Okanagancook

This is a very, very attractive piece of equipment and I want one too. However, it’s a mute point because luckily I have copper cookware and I am not switching out those pots. Maybe a higher use of the infrared gun would be in order.

The recipe calls for one tablespoon vinegar per quart as well as one tablespoon salt.

On the subject of gumbo, I was watching Good Eats the other day..it was on gumbo. Alton Brown puts his oven to 350 f and four oz by weight each flour and oil in a Dutch oven, for 60 to 90 minutes until the roux is brick red. No stirring, no burning. Looks easy and I think that is my method for next time.

Glad to hear everyone arrived home safely and just in the nick time for cocktail hour. I thoroughly enjoyed following your blog. Thank you for sharing.

@heidih you raise an interesting point about your recipe made poorly by someone else thus reflecting badly on your cooking. I suppose that’s always a possibility but if people know your cooking quality then they may be able guess what happened. But, definitely an issue. One has to weigh that against the pleasure felt when someone says “ made your recipe last night and we enjoyed it so much, thanks for sharing”.

@Kim Shook Yes, no bottled dressing around here. Once you get in the habit of making it you just won't go back and look at all the money you will save and the chemicals you won't ingest. I just made T Keller's garlic vinaigrette: confit garlic (from the freezer), Champagne Vinegar, salt, pepper and grapeseed oil. I want a lower fat dressing so I make a mixture of chicken stock and arrowroot powder thickened on the stove so it is about the consistency of oil and I sub in 1/3 of the oil for this.

1 1/2 inch Costco Pork Loin Chops. 131F for 1 1/2 hours. Perfectly cooked and really moist. Mushroom/bacon sauce, baby potatoes done in the CSO and grilled zucchini brushed with Harissa to accompany the beautiful pork. While the chops were in there I tossed in our lamb shoulder chops for tonight.

@Kim Shook If I recall you are new to sous vide. My favourite way of cooking flank steak is sous vide. To get it looking like yours in the dinner picture I use 131F for 24 hours. The longer cooking time really helps tenderize the meat.

@dcarch beautiful plate!

How many slices of bacon?

Pulled a couple of basil plants and made two batches of Hazan’s food processor pesto. Vac sealed them in bags of the right size so I could flatten them out so the frozen pesto can be broken off in pieces. It is amazing how quickly it oxidizes and changes colour...gotta work fast.

That is a mighty fine looking BLT. I love BLT’s. The proportions of each letter seem just right.

I just read Kerry’s first blog post. Very well done indeed. The story about not being allowed to swerve to avoid hitting a deer reminded me of an incident last year. It happened on a very narrow road along a lake. A driver hit a deer which bounced off the car into the lap of a cyclist travelling on the other side of the road. What are the chances of that...the cyclist was injured quite badly. The driver had nowhere to go.

Found this recipe online. https://www.thebacklabel.com/recipe/roasted-string-beans-and-scallions-with-pine-nuts-and-vinaigrette/#.W2XFKBoTGhA

A few things have been added to the spreadsheet. Here is the PDFConvection-Steam Oven Cookery in Numbers Format copy.pdf

yum http://www.visitingvienna.com/eatingdrinking/food/kasekrainer/

on Amazon.ca (rip off) they are, sitting down?, $35.00 . Oh, but that's Canadian so, $24.50 US. Still. I'll use a cookie rack perched on corks on a sheet pan. Good use for all the spent corks around here :-))

This is a good one for North American style cookery. Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

You're killing me! LOVE dumplings. I usually have a stash of homemade ones in the freezer but sadly we ate them all last week. Looks like you make your own wrappers too!!

@David Ross I second 'that looks delicious'. I anxiously await the recipe 😍

Pickage from the week. The tomatillos have been made into 4 cups of Rick Bayless' salsa verde. Most of cucumbers and tomatoes plus all the green peppers have been made into 14 cups of gazpacho soup. The large tomatoes on the plate was eaten for lunch as part of a BLT, emphasis on the T. The baby zucchini are going in a pasta dish for tonight. Made the pasta earlier...a Food and Wine recipe here, https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/friulian-pasta-zucchini-and-zucchini-flowers The lovely red onions need a recipe. The rest of the zucchini: two packages for the freezer to make a soup and a pasta dish; the rest has been divided into two and will be made into two different curries BUT NOT TODAY. I need a cocktail and it's only 2 pm 🤗

Yes, all good reasons to rid your area of them. I think the two little ones have probably dried up in the 36f temps out there today. I will get the disinfectant out. I usually trap five or six mice in the spring. A teenager died of hantavirus a few years back after sweeping out the family basement and garage. I lot of the original farm houses around here are infested. Not healthy. Thanks everyone.

Kinda of in the garden.....I have a sink in my outdoor kitchen. I often get mice in the cupboards in spring but this morning there in my big Kohler sink were two tiny little mouselets snuggled together trying to keep warm. They had fallen into the sink which really has no way out for them. I put some gloves on and shushed them into a pail. I took them to a friendly part of my property and let them go. I fear they are too small to survive but they deserve a chance. Then I put out some traps for the parents. Hummmm.......😂

These are for the freezer for another dinner. Bacon, onions, garlic, parsley, tomato and green beans. Delicious. The beans are just blanched for a few minutes then cooked with the bacon, onion, garlic, & tomato mixture for five minutes.

Four hour smoked ribs, scalloped potatoes from the night before heated in the CSO and some pesto sautéed zucchini. The ribs were very strong in flavour. We only ate 1/4 of what we cooked but if you are going to fire up the smoker for fours hours you may as well make it worth while.