Marlene

I now have pork belly and will try the red pork belly braise this week sometime, except I won't be using mushroom soy sauce!

Another weekend in the RV and a couple of dinners/breakfasts. Porterhouse steaks with roasted small potatoes: Breakfast the next morning was the usual bacon and eggs, with the leftover roasted potatoes fried up. The lighting is a little red, as these pictures were taken inside the dining tent (which has a red roof) that we put up for the first time this year. I'll have to figure out how to compensate for that. Saturday afternoon brought the opportunity to try the Cuisinart Convection toaster oven that I bought. I did a baked brie in it. I spread red pepper jelly on top before encasing in the puff pastry: What would Saturday afternoon at the campsite be without a Manhattan? (yes, I know there's ice in it. Sue me. ) Saturday's dinner was pork chops, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. I chopped up the leftover bacon from breakfast for bacon bits. The chops were rubbed with a ginger/soy sauce type of rub, and to tell the truth, I wasn't all that impressed. The Cuisinart is big enough to do a roast chicken or possibly a smaller boneless prime rib. This weekend when we go back, I'll have Ry with me, so I'm probably going to try some muffins for breakfast one morning.

Not well. Trust Diana and I. Pasta is tough to do unless you do a casserole-type thing. Do you have any ideas of what other people are providing? Last time we did this for a church member, we all gave the coordinator roughly what we'd do. I like the fried chicken idea (if you make sure it's totally cool and don't put it in an airtight container, it does fairly well, but I also like the roast chicken platter idea, along with a loaf of good bread, and some salads. Another thought is a quiche. And, don't forget to take things over in containers that don't need to be returned! Edited to add: rare beef tenderloin, sliced, with bread and salads would be very popular in my house! ← I'm not sure yet what other people are doing, but I should have an idea tomorrow. I'm leaning more now to the BBQ/Roast chicken idea. Something vegetarian of course. The enchilada idea sounds intriguing but I need guidance. Cold pasta salad of some sort? Roast potato wedges? I think they could be nicely reheated. Some of this stuff I'll try to get as close to ala minute as I can, since they don't live that far from me. Maybe a fruit platter as well. I'm trying to stay away from casseroles etc as I suspect they've had their fill of them.

Oh! I love the idea of a crisp for dessert!

Hmmm. I don't know why I keep thinking the skin will not be as nice. Or, I could do a roast chicken platter for them to make sandwiches with maybe. With a variety of salads. I do know the family loves pasta. How does penne alla vodka re heat?

Here's what I'm thinking so far. Everyone can steer me back if I'm too far off base. Fried chicken Veg lazagna or enchilladas Broccoli salad Cinammon bread from my bread maker Brownies and choc chip muffins. My date got changed till next Monday, the 26th so I have a little more time.

A very good friend of mine passed away last week, and I have volunteered to be one of the people to provide a meal to the family next week, while they are coping. So here's what I need. Ideas for a complete meal including veg, main and dessert. The whole thing must be portable and easily warmed up, so things should hold well if possible. Some restrictions include: 1 child doesn't eat meat. No nuts. 1 child isn't fond of dairy. The family loves carbs so I guess pasta dishes of some sort might be an option. Cream sauces aren't wonderful. Eggs are fine, no fish or mushrooms. Vegetables they like include, corn, brocoli, snow peas and carrots. Everyone likes fruit. The family is jewish, although they don't keep kosher, pork products are out. My turn is this coming Monday so I need help!

yes they do, and if I lived in a place that had an Asian market nearby, I'd snap some up! The next time I get to Toronto, I can probably find some of course.

I use a regular balsamic (like Maile for example) to paint steaks with or use in cooked sauces. Anything where it will add flavour but the distinctiveness will be lost with cooking. I have a much older balsamic (I think it's a 15 year old) that I use to drizzle on roasted asparagus, parmesan, and dressings where the distinctive flavour is going to come through. I just checked my cupboards and these are what I currently have: A bottle of Cavalli Condimento. Thick and syrupy, I use this to finish sauces and dressings. A bottle of Acetaia Dodi Balsamic condimeto. It's similar to the Cavalli and I use it the same way. Both came from Italy and were brought to me as gifts. A bottle of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Giuseppe Giusti also from Italy A bottle of Maile "balsamic vinegar"

That looks excellent Henry! This is on my list of things to try just as soon as I find some fresh pork belly which seems to bed hard to get here!

The only reason I can think of is that you are reducing the sauce at a fairly high heat, which may or may not burn the pork. Also, The pork may be absorbing the sauce as it reduces leaving less sauce. I don't think you can overcook pork belly though.

Strangely enough, even with the very windy day we had today, we had no trouble maintaining the temp between 200-220. It just wasn't an issue. We just didn't smoke them long enough.

Get yourself a pair of these crocs. They are the most amazing footwear for standing on your feet all day.

Well it was a little better around this time, but still not quite right. I've now learned, never under estimate the time it takes to smoke ribs. After 7 hours, they could have still gone another two hours, but by 8:30 we were getting hungry. I also completely forgot to remove the silverskin or even make slits in it, and as at 7 hours, they were still not fall off the bone, or even gently tugable, it didn't help. However, they were still a lot better than the first time around and Arne's glaze is da bomb.

Top rack it is. I'm going to guess around 6 hours for the ribs today. Of course, it's really windy here so that should make for interesting temp control once again. I'm about to make Arne's glaze and the ribs are rubbed

So bullet experts. Using rib racks, should I have them on the bottom rack or the top rack of the bullet?

Ok Susan, hand it over. I picked up rib racks after my last rib disaster and I've got two racks of St. Louis style ribs. Sat is supposed to be a gorgeous day, so perhaps I should be brave and try this again.

That looks interesting! Now for a nice glaze. Come on people, cough them up!

Moby, in the oven, I'd do it at 250. I still think you're looking at 190 regardless of whether you smoke it or roast it to get the pull apart factor. Not that I'm an expert or anything.

I'm open to suggestions for rubs as well. I know everyone like's Klink's Dry Rub, but I didn't really care for it that much. I do know that I want a rub and then a glaze at the end,

I think I may have to try smoking ribs again this weekend, since my first attempt was not all that successful. Arne, can you elaborate on the glaze and what's in it?

I was recently gifted with a bunch of duck fat. I think potatoes in duck fat may make an appearance n my table tonight. Is it better to fry potoatoes in duck fat or roast them in duck fat?

I can only get brisket flats here. I've got a fairly large one in the freezer, that I'd like to try smoking

That's what happened to us last night. It was stalled for the longest time at 170.

Using popover tins, I usually cook my about 30 minutes. They'll sound hollow when you tap on them.