snowangel

Thanks for the advice. Next question. I'll be serving them tomorrow afternoon. Can I go ahead and make them tonight? I won't be frosting them, but serving them with whipped cream and the last of last summer's wonderful strawberries.

I would agree with both of you. The various times I've tried perilla, I've been disappointed. I prefer the stronger flavoured Thai basil. I need to plant some as it's only available if I go to Winnipeg. My local Chinese store has stopped bringing in fresh vegetables because of gas prices, and most families grow their own vegetables in the summer. ← Dejah, I grow a lot of it in the summer (although it's readily available as the local Asian market here), and I have found a method for preserving it. Whiz it up in the food process with a bit of oil. Lay down a log of it on plastic wrap and freeze it. It doesn't have the texture that you get with whole or torn leaves, but the flavour is still there. And, when you want to use some, it's easy to just slice off what you need -- or whack off a chunk on the edge of the kitchen counter!

I'm with Sam on the steam the duck for a while to get rid of some of the fat, but what I've always thought about smoking is that most of the smoke penetrates during that initial period before the meat gets to 140 degrees (but, that could be totally wrong and just an old wives tale).

What is Spin Blend, and if you couldn't get it, what would you substitute? ← Spin Blend was Hellman's answer to Miracle Whip. However, the sold the recipe to some company (who is replicating it exactly, BTW) so it's much more difficult to get. My friends here in Hot Dish Land all grew up with Miracle Whip potato salad, and much prefer my version, but part of that could be the stuff that happens to the potatoes before they are even mixed with The Mixture that is a Dressing (and which is all eyeballed, BTW, just like they did in the days of old).

I know you're "supposed" to use new reds for potato salad, but the stuff I was making last summer was a riff on the recipe (actually, not a recipe, but a method) from my great aunt Laura, who used to make it by the laundry tub to be sold at my grandfather's grocery store. Russets -- peeled or not -- cubed, boiled in salty water until just about tender. Tossed when drained, but still hot with vinegar. Mixed, when cool, with a mess of diced hardcooked eggs and onions (scallions, yellow ones or shallots; whatever you have, and I have a hard time believing that she could get scallions or shallots easily in Lincoln, NE in the 40's and 50's) and a dressing of Hellman's Spin Blend, cider vinegar and yellow mustard. Oh, and a dollop of regular Hellman's, too. Now, my riff is to toss the potatoes not with regular white vinegar, but one infused with lemon and dill. Hellman's no longer makes Spin Blend (superior to MW), but someone else bought the brand and a friend who lives in a small town in S. MN gets it for me. But, this potato salad at Midwestern picnics is a winner, and is more popular than that made by the Little Old Ladies.

They exist???? A. ← We can only hope, because the tally of people is now up to 30 and the brisket only weighs 12 pounds raw (correction from earlier post)!

Bruce, my Diana and I agree about cukes. Either cold out of the fridge, or in that Thai salad/condiment that has vinegar, some sugar, sliced birds and scallions. The salad/condiment actually night be nice to have on Sunday when we serve some smoked brisket!

Tonight (copying Bruce from uptopic), the Tangerine Island Dry-Braised Fish from The Revolutionary Cookbook. This has to have, after one try, become a favorite of ours. Now, granted, I didn't use trout, I used a big fat tilapia. And, it's been cool enough that I haven't yet planted my purple perella plant, so I used Thai basil (which I have a feeling I prefer), but the combo of the hot and salty with the bit of vinegar was just perfect. Best yet, I got to pick at the head (favorite part) and I have enough leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, another riff on the recipe. The kids were impatient, so the sauce wasn't as thick as Dunlop indicates, which was just fine considering that I like juice, especially when I have leftovers. Served over jasmine rice, with stir-fried brocooli on the side. I'd intended to do the dish bruch described with his green beens with brocooli, but the kids wanted it "the regular way" with that Thai soybean stuff that looks like baby poop.

Desert Culinary, how full did you fill the liners?

Those three bullets look so good in the grotto. Beautiful job on the meat! mmm. Anyone know if it's ok to smoke on a townhouse patio? Are we talking a LOT of smoke? ← You may or may not get a lot of smoke. And, if you're anything like my honey, you'll think that smoke smell is beguiliing! I'm brisketing this weekend, and give that the brisket is only 11 pounds, I'm tempted to try and score a small bone-in butt and add it to the Trusty Kettle so I have some alternative for those who don't do smoked brisket ( ).

No explanation of the translation, but venison can range in quality and taste, depending on how it was butchered, and what the conditions were like that winter. I find it usually to be denser and leaner, and depending on the cut, less lean. But, you need not have a gamey taste to the venison, depending on the condtions I have described. You might want to start here and read up and down topic to get the full story on venison!

Since you aren't supposed to grease an tube pan when baking an angelfood cake, I was thinking of just plopping the batter into ungreased "naked" muffin tins. This is for the snowangel's 13th birthday, who in fact is an angel. (Ice cream and strawberries on top. So should I just get whipping and baking and make a coupla regular cakes in my square angelfood cake pan?

Anyone ever done these? Possible? We have a birthday party on Sunday, and I'd really rather do a mess of cupcakes than a couple of cakes (only one pan).

Are we going to factor the length of the growing season into this equation? My tomato plants still aren't in because the nights are barely into the 50's yet.

I have the book, and that recipe is on my list. I forgot about using the stems - I should have done that tonight. ← Bruce, a couple of things about that Tropp recipe. I'm happiest not blanching the spinach, but making sure it is as dry as possible -- and if the heat is high enough, you'll actually have some char on the spinach which is paper thin and absolutely wonderful. The other thing is that if you don't set off the smoke detector with this one, you're not doing it right. It's my go-to dish when the first of the springs crinkly spinach appears every spring. Now, to get back onto to the Vietnamese topic! I did add some everyday daikon and carrot pickles to my bahn mi (which was take-out) just because I wanted the extra crunch.

Beautiful spinach and bahn mi, Bruce. I had a bahn mi today, but purchased (still a buck and a half at the local place). But, the spinach. We love stir-fried spinach. And, not to mix topics or food cultures, do you own Barbara Tropp's Modern Art of Chinese Cooking? There is a recipe in there for charred garlic and spinach which is to die for...

If your ribs have that flap of flesh on the backside, reminder to save those scraps for the "sausage" bag. What kind of wood?

The galangal is intriguiging, Chris. How do you suppose it would marry with smoked brisket?

Why is it called a canner?

Looks beautiful, Chris, if leaner than typical. Were you pleased with your rub? Would you change any of the ingredients or proportions next time?

I've always associated a saute with stuff jumping around in the pan (hot pan, spatula), sort of like stir-frying. But, I associate a sear with a hunk of meat that you put in the hot pan and when it releases itself, you flip it over and repeat. Sort of the idea that with a saute it's all about moving the stuff around in the pan, but with a sear the reverse is true.

Skirt steak was on sale at the market, and I have a nice one (a generous 1.5 pounds). Tell me what you'd do with it, please.

Jennifer, I think the ceiling mounted light fixture is absolutely perfect. In fact, so eye-grabbing to me it's the kind of thing that would inspire a remodel (if I didn't have enough remodelling projects in the works!).

Peter, talk about feeding yourself and the kids during the day. Breakfast, lunch and snacks.

At our former house, I had a portable (a Hobart Kitchenaid, sadly no longer available), but do remember that they are very easily built in should you remodel!