mydogbites2

Can you expound on this tradition? My signifigant other is from PA dutch land.. and they have a tradition of eating pork on new years day and NEVER chicken... Reasoning is.. "A pig roots foreward, but the chicken scratches backward." I dont much buy into superstition, etc.. But it would be interesting to hear anyother fables/tales. Its fine with me anyway cause I get to use the leftover Christmas ham bone for bean soup and cornbread!

In my prefered method for prime rib is start low temp and finish high temp.. The low heat will allow the meat to come to temp internally and give you the lovely pink center that you (I assume) desire.. And that last blast at 500-550 will get you the tasty browning on the outside surface.. Thats how I do it.. Good luck regardless.. Sounds like one tasty hunk o' cow. Kevin

I am not trying to dissuade anyone from properly maintaining their equipment..Please dont take it like that... Could just be a fidgety oven and and inexperienced operator of said device.. And dont take that the wrong way either, I ment no cross words about anyones abilitys.. Lining my oven with fire brick has been a blessing for me.. they just reside in there now.. I used to take them in and out mess around with all that crap.. now they just stay there.. its like my own little ghetto brick oven. And if you run them through the cleaning cycle.. those bad boys will make some pizzas like you wouldnt beleive.. I swear that the dang oven is still 700 F after the latch unlocks.. I am cutting the latch off of mine after the warranty expires.. mmm pizza Good luck, Kevin

One thing you might want to try is adding some thermal mass.. I know this sounds crazy, but when I bake I put some fire bricks in my oven, preheat, and let them get hot.. they take up the heat and then dole it out evenly.. it keeps my oven from cycling frequently.. Pizza stones work also. Good luck, Kevin

It works, I have done this many times... You may have to add a little sugar or honey to your sponge to kick start it, but it works none the less. Good luck.

I have made a few in the past. Here is my general brine ratio. 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsbp DC #1 disolved in one gallon H2O. Heat to disolve solids and add aromatics, allow to come to room temp, and then chill to 35-40 F. You can also use and follow brining directions found on "Morton Instacure" (failsafe method for a first try). Plenty of pickling spice, black peppercorns & few additional bay leaves are what I use for the aromatic/flavoring... Maybe some additional dried red chillies. Here is where it gets different.. I like to brine my brisket in an igloo cooler or a 5 gallon bucket instead of taking up all the space in the fridge.. It has to stay cold for 48 hours or so.. so I make a concentrated brine solution and and add ice to compensate.. 8 lbs of ice ~ 1 gallon H2O.. or the full dose of salt, sugar.. etc to 1/2 gallon H2O and then 4-4.5 lbs ice. And feel free to scale it up to whatever amount you may need. Have your brining vessel clean and cold and add your ice, brisket, and top with the chilled brine to cover and weight with an inverted plate to keep submerged. Put in a cold place and let it soak for 24-72 hours.. I like to go at least 48. You can also speed up the process by injecting or spray injecting the target critter. Brine time is up.. pull it out rinse it off and burn.. or sprinkle lightly with salt and let dry/cure in the fridge for 6-8 hours or so if you wanted to smoke or attempt a pastrami. Of course you could wrap well and freeze etc.. Good luck, Kev

It is the settled yeast at the bottom of the fermentation vessel. I harvest it and then culture it in AP flour, not a food source that the yeasts are used to.. I think that it does pick up some regional bacteria/lactic acid type critters and gets all symbiotic with the yeastys.. and I have noticed several different results from mother cultures in different locals. I keep a small stock pile of frozen original "sterile" cultures and let them do their biz here and there. Beer in bread dough also rocks! Some corned beef and Carr Valley 2 year swiss with a big swab of homemade sauerkraut and horseradish deli mustard with an oatmeal stout crusty bread.. The thought makes me drool. Chow down, Kev

*best Homer Simpson voice* MMM.. sourdough The vast majority of the experience I have gained in bread baking has been spurred by homebrewing beer.. It taught me more about yeast than any bread recipe. Now I do come from a family with some pretty decient bakers so I do have some idea of what right looks like when it comes to dough.. But I am not a pastry chef or baker by any means.. I just look at the fundimentals and use my best judgement from there.. "Fly by the seat of my pants", if you will. Some of the best breads I have made were cultured from the dregs resulting in a beer ferment.. I just bottled the beer, washed and strained the hops out and cultivated the yeast.. made a sponge that I treated like a pet..i.e. food & H2O on a regular basis.. Some excellent, most good and some just O.K. with very few total failures.. Has anyone else had any attempts at using brewers yeast? I wouldn't mind sharing notes if there are any available. Or would this not be considered "true" sourdough? Chow down, Kev

Ahhh.. the joys of thermal dynamics... Ponder the shape of a turkey.. looks more like a bowling ball than a fish.. correct?.. Sure you can cook them both with a hot oven and the fish will turn out fine and the bowling ball will be charred outside before the internal temp is there.. then try it low temp.. you will end up with two tasty yet pallad looking products.. What the bird is seeking is equilibrum with its environment.. it wants to be in its happy place.. IMO.. Staging the cooking temps is the best bet for large (or many different) items, either start high and finish low or start low and finish high.. I have always started my birds just as hot as I can, 500+, for a quick brown then tented the breast, inserted a digital remote temp probe into the thigh, and reduced the temp to 300-350 or so.. You get the brown skin you want.. and also the wonderful juicy meat.. And once you have set the oven to the lower temp DO NOT! open the door.. Just wait for the temp alarm to let ya know its 163 or so.. Pull that monster chicken out to a resting spot, leave the probe in, and tent it and let the thermal coasting finish out.. 30 mins or so for a big bird 15-20 for smaller fowl. (speaking of big bird I wonder what he/it? would taste like roasted... I am betting ostrich ).. After that carve away at it, gorge and then fall asleep on the recliner. Chow down, Kev p.s. Try a choice prime rib roast with the low/high method.. its so good it will make you want to slap your mother.

Well first get one.. Then you have to go with a brining method.. very succulent.. If you are not familiar with the method refer to Alton B's Food Network recipe..and if you are, share your idea.. This year I think I am going to try a sea salt, honey, orange juice and habanero brine.. with a halved lemon and lemon basil aromatic in the carcass.. mmm sweet salty citrus with a kicker. Dont go empty your wallet for one though.. Meaning that the texture vs. frozen is detectable but if you are just cooking it for the inlaws feed em frozen.. Chow down, Kev

I almost whole heartedly agree with the cast iron method.. The only thing I would argue is the "super heated" statement.. I find that if I heat for 20-30 mins in a 500 degree oven to charge it and then put on a high burner that is plenty of thermal energy.. Blistering hot makes for blistered food.. Brush the room temp steak with canola oil enough to make it glisten.. Copious amounts of kosher salt and good sprinkling of cracked black pepper on a 3" thick slab o' cow (perferably dry aged) and two mins per side.. No fussing around with it after it hit the skillet except to flip.. After that, flip once more and toss the bad boy, skillet and all, in the 500 oven again for another 2, flip once more and invert a small plate on a larger one and get a sheet of foil ready to cover.. After the last 2 mins in the oven pull it and put it on the inverted platform and tent with foil to allow the juices to redistrubute for ten mins and then get ready to gorge. I have always been a "put a couple of band aids on it and it will be out grazing again" kinna guy though... Chow down, Kev

The KitchenAid mixer and grinder are must have items.. just dont feed them wooden OR metal spoons.. they will eat them! I keep a twisted heavy spoon on the wall as a reminder to shut the machine off when making pizza dough.. lol I want a mandolin just because they are excellent fingertip removers .. that and some heavy leather gloves because cast iron gets so darn hot!... And if I am a good boy this year I hope santa brings me a KitchenAid pasta roller.. but I would be find with a hand crank roller and exactally $1 million. Chow down, Kev p.s. a good Italian deli nearby would be awesome.. you know the ones I am talking about.. meats, olives, motz... *drools*

Once you see one there are thousands.. Sad but true.. Almost every human house maintains a population of insects of some sort.. The ones you see are looking for less populated areas. RAID in mass quanitys will help some.. just dont huff it.. or maybe it will.. you will be so off your rocker that you will think the little buggers are funny. Chow down, Kev

Thanks for the welcome. The first is a Ukranian dish, the other hails from Russia. All pretty much the same stuff.. its just "semantics", if you will... And I had no intention of derailing the cabbage roll discussion.. just figured I would add a few options. And of course fennel, garlic, onion, etc.. are always welcome additions/subtractions... heck its your soup.. make it how ya want! Chow down, Kev

I have been watching this thread with much intrest. And it has also promped me to research EVERY book I own.. lol.. and in my poking around I found a few variations on this theme.. One is called (and please forgive, and correct my brutal spelling concerning the names).. Linyvi Holubtsi. It is basically a "lasagne" type cabbage/rice/tomato baked dish where the cabbage is layered with the rice and tomato sauce and/or steamed tomatos. And then served with a meat dish.. A meatloaf or maybe some sausages? The other is Kilivi Haluptovin (pronounced keely haloup-ta-vein.. again forgive my butchery) or russian lazy cabbage rolls.. and JEL aluded to this prep in a previous post.. Where you would cut your cabbage into strips and saute them with onion untill semi soft and then add the wilted cabbage/onion to a dish with tomato sauce and then top with a meat/rice/seasoning mixture.. either "loaf" type single servings or pack the meat edge to edge to cover.. bake.. and then invert the dish onto a serving platter. I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat... In the end its all tasty. Chow down, Kev