kayb

Everyone's dinners look so good. As I have a sick one in the house recovering from a migraine, and cooking smells often bother her when she has "migraine tummy," I'm enjoying takeout from the local barbecue establishment. Particularly good as I did not have lunch today. This is about half the chopped pork, and I'd already dug into the beans. Their slaw is only tolerable. Beyond that, I've not been in the kitchen for a week, as I've been gone and then trying to catch up on work since I got back. Managed to clean up a week's worth of coffee cups and silverware, go to the grocery, and get a pork loin brined in cure to make Canadian bacon, earlier today.

Picked up some very green (no red at all) mangoes today. Will try @Wild_Yeast's mango pickles. Something in me wants to spice the sugar syrup, but I'll go straight by his description/rx for this first go-round. I have a batch of sauerkraut fermenting that'll be ready next weekend.

Time and temp in the CSO? (Season starts tomorrow in Arkansas!) Did you par-boil them first? I do love a dove breast.

You are exactly right! And welcome to eGullet. If you haven't found it already, check out the gardening thread; the preserving thread is great, too! What are some of your favorites from the garden?

Let me add my belated happy birthday wishes. As my birthday is in late June, I'm perfectly happy with fresh garden veggies. Well, unless there's lobster. Or Cajun shrimp. Or sushi at the Tsukiji market in Tokyo. Or perfectly done barbecued ribs. Or any of a hundred other things. It's whatever I'm in the mood for that day, that year. Fresh coconut cake is always good, though.

Well, I thought I replied to this, but I either hallucinated it (a distinct possibility) or it vanished during the transfer of topic titles. Speaking of which, I have absolutely no problem with the discussion of the issue on eGullet (though I think the switch in topic is probably a Good Thing). I don't eat at Chick Fil A in large part due to their abysmal food, but if they had GOOD food, I'd abstain because of their social policies. I did hate giving up their lemonade, though, because that stuff rocks. I am simply saying I do not think that either the corporate policy OR attitude at Cracker Barrel is what it was when the outcry over its treatment of LGBT employees or potential employees took place. I may well be wrong, and if so, it won't hurt my feelings too much to bypass them, too. There's always convenience stores, granola bars and Diet Cokes when you're on the road.

Just gorgeous. With a wedge of cheddar on the side!

Damn, that sounds marvelous. I had takeout chicken tikka masala. Satisfactory, if not exceptional. First night at home in a week, worked like a madwoman with my head in the computer screen all day. May potentially get to cook tomorrow.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else who makes yogurt have an issue with milk sticking to the bottom of the pot? Per the Laura Pazzaglia YouTube video (I lost my book!), I denature the milk by steaming for 0 minutes (essentially bringing to pressure and then releasing), natural release (because I tried quick and it sprayed milk all over my upper cabinets). I get a skim of not really scorched, but stuck-on, milk solids on the bottom of the pot. They clean up OK after a soak, with a minute or two or three with a plastic scraper, and there's no "scorched" taste to the yogurt. Oh, yeah. That's just wrong. I've never had that. You need to call them. I've found that just for simplicity and ease of getting things done, there are a lot of things I prefer to cook on the stove, and boiled (and poached) eggs are among them. Ditto quick-cooking veggies, like cubed potatoes, broccoli, etc. I guess just because I'm generally in the kitchen doing other prep anyway. Good to know how to do it in the IP, in the event I don't have a burner open, but not otherwise. YMMV, obviously. A dollop (or a packet) of dishwasher detergent boiled in the pot (ANY pot on which you've burned something badly) works wonders.

Best thing I've cooked in the CSO so far: Whole chicken, brined for 24 hours then steam-baked for an hour at 400. Just about perfect. And toast. I like the No. 3 setting.

Look. Nobody thinks they're social pioneers. Nobody thinks they're haute cuisine. What they are, if you are an ominvore, is a source for a reasonably decent breakfast, (am not fond of any of their other meals) when you're on the road, in a hurry, and don't have time to scope out the local offerings. Until some recent evidence of wrongdoing, I'll consider them an adequate, if barely so, option. They beat MickeyD's.

My sympathies and congratulations on finally obliterating the SOB. I hate a fly. And we have hordes of them. I probably should not have reposted the photos again, but they're so gorgeous I could not help it. That meal is a gorgeous thing. I am back from a three-day conference at which I ate hotel food, but for one exceptional dinner at the Capitol Bar and Grille in Little Rock, where I had their burger with pimiento cheese. If you ever go to Little Rock, AR, do this. They also have a reasonably decent Cuban sandwich. And spiced pecans that will make you cry, they're so good.

And people talk about RABBITS being prolific... Just caught up on 100-plus posts on this thread, having been out of town for three days. Such gorgeous scenery. Reaffirms my wish to visit that part of the world someday. Thanks, @ElsieD, for taking us with you! (sorry, though, I just cannot do brown gravy on french fries.) Oh, I am SO going to do this. Down here, particularly when one goes to deer camp or duck camp, a breakfast standby is "fried biscuits," much like toutons except it's biscuit dough, fried in butter, and doused with syrup. It'll give you a shot of energy and warm you up before you hit the cold pre-dawn to get to the duck blind or the deer stand.

....show up to serve my volunteer shift at the church soup kitchen without taking my own knives. I didn't think we had much in the way of knife work today; I had asked for the shoppers to have chicken thighs, or a combo of chicken pieces, thinking they'd get the bags of frozen pieces, while I brought big pans of dressing from a local mom-and-pop restaurant and we prepared green beans, sweet potatoes and gravy on site. The shoppers got packaged leg quarters, which I had to cut apart, as I didn't think we'd have enough to serve a quarter to each guest. (We never turn down folks for seconds, but we also have several regular patrons who are elderly and likely would not eat that much.) So, as we were going to be pushed for time, I went for what appeared to be the sharpest knife in the drawer... My hands are still cramping, and some of the chicken looked as though the Texas Chainsaw Massacre star had had hold of it. Tasted good, though.

Coming up in a bit -- roast chicken and dressing, left over from serving at the soup kitchen today (volunteers get to take home leftovers if there aren't enough to warrant taking to one of the local shelters).

I'll bet that hot sauce will clear your sinuses. Canned, or pickled? I tend to freeze mine if I'm not making peach butter. Now, this is fascinating. Wonder if grocery store mangoes are green enough? Would love to try this!

I guess I should clarify -- I travel a good bit, mostly by car, and through a lot of small towns where one is really flipping a coin as to whether the local diner will be really fabulous or not fit to eat. Cracker Barrel is, at least, dependable in that I know I'll get a meal that's edible, if not overly enjoyable. Give me a choice of it and another restaurant whose quality I know and enjoy, and I'll bypass Cracker Barrel every time.

Most curious thing happened. As noted, I only used 1/2 cup powdered milk, vs the 1.5 cups called for , in my yogurt. Imagine my surprise when it seemed, after 8 hours, to behave exactly as full strength milk would have done. I got a quart of yogurt, just about standard for 1/2 gallon of milk. Now wondering what a more concentrated milk will do.

Thanks. So I need to buy supermarket, as opposed to what I make at home (which I do drain) and ferment longer?

A woman after my own heart. I will have more, and better, tomatoes next year. Already planning to order very, very early and start seedlings, as I have a very sunny window with a table in front of it....

I'm highly impressed! I probably won't do it, but I'm sure thinking about it.

I know little about the cuisine of that region. What are some of your standbys?

OK. This is off the wall, but what the heck, that's what this is about, right? How about if you roasted or poached the chicken breasts minced them fine, along with the pork, and briefly stir-fried them with some enoki mushrooms and Asian spices, and made lettuce wraps (with a garnish of kimchi). Slaw of cabbage, carrot and Fuji apples, in a ginger-sesame dressing. Grapes for dessert, unless you can figure out how to work them into the wraps or the slaw.

Yes. If some helpful host would do that...

Ohboy ohboy ohboy! Been looking forward to this trip!