Shel_B

Thanks for all the responses, however, I wanted to know if I could use the fat as one would use lard.

The chops are fully cooked and smoked. Why cook 'em again, and why sous vide. To me it seems like so much nonsense.

The pork chops we had for dinner on New Years Eve came with a thick fat cap, much of which was trimmed off. I saved the fat thinking it may have some use. Would rendering the fat provide something like lard which can be used for various cooking purposes, or is it just pork fat with limited use? Thanks!

Last night Toots came by and we had a lovely, quiet dinner. I ordered a couple of 1 1/2-inch thick pork chops from The Local Butcher, and while I was there, decided to grab a jar of duck fat. Some roasted potatoes and sautéed greens rounded out the meal, along with some Champagne and a lovely French apple cider (which was used in the pan sauce for the pork chops as well). I cooked the chops following as closely as I could the "reverse sear" method described here - there were some time constraints - http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/03/the-food-lab-pork-chops-blah.html and here http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/03/perfect-pan-seared-pork-chop-recipe.html. The pork was local heritage pork purchased from The Local Butcher http://thelocalbutchershop.com/. The result was the BEST pork chops I've ever prepared, and actually better than some chops we had at the CIA in Napa. The organic Yukon Gold potatoes were roasted in duck fat after par boiling them in well-salted water for seven minutes. They were dried for 25-minutes on a rack, coated with duck fat, and roasted until the outside was crisp, brown, and chewy while the interiors were soft and creamy. The sautéed greens were fairly typical except that I put a little "wok char" on them and Toots loved it. Dessert was a Honeycrisp apple for me and a chocolate wafer for my sweetie. After dinner we played a couple of rounds of our favorite word game, Quiddler, http://www.setgame.com/quiddler and this time Toots cleaned my clock. We had fun. Breakfast this morning was popovers with either honey or lemon curd, fresh brewed coffee, followed by a canning lesson and some tips on how to dress up jars with those little cloth caps. Later we're going to a walk at the shoreline park a little north of us. Should be nice, and maybe followed by a nice, light dinner. Hope you all had an enjoyable New Years Eve and are having a great day!

How far in advance can I make a popover batter and store it in the fridge? Can it keep for 16 to 24 hours? I suppose it would need a couple of hours to come up to room temp before baking.

Maybe in a few years we'll be able to print an holiday meal, including a roast turkey. Might this be a precursor to a Star Trek type food replicator? http://3dprint.com/34038/3ds-cia-partnership/

While running some errands earlier, I ducked into a supermarket and saw the Glad™ containers, and some look like they'd work. I'll take a look at the Ziploc™ after Jan 1, and make a decision. In concept, both seem to be perfect for my needs, so the decision will come down to which brand will best do the job. Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas!

While I like your idea quite a bit, it's not right for me and the layout and work space in my kitchen.

Thanks for your sage advice (I love that phrase, BTW). I'm not planning to store each jar in a separate box. I should be able to get six or more jars in each box. The boxes are just to help keep me organized. I need all the help I can get.

Ahh ... Ziplocs in the supermarket! Worth a look. The web page has definitely got me interested. Thanks!

Those are nice (I have a few), but I should have mentioned that I'm looking for square or rectangular containers.

I need some cheap plastic containers to organize my bagged spices and herbs. Once organized and inventoried, the bagged spices and herbs will be stored in jars, however, I'd like to keep the jars in the cheap plastic containers as well. I don't buy large quantities, usually no more than 4oz of any herb or spice, so their bags will not be large at all. That may help with the idea of size. Any suggestions?

Came across this article http://www.chow.com/food-news/83707/making-the-most-of-vanilla-beans/ today. The tip about storing the beans in rum (vodka, I found, is also a good choice) is very interesting to me. Has anyone tried it? Comments pro or con?

Doesn't show up well at all....

Fortunately, there are several old, similar pieces here as well, and there's no need for me to bake or cook in the new Pyrex dish. I'll use it for other purposes ... glad I didn't have to pay for it.

Another Pyrex question: The instructions for my new Pyrex dish say to only put the dish in an oven preheated to the desired temperature. Why is that? For some items that I cook, the dish goes into a cold or cool oven and everything comes to temperature together. Seemingly, that's unacceptable for these dishes. Or is that unacceptable for any glass or ceramic dish?  

My understanding is the same as yours, likewise for Corningware. I do so love my Corningware and older Pyrex. If anything happened to those dishes I'd be very sad. However, the question remains: will the imperfections in the new Pyrex dish contribute to problems of cracking, breakage, or ... ?

I was gifted with a 9 x 13 Pyrex brand baking dish and I noticed that the glass on the bottom of the dish is slightly wavy and subtly undulating, and has some streaks running through it, not at all smooth like the older Pyrex dishes. Might these imperfections cause problems, such as cracking or breakage? I'm glad I didn't have to pay for this treasure ....

Who knows what we'll have. It's several days away, no plans have been made - we're recovering from last night's festivities. I think Toots and I will have a quiet evening at home, drink some French apple cider that I recently acquired, and maybe have some dinner ... something light.

No dishwasher here. I've no intention of freezing my curd. I'll just sterilize the jars in an appropriate manner.

Calphalon says that their Unison line is good to 500-degrees. I've been very happy with my Calphalon non-stick skillets ... just the other day I seared some chicken breasts and before that pan-seared a stead with good crust.

Thanks, guys ... did as Andie suggested and the sherry browned butter sauce turned out great. Added a little honey to it for some added flavor.

Is it necessary to sterilize the jars used for lemon and other citrus curds? Wouldn't the acid in the juice prevent the growth of any bad things?

And that is essentially the plan. Traditional whipped cream plus an experimental version. No one suggested it would be the same as regular whipped cream, and I certainly know the difference. But, in any case, it's an interesting (to me) experiment.

Just finished another custard this morning. It's cooling on the counter as I type. I used half-and-half as I wanted a rich custard, 2 eggs and 3 yolks, and the custard looked pretty good when I took it from the oven. It may be a scosh overcooked - if so, that's what I get for not watching it carefully. But, it did set up, and I can't wait to taste it. [time passes] Yep, it's just on the edge of being a bit overcooked, but for the most part the texture is where I want it. Next time a little lower oven temp and perhaps a bit more sugar and I should be pretty close. Thanks to all for the suggestions.