Marlene

Rack of lamb, with leftover roasted potatoes from last night's Prime Rib and green beans with butter, lemon and toasted almonds. Molten lava cake for dessert

Horseradish creme. The batch I just made calls for 1/2 cup finely minced parsley.

That looks fabulous Bruce. I haven't tried that shallot one yet, but it just went on my list. I am braising tonight as a matter of fact, but not from Molly. My short ribs with Port, Wine and Honey are in the oven as we speak!

Definitely, the lemon juice is critical. I use three egg yolks to three quarters cup of butter and 2 T of lemon juice. I also put a pinch of cayenne in mine, and a t of mustard. Broccoli and hollandaise is the on the menu tonight, as it happens!

Yay Anna! Let me know how the thermometer works. I've always wanted one of those. That book is on my list as well.

Anna, I was afraid you were going to say that. That's been my experience too so far. It's sort of a shame because I get three baquettes out of the BBA recipe and while we'll eat one with dinner, I've been making an awful lot of crostini and croutons. Teepee, that multigrain looks fabulous. I may just have to try that one!

So what is the best way to store baquettes so that the crust stays crisp, but the bread doesn't go rock hard?

Practice. Seriously, the steam maker I got, has made a tremendous difference for me. I would never consider throwing water on my oven floors or walls, and a steam pan never worked for me. I wouldn't have even considered hearth baked type breads without it. Now, I just need to work on shaping etc. All this bread baking does leave me thinking up dishes that go well with fresh bread. Pasta, soup etc.....less beef. Is that a good thing?

I've been making the french bread recipe once a week for the last few weeks, trying to work on my technique. Two weeks ago, I got this result. nice bloom, but the shaping needed work. Today I tried again, The shaping was marginally better, but I don't think the bloom was as good. I haven't cut into these yet, but will post a pic of the crumb when I do. I'm at a loss. I'm paying attention to the surface tension, the steam process etc and I still haven't got it right yet.

Well, we actually went shopping for a gas fireplace for our upcoming basement renovation. This one was on the floor, it was the last one available, and the owner gave us such a good deal on it, that we couldn't resist.

Very nicely done, Bruce! I love smoked ribs, and I too, love the weber bullet. However, we somehow became the owners of this Vermont Castings Smoker yesterday, and the first thing I thought of when I saw it was racks and racks of ribs. It will get delivered sometime this week, then we'll take it for a rib test run!

Following the "simple after holidays meal", we had tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette and french onion soup.

Oh, man! I love mixing buttery stuff with my bare (CLEAN!) hands. I love the feeling. I would never use gloves. I feel like I've just revealed something somehow incriminating. ← As much as I might love the feeling of using my bare hands, I get really tired of cleaning out all that stuff from underneath my nails every time.

I use them fairly regularly. For cutting up chickens, for kneading compound butters together or a beurre manie, or mixing hamburger for burgers to name a few of the times I use them.

thank you! The fat is definitely the best part, and that's part of why I like Berkshire pork so much. It always has a fabulous fat cap and nicely marbled throughout. The gravy is made from the drippings as all my roast gravies are. I always use a roux to make gravy and I let it cook till it's dark caramel in colour before adding pork stock or whatever stock matches the roast I'm making. A dollop of demi glace at the end helps the colour and flavour a lot too.

just back from two weeks vacation. I tend to be an infrequent poster to the dinner! thread these days, although I do read it daily. I don't always have time to do more than update my own place these days. Roast Rack of Berkshire Pork Served with buttermilk and scallion mashed and green beans with lemon garlic butter and toasted almond pieces And lest anyone think I forgot.... gravy.

And a lovely butt it is, Bruce! Welcome to the wonderful world of smoking!

I don't know what American Costcos are like, but I've had great success with Prime Ribs from Costco in canada. My biggest problem with them now, is they seem to package them upside down now, so you can't see the fat cap, which is a critical component. And if you've got ribs in your roast, you don't need a rack. They form a natural rack on their own.

I got this machine this summer, but haven't had a chance to do much more with it than make vanilla bean ice cream! The machine was left at the cottage so I won't be able to play with it more until the spring. The times I did use it though, I loved it. The ice cream does need to freeze up a bit in the freezer when you're done, but not for long really. Others have said it's noisy, but I didn't find it so, and it's pretty quick. I'm thinking of getting a second one so I can have ice cream in the winter too.

For a regular roasting method as above, I calculate the cooking time at 18 minutes per lb.

You'd have been welcome. I was pretty happy with them, I must say!

Bruce, it must be roast chicken week! That's what we had tonight. With potatoes and peas The potatoes are the leftover roast potatoes from Sunday's dinner, fried in butter and garlic. And of course, gravy That's it for me folks. I'm hanging up my spatula for a couple of weeks. Happy Holidays!

Chris is correct. You'll get the most tenderness with a USDA Prime roast rather than a Choice for example. All the variations won't matter much if you don't start with the best cut available to you. And I never roast without a thermometer! Oh, and one other thing. Choose a roast with the best fat cap you can find.

It depends on how much leftovers you want. A two rib will yield some but not a lot. I rarely roast anything smaller than a three rib for even just the two of us. That yields decent leftovers. I brush my roast with olive oil and salt and pepper it. I use a 300 degree convection oven, 325 if you don't have convection. I pull it at 118 and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. That will yield a reasonably rare, but not raw roast. If you want it a little more well done, pull it at 122 and don't let it sit for more than 10 minutes. If you are making yorkies and you only have one oven and you want the roast med rare, pull it at 118 because it's going to rest for at least 20-25 minutes while the oven temp comes up for the yorkies and then they bake. That's it, that's all I ever do. Lots of people will tell you roast it low and slow. I can't say I've ever noticed a lot of difference when I've done it that way.

I got the pasta roller and the ravioli maker as Christmas gifts yesterday. I'm looking forward to trying to make fresh pasta.