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Okanagancook

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Everything posted by Okanagancook

  1. Our local butcher come sausage maker has wonderful hams that he makes in house in his walkin smoker. Not cheap. he is a nice guy and it is a family business. We like to support businesses like this. he usually comes out from the back to say hi when I go in. Yesterday we were there and I told him about our bacon, pancetta and guaincle making endeavours. He, being of Germanic extraction, did no know what guainacle was. I should take him some to try. Also need to take my egg providing lady in my village a package of our bacon...I bet she will love that. It's all about sharing!
  2. Okanagancook

    Making Bacon

    It is a Chefs Choice slicer that I have had for about 17 years! We still have the original blade and it seems sharp enough but perhaps time for a new one. We only use it a couple of times a year and now we are lending it out a couple of times a year. It has served us well. Easy to use BUT when slicing the bottom part of the meat doesn't get sliced all the way so I do two slices then flip the meat and do two more which eliminates the flap of uncut meat...if that makes sense. It is quite compact. I put it in a pillow case to keep the dust off and store it on a shelf. I will take some pictures for you tomorrow.
  3. Great topic. I just ordered a 8-9 lb fresh smoked ham from our favourite local butcher. It needs to be cooked. I am taking to our usual place of Christmas Dinner..a friend's place. They do a turkey and all the trimmings. We usually take two beautiful freshly baked loaves of bread, Lintzer Torte and last year I made vanilla ice cream for the Torte. i would welcome any suggestions about cooking the ham. I will wrap the cooked ham in foil, in towels and place it in a cooler to keep warm until dinner time. I have only cooked one of these before. cheers
  4. Taste and Technique cookbook also recommends the pressure on top method. I just bought and seasoned my steel frying pan and tried to get a nice sear on my sous vide chops but I neglected to apply pressure. I'm a "stupidoop", next time.
  5. ChocoMom and Shelby: Reading the back and forth you two have been engaged in is what is so wonderful about our community!
  6. Ok, cooked beets....shall have to try this, thanks.
  7. Okanagancook

    Making Bacon

    Just finished our annual bacon making session although my pancetta is still in the garage for another few days. There is the set up with the slicer and a couple of pics of meat. We did half a belly as a simple recipe with sage, black pepper and a little garlic; another half was cured with maple syrup and the last half was done with honey. We used hickory smoke and a Bradley smoker for about 6 hours to get the internal temp to 155F. Really nice smoke flavour.
  8. Captain: Wow! Fantastic looking duck and yes, now you can enjoy the duck fat over the next month or so. I just bought a nice plump Fraser Valley frozen duck, now I can almost taste it. Chefmd: Another lovely looking roasted bird. Looks like you used the high heat method! I've got a half a one ready to go on my BGE tonight. I am going to try my piri piri sauce, yes the real thing: piri piri peppers soaked in olive oil for three months. I opened the jar and immediately started coughing.....so my plan is to use 1/2 teaspoon on the non-skin side of the bird after it is about half way cooked. Question about the beets: are they raw? Anna N: Nice sear on that chop! Glad you discovered those little gems....just like candy. sartoric: chicken cheddar toasties! sounds weirdly delicious....perhaps some chopped jalapeños on top! I keep forgetting to take a picture of dinner. Here is some beef fillet; steamed broccoli and Deb Madison's rice and squash gratin. I made four then baked them. I also made two more recipes for the freezer but I left out the béchamel sauce which I will make when I use them. This is a really nice gratin, from her Veggies for Everyone cookbook.
  9. Home made pizza is so good and it isn't that difficult...just don't over do the toppings. Yours look excellent. Congrats!
  10. Okanagancook

    Unfiltered wine

    Sorry about the mix up.
  11. Okanagancook

    Unfiltered wine

    A six year old Morgon is likely the problem....I believe that is on the edge of its life expectancy. Bummer about the China wine scene. There a number of wineries here in the Okanagan that have been purchased by Chinese business people. i would srtill try taking it back for a refun if ther is still wine in the bottle and you did not ditch it. Best of luck.
  12. Well, that is a very eclectic combo of flavours. Did you have any protein with it?
  13. I was looking at those croutons before reading your caption and thought, wow, those look like excellent croutons.....now I know why, good job. I love some croutons in a salad for texture. I have been making Pepin's one pot bread, making some thinner slices and dicing them for some smaller croutons....I find them easier to eat and I don't a have the fear of breaking a tooth on really hard big croutons.
  14. Okanagancook

    Unfiltered wine

    I agree with Norm, the wine's faults are not due to it being unfiltered. It's just a bad bottle for whatever reason. Take it back to the store. We had a $50 bottle of organic California red wine a couple of years ago and it was similar to what has been described here. We opened another one and it was fine. It happens. Just don't drink it.
  15. Ok, that's good to know! Thanks.
  16. My latest fun thing to do with okra is stuff them. When I first saw this recipe I thought seeing I would need to buy big okra they would be tough. Well, I was wrong. I got four to five inch okra....as non-woody-looking as I could. Made a slit and stuffed in the East Indian spice mix called for in the recipe. Then you fry them in a bit of oil, so they sizzle, over medium low heat until they get soft and almost done then crank the heat adding a little more oil to get them crispy. Delicious. The one grocery store that carries okra doesn't always get nice small ones so this is a great way to use the larger ones.
  17. Amazon.ca Instapot, $85
  18. I read somewhere to use animal fat and not veggie fat to avoid that sticky residue.
  19. I have only fried up those four pieces to try it as I was wrapping it for freezer storage. I use it mainly with pasta as in carbonara and I will be making a pasta sauce with winter squash containing guanciale later today. Your sauce sounds good too.
  20. Made the roasted halved cherry tomatoes. I liked the savoury herb flavour. Dead easy. Do we need a recipe for this?
  21. They were getting quite dry so after two weeks in the garage I brought them in. Forgot to weigh them before I took the skin off so not sure if they reached the 30% weight loss target. Darn tasty.
  22. Thank you for sharing. Everything looks nice and fresh.
  23. Awesome FP and as an side thank you for all your entries on EatOurBooks
  24. Excellent point cfmed. I typically cook pork to 35 ish F degrees which is obviously not safe for chicken. glad you are still kicking Shelby edit: that should be 135F, sorry folks
  25. Yes, I don't think there is a filling.
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