kayb

Beef and broccoli, inspired by @Shelby's dish the other day. Meant to add mushrooms, and forgot. Details on freezer cleanout thread.

I give up. I ordered it.

A baked potato, with bacon, cheese, sour cream and scallions. And a pickle.

FWIW, Broadbent's, which has won the award for best country ham for the past, oh, decades at the Kentucky State Fair, auctions off its grand champion ham every year for charity. It went for over a million bucks last year.

It was supposed to be pancakes at church last night, but that called off due to the threat of adverse weather (we had tornadoes and such). So I went to eat with a friend and had fish tacos. But I've got to try that boudin king cake.

@chromedome -- my sympathies on your father's condition. I did a similar cook-and-freeze project for my father after my mother died. One of his favorites was sausage and biscuits; I fried up three pounds of sausage patties, made a BIG batch of biscuits, individually wrapped them and froze them. Kept him in breakfasts. As I previously mentioned to @Thanks for the Crepes, if you have a Dollar Tree store up there, they carry three-packs of 4 x 6 tins with foiled cardboard lids that serve nicely for freezing dinners. Lids lend themselves to writing on with a Sharpie; I usually just include date and what's in it, but have included directions when I was giving them to someone.

You and @Paul Fink may well be right; it may simply be sheet steel. I was trying to remember as I typed that. I will look, and take a picture, next time I'm up there. Although Daddy could weld anything, up to and including glass.

I've had some luck in using a half-cup of dry beans, then soaking and cooking them, for two people, neither of whom are huge eaters. Works better now that I'm using mostly Rancho Gordo, which cook faster because they're fresher than some of those from the grocery. But then, I also have some beans in the pantry that are probably five years old...

My father, who was a welder, built the "pit" out of galvanized steel; a box with no bottom, a grate, and a lid about six inches deep to set down over the whole thing. The temp gauge was in the lid. He would start at 175, and gradually build up, turning and basting hourly with a vinegar-based sauce, and finish off at 275. It involved shifts of staying with the pit during the night. The pit belongs to me now, although it's hanging on the wall of the barn up home. Next time I'm up, I plan to bring it home with me. Probably was. It was excessive enough as to be completely unpleasant.

I have only once in my life had meat I thought was too smokey; that, oddly enough, was in a bar in Philadelphia, and it was brisket. I know when we used to cook pork shoulders on a pit, the traditional West Tennessee method of barbecuing, we'd cook them for 18 hours, over hardwood coals. Max temperature 275. The meat was moist, tender, and pulled like a dream, and the taste was to die for.

Good. I was afraid for a minute you had a gray, semi-shiny tongue.

I often rub meats to be slow-cooked before I SV; it serves more as a marinade than anything else. Particularly, I do ribs and pork shoulder, and occasionally pork chops, that way, generally the night before starting them in SV, and letting them sit in the rub in the fridge. I tend to finish with a wet sauce/glaze instead of a dry rub (that's the Memphis coming out), but you could certainly do either.

This qualifies as a "Well, I'll be damned" fact. Always a good day when I learn something new. Thanks.

I've had good luck beating the eggs wtih lemon and a little hot sauce, putting them in a measuring cup, and the measuring cup in a pan of hot water on a bare simmer, then using my hand-held blender while I slowly stream the melted butter. Then you can take it off the heat, leave it in the water, cover it, and it'll generally stay plenty warm for service.

I'd think about corning and then steaming it very slowly so it would be nice and tender.

I find it interesting that Brennan's Restaurant, a New Orleans standard for 70 years, uses sous vide on some dishes. Notably, they sous vide the egg yolks for their egg yolk carpaccio, which is beyond wonderful.

@Shelby -- I suspect you and I would be dangerous if we traveled together.

It's an old church potluck special, but turkey meatballs with finely minced pineapple, in a sweet-and-sour sauce with lots of soy sauce and some sesame oil. Over rice. What kind of dogs?

What a great report on that stage of your trip! The photo of horseback riding on the beach would have been worth the drive in the rain with the traffic. Glad your electrical issues are resolved.

Lowe's sells a roll of fencing called "rabbit guard," a woven-wire fence with smaller openings near the bottom and larger ones further up. I can get it in 3-foot or 4-foot heights. No deer and no woodchucks, so I'm thinking the three-foot and use garden staples to anchor it to the ground between posts. In the box were a dozen or more herbs, some asparagus, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, cabbage, five different kinds of tomatoes (yellow and red cherry tomatoes, Romas, Big Beef hybrid, and Mortgage Lifter heirlooms), sweet peppers, hot peppers, yellow and zucchini squash, green peas, lima beans, Kentucky Wonder pole beans (these are the BEST green beans in the world for cooking low-and-slow, with some bacon grease, Southern style!), okra...I think that's all. Have never grown asparagus before. I figure I'll start it inside and transplant; my front flower bed is going to become an asparagus bed, with herbs interspersed in their three-gallon pots. I need to start those, the tomatoes and the herbs next week. I will be planting outdoors likely by early April; it has been an exceptionally warm winter and early spring here. Temp yesterday was 70, though it's a little cooler today. I do wish I could grow some cooler weather crops, but all in all, I'll take living in the South. ETA: Carrots. I forgot carrots. And I will likely get some purple hulled peas and plant after the early crops (lettuce, cabbage, radishes) are through. Doubt I'll plant corn; it's easy enough to buy a bushel to cut off and freeze.

Arkansas is full of these. Of course, to be "rural" in Arkansas, you have to be REALLY rural, as the entire state has a population of less than 3 million. Here are a few: The Tamale Factory, Gregory, Arkansas (north central Arkansas Delta, on the White River), Gregory isn't even incorporated; it's a community of less than 100. The Tamale Factory boasts outstanding steaks (they dry-age on site, from local farm-raised beef); White River catfish, and of course, the ubiquitous tamales. Jones' BarBQ Diner, Marianna, Arkansas. Winner of a James Beard American Classic award. Pulled pork barbecue sandwiches on white loaf bread; your only choice is slaw or no slaw (get the slaw!) on the sandwich. You get your chips from a rack, your soft drink from a cooler. Oark General Store, in Oark, which I have always thought probably was originally supposed to be named Ozark, north central Arkansas in the mountains of the same name. Farm-to-table destination cuisine. And one in Tennessee, for good measure: Hagy's Catfish Hotel in Counce, on the banks of the Tennessee River just north of Shiloh National Military Park. The absolute best catfish I have ever eaten, anywhere, and some pretty excellent lemon icebox pie. They make a cole slaw with a homemade French dressing that you mix up at the table. Sounds awful, but good. Oh, and Big Band music on the jukebox.

Personally, I find the highest and best use of the avocado to be sliced, with salt, on a BLT. Doesn't matter if you have any L or not.

I did cook mine "too long" for most folks; as much as I love a rare steak, I can't do pork with pink in it. And I used steam bake in the hopes of avoiding exactly what happened -- drying out the meat.

Yesterday, I treated myself to brunch at Brennan's; it's the only place I know that brunch is well worth 50 bucks. Started with a mimosa: Then one of the best brunch dishes I've had in New Orleans: Egg yolk carpaccio. The waiter gave me details: egg yolks cooked SV with seasonings; broken into a shallow plate, topped with grilled shrimp that are in turn topped with diced Canadian bacon and a tangle of sweet potato strings. (Not certain what the green strings were; there were a few there for contrast, I guess, but they had no definable taste. Truth be told, the sweet potato didn't have a lot of taste, either, until I sopped it through egg yolk. Finished off the yolk with a piece of Leidenheimer bread. I loved the plate, too. And the main dish: Eggs Hussarde, a Brennan's original specialty. These things are marvelous. Bacon over English muffin halves, topped with a red wine sauce, then a poached egg, then the most luscious Hollandaise I've ever had, and chives. Had I not had the carpaccio, I would have managed to down both halves; as it was, I got through a little of the muffin and all the topping on the second half. A three-mile walk around the Garden District ensued, after which I had worked off enough of that meal that I could work on these: Could only eat one, but I couldn't come to NOLA and not have them. This morning's flight out was at 7 a.m., so no goodies today, save the pralines purchased at the airport.

Dinner last night was a steak at La Boca Argentine Steak House in the Warehouse District. I had a blade steak that was marvelous. No photos; I forgot. Off to Antoine's in a few for eggs Benedict.