-
Posts
13,352 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Everything posted by Smithy
-
Great trip report! I'm surprised: I thought all the US-based airlines had done away with Real Food. Guess I've spent too many hours in Cattle Class. Thanks for those wonderful photos!
-
You're absolutely right! In case you don't know about it, there's a short course on knife skills in the eGullet Culinary Institute that you may find useful. http://forums.egullet.org/topic/25958-basic-knife-skills/ eta: there's also a good discussion about differing techniques in the Q&A section that follows the course.
-
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Ufda. Today was not much for eating, much less for cookery. We spent much of the morning using an evil implement called a "roof rake", trying to ease the snow load on one of our outbuildings. Eventually we figured out how to "work smarter, not harder", but it was still mid-afternoon before we stopped. The standard breakfast occupied one rest break; lunch involved the last ravioli from last night and, er, I forget what else. Once we'd called it a day on (note that I did not say "finished") the outside chores we set out for the day's errands. The plan had been to allow 5 hours and be home before 5 p.m; the reality crammed them into 3 hours and got us home by 6. I still managed to snap some photos during our shopping. I briefly entertained the notion of a parody along the line of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" for Duluth's great food and kitchen stores: "Three grand grocers", "Two great charcuteries" and so on, to celebrate the expansion of wonderful groceries, butcher shops and even kitchen stores since I moved here. I decided I couldn't make the numbers work. Here, without further ado, are the places we visited today. Old World Meats is in its third generation of family owners/operators, and they keep expanding and improving. They've remodeled and reworked the space, just since last October. Instead of a couple of cluttered aisles where home sausage-makers could buy their spices and supplies (I forgot to ask where those items are now kept) they've expanded the island for their cured meats, and set up a charcuterie section to show off their excellent sausages, spicy beef sticks, and smoked foods. Their meat counter is something to behold. Back in 2005 there was an eGullet Culinary Institute short course on braising; that's when I started getting to know the fellows here. I've been a regular ever since. These are the people who can get a specific cut and/or advise you on how to cook it. They smoke meats and fish, mix sausage, and have strong opinions about how to cook their products...if, but only if, you ask. They also have a great fish counter. Today, however, the display case was atypically empty due to a heavy deep cleaning when they "knew business would be slow". Trust me: you can usually get good fresh salmon and halibut there, and you can often also get scallops, shrimp, or fish that I can't remember because I'm not particularly interested in it. We picked up some smoked salmon, upon which I hadn't planned, along with the pre-arranged tri-tips. More about those in a later post. One of our favorite grocery stores here is technically part of a chain, but its counterparts are all far south: Minneapolis, St. Paul, and those areas. Cub Foods was a big breath of fresh air when it first arrived up here, and it gets much of our business. Over the years, as subject to market pressure as any other place, they've expanded their produce areas added to their inventory to accommodate multiple cuisines expanded their deli area and allowed other ways for us to spend entirely too much money. We picked up items for a dinner party in a couple of days, and continued our rounds. When we FINALLY got home, we enjoyed the crystalline quality of moonlight over a snowy landscape, as seen from a hot tub, ...then enjoyed reheated pork roast and sauerkraut, from last week's crockpot cookery. I'll post photos if anyone wishes, but it was much more tasty than pretty. Think beige. Then think savory, salty and juicy. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Thanks for that suggestion, judiu! I think I'll use it on the remainder of the squash filling. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
I'm reminded of the ladies who make the pierogi at St. Stephen's Church here in Oswego. Every day of the week leading up to their big festival, they make one kind of pierogi, and one filling. First, they make the dough (usually three or four food processors and stand mixers going at a time), set each batch aside to rest for a moment, and pass a batch of rested dough on to someone else to roll it out and cut circles. The circles get placed on parchment-lined sheet pans, and sent on to the tables of fillers. The fillers take the balls of filling that were made yesterday, place each ball onto a dough circle, pinch the edges shut, and put the filled pierogi back onto the sheet pan. The pans then go to a checker, who checks that no filling has crept into the seal (which would result in the pierog opening in the boiling pot) and fixes any potential problems, and then put in the freezer to wait for the festival. When the day's batch is complete (meaning all the dough balls have been sealed into dough), the next day's filling gets mixed and scooped with a disher into individual balls, which are put on parchment lined sheet pans and frozen. The freezing helps to keep the filling in a rounded shape, which in turn keeps it away from the edges when the dough gets pinched shut so the pierogi stay properly sealed in the cooking process. Doing it the day before also helps to expedite the assembly line, because the filling becomes grab-and-go and because the dough makers will know exactly how many batches of dough they need to make that day, for the complete batch. The pierogi stay frozen until the festival, when they get boiled and then fried. They'll also sell them frozen, for people to take home and cook later.I wonder if a similar methodology of freezing ravioli filling in dollops would help to expedite your process? Great idea, and thanks for the evocative description of the St. Stephens assembly line! -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
I made a half-batch of dough, and used about 2/3 of it. The remainder is wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator. Sometimes in past batches I've gotten round to using the remainder in the next day or two, with no apparent deterioration in quality. At other times I've had that extra sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks, and finally decided that I had no plans for it, and thrown it away despite misgivings about wasting food. When I made a half-batch of dough last night, however, I forgot that I'd made a full batch of filling! I think I'll be trying MelissaH's suggestion. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Duxelles are a great idea for this. I have a ravioli mold that makes smaller pieces, maybe 2x2 inch instead of the 3x3 I was shooting for. It makes for a more orderly looking product. The raviolini attachment to my pasta maker didn't really get a good seal the time I tried it. Maybe my filling was too sloppy. What about the rollling pins with ridges? They look fun but ineffective to me, but I've never seen one in action. -
Exactly; and he's been on that tip for quite a long time (my memory's far from perfect but I seem to remember him bringing it up in On Food and Cooking). Incidentally, I'm in that EdX course too and I think he may have mentioned the searing thing, possibly in week one (though again, my memory's far from perfect). He certainly did mention the searing thing, during the introduction in week 1, in the context that it doesn't seal in juices. There was even a quiz question on that. I don't remember his having gone on to say that it logically follows that searing should be done last.
-
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Well! Well, well, well! Ravioli tonight, to mixed success. The recipe is "Cappellacci di zucca" (Large ravioli with winter squash) from the above-mentioned "Sauces and Shapes" book. I made the egg pasta dough (pasta all'uovo) from the same book, and tossed it with Burro al salvia (melted butter and fresh sage), also from this book. As with almost anything worth doing, there's a learning curve, and I've just barely started up the slope called "stuffed pasta". The dough was time-consuming but not difficult; I've worked to make pasta dough enough now that I can feel when it's developing the proper texture, and make adjustments when necessary. I don't have the hang of gauging the amount of filling for the size ravioli I plan. As a result, I ended up slicing the ravioli with a knife instead of using the intended stamp; even then, one split and lost its filling to the water. In fairness, I'll note that the recipe calls for making free-form cappellacci - essentially, making a square, setting some filling into the middle, and folding opposite corners together to make a rough triangle. It sounds simple, but to date my attempts at making free-form stuffed pasta have been too ludicrous for words. I opted to test the recipe and flavor balance and not worry about the ravioli form. The biggest, most lovely revelation of the entire night was melted butter with sage. Where have I been all this time? That's a wonderful flavor combination, and one I won't forget. By the time the sage leaves had cooked in the butter they were crisp, to the point that I wouldn't have dreamed of removing them. They added a nice texture to the meal when encountered, and a pleasant color as well. I think the consensus of the household is that we prefer things a bit more savory, and the squash/cheese/egg filling was too sweet and, er, not meaty or savory enough. Setting these ravioli up in a sauce containing meat, or perhaps including some meat with the filling (I don't know how) was the suggestion before the evening closed down. I'd call the meal a qualified success, with suggestions for improvement to meet our tastes to come along later. But oh boy, that sage butter! -
Harold McGhee is also on board with the sear-last approach. Can't find a link at the moment but he makes a good, science-y case for it... Funny! I wonder if there's been heated (heh) behind-the-scenes debate amongst staff in my edX cooking course, to which McGee and ATK are contributors? I can just hear it: "But...but...but...we've already cut the videos! You can't change your recommendations now!" Isn't science wonderful? :-)
-
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Thanks, heidih! -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
I think that's very cool that we picked the same granite! Did you buy it under the name of "Cosmic" or "Cosmic Blue" (I heard both) or is that a local vendor name? More on the cabinet tops below. Shelby and Smithy, could you line the tops with drawer liner? It's smooth, so wipes clean. That's a great idea. As it happens, the tops of my cabinets have a smooth finish - basically the same as the faces and sides - so they clean easily with something like Pledge, once I get up there and take everything down (rolls eyes). Then I have to thoroughly wash everything that was sitting atop the cabinets, because of course those things are just as greasy. That's interesting, that even an industrial-grade hood didn't capture everything. Maybe I'll stop whingeing about it. In the meantime, the finish does clean easily...but everything else has to come off to be cleaned as well. On the other hand, it's a good motivation to have parties so that stuff has to come down. Can't put appetizers out on greasy plates, ya know. ;-) That's more or less my housecleaning plan: have company over so I have to clean up. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
In fact, grease and gunk do accumulate atop the overhead cabinets. but not as badly as I think they'd accumulate on low-hanging skillets. One thing I'd do over if I could would be to install an exhaust vent that vents OUTSIDE. I figured out how to do it about halfway through the remodeling project, when it was too late. It can still be done without too much time and expense, but we'll have to line up the contractor again and have time home to make it happen. The second choice would be to have the range hood (it's built into the microwave) vent FORWARD instead of UP. Everyone assured me that it made no difference which way it vented. They were wrong. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
I mentioned earlier that lunch is usually as predictable as breakfast. This is because one of our strategies for keeping weight down (and allowing us to do most of our splurging in the evening) is to have a container of green salad ready to go. If one of us is very hungry (as I was after shoveling and chopping ice today) and there isn't a salad ready, then it's likely to be chunks of cheese or leftovers or some other more fattening food. Today, in fact, I settled for rosemary bread smeared with cheese while I was preparing the salad. Here are the fixings, before being rinsed, drained, chopped and so on: And here's the container of salad, ready for several days' meals: We add cherry tomatoes, olives and croutons as we see fit, and have our own preferred salad dressings. The tub-worth stays crisp thanks to having been washed, well-drained, and sealed. (My darling was worried that I'm showing the seamy underside of our food habits: salad for several days at once! Oh, the horror!) -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Glad to do it, Anna, and thanks for the welcome! I'll have to show the photos in a couple of stages, but here's a start. The "overview" photo that shows the entire kitchen didn't come out - I must remember to take the sunshade off when I'm using a flash. Basically, the kitchen island provides the main counter space, holds the dishwasher, and more or less divides the work area from the eating area. We don't have a dining room, and probably never will. The working triangle (stove, sink, refrigerator) are all on the work side of the island. Many of the skillets are stored in easy reach and easy view. My darling wanted an overhead pot rack above the island when we remodeled, and I drew the line at that. There used to be a china hutch where the pots are hanging now, and it had to move around the corner into the living room when we remodeled. It's still in easy reach, just doesn't show from the kitchen. We remodeled a few years ago. Remodeling was quite the operation: "Don't ask me dear," said my darling, "it's your kitchen and your tastes, so you do it as you wish." Well, that didn't seem quite right, since he has to live here too, but it turned out we had very different ideas about what the final project should look like. (We did, however, agree on working to keep the maple leaf wallpaper that you and some others spotted in the teaser photos. We couldn't find anything we liked nearly as well.) All in all we're very happy with the outcome, but we aren't eager to go through the process again. -
You have a real knack for finding great places to eat...and I love the quality of the photos! Thanks for this topic!
-
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Those silicone lids in the upper left are some I looked at before deciding on the lily pads. I was trying to remember whether they were contraindicated for microwave, regular oven, or both. Apparently it's both?...and since when did "need" come into the picture? ;-) Since I had to drain my squash puree, it sounds as though I should have roasted the squash uncovered in the first place. Is that what you do? The cookbook was silent on the issue, and I feared the squash would be too dry. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Hi, Smithy. Are you able to get your hands on whole fish ? Have you tried using the carcass for a quick stock (30 mins), reduced as appropriate and used to thin the sauce ? Blether, thanks for the suggestion. I don't usually get whole fish but it sounds like a good idea. Would you use aromatics in that stock? If so, which? -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
When we're at home in Minnesota, our ocean fish access is by way of the local grocery stores. We have a couple of stores and a butcher shop that get excellent fish and seafood. Some of it comes from locals who go up to Alaska and fish commercially during part of the year. In addition, there are the usual packages of frozen fish in the freezer section. I plan to be visiting my favorite shops and grocery stores during the week, and posting about them. I have to show off the area, now, don't I? -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Crikey, now it's raining outside. The road, our driveway, and the deck are becoming skating rinks. Half the roof load just let go in a calamitous avalanche that shook the house; fortunately nobody was outside. Now I need to go out and start clearing the deck before it freezes with that ice coat. This morning's breakfast was fairly typical: sliced avocado mashed on crackers (my current faves are Carr's Rosemary), with a squirt of lemon juice and a sprinkling of Spike seasoned salt. Fresh orange slices on the side. I won't bother posting about this much during the week; some other day I'll post about my darling's breakfast. As I noted upthread, we're usually pretty casual about breakfast most days. Time to go shovel, and refill the bird feeders. -
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Thanks, Shelby and Dejah! Those silicone covers are getting to be easier to find. When I first discovered them - mid-summer 2012, I think - they were hard to find and the one store that carried them had trouble keeping them in stock because they were such hot sellers. Now they're much easier to find, and they probably can be found at almost any kitchen store. If not, they can certainly be purchased from Amazon: individually in different sizes and shapes, and sets as well. Here's a set: http://www.amazon.com/Charles-VIANCIN-Lilypad-Silicone-Suction/dp/B005RQ4WQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389547007&sr=8-1&keywords=charles+viancin+silicone+lids The designs keep expanding: round shapes can be lily pads (still my favorite), hibiscus or sunflowers. Ooh, I just spotted red poppy rounds! Dejah, last night's version of Roadway Inn Fish used these approximate proportions and steps: 1 c. Meyer lemon juice 1/2 - 3/4 stick butter - 4 - 6 tbsp 1-2 tbsp Trader Joe's Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce 1/2 - 3/4 c water 2 large cod fillets (other firm white fish also works; we do this with swai and talapia, but sole is far too fragile; thin fillets work better than thick) Preheat an oven to a low (keep warm) setting - last night I used 175F - and put plates in it to begin warming. A warming drawer would also work, but mine is full of pans. Pat the fillets dry. (Sometimes I've seasoned them with salt and ground white pepper, but last night I didn't bother.) In a large pan, melt ~2 tbsp butter over medium-high heat. When it is melted and just starting to brown, add the fish. Cook just until brown, flip and cook until the other side is lightly browned. Remove the fish to the plates, and put them in the oven to finish cooking. Keeping the pan heat at medium high, pour in the lemon juice to deglaze. After the brown bits are scraped up and the pan bottom is clean, start adding butter, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Whisk, stir, or use some other implement to keep it mixing. At this point it pays to lower the heat so the sauce is just simmering and the butter doesn't burn. I had a very large pan last night, so the liquids concentrated quickly. Stir in the mustard. As the sauce cooks down, start adding water a few splashes at a time (if pressed, I'd say about 1/8 cup at a time, but it's arbitrary). The idea is to stretch the sauce so that it's not quite so concentrated on the lemon flavor but there's plenty to spoon over the fish. If you put in too much water it'll be thin, and will need to be cooked down. With too little water there won't be enough sauce. Remove the plates from the oven, drain off any water that may have come out of this fish as it finished cooking, and spoon the sauce over the fish. Serve and enjoy! Tasting and cooking notes: This recipe is decidedly a work in progress. We keep records usually of what we did and what we thought, but at the moment I can't find them, nor could I last night. I thought the lemon was a bit too concentrated in the finished sauce - that's saying a lot for me - and my darling thought it perfect. That's unusual; as a rule I prefer things more tart and he prefers them more sweet. I tamed the tartness with salt at the table; he liked it as was but then added Worcestershire and liked that too. Sometimes we use more butter, more mustard, or something to thin the sauce other than water. I suppose the sauce could be thinned with something like broth, or possibly cream, but we've usually ended up with a broken sauce when we tried cream. Sometimes we chop garlic and add it to the sauce. The Trader Joe's Garlic Aioli Mustard Sauce (yes, I know that's a redundant name) is a favorite condiment we keep on hand, but one could use minced garlic and dijon mustard instead. It looks prettier if garnished with minced parsley, but I couldn't be bothered last night. I prefer a stainless steel pan for this cookery, so I can get a good fond for the sauce; my darling prefers a nonstick pan so he doesn't have to clean it. I use a whisk to keep the sauce incorporated; he hates dirtying up any more implements than he must, so he uses the spatula. I'm curious to see whether this explanation looks intelligible to any reader. If anyone has questions or comments, feel free to post them! -
Interesting. America's Test Kitchen made a good case in a class I'm taking for searing first then low-temperature roasting. mgwater's link above makes a good case for the opposite sequence. Granted, the ATK is for a low-cost roast instead of a prime rib or tenderloin. Looks like some side-by-side testing is in order...but not with a prime rib at the outset. sabg, do please let us know what you did and how it turned out.
-
Good for you! It's a lot of fun. When you get to it, you'll be able to get a lot of advice here in eGullet, if you want it.
-
Is it because you have an "in" with the stock person, or do they allow you to purchase it? I suppose I'll have to ask my local universities, if I decide to pursue this, what their policy is.
-
Foodblog: Smithy - Notes from the land of Cheap Refrigeration
Smithy replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Thank you! It was cod filet this time, but it also works with other firm-fleshed, mild white fish. By the way: Welcome to eGullet! I feel honored that you selected my blog for your first post.