sparrowgrass

Not something you would want to eat plain, but cornstarch mixed with water has some amazing properties. Use just enough water to moisten the starch. If you squeeze it up in your hands, it is a solid, and you can toss a ball of it from hand to hand. If you just let it sit, it liquifies and runs thru your fingers. Kids love it. Easy clean-up, too, because when the water evaporates, the corn starch can be vaccuumed up. Colloidal something or another, it is called.

Racheld, I will go out into the world this morning with a smile on my face, thanks to you! Where is that lovely deli? It would be worth a day's drive just to see it.

I just want to testify on the amazing flexibility of this method. I mixed up the dough on Tuesday evening, figuring a Wednesday afternoon baking. Well, duh, I had a meeting on Wed, so it didn't get baked til Thursday afternoon. It tastes great, but is a little flatter than my first effort. I use a cast iron chicken fryer, store brand white flour, and more yeast than the recipe called for--maybe a teaspoon.

You gotta add southern Illinois and Indiana to the South. Cairo, Illinois is closer to Atlanta than Chicago, not only in distance but in culture, food, and even accents. Going back to the Civil War--lots of southern sympathizers in both states.

It was 'splained to me thusly when I lived in the Hoosier state. You don't want little children lured into the liquor store by the promise of cold soda. Or candy---no candy is sold in liquor stores in Indiana. I moved, when my kids were little, from Kentucky to Indiana. My kids were sorely disappointed on our first trip to the liquor store--the Kentucky store owner always gave them a lollipop when they came in. It's been many years ago, but I seem to remember that they had to wait on the steps in Indiana--no admittance to liquor stores unless you were of age.

I don't think the tommyknockers would even get a crumb of that. Looks absolutely delicious.

Hmm. I spent a long 5 years away up north in Minnesota mining country, and pasties were common lunch fare--practically fast food. I have seen pork, beef, and even chicken pasties, but I don't remember any lamb filling. Because deer and moose abound in the area, folks up there often make venison pasties. I would cut the meat into small dice, and add some ground suet (traditional) or pork fat, because the venison is so lean. Salt, of course, but pepper is awfully spicy. I wouldn't precook. I would be really careful to remove all the tough bits from the meat. The crust for a pasty is pretty sturdy and thicker than crust for a pie--some recipes call for an egg to be added to the dough. Cubed potatoes, onions, rutabegas (beggies) and carrots, though the carrots are a matter of controversy, and you might find yourself in a an argument with the neighbors over the carrots/no carrots thing. A Cornish friend said his grandma used to cut an X in the top of the pasty about 5 minutes before it was done, and pour it full of cream. Which sounds most excellent to me, since pasties have no gravy. Here is the pasty story as I learned it: Cornish miners' wives made pasties for their husbands lunches. They are made with a thick twisted crust, so miners, with their dirty hands, can hold a corner and not get lead dust on their lunch. When the miner finished his pastie, the dirty corner was tossed off into the darkness of the mine to feed the tommyknockers. Tommyknockers are small troublesome fellows who live underground. If they aren't fed properly, they will hide your tools, or blow your headlamp out. They like venison pasties just as well as the other types.

Maybe we could mix yours and mine together--mine jelled much too hard. I just don't seem to have the touch for jelly making.

FabulousFoodBabe, that is a wonderful story. I am sure it was incredibly aggravating when it was happening, but a great story. My mom never taught me (and never learned) to clean as you go. The after dinner scene in her kitchen is horrendous--flour and sticky meat juice cemented to the counter where she cut and breaded the chicken, pans with stuck on remnants sitting on the stove, and every utensil used still sitting where she left it. What is so hard about wiping up as you go, sticking the pans in the sink with some water so the crusties don't become permanent, and putting everything in the dishwasher as soon as you finish with it?

Those are the kind of pigs in blankets I grew up with, too, Steve. My Swiss mom used tomato sauce. (I am too lazy to make them. Sometimes I do a layered casserole type thing, and shred the cabbage.) I like the pastry wrapped ones too, and the honey mustard sounds great.

One of those pasta things, you know the spoon with the teeth on it?, makes a great back-scratcher. ← I cleaned out the utensil drawer and found I had an extra pasta thingie, and offered it to my sister. She said, "Great--I'll take it. The boys used mine to scratch the dog, and I tossed it." The dog apparently really enjoyed it.

On white bread, with a heartworm pill tucked into the middle. (The dogs asked me to add that. )

Here is what I know about cattle, and I am not sure it answers the question. When steers are sent to the feedlot be fattened on corn and soybeans, the new feed has to be introduced gradually because steers are not really meant to eat such concentrated nutrients. Corn stalks and harvest residue are high fiber--corn is just a grass, you know--and cattle can be turned directly from grass pasture to harvested cornfields with no problems. This is common practice in areas where corn and cattle are grown. Grass-fed beef eat things other than grass--broad leafed weeds, tree seedlings, leaves and twigs, plant and grass seeds, clover, bugs. In the winter, they eat hay and silage, which is green corn plants that are fermented in a silo. Lots of fiber, some grain.

Shiitakes and oyster mushrooms are cultivated.

There are tendons and cartilage. I've boned enough of 'em to know. Also blood vessels. If the bird is healthy, there are fat deposits at certain points on the breast. There's also a thin layer of silverskin under the actual chicken skin. Emily ← You know that, and I know that, because we have boned them, but the prepackaged frozen breasts don't have tendons, veins, cartilage or skin. Just very even grained, no chewing required, no surprises white meat that does not hint of animal origin. I was in the grocery store the other day (the one that, everytime I am in there, I swear I will never go back into.) I purchased a big bag of leg quarters, and as I hefted it up onto the checkout counter, it leaked. The cashier looked at me as if I had purposely vomited the liquid onto her workspace, and as she smeared it around with a paper towel, she informed me with a sneer that, "Chicken on the bone is disgusting." I should have been annoyed (and I was, after I got home and thought about it) but at the time, the only thing I could think of was "oh, that poor child--she thinks chicken should taste like quilt batting." I am glad that lots of people like to eat them--makes leg quarters ridiculously cheap-- and I must admit that I have, on ocasion, had good ones. But gimme the runnin' gears everytime.

Sounds like a great way to meet your neighbor. If her pear tree is like mine, there are enough pears for several families. If you make something nice out of them, take them some.

I think some people buy bscb because it is the meat that is least like meat--no skin, no bone, no fat, no tendon, no cartilage. No trace of the original animal is left attached, and they don't have to think about the poor little birdy or cow or pig. If they ever get to the point of lab produced meat, I predict it will be just like chicken breast, except maybe square.

Ah, thank you, Dave the Cook. What a lovely piece. (Really hit home with me--my 75 year old mom lost her husband of 50 years just after my marriage of 25 years bit the dust. It's been 5 years now, and while she misses my Dad, she and I are both enjoying our independence. )

Oh, my. I think I'd like some of that. What were we talking about again?

I hit the "Fast Reply" button, so I will make this quick. Yes. (And your water will taste bad.)

What scubadoo said. I have a hard time understanding the "how many cookbooks do you own" thread, because I hardly ever look at a cookbook these days.

I am thinking they started their trip in May or early June. The flatland was warm and comfortable, but somebody forgot to tell them that the high country is danged cold that time of year. They like to froze to death camping at that high altitude campground--you would think somebody would have told them to either carry down bags or or to camp down in the valleys that time of year. It is possible to cook and camp comfortably in cold, cold weather like that, but you need some know-how, and they obviously didn't have it. Other than that, I have been enjoying the show. Gonna have to get myself up to Ted Drewes before the summer is over.

This is a question we get frequently in the Extension office. USDA says it is ok to refreeze it, as long as it still has ice crystals in it. Their only caveat is that some things may lose quality, but they will still be safe.

When my son used to go frogging in the Indiana summertime, he would bring them home with their heads cut off. Be warned, however, if you do this in the kitchen, they WILL hop around. I think chilling them in ice water and then cutting their heads off sounds like a good idea for indoor work.

Max, you do know how to drop the peaches in boiling water for a minute, so the skin slips right off? To can safely, you will need to boiling water bath them--for instructions, go to the USDA web site.. Freezing would be easier, if you have the space.