snowangel

On the menu here last night was the Oxtail Daube (page 264) and the Straw Potato Cake with Braised Leeks (page 344). The daube recipe looks comlicated, but is really very simple. The most time consuming part of the recipe is browning the salt pork and oxtails. Since pig's feet are very common in the markets here, that's what I used. Once it was ready for the oven for the first step of the braise, it was wait and smell. I had questioned that there was enough liquid in the pan when I put them in the oven, but after three hours you can see there was plenty. The house was smelling pretty darned good by this point. Returned to the oven with the meat paste (rind, salt pork and whatever meat I could get off of the pig's foot) after degreasing: After the next step in the oven, the oxtails were removed from the liquid; I put them in a ziplock and the liquid into a covered container and into the fridge they went. Braising "liquid" removed from the fridge: I love gelatanous broth or braising liquid. Back into the oven. Things start to smell really, really good. Paula's recipe suggests buttered noodles for the daube. A check in the pantry revelaed that I had a paltry amount of noodles, so I checked to see what I had. Potatoes, check. Leeks, check. Cream, check. So, the straw potato cake. I went by volume rather than weight for the potatoes and leeks because my scale needs a new battery. I had half again as many leeks as the recipe calls for, but noting that they can be made in advance and fridged for a day, I went with that. What was I going to do with one extra leek? This proved to be a very good move. As I taste for salt and pepper, I tasted again. Then again. Then again. I tasted 1/3 of this stuff away. Call it lunch. This stuff is good. Peter and I julienned the potatoes in the food processor, got the daube out of the oven, removed the oxtails, strained the liquid and set it to reducing. Got out the skillet, and made the potato cake. It is a thin layer of potatoes top and bottom sandwiching the leeks. The "flip" is really easy, and I figured out right away that you are better off holding the pan with lid with potholders rather than holding the handles of the lid and pan. Sadly, I do not have a picture of the finished meal; there's just too much going on with the three kids when I'm getting dinner on the table. But, my notes: The daube is very rich, and really a very easy dish to make. Like I said earlier, although it looks long and complicated, it isn't. Paula mentioned long before I procured this cookbook the idea of separating the meat from the liquid when storing a braise or daube, and this advice is spot on. I used a little over 5 pounds of oxtails, and this dish would easily serve 8. Will make this one again, and would not hesitate to serve it at a dinner party. The straw potato cake will make repeated appearances on our table. Very simple, very tasty, it will be a popular potato side in this house. Creamy leeks are a perfect foil for the crispy potatoes. This would be equally as good on the breakfast table with poached or easy over eggs. This one seems like it would also be good made with bacon grease. So, I wonder what I should do with the leftover oxtails?

Perhaps something like pork tenderloin or chops, or seared salmon? Both would taste yummy is some of that maple syrup happened onto them. Baked beans?

So, let's go OLT (off larb topic) for a moment. Please talk about the toasted coconut. Do you grate your own? Dry it before toasting? Do tell. Yes to the fried shallots. I don't think that has been mentioned up topic. A more than worthy addition. What, no photos? The shame.

We chili'd last night. My family has been fairly firmly in the ground meat camp, so I did the 1/2" dice with a nice chuck. Voila! Absolutely perfect. I'd always done the 1-1/2" to 2" dice before, which gave us sort of a stew with chili sauce and hunks of meat. The 1/2" dice -- some of the odd pieces melt, and the chunks are small enough that they are, well, wonderfully redolent of the chili. The meat is easier to dice if it is slightly frozen. The pain is browning these cubes. I gave up on browning them on all sides, just tossing them into hot oil (I used bacon fat; I would have had to go downstairs for olive or some other oil). Once seared on side side, I have them a toss and hoped for the best. Repeated. I tried a toasted dried pepper paste like Chris did, but no one liked the taste, so I went with a mixture of ground peppers and a mess of cumin seeds, as well as some ground cumin. I realized as I was getting started on this the night before that I didn't have any dried beans, but had a can of kidney beans and one of canneli beans, so that's what I used. Peter has his own unique style of plating chili. And, his own unique style of eating the chili. The purpose of the spoon is to scoop chili onto the "utensil" -- a saltine. He grated the cheese himself and used a finer grater than I prefer. My big disappointment was that the cilantro in the crisper wasn't crisp but rather slimey. Oh, well. This was a superb batch of chili. I keep the heat down for Heidi and Peter, and added chipotle Tabasco to mine. I love chili. I am glad that there is enough leftover for a couple of lunches this week. My new chili mantra -- 1/2" dice. 1/2" dice.

I'm thinking bacon, not cheese. But, there's not much that doesn't go with bacon. IMHO, at least.

Congratulations on your acquisition! It is indeed a wonderful book. Remind yourself. Especially on the longer braising meat dishes, lower the temp from what she suggests to 250-275 degrees (F). Better yet, sit down and review this topic with the book and make notes in the book. It's what I do every time I give this book as a gift.

Alex, I'd try Hockenbergs (over off 280 west on the Kasota exit; this is a fun place to visit and pick up some things you didn't know you needed at hugely discounted prices), Kitchen Window on Hennepin or Cooks of Crocus Hill in St. Paul. I'm also wondering if these are an item that would be available at some of those "baking" stores that populate ugly strip malls?

I have a very close friend who loves cookies. She works full-time outside the home, volunteers tons, etc., etc. Every year, I make a mess of cookie dough, freeze balls on cookie sheets and slide them into zip locks. She has the makings for 12 dozen cookie sheets with no effort required other than to heat the oven, pull a bag out of the freezer and slap them on a cookie sheet. Peter has learned how to knit. With a mess of that Sugar and Cream yarn I found in the basement, he's busy making dish rags.

Growing up in Thailand, why didn't I spend more time in the outdoor kitchen with our cook? Learning absolutely everything about pounding curry paste and all of the other intracies? Why didn't I learn how to make kao soi from her? After all, her family owned one of the best kao soi joints in Chieng Mai.

A few years ago, we had some absolutely wonderful neighbors who had immigrated from Mexico. He worked at a slaughter house. Every couple of months, he and the guys would head over to the slaugtherhouse on a Saturday morning (Peter even went once and thought it was really cool how the blood spurted). Anyway, I digress. They would butcher the pig in their back yard, doing all sorts of different and wonderful things with all of those various parts. This was accompanied by great music, all generations partying, and lots of beer and tequila. But, that afternoon, as soon as the head was severed, Carmen would take the head and make a soup that they would eat the next day. The soup was made in a huge copper pot on an outside burner. To make the "ache in the head" go away. Hangover soup was what I called it.

Time to bump this one up! If I had enough potatoes in the house right now to feed the hungry masses, this is what I would have fixed for breakfast. I've been known to bake twice as many potatoes as necessary and hide some of them for has browns the next morning. And, for me, it's always bacon fat.

I think fifi's post (the third post in the topic) on the Hash Brown topic sort of answers this.

Thursday, November 19, 2005 From the Star Tribune's Taste section: Sniff, Swirl, Swish: A Guide to Rating Wine Ratings, and two related articles: How Ratings Word and A Closer Look at the Ratings. Further on wine, How to Pair Wine with Wasabi and Spuds, an article on cooking with wine. A review of Fugaise, another newcomer to that newly trendy East Hennepin neighborhood. Food Events and Local Tastings. No lutefisk yet! Options for Dining out on Thanksgiving. In Counter Intelligence, news on the inductees to the first year of the Minnesota Hospitality Hall of Fame. In Tidbits, Uncle Al delves into controlled carb pasta and blueberry preserves. Over in the Pioneer Press's Restaurant department: Suggestions on some places for Booking a Room for a Holiday Party. In Faces, and interview with Pete Caffery, Owner and general manager of Caffrey's Deli and Subs. Restaurant News includes Vino 610, Awada's, M Street Café, 20.21, Mojito. In Small Bite, an exploration of what is and isn't available in the Woodbury Lakes lifestyle center. And, in the City Pages Restaurant department, Dara explores inexpensive sushi in Fish Follies, including where to get supplies to make your own as well as take-out sushi. Hope everyone has enjoyed the last couple of days. Absolutely stunning for almost mid-November in the Twin Cities. <><><><><> 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.

Where do people get toaster bags?

Nor can I imagine why you would want this to be non-stick, since the enamel interior of LC cleans up beautifully and easily. Don't forget the LC lookalikes at Target. They only come in two sizes (round 4 quart and oval 5+ quart, as I recall) and only two colors, but at $39.99, I could live with either color! Note that these are not featured on the Target web-site.

Hard cooked eggs. Cook them up and while you are waiting for the coffee maker finish dripping, peel them all and put them in a zip lock. You can chop up on those leftover salad greens that are going to go bad soon. Cut them in half, top with a dollop of mayo and pretend they are deconstructed deviled eggs. Or, just eat them whole, while sitting at the computer, salt shaker and pepper grinder at hand.

One of the things that defines a simple, fast dish for me is one that doesn't require any advance planning or thawing something. Pasta with a simple tomato sauce. Frittata (get it going while you get out of your work clothes. Fried or poached eggs on toast, with a little salad, can be elegant, nourishing and ultra fast. Ditto with pasta with butter and parm.

My mother recalls when she was a child, and her family owned a corner grocery store, back in the days before supermarkets. They really knew their customers. This was back in the day when groceries delivered, and would even go inside the house and put the perishables in the fridge when they delivered if the homeowner wasn't home. She remember he dad talking to someone who shopped there weekly, and this was a customer who never ever bought or drank coffee. The rationing coupons came out, and she bought coffee. "If it's rationed, it must be good" was her rationale. As a grocer's daugther, she ate well throughout the war, but at times it was scraps of meat that they butchered on site. What was leftover from the deli (cutting edge in the late 30's/early 40's.

This pan is proving to be my buy of the year, if not the decade. While I love my regular cast iron, I love the fact that this one is deep. I love the fact that when my family uses it, they can't wreck the seasoning. In fact, I love this pan so much, that it just sits on the stove, and I haven't needed to rearrange or prioritize my too tiny cabinets to accomodate it.

One coffee maker. I don't have much counter space at all. Oh, I forgot about the assorted junk that my family thinks should collect on my nearly non-existent counters.

Now in RecipeGullet: Compote of Rabbit with Prunes Potato, Leek and White Bean soup with Olive Puree in the manner of Ciboure Oxtail Daube Batter Cake with Fresh Pears from the Correze I'm making the Oxtail Daube tomorrow for dinner on Friday. And, I did make the Potato, Leek and White Bean Soup on Monday and neglected to photograph it. I had a bowl for lunch with crusty bread. I froze the remainder of the soup so I have quick and ready lunches for myself. This will probably replace the traditional potato leek soup I've been making forever. The Olive Puree really completed this dish in an unexpected and memorable way.

6.5 quart oval. No question about it. I have never regretted buying that one (oval, 6.5 quart). I just wish I'd gotten one sooner.

What fifi said. Brine. No rub. Smoke low and slow. Sauce on the side. =Mark's South Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce has my vote, and it is popular with other eGulleteers and guests at my house.

Another important tip. Be sure and either wack off the very ends of the legs, or take a knife and sever all of the skin and tendons around the bottoms of the legs. The meat will contract up and be much more thighlike. Actually, this is a do with all poultry, except for fried chicken. And, yes, brine. I've often combatted the dry breast if you want to present whole cooked birds is to drape the breasts with fatty bacon. Turkey's don't take nearly as long as brisket or butt since there's none of that connective tissue and the ensuing stall. Do three small ones. Leftover smoked turkey is divine. Come to think of it, any kind of leftover smoked meat is divine.

TJMaxx has opened some new stores called Homegoods. So, during their opening bash, I went, clutching my $10.00 off your first purchase coupon. Viola! OK, so it's not Le Creuset. It's some other French brand (I don't remember the name, it begins with a P). It is 10-1/2" across at the bottom, almost 3-1/2" tall. Cast iron, enamel in and out. It is a thing of beauty. $29.99 before the coupon. I have used it every day since I got it except one.