinner was served. The flavors were good, but the dish needs tuning. The dressing didn't wilt the greens, possibly because there wasn't enough oil in the dressing and possibly because Romaine lettuce is too firm. The thicker parts of the fish were dried out because of kitchen disorganization. I kept notes, and will try it again. I invite others to join me!

Thanks for those clues on what to do with forgotten hummus. Mine is not forgotten, but is sitting taking up space in the fridge as I try to work out how to liven it up. Spread on bread with more lemon, with more vinegar, with salt, with cumin, with all of the above....it's okay, but not great. I'll try olive oil next.

It depends partly on whether you have enough counter space. I've always admired the high-end electric kettles. By 'high-end' I mean they really boil the water, they'll maintain a boil instead of shutting off as soon as the water boils, and they have safety features like shutting off when they boil dry or get knocked over. Those are more expensive than the cheapos I've usually seen. In my kitchen I'd rather dedicate counter space to something else and leave the kettle on the stove top. Your mileage may vary. An electric kettle with a temperature setting: hmm. Would it do small-batch sous vide?

Those photos are great fun! Thanks for posting captions (small though they were) for each photo. I'd have been asking whether that was truly petrified wood otherwise. Now I'll ask, instead, how it got that glossy surface. Is it that highly polished, or is there a chemical surface on it? Are they commercially available somewhere? Every plate showed is beautiful. I'll bet it was as good to the taste and olfactory senses as to the eye. Thanks also for the funny stories. It's very cool that ABQ decided to use you to help kick off their downtown revival. Excellent trip report, gfron1. Thanks very much for sharing with the rest of us.

Wow! Those are gorgeous! I would look at one of those uncut cakes and admire the beautiful surface (looking as slippery as a Duluth sidewalk in January). After it was cut I'd be flat-out stunned by the beauty of the cross-section.

I think we'll have to have a Super Bowl party just so I can make this bread. Thanks, Anna!

I think I'd go with the smell test also. If they don't smell bad they're probably okay; if they do smell bad they may not be harmful but they probably won't be pleasant. I've eaten/used preserved lemons that had gone dark, smelled more like turpentine or old furniture polish than nicely perfumy briny lemons, and never suffered ill effects...but I didn't particularly enjoy the taste. Edit: I've realized since posting this that my response doesn't exactly address the mold question. I haven't enough knowledge for that. My suspicion, however, is that mold that grows under these conditions may be unpleasant but won't be harmful.

Yes, welcome! Don't worry, there are other people here whose culinary interest goes more toward eating than cooking. ;-)

Thank you for your kind words, Thanks for the Crepes! gfweb is right: there are pelicans in that picture, and may be a few gulls as well. I've been hearing lately about Duke's mayonnaise but hadn't known what's special about it. Now that I know it isn't sweet, I'll have to check it out if I ever spot it in a grocery store.