kayb

Enjoy the snow as much as I enjoyed your blog -- which was a great deal!

It having finally gotten winter here (it isn't that cold, but as it's been summer-ish for the past month, and it was overcast and rainy as well as much cooler, it FELT like winter), I decided it was pot roast time. A rummage in the freezer turned up two packages of beef shank, cut crosswise about two inches thick, and rather fancifully labeled "osso buco" by the butcher. Those, I determined, would do. I salted, peppered and browned them, poured in a cup of red wine and let that simmer a bit, then added a quartered onion, several small redskin potatoes, and some chunked-up carrots, clapped a top on it, and transferred it to the oven at 300F for four hours. Perfection. It hit the spot, both in terms of suiting the day and being just what I needed to aid my recovery along. I may have had another plate just like this one. Many leftovers, some of which will be repurposed into shredded beef with gravy to go over mashed potatoes, some which will be shredded for roast beef and Swiss sandwiches, and some of which will go into beef and vegetable soup. I usually add the marrow to the soup for extra richness, but am thinking about what I might want to do separately with that for a special treat. Suggestions?

That...looks...astounding. I want it. Now.

Having just recently found my mother's gingerbread recipe, I think I'll make gingerbread men. Women. People. Whatever. Maybe dogs and cats, if I can find the cutters.

Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano. Add a little honey if the salad calls for a sweeter dressing. Add a little Dijon mustard if it seems to "fit."

I just poach the garlic in olive oil, then store it in plastic tubs in the fridge (a big bag will make two quart plastic containers full). They'll last me about six months...not sure how much longer than that they would keep.

Are you talking about sauce to cook the ribs in, or to apply after SV, when you sear? I never sauce my ribs before SV; I always use a dry rub. Sometimes I make my own (salt, brown sugar, different chiles, onion and garlic powder, paprika, allspice, whatever else I think of), and sometimes I use a commercial one. For sauce, I'm partial to Memphis' own "Dancing Pigs" sauce from The BarBQ Shop, one of my top five in the barbecue pantheon.

Sigh. I wish I felt like cooking. For that matter, I wish I felt like eating. Y'all's dinners are enough to make me feel hungry, despite bronchitis. I did bestir myself to make some potato skins with cheese and bacon last night.

If you get anywhere close to Manchac, LA, do not miss Middendorf's. Known for their "thinfish," catfish fillets sliced thin, breaded and flash-fried -- hard to describe but just excellent. I'm supposed to be down that way this week; don't think I'll make it, as I am down with what is giving a fair imitation of bronchitis. Doctor-bound tomorrow.

Add me to the list of Chum's admirers! (Lucy, the fat pug, says she would like to be like Chum when she grows up.)

I have never prepared one, but when I lived in Bentonville (aka Home of the Walmartians), there was a restaurant that did a smoked prime rib. It was the most marvelous thing I'd ever eaten. One night, someone broke into their smokehouse and stole about a dozen prime rib roasts that were winding up smoking. Always figured they had a helluva dinner.

Happy birthday! And happy new-kitchen-to-be.

While I'm not AnnT, I'll pass on my favorite method for ham. Buy a butt end, rather than a shank end, if you're buying half a ham.Stand it up on the cut side on a rack in a roasting pan. Score the skin/fat, almost all the way to the meat. Trim any fat that's more than an inch thick. Coat the whole thing liberally with cheap yellow mustard. Pack brown sugar all over it. Spritz the sugar with bourbon in a spray bottle. Tent it with foil, stick in the oven for 20 minutes per pound at 300F. Let it cool to room temp before you slice. (also works on a pre-sliced spiral ham, and even on a boneless one, although I think a bone-in has a better flavor).

I have eaten most every portion of deer there is, except for heart. What's the taste/texture like? Wonder if anyone uses deer intestines like tripe/chitterlings? (I eat neither one, so it wouldn't much matter to me if they did.)

Thanks. Based on that, I probably won't try it. So far, I think the best one I've found is Rose Levy Berenbaum's soft white sandwich loaf.

Brilliant! What recipe do you use for your sandwich loaf? I have several I like, but always up to try another one.

@MetsFan5, my deepest sympathies on the loss of your brother. He was, indeed, far too young. I think there is comfort both in the giving and receiving of food in a time of grief. I know my immediate response on hearing of a death of someone in my "circle" of friends and family is to take to the kitchen. There seems to be so little that a friend can do that cooking and bringing food becomes a tangible expression of sympathy. And when my parents each passed on, there was comfort in knowing that so many people cared about them that our refrigerator, and indeed our kitchen, overflowed with food. (My standard dish to take is a big tray of sausage and biscuits. They don't have to be refrigerated or warmed, and they're easy to grab and eat without preparation, at any time during the day or evening)

Venison...chili. M'mmmmm.....

We had our traditional Thanksgiving. It was good, and I managed to refrain from cooking nine bajillion side dishes no one wants. I have way too many leftovers, regardless, along with possibly the worst head cold known to modern man.Taking to the couch to watch football and otherwise not move all day.

TFTC, I'm sorry to hear of your husband's health issues. Hope you managed to have a good Thanksgiving in spite of them. Liver would NOT have been an option at my house, unless it was chicken livers made into pate.

2 pints (or cans) corn (if you're using cans, the canonical usage is one can whole-kernel, drained, and one can cream-style. I use frozen I put up last sumer) 1 box sweet Jiffy cornbread mix 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup sour cream 1/2 stick butter, melted Stir everything together and bake about 45 minutes at 350. Easy. Good.

It's really hard to beat the corn pudding recipe that is based around Jiffy cornbread mix.

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Works for me! I do dearly love pineapple upside down cake. I make it often with this cake recipe. Now, if I could just master a soft-boiled egg...

@Smithy -- even as I cook all week for Thanksgiving, you make me hungry. I do dearly love the Redneck Riviera and the seafood. And while I love crab legs, well, the grouper.....there just ain't much better'n grouper. I just wish one could successfully freeze it and bring it back to flyover country. I've tried. You can't, or at least I can't. No matter. I'll retire down there someday.