Katie Meadow
-
Posts
3,784 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Katie Meadow
-
-
We are in the Berkshires in Western MA visiting my nephew.and family. They live in the middle of nowhere and it's lovely. Despite the odds there is a wonderful place called the Dream Away Lodge ten minutes from their house.. It's in an old traditional reconverted farmhouse. We all had Porch Swings. I've never had one before, mainly because I thought they were always made with bourbon, which I don't really like, but these were made with gin and they were fantastic. Summer in a glass. And it is hot weather here in MA. The place was packed. We sat outdoors where the kids could run up and down a grassy slope. We all could have had several more Porch Swings but the kids were getting hungry and there were no available tables for food service. Sadly the place was all booked up tonight for dinner, or we would have made a reservation. The Porch Swing is going to replace my G & T this summer if I can figure out how to make one.
-
1
-
1
-
-
9 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
The pan is 10x5x3 inches. That's why I'm planning to use two pounds of meat. I do wish I had thought to pick up a few strips of bacon.
I have a similarly large loaf pan. I haven't made meatloaf in it for several years, but I believe I used a total of 1.5 lbs of mixed ground meats, at least that's amount that come right to the top of the pan. I use the pan basically as a mold. I line it generously with plastic wrap, sides overhanging. I fill it with my meat mixture (which has lots of stuff in it besides meat, often a layer of spinach or other greens.) I pack it well and smooth the top. Let it rest an hour or so to settle. Turn the loaf pan upside down on a sheet pan with low sides and unmold, tossing the plastic wrap. Then I brush on a moderate amount of home made ketchup mixed with BBQ sauce--no doubt everyone has a sauce they prefer. Finally I cover the whole in a layer of uncooked bacon, and shove it in the oven. Best of both worlds: A nice neat shape, and bakes evenly. It can be moved carefully to a serving platter, but is kind of unwieldy, so I generally slice it on the sheet it bakes on.
-
1
-
2
-
-
@Pete Fred When your store does "Mexican Week" perhaps you can get some Oaxaca cheese. Super melty, great "pull," although I never heard that expression before. It's also excellent in a very simple omelet. Lately we've been making grilled cheese sandwiches with Oaxaca and a scatter of sweet onion.
-
Okay, I know there are lots of names for both these cuts of meat. My understanding is that the butt is above the shoulder, resulting in the butt being more tender, more marbled and fatty, while the shoulder sees more action and is therefore a little bit leaner. I've also read that the butt is best for stewing or braising and the shoulder cut is.is betters for a slow roasted crispy hunk that can be sliced. However, there seems to be a lot of misinformation or simply disagreement about all of it.
I have been on a Green Chile Stew kick lately. The first time I sent my husband to the butcher the shop had no shoulder but did have boneless pork butt, which is what he bought. A 2.5 lb. butt needed a lot of trimming of the fat; I would estimate almost a full lb of it was fat. It maade a delicious tender stew; worth the waste.
The next time he went shopping for butt at the same place the butcher said they didn't have any pork butt, only shoulder. He went to another store and the butcher told him that butt and shoulder were the same. He went to a third store where they told him the built was way more pricey, and despite my husband requesting it be boneless, they sent him home with bone-in butt. I cooked it and it wasn't quite as tender as the first butt. I have no idea why. But that bone was not inconsequential in terms of waste or in terms of irritation ofcutting around it. I did throw it into the stew but the flavor was not noticeable improved by including the bone.
How much of any of this sounds right? I don't believe they are the same cut. Is the price usually higher when they tell you it's pork butt rather than shoulder?
What cut would you use if you wanted pulled pork? If you are roasting the pork rather than braising or stewing it you will not have to trim as much fat off, since the meat will release a lot of fat as it cooks and you can avoid some of the remaining fat when you start pulling it apart. When making a stew you really do have to trim off a lot of fat before cooking, or the broth will be really greasy.
Shed some daylight on this if you can!
-
1 hour ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I am grateful that my procedure went smoothly and that I was able to leave the hospital on schedule. Now it remains to me to do the work of rehab, including doing something for my back so that I can resume my normal life. If that's the only thing I have to do to fully recover, I will feel doubly blessed.
May recovery be smooth. So far, 2024 has not been a walk in the park.
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, liuzhou said:
Slightly off-topic, though you could have it
forwith dinner, when I was living in Soviet Russia, I was introduced to chilli vodka. Perfect for colds. Cleared up sinuses and everything else while ensuring a good night'scomasleep.T
Actually, thinking back, I may have had it for dinner more than once. Luosifen or Laziji are now my go-tos.
The perfect medicine: Hot and Sour Soup. Or, if you happen to get a cold in New Mexico, Green Chile Stew. Luosifen hasn't made it to Northern California yet. I don't know about river snails, but our garden variety land snails seem to be fighting a losing battle. They are going the way of the dodo, at least in our neck of the woods.
-
On 5/3/2024 at 8:09 PM, Shel_B said:
Do you mean the one in Pittsford, Vermont?
I have no idea what town it was in.
-
2 hours ago, weinoo said:
I'm offended! But not as offended as I would be by those burnt lemon slices!
My lemon slices didn't get burned. They didn't get caramelized, either. They just got a teeny bit dried out at the edges but pretty much remained inedible/raw but hot. No idea really how you would get them to caramelize or sweeten up. I assume that's not what Alison intended.
-
On 5/1/2024 at 9:20 AM, FrogPrincesse said:
The lemony turmeric tea cake from Nothing Fancy is another winner. I enjoyed the texture which has a very fine crumb thanks to the sour cream / yoghurt in the recipe (I used a mix of both). The lemon flavor really comes through (I liked the technique of rubbing together the lemon zest with the sugar before adding the wet ingredients), and the caramelized lemon slices on top are delicious. Favorite part - the browned exterior. For the inside to be fully cooked, I needed to cook it 15-20 minutes more than the 50-60 minutes the recipe called for.
PS: Only annoyance, the recipe is by volume rather than weight. But there are online versions of the recipe that are by weight.
I missed this post! And I just wrote a term paper on that tea cake, see above. How funny. I used yogurt mixed with creme fraiche instead of sour cream. And I didn't find the cake needed extra time in the oven. Maybe my oven runs hot, and also I used a dark metal loaf pan.
-
1
-
-
I don't have any of Alison Roman's books, but as @weinoo curmudgeonly notes, lots of her recipes are available in various places. I don't know for sure if her Lemony Turmeric Tea Cake is in one of her books but we baked it the other day and it is fantastic. Since my turmeric was old and probably less flavorful than it might have been, I couldn't really identify the taste of it, but it did make for a great color.(That's the color I want for my iPhone case.) It's more of a quick bread than a cake, baked in a loaf pan. Really really good. Not totally sold on the lemon slices over the top. I think you could use Meyer lemons for the top and caramelize them before adding and baking. They were not terribly edible as instructed.
And thanks so much for the beauty secrets link. I'm going to get the Boy Brow right away! I come from a long line of women with insufficient eye brows. The day before my mother died, she requested from her hospital bed that I go back to her apartment to get her eyebrow pencil. She looked good when she expired at 94 years old.
-
@Shel_B I save my high fat European butter for fresh bread or buttering toast or crackers. When I bake I just use regular butter. It's cheaper, considering how much butter goes into some bakes, and It has NEVER occurred to me when eating one of my quick breads or cakes: "Oh if only I'd used Irish butter!" Well, maybe if I was making shortbread I would splurge with high fat butter, bur for simple snacking cakes or muffins, no.
-
3
-
-
25 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:
Char sui bao I picked up at the local farmers market
One of my weaknesses. Never seen them at any farmers' market, so I have to go to Oakland Chinatown for my fix. Parking is horrendous, so we don't go very often, only when we really crave char siu or roasted duck or the best fresh pot sticker skins and fresh noodles.
-
4
-
-
10 hours ago, KennethT said:
@Kim ShookI hope you and your family feel better soon!
@Kim Shook same here.
-
1
-
-
6 hours ago, weinoo said:
I stock with the farmer's market for maple syrup; both NY State and Vermont produce some of the best (along, of course, with Canada).
Living in CA does present some challenges. Getting good maple syrup is one of them. On our first trip together my husband and I went to Vermont and Maine among other northeastern places. In Vermont we went to the Maple Syrup Museum. Does it still exist? They actually had samples for tasting the different grades. Swoonworthy, to say nothing of spoonworthy. I'm assuming the sugar maples are heading north in anticipation of warm Vermont winters.
-
1
-
-
1 minute ago, Shel_B said:
Is the new syrup Grade A or Grade B?
I've not purchased much maple syrup over the years, but recently found some new uses for it and have been reading comments and reviews. I seems that quite a few folks are not satisfied with the current TJ's offering. Some reviews mentioned that they ended up with Grade A when they thought they were getting Grade B.
Well that's interesting. Real unadulterated grade A is a far cry from this stuff.
-
On 4/16/2024 at 3:20 PM, FrogPrincesse said:
It looks like I have been in the mood for pineapple lately, because after Nik Sharma's pineapple serrano gin, I made the pineapple upside down cake from Sweet Enough! It's something I have had of course, but I don't believe I had ever made it.
It's quite easy. I used 1/2 pineapple and a 10" springform pan. It starts with a heavy sprinkle of brown sugar on the buttered pan, that is covered by a mosaic of pineapple (I had just enough). I skipped the cherries because I am not a fan of maraschino cherries, even the good ones. Then you drizzle with rum (I used pineapple rum, because I could), and pour the batter on top. (Note: I had a little bit of rum leakage during cooking because of the springform. If you use a regular cake pan, this shouldn't be an issue.) The batter also has rum, plus vanilla extract. She says to bake for 40-45 minutes. At 40 it wasn't ready, at 45 min the toothpick test said it was ready but when I cut the cake, the center wasn't entirely cooked. Next time I would bake it for 50-55 minutes.
Warm, this cake is absolutely delicious! And the larger cake pan is the way to go in order to maximize the pineapple to cake ratio.
I love a good pineapple upside down cake but don't make it in a springform. A regular cake pan works and so does a cast iron skillet. Also those maraschino cherries should stay on the supermarket shelf. Fresh pineapple is essential. My only observation of your mosaic is that it isn't enough fruit! I don't think you should be able to see any cake top when the cake is turned out, but I'm sure it was delicious. I think a good one is harder than many recipes make it seem; the amount of caramelization has to be generous, but not enough to make the cake too soggy.
-
My husband loves maple syrup but he's also very frugal, so for years we've settled for TJ's brand, since really great stuff from Vermont is valued in gold bars. Then all of a sudden they didn't have it and he purchased something else, admittedly better. When the TJ's syrup returned to the shelves he bought that. Both of us agreed that it was not the same as it used to be. It seemed overly sweet and thin, like watered down. Is it us or is it them? If you have been using TJ's maple syrup have you had a similar experience with the stuff now on their shelves?
-
On 4/24/2024 at 2:38 PM, blue_dolphin said:
ACV is sharper, coconut vinegar is a little milder and sweeter but that’s the standard substitution recommendation. Since I was easily able to find it, I didn’t test the recipes with ACV so I can’t really say.
I have also seen champagne vinegar recommended as a sub for coconut vinegar.
Pineapple vinegar is another mild one that could be used as a sub.
-
1
-
-
I never heard of these Korean dogs. But the more I learn about them the more I just want an old-fashioned state fair corn dog. Thanks, but I'll take my mozzarella on a pizza. As for rolling a panko breaded hot dog in sugar, well, the end is nigh.
-
2
-
-
12 hours ago, Bernie said:
There is also another "anomaly" with onions in most recipes. When it says fry/cook/sweat onions in oil/butter/fat for 5 minutes till they are translucent...
Well you can do it on high heat and turn them brown, you can turn them into charcoal in no time at all but at lower heat (say frying butter etc) it will take 20~25 minutes.
There has been various discussions online over the years and the consensus seems to be that if you put 20~25 minutes in a recipe, no one will cook it because it takes too long just for that first step and it probably double the overall cooking time.
So many recipes with onions probably taste different because people don't fry the onions long enough, and so the onions never break down properly. Now in something like a stew or curry that cooks for a relatively long time it doesn't matter.
I fact in curries you can use the onions as the basis of the sauce, provided you cook it long enough for the onions to completely break down. You get the onion flavor without adding the onion texture.
Another tidbit about curies, stews and such, is the boiling temperature. I actually made a quick curry last night (using green curry paste).
I firstly boiled and reduce coconut milk (which I bought cheap not realizing it was 50% water and they add thickener to pad it out. Any more than 50% water I suppose it couldn't be called coconut milk)
Then sweated onions for about 20 minutes in lard, added pork (had marinated over night in 5% brine) and curry paste. Added carrot, sweet potato and potato. Then added the coconut milk (now thicker and creamy smooth)
The boiling point was 77c-82c. I am pretty sure that would not be enough to break down the onions or cook the vegetables in reasonable time so it had to bubble away for over an hour. If I hadn't already sweated the onions for so long (and at the higher temperature) I don't think they would have broken down.
The texture of the sauce was smooth and creamy and the flavors were very well combined. There was no onion pieces at all so they had broken down completely I will be reducing coconut milk from now on as a first step, at the same time as sweating down the onions for 20 mins or so.
In my experience, browning, sweating and caramelizing all require different times. Sweating I think simply means cooking on very low heat until they are very soft without letting them get any color. Caramelization can take up to a half hour on low heat, but the goal is to make them sweet and they will definitely get golden-brown. "Browning" takes the least time of the three and doesn't need to be done on super-low heat. Just my three cents about onions.
-
2
-
-
The NYT has a recent recipe for Alemandrados, almond-lemon macaroons. My contribution has always been charoset, but if I were given the dessert task I think I would make them.
-
2
-
-
4 hours ago, liuzhou said:
What? I didn't make anything up. I haven't seen a direct reference to Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis being what the OP is seeking. I merely suspect it could be, as I said.
If not directly used, it may bean ingredient in whatever is or was used.
I was kidding! I know you are a storehouse of knowledge and your explanation of Hercules is the only even half plausible one yet, except of course for mine about the lion! I don't blame anyone for making stuff.up. I have a good friend who is also a fount of information, arcane or otherwise, and gets teased about the fact that if she doesn't know the answer she tells you anyway-- ESPECIALLY when it sounds sort of good. .Have you ever played the Dictionary Game? You chose a word from the dictionary that people with you swear they don't know and you write the definition on a piece of paper.. Then everyone writes down what they think is a good definition of the word. The answers get read out loud and everyone tries to guess the real definition. Some people are really great at sounding like their absurd idea is convincing.
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, liuzhou said:
I rather suspect "Hercules" is Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis, a relative of Sichuan peppercorn but native to North America, sometimes called hercules-club or the toothache tree, in reference to its mouth numbing effect.
I've had Sichuan peppercorns in cocktails in Shanghai's legendary Peace Hotel cocktail bar, so not so unlikely.
Don't quote me in court, though.
Why not? Because you made that up!
-
1
-
-
On 7/10/2023 at 5:11 PM, Kerry Beal said:
I fried a sleeve of saltines this evening in sunflower oil with a bit of olive oil. They don't take long - so some where a bit (OK a lot) overdone.
Topped with some old cheddar and a bit of something I found in the fridge which might have been red pepper chutney.
Yes, the only challenging part to fried saltines is adjusting the heat and getting the saltines the hell out of the pan quickly. When they sit on paper towels after frying they continue to darken. We've tossed a lot of mistakes into the garbage..
Troubleshooting Braised Turkey Thighs
in Cooking
Posted
In my opinion the problem is that it's turkey. Unless you simply love turkey unconditionally, but kudos for trying! OTOH turkey soup made from roast turkey parts is the bomb. But once you've made a rich stock all the turkey parts except the necks are inedible. I love the necks with a little broth and salt. Do you remember Brennan's in Berkeley? Fabulous drinks and really good turkey necks: big ones, one per serving. Very fun. So sad when they closed.