lemniscate

I'm bored too. I've been doing a lot of compressed fruit experiments in the vacuum chamber. Watermelon/strawberry mint was fun. Watermelon lime was fun. Pineapple mint was fun. Family is getting used to vacuum chamber noises LOL. Today is strawberry kiwi lime, I think. Anybody done compressed mango?

Bed Bath and Beyond announced a large swath of permanent store closures this week also. Due to C-19 shutdowns, they did say their online orders were up somewhere in the 70-80% area though. I don't shop BB&B, but they own Cost Plus World Market, where I get some unusual grocery stuff I like. I am going to watch this one a bit closely as it progresses.

World Market carries Mutti brand tomatoes in store and online almost constantly.

I own a vintage one with the SS container also.

I've had bay leaf tea in cold weather and lemonade with bay leaf in hot weather. Liked them both.

I'm doing an experiment; pickled romaine in the vacuum chamber. I threw some quartered romaine, celery and green onions in a bag with a dill-mustard seed-salt/sugar-vinegar brine and vac sealed it. To be served alongside ribs tomorrow. Update: It's really good! Used some of the leaves on a salami sandwich for mid-morning snack. The green onions are a standout also.

Oddly enough, tomatillo husks are used to get rid of the sliminess in nopales. It seems the tomatillo is way more interesting according to this blog post. Don't toss those husks.

I like to leave a good portion of char on roasted chiles because it adds a smoky earthy flavor to green chile cheeseburgers, which are food of the Gods. I don't use roasted green chiles for salsa though.

A lot of my salsa preferences come from the Mexican restaurants I frequent. No 2 salsas are ever alike and its a fools errand to try to copy them at home. But, I've found a couple that get near to some of my favorites. La Parrilla Suiza is a Mexican chain restaurant with a couple locations on this side of the border. They give a trio of salsas for the chips. All are really good, but I really like their red salsa, which has a citrus base. The avocado tomatillo is a winner too, people spoon it up like soup. This page full of salsa recipes provided me with the Chile and orange juice and the Avocado tomatillo versions I can do at home, almost, but not quite like the originals.

I do my fresh salsa/pico de gallo in a manual mini chopper. I typically use 1/3 fresh jalapeno chunks, 1/2 fresh anaheim chile chunks; 1/4 med white onion, and chop those a few pulls first. Then add a chunked up large tomato, or a couple Romas, or a handful of cherry tomatoes, a palm full of fresh cilantro, a good dash of salt and a half lime's worth of juice. Pull the chopper until I see the consistency I want and serve. It's a good portion for a couple people. I live in the desert SW and have struggled to make a salsa at home that I actually like. This is the method I finally arrived at. I will also add green onions if the mood hits occasionally. I love cilantro, so I'm heavy on that ingredient. Lime juice makes it though. It ain't salsa without the fresh lime.

Our first Hmart just opened last week! My first reconnoiter I bought a small to-go sashimi tuna, tobiko and ikura. Some Japanese beer left with me. It was all very good to my tastes. Since it was a soft opening, stocking was still in progress and I believe they were inundated the first couple days. The food court has a Parisian named bakery, lunch plates, noodles and chicken. I was hoping to snag some fried chicken but I was there too early. I'll be back.

I just got down to the bone on my Edwards ham (the old saying, eternity = ham). I vac'd and froze it for winter soup someday. Some of the scrap meat was labeled as seasoning meat for future *whatevers*. Owning a huge country ham and using it is certainly a book with multiple editions.

I had some very disappointing berries a while back and decided to try roasting them. That method made them very tasty as a topping or a dessert just by themselves with some creme fraiche.

6 lbs of cut up carrots for various uses, steamed for 10 min and natural release, then salted and buttered a tiny bit. 6 lbs does not fit all at once in my 6 qt. It takes a couple loads. I save the carrot broth at the end for myself. I love sipping it.

We have a Costco Business that carries the bigger chubs. Our normal Costco warehouse stopped carrying that size quite a while ago. I have to be on the other side of town to get them now. I've done this with the supermarket size chubs and it works just the same. The slices are moist, but not greasy since the grease is rendered out in the SV bag. Makes a great texture for sausage english muffin sandwiches. I freeze it in 4 slice portions after searing for convenience.

When I did the Jimmy Dean SV method, the texture was quite dense and easy to sear once sliced. I think its a good way to cook sausage in the chub. @rotuts was one of the first to bring it to my attention.

I did the one step method a few weeks ago. I was extremely happy with the results. I did the 1/4ish inch cut with 2 plain old russets, soaked a bit to get some of the starch off, put them in cold corn oil in a large skillet on the outside induction and set it to high. I think they were done to our liking in about 20 min, maybe a bit less. Not greasy, I repeat, not greasy, not oily, not floppy. Crisp on outside, fluffy on inside. I am told the excess moisture of the potato cooks out slowly while the oil heats. No splattering either. I did stir them around a bit as they cooked to make sure they were even. I don't have the after pics, I just grabbed a before pic for a friend who did not believe such a technique could work.

Ah man, you had to go and remind me I did try that Goya stuff once on the recommendation of a friend. I thought I had successfully repressed that memory. Same opinion as yours. Dreck. The Callipo stuff is a whole 'nother level. It's excellent.

I splurged recently and bought Lummi Island Tuna from WOOT! It was a daily special, but still a splurge at $7.50 a can. I buy Ortiz and Santo Amaro and other Euro canned tunas when on sale when I find them. I am picky about canned tuna. Lummi is very, very good. It's a solid chunk of very flavorful tuna, it takes some effort to flake it. Last night I just ate it out of the can, I had dropped a can and dented it and didn't want to risk storing it. Glad I bought it, but the price did make me hold my finger over the "complete purchase" button a little longer than usual. The jarred Callipo is really good. I recently found the one with tuna, potatoes and rosemary was delicious.

I'm not an asparagus lover, more like tolerater, but this asparagus in French bread I bet could convert me. Of course, using modern appliances also.

I wanted pickles, we like McClure's. Whole Foods had them online for delivery at $4.59 a jar, they're normally $6.99. There's a $35 minimum order for free delivery. I tried to load up my cart with just jars of pickles but their quantity was short of the target. So, I resorted to online impulse buying, which turned out pretty good. I finally tried the Ines Rosales olive oil tortas, two flavors, sweet and manchego. A couple of mini watermelons got me to the free delivery point. Plus tip. I picked the next morning delivery slot 7-9am. Showed up at 8am. This was the first time I used an actual home grocery delivery, worked pretty fine. I felt a bit spoiled by it.

I've been slightly shocked that CPWM is staying closed, because technically they are a grocery store. I'm sure it is a corporate liability indemnification issue. I did get an email that they will be re-opening in my state beyond the contactless pickup they have been offering throughout, I think this weekend if I'm not mistaken.

I wonder if adding a touch of sweetener at the end of the heating process would tame the tang.

I do, but I put the entire package in another sous vide bag because I have found there are a higher probability of holes in the original packaging that you just can't see until the sous vide water is full of meat juice. I season after the cook, so I don't have a need to open the store package.

The Mexican Gray Wolf project in our high country gets first crack at elk and deer roadkill for the pre-release wolf food. The biologists butcher the carcasses roadside. It's a sight to behold if you come upon it.