Okanagancook

Ham hocks are truly delicious especially if they have crackling as shown above. Nigella has a nice recipe with the hock cooked perched on apples and onions. I have made that recipe a few times...usually when the butcher has an irresistible hock in their display case.😋

Made pearl and pot barley...separately today. They were pre-soaked for four hours. Did a very nice job.

I made lamb and barley curry from Proper Pub food...four containers. Needs coriander on top. I made two litres of lamb/barley soup. Stock is all gone. The fat is still undiscovered by local animals....soon I hope.

@ElsieD The green stuff that looks like relish upthread is salsa verde...I think from Bon Appetite. It went well with the lamb.

Home made pot stickers and a salad.

The other night we had eggplant shrimp bake from M. Clark's Dinner. This is a very easy and delicious dish. Served with some brown rice & sumac and lentil/bean stew. s

Cooked some lamb chops from All About Roasting. You make a thin bed of salt and bake the chops at 475 convection for about 9 minutes. No smoke or mess and the chops were medium rare. I did trim them up well before cooking.

An old thread but on topic. Got our two lambs for the season and always included are the bones. So I roasted them up and simmered in just water for 24 hours then reduced to 2.5 litres. I also got about four cups of lamb fat which I just could not throw away. We chucked the hardened disc into the bushes down by one our creeks for the bears or whoever finds it first. Good use of all the parts.

@Ann_T ok, I am starting the car and I will be there tomorrow for PIZZA and BREAD!

So just a fill in on Paul Cecconi who is competing in Victoria. I first met him when he worked for a waterfront restaurant owned by a big wine producing family. He made amazing food. He was at a couple of the Finale Competitions in Kelowna and I was standing beside him at the black box competition portion of the event. Each Canadian judge brought an ingredient from their region that went into the black box that each chef had to use to make 15 or so plates for various judges. He was watching intently and I asked him if he would consider competing and he said ‘oh, no. ...hum but maybe later’. That was probably six years ago, so he is feeling his oats. And here is what a classy guy he is: he was catering a friend’s winery event and we got talking about spot prawns...magnificent wild prawns available for a few weeks from waters off the B.C. west coast. Succulent, sweet, delicate, delicious but very fragile...gotta eat very soon after being caught. Anyway, he said he would order some for me from his fish monger who operates out of Kelowna...the owner drives to Vancouver (4.5 hr each way) and picks up his fish. He said he could get live prawns. Deal. So after Paul having to make four or five phone calls, the prawns arrived. I fully expected to pay a handling fee for Paul’s efforts, but no. He only wanted what he had to pay. They were for my 65 th bday celebrations which were documented on the dinner thread...a few years ago now. But, wow, who does that for free nowadays. His restaurant in Penticton, Brodo, does just a few lunch items each day but with high quality ingredients and he does catering. They started doing an early dinner...done at 8 pm which has been successfull too. His wife works with him and he gets amazing reviews on TripAdvisor. Just a nice story of a family man and chef in a small town doing what he loves, loves to do and getting recognition for it.

Khttp://greatkitchenparty.com/ca/ The Gold Metal Plates culinary championships have changed formats. Looks great. Our local chef Paul is competing tomorrow in Victoria. He is a gem so I really hope he wins. The finale is just up the road in Kelowna in the early new year. Not cheap. We have been twice. Amazing support for the auctions of trips...thousands of dollars...usually all sold for more than original offer at auction...more millionaires per capital in Kelowna than anywhere in Canada. if it is in your city...well worth a go....very busy though.

My friend got a CSO at Canadian Tire for $229 cdn$....she’s not an Egulleter but believe me, we can all claim some responsibility for her purchase😎 . She is moving to a new house which allows her counter space for it...that was the last straw 😀

I was gifted a two pound venison saddle which is almost two inches thick. i plan on sous viding it for four hours at 127F then give it a good sear after its bath. How does that sound to anyone out there who has done this size of saddle before?

Those cabbage rolls look deliciously moist. I have some out of the freezer for tomorrow’s dinner but they aren’ t as nice...need to work on the recipe....do not make this sort of dish often.

Lagavulin anything.....one of my favs. Your friend is very clever and to be trusted.

That’s true. A different result. I try to make a really good sauce to go over the meat.

YES. Check out Chef Steps for doneness...they have videos of the meat done at various times and temps to help decide which way to go...for @haresfur

I recently served ikan billis at an Indonesian themed dinner. They are delicious if you can get by eating whole little fish😯

Dried beans..I forgot about them in the IP. It cooks them beautifully.

Had to look up Texas Toothpicks 🤔 In the interests of controlling waistlines I wonder if they would Air Fry.

I have a good quality stove top pressure cooker and an IP. Before the IP I would use the pressure cooker for stocks and stews. It requires watching until it reaches pressure and a few adjustments to keep the pressure on point. I find I use the IP a lot mainly because it is so user friendly and convenient. I do prefer to use my gas range for everything else. Things I use the IP for and the features involved are manual high pressure, sautéed, rice, stew, low pressure, steam. I have made a few stews and curries in there too but for me ii is much cheaper to cook with gas around here. boiled eggs steamed potatoes winter squash stock soup rice I keep it in an easy to get at spot in the kitchen so it is quick to set it up. it requires next to no babysitting so you can get on with other things and not worry. Easy to clean Hope that helps.

That soup looks absolutely delicious! I like the large chunks of turkey meat. I think wild rice is a very nice ingredient. I usually soak it for a few hours before cooking....results in a more evenly cooked product.

Welcome and your interestsmatch with many here. Using search you can find a ton information on most subjects you expressed interest in, go forth and explore this wonderful resource.

It’s a sad story. April was ill equipped to deal with the real obstacles to success.

I am with you on dark meat being more flavourful. We used to get free range chickens right from the farm gate but eating all that breast meat was not our cup of tea so now we found a butch who sells part...our kinda free range parts😃 your drum sticks look really nice.