blue_dolphin

Yay! I'm so glad I could help enable a cook book purchase 🙃. It really sounded like a good book. I'll be watching the post and maybe I'll be reverse-enabled into getting it myself!

The Kindle version of Dining In is currently @ $1.99 on Amazon.com though not on Amazon.ca

OK, here's my take on the crispy split corn with ground chili, pecorino and bacon aioli appetizer that I mentioned upthread. The wedges on the right were from an ear of corn that I smoked first. I didn't really care for that variation. Might have overdone the smoke. The pieces on the left were good. Microwaved in the husk for a couple of minutes, shucked, cut into wedges as I described above, brushed with butter and ground chili then into the CSO on steam bake @ 425°F for 10 min. I pulled them out, sprinkled with some grated pecorino and put them back in on broil for 5 min to get a little browning. If I've got perfect, farm-fresh corn, I'll eat it simply cooked on its own but this is an easy way to turn a few ears of corn into a quick appetizer. It would be fun to play around with different seasonings.

After listening to Dave Arnold extol these books on the Cooking Issues podcast, I thought I'd keep an eye out for them in the thrift stores but eventually broke down and ordered them. $7 for one and $8 for the other. Jacques Pepin's The Art of Cooking 2 volume set published in 1988. Dave described them as a great depiction of French cooking in the US at that time. He said that in a conversation, Jacques allowed that this was his best work but that it never sold. Lots of photos of a younger Jacques and wonderful step by step photos that remind me of the Time-Life Good Cook series, though perhaps even more detailed. I often troll the internet for videos instead of turning to books when I'm looking for step-by-step demos but these are really well done and I think I'll get good use from them. I'll absolutely enjoy reading through them and I'm sure to learn from them.

I suppose you can eat them any way you like, or not at all if you have tidiness concerns. They are certainly a finger food and while the chef has a Michelin star, this restaurant is very casual. Cloth napkins but no tablecloths. We sat outside with a view of what's essentially a Target parking lot. I picked up a strip, dipped it into the aioli, used my knife to spread the aioli more or less evenly across the corn and ate it as if it was a tiny ear of corn. Some of my friends spooned some of the aioli on to their plates and dipped each bite. I got a little of the ground chili on my fingers but not all that much and since it's only a few rows of kernels, you don't get stuff all over your face like eating an ear of Mexican street corn.

Upfront CYA (CMA?) announcement: I am NOT recommending that anyone else try this, especially @JoNorvelleWalker. That said, it was relatively easy to cut the corn to the approximate sizes we got at the restaurant. I didn't feel unsafe and no injury resulted. A cooked, even par-cooked, cob is ever so much easier to cut than a raw one so I microwaved an ear of corn, in the husk for a couple of minutes, a bit less than I'd use if I was going to eat it directly, then shucked it. The kernels were still opaque in some areas, just becoming translucent in others. I don't have a smoker but when I made the Smoked Corn Mayo from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots, I smoked it on the stovetop and I should probably consider that as a first step instead of the microwave. On to the chopping.... I cut off and discarded a bit of the pointy end and cut the rest of the cob in half crosswise, into two cob-lets ~ 3.5 inches long. I stood the cob-lets on end and sliced downwards, cutting them in half lengthwise. They stood up very stably and this was easy to do with all fingers well clear of the knife blade. I placed each half cob-let flat on the board, with its cut side down and sliced each in half again, lengthwise so each cob-let was essentially quartered, yielding 8 cob segments from one ear. Easy peasy. Now, I have no idea how they were cooked. I didn't actually order them and only tasted them towards the end of the meal, not when they were freshly served, which might have helped me figure it out. Since the dish is titled "crispy split corn," deep frying is a possibility but rather unlikely to happen. I'll try some CSO methods but should pause and whip up some of that bacon aioli first...

Thanks - two new words for my vocabulary!

Note that Ball changed its guidelines a few years ago and no longer recommends pre-heating the lids. Just wash and keep at room temp until ready to use. They allow that simmering (180°F) is OK, if you wish, but is not necessary and that heating to an actual boil (212°F) is not recommended as such overheating can cause the plastisol to thin out, resulting in a poor seal. They also say that pre-sterilizing jars that will be processed isn't necessary either. They recommend heating jars to avoid the thermal shock of filling them with boiling contents but state that both jars and lids will be sterilized if processed in a boiling waterbath for 10 min or more.

The other night at a local restaurant, I enjoyed an appetizer called Crispy Split Corn with Bacon Aioli, Ground Chili and Pecorino. A few days prior, I'd had the delicious but exceedingly messy experience of eating an ear of Mexican Street Corn at a taco joint. This appetizer was still finger food but a much tidier way of serving something very similar. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo but the corn was cut right through the cob into small wedges about 3 kernels wide and probably about 1/2 to 1/3 of an ear long. There was still a bit of cob holding each wedge together. It was definitely seasoned with the chili and pecorino after it was cut up. I'll give this a try one of these days and report back.

No kidding! Years ago, I went on a food and wine trip to Italy. Every day featured multi-course lunches with wine pairings and even more elaborate dinners at amazing restaurants. In between, there were visits to wineries, olive oil mills, balsamic vinegar makers, cheese makers, etc, etc, etc. Truly wonderful but also overwhelming. On one of the last days, we called ahead to the lunch restaurant and asked if we could just have a big salad instead of all the courses. They readily agreed and when we arrived, they proudly presented us with a gorgeous salad. We were delighted and enjoyed it thoroughly. Then they trotted out the rest of the courses...and the wines....🙃

Half a monstrous Kouign Amann and black coffee I was out running errands this AM and decided to stop at a bakery that has a branch near by in the "soft-open" stage. That's the half I didn't eat...yet. I swear it didn't look that big in the case!

This morning, I went for a longer than usual walk during which my Fitbit recorded 104 flights of stairs so I felt I deserved a big breakfast or maybe it's brunch. Crispy cornmeal & scallion waffle, leftover corn salad, soft boiled egg, sausage patty. Lunch surely won't be necessary.

I had to look up both turophile and Ossau-Iraty so I've been doubly edified. Also not horrified, only jealous!

A few farmers market vendors in my area bring in unripe green tomatoes and the local farmstand I frequent most often will pick them on request if you call a day ahead. Not quite year-round, more like May - Dec.

Interesting collection of author affiliations, too.

Or what my grandmother called, "the part went over the fence last"

Same leftover red curry braised pork as yesterday, thinly sliced, warmed in the CSO and piled on a crusty TJ's take & bake roll with a drizzle of the sauce.

An old favorite made to use up some leftover sweetened condensed milk. David Lebovitz's Vietnamese Coffee pops.

A plate of leftovers from a dinner I cooked the other day. Pork in Red Curry Braised Watermelon from Deep Run Roots over brown rice and the Raw Corn with Walnuts, Mint & Chilies from Six Seasons

Hmmm. I always do chicken thighs, bone in, skin on, on steam bake @ 425 F for 20 - 30 min, depending on size. Since the steam avoids drying, I'm not sure I see the value in the proposed hybrid system.

I prepared dinner for a group of friends the other night. I've made and posted about all these dishes before but unfortunately managed to take only one photo from this meal. Cocktail: Bound by Venus from Batch Cocktails by Maggie Hoffman. As written, it's rosemary-infused gin, fino sherry and yellow Chartreuse. I made both that original and a vodka version as I know there will be vodka-only drinkers in the group. Some of the vodka drinkers allowed that the gin version was more flavorful - duh! Nibbles: Brined and Roasted Almonds and Frico from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. I used more than half a pound of Red Cow Parmigiano Reggiano to make the Frico. Not sure it was worth the investment but they were excellent salty snacks to go with the cocktails. Starter: Burrata Caprese with Peaches, Tomato & Basil from Dinner, Changing the Game by Melissa Clark. Four kinds of heirloom tomatoes and peaches from the farmers market with a drizzle of basil/lemon/olive oil dressing. So pretty. Main: Pork Shoulder in Red-Curry-Braised Watermelon from Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard. Pork choices at the farmers market were limited so I went with a nice pork butt roast and cut it up. Cooking this ahead and reheating worked very well. Rice - I made the version from Shaya's Red Beans & Rice but with Massa Organics brown rice because I know it reheats well and it has nice flavor Side: Raw Corn with Walnuts, Mint & Chiles from Six Seasons was a good side that didn't need cooking This photo is actually from a plate of leftovers but gives you the idea: Dessert: Peaches in Chilled Moscato from How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry made a light, elegant ending

Have you tried Sipsmith? It's a pretty classic London dry but with its own flavor profile. Excellent in a Martini. I liked the honey note of Barr Hill gin in a Bees Knees and in a martini. Way too sweet for a G&T. I liked it in a white Negroni but not in the traditional version. Stay away from Nolet Silver, it's overpoweringly floral.

Thank you. I just placed a hold request on her book, Number One Chinese Restaurant: A Novel, at my library.

I have not. But nor am I certain what it means to "blanch" corn. Are we talking whole cobs? Trays of raw kernels? How is the blanched corn used?

Slunch? Is that something between a snack and lunch? Leftover lemon linguini with the addition of sugar snap peas and a few scallops