Smithy

If I live long enough, mine will be.

Yesterday I decided that, having had no time for baking lately, I'd make up for it by making all 9 variations of Christmas cookies featured in the latest issue of Fine Cooking. The premise is that with 3 basic doughs you can make 9 types of cookies. As the day progressed I had the mixer, both bowls, the food processor, the Ultimate Chopper, and various baking sheets, bowls, knives and spatulas occupying every flat surface in the kitchen. Based on that experience, I nominate Alice Medrich's basic almond cookie dough as the ultimate bowl-licking, spatula-scraping cookie dough of all time, with her cocoa cookie dough in close second. (This sounds like heresy from a die-hard Toll-House cookie fan, but there it is.) I had a hard time trying to decide whether to lick first - but then I'd have to wash everything before starting the next batch - or wait until all the mixing was finished, understanding that there's be some cross-breeding between the batches. I finally realized that I had enough bowls and spatulas that it wasn't a dilemma at all. The strangest thing of all for me was realizing that I liked the cookie batter even better than the Nestle's chocolate chips that went into some of it. I hope I'm not ailing.

Lori in PA, I'm so glad you asked this question - and even more glad you got the answers you did. I've had a couple of smaller jars of duck fat (and "duck jello" sitting in the back of my refrigerator, waiting to be used for some months. Now I don't have to wonder about it. Why I didn't make the connection between duck fat and bacon grease is beyond me. Our family kept the bacon grease jar around, not even in the refrigerator, all the years of my childhood. It was our main source of cooking fat until the country fell in love with polyunsaturated fats.

Have you read the article in andie's link? What you describe sounds like what that reviewer said. He chalked it up to the 100' transmitter range being reduced by obstructions, doorframes, things like that. Is there any chance that's what's happening with you? I ask because the Maverick looks pretty darned interesting and I'd like to know more about just how well it works. chezcherie, several of andie's links show remote sensing thermometers with generously-sized displays. You may just be in business!

My stock had been thawed in the microwave, and wasn't particularly warm, although there may have been hot spots. I think there may still have been some ice in it. It's hard to remember now; I made this batch a couple of weeks ago.

Interesting that this point should come up now. The oil broke out of my last pot of gumbo. It hasn't happened before. I followed Fifi's Gumbo Goddess method. I'd thought the source might be the chicken, but it wasn't especially fatty, and I'd removed the skin. I'll be watching this topic with interest. Sorry I don't have any insights.

I haven't seen anyone else stagger over this concept, so I must be in need of education. Would someone please 'splain to me what vacuum frying would be? Until now I'd thought that the point of frying was to bring the food in contact with a high-temperature fat in order to cook the food. Done properly, there would be steam driven out and a nice crispy surface produced with little fat impregnating the food. (Done improperly, of course, one gets soggy greasy fries.) The Gastrovac - I'm with you on that name, jsolomon - notes that there's no contact with the fat, and that the cooking is done at lower temperatures. How does this qualify as frying? Someone please enlighten me.

Amen. I have a Cuisinart ICE-50. My mother has a Krups equivalent. We both keep the bowls in our freezers, for those spur-of-the moment ice cream binges. If you do a lot of that sort of thing, you can buy a spare bowl, so that one goes into the freezer the instant another comes out. No muss, no fuss; great ice cream.

It's gorgeous, Abra! Thank you so much for finishing the story! As I recall, all the wines were supposed to be heavy on the oak. Were they? Were some more oaked than others? And in retrospect, were there some pairings that would have fared better with less oaked wine? My other question is more of a stagger: that looks like more food than we had at Thanksgiving yesterday! The food looks too fabulous for restraint, but I can only imagine myself waddling out after all that! Was it a 4-hour meal? I realize I must sound like a bumpkin! But I am curious about the mechanics of this event.

Lucy, this blog is so wonderful. It breaks my heart that I can't follow along more closely. Add my thanks to the rest of them, in case I can't get back in time. Now I have to ask: what will you do with that chicken head? Why leave it on? Does it add flavor, or is it mostly decorative? Is the head a delicacy? (Some enterpriseing eG'er ate the brain on another foodblog, not long ago. Can't remember now who it was.) When you say "It's really cold out there", how cold is it? I realize it's late November. What does that mean in Lyons? Do you get heavy rains, or little? What about wind? I've been admiring your gloves, so artfully arranged. I never can find such elegant leather gloves to fit my hands and still keep them warm. Aside from bagels and (perhaps) cranberries, what are the foods from the USA you miss the most? If you were to move back to the States, what would you miss most from France? (Aside from Loic, of course. ) Beautiful blog, beautiful photography. And...going back a few pages...I applaud your good luck and good eye at scoring so much Le Creuset at a garage sale, for a garage sale price! Finally...to further the questions that may go back to earlier blogs...how long have you been cooking? How has moving to France changed your cooking?

Ha! While you were flurrying over here, I was doing a low-slow cook of a venison roast. I just finished posting about it on your "One Dead Deer" thread. Sorry, I didn't realize you'd planned to cook all the meat now. I wrote about butchering and freezing it instead. At any rate: my first experiment with low slow braising on venison worked darned well yesterday. I'm sure it can be overdone, and I may have come close, but I can report that the connective tissue dissolved and the flavors were very good, just as with pork.

BTW, some people claim the fat is where the gamey flavor resides. I don't know whether that's true, but I do know that in my family I was the only person who'd eat the venison fat. It's a bit like lamb fat: concentrated flavor.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, and sorry I won't be much help. I think the DNR is recommending boning all the deer. If you have time, check that recommendation before going to the trouble. Cut off the shanks (per Fifi). If you do have to bone, it's best to cut through joints instead of through the bones themselves. I did that last year, anyway. Last year I was flying blind on this. It seems to me that the muscle groups more or less presented themselves into logical roasts, and I broke the roasts out into sizes appropriate for our family. Last night I cooked up one of the roasts, labeled "rump roast", and I'd say it was about 2 lbs before cooking. If the roasts look too big, or ungainly, then you can cut across the grain to make steaks. There will be a lot of odd bits of meat left over from trimming, especially if you bone. Those become stew meat pieces. Wrap each carefully in butcher paper, taking care to squeeze out all air. Wrap each several different ways to ensure a good seal. Label them. Enjoy. FWIW, yesterday morning I cooked up the rump roast in question, and I'm pleased with the results - especially considering I was making it up as I went along. I stuck a bunch of garlic cloves into slits in that roast, then rubbed it with a mixture of sweet paprika, hot paprika, black pepper, white pepper and salt. I melted bacon fat in the appropriately sized Le Creuset, threw in a couple tsp cumin seeds, let them sizzle a bit, browned the meat, tossed in a red onion that had been cut into 8ths, let that soften a bit, then deglazed the lot with red wine. I added more red wine, red wine vinegar, water to the proper braising height (about 1/4 of the roast's thickness), 2 bouillion cubes (heresy, but I didn't have any thawed broth), a bay leaf, thyme, and some rosemary sprigs. I put a cap of prosciutto on top of the roast for barding. Covered the pot and stuck it in the oven to cook at 220F for 8 hours, and off I went to work. The internal temp when I finally got around to checking was 198F. The meat had fallen apart - not a bit of silverskin left, but you could see where it had been. The flavor was outstanding, and there was good juice to be boiled down and thickened (a step that got short shrift). The meat might have benefited from slightly less cooking, because it was a bit "thready" (dh's word) although not really dry, but the time got away from us. The onions were to die for. All in all, this was a treatment worth repeating and refining (mushrooms would have been good, and perhaps some potatoes, but I had none). You may feel free to play with it and see what you can do. Happy holidays!

What a great story! I tried Chufi's Braised Beef treatment on the venison round steaks tonight. I think the steaks might have been cut a bit too thinly to benefit from this treatment; they were around 3/4" thick at the thickest. After 3 hours they were edibly tender, but they certainly didn't have the fall-apart texture advertised in Chufi's recipe. I let the part I didn't put on my dinner plate keep cooking, and I'm none too sure they were any better at 4 hours. This may be one of those cuts that benefits from initial cooking, then cooldown, then recooking. Come to think of it, beef round steak benefited from just that treatment last winter, in the Braising Seminar. Texture issues notwithstanding, the meal was good because the flavor is fantastic. That is a winner recipe. Tomorrow night: venison roast. This time I will do the wine and rosemary thing. Fifi, you really need that book.

Further to the round steak question: I've settled on braising, based on where the cut comes from. Now I'm down to dithering among flavorings, and I'd best get going on it soon. Fifi, I'm glad you mentioned the red wine and rosemary - happens I have some of both, as well as some mushrooms and leeks, that need to be used. I've also unearthed interesting-looking recipes from Chef John Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun Cookery (that may not be quite the right name, but Mayhaw Man is spot-on about that book's value), and from my ancient copy of Helen Brown's West Coast Cookbook. Then, there's Chufi's Braised Beef, Dutch Style that's been getting such raves. Decisions, decisions. This is another reason we usually eat late around here. Edited for spacing.

Low to medium heat??? What's up with that? ← It does seem as though you'd naturally get more even temperature distribution on low to medium heat. That's a funny way to brown things, though. I don't see any hints that they think it will brown better. How's your AMEX card doing these days, Fifi?

Simple but good, indeed. You are an inspiration. Lucy, that looks like a well-loved and cherished tart pan. Is it Le Creuset? I've never seen a round pan like that over here. It looks like the finish is chipping off? Does that change the way you handle or use the pan?

Your statement about not making final decisions until the last minute says volumes about how well and easily you cook. Your meal with Matthieu strikes me the same way. If I served courses as you do, I think I'd spend all the time in the kitchen instead of with the guests. Do you? If not, how do you get away from it? For instance, do you usually have a lot of the work done in advance (the quail ready for the spit), are you an especially efficient cook, or is it a bit of both? As a rule, how much time elapses between courses? Is there time for sitting and visiting then? I think your answers will tell a lot, not only about your cooking style, but also about the differences between French and American meal rhythms. Lucy, this blog is already beautiful. I loved your previous blogs, and I can see this will be another winner. I wear a size Medium! Edited to add, to the Fan Club Chapter Leaders: when will the bleudauvergne Fan Club apron be coming out?

I discovered a pair of venison round steaks in the freezer this morning, nicely cryovac-packed. Any suggestions on treatment for round steak? I'm off to see whether any of my cookbooks will tell me where that cut is from and what treatment usually benefits it best. While I'm looking, I suspect several eGulletteers will have better and quicker answers for me. The meat doesn't look fatty.

Venison medallions in wine sauce, venison stroganoff, grilled venison kebabs are favorite treatments of mine. Venison stew is lovely, too, and I made what I thought was a great venison gumbo last winter during the great eGullet Cook-Off III: Gumbo thread. I bet you could do wonders with a stuffed rolled venison roast, stuffings and spices of your choosing. Dried fruit stuffing with a port wine glaze? Mushroom stuffing with a mustard and rosemary coating? The possibilities are endless. I'm so glad to see people around this Forum coming up with uses for meaty pieces. It breaks my heart when people grind up all that good meat and make it into burger or sausage. Sure, those are good - but it's like turning an entire cow's worth of meat into burger. My husband was one of those grind-it-and-bury-the-flavor folks until I began to re-educate him.

It seems to be a hard-acquired taste. Even though I live in lutefisk country, I haven't managed to like it.

EEEEEEWWWW!!!!! Yeah... EEEEWWW! I'll bet that was some gamey hunk of venison. jackal10... You are one of the few that I know of that like the gamey taste. To me, it just means ill-treated venison. It is so bad, that is why there are all of those recipes out there for marinades to try to kill it. Of course, you do enough to cover up the musk (thinking you really can) and you can't tell it is venison anymore. ← I must disagree with the assumption that the meat was wrecked. Depending on how the deer was hit, how quickly it died, and how the meat was treated, there might have been a lot of salvageable meat left. I know this from experience, because last year I decided that the doe who'd committed hara-kiri on my car deserved to be eaten. After I'd cut away the bruised and damaged meat (clean shoulder strike, immediate death) I still had a good half left. It's all been good, with not a touch of gaminess. Wait Just One Minute Here! Your husband has hunted nearly 40 years and this is his first deer? While I have to admire his perseverance, he's no Natty Bumpo, that's for sure! Deer aren't exactly hard to find up hear in Northern MN. I know a guy who's killed 9 so far this year with his pickup truck. ← I too applaud Paul's perseverance! I take it to mean he's choosey about his shots. Good for him. And yes, they do seem to prefer the highways to the woods. Snowangel, do let us know the size of that "nice doe". The one I hit last year was a "nice doe" and she still outweighed me. I figured this out when I strung a rope through a pulley in the garage rafter and tried to hoist the gutted carcass. There we were: deer on one end of the rope, me on the other end, and MY feet were the ones dangling in the air. A double block-and-tackle arrangement was required before she was properly hanging. Good thing my husband wasn't there to "help"; he'd have been too busy laughing and taking photos.

My dog Gromit (jack russel terrier) crosses her paws all the time! Must be a PNW thing. Yay! San Juans!! A. ← Nope. Our Charlie Brown, may she rest in peace, used to cross her paws and laugh. Hmm. She was born in Oregon and moved to California at 3 or 4 months old, so that could still be attributed to a PNW thing. Lucy (not named after the Peanuts character), on the other hand, lived her entire life in Minnesota and was a charming paw-crosser. Both were border collie/Aussie/fence jumper mutts. Abra. I knew I should recognize that name. East of Eden is one of my favorite books. Abra, this blog has been beautiful. I'm sorry I've missed out on the last couple of days, and am likely to miss out on the finish. I want to say now, I've learned more this week about pairing wines with food, and about wines and spirits that I want to try, than I'd have dreamed possible. Thanks for showing us your tool kit! When you get back to Mario's book, make sure you try the Game Hen with Pomegranate. I took a couple of short cuts with that one and it was still wonderful. I used a full-sized chicken, and failed to do any advance marinading. As good as that chicken turned out, I have to wonder what would have been gained by taking the extra steps. Some day I'll try it and see. Edited to add: I love what Scandanavians do with Christmas. Thank you so much for the tour! Betty Boop done Norwegian-style was new to me. and: I've never been in a Central Market before, but now that you've shown one, I should be glad we don't have one nearby. Not only would my odd-food collection in the cupboard grow exponentially, but my dish fetish would reach terminal proportions. It's bad enough already, without those gorgeous little dishes you showed.

Paula, if these questions have been addressed, or implicitly answered, elsewhere, please forgive the repetition. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask in the short time we have remaining with you. Perhaps I'll have to go haunt the used bookstores for your World of Food book to get my answers? First - what is the common ground that defines Mediterranean food? There seems to be less distance, figuratively speaking, between Moroccan and Turkish food than between Moroccan and French food. Even though the climates may be similar (that all-important "Mediterranean climate", which California shares) the cultures seem wildly different. I haven't identified the thread that binds them together. Second - can you describe the progression you made from one cuisine to the next, and why you made it? I had the idea that you'd started with Moroccan food, but the Elizabeth David discussion makes me wonder. Where did you start, and what prompted to you move to the next? Finally - whether or not you have time to answer, please accept my thanks for this special conversation. It's always good to read your responses on the Forum, but this week has been especially well focused and interesting.

I have been enjoying the photos immensely, but your description of how they were set up makes them all the more enjoyable. Your story of the cover photo shoot is especially fun. Thank you so much for telling us about that!