haresfur

Under-rated IMO. I should make one

Michelada/ Bloody Ceasar/ Bloody Mary. A Corpse Reviver No 1 would probably look more like blood, though. For shots, any suitable embalming fluid like shaojiu or palm spirit - but only if you don't like your friends.

I suppose I'm a bit of a cowboy, but I reckon that the speed of chilling doesn't make much difference if the food is pasteurized. The idea is that there isn't much to grow even during the brief time in the danger zone during cool down. Even poultry shouldn't be a problem because the outside of the meat that is most likely to be contaminated will be at pasteurization temperature for the time it takes for the center to hit the done point and then any extra sitting time. I suppose if you are doing ground mince or poke the shit out of it to tenderize, then you want to be very sure your pasteurization time is long enough - even if you chuck the bag in the fridge the center will be what takes longest to chill. I don't have enough ice making capacity to crash-cool my sous vide bags so I just put them in cool water for a bit and then into the fridge.

Caramelized Figs (the first link that showed up in Google so I don't know if this is a good recipe)

Grocery stores here only recently started refrigerating eggs rather than just putting them out on the shelf. I heard that unwashed eggs have a bit of a film that helps keep them fresh, but don't quote me on that.

Well, you have two so you could try both ways and report back. But I wouldn't thaw before cooking/reheating - just drop the bag right in the bath.

Of course we were the vanguard here on eG. I think there may be even earlier discussions, too.

Some of the newer tomato varieties are less acidic. I think it probably doesn't matter but follow the instructions in the Ball Blue Book (get your mind out of the gutter) and add citric acid for safety (1/4 tsp/pint, I think).

Just don't leave it in reach of my MIL

I guess you don't have the tradition that whoever finds a bay leaf in their food has to kiss the cook

Wow Andie, impressive because they seem to grow slowly. I have one that is now about 2 m tall and more of a bush, which is fine with me because I'm growing it for the leaves, not for shade. I find the fresh leaves are more delicate and I use more. I think the taste is a bit different. I probably should throw out my old store-bought dried leaves and dry some of my own since I now have enough to harvest. When my family lived in England, the landlady was out front pruning trees and handed my very confused mother a branch as a gift. The landlady finally realised she had to explain that it was bay. I don't think my mother had ever seen it anywhere but in little packs before.

I'm with Norm - looks more like stoneware to me so do the test. Although either have been used over fire for centuries. It looks like it might have a tin glaze but that's a wild guess. So an even wilder guess would be perhaps Basque.

Nah, I'm not doing anything that wasn't done when it was originally sealed except for possibly introducing a little more oxygen by opening and re-closing it.

My latest idea is to use a vacuum sealer to re-seal prepackaged vac-pack food rather than sticking it in a zip lock. Even if you can't pull a vacuum for some reason you can often get the bag resealed to minimize oxygen contact, keep from exposing the food to new mold, and save plastic. I'm interested to see if it keeps my pastrami from turning gray.

It's been a long time since I worked in bush camps but I think a lot depends on the size of the camp. Small camps might not even have a bull-cook to take care of the non-cooking work (the bull cook works in the kitchen but only cooks bullsh*t). A large camp might have many cooks and a lot of support. I spent a couple of weeks working where a company was building a hydro dam and they fed us because we didn't make a dent in their budget. Still remember getting served a plate of mash and a steak that draped over the sides and having the server ask if I wanted another one. I also worked in more remote locations with just a half dozen people besides the cook (make sure the boss agrees to have people rotate washing dishes but you will still end up doing most everything). Generally the supplies are only limited by availability and storage (where we didn't have power). If the food shipments are only weekly or less frequently then it takes more planning. In my experience people in these situations eat a lot. They burn calories and are bored. Think football player calorie intake. I once saw someone come off a 20 hour shift and order 20 eggs since he had 12 after a usual 12 hour shift. Make sure you can bake. Bad cook: made a cake-box cake and figured it would last two days. It didn't even hit the table as it was passed around until it was gone. Good cook: "I went through 3 cases of chocolate chips this summer! Everyone would sit and eat cookies until dinner was served. Usually budget is not an issue but be sure to check before signing on. On the other hand, you may have workers who only want meat and 3 veg, so flexibility is important. It may be hard to provide variety within people's comfort zone. There are other things to consider. Will it be a dry camp? I have heard claims that some cooks used those so that they could get away from booze for a while. Will you flip out when the drunks sneak into the kitchen and add garlic powder to your muffin mix? Are you outgoing enough to keep the workers happy but self-sufficient enough to survive the isolation? Can you get along with people you would cross the street to avoid if there was a street? If you love nature it really helps. If you end up doing it - I would love to see you post your experiences.

My french tarragon dies back to ground in the winter (we only get overnight frost) but comes back every year - unless a certain someone thinks it's dead and dumps its pot out.

When I infused ginger into vodka, I kept it in the freezer because my fear was that the heat would be fugitive, otherwise. It seemed to keep pretty well.

CBC said the recall was extended to several provinces. I understand them doing it, but I'd keep my bottle if I had one. I'd just factor the strength into the pour and stir with ice for longer.

tam?

I bought some decent jars that weren't US Ball or Kerr. But, yeah the lids that came with them had several failures. Ball replacement lids are much more successful. Also I think the standard size lids are a bit better than wide mouth although I prefer to use the wide mouth jars.

Just found this beauty at an Asian food store in town. The woman asked what I was going to use it for and I said, mostly to look at. But I'll at least try it out.

Cooking teacher in Thailand claimed that a mortar and pestle is better than a blender for making curry paste because the ingredients get mashed instead of chopped and they stay cooler. Next time, I'm going to use a stick blender.

Sous Vide won't give you as strong a vacuum seal as boiling water canning but you aren't really relying on that for storage of a week or two in the fridge. I use fresh lids for preserving most anything that will be at room temperature but used lids if I'm treating it like an open jar of food. This is somewhere in the middle. I would get nervous about egg dishes unsealed for two weeks in the fridge and either use new lids or chuck out any that don't have a vacuum when opened. For a week, I wouldn't worry, personally.

I don't think Crown Royal is 100% rye unless you mean Northern Harvest (which I quite like for a softer rye).

And you didn't come by and say hi? Sounds like a great trip. I've heard good things about Rockpool but I'm not so meat focused.