kayb

The ones in the next-to-bottom tray in the middle, with the 3.50S placard, are dead ringers for Bradley County Pink Tomatoes, one of Arkansas' claims to fame, and among the best tomatoes in the world. I have my doubts the Bradley County cultivar has made it to Georgia, so what kind are these, if you know?

I am obviously too immersed in the holiday season. My first thought was "Awwww...it looks like a Christmas tree!"

Thank you!

This may be out of line, and I apologize if my question is presumptuous. From your questions, it sounds as though neither you nor your wife has extensive culinary experience, Is that not a cause for concern about the ultimate success of your venture?

Is this recipe cut off? Would love to have the rest of it, and instructions....

I had my first Broadbent ham when I won it as a door prize at a conference. Fortunately, I did not have to wag it home from Atlanta on the plane -- it was shipped to me. I didn't think I'd EVER get through it. Since then, I've ordered the packaged sliced ham and kept it in the freezer, cooking as I wish. For Christmas, we'll have a sliced ham (Aldi's Appleton Farms is my current favorite). Although it's fully cooked, I like to coat it down with ballpark mustard and either brown sugar or the packet of powdered ham glaze that comes with it, and bake it for 20 minutes per pound at 300 degrees. Already have the ham in the freezer. That will be part of a holiday buffet that will also include Broadbent's country ham, rare roast beef and some sliced smoked turkey, next to the big basket of homemade slider rolls. I may go ahead and make up some deviled ham, as well, as the buffet will lean toward the munch-and-graze-all-day variety. We'll also have shrimp with cocktail sauce, and possibly little crabmeat imperial tartlets. I have yet to settle on "sides" and dessert.

Yes, mine was clean. This was its condition on arrival. Haven't attempted to season it yet.

I order almost every year from their website. I tend to order biscuit slices and breakfast steaks; the dinner steaks are SO damn big. A combo of that ham and "city ham" leftover from Christmas, all minced up, makes a phenomenal deviled ham spread. And I always save a package of biscuit slices to have ham and biscuits on Derby Day.

You know, it almost looks like something spilled on the package during transit. Wonder if that was the case?

I was lucky. I had a stainless steel colander that fit my IP perfectly, and it became my default steamer basket. As for the glass lid, until I got mine, I found a dinner plate worked quite nicely. Now, as for the countertop oven...you might want to stay away from the CSO thread, out of respect for your bank account...(yeah, this forum costs me money regularly!)

I beg to differ. I believe the world's most expensive ham is the Kentucky grand champion ham, sold annually at auction. See story, here. For the last several years, it's been a Broadbent ham. You can order a non-competition ham from their website. clickety Good stuff.

Like @Smithy, I've never found any meat left from making stock worth much other than pampering the dog. I use a carcass, however much meat is left clinging to it, skin and wings that didn't get eaten, a halved or quartered onion and four or five cloves of garlic. I don't salt it. I let it go 90 minutes and then however long on "keep warm" until I get around to doing something with it. I use the steamer basket to hold all my solids, so I just lift that out and chunk the contents. Then I run the pot through a couple of cycles of saute with the lid off, to reduce it by about half, and pour it into a baby food keeper thingy that lets me freeze about half-cup portions. When they're frozen, I pop them out and stash them in a zip-lock, label it as to what kind of stock, and back in the freezer they go. At present, I have bags of chicken, ham and beef stock in there. It's simple enough to add the water back in when you're using it. I've been told it works well to keep all sorts of veggie scraps frozen and when you have enough, make vegetable stock. Onion trimmings, carrot peels, broccoli stems, and so on. Have never tried that.

It is your mission in life to cost me money. And you do it well.

Is the red potato what we here in the US know as a sweet potato? Looks like it...

Damndog has had pancreatitis. Can't feed her people food.

I lust for those onion rings.

BTW, you timed your trip through the lower Mississippi Valley well. We're in the midst right now of getting what is forecast to be 1-3 inches of snow as I type. Shoppers are currently reenacting the Visigoth sack of Rome in the milk and bread aisles at all grocery stores, and then forgetting how to drive. I am home, and staying there, away from the lunacy. I am convinced that, down here, snowflakes are really pods for some alien bacterial invasion that sucks every vestige of good sense out of people as soon as they get in a car.

I make something very similar to this, but I've never tried it in the IP. I'm astounded it works with the proportion of dry ingredients to liquid! I've also done it in a Dutch oven with the top layer a layer of cornbread...just make up the batter, spoon over the top, smooth it out, put the lid on and into the oven it goes. Particularly good with cornbread made with extra cheese and corn kernels. I usually add layers of shoe peg corn, rinsed, canned black beans, either browned ground beef or chicken, grated cheese, chopped black olives, and canned enchilada sauce. Garnishes served tableside include chopped avocado, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa, and Pancho's dressing (recipe here, from the much loved Ark-Mex restaurant of the same name). Mexican rice for a side.

Come to my house. You can match up with my mint-that-ate-everything, and I'll put my money on the mint.

I, too, am one of the worst offenders in this regard. Often it's a case of my ambition exceeding my ability in terms of time and initiative; the squash I was CERTAIN I would cook a day or so after buying it is wilting in the fridge a week later. I cook for only two of us, but in truth, it's more usually just one, as Child A generally eats a big lunch at work and then is not particularly interested in dinner, nor do her tastes run along the adventurous lines that mine do. I'm ashamed, every time I clean out the fridge or throw away some baked good that's gotten stale or molded on the counter, of how much food I waste.

PBR used to put out a bock beer every year, and I always looked forward to it.

Amazon has the Breville Smart Oven Air on an "early Black Friday" deal for $319, regularly $399. Clickety

FWIW, I always cook/glaze my fully cooked hams. 20 minutes per pound at 300F. I know it's not necessary, but to me, both taste and texture are better. I glaze very simply. Rub plain old yellow ballpark mustard all over the ham. Take brown sugar, add a little nutmeg and ground cloves if you wish, and pat that all over the ham to form a thick coating. Mist with bourbon. Into the oven. I don't baste while it's cooking/reheating.

A couple of years ago, I took the plunge and decided to make Eudora Welty's White Fruitcake (recipe here) to go in Christmas gift baskets. They were horrible. Doughy in the center, after having been cooked for the length of time specified. Gave them another 20 minutes. Still horrible. As I had several dollars' worth of fruit and nuts tied up in them, not to mention flour, butter, etc., and several hours of work, I was loath to pitch them. I wrapped and froze them, took a frozen loaf out, cut it into quarter-inch thick slices, and baked them a second time. Lo and behold, fruitcake biscotti, which were quite good. Not good enough I'll make the fruitcake again just to make the biscotti, but it sure saved the ingredients. Bags of them went into the gift baskets, and people loved them.

I do mine in the IP; overnight or all-day soak, drain, then saute an onion and some garlic in the pot, add beans and other seasonings/ingredients excepting salt (meat, peppers, etc.), add water or broth (generally water) to cover by two inches. Manual 40 minutes. Take a potato masher to them to break up some of the beans and make a creamy sauce, salt to taste, low saute with lid off for a few minutes if needed to reduce. Have to stir fairly frequently during that step so they won't stick and/or scorch.