kayb

Am about to start out on my annual hunt for Arkansas Black apples, which make the best apple butter in the world. And I'm low on apple butter. Can't have that happen. That'll about finish up my canning for the year, unless I decide to make more bacon jam, or get some muscadines and make muscadine jelly.

I'm with @lindag and @blue_dolphin -- CSO and the Instant Pot (which gets in just under the two-year deadline). The Anova is a tad older than two years. All those came via recommendations from eGullet. I love my enabling, virtual friends and fellow cooks. Y'all cost me money, but damn, I have a lot of fun and learn a lot.

I, too, am a raw potato muncher. In the "tastes awful along the way" camp, I'd put homemade mustard. Until it mellows, its pretty harsh.

Good Lord, honey, don't spoil him this early in the game. You'll have him absolutely ruined by the wedding. Those meatballs look primo.

Enjoyed hunting season, as always. Sorry the doves weren't moving. We didn't have a lot of dove opening weekend in Arkansas, I heard people saying. Shame.

Wish I lived closer. Been a long time since I had a regular venison supplier.

@ChocoMom -- I have had success canning chili before when i didn't have room for all the ground venison. SEVEN deer? Unless y'all have REAL small deer, that's a BUNCH of venison! I'd have to be making some summer sausage, too.

I pickled mustard seeds yesterday in preparation for a riff on pickled peanut salad. A riff, because I don't like either bell pepper or celery. I'm thinking julienned carrots and maybe zucchini or cucumber, drained, instead.

I love 19 Crimes. Did you check the cork to see what your crime was? You are making me want spaghetti and meatballs. Next week, maybe.

Yum.

I have mentioned I bought a small Masterbilt electric smoker. Its maiden voyage was steelhead trout filets, with which I was underwhelmed; they were just too...fishy. But last night, I took the plunge with a sirloin tip roast. Coated it in Santa Maria rub on Thursday night, wrapped in plastic and stashed it in the fridge. Put it on to smoke about 4 pm. Other than the fact dinner was an hour later than I'd planned, it was excellent. Took significantly longer to get to 130 than I had planned. But it sliced up nice and tender, and I didn't get it too done, and I think it will make fine sandwiches next week. The potatoes were Yukon Gold fingerlings, tossed in olive oil, seasoned salt and black pepper and steam-baked in the CSO for 30 minutes, then fninished for 10 minutes on convection at 450. Perfect. The Brussels sprouts were a riff on several recipes. I cooked 3/4 cup farro, toasting it a skillet and then boiling until tender. I drained it and spread it out on a dinner plate to cool. I sliced the Brussels sprouts thin, then tossed them in a hot skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper; sauteed until they were nicely caramelized, added the farro and some sliced almonds in, and finished off with balsamic vinegar and honey. Got a bit too much honey; I'll hold it to 1 tbsp next time. But these were quite excellent. Sliced tomatoes finished off the plate. Dessert was a slice of chess pie, which was remarkably good considering after I cut it, I found the half-cup of melted butter I'd forgotten to put in it. I slept well.

Well, they're both awfully pretty.

Grabbed a couple of frozen egg bites; let them thaw a bit on the counter, then stuck them in the CSO on steam bake 350 for 8 minutes. Still cold in the center, so I cut them in two and gave them another three minutes. Then toasted a slice of oatmeal bulghur bread and topped it with some blackberry jam. The bites were good post-freezing/thawing/warming, but a better procedure might have been to lay them out in the fridge the night before, to cut the time needed to thaw/warm. They weren't rubbery, though. Also, one egg bite's enough, when I'm having it with toast. Lucy-the-pug, however, was really pleased I had warmed two. Next time I'll dice the brats, instead of just slicing them.

Thanks for the bierocks dough recipe. I'm smoking a sirloin tip roast today, and may make some sort of made-up-and-baked sandwiches from that next week.

I love that cheese board. Slab. Whatever. Is it slate? What kind of dough do you use for the bierocks? Looks somewhat like pizza crust dough. Is it? Reminds me of calzones, which I used to make more often when my foster son lived with me because he could LIVE on calzones. I make something similar with rye bread dough, sliced pastrami, sliced Swiss, and well-drained kraut. Make it in a big loaf with a woven top, and slice it in hunks. Great for a football party. Like this:

I have one exactly like this, but for the addition of a small ceramic dish in the bottom ring. A spoon/ladle holder. It sits on my stove, and gets a fair amount of use.

Used one I got off the instant pot page on Facebook, here. Left out the coconut cream because I didn't have any.

My grandmother would wade out into the flock and select the one she wanted to cook for dinner. She'd grab it by the neck and with a quick swing and flip of her wrist, snap the head right off. I always marveled at how she could do that. We didn't have chickens long. Daddy hated them, and we soon got rid of them and got ours from the lady down the road. She, in turn, got pork from us. It all worked out.

My nickel's worth: Beans, unless you're putting your chili over tamales, in which case, no beans. I am not certain why. It's just that way. I've made it with both chuck and ground beef, and like @Shelby, prefer it with venison. If I'm pulling meat out of the freezer specifically to make it, I'll generally use ground beef, to use up what usually winds up surplus in my annual beef share. I do use tomatoes, and a variety of chiles/chili powder. I do use RoTel, when I have it on hand, or I'll dump in a can of diced green chiles with my tomatoes. I do use beer. I do use chocolate (generic cocoa powder), and lots of cumin, and generally some allspice. i may serve it any number of ways; with rice, inside a baked potato, in a bread bowl, with a wedge of cornbread, with a grilled cheese sandwich, or just with a stack of saltines. And significantly more beer. It is one of those meals, like grilled burgers, that call for accompaniment by beer. Negra Modelo is my favorite with chili. I also love it over cheese enchiladas. I'm making myself hungry.

I, too, forgot to take pics, but dinner was beef curry, from Instant Pot Indian (or something to that effect) by Urvashi Pitre. I used tenderized round steak, cut in small chunks, vs. the called-for chuck roast, because I had it. Good. Like most of her recipes, I used probably 30 percent more of all spices except the red pepper, and used maybe half of that. Word of caution: If you like the sweet tinge that take-out Indian so often has, add a tablespoon of honey to her sauces. And most of her recipes create a surplus of sauce, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Cooked it PIP in the stackable tiffin tins in the IP. 20 minutes, 20 minute NPR.

Re: Olivier salad. Perhaps I'm sheltered, but I'd never heard of it. Sounds good (and potential variations are buzzing in my brain as I type). I have learned a New Thing. Today is therefore a worthwhile day. Thanks, @Tropicalsenior. And I'm glad the egg pucks (LOVE the term!) worked for you. I highly recommend 'em with proscuitto on that English muffin (I keep accumulating 4-oz packages of proscuitto from Aldi and freezing them; cheap and good!). Today I used my IP to: boil six eggs for deviled eggs I have not yet made make rice pudding and make beef curry with rice for dinner. None were things I could not have done otherwise, but the convenience and time savings were well worthwhile. I don't know that I can think of anything I can do in it that I couldn't do otherwise, and for some things that many people use the IP, I still prefer the old-fashioned method, like carbonnades a la flamande or bouef Bourguignon, but it's a worthwhile device in my kitchen and I'm sold on it. Particularly with the little pot-in-pot stackable tiffin-style pans.

They now make candy corn flavored Hostess cupcakes. I'm going to have to try them. I, too, have used the Buddig beef for SOS. Which, interestingly enough, I really like over a hot smashed potato (the potatoes you either bake or boil, then mash flat with a potato masher, brush with butter, and broil). Which, I reckon, would make it SOP. Damn, I hate it when that happens.

Inquiring minds want to see fried pumpkini....

Helluva deal. I'm tempted to get one and just put it up, against the day mine dies.

Oops. My apologies, Chris. Very good as toast the next morning. This may go in the regular rotation. I think I got my dough a bit too dry; I was on the phone as I was measuring flour, and may have overdone it. Suspect I shall try a sandwich later today.