kayb

Re: The table with the hole in the middle. For many years, I was one of the organizers/worker bees who staged a barbecue and crawfish festival in Marion, AR. We'd cook 500 to 800 pounds of crawfish to sell, and our teams competing would cook and give away probably a thousand pounds of pork (and assorted other stuff). The first year, we got from the electrical utility a few dozen of the big wooden spools they wind cable on; they're about the right size to stand on one end, and use for a stand-up dinner table. Except that the hole in the middle was way too easy to throw crawfish remains into. And not nearly so easy to get crawfish remains OUT of. I cannot tell you how bad those damn tables smelled when we went out on Sunday morning (after they'd been used since Wednesday night) to clean up the grounds and break everything down. The next year, we nailed screen wire over the holes. Lots easier to just rake up crawfish remains off the ground.

You know...a storage solution has just occurred to me. If you could find, or have someone make, the right size wire grid that you could slip a straight-sided 4-oz (or 8 oz) jar through, that would catch on the rim where the lid screws down...one could put a series of them on sliders in a wooden cabinet. Canning jars are relatively inexpensive; less than a buck apiece.

Well, the cold frames didn't happen, and the garden isn't getting tilled until tomorrow. Then I'll spread umpty bags of compost on it, till that in with my new little tiller, and be ready to plant. Got the materials today to make four 4 x 4 beds; I think I'm going to take the plunge and start an asparagus bed. Other beds can go for onions, leeks and....something. Going to cut back on tomatoes this year, add some additional peppers (all I planted last year were cubanelles, think I'll add pimientos and Thai hot peppers). Will get herb garden ready to go this week as well; am off on the annual hunt for tarragon (WHY does no one in this town know wtf tarragon is?) My oregano, sage, thyme and savory overwintered and are coming back nicely. Must plant cilantro, basil and parsley, along with chives and dill. The damn mint is trying to take over; should never have planted it in the ground. Also going to plant sunflowers this year, at the grandurchins' request. A little late getting started, but it's been a cool spring and the ground's still fairly cold. I think I'll be good to go next week.

How could I resisit? I ordered it.

Fun! I love cookbooks that have a story to them. One reason I like Deep Run Roots so well.

My nickel's worth is that the texture is a little better in pressure cooking, but the flavor is better in some preparations (i.e., in a stock or sauce with added flavor elements) in a braise. Or, what you gain on the pretzels you lose on the potato chips.

I hereby bequeath to you and @Anna N my share of all the liver and onions in the world.

You need to call on @Ann_T for consultation. She is the queen of gorgeous bread crumb.

Unfortunately, I am by chicken the way I am by pork; it has to be well done. I love a good steak rare to medium rare, and I will eat my weight in beef tartare (or raw tuna, for that matter), but pork and chicken must have NO pink. Brining tends to soak out the residual blood in the body cavity (mine are farm birds, and not the most neatly gutted). I cook to a dark meat temp of 165, usually covering the breasts for the first 30 minutes of cooking. Brining in the Ruhlman brine gives me plenty of juiciness, and I do not notice a "cured" taste or texture; more sensitive palates than mine might.

Rubbing alcohol, if you have any traces left you want to clean up.

Perhaps I am a Philistine. But I'm perfectly happy with my beef and chicken stock run through two 90-minute cycles on high pressure in the instant pot, the solids removed, the broth strained, then returned to the IP to concentrate with a couple of sessions on the saute function with the lid off. Stock? Broth? Whatever you choose to call it, it suits for my purposes.

Nice looking charcuterie board, and a good price. I would've liked to have had that for dinner.

I had been plugging away at the freezer and doing well at not adding stuff, until I happened on hams at Aldi for 99 cents a pound. So I bought two. One is in the fridge to be cooked for Easter; the other, of course, went in the freezer. We are going to the beach in July for a family vacay, and I am already planning on sous viding some steaks and freezing in the bags and taking along to have steak night one night. I may bake the ham and take it to make lunches off of that week.

I'd not turn up my nose at either one, but the Love Potion sounds intriguing. Or, how about a fruit salad? I have an excess of grapes. Thinking I'll make a grape and walnut salad.

Cool. Thanks. I'll go ahead and take it out, and stick it back in the fridge whole on a rack couple of nights, and maybe spatchcock it Friday morning and let it dry some more before I roast it.

I hope Sara, like my children (one of whom is also a Sara) is willing to try lots of different foods! Welcome to the group, and yes, please do share with us what you like to cook!

I have to ask...If you leave the bunnies alone a couple of days, do you come back to find little bunnies?

Indeed it is. I like the dividers, as my chest freezers suffer from periodic avalanches when I'm excavating for stuff. Where'd you find them?

I found these. Not sure I'd cough up that price for them.

Glad I found this topic. I have a chicken in the fridge, in brine, that I put in last night. Life and grandchildren intervened, so I'm not roasting it tonight. I would put it in the fridge and let it air dry, but I have an engagement tomorrow night and can't roast it then, either, so it will have to be Friday. Should I: (A) Leave it in the brine one more day, then take out and air dry in the fridge? (B) Go ahead and take it out and let it air dry in the fridge for two days? (C) Something else? It occurs to me to take it out, rinse it, put it back in the empty bowl and cover, then wait until tomorrow to spatchcock it and let it air dry. But I can do that tonight, if y'all say. It's Ruhlman's lemon-herb chicken brine, which I think is 5 percent. Right at 6 oz of salt for a liter of water. Thanks!

Most hams come with a glaze. Throw it away. Rub your ham down with plain old ballpark yellow mustard, then pat a thick coat of dark brown sugar all over it. Put it in the oven at 325, for 20 minutes per pound. No need to baste. It does help if you line your pan with foil, and put your ham on a rack. Otherwise, it's generally easier to throw the pan away than to clean it.

Grandurchins here today, so...pancakes and bacon!

Be still, my heart. If there's a better char-grilled oyster on the planet, I don't think I could stand it. I always ask for more bread to sop up the juice. The sauce for the Mr. B's Bistro S&G is different, but good. I would note they call it red-eye gravy; it resembles NO red-eye gravy with which I was ever acquainted, but I do dearly love it. Recipe is here. Two words of caution -- (1) use the thin-sliced bacon; slab bacon won't get crispy in the time it takes the shrimp to cook. (2) Add the brown sugar judiciously, and taste. Depending on the nature of your pepper jelly, it can get too sweet, pretty quickly. I once had another link for the recipe that specified how they cook their grits. I don't use it. By my calculation, it wound up with about a quarter-cup of heavy cream, a quarter-cup of mascarpone, and two tablespoons of butter in every serving, along with whole milk, and I didn't think my arteries could take it. I make the grits with half-and-half whole milk and water, and stir in some cream cheese; seems to make them creamy enough. If these are not the best S&G I've ever had, they're REAL close.

Carryout from my favorite local diner, my reward for grocery shopping while hungry and not loading up on too much excess. I submit you cannot get a better lunch for $6.77, including tax, sans drink or dessert. Chicken and dressing, cranberry sauce, lima beans, corn. I'm a happy camper.

That'd surely start your day off well.