snowangel

Time to hit the library, Heather! (I'm the check them out before buying person.)

No review this week?

Do you mean you hate parsnips? There aren't any sweet potatoes in the recipe I thought we were making. I would think just about any winter root vegetable that tastes goes with shallots, garlic and duck would work-either in the braise or served on the side. Yes, I meant I hate parsnips. Duh! I'll opt for other root vegetables. Parsnips are just about the only food I just can't stand.

Now that has me salivating. How long did it take? I'm going to keep plugging away with my trusty Weber Kettle; with the money I save, I can just buy meat! I just need more experience. And probably something other than just the oven and meat thermometers. Better go back to your class and bone up on the thermometer info. Any particular suggestions? Edited to add: any tips for cold weather smoking?

I haven't made it in ages either, but will very soon. I made it a lot when Diana was very little and just starting to eat colid foods and learning to eat off a spoon.

I will do the duck early next week; this weekend is full (including our first Twin Cities eGullet get-together!). Some questions: 1. I hate sweet potatoes. Should I substitute something else or just eliminate? Or go with Julia's recipe? 2. My local Asian market has "culver ducks." Whole ones (including head and feet). What is a culver duck? They also sell packages of duck heads, feet and wings (packaged separately). What would one do with the heads and feet? The wings are super cheap -- would they be a good source for fat for confit? 3. I also have a source for "wild" duck -- a friend has a freezer full of them and has offered me a couple (he had a good hunt this fall). I have never cooked a wild duck, and the ones that have been served have been roasted to death with apples in the cavity in the midwestern style of "cook it longer." Would a wild duck be a good choice for this? I can only assume that they are much leaner and more muscular than a farm-raised duck.

Add to that the innumerable posts and e-mails I receive daily with no capitalization. When I asked someone why they don't capitalize appropriately, I was hit with the reply "it's too much work to hit the shift key." I had to lay down with a cold cloth over my eyes after that response.

I'm still waiting for a photo of the reuben sandwich I requested. I'm waiting for my bags and I'm hungry, having consuming only 2 bahn mi's in the last 30 hours.

Bacon fat is good shit. Just pop popcorn in bacon fat if you want proof. I love bacon. I love bacon fat. I am not a tourist.

I fixed it; recipe complete in the archive. This one looks yummy. It is soup season in what is soon to be the land of ice fishing.

MICROPLANE. Great knives. Gift certicificates to specialty food shops.

My grandmother, the one who taught me to make Burnt Sugar Cake (see eG recipes), grape pie, cupcakes with shoulders, cooked frosting (cream, sugar, flavoring to softball stage -- softball achieved based on looks, not a thermometer) and all things wonderful in the baked world, loved Salmon Patties with Creamed Peas. Shortly before she died at the ripe old age of 90+, I did get her to admit that creamed peas are better made with a roux and a combo of cream, milk, a little chix broth and a smidge of tarragon than milk thickened with flour mixed with water. I should add that when I ate out with her, even as a youngster, she always allowed me to make my own selection off the menu, without any input from her, just like I was a grownup. I fixed it for her every time she came for dinner and to play with Diana. Thump, thump goes the heart every time I espy the canned salmon when I'm at the grocery.

Bruce and Karen, you are too kind. I can only imagine... I want the not-so-spicy real story on Saturday.

The Farmer's Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook. Get it. Get it now if you are serious about this stuff. When my grandmother died, and everyone was divying (sp?) up the appliances and furniture, all I wanted was the Farm Journal Cookbooks and the Christmas Cactus (a gift from her grandmother). I got what I wanted and will never part with them. I'm sure it's OOP, but available on e-bay. Edited to add: 7 kinds of mustard at the cabin! That's obscene.

Jason and/or Rachel, it's been over 24 hours without a fresh photo... And, how would this work for roasted cauliflower?

No way anymore on canning tomatoes. Standing in a very hot kitchen in late August during the hottest hotspell of the summer, all that water, all of those jars, all of those kids...I'll never forget those summers on my grandparents farm when we would "put up" 12 dozen jars of tomatoes. I now just toss the tomatoes into the freezer (whole and unpeeled). There's a reason those farm women many years ago lauded the freezer. I'd have to say that outside of dried pasta, condiments, canned tomatoes, saltines, and mayo. Add to the list peanut butter and honey. What's the fridge life of homemade mayo? We eat it frequently, and at 7:00 am, when I'm helping the kids make lunches for school, the extra minutes of sleep do not allow for making mayo.

Me too. Could anyone elaborate a bit more on "field dressing". (Edited for grammer.) Field dressing: take the musk glands off the rear legs at the knee. Cut off genitals. Slit belly to breast bone; innards fall out. Go back and cut out the anus, cut pelvic bone to remove lower guts. Cut windpipe, cut breast plate and open it up to remove heart, lungs, liver. It's bloody. But necessary. It's not much fun deer hunting when it's really cold, but it's much better to kill and dress when it's really cold. Then, you drag the deer out of the woods, and at least in MN, take it to the nearest DNR (dept. of Natural Resources) station (they are all over the place) to "register" the deer. The license has many parts and they take some, tag the deer. When you take it to a butcher for processing, you are required to show your license when you drop off the deer and when you pick up the white packages. Deer population this year is very high, so a license entitled a hunter either a buck or a doe. In leaner years, they limit doe permits via the lottery system.

This has been one of the most delightful threads. Info, delightful exchanges, results -- exactly why I like eGullet!

Neck shot, it was 6 degrees outside. There are two different tastes I think we are talking about, Carolyn. One is that fishy, off taste from poor field dressing. The other is the flavor of the meat itself which can vary, depending on what the summer has been like, local habitat, etc. Some falls, the meat just doesn't taste as "good" as other summers.

The bow hunters from our neck of the woods (they've been hunting for a couple of weeks now) report the tastiest deer they've had in years, and they also think the taste and gaminess has a lot to do with what they ate in the summer. That's not to say that proper field dressing doesn't have something to do with it, either. I'm with you on not too much sausage.

Yes! I love to make them; there's something just magic about the way the dough comes together. And, piping is a good skill to practice. I love to eat them even more.

For those of us who are awaiting our bags and will be trotting off to Target in the next couple of days to purchase cheap toasters, please go into a little bit of the technique involved in selecting a darkness setting. Let us learn from your mistakes.

I also vote for duck, about which I have a few questions, but those shall wait until we get a consensus. Don't count me in for anything on Thanksgiving. I leave that day for four days of R & R with 4 college friends at a posh resort on Lake Superior. I have known these women since the mid-70's, and although the resort has a couple of very good restaurants, we choose to cook. And, cook we do, along with drinking wine and cocktails, relaxing in an outdoor hot tub on the shore of the lake (yes, in November and in Northern MN), yak, nap (I also knit). Anyway, I digress. Duck. I'm up for it. Let's get a vote before the weekend because I'd do this on Friday since we have our first Twin Cities eGullet potluck on Saturday! For me, the fish will wait until I can catch my own (either via ice fishing or next summer).

I finally worked up the courage to taste this stuff. It is nasty. Since it is in a wide-mouth bottle, you are hit with a sweet, artificial scent (odor?) before the taste hits. I should add that I don't really like the taste of most beverages in which some sort of "ose" is a primary ingredient. I had to brush my teeth to get rid of the aftertaste. It is not a "strong" taste, but a rather watery one, but none-the-less, it has staying power. I guess I don't understand why not drink water (Mpls. water is great). The price is right, and I don't have to brush my teeth after consuming it.