kayb

Besides the French bread posted in the Dinner thread, I've recently made this brioche: I keep thinking I ought to like brioche, but I just really don't. It crumbles too easily. This is my standard white bread, which is a soft and fluffy one, great for toast but not so much for sandwiches: My favorite for sandwiches is pan Cubano, here: Need to make some of that this week, as I am making Cuban sandwiches for a lunch gathering next week.

Oh, Lord, Shelby. Cracklin' cornbread. Be still my heart. Particularly in early fall, when there's new sorghum molasses. Bacon, cracklin' cornbread, sorghum and home-canned tomatoes. Can't beat it. It's been snowy and cold and unpleasant, so I've been hibernating and baking. Yesterday it was French bread and scalloped onion dip, which served nicely for dinner.

Pigs in blankets are hard to beat. May be my breakfast today!

An improvised chicken dish last night -- boneless, skinless thighs baked in a sauce made of tomato garlic viniagrette dressing I'd bought from a local restaurant mixed into some plain yogurt, seasoned with some worcestershire and horseradish. It looked rather like Thousand Island dressing when I got through whisking it up. Covered the thighs, baked at 350 for 90 minutes, until they fell apart. Accompanied it with some potato salad. Not half bad. Not photogenic, though, so I didn't take pics.

I buy the three-pound bag of peeled garlic cloves at Sam's; there are no Costcos in Arkansas. I poach mine in olive oil until they're tender, then ladle them into a plastic tub with a tight lid, covering them with the olive oil. Use them for anything i'd use any kind of garlic for. I don't care for the taste of uncooked garlic, as in a dressing or such -- it has a metallic taste I just don't like. But this stuff? Astounding.

joiei, I think you're speaking of DeValls Bluff, between Memphis and Little Rock off I-40, and yes, I'm a fan of both Craig's BBQ and the Pie Shop. Craig's is good, but far from the best in a 100-mile radius. You MUST try Jones BBQ in Marianna, if you can find it, and if you can get there before 11 a.m., because he'll sell out shortly after that, and when he does, he's done for the day. They're the recipient of a James Beard American Classic award, and the barbecue is FINE. Would also recommend you go to Blytheville, on I-55 just south of the MO line, where there are several excellent barbecue places; it's about an hour from Memphis. In Memphis, my favorites, in no particular order, are Central, Interstate, Cozy Corner (hopefully they'll soon reopen from the fire!), Payne's and Bar-B-Q shop. Commissary would make my second five. Love their deviled eggs, too. Bar-B-Q shop is the only one of those where I've had decent brisket.

I've lived most of my adult life around Memphis, and I firmly adhere to the "Memphis is the center of the barbecue universe" school. KC barbecue, that I've tried at least, is generally sweeter, and has a "heavier" taste. I like it, but not as well as Memphis. Texas barbecue is, of course, beef and thus Does Not Count . Memphis 'cue counts strongly on the dry rub (assorted peppers, salt, garlic, allspice, oregano, and so on) and is usually basted during cooking with a vinegar-based sauce, with a different, tomato-based sauce used for serving, if desired. The Memphis in May International Barbecue Cooking Championship is one of the two major barbecue competition sanctioning organizations. You either cook on the "Memphis Circuit" or the "Kansas City Circuit."

A slice of beer cheese bread (Anna's recipe; thanks, Anna!) spread with some Fromade d'Affinois. And a cup of Brazil Estate coffee.

A little bar in Memphis made the best hummus I ever had. I finally asked what the flavor was that I couldn't identify. Allspice.

Organizing some photos and came across this one from a brunch I did back last fall. The recipe comes from the Serious Eats blog, and involves making latkes, sauteeing pastrami long enough just to heat it up, stacking a couple of latkes, some pastrami, a poached egg (I fried mine), and dousing the entire thing in Hollandaise sauce. It's wonderful. It's also about a million calories and a ton and a half of cholesterol, and it's really hard to eat more than half a serving because it's so rich. Moderately complex preparation, but a fairly impressive Wow factor for brunch, especially if you have big eaters on hand.

A weekend dinner: Delta tamales are different from Mexican tamales (see link), and the traditional way to enjoy them is with chili, cheese and diced onion. I don't care for raw onion, so I leave that off. The tamales are from one of the iconic Arkansas Delta tamale joints; the chili is my own. Edited to include: Served with arepas.

Didn't take any photos, but had friends over for dinner Friday night and made a paella with chorizo (cured, not fresh) and shrimp. Served it with a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and mint wtih olives, feta cheese, scallions and a lemon-garlic viniagrette, and sauteed green beans to which I added a spoonful of what was sold as piquillo pepper bruschetta topping. Added a sprinkle of smoked paprika to that. It was quite successful.

Yep, this will make an appearance at my house this weekend as well. Thanks, Anna.

If you go, let me know. Will try to go over and meet you there.

Egg muffins. Four beaten eggs with assorted tag ends of cheese, grated; an avocado, creamed up and beaten in; poured over roasted tomatoes and bacon in muffin tins and baked. The four eggs stretched to fill 12 tins, which I didn't expect, so I have breakfast and/or lunch for a while. Had them with a baked sweet potato. I feel so healthy.

Shelby, that is a fine looking meat loaf. I love venison in meatloaf, with some sausage, and particularly in spaghetti sauce and chili. Now I'm about in the notion for meat loaf. That may be Sunday's dinner for the kids. I like to pat the meat out into a big, thin square on foil, sprinkle cooked bacon and drizzle barbecue sauce, roll it up, then cover with bacon and more BQ sauce. Rotuts will be happy to know there are NO bell peppers anywhere in the vicinity of my meat loaf. I also love venison summer sausage. You going to the races this year? I miss Hot Springs this time of year....

Oh, dear God, Anna, that bread looks perfectly lovely. Here's a calzone from a while back. Pizza dough (Mark Bittman's recipe), ricotta, Italian sausage, parsley, basil.

Sauteed up some yellow bell pepper, onion and celery.... ...added a quart of home-canned tomatoes, a few seasonings, a little sugar, then poached some shrimp in it. Shrimp Creole! An earlier evening, my maiden attempt at making pho. Reasonably decent. Too much star anise. I'll correct that next time. Plus I didn't have bean sprouts on hand and it was too much trouble to go out and get some.

I gravitate toward steel cut oats when it's cold, but I didn't want sweet this morning. So I grated some parmesan into the cooked oats, then put a fried egg over the top. Didn't think about a photo. Worth repeating.

Back to this forum after several months when I just wasn't in the mood to cook, photograph, eat anything more than for subsistence, or write about it; finally coming out of those doldrums. I've been on a bread-baking kick of late, trying different recipes, but always going back to my favorite loaf, a soft white that can easily go as rolls. I did, however, learn to make a passable pan cubano, along with passable mojo pork, which, with some sliced ham I had in the freezer from Christmas, some Swiss, some homemade mustard and some dill pickles, I had a pretty respectable Cubano. Served with potato salad and vinegar-turmeric coleslaw. Wonderful looking meals, everyone.

If you can find quail eggs, they make the BEST Scotch eggs!

I find vegetable soup freezes REALLY well!

I've cooked and frozen a lot of corn this summer, as it's been a good year for it down here and we all love it. When I cook creamed corn, I use only three ingredients: butter, corn and cream. I use Steve's mom's method, cutting just the tips off the corn and then using the back of the knife to scrape the cobs (I use my 5 1/2 inch Misono utility knife, and the Bundt cake pan method). I put it in a skillet with butter (half a stick for about eight ears' worth of kernels) and once it absorbs, I add about 1/2 cup cream, turn the heat down to a low simmer, and put a lid on it. I don't want salt and pepper, or any other seasoning, with my creamed corn. I prefer Silver Queen, which is a white sweet corn (perhaps a variant of the Silver King mentioned above?), but I have trouble finding it here, so I usually buy Peaches and Cream, a yellow/white hybrid. It's also excellent on the cob, either roasted or steamed in the shuck. I'll occasionally blanch it lightly and then cut the kernels off whole--kernel to use in a corn and black bean salad with roasted red peppers and onion. When I freeze corn, I cook it just with water, and freeze it in pint freezer cartons. Then I add the butter and cream when I cook it. Another favorite is corn pudding; Four cups of corn, cut off as for creamed corn; 1 1/2 cup cornmeal mix; 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt; 2 eggs. Mix and bake in 8 x 8 baking dish for about 45 minutes at 350F.

After a lengthy absence, was advised by an eGulleteer offline of the existence of the pimiento cheese thread. As I count myself something of an expert on the subject, having eaten it all my life, here goes. If you try grocery store pimiento cheese, I do not blame you if you loathe it. That stuff is nasty. Artisan brands from delis may differ. However, the only way to ensure GOOD p/c is to make your own, thusly: 6 oz sharp cheddar, grated 6 oz Velveeta, grated (Velveeta grates better if you semi-freeze it) 1 large jar diced pimientos, drained Toss this together. Set aside. In another bowl, mix: 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I personally think you cannot do this right without Hellman's Real Mayonnaise, or homemade) 1 scant tsp sugar 1 healthy sprinkle Lawry's Seasoned Salt 1/4 tsp (more or less to your taste) cayenne pepper 1 tbsp cider vinegar Whisk together. Pour over cheese and pimiento, stir to mix thoroughly, and put in a covered dish in fridge for 24 hours for flavors to develop. 1. You don't want too much mayo. It's nasty. Just enough to enable things to blend. 2. Be easy on the salt. It's easy to salt it too much. 3. Do not put more than a tablespoon of vinegar. You might do well to make it a half/tablespoon, and then build up. This makes a marvelous, savory spread. You do not taste the sugar, but it's needed to pull everything together. The big problem is, you need to get the seasonings right on the first try, because it's not easy to adjust once the dressing is added to the cheese. I know there are Velveeta haters out there shaking their collective head. Look, it's plastic cheese. There are only two purposes for it; this, and mac and cheese for the kids, which I do not eat. Don't judge, here. It adds an element that is elsewise absent. Uses for pimiento cheese: The canonical sandwich is toasted bread, generally white, sometimes wheat. It may or may not have a schmear of extra mayo or a leaf of lettuce. My personal preference is with a schmear and a couple of strips of crisp bacon, and a couple of slices of vine-ripened summer tomato. I have had them with fried green tomatoes, and that ain't bad, but more trouble than that to which I wish to go. It does not go amiss on a celery stick, if one can abide celery; I can't. Shelby's proposal of p/c on apple slices sounds just excellent. I love it on a cracker. And a scoop of p/c smeared across a just-off-the-grill burger is something not to be missed. It is truly the South's revenge. We have it. Y'all, for the most part, don't. But, you know, we'll share.

That may be the most gorgeous looking piece of salmon I ever saw. Would have never thought of marrow with salmon.