Okanagancook

Welcome Ted. Friends of ours got us interested in southern cuisine too. We have a couple of Paul's cookbooks and everything we have made from them so far have been fabulous. What are some of your favourite dishes?

Me, too. Serious Eats mayo is dead easy. Just made some yesterday.

From Jerusalem on page 200 I made the turkey and zucchini burgers. They turned out very moist and flavourful...mainly from the mint and cumin. They were a little sloppy so I put them in the fridge for about an hour before frying and baking. They held together remarkably well.

Last night with sous vide lamb and all things good from the veggie garden we had a 2006 Merlot from Poplar Grove in the Okanagan, BC, Canada. The wine was well aged but still had some good fruit but the chocolate and leather undertones were a good foil for the lamb and vinaigrette on the three vegetable platter from David Tanis The Heart of the Choke cookbook. We've got a few more of these in the cellar (this one was brought by our guests) and I think we should drink them soon otherwise the fruit will be lost.

Thanks for an inspiring blog and thankfully no mouth watering naan!

Sous vide grass fed flank steak: 131 degrees F for 24 hours then a quick sear. Perfect medium-rare and very tender. I had previously cooked that kind of flank steak at 125 for a couple of hours for a more rare meat but it was quite chewy.

I too struggle with toasting. I find that the "toastees" require undivided attention and constant stirring/shaking. I have a dump bowl near by so I can get them out of the hot pan if they are going too fast or too long. You can always put them back in for a bit more. The other thing is toasting one kind of seed/spice at a time as they tend to need different treatment. For practice, there is a recipe for Versatile Vinaigrette in the July issue of Bon Appetit on page 32 which requires toasting of coriander, cumin and fennel seeds(they don't tell you to toast them individually though)....the result is delicious on salads and especially on steak.

Thanks Anna for the reference to Essential Pepin. Couldn't stop watching the whole show. He is such a good teacher but you have to listen carefully as he gives little tips quietly as he chops!

Should have checked his website before posting. Yup there is a recipe there Jose Andres.com

Jose Andries has a recipe for these in his tapas cookbook.

Shelby, we get walnuts from our neighbour. Here in southern British Columbia the walnuts are falling from the trees in early October. The shells are soft and either crack open or are easy to pry open. If they get too dry then they are a pain to get open. However they do stain your hands...wear some gloves. After they are shelled lay them out in a cool dry place so they can cure...around three weeks. We store ours in the wine cellar. Good luck.

There is topic on this started in 2012: Tongue Pastrami/Pickled Tongue Started by thayes1c, Aug 20 2012 02:23 PM Charcuterie

A leaf of endive with a dabb of flavoured aioli or homemade mayo with a poached shrimp set a top.

I agree with it's all about the egg. We get fresh eggs, I mean fresh...last night fresh. I have hard boiled a number of these together and they are all different in terms of ease of peel. I wonder if it is the method of cooking? I use the put in cold water; bring to a boil; take off heat and sit for 10 minutes; then put in cold water with a tablespoon of baking soda. I'll have to try the spoon method.

If you are a member of Eat Your Books there are loads of comments on recipes rated 4 stars or more...there are over 50 such rated recipes. I highly recommend Mejadra on page 120. It makes a lot so I would suggest making a half recipe first time around. I do not recommend Kubbeh Hamusta on page 163...there was too much filling for the dough and I did not like the texture. I also agree about the hummus. Others that I have made and enjoyed: Stuffed artichokes with peas and dill, page 171 Stuffed eggplant with lamb and pine nuts, page 166

Love duck. Rotisserie on the BBQ works well if one wishes to avoid the oven mess that can result. A large drip pan with a little water underneath the duck will collect all that lovely fat. It takes awhile, I.e. 90 minutes or so. Pricking the skin all over helps it to crispen up.

Vancouver Sun reported in their Food and Wine section that GustoTV is now available....actually has been available for a couple of months. New quality food programming according to the article. Check it out at Gustotv.com

Charmaine Soloman's Thai cookbook is very approachable. I have had this book for years and have used it a lot. Have not had a bad recipe from it. She also has a fanatastic book called The Complete Asian Cookbook which has recipes from a number of countries in SE Asia....I have used it so much that I had to buy another one because the first one was falling apart.

Those look good and I bet they would be wonderful with this butter: 2 sticks butter, softened 4 piquillo peppers, dryed 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 teaspoon fresh thyme 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, I used hot 1 teaspoon salt or to taste 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Put everything in the food processor and whip until smooth I love this stuff.

The identical recipes are in both: Page 16 of the booklet and page 172 of the hardcover

Smithy, I found one of those ever wear juicer in a local flee market. Works amazingly well. I gave the $50 juicer I bought to the local Value Village,

I have made Guanciale before and you are right it is worth the effort. Well, I am going to give it a try...it only cosy $3 so what the heck. Thanks for the thoughts.

Yes I have seen the recipe ideas for stir fry but I want crisp morels of not too fatty meat to have with cocktails!

I scored a fresh pork jowel from my local butcher today. I have scored and punctured the skin thoroughly. I pored boiling water over the skin, salted it and brushed with vodka. For the meat side I made a marinade paste rub with salt, five spice powder, sugar, pepper, hoisin sauce, garlic and miso. It is drying in the fridge over night. I want to render a lot of the fat and have a crispy skin. So I am thinking a low and slow cook to render the fat and slow cook the tough meat. 250 f degrees for 3 hours then crank the oven up to 450 for 45 min and finish off under the broiler. Any thoughts on this, thanks

Favourite recipe from the Spain book is the apple mint crisp and the devilled short ribs from the GB book.