MelissaH

I'm a chicken foot newbie. What does it mean, to be de-yellowed/scraped/skinned? And how can I tell if that's already been done to my chicken feet? (And if not, what do I need to do with them before I put them into stock? Do I need to worry about the hard bits that must be the calluses that formed where the bird walked?) MelissaH

I'll probably be able to be there, at least for the Friday festivities and Saturday during the day. MelissaH

We have a Fagor Futura that came with two pots: 4 qt and 6 qt. We're very happy with both sizes (there's just two of us, so we don't need to make mass quantities). MelissaH

Those of us coming in through Buffalo won't have any additional border crossing issues with a Friday morning stop at Tomric. As far as lodging, for me, the cheaper the better, within limits. MelissaH

No. MelissaH

Looks as though I'll be there, at least for part of the weekend. I'll have to check with my husband to see if he wants to come, or if he'll be busy grading final exams. MelissaH

Another meal has come and gone. We cooked about the same amount of pork this year as we did last year, and only had about half of it go. The big difference: we had more munchies out when people got here. We had a double batch of the spinach-artichoke dip, served with pita chips and vegetables. We made a white bean dip. We had more mangoes on hand this year. And we went through only 47 tortillas. Cooked three pounds of black beans, and had a ton left over. Also needed less rice this year: one pot of 8 rice cooker cups would have been more than enough. We'll have leftovers to freeze and eat later. This is a very good thing. The best part: lots of help doing the dishes! MelissaH

There is no ketchup other than Heinz. MelissaH edited because I can't type today

Do you have an oven? I've seen a couple of recipes lately for pumpkins with the lid cut off and seeds scooped out like you'd do to carve a jack-o-lantern. The pumpkin gets pre-baked to soften it a bit, and then inside is filled with some kind of stuffing (custardy, cheesy, bready...) and the whole thing gets put back in the oven till the filling is cooked and the pumpkin is done. To serve, scoop out filling with some of the squash from the shell. Without an oven, you might be able to do something similar on a rack in a steamer large enough to handle said pumpkin. MelissaH

I do whatever the recipe writer says. Look at the cookbook intro; often the author will say something about how they measure flour (and other ingredients). If they don't say anything, I scoop and sweep. But in either case, if there are no mass measurements, I weigh the flour before I add it to the recipe. All the recipes I make on a semi-regular basis, I've converted to mass measurements. Much quicker, easier, and more reproducible...not to mention, fewer implements to clean afterwards! MelissaH

My husband's aunt taught us to wrap celery in paper towels and then foil, and it seems to keep forever that way. Great tip! MelissaH

Very important point here. The question is not "Where should I eat?" but rather, "Where do you like to eat?" MelissaH

Or even throw it in a crockpot with a bit of liquid, and let it go with the cover on till it's done. MelissaH

Hudson Cream is a brand of flour I've never seen before. Can you tell us more about it, please? MelissaH I'm glad you noticed that, Melissa! We also have farm ground in other areas and one is near Stafford County Flour Mills . The wheat that we harvest up there is used to make Hudson Cream flour...so that's what I buy. It's a little more expensive, but it's a good flour and I like to support our wheat. This reminds me of something we saw while cycling in Zeeland: fields of barley, with signs stuck in them that said (in Dutch), "Here grows your Emmelise," referring to a brand of beer. You actually grow your own flour. I like that. MelissaH

Maybe you could do what we do with pork shoulders, since this is basically the beef equivalent: season however you wish, then put in a fairly low oven to roast for many hours until it's tender. Let it rest for a while, then pull it apart and serve in buns with BBQ sauce and cole slaw. MelissaH

Hudson Cream is a brand of flour I've never seen before. Can you tell us more about it, please? MelissaH

Sounds like you get sent to many of the same places I do. Don't forget the power of the supermarket. Hotel concierges can generally tell you where to find one, although it's easier if you're in a city where people actually live (as opposed to one where people live outside the city and commute in to work). Even a mediocre supermarket (used in combination with ziplock bags, the hotel ice bucket or an insulated lunchbag, and ice from your hotel) can at least get you some decent food with which to propel yourself through the day. I second Chris Hennes's comment about finding colleagues to eat a real meal with. Not to mention, it's always more pleasant to eat with good company. MelissaH

Maple syrup contains a significant amount of calcium, IIRC. I suspect you might need to do a reverse spherification because of this. MelissaH

Such as this: Admittedly, it's been a long time since high school chemistry, but that doesn't sound quite right to me. There are two different ways of making salts in the two sentences quoted above. The first refers to a neutralization reaction, such as would happen if you mixed solutions of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to make a (warm) solution of sodium chloride (NaCl). Intro chem classes often do this. The second is the part I have more of a problem with, because you can't just swap out an anion (one that's negatively charged) for a catanion (one that's positively charged), as is implied in the above sentence. If you tried to write a reaction doing that on a test in one of my intro chem classes, I'd mark you wrong. You'd wind up with an unbalanced, and unbalanceable, reaction (not to mention a physical impossibility). You can, however, make sodium chloride via a redox reaction, one where electrons move: mix sodium metal (neutral) and chlorine gas (Cl2, also neutral), and you'll get electrons moving, flames, and sodium chloride (NaCl). You might see this as a in a chemistry class, but it's not something students would typically do themselves. The atoms in the sodium metal will each lose an electron and become sodium cations (Na+). Each of the atoms in the chlorine molecules will gain an electron and become a chloride anion (Cl-). The balanced chemical reaction would be:2 Na + Cl2 —> 2NaCl I don't have my copy of the book handy to see if the context clarifies what's quoted above. MelissaH

Time to revive this thread as, in about a week, we'll be doing it again. We're again anticipating about 30 people coming over. Nobody's running with the torch this year, I don't know about intersession classes, but we invited another professor friend who's a big women's hockey fan and has been to most of the games but doesn't yet know many of the team or the coaches. Based on what happened last year, I'm going to put the following on my list, in no particular order: Pork: 20-24 lbs of raw shoulder, to be cooked and shredded in advance Black beans: 2-3 lbs dry, to be cooked ahead of time Double batch of =Mark's sauce Mole, to be made by Casey in a large batch Sour cream, once again in a squirt bottle Guacamole: was on sale this week, with an expiration date after the team dinner. Got two pouches; will adulterate with fresh avocado and cilantro Dip, variety to be determined; possibly the spinach/artichoke dip this year Veg to go with dip, probably heavy on the carrots Tortillas: 6-inchers, 64-72 Shredded cheese, already purchased, leftovers will easily find a good use Rice, probably 1.5 or 2 cookers worth (15-20 rice cooker cups) Lettuce, shredded, one head should be sufficient Cole slaw is up for debate because it didn't go well last year but I feel like we need some sort of vegetable or salad to go with BBQ or mole pork wrapped up in tortillas. Maybe a corn salsa or salad instead, made with frozen corn? Mangoes, if they're reasonably priced, which would make the girls very happy Other fruit, which we'll try to remember to put out this year! Rice krispy treats, probably three batches because they flew off the table last year Chocolate chip cookies, one batch Once again, we've told the girls that anyone who is interested can come over early, and help with the prep or just relax somewhere that isn't on campus. We're also thinking of getting a batch of hummus ingredients, to show the girls how to make that, and serve it as a dip. I know that the available food on campus, especially the Late Night (post-dinner) offerings, is heavily tilted towards things that can come out of a fryer, and it can sometimes be tough to find on-the-go foods that are decent sources of protein. We thought hummus might fit the bill, especially since it can easily be made in a blender. One thing that's changed since last year is the opening of the campus townhomes, meaning that some of the team live with access to their own kitchen. I'll be near a Wegmans on Friday, and plan to do most of the shopping then. We'll be near another Wegmans on Sunday, to fill in any gaps and get whatever we forgot. Dinner's Tuesday. MelissaH

Even before I moved to upstate New York, my culinary favorite of the Little House books was always Farmer Boy. I've actually been through Malone several times (it's about a three hour drive from where I live) but we've never stopped as we've driven through. But I loved the description of the Christmas dinner at which Almanzo ate and ate and ate and ate and ate, and finally put his second slice of fruitcake in his pocket for later. I'm looking forward to this foodblog! MelissaH

It's really simple, but I made it for a between-hockey-games potluck and had smashing success with it: sugar snap peas, washed, dried, and strung if needed; drizzled with dark sesame oil; and sprinkled with sesame seeds (either white or black) and kosher or coarse sea salt. That's it. I stole it from my next-door neighbor, who got it from the Barefoot Contessa. It's great for parties and potlucks because it's good at room temp. I can't stop eating them. MelissaH

I've had the best luck using essentially Marion Cunningham's ingredients with the CI overnight-in-the-fridge technique. MelissaH

About English muffins: we noticed that when Thomas's started to trumpet the lack of high-fructose corn syrup, the muffins no longer browned nicely in the toaster. In fact, without the browning, the muffins lacked severely in the taste department. Chris, did you have any trouble getting your muffins to brown? MelissaH

With raisins, and sleeping pills? <ducking and running> MelissaH