Shel_B

@C. sapidus That chicken dish looks and sounds great. I may try playing around with it. As I close my eyes and taste it, I'm thinking some pasilla de oaxaca might be a nice addition (maybe not for you, but I like smokey flavors), and while the difference between Mexican oregano and Rancho Gordo's Oregano Indio may be subtle, the Indio may be nice to try. FWIW, I prefer it to regular Mexican oregano in many dishes. Pasilla de Oaxaca is sometimes hard to come by. One source that's been dependable thus far is https://oaktownspiceshop.com/products/pasilla-de-oaxaca-chiles-whole?

I'll take a look at the linked recipe. I found a couple of links to Leite's Peri Peri chicken recipe(s) and have cataloged them for future reading and notes. It will be interesting to see how they compare to the shrimp recipe you linked. I'm so glad for your contribution here. 👍

Wasn't aware of her version. I'll take a look. When working on developing and learning a recipe, I like to look at many optios. Muchto be learned that way. Thanks for the pointer.

Kampot-peppered sharp cheddar on TJ's Pain Pauline toast with medium-strength Burundi Turashobora coffee.

Thanks for the tip. I have access to the fresh birds eye chilies and have several recipes to make the marinade, two of which are shown in the videos I linked. I wanted to post the recipes but I understand that there might be copyright concerns. I'm fine wrt ingredients. I'm really looking for comment on these recipes and perhaps some suggestions based on one's experience making the dish.

While I've heard of this chicken dish, I've never tried making a version nor have I looked into various recipes and techniques to make it. Yesterday, a friend asked if I could make it for her and I poked around for ideas. I couldn't find much - only a couple-three recipes that looked like the direction I wanted to explore. Most offered just putting a sauce (often bottled) on already roasted chicken. Some offered a recipe to make a sauce, also to put on already roasted chicken. Two or three allowed for making a marinade for the chicken, and then roasting the bird after marinating. This is the direction I'd like to take. These are the two recipes that interest me the most: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNw1rkjuwwk&pp=0gcJCY0JAYcqIYzv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38AMhDfhuYY Of the two, were I to follow the recipes as made, I'm inclined to follow the first recipe in part because of the early brining of the bird and because the timing of the cooking and the technique used seems to offer a more succulent result and eliminates the heavy charing on the chicken. For those who've made the dish (not just poured sauce over a roasted bird), perhaps you can comment on these recipes and offer some suggestions based on your experience. This is a dish I'd like to experiment with and learn to make well.

+1

I looked at their selection and price. Pretty good on both counts. I'll have to do some comparison shopping. Thanks for mentioning them.

I recounted this story to my sister earlier today and just now decided to post it here. Interested to know if anyone's interested in such things, y'know, personal stories and experiences.

All black pepper is Piper Nigrum. Well, the long peppers are piper longum. There are so many varieties of piper nigrum, and the differences range from subtle to remarkable, that I'd not consider them essentially the same except, perhaps, in a scientific sense. Nice to get your point of view.

I don't understnd the "essential sameness" you ascribe to the Tellicherry and Kampot peppers. I'm familiar with both, and have had them both here at home many times. The Tellicherry has always been the larger peppercorn of the two, and their flavor profiles are not even close, at least to my taste. There are situations in which they'd not be used interchageably. I agree, terrior plays a role in a pepper's characteristics, just as it does for wine grapes, coffee beans, and chocolate (cacao). Oaktown's description of Single Origin seems pretty clear to me. In what way is it vague to you? It's a description that I've seen before for other single origin products.

I use Kampot frequently. The local spice shop carries it. https://oaktownspiceshop.com/collections/peppercorns/products/kampot-black-peppercorns What kind of listing is that from Amazon? It states Kampot pepper tellicherry ... what is one actually getting? I'd certainly be hesitant to order from that listing.

Geat variety: https://spicetrekkers.com/shop/peppers

Light breakfast this morning:

What is an Ernest Hemingway burger? In what way is it different from a regular hamburger?

Something simple and quick (except for the roasting time). Roasted and caramelized Garnet yams seasoned with chipotle in adobo sauce that I ran through the blender, fresh ground black cumin, and a bit of piloncillo (sometimes called panela or Mexican sugar) and smoked salt. Mixed everything together to a smooth mashed potato consisency and we had it with an arugula salad with corn kernels and a light chile-lime dressing. Sorry, no pics, was at a neighbor's place and my camera and phone was at home.

Arrived this morning direct from Four Elephants, new crop Thai Hom Mali jasmine rice.

It's a Misty Mango Morning: The morning came greyer than usual and left fingerprints of mist on the office window. A mango that had been ripening for a while seemed ready to eat, and the last of a package of 'tots had already been removed from the freezer. One of my favorite Marie Sharp's hot sauces was at the ready on the counter, and Peet's Burundi Turashobora had already been ground and was waiting for the French press. I was in the mood to take pictures.

That looks great. My kind of meal!

Late Lunch, Early Dinner: Brown rice (Massa Organics), assorted veggies, sauce made with low-sodium soy sauce and Megachef oyster sauce and everything was sprinkled with freshly ground Szechuan pepper. Nepali Himalayan Black Tea as the beverage.

Trader Joe's lightly toasted, thickish-sliced, Pain Pauline with a thin spread of Beurre D'Isigny French butter with coarse sea salt accompanied by a rich cup of Peet's Burundi Turashobora coffee. Simple and absolutely delicious.

There's a community ice house with which I'm familiar up north of Whithorse in Canada's Northwest Territory. It serves a small indigenous community and has about 20 rooms - one for each family in the community. It's dug down below the frostline, I don't know for sure, maybe 40 feet below ground level. Even thugh the community has electricity and mechanical refrigeration, the use of the ice house keeps power usage down and cuts down on greenhouse gases. The Northwest Territory Power Company provides the electricity which is produced by Diesel generators, so you can see how the ice house is an important part of the community.

Sometimes I'll make potato salad for a meal. It's not just for picnics and BBQs. The last time was about a week-10 days ago,and I made a variation on a Japanese-style potato salad.

Finally got around to replacing the old behemoth which was also a Panasonic and which gave us more than twenty-three years of good service. It would have cost more to fix than many contemporary new ovens, and while it was hard to let go, the time had come to replace it. I've been without a microwave for about eight months, and surprisingly I didn't miss it very much. The only thing I really missed was not being able to heat up my favorite TJ's frozen entrées. The new oven cost less than half of what a repair to the old one would have. It's not quite as powerful (900 watts vs 1200 watts), and while it's just about as big inside the outer dimensions are quite a bit smaller. Bought it directly from Panasonic and, OTD, saved about 12% compared to Amazon.

The point was that the food was stored a long time (more than a year in some instances) and using mechanical refrigeration, which was new and frightening to some people. It was mentioned that refrigeration (by natural means) had been used before. “Until we figured out how to use machines to make cold, we were reliant on this very ephemeral, unreliable thing that melted.” In many areas of the United States ice houses had been used. As a kid, I encountered them in upstate NY in the 1950s. A couple were still in use at that time. The ice was obtained by harvesting from frozen lakes and ponds during the winter months and was then stored in ice houses which were heavily insulation to keep the ice frozen through warmer months. Some ice houses were built underground. I'm sure the Egyptians, and even the cavemen, had similar setups, although the Egyptians and many early cultures also used other methods of preservation. And I'm sure both Atlas Obscura and Twilley were and are very much aware of the history of refrigeration, and stated as much in very bold type posted in the middle of the article, and which I copied above. I believe you're aware of all this.