dcarch

Just curious what do you use pig's blood for. A few years back I knew someone who got some fresh pig's blood to make some kind of glue. You can buy a live chciken much easier and get about 1/2 cup of fresh blood. dcarch

No dcarch , people didn't live longer because of diet, they lived 'shorter' at that time because of the lack of penicillin, and Sulfanilamide.Well said andiesenji: Very true. However, let me ask the question in another way: Did people live longer in the old days who used mostly animal fat and who died from natural causes, not from infectious diseases? dcarch

Sorry, Kim. Don't neglect to take care yourself, so you can take care others. dcarch

Thank you everyone! It's up to you. If you let the dough rise to fill the tube, you will get a very smooth uniformly round loaf. Yeas, the loaf browns inside the tube. Silicone is a good conductor of heat. The crust developed is similar to the method of baking with a covered cast iron Dutch oven. dcarch

What is a baguette? According to Wiki: “A baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread” that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust. A standard baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 centimetres (2 or 2⅓ in) and a usual length of about 65 centimetres (26 in), although a baguette can be up to a metre (40 in) long. “ Let me share with you a method I use to make good looking long baguettes. This method also has the benefit of having a baguette with crispy crust similar to that from a “steam oven”. BTW, Throwing water or ice cubes in a normal oven gives the steam effect only for a few seconds and can damage ovens which has an enameled interior, cracking the glass window or warping the metal walls. Material: 1. Two sections of steel gutter guard from a hardware store ($3.00) 2. Two caps made from empty cans of suitable diameter ($0.00) 3. Large silicone bake sheet which you may already have. Basic idea: Make your dough based on your preferred recipes. Form the dough to the same length you are trying to make the baguette. Maximum length is dependent on the diagonal size of your oven. I can bake a 26” long baguette in my oven diagonally. And score the dough like a baguette. Put the dough in a tube formed by rolling the silicone bake sheet and cap both ends with caps made from cans. Put the tube on the gutter guards. Let the dough rise in the tube at room temperature or in the refrigerator. You can check the dough rise by peeking into the tube. Bake the dough in the tube at the same temperature as you would normally. The baguette would be steam baked inside the tube, and perfectly formed by the support of the gutter guards. dcarch

Make your own. Using copper plumbing pipes. They come in various diameters. dcarch

I see once in a while recipes using buttermilk for chickens. I decided to do a little test. I got a whole chicken, boned it, and took out two pieces of breast meat with skin removed. One piece was marinated in buttermilk for 24 hours, and the other nothing. In separate bags, at the same time both were in the sous vide cooker for 90 minutes set at 150 F. At the end of 90 minutes, both were quick seared on a cast iron skillet, buttermilk was washed off. No seasonings were used, just salt and pepper. Taste test: Mouth feel - Both were very tender, and juicy, pretty much identical, couldn't detect any difference. Flavor - cooked at 150F, both were delicious with just salt and pepper, pretty much identical. I was unable to tell the difference between the two. Chicken at $0.99 a lb and buttermilk at $2.95 a quart, I don't think I will bother with using the buttermilk for my cooking. May be buttermilk will be good if you cook chciken to 212F. I am not about to do that test. However, as with any experiment, nothing is confirmed until the same results are duplicated by others. dcarch

I pan fry/roast them, not with too much oil. dcarch

Incredible cooking everyone! Beyond food porn, simple food orgy! FrogPrincesse – Lovely Halibut. Paul Bacino – the Gnocchi with Cashew is what I call “Restaurant ready”. C. sapidus – I like your cooking style. robirdstx – I just realized I was licking my fingers while looking at your ribs. Franci – that carrot! Unbelievable! Love your postings of using many parts from an animal. Great education for us in the USA. We waste a lot. Dejah – perfect roasted chicken. SobaAddict70 – nice photos. Really great! Kim - Your veggie stir fry with bean sprouts is better than mine bean sprout stir fry.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pan fried shrimps on Chuck’s Yellow tomato from my garden Baked OX tails And a simple stir fried bean sprouts with garlic and fish sauce. dcarch

"---- in the MC book there's a reference to bringing the pressure cooker to pressure without bring it to the boil. Is that something that's possible with something like the Presto?" Yes. Get a cheap IR thermometer and measure the temperature of the vessel at full pressure, then just go one degree below that each time you make stock. "---Unfortunately the conventional stock tasted better. It had a stronger chicken flavor and was better balanced overall.---" Possibly the Pressure cooker stock has much less evaporation, therefore thinner, less concentrated. "---When the liquid inside your pressure cooker is heated it produces steam and being trapped that steam builds your pressure.---" To be exact, Steam is water droplets. Water vapor (humidity in air) is not visible. "---I don't know if it's strictly-speaking true that the liquid in a non-venting pressure cooker doesn't ever boil. ---" Not really. In a non-venting PC, heat radiates from the PC to outside air, water condenses inside the coldest spot and gets boiled again. This goes on constantly. dcarch

Did people live longer in the old days using mostly animal fat? I don't know. Just asking. dcarch

I have an easy way to get the grape juice out without the skin, seeds and branches. I will need to make a video to show, one of these days. dcarch

If I was to make large quantities of stock, I might try the following: 1. First go around - Using a large pressure cooker and cook the bones without adding water. You will get a small quantity of the most concentrated stock. Keep this in the freezer. 2. Second go around - pressure cook the bones from the first go around the normal way with water. You will get close to normal stock. 3. Third go around - pressure cook the bones one more time. You will get a very thin stock with not much flavor. Using this thin stock for the second go around the next time. dcarch

I confess! Scottyboy, the picture was missing because it looked so good I ate it dcarch

Those are very nice photos, nothing wrong with them. I do have some personal preferences, because they are just preferences, they are not that important. dcarch Rotated the picture 2 degrees clockwise. (May be 3 degrees would be better) Enhanced contrast a tiny bit Enlarged the backgrond so that the picture is less crowded The bacon is more interesting than the pancakes, they are not recognizable as bacons. Enhanced contrast Made the background a little darker

Actually this was the test conition: 1. The eggs were were steamed for a very long time, and boiled for a very long time to make sure that they all are very "hard boiled". 2. One steamed egg was cooled immediately in cold water. 3. One boiled egg was in boiling water and I let the boiling water with the egg cool to room temperature. It took the whole morning. dcarch

If that were the case, taking the eggs out of the water while hot and letting them cool on the counter should give a similar result to steaming....plus even when you steam the egg the air in the egg expands, and then they're dropped in water to cool them, which would lead to sucking in water and ending up with a difficult to peel shell (if your theory were correct)... Don't think that's the explanation. Did this experiment today with four eggs from the same box. Seems to confirm my theory. But this experiment will need to be retried and tried by someone else before it can be determioned for the theory's validity. dcarch

I have had them long time ago. All I remember is that they were tasty. The dry ones, the little green thing (? technical name) should be removed, otherwise it will taste bitter. Lotus seed flour is expensive. I read that lotus seeds stay viable for a couple of thousand years. dcarch

I remember an experiment in Physics 101. When you put one drop of water in between two plates of flat glass, you will not be able to pull the glass apart, because you will be working against atmospheric pressure of 14 lbs per square inch of pressure. I think that may be why steaming is a better way to hard boil an egg for earier peeling of the shell. When you boil an egg in water, you clearly see tiny bubbles coming out fron the egg as the air expends from heat, water is suck into the egg as the egg cools down and air inside contracts. The water between the egg white and the shell makes it difficult for peeling due to 14 lb/sq in. of air pressure. dcarch

My only complain about potluck is that you always end up with huge quantities of leftovers and wasted food. People don't seem to understand that mathematically, you only need to bring enough food for one person. dcarch

SobaAddict70 – striking plating, Hiyayakko tofu and Shredded chicken. Prawncrackers – super beautiful Gamberi Bucatini alla Puttanesca! liuzhou – very nice Roast duck leg. Is there anything in common, five spice powder vs 7 spice powder? Kim – you make everything dilishous thing looks so easy. I can never make that Ham and Gruyere quiche as good as yours. C. sapidus – Amazing looking rice. robirdstx – very nice Grilled Beef Rib Eye salad. patrickamory – Beautiful photos, especially the pork chops. sapidus – not bad leftover dish of shrimp scampi. Mrs. C’s rice and an edamame, corn, onion, and tomato salad is not too shabby either. Mm84321 – amazing braised Pork neck ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sashimi tonight. dcarch

FrogPrincesse, my Labor Day dinner was simple too. Yours was better because you had a nice dessert. ------------------------------------------------------- Pork shoulder was on sale for $0.79 a lb Lobster was on sale for $3.99 a lb With tomatoes from my garden, Labor Day dinner was not very expensive. dcarch Hot Dog, Heirloom Tomatoes Lobster Heirloom Tomato Salad Lobster Corn Soup Lobster Roe and Tomalley Sous Vide Pulled Pork on Beets and Daicon

C. sapidus – wonderful Grilled ribeyes salad. Scottyboy – Very appetizing fried Cod. Heart attack? It’s worth it. Kim – You are really an amazing cook. Such variety of great meals. Everything you make looks so inviting. Love that Tex-Mex Chicken Crunchies. Panaderia Canadiense – Truly decadent Beefy-cheesy-noodly casserole. Soba – luscious Pollo alla cacciatora. Simple Warm green bean and potato salad, but elegantly plated. Avaserfi – nice plating. Shelby – I think you naan bread looks great. Mm8431 – sophisticate dishes as usual. David Ross – That is a very interesting sauce, Miso Peanut, sounds delicious. Robirdstx – Your Cajun Spiced Grilled Chicken Salad makes a fantastic summer dinner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few recent dishes; dcarch Sous Vide Boneless Short Ribs with Chanterelle Mushroom Sauce Why not Bacon With Spicy Salmon Sushi Roll? BLT without Bread. (T and L from my garden)

Make Blushing Geisha dcarch

TJ's organic free range chickens do not taste any better than store chicken. In a Chinese store, you can find old (as in old age) free range chickens with heads and feet. They are very flavorful for making stock. dcarch