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That Betty Crocker Boys & Girls Cookbook that @heidih mentioned was my first cookbook, too. I remember making those bunny salads!

You are most welcome! There's a recipe for the Eggs Hussarde from Brennan's that you mentioned on the Saveur website. Sounds pretty amazing!

I'm following closely as I'm interested in seeing what you guys get up to with those tasty pig parts. I filed my tax returns a week ago and my state refund has already materialized in my bank account. When the fed refund shows up I will consider making an investment in some pig parts of my own !

There is a recipe here that sounds similar: Brennan’s Executive Chef Slade Rushing shares Egg Yolk Carpaccio with Sautéed Shrimp and Andouille Vinaigrette

Deli rye English muffins (from Smitten Kitchen Every Day), topped with asparagus sautéed with diced shallots and a little pancetta and a couple of eggs:

I am no expert, but since C. botulinum spores are ubiquitous in the environment, most food safety guidance that I've seen recommends using appropriate controls for all vacuum-packed, chilled foods in order to minimize the chances of the bacteria growing and producing toxin. The controls can be pretty simple like temperature control and monitoring. Foods vary in their risk depending on factors like salt, acidity and moisture level. I think concern comes in because some of those vacuum packages look like something that's going to be very stable and some users may be careless with keeping them properly chilled. In that anaerobic environment where C. botulinum can grow and produce toxins, many spoilage bacteria can't grow so the food ends up looking and smelling fine, so they use it. It's fairly rare that someone gets sick but because the illness is so devastating, it's worth taking care.

According to Bulletin #3107, Reduced Oxygen Packaging (ROP): Requirements and Guidelines in Maine for Food Service:

Once the vacuum package warms up, you would have a situation where anaerobic bacteria, like Clostridium botulinum can produce toxin. See here: Open your vacuum packed fish before thawing

Quesadillas with Brussels Sprouts with Cascabel Chile Oil (Quesadillas con Repollo de Bruselas) with Braised Black Beans (Frijoles negros de la olla) topped with cotija and cilantro, Salsa Macha, sliced avocado and some crema in the middle. All from Nopalito. That Salsa Macha is tasty stuff. Dried chiles de árbol and ancho chile with toasted sunflower seeds, vinegar, garlic, oregano and olive oil. Like a spicy nut butter. Edited to add that the quesadillas are very flavorful on their own as the sprouts & onions are pan-roasted to caramelize and then tossed with the cascabel chile oil to add more flavor and heat.

Cool indeed ! Actually, those chocolate paletas were excellent. With no dairy or cream to smooth things, the flavor of that bittersweet chocolate really shines through.

I was able to chop it coarsely with a chef's knife. The Nopalito recipe says to combine a cup of water and 3/4ths of a cinnamon stick, bring them to a boil and let steep to infuse. 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa and 1 cup of sugar get whisked into 3 cups of water and brought to a boil, then poured over 6 oz of the bittersweet chocolate. The cinnamon water is also added and everything whisked until the chocolate is melted. The cinnamon stick is removed and the mix gets poured into the molds.

Just popping in to mention that I used the Rancho Gordo stoneground Mexican chocolate to make the Paletas de Chocolate from Nopalito that I posted in the Popsicle thread the other day. I thought they were good but I didn't experience any sort of out of body experiences so perhaps my chocolate was too old.

Huevos de caja from the Nopalito cookbook A corn tortilla is cooked in a little oil until crisped on both sides, topped with refried black beans, a poached egg, salsa cilantro and cheese, then broiled briefly to melt the cheese. I added some leftover asparagus from yesterday's quesadillas.

That one is up next for me, too. I made the cascabel chile oil and the salsa macha today. I've got a few more on my list including the smashed shrimp with scrambled eggs and salad and the huevos de caja.

I think Guzman's commitment to the scratch cooking of his childhood at his restaurant and in the cookbook is admirable. It's so interesting to think that if he had grown up in a slightly larger town or even a few years later, he never would have been exposed to that sort of cooking. I've enjoyed all the cocktails I've tried and the paletas are good . As far as the other recipes go, I think the editing could have been better but overall, so far, so good. Since today was the first day I actually cooked anything from the book, I'll reserve any overall judgement until I've made a few more things. How about you? What do you think?

After picking up the $1.99 Kindle version of Nopalito, now back to its regular price, I've made popsicles and cocktails and finally got around to some actual food. Asparagus Quesadillas with Salsa Cilantro (Quesadillas de esparagos con salsa de cilantro) with Braised Black Beans (Frijoles negros de la olla) topped with some dry jack cheese, sliced avocado and a dollop of crema (per the book this was made from Greek yogurt, lime juice and salt) in the center of the plate: I usually make quesadillas with wheat flour tortillas but the author is enamored with corn so that's what I used.

Not truly savory, as they did contain some sugar, but back here I made paletas de sangrita (spiced tomato-tequila pops) - fresh tomatoes, simple syrup, tequila, lime juice and hot sauce. There were also these spicy pineapple pops (paletas de piña con chile), sweeter than the tomato version but still spicy. A recipe recipe that intrigues me, but that I haven't tried yet are the Mexican Street-Corn Paletas . Using a chicken stock base, a really jellied one, would be a good idea if you really wanted a truly savory pop since the sugar plays a role in texture that would need to be replaced if they're going to be popsicles and not just ice cubes. Not that electrolyte ice cubes wouldn't be a good thing during haymaking season !

That would work - less risk of melty drips in the car!

Paletas de Café con Leche from Nopalito I thought I would try to make my photo of more brown popsicles look more interesting by scattering some coffee beans around them. Sort of a dumb idea as I then had to pick them off when I bagged them up ! Coarsely ground coffee and piloncillo are boiled together and allowed to steep before straining and mixing with heavy cream. The coffee flavor is not quite as intense as in the David Lebovitz Vietnamese Coffee pops I made a while back - I used very strong coffee + instant espresso powder for those - but still very nice.

Personally, I wouldn't bother using a separate set of stunt mushrooms just for the sake of a photo. Maybe just position a few of the more recognizable slices or quarters towards the camera. No matter what you do, that dish is rather monochromatic so it's probably not going to win any beauty contests. Searching for photos of this dish from others, the one in this blog post and also this one are most appetizing. Both photographed the dish in the pot with a sprinkle of parsley like you added. This other one seems to demonstrate some of the challenges you faced getting a good photo on the plate. Even if a picture is worth a thousand words, your colorful description of monochromatic dish like this may bring it to life better than a photo!

I'd like to hear that read by Christopher Walken or maybe Morgan Freeman!

Thanks! I use this one. It's inexpensive and works fine for me. I suggest skipping the lid as it's a pain to remove if even one of the sticks gets frozen at a crooked angle. Just set a timer for 45-60 min when you put them into the freezer and they'll be slushy enough to support the sticks. I always unmold all the pops from a batch at once and store them in snack-size zip-top bags. If you prefer to unmold the pops one at a time, you'd probably want a different style mold.

Paletas de Chocolate from Nopalito. These are chocolate-cinnamon popsicles and I thought the recipe was interesting as it doesn't include any sort of dairy or nut milk - just bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, sugar and water. The cinnamon sticks are infused into the water and strained out. Edited to add that these are truly chocolate popsicles - not chocolate flavored or fudgesicles - they are intensely chocolate! The cinnamon flavor didn't come through as much as I would have liked. Next time, I may use more cinnamon and infuse it longer. Maybe make a cinnamon-simple syrup instead of just infusing into water.

It seems to me that the site that @chefmd linked to is trying to replace individual user collections of cookbooks by licensing content of their own selection of cookbooks - their website says, "500+ licensed books with more than 100,000 recipes," much less than is indexed on EYB but it apparently includes the actual recipes. I think I read of it being called, "Spotify for food," or "Spotify for cookbooks." I really appreciate that feature and have been trying to be better about adding comments.

Smoked tuna salad and avocado on toasted ciabatta