Norm Matthews

When I was in the Asian market getting a beef shank and bones for Seolleongtang, I also picked up a stewing chicken for stock. It still had it's head and feet attached. It was a skinny and tough old bird but when simmered for 3 hours, very tasty. Cassie said she had never heard of drop dumplings before I made them with chicken. She only knew about the noodle-like kind and she liked that kind. She left for work yesterday around 8 so I thought she'd be home for dinner. It turns out she worked a 15 hour day and I was in bed before she got home. I don't know if she liked the noodle dumplings or not but Charlie said they were good. They were made with baking soda/powder and buttermilk. We had it with corn muffins. I still have a couple quarts of stock which is now in the freezer.

The recipe was written for a big family but I normally use two bunches of collard greens and two ham shanks because I usually can't get big meaty ham hocks and adjust for the rest of the ingredients. I seldom use that much water, vinegar or bacon and often add some sugar.

Here is a recipe I have had for years. Pot Likker is collard 'juice' POT LIKKER-BRAISED FRESH HAM HOCKS WITH COLLARD GREENS AND POTATOES FOR THE GREENS 2 lbs.. collard greens, stemmed and well washed 6 slices bacon 1 lar.. onion, peeled and diced large 1/2 C cider vinegar 2 Tbs. Kosher salt 2 Tbs. cracked black pepper 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 2 fresh ham hocks, about 1 lb each, trimmed of most external fat 2 tbs. veg.. oil Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste 2 lbs.. new potatoes, washed and halved 1. In a large stock pat, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Add the collards, bacon and onion and stir several times, then reduce the heat to low and add the vinegar, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the greens with tongs, drain them and set them aside. skim the fat from the liquid (the “pot Likker”) and leave it in the stockpot over very low heat. 2. preheat the oven to 500 degrees 3. In a deep roasting pan, toss the ham hocks with the oil, then sprinkle generously wit salt and pepper. roast for 20 minutes to brown, then reduce temperature to 300 degrees. Remove the hocks from the pan and skim off the fat that has accumulated in them, leaving the meat juices behind. Put the hocks back in the pan and add enough pot likker to cover them about halfway. Cover the pan tightly with foil and braise in the oven for 1 /2 hours. 4. Add the greens and potatoes to the pan, cover again and cook until the hocks and potatoes are tender, another 30 minutes to 1 hour. to check for doneness, stick a fork straight down into the meat and try to pull the fork out. If the fork slides out easily, the meat is done: If the meat hangs on the fork, give it some more time. 5. To serve, spoon the greens onto a serving platter and moisten them slightly with pot likker. Pull the meat from the hocks, set on top of the green and surround with the potatoes.

If you ask a scientist "what is a trans fat?" They will say it is a fat that has been trans-formed from a liquid to a solid by hydrogenation. Hydrogenated fat is the same thing as a trans fat. Margarine is a trans fat. Crisco is a trans fat. Both have been reformulated and say they now claim that they are trans fat free but the nutrition labels reveal they still have hydrogenated fat. This is a point Lisa Shock made in an earlier post. I hope the new labeling will address this too.

Letting the company decide what is a serving size has been the problem. Off the top of my head here are some other examples. I don't remember exact numbers in most cases. There are times when a product can take an average and round down. When Diet Pepsi first came out, the formulation had one calorie per can. The advertised it "Diet Pepsi, one small calorie. Now you see it, now you don't." but then they realized that if they said there were two servings per can, they could get away with saying it had no calories. Pam. I don't use it but I remember they advertised that it had no calories or (very low fat?) The labeling said one serving was a spray that lasted less than half a second. With such a small amount of product, you could get away with saying there was no calories in bacon fat. High yield gluten flour is allowed to round down protein content so the labeling says it has the same amount of protein as low yield gluten flour.

On the other hand there have been people who are dishonest about how many servings their products contain and have deliberately mislead calories per serving. I once bought a package that said it was for two on the front but on the back in the labeling box it said 12 servings. It was actually about one serving for the whole package and the calories and all the other information looked good on the front of the package. It was called Texas (something) Dinner. It was shrimp, sausage, corn and some other stuff. The corn was about half a cop (for two people? No Texans I know would split half a cob, let alone 12 ways. PS at the time I was on doctors orders to keep my calorie intake at a certain level per meal. It was not because of weight but because of another health problem. The information on the front of this package said it was within my limits. After i ate it I thought it could not have been correct so I looked on the back and found out that it was really at least eight times over my limit. I think it's these kinds of abuse that they are trying to address to make sure that products have reasonable serving size infromation.

The old (present) nutrition labels were obsolete by the time they were introduced. It has been a long time coming.

Yes, that is one of the links I watched. I used the recipe from here http://www.koreanbapsang.com/2013/02/seolleongtang-beef-bone-soup.html#.U0F4eVFdV4U

Korean beef bone soup is something I never understood even though my wife and MIL made it daily at our restaurant. To me it was just a weak broth that they used as a base for almost every kind of sauce and soup. I never paid much attention to it. I wasn't all that impressed with it. Fast forward a couple of decades and now my son is trying to tell me how his mom-who now lives in Las Vegas- makes it and I can’t get it through my head that you need to use beef bones. He keeps saying Ox bones and My brain keeps thinking OxTAILS. He says she washes them, boils them briefly then throws the water away(!) and starts over with fresh water. He must mean simmer, surely not BOIL. So recently there was a discussion here about homemade ramen with links to articles about Japanese and Korean soups and I finally got it. At the Asian Market the other day I bought a beef shank and a few pounds of beef bones and made the stock for him. I asked him if it tasted like it was supposed to and he said it was good. I froze most of it so he can make his kim che soup.

For supper today, I made beef bulgogi and grilled it outside, a Korean style spinach and a salad. At the Asian Market there was this bottle simply called Red Salad Dressing. I was hoping it would be like the kind we had at the Japanese Steak house but it wasn't. Maybe if I add ginger it will be closer. It was good anyway. We also had two kinds of kim che and rice

Bacon is on it's way. Perhaps several local bacon festivals will eventually go national . There is one in Eugene, Des Moines, Maryland and there is one in Kansas City too. http://baconfestkc.com/ http://www.kval.com/news/local/Bacon-Fest-celebrates-all-things-bacon-258041421.html Also bacon and bourbon seem to have become a popular party theme.

Leftover ham and pork made today's Cuban sandwiches.

Count me as one of those who don't think Cincinnati Chili is good. It is a yucky version of spaghetti and meat sauce. I do like very much the Greek style chili sauce for hot dogs though.

It may be easier to find during canning season in with the canning supplies. When I first moved back here to Kansas City two years ago in April I could not find any at first.

I already had this in the smoker yesterday when Charlie reminded me we had been invited to my nephew's house for a Bacon and Bourbon party. I took one slab to the party and the rest went in the refrigerator. This is a picture I took today to show what was in the smoker. The navy beans for Easter first became smoked baked beans then those leftovers became BBQ beans for the ribs and brisket. I used apple wood in the smoker. Ribs were finished in a spicy BBQ sauce that had a little pineapple flavored balsamic vinegar added. It is not good picture. The meats look kind of dry but they weren't. Slaw is store bought. For the Bacon and Bourbon party, Cassie made bacon and chocolate chip cookies and bacon wrapped asparagus with a bourbon sauce.

Thanks Patrick. I've sent a PM with the recipes if you are interested.

Making egg and ham salad out of leftover ham and left over ham and beans into smoked baked beans. Brisket is for tomorrow.

I don't know if there is any difference in results. I suppose there might be but as a rule, I use foil if I want to contain a mess and keep the cooking surface clean and use parchment when I want to bake on a non stick surface. I use parchment to line the bottom of cake pans and for baking dry goods like cookies. I oil the parchment on both sides for cakes, not for cookies and the like. They make non stick foil but I only bought one box and never got another.

I like your pork roast Steve Irby. Is that a shoulder (picnic) roast?

A popular bar food in South Dakota that is practically unknown elsewhere is Chislic. it is skewered and grilled or fried lamb kabobs. Here is a link to a recipe: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/chislic-south-dakota-cubed-meat.html In Kansas City Kansas in the Strawberry Hill area, there is or was a neighborhood that is mostly Croatian. They, and Kansas City by association is known for Povitica bread. It is a sweet bread with a nut paste filling. Strawberry Hill Povitica makes non traditional fillings as well as the original walnut filling I grew up knowing. http://www.povitica.com/

Here is our Easter dinner. baked ham Povitica bread which is a tradition in the part of Kansas City where I grew up (Strawberry Hill) The rest of the meal was pretty traditional Southern style in memory of my mom: Greens, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs and not shown, cornbread muffins. Dessert was Pineapple Upside Down Cake with rum spiked whipped cream

As mentioned a few times before, it's used in dry seasoning blends. The only time I use it is for BBQ rubs and I use Spice Islands or Penzey's most of the time.

.99¢ here today.

Last week in the grocery store, I noticed Kikkoman is selling sriracha sauce.

Thank you Anna N. There was coconut milk in the chicken coating.