snowangel

Melissa, how disappointing! Smoking should be fun, relaxing and unbelievably rewarding. If you're not happy with the unit, return it. I'd vote for a charcoal unit, too, but if you're really not interested in one, have you thought about an electric smoker?

Melissa, yes to chicken thighs for a test run! And, with 10 hours, your pork should be just fine! I usually figure about 8 hours for a whole, bone-in shoulder.

I had my husband, master putter-together of things that don't have good instructions, look at your e-mail, and his comment was "have her take some pictures and post them!" Otherwise, for the ham, be sure and check out the topic on Behold My Butt. All about smoking fatty, bone in pork.

I'm the first advocate for bacon. In almost anything. But, not in stock. It makes the stock way too salty as the stock reduces. Save the bacon for rendering and adding the crisped bits to the braise itself. If you want a smokey quality to the stock, smoke some pork or a turkey and use them bones for the smokey stock.

For those who have not yet made the garlic soup, do so! The two little 10-year old boys questioned me about lunch yesterday when I said garlic soup. I have made this soup many times. It is easy, fairly fast to make, and requires nothing that I don't already have at home. THese little skeptical boys lapped this dish up like there was no tomorrow. I have had the same reaction from everyone who has been served this at my house. The biggest disappointment of this dish is that lovely aroma does not last for days. That aroma should be bottled and put into candles.

For me, there is something oddly comforting about My Recipe Box. Yes, with the indes cards. I can sit, late at night, with the kids all sleep, a cup of coffee or a martini, and write new ones out. I can also sit, at any time of day, and fondle them, love them and reorganize them. Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I like the printed (or cursive) word, and I love stumbling over those recipes which were written in the late 1800's and early 1900's in my great grandmother's spidery cursive in fountain pen. Yes, the recipe box. I can't tell you how many times I've reorganized it, and how many times said reorganization has prompted me to make dishes that I have wanted to try, dishes from my childhood, dishes I love but have forgotten about.

My husband reminds me frequently that the freezer is not a safe deposit box, and these things do not necessarily improve with age. To whit, click here.

Thanks for the report, Marlene! Sounds like you deserve a break. Good on you for establishing such a great rapport with the butcher, and I bet you taught the young lad a thing or two about fat, which is essential! My butcher positively cringes when the women ask for him to trim all of the fat off of everything. Have a wonderful New Year's.

Thursday, December 22, 2005. Yes, I'm late. It's been a very busy month. First off, in last week's Strib and City pages, Dara and Jeremy both did Five, and the new fine dining experience Five is offering with the tasting menu. You can find Jeremy's take here, and Dara's take here. This week's Star Tribune's Taste section was pretty darned sparce. The big article was on Seasonal Sparklers and cocktails made with same. Other than that, most noteworty was the review of Three Thai Restaurants. I'm only annoyed that I was across the street, shopping for yarn just a week ago, and didn't notice Chai's. Sure would have beat the leftovers I dug out of the fridge when I got home. As a side note, I'm not entirely pleased with the look of the new web site. Restaurants and food are in two different areas of the web site, and the annoying banners are making the site difficult to navigate. Over in City Pages this week, Dara talks about Sous Vide. On of the things that I increasing enjoy about Dara's colums is that they are not always restaurant reviews, but discussions. This is a nice article, and another great thing about City Pages is that they do not require registration. Over at the Pioneer Press's Restaurantsection: Hot Spots: Where to Take Out of Town Visitors for Dining and Drinks. In addition, there is all sorts of Restaurant News. Finally, and sadly, news of Restaurant Closings. Yes, Ciatti's is not more. That's it for this week. I hope everyone has a very happy holiday. <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some Twin Cities media outlets, which do not 'go to press' by Friday each week, may be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or the "digester" who will be happy to do it for you.

OK, so purists would not think these are as good as turtles. But, us non purists think they are even better. A Rolo candy (unwrapped, naturally), on top of a pretzel, in a 350 degree (F) oven for two minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for about a minute, and smash a pecan or a cashew (or other kind of nut) on top. Let cool. Give away. These are better with those square windowpane pretzels. The combo of the crunch and salt along with the rolo and the nut is really, really good. Kids can make these. In fact, unwrapping the rolos is a good job for kids. Prep: Finished: Sorry for the blurry second photo. Yes, they are good. They are church cookbook kind of food, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Let's not forget the first BLT of the summer with the bestest of the tomatoes and some really good bacon on great toast with crunchy lettuce. I sure have a lot of best food moments. Another would have been the first of the sweet corn. I am a sweet corn addict. Picked as close to the boiling water as possible. That first of the season that needs no butter, no salt. Sigh. It's cold. It's gumbo and braising season. Better go an look at my summer pictures again.

Any and every meal I ate at The Cabin. Especially the smoked butt.

I pulled a container of frozen gumbo off the table on the deck today (the thing was frozen rock solid; seemed like it would have been a weapon. Leftover gumbo = best fast food ever.

This dishrags are knit out of Sugar and Cream yarn (by Lily) just as my great grandmother did. I use a size 5 needle, but I have been knitting so long that I knit very loose. Most will want to use a size 8. The pattern is to cast on 4. Knit one row. Row 3: Knit two, YO (yarn over), knit two. Repeat row 3 until you have 45 stitches. Then, K1 (knit 1), YO, knit to end of tow. Repeat until you have four stitches. Bind off. Weave ends in. For the potholders, I cast on 39 stitches and knit every row until it is square and then cast off. I use size 2 needles, but most will want to use a size 5 or 6 -- you want these to be a tight knit. If anyone wants the round potholder (or dishrag if you use a bigger needles), let me know. That one is a bit more complicated. Yes, Maggie, Aunt Martha's transfers. They are getting hard to find. The one I really especially like is the animated dishes. I still have the dishtowels embroidered with these that were gifts to my grandmother when she was a bride.

My kids hated cauliflower so much I had to pay each of them to take a bite of roasted cauliflower. THey not only forgot about the money I offered, but ate a whole head of the roasterd version between them.

Beautiful, Elie! They look so neat and even and tidy. You mention using collagen casings. So, time people talked about casings. My meat grinder should be returning from the cabin right after the new year, so I might be a bit behind on this one!

Dave's molten masher muffins .

I have done a bunch of needlework over the past few months for Xmas presents. I had one grandmother who believed if you were five, you were old enough to learn to knit. I had another who believed if you were five, you could thread a needle, attach a flour sack dish cloth, and embroider (after learning to use the iron and using an Aunt Marth's transfer). So, this year, friends and teachers are getting dish rags and potholders. Heidi's class, and a close friend are also getting a set of "days of the week" towels.

I've had luck with Kettle grilling sub-zero. The big thing to be careful about when grilling sub-zero is to get the grilled items in the house mui pronto -- before freezer burn sets in. Up here in these parts, we call those who won't grill in the winter wimps.

We grill (and I smoke meat) year round. No need to let a little cold or snow hinder grilling! My best friend when I am grilling is my timer, so I don't get waylaid, and the biggest difference about grilling in the cold is that perhaps things will need an extra minute on each side. In fact, I recall one memorable grilling experience when it was 30 below (zero, that is, F). The steaks took about 8 minutes longer. It was so cold that our martinis were turning to slush in the glasses. I've had a hankering for a burger, so you just might see us in action later this week!

Pam, welcome to the world of seeing a neurologist twice or more per year. In keep this food related, let me relate some experience I have had. Your new best friends are not only the neurologist, but the pharmacist, and a dietician. Yes, fight your health insurance for a dietician. The dietician can evaluate food decisions, the pharmacist other food choices. For example, with some medications, artificial sweeteners are a big no-no (as are other OTC meds). You have, at this point, no way of knowing how the medication for your child will affect appetite and weight gain or loss. You won't know this until the medication is at theraputic level. In the case of my daughter Heidi (who takes about 10,000 mg of anti-epilepsy meducation every day), conventional wisdom said that she would be tired and lethargic and gain all sorts of weight. Guess what? She is about as big as a minute, and we struggle to get food into her. Peters best friend is ADD and the medication is supposed to surpress appetite. It doesn't with him. So, we have involved not only the pharmaciist and a dietician, in addition to the neuro and her regular ped, but the school lunch lady and her teachers. Oh, let's add the gym teacher and the swimming instructor. And, let's not forget adding eating and food choices to the IEP. So, what do I do with kids around that both need and don't need food? Make sure there is always lots of fruit. One of the best decisions we ever made was to get a side-by-side fridge with water and ice in the door. I don't care of the kid is skinny or fat, they all need water, and the novelty of the water and the ice in the door, accompanied by the ease, is worth it's weight in gold. Keep your son involved in food and meal choices and preparation. You can't control what the medication will do to his appetite, but you can control what is available, and how much particoipation he has in those choices.

So, my last experience with gumbo tells me not to multi task as much when I am adding the stock to the roux. Get off the phone, quit worrying about the laundry. I had more of a separation issue this past time. I will say that my stock was COLD. To the point that there were still a few ice crystals. I dumped it all in and stirred like crazy. So, time for us to eat the leftovers, assuming I can find them under the snow pile on the deck (!) and make another batch of gumbo, and more carefully document my process and make sure my stock isn't still bearing ice crystals, and say to hell with the laundry and the other stuff and ladle that stock in more carefully.

Lime Bars This is a take on Maida Heatter's Florida Lemon Squares from her Book of Great Cookies (one of my most well-used cookbooks. 1-1/2 c AP flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 can (14-15 oz) sweetened condensed milk finely grated rind of 2 large or 3 small limes 1/2 c lime juice (make it a generous 1/2 cup) 1 stick butter 1 c packed brown sugar (dark brown if possible) 1 c oats (not instant) Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9 x 13 pan. Mix the lime juice and zest with the sweetened condensed milk. Set aside Cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix. Mix in the oatmeal. This will be crumbly. Put a little more than half of the crumbly stuff into the prepared pan and pat firmlyl in place, making a smooth layer. Pour the lime mixture over the top and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture of the top. Bake for about 1/2 hour, perhaps a little more. Cool completely, then refrigerate. These bars should be kept in the fridge. Keywords: Dessert, Easy ( RG1538 )

The way I buy cookbooks is to check them out from the library. If I renew it the max number of times and then want to check it out again, I order from ecookbooks.com. An order of more than $25.00 (their cookbooks are greatly reduced in price) qualifies for free shipping, which often means I get to order a second cookbook! I love Baking with Julia. I have, in fact, given it often as a gift. It is a fairly complete cookbook, as as mentioned above thread, Julia is witty and entertaining. She's never steered me wrong.

I just did a search on thermometers in cooking (titles only) and came up with this.