kayb

I have an Anova, one of the lower-end Food Saver vacuum sealers (worth having for freezing leftovers, or portioning out large packages of meat for freezing smaller portions, whether you use it for SV or not), but often use just a freezer-weight zip lock bag. As for a proper vessel, I've cooked in a styrofoam cooler, a regular Igloo-type cooler, a big stock pot, and right now most of my cooks take place in a 3-gallon white plastic pail. I think SV lends itself to improvisation. Flatware or marbles sealed in the bag to weight it down, whatever kind of vessel you have that's handy. I never tried the slow-cooker or oven. For me, the big attraction is that I can get a much more tender end product without having to resort to a braise. That's a major deal here, where it's damn difficult to find anything better than choice beef, and grass-fed, free-range beef and pork tend toward being tougher, anyway, since those muscles get more of a work-out.

Well, I only THOUGHT there'd be no really interesting meals on this trip. Went out yesterday afternoon to take the kids to a drop-off childcare center they love, so I could get a little shopping done and they could burn off some energy, and decided, since they would eat "dinner" at the facility, I'd treat myself to a meal at a little Greek place I like in the same shopping center. They told me their specials, which included a barbecued brisket plate that included a Greek salad. OK, sez I; I've never had Greek barbecue, and the notion is somewhat intriguing. The waitress brought out a healthy portion of sliced brisket, tender and well-smoked, in a barbecue sauce that was pure Tennessee; sweet, smoky, spicy. It was served over small redskin potatoes that had been quartered and, it looked like, parboiled and then roasted. With an order of hummus and some pita bread on the side, as well as the Greek salad. Certainly one of the more "different" barbecue plates I've ever experienced, but I enjoyed it.

Today's report from Enablers-R-Us: "The Enchantingly Easy Persian Cookbook," link here, is available as an e-book for $1.99. I know nothing about it, but then, I know nothing about Persian cooking, either, so it's worth $2.99 to learn something.

Shelby, try tuna poke. I love it. The recipe I use is here.

Choucroute garnie! A friend who serves as my guinea pig when I'm experimenting in the kitchen has been asking. I experimented on him with it a few years back. Mine has reisling instead of cider. I'm not close, but if the kids and I left right now and drove all night...Oh, well. Guess I'll do with my peas and cabbage and fried potatoes.

But then, I've always contended my latkes were "Methodist latkes" because I fry them in bacon fat...

Lovely things. I'm crazy about a latke, and make decent ones. Might throw together some for NY morning here. I like apple butter and sour cream with mine.

As the only other thread I could find on this topic was from 2014 and is closed, I thought I'd start a new one. We all have our New Year's traditional foods, I'm sure; I know in the American South, no one would DREAM of passing the day without their black-eyed peas and cabbage. I'm interested in how folks prepare their peas, what goes with them, and what other New Year's Day food traditions are out there, especially from our international members. My blackeyed peas -- Rancho Gordo this year! -- will get boiled with onion, drained, and then used to make a sort of cassoulet with sliced smoked sausage, shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, chiles, and assorted other spices, then baked with a bread crumb topping. I make sure the peas have plenty of moisture, maybe some added chicken broth, so I can serve them over rice. Instead of turnip greens, because I don't like turnip greens, I'll have cabbage, cut into wedges and roasted, after being brushed with olive oil, salt and papper, until it starts to get some browned, caramelized edges. I'll fry potatoes and onions, and I'll make a big ol' skillet of cornbread. How about y'all?

I am thinking 2017 may be the year I dive into pasta making. One always needs a new challenge.

In Nashville babysitting, so meals will of necessity be kid-centric and not terribly fascinating this weekend, but for black eyed peas, cabbage, fried potatoes and cornbread (leaving no New Year's stone unturned). Last night, they had Chick-Fil-A, which is their absolute favorite and which makes me gag. I fixed myself a turkey and Swiss sandwich after we got home.

Top of my list when I get back home (I'm in Nashville being grandmama, and my daughter's kitchen is, well, less than well stocked...) is Paul Hollywood's Bread. Specifically, the rye. I just have had a taste for rye bread since I read that recipe. Numerous other things in that book sound excellent, too. I'm also going back to that odd sandwich book I grabbed on Kindle a couple of months back, "Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings." Some of the fillings sounded pretty good, albeit the proportions seemed to be sized for the Jolly Green Giant. But they do sound like good jumping-off points.

Huh. I will be anxious to hear the results of this. Only use I ever knew for pine cones was to paint them gold and silver, dust them in glitter, and use them in Christmas arrangements.

Oooh...sriracha maple! Sounds excellent! I make Chex mix every year, but it's usually the standard butter/Worcestershire/hot sauce/spices version.

I wish I had pictures from dinner last night. I went out with friends for a "girls Christmas dinner" at a relatively new restaurant, Catherine and Mary's, in Memphis. It's the newest of a series of restaurants started by a pair of Memphis guys, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, who've been previous James Beard nominees for best new chef(s) for their flagship "Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen." They also have Hog & Hominy, a pizza and small plates casual place, and Porcellino's, a craft butcher shop that specializes in in-house cured meats and also serves sandwiches and casual lunches/dinners. C&M occupies the cuisine rung just below Andrew Michael's, which is more a fine-dining establishment. C&M is a touch more rustic, a touch more casual, and offers traditional Italian fare with an updated twist. We started out with a salumi plate of four different meats from Porcellino's -- all marvelous, but oddly, we had to ask for bread, and it was not very plentiful when it arrived. The menu was divided into first-course small plates, pastas and entrees. The three of us ordered two of each, and shared them. For firsts, we had a dish of Brussels sprouts which were not only the best Brussels sprouts I have ever eaten in my life, but were possibly my favorite of all the dishes we had that night. The sprouts were deconstructed into their individual leaves, some of them shredded, the others left as whole leaves. Part of the shredded ones were in a creamy, Alfredo-ish sauce; some were stir-fried with some sort of cured meat, and whole leaves were flash-fried to crispy. The interplay of the textures and tastes was little short of phenomenal. We also had a cannelini bean dish with crunchy fried strips of guanciale that was pretty excellent. The pastas were rigatoni with "Maw Maw's Sunday Gravy" and meatballs, the red sauce lively with red pepper, clinging to the pasta and shrouding the absolutely perfect meatballs that had simmered in it. This was a comfort pasta at its very best, and next time, I may order a plate of it to keep to myself and forego the entree completely. Again, oddly, there was no bread served, in fact, no bread throughout the entire meal, which seemed to me to be a major defect. We did not ask for bread after the appetizer round, but a slice of good bread would not have gone amiss to soak up the last bits of that Sunday gravy. For entrees, we shared pork loin served over lentils, and a strip steak served over stir-fried kale. The pork loin was good; it appeared to have been sous vided, and oddly, was only seared on one side, but had a very good flavor. The steak was OK. It might have been better than OK had we not had so much excellent food to precede it. Other entree choices included a braised lamb shank, a seafood medley, and a fish of the day. We finished up by sharing a slice of mascarpone tart with figs. It was good, but I really wish I'd just gotten gelato. It was definitely good enough that I'll be planning a return visit. And I don't think I'll ever eat there without ordering the Brussels sprouts again.

Based on @daveb's recommendation, I contacted Dave Martell and have arranged to send mine to him in January. Thanks!

@BonVivant, I do so enjoy your food travelogues!

Pork rinds are one of my favorite snacks, when I get them at one of the local barbecue establishments that prepares them onsite. One of my favorites deep-fries them so they're crisp and puffy, then sprinkles a dry barbecue seasoning rub on them. Absolutely delicious. Brim's is a southern regional brand of potato and other snack chips, including pork rinds. One of my children, when she was small, would demand "orange chips," which we finally determined were Brim's pork rinds, which came in a bag with an orange design on it. (This is not unlike my friend's four-year-old son, who demands "blue pizza," or some local store's take-and-bake deli pizza that comes in a blue box.)

Oh, my, that is a lovely thing!

I have discovered a fine use for an untouched fast-food loaded baked potato (cheese and shredded bacon). Nuke it, and top it with a poached egg. A quite satisfying breakfast.

@Captain -- I would have been pleased to be a guest at your table! That looks marvelous!

Oh, I didn't miss the sale. He is residing on my Kindle as we speak. I like the notion of the trencher, but I'm also loving the thought of those Stilton-bacon rolls, and the first rye recipe he offers. Agreed on the crumpets; I've also bookmarked the one @robirdstx mentioned a while back. I've never gotten the kind of texture/crumb I want, trying to make English muffins.

Dammit. I see about four loaves I want to make. Next week.

@cakewalk, you slice much straighter than I do. I didn't get out my little slicer guide thingy; I should have.

Flax seed potato bread (from bread topic), toasted, spread with homemade ricotta and topped with peach preserves from my Biscuit Love gift box. Those preserves are possibly the best such I have ever eaten. I intend to buy a vat of them when I'm in Nashville next week. Bacon cooked in the package SV, then drained and refrigerated, then seared a minute on each side (sous vide thread). Gawdamighty. I'm going to need to start a diet early in the new year.

With all the ham and turkey left over from Christmas, I needed sandwich bread. This is the flaxseed potato bread from Food 52 (recipe here). It makes a substantial loaf -- I baked it in my 9 x 5 pan, and it rose significantly and had a great oven spring as well. Beautiful loaf, but for the blister on top; I should have slashed it and didn't. This is a substantial bread; two slices of it will make you a sandwich that will hold you for several hours. It's quite moist, and the flaxseed (I used meal, because it was what my hand found first in the cabinet) lends a great, nutty quality. Here, the loaf is sliced and ready for freezing. I interleave it with waxed paper and put the whole thing in a gallon zip-loc bag. And here, a slice toasted, spread with ricotta cheese and peach preserves, and some bacon made a good breakfast.