kayb

Grabbed that one not 20 minutes before you posted it. If you will look at Amazon, under Kindle Books and Cookbooks, they will give you an option for "deals." It'll be a dozen or so el cheapo cookbooks. I contemplated, but decided against, Tartine, at 2.99. I just don't bake that many sweets.

With you, sister. To quote a former co-worker, "There's just some stuff that ought to be covered up."

Sad. It's a helluva cookbook.

John T. Edge (Southern Foodways) referred to country ham as "America's proscuitto." That's about as close as I can come. A fried slice on a hot biscuit with some sorghum molasses is the finest breakfast or snack to be found.

I use my CSO and my instant pot a lot because neither heats up the house much. I'll do things like roast a chicken or cook a beef roast, that I can eat on for several days. Lots of salads, marinated veggies, fruit. Lots of cheese and charcuterie plates.

Come on in, and tell us what you're cooking!

Only thing I found was a thread on making nduja and other salamis. I've seen I can scramble it in with eggs, and crumble it and brown it to scatter over fish dishes. I'm contemplating putting it in a tortilla. My concern is that I may have gotten myself something that's entirely too hot for my tastes.

Is that anything like nduja? I ordered some of that. I'm afraid of it. I'm not sure what to do with it.

I'll make a pilgrimage to my Kroger tomorrow, and commit to trying a couple of meals if they're available here. Packaging is always going to be an issue. We're fortunate to have a fairly healthy recycling program here; it just requires people participating in it.

I'm not a huge mortadella fan. But when you post those sandwiches, I always want one.

Welcome! All types/ranges of cooks here, from the enthusiastic home variety to professional chefs at fine restaurants, not to mention some outstanding bakers and candy-makers. Jump right in. Talk to us about what you're smoking (of the cuisine variety, I mean!).

A little lemon juice, and plunk them on top of a Saltine cracker. Copious quantities of cold Abita Amber alongside.

Did you take a hit for the team and try one? I'll look at our mega-Kroger next time I'm in and see if we have them here.

Huh. Guess I didn't know that when I guzzled it by the pitcherful as a kid, or when my kids did. And of course, I will still occasionally buy KoolAid when I want Koolickles (you had to spend a LOT of time at the ballpark to appreciate those). I guess the point was to prepare an Afro-centric meal. I would have chosen pork chops, breaded and fried; fried chicken; tamales; white soup beans; cabbage or greens of some sort; rice and gravy or grits and gravy; fried okra; fried potatoes and onions. And sweet potato pie. I'd quibble with your statement that Afro-American culture has Gullah-Geechee roots. Certainly that's part of the heritage, but there's also the Louisiana Creole influence, the Tidewater Virginia culture, and the upland Mid-South. All have quite distinct culinary cultures that derive in large part from the slave culture that once lived there. So you get peanut soup, neckbones and dressing, grits vs rice, and then you get gumbo, red beans and rice, meat pies, po'boys. Greens and okra, thankfully, are ubiquitous. I've never understood why watermelon carries such a racial connotation. If it's ever set up as a racial purity test, I'll have to stand with my brothers and sisters of color. I love the stuff and will eat it daily.

Unless you are in the U.S., where it is pronounced "brim." And is perfectly wonderful when panfried within two hours of being caught and cleaned.

Put me in the other side of the sink camp, mostly for pots, pans, big things that don't fit well in the dishwasher. Knives get laid on a cutting board and dried before going back in their boxes.

I have never had anything fit to eat at JITB.

I do sympathize with the experience of being hungry, or just needing to eat, and either (a) not having any idea what you want, or (b) there is nothing "good" available. I agree with you about most chain restaurant food being pretty horrible, along with a lot of the chain options of the Chili's/Olive Garden/Cheddar's variety. There are a few ready-to-eat meals one can microwave that are at least acceptable, and it would certainly be my choice to see that selection expand. Given the choice of just popping a pill or enjoying the taste of something, I'd prefer to enjoy the taste.

Had to get Bean by Bean just because I haven't heard of Crescent Dragonwagon for ages. She's a former hippie who settled for a time in Eureka Springs, AR, and got all into herbalism and natural foods and such. Interesting character. And the Hummingbird Cookbook. I might actually bake something sweet, one of these days.

I buy Broadbent ham from Kentucky fairly regularly, chiefly because I'm just buying for two (often for one, as the daughter gets really weird on eating) and they sell packages of pre-sliced ham, which is convenient for me. Yes, it should be refrigerated. Be advised: It will be VERY salty. It should either be cooked in water, or soaked for a little while before frying. I'm of the soak first, then fry school. I think @Shelby has had success cooking hers in the Instant Pot.

Looks like a cottonmouth. I hate a cottonmouth. Only snake out there that's aggressive. Mean bastards all need to be killed. I ate rattlesnake once. Was not impressed. Don't think I'd be impressed with snake wine, either. The steak dinner, though....

It differs very little, other than the addition of a cup of dry, rolled oats. The recipe I used is here. I used brown sugar instead of white, upped it to 1/2 cup because it seemed to me that'd sit well with the sausage and cheese, and, as mentioned, kneaded in the browned breakfast sausage and grated cheese (about 8 oz of the first, about 4 oz of the second). Very little taste of either in the finished product, which was quite good. I had one split open and toasted with butter for breakfast.

I've been immersed in medieval Scotland, doing some genealogy, so I took the notion I'd make some bannocks. Learned there are a bajillion different varieties of bannocks, from essentially a cracker to other unleavened breads to pancake-like things. But I thought I wanted yeasted bannocks, so I found a recipe for same. Then I took a notion to make them a breakfast dish, so I added browned breakfast sausage and grated co-jack cheese. Patted them out, cut them like scones, and baked. I'll freeze a couple to a bag, and have them for upcoming breakfasts. They're pretty good.

Pizza night. Fresh ricotta, mozzarella, Parmigiano, sliced mushrooms, salami. The salami was less than optimal. The crust was one of the best I've ever made, and I wish I could figure out what I did differently.

An empty beach on a grey, cloudy day is a beautiful thing. So is that breakfast burger.