blue_dolphin

If I understand correctly, you are happy with your chicken, beef and pork braises but have never been happy with turkey thighs. Sounds like it could be the turkey, but just in case… Maybe describe those failed time/temp adjustments in more detail so people don’t suggest something you’ve already done.

Turnip tortilla from Tenderheart On a bed of arugula with a drizzle of TJ's Green Dragon hot sauce

Thanks for taking the time to share your photos and thoughts, @ElsieD. I'm glad it was enjoyable overall. Everything sounds delicious but does look like a lot of food! When I looked at the menu, in addition to thinking how many plates and sets of cutlery would be needed, I was wondering if you'd have everything in one dinner or split it up over two evenings or a dinner and a brunch. I suppose it would be hard to do that without knowing which things might be best to pair together. Still, seems like a fun treat!

@ElsieD, I think I missed your thoughts on how this dinner worked out. Any chance you can point me to it?

@Kim Shook, I suspect you can find similar inexpensive ones if you search for "dorm room rice cooker" or "college dorm rice cooker" or something like that.

I suspect you'll get some great suggestions from the rice cooker devotées in the group, but I'll I don't have one so I'll tell you what I do. Do you have an Instant Pot? If not, I think a 3 qt Instant Pot might be an option for you. I cook rice using the pot-in-pot method. I have the 6 qt model, which offers more flexibility in the size of bowls that I can put inside but the smaller 3 qt model would be find if you really need something small. I cook the rice right in the bowl I'm going to serve it in. Sometimes I make just one serving. The timing depends on the type of rice but I get good results with jasmine, basmati, short grained sushi rice and medium grain brown rice.

The other day, I made Rancho Gordo cicerchia beans with shiitake and brown beech mushrooms over polenta for breakfast. On Wednesday, I tossed the leftover beans and mushrooms with pasta. Yesterday, I picked up my weekly fish share - rock crab claws - so I made the Butter Garlic Crab from Dishoom and stuffed it in a toasted brioche bun. The recipe cooks plenty of garlic in butter, adds ginger, green onion and diced green chiles, then the crab and finishes with lime juice, dill and cilantro. I liked that it was flavorful but still let the crab be the star.

Leftover chicken Caesar stuffed into a flatbread

Not Just Another Chicken Caesar from Ali Slagle's I Dream of Dinner. Recipe available online here. I never order chicken on a Caesar at a restaurant because the chicken is usually flavorless chicken breast with the texture of cotton balls.. This one had some appealing features. First is a shortcut dressing that uses mayo instead of eggs and oil. Still plenty of anchovies and garlic for flavor. it uses thighs instead of breast meat and marinates them in the dressing before cooking. Not sure that does a lot but if you're using boneless, skinless thighs as the recipe does, it's not a bad idea. Finally, the croutons are fried in the same pan used to cook the chicken so they're flavored with marinade and, importantly, chicken fat. Nice salad.

@&roid, are you still using that dual scale and are you still happy with it? I was just reading this article, How to fit out your kitchen like a professional chef in which a number of chefs were asked for tips to upgrade a home kitchen. Unsurprisingly, one of the recommendations was for a scale and this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), similar to yours, was the one linked. My 10+ year old scale is still working, as is my little drug scale for small amounts but I thought having the 2 in 1 could be handy. I was wondering if there were cleaning issues with spills falling between the two plates. I like that it uses AAA batteries as my regular scale uses a little lithium battery that I don't need for anything else. Though I just bought 4 of them so there's that 🙃

Thanks for the tip! Both of those places are reasonable to get to if I manage to time the traffic right!

I think @weinoo should consider a SAQ visit to replenish his own Chartreuse selection or maybe some Cuban rum but I wouldn't ask anyone to go through that much trouble at this point. I need to spend more time poking my head into some of the smaller liquor stores in the area. I might well find a dusty bottle of it in an unexpected spot!

Snacky lunch. Red Bean, Walnut, and Pomegranate Pâté from Cool Beans by Joe Yonan with olives, pickle-y stuff, walnuts. Triscuits not shown. This pâté LOOKS almost exactly like a chicken liver pâté. The taste, of course, is entirely different with sweet and tart pomegranate molasses and bright fresh garlic largely overwhelming the more earthy flavors of the beans and walnuts. Pickles are the recommended accompaniment so I started out with those skinny yellow piparra peppers in the front of the plate and some peperoncini. I enjoyed the heat but they were kind of piling on with more tartness. Olives came to mind and sure enough, some bashed up some Castelvetrano olives were just the ticket. Good thing as I've got quite a bit of that pâté!

And that's undiluted vinegar.

Good grief! 1:4 or 1:5 dilutions of vinegar in water aren't going to sanitize anything though it's quite nice to use for streak-free windows and mirrors. Bleach and hydrogen peroxide can sanitize if used correctly.

Rancho Gordo cicerchia beans with shiitake and brown beech mushrooms over polenta, which was cooked in the Instant Pot in the same little dish I served it in.

I agree. When I encounter such issues these days, I look back fondly on old labs I used to work in where we had all sorts of adapters, connectors and hose clamps that I could at least test out if not ...um....borrow 🙃

Ras el Hanout Roasted Cauliflower with Mashed Chickpeas from Tenderheart. The cauliflower gets tossed with ras el hanout and olive oil before roasting. Chickpeas get mashed into a lemony tahini dressing. All served on a bed of arugula with tomatoes and warmed up yogurt flatbread.

Deb Perelman has a recipe for a Porch Swing cocktail on her website.

I've gone back to this one and am very much enjoying it, either up or on the rocks. I'm using my homemade limoncello that I've sweetened sparingly. I followed the suggestion to reduce the vermouth and limoncello to 1/2 oz but upped the green Chartreuse to 1/2 oz as well. Lately, I've been making it with 1/2 oz of Génépy in place of the Chartreuse because my bottle is getting very low and I don't see any on the horizon in these parts.

The other day, I made the Salty Margarita Sour from Joe Yonan's Cool Beans. He credits the idea to a margarita he had at José Andrés's Mexican restaurant, Oyamel, topped with a foamy layer of "salt air" instead of a salt rim on the glass. Yonan decided to try it with a frothy layer of whipped, salted aquafaba. I don't really care for the grittiness of salt rims on cocktails but I enjoyed this version. The recipe is available online at this link. Scroll down, it's the last recipe.

Another hummus from Cool Beans. This one is Corn Hummus with Spicy Corn Relish. The recipe is available online at this link, along with several of the recipes in my previous post. There's corn blitzed into the hummus which adds lightness and flavor. In addition, the corn cobs are cooked along with the beans. Not sure they imparted a ton of flavor but I liked the idea. The yellow color of the hummus comes from the addition of turmeric.

Here is the no longer available iSi slim silicone spatula (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) added to the lineup, to the right of the tape measure. The edges are very thin, which is functionally excellent but if your cat sitter uses them to scoop out the food from pull-top cans, they get nicked, as you can see. I currently have one of these Mrs. Anderson's baking slim spatula (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) in my Amazon cart. I purchased one of these Mastrad silicone slim spatulas (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) a while back but the edges are quite thick and chunky. So far, my top contenders are this Tovolo spatula with a stainless handle (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), pretty good with a nice thin edge. I'd probably use it more if it were red 🙃 I also mentioned previously the Rose Levy Beranbaum graduated spatula (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), which is a touch narrow, but not bad either. I'll give that Thermo spoonula a good audition to see how it works.

Fusilli with White Beans, Cherry Tomatoes and Corn Sauce from Cool Beans by Joe Yonan made with Rancho Gordo Caballero beans. This is a nice summer pasta. About half the corn is grated and becomes part of the sauce and the rest simply cut off the cobs. I added sugar snap peas. Looking at the recipe, I thought lack of acid might be an issue and that I might want a little more spicy heat but made as written to see. The tomatoes do a nice job on the acid but you'd need a lot more to get some of that sweet/tart contrast in every bite. I considered olives, capers, and diced preserved lemon but they don't seem to fit the flavor profile. Sun dried tomatoes might work. I think diced peperoncini, pickled jalapeño or another mildly spicy pickled pepper might also do the trick. I'll let you know if I get around to trying it.

I bought a bunch of silicone spatulas from Thermoworks the other day when they were 40% off to see if there's one that would be a good sub for my iSi spatulas that are no longer available. Sadly, none look as good as that one but some may be serviceable. From the left are the mini spatula and spoonula. On the other side of the tape measure are the Spoonula, followed by the small, medium and large spatulas. That large spatula, that's almost 15" seems like quite the weapon. The spoonula looks most useful, though it's a lot bigger than the iSi slim spatula I'm wanting to replace. Cat? What cat?