Kim Shook

It is a capable dough-maker/riser, but a terrible baker. Do follow your instincts and bake in the oven!!! I got an inexpensive Black & Decker bread maker and I love it. It's being used primarily for dough making -- I don't like the big brown cube with a hole in the bottom. You don't have to have a very big hole in the bottom of loaves baked in a bread machine. Simply check the time and when the final "knead" has finished, pull the dough out of the pan, remove the mixing blade, reshape the dough so it is a bit neater and stuff it back in the pan. The shaft leaves only a small dimple in the bottom of the loaf. I don't know why people are always surprised when I suggest this, I got my first bread machine back in the late 70s and that routine just made sense to me. Brilliant! I never thought of doing this! Thanks for the tip!

robirdstx – gorgeous Gratin Dauphinois. And how did you like the egg roll wrappers subbing in for pasta? I’ve done that for a while now and love it. David Ross uses it in his fabulous Cannelloni. kayb – pastitsio is one of our very favorites! I’ve been making James Beard’s recipe for almost 30 years! Yours is absolutely gorgeous. I’ll have to make a batch soon. Shelby – good looking deviled eggs. Now I want some. But I only have really fresh eggs. Pooh. djyee – ooooh! Skate! I adore skate and don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the store. I’d snatch it up for sure if I did. Looks fantastic. Stan – hope you are feeling better soon. And using the oven isn’t cheating at all. Especially if you are sick. I ‘cheated’ yesterday and made some beef stock in the slow cooker (I did roast everything in the oven first). I doubt I’ll ever make beef stock any other way again – it was fabulous! Last Sunday I did one of my favorite meals – real Sunday dinner. This is the meal that I grew up with – roast beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pud and Brussels sprouts: The beef was a boneless prime rib that I picked up for a steal of $4.59/lb. Marlene suggested doing it in my rotisserie. I was really, really happy with the result. The potatoes were from a CI recipe in their new magazine: The Best of America’s Test Kitchen March 2011. They were fine, but a lot of trouble – and for all that no better than Marlene’s smashed crispy potatoes. So I don’t think that I’ll bother with those again. Yorkies were Marlene’s recipe – perfect, as always. So, thanks to Marlene, we had a great Sunday dinner. The other night we thawed some of Mr. Kim’s chili and served it with slaw and corn muffins: Mr. Kim’s with jalapenos and cheese. mine with macaroni, cheese and sour cream.

robirdstx – your homemade roll is a thing of beauty! Breakfast this morning – Mr. Kim’s: ET bagel w/ olive cream cheese and bacon And mine: Grilled fried egg sandwich

Just a quick look in on a crazy busy Saturday morning, but what amazing things I’m seeing! I want to peruse for hours!! dcarch – your mushroom forest is adorable! And the sauce on that steak is gorgeous! Shelby – good looking pizza! Rico – the canneloni looks fantastic and I like that you added a meat sauce on top of the spinach-ricotta filled pasta. I do that – a plain tomato sauce just isn’t strong enough for me! ScottyBoy – what can I say? What a beautiful photo essay (LOVE the B&W) and it looks like you got the best of that cheeky crab! nikkib – I want that entire meal! Fantastic!!! rarerollingobject – beautiful salad. I had a delicious, but atrociously plated salad last night and I wish that I could take your picture in to show the chef just how it should be done! I don’t know how much cooking I’ll get done this weekend. We have a house full of decorations that still need to be packed up and we are going with Jessica to look at an apartment today. The other night I finally tried something I’ve been wanting to do for a while: Korean BBQ beef ribs, griddled grits cakes and stir fried snow peas. We really loved the marinade for the Korean ribs.

Daughter Jessica requested taco night. Burrito before rolling: Creamy avocado dip, taco meat, black beans and cheese. Plate:

I'm waiting with baited breath here. What a good question. I've always cooked yeast bread to an internal temperature of 195 degrees - a CI tip that works well for me. But I'd love a list of target temps to put in my reference file!

kayb - I have two different recipes for bacon jam sitting on my island right now! I gotta make some!

I had a good, food oriented haul this year! First, the books: Southern Living 2010. I get one of these every year – I really like these books. I’ve never had a SL recipe fail me. The Gourmet Cookie Book, Seduced by Bacon (cannot WAIT to get into this one), One Big Table by Molly O’Neill and The Newlywed Kitchen by Lorna Yee, Ling at eG (though I don’t think she’s posted in a long time). An assortment: Apron, food mill, silicone baking sheets, pens to write on cookies, a cupcake shopping bag (I love the ‘bad guy’ in the middle) and something fun and intriguing – a molecular cooking set. The set includes everything you need (except for the food, of course) to make things like fruit juice caviar, effervescent toffees, etc. It includes tubes and pipettes, sodium alginate and calcium salt. Can’t wait for a weekend to play with this! Jessica gave me two really cool old advertising prints that I’m going to have matted and framed for the kitchen:

Breakfast this morning: Slow scrambled eggs (20 minutes) w/ cheese and chives, grits and bacon. The leftover eggs and bacon went into breakfast burritos to take to work for the 3 of us tomorrow and the leftover grits were spread in a pan to fry up for dinner tomorrow. I’m not much for leftovers, but those are some of my favorites.

This. It is called a roaster, but we've used it like a giant slow cooker and a warming oven besides roasting.

OMG YES!!!! Please , let's do that!! I'd LOVE to have a "group read". Let me know when and where to "meet" you here! I'm excited. I was planning on reading them again soon because all of this brought up so many book memories. Thank you, again, everyone!!! I'm in. I love the books and haven't read them in awhile. They are packed away with the regular books (I have so many Christmas oriented books that I have to pack up non-holiday ones ). But I should dig them out sometime in the next week. Once again, great blog, Shelby. I was excited when I saw that you were blogging and you exceeded every single expectation!

Kate – (It is Kate this time, right? Not David .) those scones would make Mr. Kim extremely happy – any chance of getting the recipe? andiesenji – that is one of our favorites! I love that fact that your bread is big enough for TWO eggs! Breakfast this morning: Cheese omelet w/ peach habanero salsa and clementines.

Kate – how mortifying. I have no idea how in the world I mistook you for David Ross . Nice to meetcha <slinking off>. Dinner was salad <sigh>: and pork loin chops w/ Tulocay & Co. Three Chiles Citrus Yucatan Marinade & Dipping sauce. Great sauce – lousy pork. Dry, tasteless and tough. The pork was from Omaha Steaks – a Christmas gift. I served it with red cabbage and fried apples:

David – your tarte is gorgeous. I love the look of the on-the-vine tomatoes – do you just pluck it off before eating? Also love the rustic croutons. They look perfect. Mr. Kim has had the week off and yesterday made a pot of his good chili. Dinner last night started off with nibbles leftover from New Year’s Eve: Cheddar shrimp nachos and Marlene’s pizza puffs. Mr. Kim’s chili: with cheese, sour cream and fresh jalapenos. Jessica’s: with cheese, sour cream, hot sauce and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Mine: with just penne – we were out of elbow macaroni. What can I say, I’m a chili mac girl from way back!

Steven - I serve 35-50 people turkey and the works every Christmas Eve. Doing everything required for that many people is impossible, so a few years ago, I experimented on doing turkey ahead of time. I end up with tender, moist breast meat every single time. I never got the reactions that I do now when I roasted a whole turkey. I use whatever turkey breast they have at my regular store - nothing fancy and I'm guessing that they are mostly the so-called 'pre-brined' ones. I roast mine in a Nesco, which you probably don't have and don't want to run out and get for this. I'd just use a covered roaster with a little chicken broth in the bottom. 350 degrees until JUST done. Cool slightly and slice. Store in a plastic bag with a little chicken broth. I reheat it in a slow cooker (again, with a little chicken broth) before serving. This turkey is good hot or cold. Extremely simple - BUT I almost never have leftover turkey!

I agree with whoever it was that said that this is one of the most interesting and entertaining foodblogs ever! It is familiar and foreign all at once. I am loving your food and your home and your good humor! The idea of pheasant salad is really wonderful!

I used to use Duff's Hot Roll Mix years ago, but haven't tried the Pillsbury ones. I always liked the Duff's a lot. I'll give these a try soon. I've never seen any problem with using a convenience product if it tastes good.

Hello, my Diet Dew sister! It is my caffine of choice, too! Everything is fascinating, Shelby! That is the best of the foodblogs and why I've missed them so much - seeing how folks manage their lives/food/cooking/living. The BBQ 'sandwiches' looked delicious. I often do cornbread waffles served the same way, but I will have to try the fire roasted poblano addition. Jalapenos are too hot for me, but I never thought about poblanos! I am boggling at the thought of what it takes for you to get such gorgeous, interesting meals on the table - processing the meat, shopping once or twice a month, etc. Truly heroic! And I don't know if I've missed it or not, but do you also work out side of your home? How about your husband?

percyn – thank you – it took me years to realize that the reason I didn’t care for scrambled eggs was because my mother’s were overcooked. She’s a good cook mostly, but terrified of any egg moisture. Once I started cooking them at a low, low temperature to that glisteny stage, I loved them. Guests are usually surprised at how early in the breakfast prep I start my scrambled eggs. Yours are lovely and glisteny, I see! And those smoked sausages remind me of DC half-smokes and make me hungry and homesick at the same time! emmalish – that oatmeal looks so good that I might just have to give it a try. I am an oatmeal hater, too and wonder if your ‘cure’ would work for me! Breakfast this morning: Tomato, sausage and cheese omelets.

That is just one of the most special and wonderful things I have seen in 2011. Thank you, Rico! There's just something about a gooey egg, huh?

Happy New Year, Miss Shelby! I’m so happy to see you blogging. Can’t wait for all the goodies to unfold. And happy anniversary, too. My parents and an aunt and uncle have NYE anniversaries – a good way to make sure you never forget the date! I didn’t ever realize that you lived on a farm – I love your house.

You folks have been seriously busy. I am embarrassed to post my meager meals! Bruce – thanks for the directions for the pork chops – I’m pretty sure that I have the Bittman book around somewhere – I’ll search it out after we get all the decorations tucked in for the year! PopsicleToze – that pork sounds truly awesome! And I LOVE the imprint on your pie crusts! Mjx – I’m sorry that your crepe experience was such a disaster (WHY do people insist on blathering when you are trying to concentrate?), but I’m afraid that it gave me the giggles. I SO identified! Soba – I love your food shots, too! They are what I’d LIKE to have mine look like. I’ve decided that I need a digital photography class – to get all I can out of my camera. Not just for food – actually my food shots turn out better than my people shots! David – crab au gratin! One of my very favorite dishes! Shelby – girl, that pizza is amazing! I am still stuffed from dinner, but would love a piece of that. Lola – Welcome! And what a beautiful first outing on eG! Everything looks delicious, but that Pavlova is truly gorgeous! And you write good, too – are you a blogger? Catching up with some meals that I’ve made since I’ve been MIA – Marinated London broil: With (of course) salad: Fries and Dorie’s luscious brioche rolls: Taco spiced panko fried chicken breasts, Spanish rice (from a microwave package – I SERIOUSLY did not actually cook more than a few things in December) and a quick black bean/corn/salsa side: Our decorate the tree fondue dinner – Veggies and dips: Beef, potatoes and sauces (béarnaise, horseradish, BBQ, Daddies and steak sauce): Asiago bread and horseradish-cheddar spread: Chocolate fondue for dessert: Salad, chicken cordon bleu subs and green beans: Breakfast this morning: Sausage and egg on a buttered, toasted bun Dinner tonight was our traditional New Year’s day meal: Ham, black eyed peas, collards, scalloped tomatoes and cornbread. The tomatoes looking a little more attractive: And a salad for Mr. Kim who is not overly fond of black eyed peas:

I really want to try almost everything in this book, but the only thing that I’ve had time for is the brioche rolls, which are fabulous and very easy, I thought: My only problem was that some of them didn’t get very dark on the bottom (the part that is inside the pan): Don’t know what the problem would be. My muffin tin is seriously old – very dark and ‘seasoned’. But they tasted wonderful and the texture was heaven. I tried an experiment and froze a few of them. A few days later I thawed and heated them gently and they were great. I thought I was going to get all proactive and make a couple of batches for Christmas dinner, but unfortunately that never happened. Now that the holidays are over I can’t wait to get to more of these recipes!

I’ve been MIA – due to being busy at work and with holiday prep, but just dropped in real quick to see what everyone was doing. Wow! Some amazing food, folks! Prawn – everything is gorgeous, as always, but that pastrami was astounding! So juicy and rich looking. Dakki – wonderful looking chorizo quesadillas! And the salsa sounds great. Bruce – how about a little explanation of the sherry-garlic sauce on those delicious looking pork chops? It sounds like something that we’d love. dcarch – love the chorus line of quail! And the bread???? – kilt me DAID!!! Rico – your panini is PERFECT!

Breakfast this morning (all but the biscuits are leftovers from last night): Country fried steak sliders and mashed potato cakes.