kayb

Next time you grill hamburgers, use some on yours.

I don't like CFA chicken (or any of its other menu items. But the lemonade is marvelous.

Yes. And they make the most marvelous custards you ever tasted.

On the watch list! Thanks!

Damn sure does. While the prime rib and Yorkies look wonderful, I would be perfectly content with the champagne and strawberry shortcake. Happiest of happy birthdays to Moe! Last time I was in Tokyo, I decided to treat myself to some good knives. I asked at the hotel where I should go, and was told "Kitchen Street." Whereupon I went, and entertained myself for hours (and bought knives), and left after having made it through maybe a third of it.

Dropped back in there yesterday afternoon to pick up a Boston butt (could have SWORN I had one in the freezer, but it apparently has grown feet and ambled off somewhere). They were out of butts, so I got a couple of small picnic roasts (close to the same thing, anyway), which have been marinating since last night in New Mexican red chile sauce (a la Kenji). Going to put them in the SV shortly, let them SV all day, and then chill overnight and put on the smoker tomorrow morning. Also going to throw a beef kielbasa and some chicken Italian sausages on for good measure. Have friends coming for dinner tomorrow night; smoked pork with some of the chile sauce; Napa cabbage slaw; street corn; refried beans; corn tortillas; banana pudding. And one of the guests contends he's going to teach me to make macarons. Say a prayer....

Old thread, but since it's here: I am beyond excited. Jonesboro now has a butcher shop that stocks only regional, farm-raised meat! Farm to Fork is a small processor in Batesville, AR, about 90 minutes from me, and has stores in half a dozen small cities around Arkansas. They have good prices for bulk beef (half-steer, whole steer) and pork (cured bundles, fresh bundles, half-hog and whole hog), as well as for packaged steaks, roasts, chops, etc. While I love my farmers from whom I get my beef, pork and chicken, and will keep using them for my quarter-steer every year, it's good to have a back-up source, as much as they've had to deal with their own processor being overloaded and slow. They opened Wednesday. I stopped by yesterday. I picked up a package of pork chops, gorgeous center-cut, BIG chops, and one of pork tenderloin, which is not always easily found in the grocery except in pre-marinated packages. The pork chops will go in the sous vide tomorrow morning and then on the grill tomorrow evening. The tenderloin's in the freezer. Among the other things that have been difficult to find here that I saw in the cooler: beef cheeks and marrow bones. I have a notion I'll be a regular customer.

During the 50s, 60s and at least early 70s, ordinary working-class cuisine in America was nothing to brag about. I mean, pinto beans and cornbread, casseroles with ground beef and canned soup, Velveeta cheese as a standby. I imagine a good 50 percent of what I cook is seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic alone.

Note: I have not actually tried this. Ran across it in a facebook post. OP also noted sprouts should be halved or quartered, depending on size. I have some sprouts in the fridge. I suspect I'll give this a whirl this weekend.

I have frequently found the best use for walnuts to be in muffins, preferably with dates. Or in banana bread. For cookies and salads, I prefer pecans.

That's the old "Kindle Unlimited" feature that you could get for a monthly fee ($5? $10?). They have now bundled it into Prime. I use it a good deal.

Straw in the fall, in my experience, keeps late weeds down as well as keeping the topsoil fairly loose and easier to till the next year. Plus, as @chromedome notes, it adds extra organic matter to the soil the next spring (is fairly well broken down by then, as we have fairly warm, wet winters). Compost -- I usually add a couple of bags to each of my raised beds in the spring and till it in. You may not have that much, and the good alternative method is to dig a deeper hole, as @TicTac suggests, and put it in the hole. I tend to put about a cup, cup and a half under a seedling, then mix with loose soil in the hole, and plant. If you're planting seeds, same deal. I prefer to mix my compost with a little garden dirt.

Saw what looked like a good Brussels sprout technique today. Marinate them in olive oil and lemon juice with salt, pepper and paprika, overnight. Then bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

Any culture that advocates tomatoes for breakfast is my kind of place.

The stuff I used is sold on a roll at Lowe's as "landscape fabric." It's water-permeable. I've never had a lot of success with mulch keeping down weeds, but I do cover my beds with straw in the fall (take off the landscape fabric, put down straw about two inches thick, put landscape fabric back, add bricks to keep it down). The next spring, that's just tilled in.

How about your favorite take on pernil? Or is that just Puerto Rican?

Well, one good thing about it, they hold up pretty well unless it's sufferin' hot there.

OK. Similar to A-1, then. I have that, as well as Pickapeppa, referenced in the article, on hand all the time. Glad to know I've been pronouncing Worcestershire mostly right.

Do you pronounced it "wooster-shire"? If not, how is it properly pronounced, please? Also, in a couple of novels I've read recently set in Yorkshire, there's repeated mention of "brown sauce," mostly on bacon sandwiches. Please enlighten me as to what "brown sauce" is.

OK, I have to ask. Why in the name of God would anyone sign up for a Road Scholar tour in Cajun country if they didn't like Cajun food? Get 'im!

Wow. Doesn't sound good. Drought year=more wildfires.

Not depressing at all. Pretty amusing. Though the chick in the chef's hat was kinda sad.

I am now dreaming about that citrus sunrise.

If I have learned anything in my 66 years of life on this planet, it's that the above is the key to getting along.

Hard to beat.