Shel_B

The local honeys that I've tried don't have the flavor profile I'm seeking. That's not saying there's none that do, but I've not yet found what I'm looking for. A friend who lives about 50 miles north of me just recommended a honey and beekeeping supplier near her home. They have a good selection of guaranteed unadulterated honeys, including Tupelo from a good location in Florida. I'm going to drive up there within the week and taste honeys and get an education. Now that you mention the Sonoran Desert, I realize that I have a friend who lives in the area in Mexico. I'm sure she can be of some help. Thanks. You've been more helpful than you know.

I'm looking for a high quality, unadulterated, pure honey with a mild flavor to use in some recipes. I've read that much of the commercial honey isn't real, or has been cut with other sweeteners, and I definitely want to stay away from such products. Any suggestions? I'm considering Tupelo honey, which I recall as being quite mild. Is my memory accurate?

Great to know. I got the inspiration to use corn stock from Jason Farmer who used the Instant Pot.

@Katie Meadow, thanks for the tip. I hadn't even thought about looking for corn this time of year. I'll check BB when next I'm over there.

I often enjoy hoe cakes, sometimes called Johnny cakes, and also by other names. It's a simple recipe that has its roots in Native American cooking. Over the years, the original recipe has been "improved" with the addition of other ingredients besides the original corn and water, such as white flour, sugar, and so on. I make mine by closely following traditional methods. Yesterday I saw a video where someone made stock from corn cobs which were left over from cutting the kernels from the cobs. I want to try this, and use the corn cob stock instead of water in my hoe cakes. Unfortunately, there ain't no fresh corn around here at this time of the year. However, I've seen frozen corn-on-the-cob and I'm wondering if the frozen cobs would make a decent stock. The ingredients are just cobs and water, and maybe a touch of salt. Would I be wasting my time using frozen cobs, or do you think it's worth a try? I'm inclined to give it a shot, but would also appreciate some feedback. Another thought would be to use frozen kernels, whiz 'em around in the Vitamix with some water, and then heat and strain the results. Any thoughts on that technique?

FWIW, I've been using that technique for rice for many years. Works great, saves a lot of space.

@ElsieDWhile I found the bay leaves, I've not yet used any, but I can speak to prices. I paid $3.95 for the package of oregano and $4.95 for the Bay leaves which, when compared to commercial and other "spice shop" prices makes it less expensive than some products based on cost per ounce. However, the cost for these herbs depends greatly upon where you buy them. I found Amazon, for example, to be more expensive than my local shops, but many people don't have local shops that carry such items. Good luck in your quest, and please let us know what you ended up with.

I found this recently:

A dry, very well-toasted, fork-split, commercial English muffin (Trader Joe's is a good example) with a slice of sharp cheddar placed between the halves. The heat of the freshly toasted muffin melts the cheese providing a nice contrast to the crisp muffin slices. Sometimes I'll add a generous grind of black pepper to the sandwich, usually Kampot or Anakuzhy. I also enjoy a Diet Coke with Chinese take out food. It's the only time I drink the stuff, but it's got to be very cold, so the can and the glass spend a few minutes in the freezer before drinking the Coke.

I purchased the Calabrian oregano at Berkeley Bowl and the Sicilian at a little Italian grocery in El Cerrito called Giovanni's, 1600 Liberty Street at Potrero.

... and boy, am I glad I did. Over the years I;ve purchased numerous brands of oregano, from commercial-supermarket oregano to oregano sold by spice shops, like Penzeys, etc. None of those oreganos had the deep flavor and robust aroma of what I used tonight. They are lifeless by comparison. I bought a Calabrian oregano and a Sicilian-grown oregano. They are similar, although the differences are subtle. While I didn't cook a dish using these herbs, I mixed an equal amount into equal amounts of passata and warmed them both to the same temperature. It was hard for me to detect much difference, although the Sicilian seemed a skosh sweeter. More comparisons are needed. One thing is clear, I will not go back to those other oreganos. However, it would be interesting to compare these to similarly-packaged Greek oregano.

This worked for me with a shrimp dish I had in Scottsdale, although no beer was involved, just a polite request.

Does this count as it's not a movie? Dinner Party Diaries is a new series on Amazon exploring parties hosted by José Andrés: https://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Party-Diaries-José-Andrés/dp/B0CVLHSSHD/ref=sr_1_1?

What's the difference between shins and shanks?

I just got off the phone with The Local Butcher in Berkeley and ordered a couple of beef cheeks. They'll call me when they're ready and I'll check back here when I get 'em. It'll be a while as, believe it or not, there's a waiting list for them and now I'm in the queue. Thanks for everyone's input. I'm excited to try them. I the mean time, I'll try some more common cuts just to get a feel for making the dish and decide upon what pepper variety to use.

I never heard of Restaurant Depot until you mentioned them. There are four stores in my very general area, the closest of which is about 16 miles from me. The drive is on heavily congested freeway, and is inconvenient to anyplace I frequent, so a special trip would be necessary. It's not a place I'd like to shop. Thanks for the info ... might be useful in the future.

I appreciate the info. I don't buy perishables online.

I've not looked for them, don't know how available they are. I have a friend who recently retired from the meat business, and should I decide to go with cheeks, I'd ask him as well as BB and TLB.

The cheeks were just something I read about. I have no idea how available they'd be. I shop at The Local Butcher and BB. TLB provides me with soup bones and some specialty items, and, of course, beef when I need something for a special dish ...

Short ribs were one of my first thoughts along with a particular cut of chuck. There's also something I saw at Costco that might work ... can't recall it right now. I believe that some people use round.

I've never used beef cheeks, and I don't cook beef except very rarely, although I like beef quite a bit. I'm planning to make peposo for the first time and have been thinking about the cut of meat I want to use. Beef cheeks came up while reviewing some recipes, albeit not in the context of peposo. I've heard that cheeks are very flavorful, and also that they are quite tough and need a very long braise. Might they be a good choice for peposo? Would the braise required be too long considering wine as the braising liquid? I'm a little out of my element working with beef, so any suggestions would be welcome, although there's no need to spend much time on the various cuts of chuck, which I have worked with. Thanks!

I've had the Smart Oven since 2017-18, and apart from the fan for the convection going out, it's given me good service. I've never checked the oven temp. I just set it for the temp/time called for and the results have been pretty close to spot on. Just small adjustments here and there as with any oven.

There are some West Coast growers although I don't know what their area for shipping is. It may be available only seasonally, but my info on that is mixed. https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/joan-didion-potato-masher-sesame-oil-gas-stoves/market-report-conehead-cabbage (Scroll down to the last item of the podcast)

Thanks again to all who jumped in. I found the A-Sha website and was very pleased with the variety and price of their noodles/sauces. There are already some items in my cart.

@Annie_H Thanks so much. I'll also look for the A-Sha noodles.