Shel_B

Noshing on a small bowl of chickpeas cooked in homemade chicken stock and lightly sprinkled with freshly ground Pasilla de Oaxaca pepper.

Sometimes, maybe a couple-three times a year, I'll put cream in my coffee. It must be heavy cream ... manufacturing cream, for example, and some California dairies produce 40% organic cream, which are always a preference. Some time back, I looked into the contents of cream and was surprised by what I discovered. The Manufacturing Cream that I enjoyed contained only cream, and the ingredient list for the Safeway Lucerne brand shows that it contains cream, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, and diglycerides. Sheesh! "Carrageenan is a common food additive but it may cause digestive side effects and has a potential link to colon cancer. While more research is needed, you may want to remove it from your diet." It never ceases to amaze me what garbage goes into the typical commercial foods we are sold. I also found out that these ingredients are in other brands of cream. Why screw around with such a simple, staple item as cream? Based on my own tastings, the extra ingredients just degrade the taste and mess with the natural texture and mouth feel of the product.

I'm not very impressed with the San Marzano tomatoes typically available in most markets, i.e., the brands that are most commonly purchased. There are better Italian tomato choices IMO, but they are spendy, and I use them only for certain dishes and occasions, but they're not found in your typical supermarket. Bianco DiNapoli whole peeled tomatoes seems to be more consistently higher quality, they are fairly easy to come by, and they are a California product which means that I'm supporting local jobs and a local business. They are available in some locations in Montana. I totally agree with your choice to eliminate the cream. In so many applications one trades mouth feel for dulled flavors with the addition of cream.

I use dried, roasted garlic with some frequency, often in combination with fresh garlic. It imparts another flavor profile to the dish. I don't see it as different from using any dried herb or spice, nor do I see it as a substitute for fresh garlic. It's it's own thing.

Just started watching Season 3 also ... I

Natural release ... let the pot cool down until the button went down. To be fair, the stock was murky compared to my usual blanched stock. I bet a lot of people would consider it fine. I did until I started blanching the chicken and compared the results. Bottom line, the difference wasn't great, but it existed, and I feel better results can be had for not much extra time and work.

Well, I found a reason not to, at least for me. When I make stock, I always parboil the chicken and rinse the pieces under running water before starting the actual stock-making process. All sorts of debris and junk are cleaned from and from and, to a degree, from within the chicken. By putting the chicken into the IP frozen, without parboiling, the stock was somewhat (a little) murky and had a somewhat less-than-clean-and-fresh taste compared to the stock from non-frozen and parboiled chicken. It'll be OK for some recipes, but for others only non-frozen and parboiled chicken will be satisfactory. For example, putting the stock into a heavily-flavored chili should be OK, but tomorrow I'm going to cook up some chickpeas in the chicken stock for use in a couple of chickpea-forward dishes and I'm concerned about the results. I'll post my findings when that's done. So, while the experimenting isn't complete, I am sure that going forward I won't be cooking chicken in the IP directly from frozen. However, it's nice to know it can be done with reasonable results, but I can't think of any reason to do it other than having a time constraint.

Thanks for you comments and suggestion. I mostly wanted to know if it was doable, and it seems that that's the case. I never used the preprogrammed settings, but your mentioning them sent me to the Instant Pot site to find out more about them. Useful info there ... Thanks!

The idea of taking frozen meat and cooking it directly from frozen is not a new idea. There is an old discussion here about cooking sous vide directly from frozen, and I've seen several videos and read some comments about cooking beef (steaks and chuck for pot roast) that way, I don't recall seeing anything about so doing with chicken in the Instant Pot. I'm thinking about making chicken broth or stock in that way, or just cooking the chicken for use in salads and sandwiches. Might there be some issues with that, or can I just dump the frozen chicken into the pot and crank it up? Has anyone cooked chicken this way? How were your results?

FWIW, I came across this video a couple of days ago:

I was reading about some techniques for cooking chickpeas in the Instant Pot here: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-chickpeas/ One line grabbed my attention: *Pro Tip: If you wish, you can use the chickpea liquid (aka aquafaba) as a flavorless, odorless egg replacer in other recipes. Has anyone done this and can you share the method for doing so? I did a search online and the info I received gave me some info, but it was minimal. I'd like to get some tips or experiential information from those who have done this.

I've been buying TJ's spicy brown mustard, similar to Gulden's, for a long time. It now seems that it's been discontinued. I'd like to find an organic alternative, preferably in a glass jar, that's close to the Gulden's profile? If I can't find something, I'll buy Gulden's.

Just a simple breakfast ...

Simmering Vegetable Stock ...

Do you think your taste has changed or that the product has changed? For mself, I think it may be some of both.

I haven't had these in more than a decade. They were somewhat of a staple in our home when I was a kid. I didn't know they were still in business. They're not as tasty or texturally satisfying as I recall, and they weren't that great when I was 13 years old, either. But there they were, on an end display in the market this morning, and I just had to try 'em. I'm good for another decade ...

Almost 10 Million Pounds of Recalled Chicken & Beef Found In Products at Trader Joe's, Aldi and More The meat and poultry products were distributed to restaurants and grocery stores across the nation. https://www.eatingwell.com/recalled-chicken-and-beef-found-in-products-at-trader-joe-s-aldi-and-more-8727075?

I've heard of this but never have tried it. Perhaps you can provide some suggestions about how to use the tea for smoking?

Sunshine Pasta: I call it that because of the lovely yellow color. The sauce is EVOO from a friend's grove, yellow heirloom tomatoes (probably the last of the year) from the Berkeley farmers' market, a little garlic, some Calabrian peppers. Pasta is DeCecco Mezzi Rigatoni. I'm starting to love the shape as it allows the tubes to be filled with sauce, especially if somewhat chunky, and I really enjoy the way it feels in my mouth.

You read my summary, so I'm the dope.

This video popped into my queue today. It's Helen Rennie's take on why she dislikes sous vide cooking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwIRIcdDLBQ Of course, this is a very personal and opinionated piece, and Ms. Rennie clearly states that in the video. I don't cook using sous vide, and some of Ms. Rennie's points coincide with my own feelings. However, never having cooked using the technique, my feelings are, for the most part, just feelings, and I have little to zero experientially based reasons for them. Where she and I are in 100% agreement is the hands-off approach sous vide allows. I like the sounds, smells, textures, and involvement in cooking that sous vide diminishes or removes. I love it when a visitor says "That smells good. What are you cooking?" I'm curious about your thoughts on her comments. I'd love to hear both pro and con about Ms. Rennie's opinions.

Vera Barker’s Cocktail Wieners Combine 1½ cups ketchup, ½ cup brown sugar and ¾ cup bourbon with 2½ pounds of cocktail wieners. Simmer the mixture on the stovetop on low heat for 2½ hours. Use a slow cooker, if you like. Note: A subsequent article suggested adding some sautéed and caramelized onions to the sauce. The same comment suggested adding more brown sugar, although I think that the amount should be enough. It certainly was for use the several times we made the recipe. I think sweetie even cut the sugar back a bit. While bourbon is good, you can try other whiskies ... I think sweetie did once or twice. It seems that “Vera’s” have been around for a while. I know of one family that has been making them for every family gathering since 1980-81.

Thanks for the compendium, some of which are new to me. I love Pasta Grannies, and Vincenzo's Plate is interesting in many ways but I sometimes tire of his pasta "making love" to the sauce. Jean Pierre is a hoot, and I've gotten some good ideas from his show. The others are new to me and I'll take a look at them later on. 👍

They can be in Italian, as you've described. It might even help me improve my language skills. Thanks for the recommendation ... I've saved it for a look later.