kayb

Ordering this. Thanks.

I still have green tomatoes, and looking out this morning, it appears I have at least one ripe one. I've never had tomatoes this late. Already starting to think about next year, though. I'm going to move the herbs to the front flower bed, so I need to start multiple seedlings this winter indoors. What seed catalogs do y'all recommend? I grew up with Burpee, but am not tied to them.

Dammit. And damn one-click ordering, while I'm at it. @Anna N, I noted some of the "heroic proportions" in the sandwich recipes. Must be some significantly large sandwiches. But some of the combos do interest me.

Now I'm intrigued by the mention of stuffed bream. I ate lots of bream growing up (caught lots of it, too!), but we always pan-fried it. Interesting how "poor man's food" has advanced, in many instances, to almost cult status. Bone broth and barbecue, for two -- meats from traditionally the less-desirable portion of the cow or pig. Soups where a small amount of meat is stretched to serve more people. Foraged greens and mushrooms. Beans were traditionally a less expensive source of protein, yet companies like Rancho Gordo have established themselves firmly as a boutique seller of heirloom varieties. In general, I see the trend as good, winning wider acceptance for foods that originally may have had limited scope. I will, however forego my portion of Nieman Marcus' or anyone else's collards. I don't like cooked greens of any genus or species. Never have, and I don't guess, at this stage of my life, I ever will.

Reading it now. There's a ginger-goat cheese bread I'm DYING to try. But her proportions are pretty massive; I'll be cutting recipes for bread in half (18 cups of flour, y'all? Seriously?). Not to mention, who puts a CUP of peanut butter on TWO sandwiches? Even big sandwiches?

I snagged "Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings: The Best Sandwiches in America," by Margaux Sky, for 99 cents on Amazon this morning. With that kind of title, it's CERTAINLY worth a buck to find out what's inside!

H'mmm. Think I'll plant a patch of collards and see about becoming one of NM's suppliers.

Pickled jalapenos. I used the same brine I'd use for bread and butter pickles. Thought a sweet-hot would be good.

I would think brining would be a big help. It has a tenderizing effect as well as adding some moisture back into meat that tends to be dry. My farm chickens are tractor chickens, so aren't as exercised as yours. I'd brine, and then roast low and slow. You could improvise steam-bake with a roasting pan with water in the bottom, chicken on a rack. Maybe 325 until the thermometer is where you want it? Push comes to shove, marinate that baby in pineapple juice. Guaranteed to tenderize anything. Flavor may limit you to Polynesian-type preps, though.

Pound cakes freeze wonderfully. Think Christmas gift baskets. You can also freeze cookie dough. Quiche freezes well, as does my favorite sausage-egg muffin (browned sausage, egg, whatever veggies you have, a little flour and oil to bind it. Bake them, freeze them, then vacuum seal once they're frozen hard. Definitely the eggnog.Come on, now, 'fess up. How long has it been since you bought Everclear? Oh, the days of wastebasket punch.... If you get enough pumpkin crisps made, you can always go to meringue cookies. That's another good one for the Christmas baskets (they're quite festive with red and green dusting sugar). I would think they should freeze. I've been pickling quail eggs in a combo of Shaoxing vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha. Great in noodle soups, or just as a quick snack. I would think they should last about forever. Should work with regular eggs. You can pickle them in a non-Asian, vinegar based brine with pre-cooked brats or knackwurst (or small bologna) for old-fashioned "baloney and eggs." Be sure to use LOTS of hot sauce in the brine. Do you, by chance, have African violets? They LOVE eggshells crumbled and applied to their soil. My grandmother used to do that. Check and see if there's a food pantry in your area. They'd LOVE to have eggs, I'm sure. Put your farmers in touch with them. Check, also, with the local school cafeteria; their budgets suck, so fresh eggs would be marvelous for them. Sure wish I was there! My egg lady's chickens are currently on strike, and I have been reduced to grocery store eggs.

@Duvel -- What a magnificent meal. My hat is off to you for being able to get through it and go out afterward!

Let me offer you my tried-and-true sweet potato casserole recipe. It's been prepared at every Thanksgiving and Christmas at my house for the past 30-plus years, and in my mother-in-law's house for God knows how many years before that. You can make it up to the point of final baking/browning ahead of time; I usually do it the day before and stick it in the fridge. 3-4 large sweet potatoes 1/2 stick butter 2 eggs 1/2 to 1 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla TOPPING 1/2 stick butter 1 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup all purpose flour 1 cup chopped pecans Boil the sweet potatoes in their skins until they can easily be pierced with a table knife. Drain and cool, peel, and mash. I don't get real picky about measuring the potato pulp. This is a very forgiving recipe. Toss in the half-stick of butter (room temp means it's easier for the residual heat from the potatoes to melt it), the vanilla, the sugar, and the eggs, beaten well. Stir until all is completely incoporated, and pour into a casserole dish. (I usually use my 9 x 13.) To make the topping, melt the butter, and combine with the brown sugar and flour. Stir in the pecans. Crumble over the surface. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes (may need to go an hour if it's from the fridge),until it's bubbling and topping is well melted and browning. It needs to be served warm, but it's not a critical "straight from the oven" service, so I generally bake it earlier, cover it with foil, and let it rest while I'm baking rolls and other last-minute stuff. If I wanted to do mac and cheese, I'd use the crock pot for that. Boil your noodles stovetop, drain, transfer to crockpot, add butter, milk, cheese and whatever seasonings and add-ins you use, put it on low for up to two or three hours, then switch over to keep warm. I would suspect your wild card dressing,the collard green gratin and your cider roasted veggies (and I'd be real interested in a recipe for that!) could also be prepped ahead and roasted day of. I find that I can start my prep on Monday and do a few things every day, making my Thursday much less tiring and stressful.

I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to books in general -- I have well over a thousand volumes scattered about, most of them history, but I do have a collection of 150 or so cookbooks. I'd estimate I've cooked from more than half of them, but there are only a handful I go back to over and over. I love to sit down and read a cookbook, like one would read a novel. The first one I did that with was Shirley Corriher's Cookwise, which I credit with changing the direction of my cooking from very basic efforts to put food on the table to the adventures of taking specific ingredients through specific techniques with an ultimate goal of trying to reach a specific target taste experience. But I also love using a recipe as a jumping off point into my own creation. Sometimes it's wonderful, sometimes it's not fit to eat, but it's always fun.

Thanks. That, unfortunately, is one of the ones I've tried. I'll keep riffing. I'll get there. Eventually.

Well, checking back in after an absence from this thread. I have failed to order, and, suffering from early onset of I'm-damn-well-old, I can't remember where to do so. So, for those of us who have been around a while, would you repeat where we can order (and hopefully have an autographed copy!), and, are you scheduled to hit either Little Rock or Memphis any time?

Y'all can have my share of all the ones in the world. Well, and you, too. I knew y'all were kindred spirits with me. I can pick them out and ignore them if they have not polluted the dish too badly.

Tell me of the rice salad, please. I once ate one, and it was wonderful, but I've never found a reicpe that approached that good.

Got my copy last week. I enjoyed it. Of course, I am not nearly as accomplished a cook as many of you. A couple of things in it I will likely try. I doubt I'll subscribe. Given my background in publishing, I was impressed by the quality. Good, heavy stock. He paid a mint to have that done.

I don't know WHY I can love a rare steak, but can't eat rare duck. Of course, I grew up eating wild duck, which you have to braise longer to make it more tender. Got it saved. With the addition of the sesame oil. Going to try this on chicken, maybe this weekend.

Have you tried to get a television fixed lately? Last time I tried was five or six years ago, when the tuner on my 32-inch Vizio went out. First I had to find a repair shop. Then I learned I could buy a new, 47-inch TV for what it cost to repair mine. The 47-incher is still working just fine, thank you.

I think i'm going to have a major SV event this week. Need to clean some steaks out of my freezer to make room for the new beef coming in. I need to clean out the fridge freezer in the kitchen (there's unidentifiable stuff in there that's probably old enough to draw Social Security), and I'll cook about eight steaks and into the freezer they'll go. Most of what is left is stew meat, soup bones, three or four shank cuts (fancifully labeled osso buco) and ground beef. The ground beef will be stashed in an ice chest and transported to my daughters; they grill a lot of burgers and cook a lot of hamburger helper (Sigh. I tried to teach her. It didn't take.) Must roast a chicken this week as well. Probably should roast two. I think I have five in there. And a few other odds and ends. I need a bigger freezer.

Impulse buy at Sam's this morning, because you can never have too many mixing bowls: Wolfgang Puck mixing bowl set; four bowls, ranging from 1-quart to 10-quart; a grating disc and a slicing disc; a colander; a silicone top for each bowl. Sams has them for $29.98, with $10 off in "instant savings" today. No clue how long that will last. Amazon lists them for $30.88. Decently heavy mixing bowls; mine will shortly go in the dishwasher and then into the cabinet.

Love the cheese selection. And, of course, the mousie!

Would be hard for me to call a favorite sandwich, particularly given that I'm not a huge sandwich eater. But pimiento cheese on homemade white bread toast, with crispy bacon and tomatoes out of the garden, is real hard to beat.

I live in perhaps the only college town in the nation that is dry (well, at least as package sales are concerned; we have a gracious plenty of "private clubs" with liquor by the drink). Thus, one goes to the county immediately to the north (if one is up in that direction); to the southeast (the "cheap" liquor store; I buy Balvenie Scotch for $38.99 for 750 ml) or to the southwest (the "good" liquor store, where they have a really good array of craft beer and a semi-decent selection of wine). Or, if I'm in serious search of GOOD wine, I go to Memphis, an hour away, to the primo wine store. Work travel took me across the state line into Missouri yesterday, so I stopped by the Aldi up there to check out wine and beer. Picked up a hard cider I've never seen before, a couple of bottles of prosecco (mimosas, anyone?), and some wines I'd never heard of, either. Good prices, if the wine is any good.