kayb

Good question. I don't know. I'll check.

I have what is probably a really stupid question, but it's one to which I really don't know the answer. A couple of weeks ago, I was expecting guests for dinner on Sunday, so on Saturday, I sous vided two frozen packages of pork loin chops (two chops each) for about three hours at 145F. These had been cut from a frozen pork loin I defrosted in the refrigerator earlier in the summer, broke down into a roast and several packages of chops, and re-froze. (The whole loin came from the butcher shop, frozen.) I took the chops out of the sous vide on Saturday evening, and put them in the refrigerator to go on the grill the following day. Guests couldn't come, I didn't grill, and the chops got shoved to the back of the refrigerator -- where I found them today. They are still in their vacuum packaging, seal unbroken. They've been under refrigeration since they cooled from the sous vide cook, at least two (but possibly three -- memory fails!) weeks ago. My question -- are they safe to open and cook? Their only potential exposure to any pathogen came when I was cutting them up and repackaging them, and I keep a pretty clean kitchen -- not surgical suite clean, but I've never given anyone food poisoning, either, and I'm pretty meticulous about washing down cutting boards, etc. Appreciate any input. Hate to ditch the chops, but would rather do that than have food poisoning.

A peach twist on the old Southern standard, Cherry Cheese Pie: Body of pie is an 8 oz block of cream cheese, a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1 tsp vanilla, per the recipe on the Eagle Brand label for maybe the last 50 years. Topping was fresh sliced peaches, with a glaze made of a diced peach boiled in light simple syrup with almond flavoring, pureed, and thickened with a bit of cornstarch.

Not a great photo, but boy, was it good! Carnitas -- pulled slow-cooked braised pork shoulder roast, which had first been marinated in a dry rub consisting of salt, cocoa powder and spices overnight in the fridge. Cooked on low in the slow cooker for about 9 hours; pulled and the meat refrigerated overnight before being reheated in the oven Sunday. Should have been reheated in a skillet, but for the fact I had most of the stovetop busy. Mexican rice that was the first time I've approximated the taste of restaurant Mexican rice as well as the dry, semi-fluffy texture. Long-grain rice rinsed thoroughly for 2 minutes, then sauteed for at least 10 in vegetable oil, then cooked in the oven in a mixture of pureed tomato/onion/garlic, chicken broth, and spices. Cranberry beans cooked with ham, ancho chile powder, a bit of cumin, oregano and lime juice. Arepas, made with pureed corn, masa precocida, milk and water. I ate WAY too much.

I have that book. Will look those up.

Getting into definite lack-of-variety season at the market here. Still plenty of yellow squash, zucchini, and purple hulled peas. Green beans and corn are gone. Tomatoes, after a temporary bout with the drift from rice spraying, have recovered to some extent. There's eggplant, and peppers, and we're starting to get some winter squashes.

Made some foccacia for a church bazaar; two loaves brushed with basil olive oil and studded with roasted cherry tomatoes, which promptly fell off and which I promptly ate, and two brushed with garlic oil and topped with onions. This was significant oven spring week; not sure what all is going on with that. Had some brioche dough languishing in the fridge from a few days ago, so I decided to use it up as savory breakfast rolls. Rolled it out to about 11 x 13, topped it with butter, some bacon jam, and some grated smoked gouda cheese; rolled it up and sliced it. Good breakfast rolls with some honey!

Had just baked a fresh loaf of sandwich bread, so took advantage of it for a bacon-and-tomato sandwich. With a bread-and-butter pickle spear and my guilty pleasure, Pringles chips.

liuzhou, thank you for your detailed instructions. I've printed out the pic of the bottle and stashed it in my purse, so I can compare when I get to the Asian market next! Kay

Thank you, Anna N and Smithy! I've saved both of these, along with the Missing Map cheese wafers, and will give them all a try between now and time for Christmas goodies! As it stands now, contents of the baskets will be a jar of bacon jam, a jar of tomato chutney, a pot of chicken liver pate, and a pot of smoked salmon spread; some crackers, and some candies (toffee and pralines). That should keep 'em all happy. I'd prefer to replace the pate and salmon spread with something that would be shelf-stable, but, oh, well. K.

Well, Shelby, it must be alien bread week. Mine blooped up a bit too much, as well; I think I mis-measured and made a bit too much dough, as I've split this recipe between these two pans before with good resuts. It's the Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipes sandwich bread. Best sandwich bread I've tried. One loaf was destined for a church bazaar -- we shall have to see how it looks when I get it out of the pan.

Ah. Thank you. I thought I had saved that when you (or Kerry) posted it in the Manitoulin topic, but I had not -- Googling failed me, but I went back and scanned Manitoulin until I found it! Thanks! Still open for other suggestions. Would like to include a variety.

Bumping up this topic because it's the closest one I can find to the question I want to ask. I want to bake some crackers or savory biscuits that (a) package well; (b) retain freshness long enough to be baked in advance and then used in gift bags or party trays, and © are sturdy enough to stand up to a substantial spread. I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cracker recipes a quick browse of the web brings, and most recipes don't speak to the storage issue. I tried blue cheese wafers, a sort of shortbread, and found them too crumbly for my purposes. Any ideas out there?

Huiray, I'm going to try those pork hocks. Chinkiang black vinegar is now on my list for my next trip to the Asian market. As I don't have the book, any guidance as to the proportions of turbinado/palm sugar to vinegar? Also, how long before the end should the eggs be added? Opened up a jar of my fresh-canned tomato garlic sauce the other night; pureed it with the immersion blender, added some red wine and a bit of fresh-canned tomato juice to thin it down, made meatballs and had pasta and meatballs. Very good. Think I'm going to enjoy this sauce.

Ah, school lunches. Our schools served a strange mix of pretty good lunches and absolutely disgusting ones. You ALWAYS ate in the cafeteria on chili and cinnamon roll day (as did half the town; non-school-kids or non-teachers paid a higher price) for that. You NEVER ate in the cafeteria when it was Salisbury steak, aka "mystery meat," ham, or fish. Vegetable soup was a toss-up; they DID serve those massive peanut-butter cookies for dessert that day. So we carried lunches the rest of the time. Mine were always on white bread (Sunbeam, best I recall), and ranged from peanut-butter-and-jelly to packaged ham, turkey or roast beef, with the occasional tuna or chicken salad. Sometimes in the winter it would be a thermos of stew or chili or soup. Generally an apple, maybe a cookie or two or a candy bar. There were lunch boxes, but it was much more "cool" to carry your lunch in a brown paper bag.

The tomato chutney recipe was one I more or less put together from several sources. It was, roughly: 5 pounds Romas, peeled about 20 cloves garlic, minced 2 medium onions, diced 2 1/2 cups turbinado sugar 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup cider vinegar 2 tbsp curry powder The recipe using the curry powder that I drew from called for 3 tbsp for 5 pounds of tomatoes, but I buy my curry powder from a Middle Eastern market and it is curry powder on steroids, so I cut it back a bit. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with the full amount of curry powder, or add some red pepper of some description, and a bit more sugar. On corn, I do cut the kernels off and blanche, essentially because that's the way my Mama always did it so that's the way I do it! Mine is more of a cream style corn; I don't cut too close to the cob, and use the back of my knife to scrape out the "milk" from the cob. Again, that's the way Mama did it. I cooked corn the other night for my eldest daughter, who has the best memories of dinners at her grandparents' house. She tasted it and announced, "Now, that's the real deal." I considered that about the highest compliment I could have been paid.

If you're fond of Benton's, which I agree is pretty doggoned excellent, try some Petit Jean. Thick or thin cut, and also peppered. Their ham and pastrami also rock.

That looks about as close to perfect as food can get. The addition of cold Cajun boiled shrimp would take it over the top.

A fresh Georgia peach, granola, and, underneath it all, Greek yogurt. I felt virtuous. And it was good.

I've been in a frenzy of canning and freezing for three days (and my back and hip feel it!), after returning from an excursion to the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Georgia laden with produce. I brought back what purported to be a bushel bag of Silver Queen (!) sweet white corn. That got cut off the cob, blanched, and frozen -- 20 pints' worth, plus the dozen ears I gave to a friend and the six ears still in my fridge awaiting Sunday dinner tomorrow. That was the biggest "bushel" I ever saw in my life. My process is fairly simple, if repetitive and time consuming. I cut off the kernels, go back over the cob with the backside of my knife to extract the "milk," and then blanche for about 10 minutes. Let cool and freeze. The corn-cutting station: I do it in the bottom of one side of the sink. It contains the splatter, of which there is a gracious plenty. Here's the finished product. I ran out of freezer containers, and turned to my "stash" of saved plastic tubs. I knew there was a reason I didn't throw those babies away. Recycling R Us. I bought a 25 pound box of Romas for 10 bucks (!). Those became a version of the roasted tomato-garlic sauce. I believe it should ensure my house is vampire-proof for the foreseeable future. I may perhaps have overreached on the garlic. Ready to roast: Roasted: Canned: I also did several pints of tomato chutney. Starting to cook: Cooked down and blended with the immersion blender: And today, I canned plain tomatoes and tomato juice. Haven't downloaded and edited those photos, but you get the idea. I'm tired.

Veggie sticks. Sliced fruit. Boiled or deviled eggs. Cheese, in sticks. Wraps with meat and cheese. Toasted soybeans or chickpeas.

Peaches and cottage cheese, along with tomato slices hidden beneath the slabs of mozzarella. With basil infused olive oil and balsamic glaze.

Ohhhh, don't tempt me. I'm 4 1/2 hours away. And have children up there I could visit. If you don't get a taker, get back with me closer to time. I might make a road trip. The kids had anniversary dinner there and said it was phenomenal. Patterson House bar, downstairs (or upstairs, I forget which) is pretty awesome as well.

Hellman's, hands down (if it's not homemade). I've tried Duke's. Don't see it more than a distant second, and Blue Plate, with which I grew up, would vie for that. Miracle Whip is an abomination.

Kitchen toys are fine things -- I have several of them. But for them to be worthwhile to me, they have to (a) do something I can't otherwise do, like the Anova, or do something I CAN do, but do it much faster/easier/better/more efficiently (like the stand mixer or the food processor). I don't see the cold brew system being any easier or more efficient than my Chinese carryout soup containers. And when they get stained, it's no big deal, as they've become single-purpose containers, and when they get too disgusting-looking, I chunk them and grab two more. (We order a lot of Chinese, and the local Thai and Indian places use the same containers.)