Okanagancook

Shelby, I read the Serious Eats link to the perfect yorkshire pud that Norm kindly posted. I made the batter and put it in the fridge overnight. About 4 hours before I cooked the batter it was taken out of the fridge. I added a little cold water as per Elaine Lemm's recipe (I used her recipe), gave it a whisk, heated the beef fat to smoking, filled the cups and they were done in about 13 minutes. Really light and fluffy. Yorkshire pud is pretty easy to make. The only trick is the timing of the baking to coincide with when everything else is ready. It's an impressive component to a meal. Those oysters look fantastic. I don't buy them here, too far from the ocean.

Roast pork shank, yorkshire puds, red cabbage and gravy. Only filled the popover pans 1/3 of the way full and rested the batter overnight. Very light and hollow in the middle as they are supposed to be. I started the pork shank in the little Cuisine Art Oven on steam-bake at 220F for 120 minutes then transferred to my Cadco Convection Oven at 475F until the crackling got crispy.

Took the words right off my keypad Shelby. The food looked amazing too. We are all so fortunate to be able put on such wonderful Christmas meals.

Thanks for the link Norm. A good read. We clearly filled our cups too much, I think they were about 2/3 full. Need to make half the batter volume for that six cup popover pan. I have "The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding" by Elaine Lemm. Here is her video on YP: http://foodanddrink.yorkshirepost.co.uk/recipes/perfect-yorkshire-puddings/ She really stresses resting the batter but now I think I will make it the night before and then take it out an hour before baking. That was interesting about the flavour development of an overnight batter. I use beef fat by the way. (In her little book she has ideas for using the puddings, like the onion filled ones mentioned over at Serious Eats. She also mentions putting Irish Stew or chilli in the cups.)

Hey Norm, nice puddings! We have the same pop over pan. How full do you fill your cups? I have used my pan just once, up thread, last night and we thought the pudding was too dense towards the bottom. The roast beef also looks fantastic as do the shrimp.

So good, had to do it again! P.S. I got a dumpling cookbook for Christmas!

Pork/cabbage pot stickers!

Rack of lamb, yorkshire put made in my new 'popover' tins and parsnip/carrot. Measured the YP 'cause having a 'whose the best at YP' with a friend

Wow, love that kinda spread. So did my Dad. I would take the same kind of pickles/meats/cheese/bread and he would eat and eat beyond my expectations....

A beautifully decorated Xmas 'hamper' full of baked goodies, preserves and a cookbook.

I've made the Andrea Nguyen beef pho and thought it was excellent. Good luck.

I have several clay pots and a gas stove. I purchased one of these: http://www.creativecookware.com/Commercial-Cookware/Ibili/Heat-Distributing-Plates-p4099/ I actually use it a lot to have a uniform heat especially for long slow simmers. I usually use it when cooking in my clay pots for safety (I'm a chicken) and the even heat.

Sartoric, I think you just nailed it, it ALL depends on the meat. We are blessed with a little butcher shop here in our small town of 35,000 people. I have cultivated my relationship with them and am usually invited to choose the belly I want from the pile they get each week.

Nice pork belly. By the looks of the thickness, it must have been juicy. Nice crab cakes! So envious of west coast fresh crabs. Just enough other stuff for the crab to stay together. Do you form them ahead and leave in fridge to meld together and do you use any Old Bay?

Yes, I did see that spoon in the mouth...no excuse for that. Let us see if she can prove her own hype in LCK.

We have a dog bath which is very useful....when there isn't a dog in it !

That is seriously beautiful. Speaking of Hasselback potatoes, there is a recipe for a variation on them(Cheesy Hasselback Potatoes) on the NYTimes best recipes for 2015, here under 20 best new recipes http://cooking.nytimes.com/topics/our-most-popular-recipes-of-2015

You can import files from some other recipe collection programs such as Cookware Deluxe, Mastercook and Meal Master but when I tried to import a pages file (the Mac equivalent to word files) it does not work.

I am not sure where I got this but it is in my "kitchen notes" section MacGourmet. I've not tried it either. For what it's worth, maybe someone else has experience with this: How to prevent yogurt from curdling when making curries? Yogurt is a major ingredient in making Indian Curries. The cow-milk yogurt will separate when heated beyond a given point, unless it is stabilized. In the olden days, yogurt for cooking was made from freshly drawn buffalo whole-milk. It did not curdle with heat. Technically, foods high in proteins and acids (yogurt has lactic acid), become unstable with high heat. Higher the butter fat, proportionately lower is the amount of protein, that is the case with buffalo-milk yogurt. You may choose to add Cow-milk yogurt at the end of cooking to minimize effects of high heat. The only problem is that spice flavors will not fully permeate the yogurt. You can stabilize cow-milk yogurt by stirring-in a starch to the yogurt before cooking. For starch, you can use any flour: Besan (Chickpea flour), Atta (whole-grain wheat flour), Maida (All-purpose flour) or Cornstarch. Cornstarch is flavor neutral. Steps to prevent yogurt from curdling during cooking Following steps will prevent yogurt from curdling 1. Use whole-milk (high fat) yogurt. 2. Stabilize yogurt by whisking-in starch before cooking. Add one teaspoon of cornstarch, or 1½ teaspoon of other flours (Atta, Maida, or Besan) to one cup of yogurt. 3. Minimize thermal shock to yogurt when adding to curry being cooked. First shut off the heat. Start with yogurt at room temperature and not directly from the refrigerator. At this point, you may add starch to stabilize yogurt. Temper yogurt just like eggs are tempered in making custard. Raise yogurt temperature gradually by mixing hot curry sauce little bit at a time to the yogurt. After the yogurt temperature has risen sufficiently, add it to the curry. Turn on heat to finish making curry. 4. When the yogurt is made, it is not stirred during incubation, so the structure of yogurt is set in a matrix. After adding yogurt for cooking, stirring vigorously will break down the matrix and cause separation. Gently fold-in yogurt by stirring in one direction (either clockwise or anticlockwise), till the yogurt is well blended. 5. Sometimes, it is possible to fix the yogurt after it has separated. Shut-off heat. Make a paste by mixing one teaspoon of cornstarch (or two teaspoons of all-purpose flour) with ½ Tablespoon of cold water. Stir paste into the separated mixture. Gently heat curry to let it thicken and recombine the yogurt. Repeat if necessary. Recipe for Stabilized Yogurt Cow’s milk yogurt will separate when heated beyond a certain point. Use of stabilized yogurt will minimize separation. 1. Whole-milk plain yogurt: 1 Quart 2. Large egg white, lightly beaten: 1 3. Cornstarch: 1 Tablespoon 4. Salt: 1 teaspoon Mix all ingredients together in a heavy saucepan. Whisk. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, in one direction until mixture starts to bubble and comes to a boil (approximately 8 minutes). Reduce heat to moderately low, and simmer until thickened, it will take approximately additional 4 minutes. Stabilized yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks

I bought a really thin-bladed Japanese knife. Lord knows, I have plenty of good knives but this one is fantastic for slicing and dicing soft vegetables.

AlaMoi, click on the video on the right hand side. That showed me the whole recipe.

Nice steel-Sabatier knife! Just the thing for that stalk. Could you use it for soup?

I purchased two, one for me and one for my brother. I really like the sturdiness of the probe, the case and the price is very reasonable. Sheesh. Another Instant-Pot purchase! I succumbed to the Cuisi oven after many weeks of looking at the comments on that thread......BUT I AM NOT EVEN LOOKING AT THE INSTANT-POT THREAD

Ha, ha, just remembered this blog about cooking through the French Laundry Cookbook: http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.ca/2007/01/parmagiano-reggiano-crisps-with-goat.html She had the exact same problems we had with making the crisps and the runny filling. Lesson learned: consult this blog before attempting recipes from the French Laundry. I sent this link to my friend who was so relieved...feeling that it 'wasn't me who couldn't make it'. Comeon man, two hours to make 18 crisps. Still, the flavours are so wonderful. Ha, ha, also found a Utube of TK making the potato pave with Martha S. Good to watch also. Although their finished product was grey/black indicating someone had F'dUp. Ha, makes me feel sooo much better.

Should you prefer a little more complicated recipe for a weekend meal I can't recommend this one enough having just made it with a friend and served to three 'foodies' who swooned over it: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/8562-better-chicken-marsala The Porchini mushrooms really add a depth of earthiness but you still have the creminis for texture. It's not really that labour intensive....one could always make the reduction ahead of time. cheers