Marlene

I've just checked my bird and it's about 9 lbs. Am I correct that if I do this at a higher temp on the smoker, say 350, it will only take a couple of hours and not be as smokey tasting as it would be if it was on longer and lower?

So, we're back from 6 nights in Las Vegas. Several restaurant experiences to recount. Breakfast: Breakfasts were at one of three places, Bouchon, Wynn's buffet, or the Grand Cafe Lux at the Venetian. Bouchon was all I could have asked for and more. Hubby had the American breakfast with eggs, bacon and sausage and a choice of breakfast pastry and I had the brioche french toast. I could have eaten that French Toast every day for breakfast, it was that good. I also had a mimosa (for what is a vacation without a mimosa for breakfast) and they definately used a good quality champagne and very fresh squeezed orange juice. Wynn's buffet gets high marks for very fresh, quality ingredients. While not as extensive as Cravings at the Mirage, they had several sections, Asian, Italian, American etc and everything was fresh. Omelettes were made to order and alongside the Prime Rib, was fresh smoked pork belly. Grand Cafe Lux. For a place owned an operated by the Cheesecake Factory, I wasn't really expecting outstanding. Well it wasn't, but it was pretty decent. The steak and eggs featured a generous NY strip and three eggs, plus real shredded hash browns. Unfortunately, the place seemed to be understaffed at all times and wait times for food and checks could be a little excessive. Lunch: We didn't eat a lot of lunches. Between late breakfasts, and huge dinners, we didn't need too. Two of note, one again at the Grand Cafe Lux and one at the Pinot Brassiere both at the Venetian. The Grand Cafe Lux features some fried chicken that was pretty damn good. It looks like chicken fingers when it arrives, but this is real fried chicken. Served with garlic mashed potatoes, I asked for a side of gravy for the potatoes and got real wonderful beef gravy. Dinners: Dinners included, Craftsteak at MGM, Okada at Wynns and Delmonico's at the Venetian. Other nights we either had a show so grabbed a quick bite or were just way to full from a brunch had at 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. Craftsteak. I'd been wanting to try this steak place for some time after reading rave reviews of the place. They offer a Charcuterie sampler for an appetizer and I was intrigued enough to order this. I'd like to tell you what was on it, but the guy who served it to us didn't speak enough English to tell us well enough and what he did speak was rattled off so fast, that even though I asked him to repeat it three times, I still didn't get it. I know there was proscuitto and salami, and there were three kinds of mustard. The waitress promised to write it out for us, but never did. Nevertheless, it was pretty good. Hubby ordered the ribeye and I figured this was my chance to try Kobe beef. American Kobe beef, but still, so I ordered the "platinum rib eye". Don's rib eye, was grisly, scrappy, and way undercooked, (read raw, not rare) and my kobe beef, while decent, wasn't as outstanding as I was expecting. In fact, the dry aged ribeyes I get at Whole Foods had more flavour and tenderness. When Don mentioned his displeasure at his steak, the waitress' response was, "Oh you ordered the grass fed ribeye? I'd never recommend that". Well, where the heck were you when he ordered it? Sides were roasted onions and green beans both of which were pretty good. They also have a very extensive Scotch list and Don could have happily spent the week at the bar, working his way through it. As long as he didn't have to eat there. Okada at Wynn's. I had wanted teppanyaki. Specifically, I wanted teppanyaki at the Mikado at the Mirage. Unfortunately, the Mikado, closed their doors permanently in Novemenber. So what was a girl to do? I most definately did not want Benihana's. Enter the Okada at Wynn's. The Okada is actually three restaurants in one. They have a sushi bar, regular japanese restaurant seating and teppanyaki. This is slightly upscale teppanyaki. Instead of the usual shrimp, they served baby scallops. Vegetables included some very fresh asparagus and fried rice was included. The beef tenderloin that I had was extremely tender and the chef didn't skimp on butter or garlic. They paid special attention to my mushroom allergy, making sure he cooked the mushrooms at the very end, after all my food had been cooked. When they served me a miso soup at the beginning with button mushrooms in it, they couldn't do enough to apologize. This is a restaurant that we will definately return to. Delmonicos I have written much about Delmonicos and how much I like it. This visit did nothing to change that opinion. Of all the restaurants, this is the only one I took pictures in, (hey, I was on vacation!). They have changed their menu slightly. The amuse boche was a potato ham croquette: They've added a prime beef and beer cheese fondue to their appetizer list, served with fresh baked pretzel sticks: They still make their wonderful parmesan potato chips: Don had the rib eye: And I had a bleu cheese crusted petite ribeye with buttermilk onion straws, served on mashed potatoes. I didn't exactly need dessert, but I had to try this bread pudding: Delmonico's remains my favourite Las Vegas restaurant and one of my top 5 steakhouses overall.

I guess I should take my turkey out of the freezer if I'm planning on smoking it this weekend! I think it might be a 12 lb turkey, but I'll have to check. I've got applewood so that's what I'll use to smoke. I've read through this and since I intend to use the water pan, should I figure on 6 hours or so? Sides will be mashed potatoes, gravy made from turkey stock and glazed carrots likely. I suppose I should brine too. Overnight? How much salt?

I have just returned from a trip to Las Vegas. We've eaten at most of the steakhouses now in Vegas, so my list would be like this: Delmonicos Prime S&W Craft doesn't even make the list in my opinion. Maybe we were there on an off night, but our meal at Craft during this trip was possibly one of the worst we've had in some time. I hope to get around to writing up the various restaurants we visited this time around, and will include my impressions of Craft there.

The Caribbean Pork Shoulder is one of my favourite braises from this book. Definately start at the lower temp. I find anywhere from 240-250 sseems to work about right for most recipes. You only want the liquid to be barely bubbling while it's braising. Oh and I started out braising with no Le Crueset too. I now have 6 pieces so beware! The saute pan will be fine for the ribs as long as it has a good cover as will the stainless dutch oven. I have an All Clad Dutch oven that I've used on occassion for braising. I'm glad you liked them! That recipe is now my favourite way to braise short ribs! I always reduce the juices for this dish. I tend to add some pork stock and then reduce considerably and the reduction works wonderfully for this dish! Mike, I seldom make a braise and eat it the same day. First of all, most braises are even better the second or third day after making them and I tend to make a braise in advance for when I know I need to get dinner on the table quickly. I will usually de fat the juices before storing though and I almost always store the meat and juice together. In fact, after straining and de fatting, quite often I throw everything back into the pot, cover and stick in the fridge. Then I can reheat in the same pot.

Anna, Bruno's regularly carries creme freche. I like the idea of using panko to coat the fish, and I agree, I generally like to use panko instead of breadcrumbs in most instances.

I did these recently, inspired by JAZ's blog and following the directions Dave gave above although I also made a glaze for the finish using demi glace and honey. They are really really good done this way!

yes but they have a 15 year old with them, so I think Pegu may be out..

It's really nice to hear that I'm not alone in my buttercream failure. It concerns me a little that the magazine bills this as stress free and damn near foolproof. It's not either as far as I can tell!

Laurel, I've been thinking about this and I think you're right. It was just too warm. I'm off on a week's vacation, but I think I will definately try this again when I get back. Who knows, maybe third time is the charm! In the meantime, Part Two of this issue's digest will appear in this space tomorrow!

I mostly do short ribs in the brasier, so the answer to your question in terms of liquids, I think you'll be fine using the smaller one. I think with some of the other recipes you're going to have to experiment with quantities to see what works and what doesn't but again things like the cabbage and pork chops, potatoes etc should all be fine as well.

Shaya, did you have any soup leftover? The recipe notes this one can be served warm or cold, and I'd be interested in how it comes across cold.

Lucy, the Beef Tenderloin appetizer I make is rolled in crushed brined green peppers before searing. That's about the only time I use them I think!

I did in fact recently order the Cooking Fresh along with three other ones, Dinner with Friends, 101 Quick and Delicious Recipes and Comfort Foods. It comes as a set. In addition, I managed to snag the Weekend Cooking edition from my newsstand the other day, which is also not part of the subscription. I'll look forward to checking out the veggie dishes when the set arrives! So, to the buttercream. Yes, I kept the mixer on while adding the syrup. Maybe I didn't whip it long enough after I added the butter? How long would that be do you think? It is entirely possible that I'm going to have to try this recipe again.

Anna, I' ve been looking at the other pork tenderloin recipe and contemplating it. Now I'll just have to try it! birder53, the cake was really really good. And easy. Like you, I don't bake a lot so it's nice to have a recipe onhand that I know works. I've only been getting Fine Cooking for about six months. So far, I've made at least one thing from every issue I've received. I agree with you about sauce quantities though. There was definately not enough for the pork medallions and the coleslaw could have used more as well. I could have wished for more vegetable/side dish receipes in this issue though. Hopefully as we are moving towards spring and fresh produce the next issue will provide some interesting sides for our monthly meals!

I have two beef appetizers that I do. One is a tenderloin on crostini, quite similar to this recipe. The other one is a little more asian as the beef pieces are dipped into a soy sauce mixture then you roll slivers of peppers and green onion up in them, secure and grill for a minute or two. The first one is a cold appetizer and it is easy to make ahead and assemble the day of. the crostini can be seen here third picture down, and the other one can be seen here

Hmmm. Let's see. The 5 qt takes about 9 short ribs. I would imagine the smaller buffet might take only six, but the liquid quantities should be about right. I think some of the other recipes like the cabbage, potatoes etc will be fine and won't need adjustment, but in terms of something like a pot roast, in order to do it in the buffet, it needs to be relatively flat. I'm not sure that's really answered your question? I need to go view a 3.5 quart probably in order to judge better. Did you have a particular recipe you wanted to try in the 3.5? That might help me!

Grilled ribs tonight, rubbed, and wrapped in foil on the grill for 1 and 1/2 hours then on the open grill for 5 minutes a side. One of the things I'm rapidly coming to understand is that I like a "wet" rib rather than a "dry" one. Next time, some sort of mop is in order. Rubbed with Klink's dry rub: Done:

I'm pretty sure it was oil temp. I didn't use a thermometer this time and I don't think the oil was hot enough. I tried again today for snacks for hubby and I and used a thermometer and it worked fine.

We're doing ribs today as well, although grilled, not smoked!

We had friends for dinner tonight. My mantra to them was, "we'll keep it simple, steaks,a salad baked potatoes. So this morning, I was up making bacon bits, salad dressing, tart tatin, croutons etc. Yes, lets keep this simple! Because it's spring, and we were grilling we started with Margaritas and strawberry daquiris: We had a shrimp cocktail for nibbles. We were supposed to have brie fritters too, but somehow they kind of disintegrated while deep frying. I'm not really sure how that happened: Dinner was, grilled rib eyes, baked potatoes and ceasar salad. Condiments included bacon bits, sour cream and my homemade bbq sauce. Dessert was Tarte Tatin. I actually made this twice. The first time, it stuck, and wouldn't release. the second time I used a cast iron frying pan and it worked a dream:

For cookbooks and magazines I keep a simple excel spreadsheet by category, i.e appetizers, meat etc. Under that I list the name of the recipe, the cookbook or magazine it is in and the page number. I sometimes add notes if I've made substantial changes to a recipe. For recipes that I've found on the net and tried and liked, I label them in gmail under recipes. Of course there's recipeGullet and I do have recipe software as well, but I find the spreadsheet is easier and i don't have to spend a lot of time retyping a recipe.

I do have the 5 quart buffet. I now also have several round ones of various sizes. The buffet casserole gets used mainly for short ribs, and other small pieces while the larger pot roasts go into the 5 or 7.5 quart round dutch ovens. I have to say though that I use the buffet casserole for all kinds of things though and it is probably the most used of my Le Crueset pieces. And no, I tend not to double her recipes as I 've never had to and the buffet casserole seems to fit the dish I'm doing at the time. It is a heavy so and so, though! Mike, I can't help you with the dumpling question since that's one dish I haven't made from Molly's book yet.

I have looked everytime I'm out for Dawn power disolver as well and would love to know where to find this.

I love the method of cooking turkey in the Cotton Country Collection.