Smithy

January 26

I looked at spring-loaded jar lids to take the place of weights, but users noted that finely shredded items would come up through the spring, so a layer (like a cabbage leaf, or FauxPas' mesh) was still necessary. I have a bit of leaf under the weight in my jar. I didn't save an entire leaf as I should have.

January 25

1 hour ago, lindag said:

There are extra-wide-mouth canning jars available, Ball is one brand but there are others. It might take a bit of searching to find them.

Thanks. I'm happy with either regular or wide mouth jars. I had some giant jars, but gave most to my great-niece.

January 25

7 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

I did a fermentation class not long ago. The guideline we were given is to use approx 1 kg of cabbage (or whatever combination of stuff) per 1 L canning jar. That's what we used in that class and almost all of it fit into the jar using a tamper with moderate force.

We tasted ferments that ranged from 1% to 5% concentrations of salt and almost all of us preferred the taste in the range of 1.5 to 2.5%. Class instructor said that was almost always the preferred range in her classes.

She also suggested using coarse cheese mesh instead of weights and if you have canning jars with a bit of a shoulder, they work really well to keep the cabbage submerged in the brine. Like this:

https://glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/collections/cheese-making-accessories

She cut the mesh into 9cm circles which click into place in the neck of the standard 1L canning jar.

Thanks for that information. I'd never heard of cheese mesh before! I'll look into it, because the jars' shoulders are a problem. I also appreciate the proportions and the quantity expectation. I had 359g of cabbage. That's pretty much proportional to your 1 kg per 1L jar. I'm surprised the fermentation would work with such a low percentage of salt. I thought more would be needed to suppress the bad bugs.

January 25

35 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

How many poms did you need for that amount of juice? I'm curious about the amount of juice you get from each pomegranate, is it similar? It's been a while since I've juiced poms but I think it varied quite a bit. Your juicer looks awesome!

It was 3 poms for roughly 500 ml. (I'm sorry, I just remeasured that glass jar. I was misremembering its size; it's only 250ml. I'll go back to edit and correct that post.) Poms do vary in size, but the ones that have been showing up in stores lately are pretty big.

The juicer is wonderful. It's a vintage aluminum juicer made by Wear-Ever, and I consider it a family heirloom. My mother rescued it from a Navy wife's trash when that family was getting ready to leave Okinawa in the early 1950's. We grew up using it to squeeze lemons in particular, for summertime lemonade or my mother's wonderful lemon meringue pies, but at some point she realized it was also great for pomegranates.

If you ever see one in a secondhand store or online (they turn up on eBay from time to time), buy it. You won't regret it. I have one for the Princessmobile as well as one at home (I think The Heirloom is at home). I've bought several and given them to friends who like to cook.

Edited to add, for anyone interested: there are several on eBay right now, at various price points. Make sure it comes with the strainer.

January 25

We dodged a bullet this morning: the refrigerator was flashing an error code and up to 44F. Couldn't be frost this time! The code indicated a propane error, but we have plenty of propane and the furnace was working. I remembered a helpful service man a couple of years ago who wouldn't/couldn't come this far out to help, but told me what to look for.

Quick! Which has more influence on desert landscapes: wind or water?

If you answered "water" then you're right. Those flash floods, and the water streaming down mountains when it rains, do more to shift the landscape than wind and its transport mechanisms.

Similarly, rust -- of all things -- is the most likely cause of refrigerator tube blockages out here in the desert boondocks. Much more likely than dust. He told me he'd seen it so many times: rust develops in the burn chamber and prevents proper ignition. Bless him for telling me (he wouldn't take money for the phone call) and bless my memory. We took things apart, blew them out, and tested. Ignition!! The refrigerator is merrily bubbling away.

37F and cooling.

Meanwhile, all that water from recent rains is beginning to turn the desert green. The last time we looked we couldn't find any desert lilies in the nearby patch. Now there are 7. That's dew decorating the leaves.

(The farmers closer to town probably aren't as happy about the rain as I am. The broccoli and cauliflower fields are sloppy messes, and it's harvest time. The workers are out there slogging away in the mud. I'll add a picture if I get a chance.)

January 25

I may have to buy more pomegranates. And juice them before they're months old. The juice has beautiful color.

January 25

1 hour ago, BeeZee said:

When life gives you pomegranate juice, make pomegranate molasses!

2 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

Or grenadine!

Nice ideas! How would I go about doing either one? I think the molasses is simply cooked down to thicken, but I might not be right. No idea how to make grenadine!

January 25

Lots of errands yesterday, started late because...well, because. The upshot was that we had pea stew for dinner. There really is a lot of it, and it's handy and easy. Quite good too, without the pepper. This shows just how much it's thickened since cooking and cooling. (You can't tell from the photo, but this had already been heated in the microwave.) I think a little water to thin it to a smoother consistency will stretch the dinners even more.

As I reported over here, I got a fermentation kit...having given most of my stuff to a great-niece...and despite my fatigue decided to tackle the half cabbage in the fridge. I really expected it to make 2 quarts of kraut. Surprise! A pint jar would have been adequate.

4% fine sea salt by weight, in case you're wondering. I thought I remembered 3%, but the book I was using had it closer to 5%. I split the difference.

Yesterday morning I decided finally to deal with the pomegranates taking space in refrigerator or coolers for the past month or two. I love the idea of pomegranates: their jeweled look, their tart sweetness. But extracting those pips...even using the easiest way ai know...is time consuming. Worse yet is that the seeds seem to disagree with me. So why do I buy them? I love the idea...their jeweled look...(lather, rinse repeat 🤷‍♀️).

I juiced 'em.

Pomegranate juice in kefir isn't bad. Made a nice switch from a banana. And I still have 250 ml of juice for some other purpose!

January 25

50 minutes ago, weinoo said:

plated so it would look like a crime scene...

If my nightmares were as bad as that "crime scene" I'd be a happy person indeed! It looks delicious!

January 25

I gave my fermenting weights to my great-niece last summer, and now I'm on a fermentation kick. I got this set. Actually, I got 2 sets: one for wide-mouth jars and one for regular-mouth jars, but one set hasn't come. What I like about this is that it has vented lids as well as weights. We'll see how it goes! The acacia pounder is quite gratifying to use. 🙂

It's easy to underestimate the value of that pounder, though. The jar on the left contains half a head of red cabbage after shredding, salting, kneading, packing and pounding. The jar on the right would have been the better choice.

The planets finally aligned for me this year, and I was able to snag two sets of the fermentation lids while they were on end-of-season clearance. Still pricey (to my admittedly minimalist eye) but I expect to use them for many years.

17 hours ago, Smithy said:

Actually, I got 2 sets: one for wide-mouth jars and one for regular-mouth jars, but one set hasn't come. What I like about this is that it has vented lids as well as weights. We'll see how it goes! The acacia pounder is quite gratifying to use. 🙂

I just recently bought the same stuff!

17 hours ago, Smithy said:

It's easy to underestimate the value of that pounder, though. The jar on the left contains half a head of red cabbage after shredding, salting, kneading, packing and pounding. The jar on the right would have been the better choice.

I did a fermentation class not long ago. The guideline we were given is to use approx 1 kg of cabbage (or whatever combination of stuff) per 1 L canning jar. That's what we used in that class and almost all of it fit into the jar using a tamper with moderate force.

We tasted ferments that ranged from 1% to 5% concentrations of salt and almost all of us preferred the taste in the range of 1.5 to 2.5%. Class instructor said that was almost always the preferred range in her classes.

She also suggested using coarse cheese mesh instead of weights and if you have canning jars with a bit of a shoulder, they work really well to keep the cabbage submerged in the brine. Like this:

https://glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/collections/cheese-making-accessories

She cut the mesh into 9cm circles which click into place in the neck of the standard 1L canning jar.

January 25

I'm not seeing any shortages in Yuma, Arizona -- but this place bills itself as the country's winter produce capital (I probably don't have the slogan quite right). There may be some empty meat sections, but they seem to correlate to bargains.

January 24

We had plans for this afternoon, but Mother Nature discouraged us. Despite the forecasts of clearing skies, we watched thunderstorms develop in the direction of our event -- as well as here.

We decided not to risk dealing with road closures or washouts after dark, and stayed home. A half hour after our originally scheduled departure time, we got the word that the event was canceled due to flooding!

I built myself a nice green salad for a mid-afternoon lunch, and mixed a fresh batch of lemon vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is lemon juice, garlic, salt, Dijon mustard and olive oil. It's one of my favorite dressings, and -- unlike things like curry sauces -- something I can wing it on reliably.

The salad was simple: green leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, raw broccoli from food prep a few nights ago, croutons, and Lindsay Naturals Green Ripe Olives. I've been hoarding those. It was nice to open a can, after a year or so of forgetting they're with us in storage.

I expect we'll be clearing out planned-overs for dinner tonight.

January 23

9 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Some time ago I wrote about my frustration trying to cook for someone with different taste, Most responders counseled that they simply cooked things their sweeties liked. I couldn't get across that the problem was different taste rather than preferred dishes. Like pepper in this thread.

Fortunately, we've managed to accommodate each other...mostly...by seasoning at the table. The rest of the time we have to arm-wrestle.

January 23

On 1/22/2024 at 7:13 AM, lindag said:

I also got that recipe in an email from Homesick Texan and had copied it for later use. I'm glad that you both liked it and I'm going to make it soon.....keeping an eye on the salt, thanks.

Since you're a subscriber, when you get around to making it feel free to say a couple of non-subscribers thought it was way over-salted. I thought about joining for purposes of commenting, but discovered I'd have to pay money for the privilege.

January 23

11 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Love split pea soup.

I'm not much of a pea fan under most circumstances, but he's adapted his version enough for me to like his soup. When we first met, his idea of split pea soup was just that: split peas, simmered in a pot of water with a ham bone (no added meat) until it was thick enough to stand a spoon upright. About half a can of black pepper!* That's when I discovered the calming values of sour cream (to tame the pepper). This was early in our days together, and he was rather defiant about that stew being Exactly The Way He Likes It. He was insulted that I'd added sour cream to mine. Over the years he's adapted his recipe to include potatoes, meat and sometimes carrots and exclude the black pepper until the end. I like it well enough. And it's really nice to have him cook sometimes.

*(He's one of those who likes a bit of egg with his pepper at the breakfast table.)

January 23

My Kitchen Brownie cooked dinner yesterday again, this time from start to finish. Well, I helped by pulling out the ingredients and the pot, and stirring occasionally.

Split pea soup. Stew, really. With the ham bone and a few chunks of ham saved from a freezer package we'd brought from home; carrots; potatoes; and runaway salt. He added more potatoes and it may have helped control the salt. Topping with sour cream and/or yogurt helped.

Unfortunately, split pea soup isn't very photogenic. I did my best.

It was a good day for long, slow cooking. The trailer was dark and the air cool, and the slow stewing helped keep the place warm. Rain was in the forecast, and was beginning by the time I got home from town errands. Not long after I got home, the skies really opened up. I suspect our main road was closed for a while due to floodinng. By late afternoon we were treated to the sight of the dry wash next to us become an active river. I love the sight! One year we were treated to it 3 times; some years we never see it at all. This is a time-lapse of sorts.

A couple of hours after the rain had stopped, the riverbed was empty again.

January 23

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

So nice to have a brownie It seems like I'm the brownie lately lol.

How long at 275 did it take the ribs to get done?

2 - 3 hours. I never time it carefully, but that's the ballpark in my enameled cast iron covered pan.

January 23

It turns out I'm married to an occasional Household Brownie. A few days ago he spotted my exhaustion and volunteered to prep the brussels sprouts by cutting them in half. After one or two he realized he needed to cut them from pole to pole instead of along the equator, so we didn't have too many leaves fall off. 🙂

That particular vegetable dish involved my opening a package of pecanwood-smoked thick-cut bacon we've carried with us the entire trip. It's excellent stuff; I recommend it highly. I'd intended that bacon/sprouts/tomato dish to be dinner, but my Household Brownie wanted more meat than that, so I consented to cooking one of two remaining half-racks of pork ribs from the freezer (until we get more).

Woe is me, I used up the last of a package and a bottle of favorite seasonings from the Spice and Tea Shoppe in Reno. I'll have to see what it takes to get them to send me more, and whether they even still make those blends.

I braised the half-rack at about 275F, coated with those spices, until it was nearly cooked. Then I bathed it with a barbecue sauce acceptable to both of us, and let it finish.

We applied our preferred sauces at the dinner table. I shot this before we added the sauces.

One morning right around that time, we watched the sunrise crown the leftmost mountain peak on its seasonal march back northward.

We'd hoped for one of those "Paramount Films" logo moments, with the peak framed perfectly, but the clouds didn't cooperate. Now the sun is rising to the left of that peak, and the sunrise is noticeably earlier every day.

January 22

Interesting about the salt contents; thanks, @blue_dolphin. 🙂 I could wish they'd distinguished between Morton Kosher Coarse and Fine salts, but since I have both with me maybe I'll measure and report back.

At any rate -- the beans by themselves were mercilessly salty, but worked well into quesadillas. All these chopped items...

...were added along with beans and chunks of cheese to tortillas that had been heated in oil, then flipped, then stuffed and folded and heated more. We topped them as we wished. We both had lettuce, cilantro and salsa toppings; I also reveled in sour cream.

Knowing that he loves his sweet beans with barbecue and brisket (and I dislike them intensely), I put his beans into one quesadilla and mine into another. There was filling enough for a third quesadilla, so I did it to my taste -- and to my surprise, he ate half and liked it a lot!

The toppings all went on at the table. We were both delighted. I rather expected part of a quesadilla to be left over, but no...it was just the leftovers from the chopping and toppings.

In tonight's dinner, I really couldn't tell that the beans were too salty. I could hardly taste them in the kaleidoscope of flavors. There are plenty left over (now in the refrigerator) for me to play with later.

January 22

1 hour ago, Laurentius said:

Why are there bars on the windows of a highrise? Is this normal?

Stylistic grids, perhaps?

January 22

13 minutes ago, DesertTinker said:

@Smithy So, mine looked much like yours when I took the lid off at 3 hours, kind of dry and a little scary. I automatically stirred them without getting a picture, but this is what they looked like after a quick stir.

A ladleful in a small bowl with much better color balance.

They are completely done, great flavor and texture, but a bit too salty. I think this is a Diamond Crystal vs. Morton’s kosher salt issue, I put 2 scant teaspoons of Morton’s, should have done a teaspoon. I’ll cook up the other half pound of beans and add them in, problem solved.

Definitely a keeper, once revised.

I just took a taste, and I think you're understating: to me these are way, way, WAY too salty. (Morton's coarse Kosher salt.) Next time I'll use 1/2 tsp, or maybe 3/4 tsp, with this recipe. In the meantime, I'm not sure what I'll do with these. I don't have time tonight to cook more. I'll look around to see if I can find a can of cooked pintos with which to dilute them. Otherwise I'll scatter just a little into my quesadilla before grilling, and try to dilute with other, less salty ingredients. It's a shame, because the other flavors are good to the degree I can taste them.

January 21

54 minutes ago, Alex said:

That reminded me of this:

Yeah, that was our beloved @Toliver's tag line. May he rest in peace.

January 21

47 minutes ago, DesertTinker said:

@Smithy Thanks for the link to The Sunday Beans, I just put a pot of them in the oven, and in the same Lodge Double Dutch Oven that you used. I’m sure your lid will be fine, cast iron isn’t as big a PITA or delicate flower as most modern media (social media?) seems to want to make it.

And yes, the smell is wonderful!

Great! I look forward to seeing your take on it.

I just finished the 3-hour cooking time, so took a look. First off, the lid needed wiping down. A 275F oven isn't hot enough to do anything with that oil. Lid looks okay, though.

The beans were mostly cooked, but stilll a little firmer than I'd like. Their age may have something to do with that.

I stirred them, added a cup or so of water,...

...and returned them to the oven. I'll check again in another hour.

Meanwhile, my darling has decided he isn't going to cook pea stew today. He can do it tomorrow when I'm away for much of the day. We'll have to figure out something else for dinner. There are plenty of leftovers still. Or he can try some of these beans. Or I can make quesadillas...ooh, I like that idea.

January 21

In fact, I have a used copy of The Frog Commissary Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) at home, thanks to an early round of enabling here on eGullet. Didn't pack it. What the heck, for $5 I can enjoy it here too!

January 21

@rotuts, I've been using Maya Kaimal fairly often, but thought the pouches would be easier to store and smaller in the garbage bag. As for the pastes: I have at least 2 types of curry paste. I have coconut milk. I have stuff I could cook in them. But then I'm getting back into the intimidation stage: what quantities? What goes with what? So there they sit. 🙂

I need tutorials.

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