Okanagancook

I do not recall the names of the various brands I have tried over the years. I usually picked one of the more expensive brands usually at an East Indian grocery.

Tilda is my choice after trying many different ones. Nice long grains which do not break up. Soaking it for 20 minutes before cooking is recommended to make the grains swell and get longer.

Could be too many ribs in the pool. The water needs to surround the bagged meat which the picture does not show doing so.

Cauliflower and clam soup. Surprisingly good. It was a variation on a recipe (from Great Soup Empty Bowls by Jamie Kennedy) due to availability of ingredients. Used canned clams and chopped them up so they weren't rubbery; pureed cauliflower soup thickened with rice and small florets of cauliflower reserved to add back after puree for some texture and crispened homemade pancetta for the top, oh and some Franks Hot Sauce because I put that.......... Sorry no picture mainly because it ain't pretty.

Nice to see Deep Run Roots nominated in so many categories. http://www.iacp.com/news/announced-2017-awards-nominees/

Beautiful Jo!

Yes it is.

Greek salad; lamb kofta and pasta with kale topped with Parmesan. Pretty simple and the kofta's were from the freezer

Looks interesting. I looked at the batter recipe because I have some wings I was going to fry for Superbowl and I think there is a typo "11 cups of beer"? Probably "1"....that way there should be some beer left for the chef! cheers

Equilibrium brining is so much easier, stress free way to go.

ditto

If you use equilibrium brining then you can put them in the brine now and then when you want to cook them tomorrow, take them out and rinse them...good to go. Equilibrium brining: take the weight of your meat plus the water to cover. Then add 2% kosher salt. For example if your meat and water weighs 2000 grams then add x0.02 salt which is 40 grams of salt. It won't make them too salty but will hydrate the meat throughout. This is what I do. I just had some turkey necks in the brine for a day before I sous vide'd them. cheers

Thanks for posting the article which was enlightening.

Beef jerky pineapple slices

Your ideas with the cake pop maker sound excellent BUT, grrrh, I am NOT buying one! You see this is how it starts. Maybe you need a separate thread for the cake pop maker and count how many people cave and buy one. Ha, ah.

Jacksoup, great job. Must be nice to have it all done. We moved into our own-designed house eleven years ago and I am still rearranging stuff in the kitchen

May I suggest the last thing you cooked in your old kitchen....for comparison's sake. Just an idea. Ouch, swelling rice...reminds of when one overeats Indian Curry Dinner. I remember a table full of guests writhing on the floor with over stuffed bellies. I think we even went for a walk. It's a silent killer.

I know. Her mom did the same thing back when she had her puppies. We had one on the dinning room table clipping it's nails and then all of sudden there was Winnie beside us on the table! I wouldn't leave anything edible on that eating counter if I were you....just say'n. He's a terrier. Ha, that reminds me I lost a half pound of butter off the lunch table to a four month old Kerry Blue. Gone before you could open your mouth. What is the first thing you are going to cook in your new kitchen?

Doesn't a tablespoon of Kosher salt weigh less than a tablespoon of regular table salt? So that might be why he specified Kosher but agree that the small different isn't going to make a lotta difference in a boiling caldron of pasta water! (For Canadians, 1 US Gallon (4 quarts) = 0.83 Canuck Gallons or 3.4 Litres in case the Metric Police are reading.) As an aside and off topic, Porthos, if you just got her Classic book be sure to try the butter/tomato sauce which was rated one of the top 10 recipes EVER on Epicurious, it's on page 152 and her stuffed mushrooms on page 76 (they are very filling but absolutely will blow the pasta out of your water!). cheers

Thanks for the update. My 10 year old fridge was SS and it didn't clean up well no matter what I used including fancy SS cleaner. It must have been the type of SS because my new one cleans up very easily. The plain dish detergent works really well as I mentioned above. Bad Henry. My female Kerry Blue was famous for actually jumping (from just in front of the counter) up on the outdoor kitchen counter to retrieve her ball. Don't tell Henry. We have a little round sink on the prep island and we find it very useful. Can't wait to see the pot rack.

Marc Vetri in Mastering Pasta says: (and this is for fresh pasta) "Use plenty of water if you don't, when you drop in the pasta, it takes longer to get the water back up to a boil and the pasta soaks rather than boils. About 5 quarts (4.7 Litres) of water per pound (454 gram) of pasta is right. For that amount of water, I like to add about 2 1/2 tablespoons (23 grams) of kosher salt." Thomas McNaughton in Flour + Water says: "Our equation for the perfect pot of pasta water: For 4 quarts (US) of water add 1/4 cup kosher salt and a handful of semolina flour." He uses semolina because he also uses the cooking water for his sauces which helps to stabilize the sauce. Marcella Hazan in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking says "Pasta needs lots of water to move around in, or it becomes gummy. Four quarts of water are required for every pound of pasta (she doesn't say whether that is factory or homemade but I think she is talking about factory pasta by the sounds of the rest of the directions.) Add another quart for each half point and don't cook more than 2 pounds at once. For every pound of pasta put in no less than 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt, more if the sauce is very mild and under salted." She doesn't specify what kind of salt. And Lastly: Nate Appleman in A16 Food + Wine says: 1 tablespoon Kosher salt per gallon (US). So take your pick.

Stainless steel backsplash over the stove. Hmm, won't that be a pain to clean? My cleaning lady just uses dish soap and water to clean stainless steel. Works great. Wipe it off and no streaks. Your kitchen looks fantastic. Is that another oven in the first picture? Is that an eating bar in the first picture, by the door? Where are you putting the CSO? What kinda counter tops? Is that another sink on the brick wall counter? Nice, very nice. The floors look great with the white cabinets. Sorry for all the questions

Yes, cook them until soft. if you don't mind a little skin, you can put the skin on halves in the ricer.

Excellent! Pineapple is cheap here at the moment. Try some dried pineapple. I used my mandolin to get thin, consistent pieces.

Norm, your meatloaf platter looks excellent, even if it does have those nasty Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts and turnip are not on my go list.