Tri2Cook

Thought I was done with the advance prep part for this year but I decided to add some mini Jamaican beef patties. I'll hopefully get those done tonight or tomorrow night. I wanted egg rolls on this years menu but I was getting a bit disenchanted with wrapping things by the time I finished the pork dumplings and the rangoons so those probably won't happen. If I can convince myself to tackle them anyway, I'll most likely drop the pork I was planning to do in the crockpot.

Not sure what came over me but I actually started early this year and spent the weekend doing some prepping. In the freezer now, ready to be cooked, are pork potstickers, crab rangoons and my own variation on sausage balls. I tweaked the usual sausage, cheddar cheese and bisquick recipe a bit by using a mixture of ground pork, finely diced ham, finely diced pineapple and sliced green onions, replaced the cheddar with swiss and used a mixture of flour, baking powder and salt instead of buying a box of bisquick. I baked a couple and adjusted the seasoning, scooped it into balls and tossed them in the freezer. That's pretty much it for the make-ahead stuff. I'm going to make dipping sauces on Saturday: a pineapple-habanero sauce, a ginger-soy sauce and a personal favorite for this type of munching (and I'm not going to apologize for it )... a mixture of plum sauce, chile oil and a little rice vinegar. On game day morning, I'm going to coat cubes of pork in cornstarch, brown them in the deep fryer and toss them in the crockpot with a pineapple based sauce. If anybody is getting a tiki bar feel from this menu, that's exactly the plan. Tiki bar type food, tiki drinks, try to bring a little feel of places warm to this really long cold streak we're having this winter. And if anybody noticed a distinct lack of vegetables on the menu, that was unintentional (or maybe subconsciously intentional) and I'm deciding if/what I want to add to remedy that situation.

I wanted so badly for that to be the case... and in truth, I'm sure it is. I'd heard the words "smoky" and "briny" mentioned in regards to Scotch and thought both things sounded like something really nice. But for me, what Scotch people refer to as "smoky" is more reminiscent of "emergency room-y". Like somebody decided infusing the spirit with bandages and iodine would be a good idea. And I still haven't encountered, in my admittedly narrow field of experience, anything I thought of as "briny". There's no way the large number of people who appreciate those qualities in Scotch can all be wrong so I've accepted that I just don't have the proper palate to appreciate it. I've had Scotches that I enjoyed very much but I've never encountered the above mentioned qualities in a manner that my mind associates with those words.

All you had to say is "I want to hear exactly what I want to hear and nothing else" and I would have been happy to comply by saying nothing at all. Nothing blew up or went off on a tangent. We just expressed our opinions on what was said and, as tends to be a trend with you, when people disagreed with something you said, you wanted the conversation to end. But we agree completely on one thing, let's let this get back on the conversational track it's supposed to be on.

Sure we can. I'd have to back up through the posts to be sure but I thought it was you that asked for opinions and posited the arguments regarding said opinions that spawned the discussion. I don't think we took it off track, we just didn't all agree on all of your viewpoints on the matter. Funny how that happens sometimes when people ask for opinions...

With no insult or disrespect to your mother intended, I completely disagree. While I don't see a reason to go with over-the-top expensive (which is a relative term based on the buyers point of view and bank account) spirits for most cocktails, I don't particularly see any reason not to either. I definitely think it's worth using something you actually like even if it's in the more expensive range. I don't drink anything neat and I've never once felt I was defeating any purpose by using the more expensive stuff in my cabinet in a cocktail. That's the main reason for it being in my cabinet.

With the price of groceries where I live, I might be tempted to riot over 70% off.

It does sound tasty but if I'm going to use that amount of chiles and not want to eat them, I'd probably pass on making it.

Me too... but I like bourbon more than I like rye anyway.

I had no idea what 辣子鸡 là zi jī is so I turned to Google and it didn't let me down. Sounds interesting, may have to give it a shot. I do love a good challenge when it comes to chiles. It used to be one of our favorite pastimes at work until the coworker who was my main partner in crime in that endeavor passed away in a car accident several months ago. Haven't really had the heart for it at work since. I know the chiles are not really meant to be eaten in some dishes but I find them impossible to resist. I always eat them.

There is most definitely something to be said for that as well. I wasn't actually thinking of you and Kerry when I posted that though. I was thinking of the people who would have the item even after being informed it wasn't ready yet and then, instead of complimenting them on their attempt to make them happy as was done here, would tell everybody they could about the horrible undercooked pork they got at the place and say nothing at all about the great service they received or the fact that they were told up front that it wasn't really ready to serve. Fortunately, that type is the minority but there are enough of them that it's easy to become cynical sometimes.

One mistake they made was not sticking to their guns. If the pork wasn't ready to serve, they shouldn't have served it. Apologize, hope the customer is willing to choose something else, if not, watch sadly as the money walks out the door to eat elsewhere... don't serve food that isn't ready to be served.

Kinda hard to go wrong with that one. You could stuff steak, fries and cheese in a dirty sock and it would probably still taste pretty good.

I wasn't thinking that you can't do it. I was thinking more along the lines that if I was standing in front of a bunch of mousses that needed to have it done, I think I'd rather have the output of the Wagner over the precision of the airbrush in that situation.

And, in my opinion, there's nothing better for that particular task on an investment vs. result basis.

Yep, even using the very best of premium ingredients, it would be. And I'm pretty sure Subway did not spring for the very best of premium ingredients.

I'm probably not going to go buy sloe gin just so I can make that drink but if I had it in the cabinet, I'd give it a try. I don't have an aversion to sweet as long as the drink is tasty. I'm sure many people genuinely don't care for sweeter drinks and I can understand that but sometimes I wonder if there's a point where it becomes a little bit for show as well. When someone is comparing 2 or 3 straight, unsweetened liquors and complaining about one of them being way too sweet, I tend to think "bollocks" (I actually think a different word that starts with "b", contains an "s" and has the same number of letters in it). Probably unfair of me though, I probably just lack the level of palate sophistication to judge spirits at that level.

Makes sense. It didn't look that simple in the pictures, it looked like some colors were slashing through parts of other colors causing almost a semi-latticed look in small areas. Glad to hear it's something simple after all. Thanks for that!

For everyone who says "I'll start doing (whatever they're putting off doing) as soon as I get a (whatever piece of gear/equipment they're using as a reason to not do whatever they're putting off doing)", the excuses have hereby been invalidated. Now I just need to get better at applying this lesson to myself...

I'm hoping to see her thumping powdered donuts to get some icing sugar to roll truffles in.

It is nice... but they didn't actually show us how they did it and I'm apparently not smart enough to figure it out just by seeing the result.

I followed the link and then searched around to see if I could find some half that width, so 1/8", but no luck. I may add a roll of that 1/4" the next time I do an amazon order... if I decide I'm brave enough to venture into that level of fancy decorating.

Yeah, I definitely know that. If I haven't managed to by now, I'm not sure anybody can. I was thinking more in a general sense than specifically in regards to chocolate.

The Incorrect Statement of the Year award, maybe.

- Most useful equipment so far - EZtemper - digital scale - 8" taping knife - a blue-removal filter for clearing the air when the chocolate gods decide not to smile upon me that day Best sources of learning so far (apart from eGullet of course) I honestly don't have any serious source of learning regarding chocolate outside of eGullet... unless I decide to ask Kerry Beal my question on Facebook instead of here. Most useful ingredients so far - chocolate - cocoa butter Suggestions for learners - don't irritate Kerry Beal, you want her to not mind answering your questions - get an EZtemper if you can, want one if you can't, until you can Learn simple decoration (cocoa butter colour, texture sheets etc) early on. These make a big difference to how everyone will react to your work. I've never found that to be an issue in my area, "plain" shells seem to sell just as easily as decorated with interest tending more towards what's inside... but knowing your market is important so this could very well apply to many.