FauxPas

I had to do some very low sodium cooking a few years back and found that the cookbooks written by Donald Gazzaniga were very useful. They get good reviews from others at Amazon and a couple of them are inexpensive or you can get used copies. I see one is only $1.99 for the Kindle version today (the Soup, Salad and Sandwich one). I used some of his bread recipes and thought they were pretty decent. I liked some of his spice blends. http://www.amazon.com/Donald-A.-Gazzaniga/e/B001ITVYRU Edited to add: I also liked some of the ideas in one of Dick Logue's books. He has a few others out, though not all may be low sodium cookbooks. http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Logue/e/B001JPBQPS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1453519441&sr=1-1

I think the CSO is my fave way to cook chicken, haven't done turkey yet but I should remedy that. Your breasts and bacon look delish!

Fine Cooking has an interactive Create Your Own Braised Short Ribs that includes some interesting variations and suggestions. http://www.finecooking.com/articles/cyor/braised-short-ribs.aspx

But you do have some Peet's coffee! That's my husband's favorite, It's just about the only brand of coffee he drinks at home now. Edited to add: I think that makes him a "Peetnik", ha.

I like SV for pork tenderloin, some chops and chicken breasts because it's so easy (for me!) to overcook them using other methods. With SV, the meat gets uniformly cooked to a nice temp and then only a quick sear is needed and they stay moist and yet they are cooked and w/o having to cook them for a really long time. Edited to add: Maybe you were just trying to say that a tender cut like pork tenderloin doesn't benefit from a long SV cook?

I've been cooking up some Rancho Gordo beans also! I often cook a bunch and then freeze them in small portions so we can use them for quick meals later. Today was Domingo Rojo beans and they are lovely! I had some butternut squash and tomatoes that really needed to be used, and borrowed from a recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili from Simple Bites. This is hardly an original starting point, but I liked Aimée's seasonings and the maple syrup was not a bad addition. I subbed the squash for the sweet potato and skipped the cornmeal, but had some seasoned pumpkin seeds for topping. Edited to add: I roasted the squash and then added it to the stew at the end, because I adore that roasted flavour. We have had such good luck with avocados lately. (This stands out, because we have had more than our fair share of crappy avocados!) Someone wrote a recipe about 'what to do with the green part of the avocado,' because it is so easy to find brown or black and bruised ones. But we have been trying to use up ones we bought for a song and they have been almost all beautiful and green and creamy, so we started with a super simple avocado, tomato and cucumber salad. And then this simple stew.

Last night we had Lemony Chicken with Fresh Coriander based on Madhur Jaffrey's recipe. (The link goes to a Serious Eats version, which I think is pretty similar). Also, some Chana Masala + Gobi (ha, I like cauliflower in it). Basmati rice.

I brought some home from the Caribbean (Grenada) some years ago. I remember removing the hard outer shell, but can't remember how I did it. You don't want to smash the seed inside, but you need a bit of force to crack the shell. Can't remember if I used a nutcracker or a hammer and towel, but probably one of those two.

I was reading on the Instant Pot Facebook group and someone recommended using aquarium charcoal filters to keep the smells out of the Instant Pot. They say to place a filter in the pot and close the lid when not in use and the filter will absorb all the odors from the sealing ring. They say it is safe to be used in food vessels, but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on that?

Finally found a site that describes this - http://www.fareisle.com/etsy-items/fare-isle-wildcrafted-jamaican-whole-nutmeg-in-mace-shell

I'm pretty sure that the shell is considered inedible. The mace has already been removed from those pictured nuts. Inside the pulpy fruit (pictured on the tree) is the mace-encased shell with the nutmeg kernel inside. I would crack open the hard shell and extract the kernel from inside and use it (grate it). Leaving the shell on will extend the shelf life of the kernel though it will last pretty well even without it. Edited to add: I buy whole nutmeg from Penzey's and it is the dull-looking nut, not the shiny shell.

I'm not positive, but it looks pretty close! Is yours as curved as the Kuhn Rikon one? Maybe it's for scraping something else...

Corn scraper? http://www.chefsresource.com/kuhn-rikon-corn-zipper.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAzai0BRCs2Yydo8yptuIBEiQAN3_lFoDvN9M0ixEJGM1bXdRyU4nFK87iNgdnEHcBy2LaBFkaAuDM8P8HAQ

Beef and bean leftovers made for a super-easy and simple dinner of burritos with cheese and side veggies.

The Moosewood 40th Anniversary Cookbook (Kindle edition) is only $1.99 right now at Amazon. Not sure if that is short-term or regular pricing.

I'm very minimalist when it comes to kitchen gear, but I am enjoying the Instant Pot. I like being able to slow cook as well as pressure cook in the same pot. I had a small chuck roast in the freezer and after thawing it overnight it spent all day in slow-cook mode, along with some lovely tomatoes, peppers and spices and a bit of tequila. I started with this recipe from Serious Eats, but I did the beans on the side and only added them in toward the end of cooking. It was really really good. I should have made tortillas but we had to pick up some friends from the airport just before dinner and that made timing a bit awkward. Even so, my store bought tortillas look awfully pale, I should have done better by them, ha. This was also on dinner thread. I did my crema fairly liquid so I could use a squeeze bottle but was in a hurry and it didn't squeeze very well, still clumpy! We were too hungry to pretty up the pics, sorry.

I started with Serious Eats' Slow Cooker Mexican Beef with Lime Crema and PInto Beans, but modified it a bit. I used my InstantPot, slow cooked a small chuck roast with the sauce and did the Rancho Gordo pinto beans on the side. I added the beans in for the last hour or so. I had fresh spice and was generous with it and my large jalapeno was fairly hot, so it was a spicy dish but in a good way, I mashed avocado and sour cream with fresh lime juice and a bit of milk so I could use the crema in a squeeze container. Some fresh tomato and avocado for garnish. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! to all eGulleters! - from Tucson!!

I have the Anova, which I quite like but if the joule over at Chefsteps came down in price a bit more, I'd be all over it. You can store it in a fairly narrow drawer and that can be a big thing you have a small kitchen with limited space. Some of my fave sous vide revelations - pork tenderloin, pork chops, salmon and other fish/seafood, veggies. Pomme purée, mmmm. I still have lots to try and learn with SV, but it's definitely a keeper in my kitchen.

Aw, that's a cute story, @kayb! Happy New Year to you and your daughter! I hope she enjoyed her greens, too!

I found it on andie's blog.

@GlorifiedRice, that review of the Rollie was very funny - "a beautiful, succulent tube of egg." Hahahhahahaha!!!!!

It's been unusually cool here lately and I've been mad for roasted veggies. Tonight was a mix of fennel, celery, red pepper and carrot. I wanted to add some onion but discovered I was all out. Tossed with some olive oil, S & P and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Roasted at 420F for 20 mins. Quite tasty, but I still need to try @andiesenji's method of slow roasting. And I like the Serious Eat suggestions, I need to work through a few of those, also. Before roasting. What are other folks' fave combos? Methods?

Chris Hennes recently revived one called When Recipes Attack Is that the sort of thing you mean?

Thanks, ElsieD! I'm not sure the peppers were 10 times hotter, but they did taste hotter than usual. I'd just be a bit careful about amounts when you use them until you have a chance to see how much hotter! The soup was really good though, better than the stovetop version.

I haven't done much cooking at home lately, but did use the IP a few times. I made basmati rice a couple of times and if it didn't come out perfect, it was still very good. Time recommendations are sometimes varying, even by the same author. Funny that the IP recipe booklet suggests 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of basmati rice and a 4 minute pressure cook, while in her (Laura Pazzaglia's) own book, Hip Pressure Cooking, this has been reduced to 1.25 cups of water and a 2 minute pressure cook. So, like many things, I'll just have to experiment a bit and find my own sweet spot, I guess. I also cooked some beef short ribs, using a beef-stock-and-wine braising liquid. I used the timing recommendations in The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book, which was about 50 mins, followed by a natural (or slow) release. But while they cooked, I realized that those recipes were using smaller boneless ribs. Mine were large and bone-in. After the cooking time was up, I simmered them a bit more while I did the mashed potatoes on the stovetop. Again, something I might have to play with to find the best time, but 50 mins wasn't quite enough. Today I made a simple spicy tomato soup. it's a fave of mine and I used to let it simmer quite a while on the stovetop, so I thought it would be really nice done in the IP. It's just diced onion, celery and carrot sautéed in a bit of olive oil and/or butter, then almost equal parts of chicken stock and Cento canned tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes + tomato paste) and some herbs/seasonings. I'm partial to Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning. The heat comes from some red pepper flakes. First thing was timing recommendations for similar soups were again quite varied - one said 5 minutes of pressure cooking, another said 25. I went somewhere in the middle and used 18 mins. The second thing was the heat of the red pepper flakes - despite having been warned, I used a bit too many. They really get hotter after pressure-cooking than they do with stovetop cooking. I didn't mind the extra heat, but my husband did a bit of a double-take after the first taste. Here's Laura Pazzaglia in Hip Pressure Cooking, p 105: They certainly did seem hotter than usual!