Big Mike

On the East Coast, it's only ever Tuttorosso tomato products. Whole, diced, crushed, or puree, always good and always affordable. I love San Marzano tomatoes but I can't justify $5 a can, especially when I need four big cans to make sauce.

I'm firmly in the show and tell camp as well. I got a deer ham from a hunter once and it was an amazingly eye opening experience, would love to see earlier in the process.

That Lodge grill/griddle has been on my wish list ever since we got our upgraded stove with a huge oblong 5th burner. Maybe this year's the year....hmmmm.

Love the blog so far, reminds me a lot of how my Aunt and Uncle in rural Missouri live...minus all the good food The goblets are kinda hard to make according to my mother, an accomplished potter. She made a whole set for my wedding 20 years ago. The one on the right is cermic, she only made two for my wife and I. The one on the left is regular clay glazed white, she made a bunch of those for the members of the bridal party. We had them at the head table to drink our wine out of during the reception, that was pretty cool. I'm spoiled I guess, we have tons of bowls and plates and such that didn't pass muster.

That menu makes me sad inside because it's so kickass. The party I was at was pretty low key for food. I brought a homemade sourdough ciabatta and baked brie and those were probably the two most interesting things there.

I know a lot of people in Philly who are doing the traditional black eyed peas, greens and pork. My Dad's been making it for as long as I can remember. I'll be making mine with some overly dried pancetta from my pork curing project earlier this month. Nothing like a few pounds of pork belly to start the new year right.

It's always so inspiring to come on the boards here and see what everyone else does. Well, inspiring and intimidating really . My family has always done a huge Christmas Eve party that my Nana used to host. Now that's she's approaching 90 we've taken it over since we have the only house with enough room to house everyone (we had around 60 people this year). Christmas Eve with the Fishes Salmon Bruschetta with roasted garlic and red pepper Mixed seafood salad (lobster, scallops, shrimp, langostinos, mussels, and clams on a bed of romaine with a light vinaigrette) Calamari Fra Diavolo Smoked Salmon with boursin and capers on pumpernickel Baccala Frito (salt cod fried in a batter made with white wine and limoncello) Stewed clams with sausage and potatoes Orecchiette in a mushroom meat sauce (for all those non-fish eating party poopers) also... this crazy braided sun dried tomato, pesto and tapenade bread candied orange slices dipped in dark chocolate biscotti almond cake with dried fruit about 600 miscellaneous cookies Brie en croute with raspberry limoncello fennel digestif Christmas Dinner Fennel cured salmon Orange glazed ham (orange syrup left over from the candied orange project) Asparagus with hollandaise sauce Cheesy potato casserole Spinach and Ricotta strata (sauted spinach mixed w ricotta and layered in sheets of puffed pastry) Mincemeat pie Apple Pie

I'd like to see Thomas Keller face off against Grant Achatz. The whole teacher vs. student thing would be fun.

Just checked out the discussion thread at the link you posted. Like you, I dumped the entire salt cure into the bag with the jowls where I think it might be better to liberally rub the cure onto the jowl but not add any extra to the bag. Have you tried to make it since with a reduced salt mixture?

I was thinking I would fry up some greens this weekend like I would with store-bought bacon and just omit the salt altogether from the final dish. Of course my wife the salt-lick devoured the test batch and thought it was fantastic, go figure.

Peeling any sort of squash. It slimy and slippery, then when it dries on your fingers it leaves a nasty crusty residue I can never get off no matter how much soap. Wearing gloves helps but I hate chopping anything wearing gloves.

Here's the first jowl I just pulled down to inspect: Fried up a little bit that I trimmed off of the end and boy is it salty. Definitely gonna have to parboil this stuff to ease up the salt when I cook with it.

Dig it, I'll give it a try if it's still open. I go there every other month or so. They actually have a nice little restaurant scene going on with St John's getting a James Beard nomination two years in a row.

I saw this video by Grant Achatz where he broke down the turkey and cooked them sous vide in a big stock pot on the stove. There are no instructions on how to do it but you can see what looks like a standard cooking thermometer hanging out of the pot to monitor the temp, I thought that was a great hack. I have an extra turkey in the freezer, I'm going to try that method this weekend.

Easy Bistro is one my top five eateries in the entire country. Always seasonal and tons of locally sourced high quality ingredients. And an incredible value! Everything is very well priced just because it's in Chattanooga. Put this place in New York and everything would cost 35% more. Classic steak tartar, duck confit, oysters, stupid good slow cooked brisket, and perfectly executed risotto. I really want people to eat there because I don't want it to close, it's one of the few experiences I look forward to when I travel to the Noog on business.

Ack, I hope I got all the glands. I'm going to pull down one of my guanciale's this weekend and do some exploratory surgery. Damn, I hope by leaving that layer of fat didn't ruin the jowl.

Will never dump olive oil into a insanely hot pan. The stuff instantly ignited and threw a four foot high flame. And my wife and mother-in-law were in the kitchen and started screaming like the house was on fire. I threw a lid on top of it thinking that I would cut off the oxygen and knock the fire out but it just smoked like I've never experience before. Ugh. Took the whole mess outside on the patio to cool off. What a mess, that pan has never been the same.

Thanksgiving Sandwiches - turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a little dash of gravy and swiss on rye. I like that meal more than the actual dinner.

That primer article is golden! I have one question: after the first cook and retrograde cool down, can I keep the potatoes in the fridge overnight then bring them up to temperature to make the mash the next day? I have very little experience par cooking anything. note: sorry, this post is in the wrong thread but I can't find a way to move it or delete it.

My wife's family makes this dish called tsimis, it's atrocious. Goo and brown sugar and marshmallows on top, blech. I like 'em cut into wedges, tossed with olive oil and a little smoked paprika and roasted in a hot oven. I'm making a sweet potato and confit onion tart for Thanksgiving, I'll be the only one who eats it I'm sure.

Awesome, can't wait to use that technique. Great timing, I was about to plunk down $200 on a food saver. I might still but I want to spend the money on the SV equipment to experiment first so it doesn't end up in the little-used equipment hall of fame (next to my panini grill and baguette bread pans).

Won't you end up with stewed tomatoes if you use a crockpot? Not saying it wouldn't be delicious but the oven might give you better results for a confit. I saw this recipe on Food Network's website which is adapted from Daniel Boulud's cookbook which seems like a pretty good source. Basically just put them on a sheet pan and roast at 200 degrees.

I would agree, I think the violet would do wonders for a gin and tonic. Maybe you could make something like a Negroni but swap out the Compari with the Violet or Rose.

OK, I'll leave it to hang for a while. We throw a huge Christmas Eve party every year, I'll use it then. I wonder how a chunk of pancetta would taste if it was cooked sous vide?

I normally use A/P flour, bread flour is a splurge. I use Gold Medal because I can buy that in bulk 10lb bags at BJs.