Norm Matthews

I agree with andiesenji. After you get accustomed to making biscuits and know when the dough is at a good consistency, it is a lot more trouble to weigh it out than it is to just scoop it out and adjust the wet by eye.

Orange or soft sweet potatoes are called yams to differentiate them from other kinds even though non US yams are a different vegetable altogether. As to blended bourbon, that is tricky. Some is great and expensive, a lot of it is neither. It is easier to just stick with straight bourbon IMHO. You can get small bottles if you don't want to have a lot of it left over.

If you have a brand name, use what they suggest, otherwise here is a general guide http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html

Jack Daniels or Jim Beam are good choices. For cooking it doesn't make a lot of difference. Technically you can use just about any whisky, bourbon or not. I'd even use brandy without giving it any extra thought.

Well as for keeping it on hand, it will keep for a long long time after opened. I have one in the kitchen to use as a cooking wine.

I make biscuits in a cake pan. Being close together in a pan with sides helps the biscuits rise up instead of spreading out.

I imagine sherry in Spain isn't fortified before it is turned into vinegar. Since sherry is fortified, I think you'd have to dilute it before you could add a mother to turn it into vinegar. Another thing to think about trying is to add sherry a little at a time to relatively neutral (unpasteurized) white vinegar until you get a flavor you like.

To paraphrase Shirley Corriher, cutting in butter coats the flour so the liquid does not have as much ability to develop gluten. When creaming butter, air bubbles are incorporated which assist leavening.

If you look at the asparagus I got, they were small, appeared young, and didn't need peeling. I cut the stems off about half way down. I inspected every spear and some of the heads had gone soft. I threw those away and rinsed the rest. I think mine were starting to get a little old. Maybe they took a slow boat from Peru or wherever.

See the dinner thread where I made this yesterday. I used a half pint of inexpensive brandy. It turned out very well. Calvados would be a good choice too but not cheap. After marinating, I reduced the marinade to 1/2 C. then used the reduction to deglaze the pan after browning the chops.

I grew my own asparagus for several years before I moved here a couple years ago. Since I moved here only got it from the farm market before today. I will know better now not to get it whenever I want it just because it's there.

I didn't notice where the asparagus is from. I know it isn't in season anywhere around here.

Thank you. Cassie does not like celery so it seldom make an appearance on our table. At times I substitute bok choy or Romaine stems when I feel something like that is needed.

20 most popular? Must have been a pretty small sample group.

Everyones meals look great. I was out of ideas until I saw a pork recipe posted yesterday by ElainaA. I went to the store yesterday morning and got everything I wanted for dinner today. I made the pork loin chops, reduced the marinade to 1/2 cup then used the reduction to deglaze the pan after the pork chops were browned. We also had asparagus with hollandaise, cranberry chutney and baked potatoes. The asparagus was a disappointment. It tasted metalic. The pineapple was for dessert. We had it with homemade egg nog. Cassie is not a big fan of pork but both of them agreed that this recipe was a keeper.

ElainaA, That sounds wonderful. I have copied it and plan to try it sometime. I am tempted to try it with hard cider and no bourbon though. (hate to have bourbon and not drink it)

I think by discussing all different brands and build of cookware, kinds of heat, etc, people are getting away from the original basic question of what to use for a good browning: Cast Iron or All Clad steel?

A friend asked me if I had a good beef stew recipe and I remembered one I used to make years ago. I don't know why I stopped but I made it today. It was kind of appropriate that we had it while watching the football game . It is called John Madden's Stew. Cassie is working. She can have some later.

My stainless steel skillet gets blazing hot.. too hot if I am not careful. I get good, quick browning with it and a little oil. I have cast iron but I use it more for retaining heat over a longer period of time than for getting hot enough for a quick sear.

Thomas Jefferson was a Francophile. While he enjoyed French cooking and wines he tried to introduce corn to the French without much success. There was American cooking and food before there was the Declaration of Independence. With the advent of cookbooks and cookbook authors came -in my opinion- apologists for the way people cooked and what they ate before the industrial age and fueled by the love affair some Americans had with English and French cultures. American food included fresh water fish and seafood, corn, hominy, corn bread, turkey, cranberries, wild rice, raccoon, venison, squirrel, rabbit, beans and nuts. There were cooking influences and traditions that were American Indian, African, English, Creole & Cajun to name a few. PS Oh yeah, BBQ style cooking was introduced here before the United States became a country. BBQ pork has evolved into pretty much an American food IMHO. I would argue against anyone who wants to classify American food as being not good.

Kim Shook I was drafted to do Thanksgiving next year and I also have a slow cooker big enough for a turkey. I usually use it to keep side dishes warm while waiting for the turkey to get done. I was wondering if I could cook it in the slow cooker and then brown it in the oven. Have you ever tried that? Otherwise, i just may do the turkey and have it cut up and ready to serve when everyone arrives.

I have never has anything sous vide. I don't want to pass judgement on your shoulder roast. It isn't the old way to do it but it may taste great. Seems like a lot of effort though.

You can do some fine BBQ on a Weber grill.

Grilling is done directly over high heat to cook food like steak, hamburgers, hot dogs. California's Santa Maria tri-tip is sometimes called BBQ but is actually grilling. One BBQ rib recipe from Bobby Flay involved steaming the ribs then grilling them with BBQ sauce. That is hardly BBQ... restaurant BBQ maybe.. Too often that is what you get at restaurants... Southern style BBQ is done for meats that need long slow cooking to break down the collagen. It is usually done over indirect heat at around 220º give or take a few degrees. Smoke is quite often involved. Sauce quite often isn't but may be used but usually at the end as a finishing sauce or table sauce. Traditionally it uses fruit wood but charcoal by itself or in combination with wood and newer innovations use pellets and even propane.

I suppose one could be generous and call grilling "City BBQ" but like 'apple' brandy, you need to qualify it with 'city' because the term BBQ by itself regardless of the source of heat, isn't grilling.