Marlene

Stock is the biggest thing for me that I now make instead of buy. Homemade pizza and fried chicken can now be added to that list as well.

I didn't take any of those pictures. My husband did camera duty while I cooked. I made such a mess of the writing on the cake I wouldn't let him take a "before" picture! However, the cake was really good. Devil's Food Cake was the first cake I learned to bake oh so many years ago, and it never fails me. The biker butcher cut this roast for me, and it was beyond tender. That was a 9 pound, four bone Prime rib. The mini potato pancakes are from Martha's Hor D'ourves book. They are supposed to be served with an apple-red onion compote, but I just didn't have time to make it, but they go well with applesauce and sour cream too.

Truly, most of this meal I could do in my sleep. But when you're doing a party for 10, sometimes that's helpful. Nibbles: Brie fritters and raspberry sauce Mini Celriac potato pancakes: Prime Rib, yet again Whole roasted potatoes: \ Roasted asparagus with balsamic and parmesan: The most amazing Yorkshire puddings: The wine with dinner: And a really really bad picture of the birthday cake.

Sounds wonderful! I like the idea of using panko on top instead of regular breadcrumbs. Dumb question. Is powdered mustard the same as dry mustard?

Sounds perfect Jack. And it was thanks to you that I even thought about doing this! I'm going to use popover pans for the Yorkies. How much fat per mold? About a tablespoon each or more? Popover pans are a little deeper than my usual muffin tins. I've never used these before.

I did a beef fondue for Christmas Day.

I did that. At least I think I did! I also poured it into a glass canning jar. I think I see Yorkshire puddings in my future tomorrow night.

Aha! That makes perfect sense.

I've never tried to vacumn seal a bag of liquid before, but I've got some stock now that I'm going to try this with. I'll seal in one cup and 2 cup quantities I think.

Excellent. I'll try rendering it. How long will it keep in the fridge?

I got a great layer of fat off my current batch of beef stock. In the past, I've always thrown this out. So, my questions are: 1 Can I/should I render it? 2. If so, how do I do that? 3. What can/should I use the rendered beef fat for?

It's been a long time since we made pizza. And never in this new house with this new oven. So I thought, why not? Since I have two ovens and two stones (well I have three stones, but that's a different story), I figured I'd make one for Ryan and one for me. I make the dough in my breadmaker and I just find it really easy to work with. I also aquired a pizza peel along the way and that made life a lot easier as well. Ryan's pizza which had green peppers, pepperoni, and salami with lots of cheese: Mine which had pepperoni,, ham and bacon.

I didn't take pics of the sides sorry, but baked beans and mashed potatoes here.

I'm revisiting old friends this week in terms of dinner, and tonight it was time to try my new deep saute pan for fried chicken. Tomorrow, I think I'll wander over to the Pizza cookoff.

if the oil sizzles when you drop a droplet of water in it, you're pretty much good to go I think. I've got chicken soaking in buttermilk as I type. Good luck!

I do in fact have the makings, and I was considering that one!

It's been ages since I made this, so last night we had a tonkatsu fest with fried rice

I do this all the time. Mostly because I'm just not a dessert eater. I'd much rather have a cheese course at the end of my meal, but when I'm entertaining, I always feel like I have to make a dessert for everyone else.

We got them at Whole Foods. Yes, we pay a little more for them but they were really good. I thought I was mostly done, but I'm holding a birthday party this weekend for a close friend of ours. I guess this means I need to bake a cake.

Well, I won't exactly hibernate. We do entertain throughout the year, but not like this. As for vegetables, well there are several changes in store for me this year. Give me a month. I think you'll be surprised. Stay tuned.

I hardly made any soups this year except for French Onion and Post Christmas turkey soup. However, I've discovered my son has a penchant for chilled soups so I'll be trying some of those in the new year.

I learned to deep fry and not be afraid of my deep fryer. I learned how to make gumbo I learned to braise I learned how to make pie crust (sort of) I learned how to make pizza from scratch with a pizza stone I learned the value of a mise en place. I learned not to be afraid to experiment with recipes, quantities and ingredients I learned how to make the best turkey ever I learned not to make battered halibut in a deep fryer. Was it really only this past year I started making stock? It feels like I've been making it forever. 2005 was a year of many cooking firsts for me, and I swear in 2006 I'm going to conquer that stupid rice cooker.

Since this is a braising thread, we should probably take the stock discussion to the stock thread!

That should work. I documented my firs attempt at pork stock in the eGCI stock making class. I use fresh pork hocks and have recently started adding pork necks as well.

I usually make a brown pork stock. I always roast the bones first, but don't paint them with tomato sauce as I do for beef stock. I've found pork stock to come in very handy in many dishes, especially in Molly's Caribbean Pork Shoulder braise.