ChefCrash

Thanks dougal. Naahhh.. I think I'm gonna place it in the litter box and hide the cat then wait for my wife to discover it.

Cought a glimpse of this under the deck as I was cleaning the yard. It's dry, feels like cork.

Hi Maui If so, maybe substituting water for the milk in the pankace batter is the trick? If you try it before me, let us know. Thanks.

Your husband knows his stuff.

The chicken looks great Maui. Since my last post I've learned a few more things about the process. 1- According to my source, although the seasoning used at Popeye's is labeled as Cajun seasoning, she thinks it is plain cayenne and extremely hot, so much so that some employees need to wear masks when applying it. 2- The seasoned chicken is held overnight before battering and frying. 3- The chicken is dipped in the pancake batter very swiftly, so as to not loose too much of the seasoning. As I said in my original post, I've only tried this recipe on wings. The reason is that frying at 350* in about 3" of oil, The batter starts to get too dark after about 8 minutes. Frying larger pieces such as thighs and legs would not cook thoroughly before getting to dark. My source doesn't have an explanation for this. They cook all pieces at 360* for 17 to 18 minutes. So maybe it's in the flour or the batter. Go finger?!

These can be made well ahead, frozen, thawed and served at room temperature. Usually stuffed with sauteed spinach and onions. You can make small versions of these. Also can be frozen and later served at room temp. Recipe here

Using whole milk? When you're on vacation everything tastes better?

No apologies necessary Nancy. You're too polite. What I said sounds down right ignorant. I meant to point out that there are Black Olive trees that only produce black olives. When the rain season ends in April, it really ends. You won't see a drop of rain til sometime in September. By then the ground is very hard and any rain would just wash away before it could be absorbed by the soil. So they till the soil in September and again in the spring for aeration.

Ya.. what he said. Could you pleeeaase tell us: What kind of smoker you use? Detail what you did? I want to get in to smoking. I want to do it the easy sure way. Shhh...The smoking police, aka snowangel, is watching!

Thanks Melissa and Chris. It's easy to photograph beautiful models. Glad you enjoyed them. The purpose of the post is to show that there are only two kinds of Olive Oil. One you make soap with and one you use as a condiment. Olive oil is not not used to fry anything. Well.. maybe scrambled eggs. Scramble some eggs in some good olive oil on low heat, salt, leave them a little soft. Close your eyes and taste. Do you taste cheese? I cringe when I hear anyone say EVOO, specially Ray Ray who always goes on to explain the acronym. I wonder what EVCO, EXTRA VIRGIN CORN OIL looks and tastes like? I've seen imported EVOO lighter in color than Mazola. Do they make that from yellow olives? Olive oil is very unstable. Brand new, it's milky green in color and bitter, best used for seasoning, drizzled on a loaf of hot Focaccia. Two months later aged in terracotta vats, you have real good olive oil. Army green but clear. Pour it on Hummus, Baba Ghanouj, Labneh, Zaatar, Manaeesh, Fool Moudammas, raw Kibby. Unfortunately it's down hill from there. Olive oil gets sweeter as it ages. You ever had a sweet olive? In Lebanon, one year old olive oil is worth nothing. You can deep fry with it.

I always get fledgling plants from the local greenhouse (5" tall). Last summer here in mid Michigan was beautiful. Warm 80's, low humidity (relatively speaking) with very little rain, so little we only cut the grass three or foue times and we watered a lot (could be the reason). The Cayennes, planted in the ground got full sun, so did the Jalapenos though planted in one large planter on the deck. The plants bore a lot of peppers. We didn't know what to do with them. How do you know if they're ripe? We picked them when they got big enough. About 2" long for the Jalapenos and about 5" for the Cayennes and still green. One day we would pick a few jalapenos and find them sweet. A week later we pick some thinking they're gonna be sweet and surprise, super hot. Sounds like your guess is correct. On a normal summer we get a lot of rain, so that's what caused the problem then. When we got a relatively dry summer last year, we over watered. Do your peppers always turn out hot? Thanks.

Azlee Do you have children? Do you eat leftovers? Do you buy food in bulk? Do you use more than one frying pan at the same time often? Do you have room for another fridge/freezer elswhere in your appartement? I have a full size fridge and it's full. Full of leftovers waiting to spoil before they're thrown out. My recently new other half doesn't believe in throwing away good food. So she waits for it to spoil first. Before I got married and while raising my two children, The fridge held: Cooking condiments, milk, eggs, cold cuts for after school snacks. Oh ya beer. Ingredients for the evening meal were bought the same day. If leftovers couldn't be wrapped for school lunches, they were thrown out. My vote is for the full size stove. Specially since you bake.

Phrikin great.. Where am I gonna find these in mid Michigan? Still trying to find decent Jalapenos. Beautiful photos Austin, here as well as your website. Since we're on the subject, maybe you can help me. The last few summers I've planted Cayenne and Jalapeno peppers. Why is it that the same plant would bare peppers with no heat and then some that are super hot? One summer none of the peppers had any heat. Is it temperature? Sun light? Irrigation?

Things Olives was my families whole life before we immigrated to the U.S. I was 15 when I left Lebanon, so my experience with Olives and Olive oil was brief. I don't know anything about Oleic Acid. My memories however are deeply rooted. Working the Olives was a family affair. As children we dreaded the season which starts in October. It meant a lot of work. My village, Deirmimas is the one in the center. Most of what you see are Olive trees. As you approach the town from the bottom. Yours truly enjoying the view. The first photo was taken from the mountain across. This is what you see. Young Olive trees invading the front yard. The ground has to be plowed twice a year using a pair of Oxen (tractors are too big to pass under the trees) and looks like this when it's time to harvest. The process starts by hand picking the olives that have fallen to the ground. A back breaking job, one I used to run from. These olives are bruised and discolored. They are pressed for oil which is only used to make soap. After all the fallen olives have been gathered, sheets are placed under the trees and branches are shaken or beaten using 10' sticks. The green olives are separated from the leaves before they are transported to the press using these. This is one of three presses in the village. The only one still standing but abandoned. The column hides the single cylinder diesel engine which I used to hand-crank started. I loved hanging around the press. It was a mechanical marvel. A huge flywheel from the engine ran all the machines in the press via a network of pulleys and leather or cloth belts. The crusher on the left is a modern addition. A pile of crushed olive paste would be placed in the middle of a hemp blanket, several of which are placed in the press on the right. The bottom of the press rises pressing against the wooden block on top. The oil/water pours into the porcelain lined pool below. These are the crushers (now used as decorations) used in my time. About 5' tall. The clay vats were for storing and aging the oil in the cellar. They spun around in a large 12' metal vat in this configuration. This perhaps is the most sophisticated machine. The centrifuge separates oil from water. The belt that drove it is visible on the floor coming through the square opening. Oil came out of the nozzle on the left. We'd be waiting with hot fresh bread that came off something like this. This is the only process that our olive oil goes through. Contrary to what Bobby Flay or Emeril say, Black Olives grow on Black Olive trees.

Too cold to smoke in Mid Michigan. Made spare ribs in the oven. The rubbed slabs must lean against each other to fit in the pan, the domed lid is high enough to cover them. Cooked at 300 for 4 hours. They were falling appart when I placed them on the sheet pan to brown under the broiler.

Welcome to egullet Pedie, Good question, I'm in the market for a dual fuel range. What model GE did you buy and what other models did you consider? Congratulations on the remodel. Would love to see some photos.

Ha! There's no dinner for me after just looking at these dishes. Wonderful blog Henry. I'm hooked on these blogs.

I had to read Shalmanese's post again (too many words) to realize his procedure is may be a little more involved but not that complicated. Considering you cook from Keller's books he may have assumed you wanted a very special gravy, as he put it:"If you want to make the ultimate richest sauce ever...". Is anything Keller do "practical..simple.."?

Lahem B'Ajeen A Lebanese street food. Translates to 'meat in dough'. Pizza dough for 12-6" rounds. 1-1/4 lb ground Lamb* 1-1/2 c finely diced onion 1-1/2 c finely diced tomatoes drained 2 T Tomato paste 1/4 c finely chopped Parsley 1-1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp Lebanese 7 spice mixture(ask for it at any M.E. store). 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 tsp black pepper Mix everything together. Taste and correct for salt and heat. Drain excess moisture. For 6" rounds of very thin pizza dough (1/8-3/16"), use 2 golf ball sized er.. balls of mixture and spread thinly with the back of a spoon or your hand. Bake @550 for 7-8 minutes on a slightly greased pan on the bottom rack of an electric oven. I can fit three rounds on a 1/2 sheet pan. * Fat in the Lamb is great in this recipe. However, too much fat and the meat will shrink away from the edges of the rounds. So experiment with your mixture. You can't get ground Lamb? Use 1/2 pork and 1/2 lean beef, or just ground Chuck. Best served warm with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Keywords: Easy, Lamb, Lebanese, Middle Eastern ( RG1662 )

chrisamirault, Funny, even the sign says Chowderrr. Most states offer free speech therapy you know.

Hi Robyn Mercury Cougar was not an average car. In 78 for graduation I got a new Ford Comet for $4000. Now that's an average car.

Bargain!? Wasn't that the price of an average new car? Altogether you spent around $75k in today's dollars? Edited to say WOW!

I went nuts today and did the unspeakable. I added Celery to my otherwise unadulterated Chowder! I liked it!

Kathy, Great looking Falafels and Zucchini, both classic Lebanese dishes and look just like they're supposed to. I'm also interested in your frying set up, may be we could see photos of the pot and basket? I think you're super for doing this blog with the hectic schedule that you have as well as selling a home and moving. Thanks.

snowangel If your stove grates are plain steel you could place them in your oven next time you run a self-cleaning cycle.