Marlene

Actually, that's a million views, not posts. Still impressive though

They were probably Ann's. Mine weren't that spectacular.

Keller's method is excellent, but it tends to make a mess of the oven. In a recent cooking class, we stuffed a herb butter under the skin. The oven was pre heated to 450 then turned down to 375 when we put the chicken in. Perfect crispy skin and done in a roasting pan on a rack, a lot less messy. If you have a convection oven, use the convection setting. It really helps to crisp the skin as well.

According to bread baker's apprentice, salt volumes are different Salt weight volume Table 1 oz 4 teaspoons Kosher 1 oz 7 teaspoons Sea 1 oz 6 teaspoons or Table .25 oz 1 teaspoon Kosher .25 oz 1 3/4 teaspoon Sea .25 oz 1 1/2 teaspoon I haven't measured these myself though

To be perfectly honest, I keep forgetting about them! The twine sits on my counter and the loops are hidden away in a drawer. When I would use them would be if I was to remove the bone from a roast and then re tie the roast. Trussing a chicken I can do. I'm not so sure I can tie a roast back together again!

Dinner tonight was roasted chicken, chive mashed, roasted asparagus with balsamic and parm and gravy of course.

I used black bean sauce and I substituted red pepper flakes. Be careful! The heat will sneak up on you!

Hmmm 5 years maybe? 250 miles. Hmm, maybe we need to stay closer. Who wants to eat in London anyway?

Basil, Gary, where are you both respectively from London, in terms of distance? We'll be in London for a couple of days mid june. Bas, since I have a picture of your bistro hanging in my kitchen, maybe I should visit it.

Looks tasty, but what makes it Mongolian? ← I have no idea. You'll have to ask Octaveman.

Octaveman's Mongolian Beef. My plating isn't as nice, but boy, this was a winner in our house. I had to substitute a couple of ingredients. I could not find whole dried red peppers, so I used some red pepper flakes instead. Nor could I find schezuan peppercorns, so I used some white pepper. I also chopped my green onions a bit smaller, because that's my prerference, and we served it over rice. The heat sort of snuck up on us on this one. Not in a bad way, and it wasn't too hot, as I don't like foods too spicy, but just right. It was perfect, and my husband could not stop raving about it.

Just that an 8 inch pan is big enough. This is an incredibly easy cake to make. Just make it the day before so it has time to chill properly.

Perfect as usual, Ann. Wendy, I love pork chops with mustard cream! tonight, I'm going to try Octaveman's Mongolian beef!

My parents made the god awful powdered skim milk. I passed. I drank milk by the gallon while I was pregnant. I haven't been able to face a glass since. My son tells me he's "outgrown" milk, thank you very much. Milk goes bad in my house before anyone drinks it now.

A normal braise will not work with these, that is correct. But the butter braise is different in that you are introducing a whole bunch of fat to help the meat. Possibly thin sliced and stir fried might work, kebabs, definately not I don't think, unless you are going to marinade them for a good long time.

There is that. This isn't a cut that I would not normally ever buy, which is why I think the butter braise will work well with this, given that it's going to need a lot of something to both give it flavour and to make it tender.

With this cut, definately some sort of braise. The butter beef would work very well in this case.

It is a fun appetizer as long as you don't mind peeling a bunch of little tomatoes. The tomatoes are marinated in a mixture of vodka, lemon zest a little superfine sugar and some white wine vinegar. You can peel the tomatoes and make the marinade ahead of time, just keep them in the fridge and combine them about an hour before you want to serve. Then drain, mix kosher salt and fresh ground pepper together to dip the tomatoes in. They were great. A little zing from the vinegar and a citrus note from the lemon, made my guests and I immediately think "summer".

I forgot! I will post one though. Edited to add, here you go. In my altered state yesterday, I didn't realize the roast was still frozen in the middle. So while it was still nice and rare to med rare, the edges got more of that grey band than I usually get. I also managed to smother mine in gravy before I got pictures.

I had already asked hubby to pick up some asparagus for dinner tonight when I saw this topic. I normally roast asparagus and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and some parmesan. The braise intrigues me. Can you elaborate on this one Dave?

Come to think of it, this could be cute, done in those individual spring form pans too.

I thought you might have that one. The one thing I would note is that the recipe calls for a 9 in springform. I used an 8 in and it was pretty much the right size.

Tomato paste is part of the standard ingredients I use when braising a pot roast.

The cake recipe is from 150 Best American Recipes. It's called Ginger Mascarpone Ice Box Cake I think. .

Dinner party tonight, with yes, the usual prime rib. Started with two tomato appetizers. Roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic with fresh majoram on broiled cibata bread and vodka spiked cherry tomatoes which were far tastier than they look here! I made brioche en tetes and flatbread: Honey Bourbon glazed carrots: Roast beef before and after: And ginger mascarpone icebox cake for dessert: Oh, and I made most of this while I was reasonably hungover.