FauxPas

I did wonder about the composition of the pickling spice mix. But I like the re-use of the pickling brine!!!! 🙂

Congrats to @gfron1!!!!

How is the food today, @JoNorvelleWalker? And how are you doing?

@MaryIsobel, oh wow, I feel for your husband. That sounds brutal. How long until all his dental work is completed? Will he be getting implants? Poor guy, when will he be able to chew again? I see your plans for smoothies, broths, etc. Makes sense. Hugs to you both and hope he heals really quickly.

Argggh. I hate having to cook with fractions, even when they are easy to read, ha. Give me grams and milliliters, please. Pretty sure you are on the same wavelength. 🙂 I prefer paper books for cooking also. Even though I read lots of stuff on my Kindle reader or my phone or laptop, when I am in the kitchen cooking, I want a print-out or a book these days. I have over 200 cookbooks on Kindle or Epub and I almost never use them.

Vivian Howard starts with Noma but then talks about Chef and the Farmer's closing and re-opening, in this NY Times article. Some of these folks should check out @gfron1's model. Fine dining doesn't necessarily require all that expensive equipment, for example.

That's the important thing! 🙂

I was curious also, so looked it up. Ingredients are: Tomato Soup (Water, Tomato Paste, Modified Cornstarch, Distilled White Vinegar, Salt, Rice Flour, Sodium Benzoate added as a preservative, Citric Acid, Onion Powder), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Vinegar, Salt, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate to maintain freshness, Nisin (Natural Preservative). Natural Flavoring. NOTE: Dorothy Lynch Home Style contains NO monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Is it also edible? Or just a lovely volunteer that popped up amongst the culinary plants? 🙂 Your wife is always so adorable!

I would definitely refrigerate it, though I am sure some people might not. U of Maine Co-op Extension says: https://extension.umaine.edu/food-health/food-preservation/lets-preserve-herbal-vinegar/ U Georgia Extension suggests refrigeration is not essential, but it is recommended to extend quality. https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_flavored_vinegars.pdf

What size pan do you use for this cobbler? Is that about 8" x 8" or smaller? Thx! 🙂

Maybe a tamale pie? To me, that means something along the lines of beans, tomato and mixed peppers covered with a cornbread topping and baked. I like to add quite a bit of chopped jalapenos. Ground beef can also be added. Edited to add: I don't know that a recipe is needed for a dish like this, but here's Kenji's version: https://www.seriouseats.com/american-tamale-pie-quick-and-easy-food-lab-recipe

I do think some of her recipes look decent. I have two of her books, Dessert for Two and Comfort & Joy: Cooking for Two but I never seem to get around to actually cooking from either. Not sure why, really. We don't eat a lot of desserts maybe? 😄

Christina Lane has a website called Dessert for Two and 4 cookbooks that are all dedicated to small-batch baking and cooking. I've made a couple of things from her recipes (brownies or blondies, I think) though I keep meaning to try others, like some of the cookie or 6" cake recipes. She also has savory recipes, despite the name of her website. She also has some recipes to use up leftover egg yolks or whites. I think her books may be a bit overpriced but there are lots of recipes on the website.

If @JoNorvelleWalkerchimes in, she may mention another Canadian company, SpiceTrekkers. They may have a better selection, lower shipping rates and a lower minimum for free shipping. Also, they have specials now and then and reduced shipping. Edited to add: The link is to their peppercorn selection, which seems pretty decent to me. But their prices are a bit high overall.

When we were in Arizona, our basic table pepper was Trader Joe's Rainbow Peppercorns with the built-in grinder. The price was very reasonable and I thought it was a decent product. I wish we could get this up here. Trader Joe's Rainbow Peppercorns , a Mixture of Brazilian Pink, Indian Green, Malaysian White and Indian Black Tellicherry Peppercorns Photo from Amazon listing.

Mmmmm, the meat pies and ham & pea soup are both delicious things also. Do you have any special seasonings or additions for your ham & pea soup? I occasionally use a bit of Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning Blend for some soups. It's not essential but it's a nice blend and adds a nice little punch without much effort. I used it this time. It might have been discontinued by Costco, though. Too bad, it was also nice used in other ways. I see it's available at Amazon for several times the price that Costco charged for it. 😞

As I started making dinner last night, I wondered how many people were making the exact same meal. Turkey stock from Christmas bird carcass, some leftover meat, veggies and egg noodles. I look forward to the turkey soup as much as the freshly cooked bird! Tonight's NYE dinner will be NY striploin, lobster and simple salad.

I noticed that Martha Stewart's version of Instant Pot caramelized onions, she used the pressure cooker function on high for only 5 minutes, then drains the onions to reduce the liquid and returns them to the pot on Sauté for another 5 minutes. In her example, 2 lbs of onions are equal to 8 cups sliced and give a final yield of 2.5 cups cooked. That still sounds a bit wet, compared to @blue_dolphin's ratios. This is the Martha Stewart link. https://www.marthastewart.com/1540713/instant-pot-caramelized-onions

Completely agree with this, I learned to use white onions instead of yellow for Mexican cooking, unless a red is specified! 🙂 The taste is just not right with the yellow ones.

Do you do any gardening there, @gulfporter? It might not be too hard to grow some scallions.

@SmithyI'll just repeat @Shelby's comments about hoping for a mild case and short-lived! It's never fun to be sick and tough to have to cancel holiday plans. 😞

Like others, I often use the powdered or granulated forms as components in a dry rub, especially for beef and pork.

In that recipe, the sugar goes in with all the other ingredients at the start of braising, right after browning the meat. I put it in toward the end of cooking because it's easier to judge the amount required at that point. I add sugar 'to taste', I'm sure you know what I mean! 🙂

I don't use a recipe anymore, but this one is similar to what I usually do. I use pork shoulder steaks, usually use more vinegar than soy sauce and brown sugar instead of white, which I add at the end of cooking. My total cooking time is usually only about an hour, I don't even bother covering the pan at times but just let it gently simmer and turn it every 15 mins or so. It's a simple dish, but there really are a lot of variations! 🙂