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HungryC

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Everything posted by HungryC

  1. Thought you northern gardeners might enjoy a photo of my grape tomatoes...every flower is setting a fruit. I'm picking the first ripe grape tomatoes right now.
  2. Don't worry 'bout picking on me, I can take it I think the "lifestyle choices cost us all" argument leaves out an important factor: our RIGHTS. Until smoking is completely banned in this country, don't frown at me for eating Cheetos, or supporting the rights of Cheeto-eating kiddos. I know MDs, PhDs, and all sorts of people who smoke, and they're on my group health insurance. But they're entitled to smoke, or drink, or eat pork fat, or hate broccoli, or drink 20 cups of coffee a day. Consumption choices aren't rational economic decisions, thank God (or Buddha, or Allah, or the nuclear strong force or.....) For the record, today's lunch included a bag of Cheez-nips from the vending machine down the hall. I also had a carton of nonfat greek yogurt and a V-8. I picked the Cheez-nips 'cause the 2 oz bag has more protein than a comparably sized bag of potato chips. Did I make this calculation as a kid? No, I just ate the Cheez-nips 'cause I liked 'em, along with a spicy SlimJim and a Dr. Pepper. And I even managed graduate school on such inferior nutritional material, quelle horreur. (My bloodwork is fine, thank-you-very-much, and my grandma lived to 94 on pork fat & homemade white bread.) I fully support better school food for kids...but we also need to teach basic home economics. Cooking, nutrition, and budgeting need to be a part of the curriculum--along with enjoyment, pleasure, and the power of food to bring people together.
  3. This brown-bag prohibition isn't exactly a new thing...my Louisiana public elementary school required a doctor's note if you wanted to brown-bag it. Middle school required you to choose: either you were brown-bagging it all year or you were a cafeteria diner; no switching. Schools can require a uniform, a particular bookbag (clear or mesh for security purposes), and a particular kind of gym clothes--what makes lunches any different? As long as the cafeteria offers a few choices (salad bar, vegetarian stuff, sandwiches vs. hot lunches), I can't see how forced participation is a bad thing. You don't get to opt out of gym class, art or recess, do you? Then again, my public school made fresh yeast rolls nearly every day, and gumbo, lasagna, & red beans/rice were popular entrees. So why would you want a cold turkey sandwich from home if you could have fresh bread & butter? (See Donald Link's Real Cajun cookbook for the LA Public Schools yeast roll recipe.) In high school, we'd show up early just to eat breakfast: raisin buns & pork sausage patties, mmm-hmmm. ETA: chips/cheetos and a Coke damn sure IS a valid parental choice. You don't know what that kid had for breakfast or what he/she is having for dinner. So let's not demonize 450 calories of the kiddo's day. Just because it's not YOUR choice doesn't make it a morally bankrupt choice. Please. In many places in the world, that 450 calories would constitute a generous lunch...and in other places, the entire midday meal is optional.
  4. I thought sterility was generally more of an issue with modern hybrids. My botany knowledge is limited so perhaps someone else could enlighten us both on this point. Heirloom is an empty term these days. It can mean different things to different people. The most common useage in plant circles is for an open-pollinated variety that will indeed breed true to seed--in other words, a plant that will set seeds that produce similar offspring. On the other hand, some retailers identify anything that's not a hard, machine-picked tomato as an "heirloom" variety, when some of those odd tomatoes are indeed hybrids (just less common than the most productive commercial varieties). Hybrids aren't true seeding--they're crosses of varieties and their seeds will produce wildly variable (or poor quality) offspring. They're not always sterile; the seed just isn't dependable. In addition, if it is a recently developed hybrid, it's technically a violation of intellectual property laws to save seeds from patent hybrids for your own propagation. So if those tomatoes were old-fashioned, open-pollinated tomatoes, there's a good chance you'll get productive plants. I don't save tomato seeds (too tiny & fiddly for me, plus I have no greenhouse to start the seedlings in late Dec or Jan, which is when I'd have to start to be ready for transplanting in late Feb/early March), but I do save herb seeds (multi basil varieties, dill, cilantro, fennel, parsley). One benefit of allowing the cooler-season herbs to set seed as the weather warms: their flowers bring bees to the garden just about the time the tomatoes will need pollination, too.
  5. There's actually a variety called Creole that should work for you if you can find them. I saw them last year and heard good things about them. The named variety 'Creole' is pretty much crap in my garden. It is a low producer, not very disease resistant, and generally lackluster all around; tried it several years running with poor results each time. I'm also annoyed by the co-opting of the general term "creole" for a named variety. Around here, a Creole tomato is any tomato, regardless of variety, that is grown in the alluvial soils deposited by the MS river. Typical farm-grown Creoles are from hybrid varieties like Celebrity; they're heavy, non-symmetrical, and often have healed cracks on the shoulders (thanks to abundant rain).
  6. The back flap on the underside is cut off, the sides of the upper shell are lifted to remove the gills, and I cut off the "face" (a triangular section of the front containing the eyes & tougher mouth parts) with kitchen shears. Some folks pull out the gastric sac, as it can contain sand. But I don't usually bother with this, as most of the crabs I buy are held in tanks prior to shedding for at least several days (sometimes as much as 10 days), so they've been fasting & in cleanish water. Others will tell you to scrape out any fat (yellowish stuff), but I think it is delicious. Chacun a son gout. Agree about not attempting to fry (or otherwise cook) a frozen crab. Those suckers are mostly water, and I can't see how adding a frozen lump to a pan or deep fryer will yield anything other than a watery on the inside, burned on the outside mess. For deep frying, I definitely want a little cornmeal or cream meal (almost the texture of cornflour) in my coating. Try frying a strip of bacon in the grease before frying the crab....mmm-hmm.
  7. Yes, I believe it was black krim. I need to go out today and look for some heat-tolerant varieties--as soon as the nighttime lows stay above 70, I won't get any fruit set at all unless I have some Florida, Solar Fire, etc. The cherry & grape varieties do best as the summer wears on. Luckily, I've avoided the usual plague of caterpillars that shows up in April; we had a consistently cold winter this year, and lower temps always lower the pest load come spring.
  8. Have tried Brandywines, Cherokee Purple, a couple striped varities, and some Russian black whose name I can't recall: terrible production out of all of 'em, but I'm in climate zone 9B. I think it's just too hot & wet here for so many of the older varieties; I would get 1 or 2 early fruits, then lots of flowers and NO fruit set. This year, I have orange jubilee, Park's whopper, Beefmaster, Better Boy, Celebrity, a grape cultivar, and some fusarium-wilt hybrids. I have good fruit set, so far, with fist-sized tomatoes already on the larger plants. Should have some edible grape tomatoes by the end of next week.
  9. Wow--a year in the freezer is a long, long time for a softshell. I've had excellent frozen softshells, but they weren't more than 3-4 mos. frozen. I always defrost completely, then clean & dry thoroughly. A soggy crab won't crisp up....I've taken to grilling them, basted liberally w/butter. But the crispiest crab is deep-fried...damn, now I want a soft-shelled crab poboy. Guess I know what I'm having for lunch...the water temps are up, so the seafood processors are buying 'redline' crabs to put into their shedding tanks 'round here.
  10. I grilled pork tenderloin last night, coated in a paste of olive oil, garlic, dry italian seasoning, orange zest, and a little orange juice. Have you tried any of the Dizzy Pig rubs? I'm usually not a fan of premixed rubs, but DP's stuff is quality & includes interesting ingredients (salted & salt-free versions available). Also count me as a huge fan of the aforementioned Viet-style thit nuong treatment of pork.
  11. The idea of a chef-driven comic annoys me way less than the Grant Achatz-expensively-restored-car-presentation.
  12. This weekend, I ran into a "groupon mob" at a local patisserie/gelateria. It was awful...indecisive, rather rude customers interested in squeezing every cent out of the "deal", making endless requests of the staff, causing the whole place to creep to a grinding halt. Now I'm checking out groupon/living social to find out what food establishments to avoid, as I have no interest in encountering another 20-something pack of couponites.
  13. Ah, city life. Once upon a time, when I lived within a stone's throw of decent Thai takeout, I had an empty fridge, too. But life in the sticks means being prepared, y'know? No 24 hour markets, no non-pizza delivery. So no more empty fridge syndrome for me.
  14. I got a BGE instead of a brick oven....my Egg is portable, in a nest on wheels. Try that with a brick oven, LOL>
  15. HungryC

    Gluten-free Roux

    The celiac Cajuns I know all use rice flour for roux-making.
  16. A cooler (like these) is essential, I think. You can put the frequently used items in it, eliminating the need for opening/closing your main fridge/freezer. Do you have an automatic ice maker? If so, keep the bin empty (put the ice into a cooler or plastic bags in your freezer) so it will generate ice at its maximum output. Flat, shallow containers will freeze faster than deeper ones, and cooked/frozen liquid foods work as well as ice in keeping the whole shebang frozen. RE: coolers, the marine grade used by boaters & fishermen is superior to the ordinary picnic kind. Boating supply stores sell the "5-day" versions, and the catering hot/cold chests (Yeti is a common US brand) sold at restaurant supply houses are quite good, too. Sure wish I could loan you one of the many coolers hanging around in my garage. I "kitchened" out of a 100-quart Igloo after H Katrina et al...it wasn't too bad as long as I could replenish the ice every 4-5 days. Learned it was better NOT to have leftovers, as cooling down even room temp foods melted too much ice. Cooked as much as possible outside, too, to avoid heating the house (we had gas service, but no electricity).
  17. Catholic fish fries (no baked fish 'round here, LOL) in my area: usually mustard-battered catfish, with a little cornmeal in the coating. These catfish dinners are pretty heavy on the bland starches, with sides of potato salad, white beans cooked w/shrimp over rice, hush puppies or cornbread or a dinner roll, some sort of sweet (frosted sheet cake, cookies, cupcakes). Seafood gumbo (shrimp & crab) is usually available for a separate fee. I get a to-go plate and re-purpose the fried fish into fish tacos.
  18. I'm still searching for the perfect dough recipe. The one pictured was a 65% hydration, Caputo 00 crust. Nice, but not my platonic ideal. Next go-round will incorporate some high-gluten flour into the mixture.
  19. I think about this issue (whether the average American cooks anymore) at the beginning of the semester, when my adult students turn in their weeklong food diaries. Even in a food-centric city like New Orleans, it seems that very few people are doing any meaningful weeknight cooking. Routinely, in a class of 20, half will eat the weekend's takeout leftovers on M/T/W, eat packaged foods on Th, and start the cycle again on Friday. Specialized, hobbyist cooking might be on the rise, but "subsistence" weeknight cooking is damn near dead. (Hey, somebody needs to provide a market for the cheap calories generated by subsidized Big Ag...right? Pass the boneless Tyson wings...burp.)
  20. I'm confused...did YOUR machine overheat at higher speeds? I have a KitchenAid Pro of about the same vintage. I use it to knead yeast doughs on at least a weekly (sometimes 2/3 times a week) basis. I usually do the inital mixing on low or 2, and I knead at 4 or 6, depending on the dough's needs. Kneading at 4-6 for 6-10 minutes is routine for me, have never had a problem. I've used it to knead pizza bianca dough at higher speeds (6-8) for 15+ minutes. I have used it for every kind of dough imaginable, from bagel dough to multi-grain whole wheat. I've never had a moment's trouble with it. Have made marshmallows, mashed potatoes, and so on. Routinely crank out double-batches of heavy cookie dough. I have the meat grinder attachment, the pasta roller & cutter attachments: both work just fine. My only complaint is sound: the mixer is a bit loud.
  21. Yes, but you're talking about the suburbs of a major metro area. Try 15-20 miles outside a second tier Sunbelt city (which is a huge swath of the US population these days), and Euro appliance servicing is nonexistent. Many people I know can't get a decent Viking service guy, much less Miele.
  22. Does Northern Europe have better appliance service than N America? We're a big ol spread-out country, and I know that getting Miele, etc serviced outside of major metropolitan areas is downright impossible. So rural/suburban buyers tend to steer away from hard-to-service brands.
  23. Pretzels are my vending machine go-to, but that's 'cause I carry little foil packets of Justin's chocolate almond butter. Squeeze a little on a pretzel, and it's almost worth eating. I like it when I find ginger ale in drink machines. It almost never happens.
  24. Did Nueske's applewood bacon on my Mini for breakfast today, and followed that up with two pizzas on the large for lunch. Here's the first pizza, cooked on a pizza stone atop two firebricks atop the plate setter, legs down. The Egg had a raging fire of fresh lump, temp was around 625-650. Preheated the whole shebang for ~30 minutes, then peeled on the first pizza. I made it on parchment so it could sit around while the Egg heated up. A shot of the pizza cooking, through the top vent. The finished product.
  25. Haven't noticed a difference between olive oil & peanut oil (flavor yes, but texture, no), but I do find that butter makes for a more flaky-crisp crust, rather than completely tender or too hard. I have a batch of 3/4ths white whole wheat, 1/4th bread flour, slicing loaf (with a little ground flaxseed) resting in my fridge right now. I used peanut oil in it today, as I had an open bottle on hand.
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