kayb

Recovering from the ravages of strep throat, and thinking about making Brunswick Stew tonight.

Can't really speak to lunch, although the Green Fig (out south on Nolensville Pike) is good. But if you have a chance for dinner, do not miss the Catbird Seat.

Ah. Crescent Dragonwagon, hippie par excellence, a fine Arkansan and resident (I guess, still), of Eureka Springs, where she did at one time run a restaurant and hotel. I was never impressed by her cuisine, but she's an interesting character.

Wonder what relationship a splodge of oil is to a glug? I always tend to measure liquids in glugs. Martha Rose Schulman's "Recipes for Health," while not exclusively vegetarian, is a good resource for vegetarian/vegan recipes.

How do I organize them? Not well. The ones I use most eventually graviate to the bookcase closest to the kitchen, one that's accessible by just leaning over the doggy gate, vs. opening it and walking through to the other one.

Given the choice, I'll buy a "dead tree" cookbook over the electronic variety any day. They're easier to browse, and look things up. However, I have a MASSIVE collection of saved online recipes bookmarked, and categorized, as well as a sizeable collection of electronically archived pdf's and word docs, also categorized and semi-indexed. I find it's easier to look online when I have an idea what I want -- i.e., something with chicken and fruit, or a coconut curry, or a specific kind of cookie -- and easier to browse a physical cookbook when I want "something Middle Eastern" or "Something Mexican," or "something Asian." I also like physical cookbooks I can put sticky notes in for recipes I go back to over and over and over -- like my sandwich bread recipe. I do love my Kindle app on my Samsung tablet, on my phone, and on my laptop; all my "disposable" fiction (I fondly refer to it as "brain candy") goes on that, while non-fiction I think I'm going to want to keep and/or refer back to, or classic fiction I love and know I'll re-read over and over again comes in physical form. There's something about settling in with Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking People between two hard covers that can't be matched by a glowing screen.

You're gonna have FUN! (Amazon is the present-world incarnation of Satan, I'm convinced. It gets more of my money that just about anywhere.)

I presume the Gourmia is like the Anova and will accommodate varying sizes of lips on pots. I use my water bath canner for big stuff, my biggest stockpot for others. I presume you have a good set of tongs; that's the only other thing you need. You'll love it. I bet it's marvelous with venison, which as I recall has a tendency to be tough, particularly if Mr. Deer was older. One tip -- when you're ready to cook, fill your container with HOT tap water. That way the SV circulator doesn't have to work so hard to bring it up to temp. My hot tap water is about 110-115, so no biggie to take it up to 125-130, where most of my stuff cooks. Highly encourage you to try a pork loin, starting out. Lord, I love 'em.

Today, I used the Instant Pot to cook turnip greens, after I'd used it to cook black-eyed peas. Now, you have to realize that I am 60 years old, a life-long Southerner, and have never cooked a turnip green. Not certain how I managed to grow up poor, in the South, in the country, and not like them, but I don't. Don't like any kind of cooked greens, truth be told. So I never cooked them. But my daughter loves them, and I cooked some for her. 20 minutes on high pressure, then an hour and a half slow cook. They still had a bit of texture to them. She says she likes 'em soft, so I put them back over to pressure for another 10 minutes. Cooked with bacon, salt, a teaspoon of sugar, a splash of cider vinegar, a quarter of water and a bit of beef boullion, per a recipe I found on a blog I've been pretty pelased with for traditional Southern recipes. Surprisingly, the taste ain't bad. Or perhaps my taste buds have just changed. Black eyed peas cooked with smoked sausage in a tomato-smoked paprika sauce; scalloped pineapple and cherries; cole slaw. Guess I ought to make some cornbread. Happy New Year, all.

I'll second the recommendation on chefsteps. I have the Anova. Love it. What it can do to a pork loin is a lovely thing.

Y'all are going to make me fry chicken before it's over. And that's something I haven't done in probably 25 years.

What I MADE for lunch and what I HAD for lunch were two different things. I made this quiche: Ham, cheese and broccoli, two of those three being Christmas dinner leftovers. Then while I was out running errands, I called my daughter to see if she needed me to pick up anything; she asked for bean burritos from Taco Bell. While in the drive-up lane, I decided I'd make my once-every-five-years excursion into fake Mexican fast food, and ordered two crunchy tacos, which are the only thing on the menu I will eat. And I learned Taco Bell no longer automatically gives you taco sauce with your order. You have to ask. I did not. Think I'll have quiche for lunch today, maybe. Oh, and in recognition of the spoon rest topic, I cropped the photo a bit loosely to show mine. I love them because they pop in the dishwasher to clean up.

Munchy stuff while watching ballgames, reading, and waiting for midnight with the pooch. Beer-candied bacon, fresh baguette slices spread with cream cheese and topped with fig and olive tapenade. Because I could. Happy New Year, everyone!

Lovely lamb loin, Dave. I wish I liked lamb. I feel rather sheepish (yes, bad pun intended) admitting I do not.

I suspect it will be just my daughter and me, and possibly a toddler grandchild if I get pressed into babysitting duty (which would be fine). I will assuredly be watching bowl games, so I go with the snacky stuff for the entire holiday weekend: Beer candied bacon. Bacon on a rack in a roasting pan, brushed two or three times with a combo of beer and brown sugar while it's cooking at 400 degrees. Blinis and caviar, with mimosas, for NY Day morning while watching the parade. Also latkes, also with caviar. I intend to eat an entire two-ounce portion of caviar. Black eyed pea "cassoulet," peas cooked with tomatoes and smoked sausage, seasoned with smoked paprika, then baked with a breadcrumb topping. Cole slaw (since I don't care for cooked greens) Scalloped pineapple, mostly because I have fresh pineapple and cherries I need to use Fig and olive tapenade (which I need to go ahead and make today or tomorrow so the flavors can be blending in the fridge) Cheese, crackers, pickles, olives, etc. Must make some small baguettes to cut up and toast for crostini. That should be a gracious plenty. I have in the past made a big baked Reuben -- rye bread dough rolled relatively thin, topped with corned beef and swiss and Russian dressing, sides cut into strips and woven over the top, cut into sandwich sized chunks and served with a side of sauerkraut. Good, but lends itself to a crowd and I don't plan for one of those. I'll save that for taking to a Super Bowl potluck. A happy, happy anniversary to you and Ronnie, Shelby! Many more!

Oh, my. Believe I'd pass.

There's been a recipe floating around Facebook for baked ham and cheese sandwiches with a sweet-savory sauce. I saw a version using prepared pizza dough from the dairy case that tweaked my interest, so I made up a half-recipe of olive oil bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and started out. \ First step was to roll the dough out about a half-inch thick, and cover with a pound of leftover Christmas ham, sliced into strips. Then covered with sliced Swiss cheese. The whole thing rolled up and then sliced into one-inch slices. After rising for an hour, topped with a sauce of melted butter, Worcestershire, honey mustard and brown sugar. Hot from the oven. Sauce could've done with a bit less brown sugar, but very good, nevertheless.

Have heard good things about ThreeFold. Will have to give it a try next time I'm in the Rock. Little Rock is really a pretty good food town. Some excellent restaurants there.

Pao de quiejo, Brazilian cheese bread. I used a bit too much garlic (I tend to add garlic by the theory that if the recipe calls for x, x times 1.5 is generally better). Odd mouth-feel; it starts out like a regular drop biscuit texture, and then morphs into a more chewy-gluey, but not unpleasant, texture. Don't know that I'd make it often, but it was an interesting experiment.

For my money, the best cheesecake recipe out there is this one. You'd need to half the recipe, though, or make two separate cheesecakes (they freeze nicely, btw). Those look lovely.

Essentially, I agree with your technique, though I use a different glaze. I put my ham on the rack, rub it down liberally with mustard (plain old yellow ballpark mustard works fine), and then coat it with a thick layer of brown sugar patted on. Final step is an application of bourbon from a spray bottle. Agree with the low-and-slow baking -- I go 20 minutes per pound at 275-300F.

Stuffed French toast topped with apple butter, with a slice of leftover Christmas ham made a fine Boxing Day brunch. With a mimosa. OK, maybe two mimosas. Two large mimosas.

Repurposing Christmas leftovers: Took some leftover tossed salad (romaine, cucumber, grape tomatoes, feta) and added some chopped olives off the relish tray, some diced ham and diced turkey. A quite tasty chef's salad in a hurry.

I soaked it and then steamed it in the water, vs. on the rack, for 20 minutes. Not a good result. Between the soak and the steam-in-water, it took too much seasoning out of the ham (although it was tender, which I was aiming for). Next time, I will do one or the other, but not both. Also, after a 20-minute steam in water, it was falling apart when I tried to brown it. Thinking I might cut the time a bit with a steam-on-the-rack process. Expect I'lll try that over New Year's.

The IP was a fine thing when cooking Christmas dinner. First I used it to cook potatoes for the potato salad, and then to steam the country ham before browning it in a skillet. I started to use it to cook the pasta for the mac and cheese, but at that point it was getting close to dinnertime, and I didn't want to experiment with a new technique. Pasta cooks quickly enough, anyway. Still loving the IP.