kayb

OK. That makes sense. Ain't gonna work in the Delta in Arkansas, either! Well, I guess it would in the winter.

Appreciate everyone's input. I'm soaking up all the info. A full pound of silica dessicant to dehumdify a dorm fridge? Is there a rule of thumb on how much dessicant per cubic foot of space and/or pound of product? I'd have no idea where to even begin with amounts.

No kidding. I'd sign about anything for one of those. Have looked up and bookmarked recipe.

Oh, dear God. Mine are all three horrible. I think I may be a food hoarder.

Thanks!

Bumping this thread up because I have a question. I am contemplating buying a dorm-room-sized refrigerator for use as a drying chamber for meats. I know, or think I know, I can't get one to hold at optimum temp for drying; it will be cooler, I will have to augment the humidity, perhaps with the addition of a cup of water in the bottom. Will the cooler temp adversely affect the drying process? Will it take more time, or less, to cure? (Doesn't matter, but would be good to know.) Are there any big reasons this method would NOT work?

@Kim Shook Hank Shaw's blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, has a post today about venison marinades. While this post doesn't discuss actually cooking the venison, a search within his blog for "venison roast" turns up several dozen. Might be worth a look.

@robirdstx -- Dear God, that looks marvelous! May have to make a run to the only decent Mexican place in town today...

I'm Irish. I love anything one can do to or with a potato. But I think my favorite is "new potatoes," dug that day, unpeeled, scrubbed with a brush, boiled in salted water, drenched with plenty of butter. Best reason to grow your own.

A bratwurst, home fries,.Yellow Indian Woman beans cooked with ham, and kraut.

Welcome! I captain a volunteer team that cooks once every 10 weeks for a soup kitchen that feeds 60-75 people on Saturdays. We" do a lot of soups and stews, chili dogs and the like. One of the favorites is white bean and Italian sausage soup with greens. Happy to send you that recipe. We also do a "taco soup" that everyone seems to like. Outside the soup realm, we find baked chicken, meat loaf, ham and pork shoulder roast to be good options.

Just remember...it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Not McDonald's-related, but re: American cheese. Having a grandson for whom grilled cheese is one of the two protein sources he will eat (the other is chicken nuggets), I generally buy Kraft sliced American cheese (NOT the "processed cheese food" wrapped in individual slices in plastic). The Kroger deli had Boar's Head American cheese on sale for about the same price last week, so I bought that. Made grilled cheese sandwiches for the kid today. The Boar's Head cheese is much "meltier" than Kraft. Now I want a meat loaf sandwich. Must make meat loaf next week. Or, if it continues to be 60-ish degrees, maybe I'll just fire up the grill and cook burgers.

Ick. Pass.

Someone in here -- @ElsieD, was it you? -- posted last fall about harvesting black walnuts. We had them everywhere, seemed like, when I was a kid, but they were typically passed over in favor of pecans which yielded more nutmeat per nut. Walnuts were often left for the squirrels and hogs, although I do remember the "old folks" dyeing cloth with the juice from the outer hulls. I have of late discovered and become a confirmed fan of preserved walnuts. I've found a recipe, here. Be assured I will be on the lookout for black walnuts, which for these purposes should be picked before they fall, while they're still green) and trying to make my own. Anybody tried making preserved walnuts? I don't recall how much these were at Kroger, but I checked Zingerman's, and they ain't cheap. There should be marvelous things I can do with the syrup, too.

That's absolutely pornographic. I want it.

Ah, but Easter dinner will be marvelous!

I'd second @Shelby's recommendation, but i'd cook it in red wine. Love venison in red wine. Just get a box of the relatively cheap plonk, and cover it 3/4 of the way, atop the onions, etc. And let me know when dinner is.

We always had redskins, mostly because that was what we grew. But when we ran out and had to buy potatoes at the store, we bought redskins. I don't remember seeing russets or golds in the grocery as a child.

These sound intriguing. Wonder how it would work with green tomatoes?

My grandmother always referred to "sweet milk" as opposed to buttermilk, "light bread," as opposed to either biscuits or cornbread, and "arsh (Irish) potatoes" as opposed to sweet potatoes. Those nouns never came out of her mouth without one adjective or the other.

We have some growers here in Arkansas who are doing high-tunnel greenhouse growing for tomatoes, peppers and lettuces during the winter. They generally only have to heat in January and February. They're growing hydroponically, and the lettuces/greens are indistinguishable from garden grown. The tomatoes, mostly cherry and grape varieties, are quite acceptable.

Depending on how you're coming across the top of the state, you should be coming either through Walnut Ridge, where you'd pick up US 67, or on over to Paragould via US 412 and then on to Hayti, Mo., where you'd pick up I-55. Either is within 30 minutes of me. I'm putting Friday the 18th on my calendar, and we can confer later about time and place. There is, not far off 412, a place up in the edge of Missouri called Strawberry's, in Holcomb, Mo., which does a pork steak that is a thing of beauty, and if you eat one for lunch, you likely won't want dinner. They're massive. Plenty of other good barbecue, catfish and home cooking establishments as well. One place you might want to check out in north central Arkansas is Coursey's Smoked Meats in St. Joe, not far from Harrison. Wonderful bacon, ham, sausage, etc. Eureka Springs has lots of neat restaurants (Local Flavor is a good one). There's a place called Brenda's in Mountain Home that makes the best onion rings I ever consumed in my life. Gaston's, outside of Mountain Home, does wonderful things with trout, if they're open this time of year. Looking forward to it!

Sourcing sorghum: Crooked Creek Apiaries (yes, they do honey as well), 10213 Hwy. 49 N., Brookland, AR, 72417, 9870-932-3004. That's in my 'hood, so if you need an on-the-ground presence, I'm happy to help. Re: chowchow. We distinguished simply by saying "ripe tomato pickle" and "green tomato pickle." We tended to prefer the ripe, and I still make it and can it annually. Cannot eat purple hulled peas without it. I would not hazard a guess regarding "high South cuisine." If it's "high South" in the same general genre as, say, "high church," I'd tend toward saying it would include Creole elements, as well as choice cuts of meat and "classier" vegetables such as asparagus and artichokes, as opposed to more plebian field peas, pinto beans, okra and fried potatoes with onions. God alone knows what they may think it is in Bentonville, where they tend to think they're a cut above most everyone else, anyway (she said, on the basis of having lived there for four years). If you do get anywhere within shouting distance of Jonesboro, please let me know. Would love to take you to eat at one of our hidden gems in this part of the world. We do have a few.

You want to talk decadence...whipping cream in mac and cheese.