andiesenji

I start stock with bringing the liquid up to a high simmer or barely boil, then reduce the temperature to a low simmer. I always roast the carcass until the bones are very brown - they are also very brittle by this time and I smash the big ones or chop them in half or smaller. Only then do they go into the stockpot. They can be frozen at this point to make stock later, but I usually simply add hot water to the pot to lessen the time the stuff is at the critical temperature. That is, I generally strip the meat from the carcass immediately and put it straight into the oven at 275 F. so the bones will roast over a long period of time as I find this extracts the most flavor.

And on grits. Ham & grits and Red Eye Gravy. Yum. ← I second that motion!

I have had a DeLonghi roto fryer for a few years and it works quite well but is a small batch fryer. A year or so ago I bought the Waring Pro D200 which can handle more than 3 1/2 pounds of food, however I have found that frying is more efficient if you keep the batches less than 3 pounds. It works great with doughnuts, beignets, French fries, chicken (especially wings) and fish, not to mention hushpuppies and onion rings. It is super for tempura - I never used to prepare it at home because the older fryers simply didn't seem to get the oil hot enough. (I have an ancient Sunbeam and a Nesco.)

How about this unusual, new design Potato Masher? and this ingenious Nutcracker. I have been using this company's bake liners for some time but have never visited their web site till today.

This book has a world of information about making and using vinegar. I recommed it highly. Vinegar man, Lawrence Diggs I bought it after I found a footnote about the book in another (somewhat scholarly) book about the Romans and how they considered vinegar a beverage, usually mixed with water. It is very interesting just to read. I should add that the "Spicy Pecan Vinegar" available on this site is amazing.

I had some cooked sweet potatoes left over so made sweet potato pancakes. Sorry, they are all gone, no photos. I mislaid my camera next door Thanksgiving evening and haven't gotten around to going back to look for it.

There was a time that every set of kitchen canisters included one labeled "Grease" - some made in obviously southern states were labeled "Drippins" (note the missing 'g"). Being a collector, I naturally have several of these made in various eras. The largest by far are the ones made by West Bend in Avocado Green, Brown and also in a "Sunset Gold" and "Bittersweet" red-orange. These hold a lot of drippings from bacon, ham fat and etc. I periodically set this on a copper plate over a very low burner to melt the entire mass, which allows it to mix well and actually keeps it from becoming rancid as this is always kept at room temperature (except in the middle of summer when temps are over 100) handy to the stove. There are many foods that are enhanced by the addition of a tablespoon or so of these drippings. Green beans would certainly not be the same without it. Summer squash and onions, sauteed in drippings is a totally different dish than the same thing with olive oil. Fried green tomatoes really "need" drippings to taste as they did when I was a child. I still trim all the extra fat off a ham and render the fat out - when I see people throw it away I actually cringe. I like to buy slab bacon because I like to scrape off most of the white fat for rendering and then cut the skin into squares and store in the freezer because each square is handy for greasing hot skillets, baking dishes, griddles, cast iron cornstick and muffin pans. Some people joke at my frugality and think I am being foolish because I can afford not to have to do things like this. They simply don't get that I like doing things like this because it was a tradition in my family and most of all, I like the flavor. Just because I can afford filet mignon doesn't mean I should turn my back on home made sausage, sausage gravy and biscuits!

I did a search in my own bookmarks and this About southern food site is bookmarked several times so I guess I have accessed it a few times! Other bookmarks included this andthis and the grits page which suggests gravy on grits as well as on biscuits. and not to be missed, this one which makes a LOT of gravy! I have no idea why I have so many gravy websites bookmarked (there are many more) but apparently from time to time I came across something on each site I thought I might find interesting or useful in the future.

This is SO true! On the TV show "Home Improvement," Tim Allen and his sidekick would whip up masculine versions of different appliances and rooms. Tim's favorite room was the "Man's Bathroom," complete with stainless-steel beer fridge, cupholders, magazine rack, and (say it loud) MORE POWER!!! I can only imagine what the Man's Dishwasher would look like... ← I recall one episode where he did "improve" a couple of kitchen appliances. That is one show I would like to see brought back, I thought it was hilarious.

I like "gibbles" too. Gibble-lovers of the world, Unite! I called them "ittle-bits" when I was a child. Our cook referred to the fond in any pan after cooking meat or fowl as "leavins", as rmockler mentioned above. She was a lowcountry Gullah so that may have been a Carolina thing. I make sausage gravy much the same way as fifi. However I use "soft" flour only. It may just be my imagination, but milk gravy made with all purpose or bread flour always seems a bit gluey to me. I am really picky about gravy. By the way, there is this GRAVY! thread that has some informative posts.

The funniest thing for me happened after Thanksgiving dinner when three women, who had never before been in my kitchen, accompanied my neighbor, all loaded down with tubs of dirty dishes, to use my dishwasher. My neighbor loaded it, turned it on and we talked for a couple of minutes and she turned around and opened the door to the dishwasher and one of the women screamed and ran outside. She stuck her head back inside and asked if anyone was hurt. My neighbor explained that the dishwasher worked very fast and the first batch of dishes were done. Most of this conversation was carried out in Spanish and while I got the gist of it, I missed some of it. I guess the lady thought we would be scalded from hot water and steam. Afterward every lady who attended the party had to come over and see how the "magic" dishwasher did its job so rapidly. "Madre de Dios" and "rapido increible" was tossed around in the conversation, along with a lot of giggling. A little later, several of the men wandered over to see just what was going on at my house. The appliance was again demonstrated but with typical Hispanic male chauvinism the men went back to the party, shaking their heads at the frivolity of women enthusing over a kitchen appliance. One of the women remarked that if it was attached to an automobile or truck they would be figuring out how to afford one "to play with". For some reason, this seemed hilarious and we all had a good laugh at the idea of big boys and big toys.

I second this motion. You can't go wrong with either or both of these. I also like the variations developed by the Two Hot Tamales. I enjoyed their shows on the Food Network and have had great success with recipes from their book. I also like Rob Walsh's The Tex-Mex Cookbook. In addition to the many recipes that are often quite different from traditional Mexican recipes, he gives us a lot of history to explain the evolution of the recipes. It is an interesting read in addition to its source as a cookbook.

I did not get to taste it on Thanksgiving because I had no room for dessert after the meal. However, my neighbors and I got together yesterday for a late lunch and I had a piece of thisPumpkin Chiffon Pie made by their daughter-in-law. It was delicious and did not have the density that often turns me off with pumpkin and sweet-potato pies. She used fresh pumpkin instead of canned, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. She made four and the other three were consumed instantly, however this one was stored in one of my refrigerators and was missed when people were transporting things over to their house on Thursday afternoon. Lucky for me! I have my own recipe for pumpkin chiffon pie but this is better.

This is the standard for making your own. However, all the ingredients have to be absolutely fresh. Often Cream of tartar will sit on a store shelf for many months. It is often the problem in making your own because if it is not fresh, it will impart a musty flavor to baked goods because of oxidation.

Visit a health food store where you will find some alternative baking powders that do not contain aluminum. However, my favorite is Bakewell Cream which is unlike any other I have tried. Bakewell cream It is available at several online vendors, including King Arthur Flour. My local health food store began carrying it when I told them about it and took in a jar and left it with one of the owners who does a lot of baking. She is very enthusiastic about it and recommends it especially for very delicately-flavored baked goods. I have also found that it keeps active much longer than other baking powders.

Manttra pressure cookers have been making a lot of headway in sales recently because the prices are very competitive and the quality is excellent. This vendor is in Canada but ships all over the U.S. They even have an electric model that is now on sale at an excellent price. At SmartBargains (This vendor is part of Loehman's, if anyone is acquainted with their stores.) I recommend the 8 quart or 10 quart in the regular pressure cookers. I gave away a 6 quart that I used once and found was too small.

We had a fairly vigorous discussion on this thread a year and a half ago. If you do not have a winemaking supply near you but do have a health food store in your area, you can usually find unfiltered and unpasteurized vinegars that contain the mother and it will say so right on the label. Any unpasteurized vinegar will eventually form a mother if it is not kept very cold. That is, if you keep it in the upper part of the refrigerator door, which is usually not as cold as the rest of the interior, a mother may form. It will form more rapidly if left at room temperature. Some people say it is advisable to use the mother from the type of vinegar you want to produce, that is white wine vinegar for whites, red for red and so on. However I have had perfectly good results with using a mother from apple cider vinegar. As time goes on, the mother becomes more compatible to the particular type of wine in which it is working.

I have several enameled cast iron, not just Le Cruset but Descoware (purchased in the 60s), Chasseur (purchased in the 70s), a couple of no-name, and Staub. These range from a small 2 3/4 quart Descoware to the biggest Staub - usefull only if you have help to lift it. The most versatile sizes for most recipes range from 6 to 8 quart so I think you are wise in sticking to something around that size. I happen to like the oval (French) ovens better than the round for roasting poultry, hams, roasts, etc., however that is simply personal preference. The round (Dutch) ovens are fine for soups, stews and chili, however few things are perfectly round and if I want to do some basting with pan juices, there always seems to be that space at either end of the oval oven that is just the right size to fit a basting spoon.

Absolutely GORGEOUS photos, Jason! It is 5:43 p.m. here and I am getting ready to ride my little scooter over to the neighbor's house where there is a huge crowd. The last convoy of stuff from my kitchen was wheeled over on a couple of carts a little while ago and my house seems very quiet for the first time in days. There is almost a ton of food (really) over there, including pigs, turkeys, tamales and other meat dishes brought in by others. I can't even begin to list the numerous side dishes, salads, snacks and breads. I don't know how many desserts but at my last trip over I saw one table that had 14 pies, all were from Costco or Sam's Club. I added bread pudding and a lime gelatin salad(with pineapple, mandarin oranges, pecans, cream cheese and sour cream) in addition to a squash/sweet potato/apple casserole (in a very large roasting pan), nut and seed bread, cornbread - plain and bacon/jalapeño. I also made (by request) a big pan of potato dumplings and to go with, a pot of sweet/sour cabbage. These are the "sturdy" Hungarian style dumplings, not the light and fluffy type! I made these dumplings for a party a couple of years ago and they were well recieved. When I asked what I could bring, these were first on the list. Anyway, they are aiming at 6:30 to start serving so I should get ready and trundle over. The aroma from the roasting piggies has been wafting this way all day and I have been constantly drooling. I am taking my camera and hopefully will get some good photos. Now somebody should start or bump up a "leftovers" thread.

I agree with using the immersion blender. You can work right in the cooking pot and it will puree just about everything. I prefer to do it before I adjust the seasoning and then add milk or cream before straining. There is usually very little left in the strainer.

My all-time favorite honey is Tupelo honey which has a distinctive flavor. I also like the Bell heather honey from Scotland and the Tasmanian Leatherwood honey. However, most of the honey I use is produced locally from bees that roam in the desert. The greatest amount is produced early in the year when the desert wildflowers are blooming and the flavor changes from year to year as there are some wet years when certain plants bloom but are dormant in very dry years.

I just came back from a trip to Costco. They have their brand of heavy anodized aluminum, virtually identical to the Calphalon that I have. Theirs is $29.99. It has the stand-up handles which is great if you have a narrow oven. In my opinion this is a great buy. I have several roasting pans and use them for different purposes. For very large birds, I do like to either cook them partially on top of the stove or covered for part of the time as I find that this reduces the cooking time and keeps the turkey meat moist and juicy. I use the low-sided open roasters for beef, pork and lamb or "Blasted Chicken" per Sara Moulton

Don't try to turn a turkey this size, simply tent the breast with foil until the last hour. You want to use a thermometer to check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh. I take it out of the oven when that hits 165 degrees, making sure the probe is not near the bone. The temperature will continue to rise after it comes out of the oven. I use a meat thermometer that is meant to stay in the oven - I don't place it in the turkey until about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time and I check on it every half hour once the temp climbs past 130. If you click on this Melinda Lee's Turkey Basics You will find loads of information about turkey prep.

aliwaks, The easiest way to brine a turkey if you don't have a bucket is in the plastic bag in a cooler. That way you can seal the bag and just use the "blue ice" things to keep it cold and not have a mess of water from melting ice. Even the cheap styrofoam coolers are sturdy enough to hold the bag, brine and turkey and you can toss it out after the holidays.

Bristol Farms has in-store bakeries and they make an onion/cheese roll that is shaped like a cinnamon bun, with toasted onion and cheddar rolled into it where one would usually find the cinnamon/sugar - then it is topped with more cheese and toasted onion. Those are absolutely delicious and they usually sell out soon after the stores open as they make a limited number.