gfweb

Christmas market seems rather spartan, compared to those I've seen in France and Germany. Perhaps the lights at night will perk it up. Docsconz used to be a fixture here...

Doesn't make any sense to me. Just like barding a roast never made sense. Now if the meat is chopped, eg meatloaf... perhaps a layer of bacon makes sense re juiciness.

Kind of takes the romance out of it.

Completely agree. Blaise showed good humor in the face of a-hole behavior. But most likely it was all pre-arranged by the Elves. I thought that Adam was the least cuttable of the three given the mistakes the other two made.

Snackish dinner as Xmas tree was decorated... Chicken salad with bacon and cranberry Mushrooms stuffed with sausage and cream cheese with an orange glaze BBQ Chicken "pizza"

The other way to start the ice in supercooled water is to tap the vessel lightly... ice spreads from the tap in a moment. Doesn't even have to be pure water. I've had it happen about a hundred times when I was in the lab.

nice! I braise it in apple juice, s/p and allspice

Stick blender? I use it every few weeks for sauce or soup homogenizing. Cleans up easier than my supersonic blender, though it doesn't make the stuff nearly as smooth. So I use it for rustic stuff. More sauce than soup. I'm not a big soup guy. Except right now because I'm perfecting butternut squash soup for Xmas dinner's first course. Bacon fat seems to be key BTW. And I use it for emergency mayo...or elective aioli.

I only use a crock pot for dip for teenage girl parties. Big space hog indeed.

Waring Pro Deep Fryer...Too small an oil volume, too low a temp..basically a POS. Garage sale. The Cusineart MiniPrep...still used, though not a lot. Pannini presses...all ready for garage sale Sous Vide Supreme- still used, but I have room for a big box of water in the cellar Blendtech blender- its there when needed.

Nina, how do you season your red cabbage?

Kerry, tell us more about the container park please. Is it a pop-up shopping center of sorts?

I think its fair to say that although there are notable regional US cuisines that are home grown eg cajun or southwestern, but most regional tastes are derived from immigrant's home countries. Considering that the immigrants tended to be poor, the level of cooking that they brought was not elevated or, by today's standards, attractive. Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dishes where I grew up and live near now are fatty, floury, potato-y piles of calories. Stick to your ribs stuff. Can this stuff be jazzed-up and made classy? Of course, but then it isn't the real thing, its something derived from it. Hard for the real local cuisine to stand up against Italian, French or Chinese food as far as taste or appearance. Inferior? Yup.

I'm feeling a reduced balsamic glaze with this.

Tentatively... Butternut squash soup, Beef tenderloin SV w onions and sauteed mushrooms, smoked yam puree, braised kale (in the collard style), corn pudding, corn bread....steamed Xmas pudding with creme anglaise.

I use this, or Crosse and Blackwell Cranberry chutney, a lot as the base for sauces and vinaigrettes esp for pork and turkey meals.

The most I'll put in is a bit of fat, or, in the case of just cured corned beef, I'll put in an equal amount of water:meat in order to elute some salt from the beef as it cooks.

I was surprised to hear Ming Tsai say on Top chef that he hadn't had a beurre blanc in years...his loss.

I suspect that they are getting water out of the confection. I leave my candied nuts at room temp and open to the air and tey do not get sticky.

Butternut squash soup We are in a duck rut. Duck confit and mushroom risotto (that was just a bit too tight, but tasty) Leftover risotto turned into arrancini the next day

Why not cook it sous vide to keep it juicy?

This is a particularly good piece. Just use goggles when working with lye.

Charcuterie and pickled stuff will appear in a couple weeks too.

Candied nuts are always a good start. As Christmas approaches the cookies appear...I'd like them better if they were savory rather than sweet...which is why I turn to cheese straws.