Norm Matthews

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.

Dinner tonight was boneless, skinless, chicken thighs cooked Nonya Fried Chicken style. We also had rice, two kinds of kim che and a dipping sauce.

Kids had a date night tonight so I made dinner just for me tonight. They can have some for left overs tomorrow. I had a spinach salad with strawberries and black olives. Dressing was Framboise, olive oil, dry mustard and salt. I had rice, home made (in a mason jar) sauerkraut and pork loin stuffed with bacon and mushrooms.

Where do you work?

As others have suggested, Canning and Pickling salt is probably your best bet. It is 100% salt and dissolves quicker than kosher salt, is pretty inexpensive and comes in a 4 lb box. It is in grocery stores but sometimes it is stocked with canning jars instead of with other salt. Here is the kind I use.

I didn't take any pictures of dinner tonight but we had a celebratory steak dinner for my son. He has been away for a few days. The STEAK was rib eye cut rather thick and marinated for 4 hours in 1/2 C. packed brown sugar, 1/2 C. bourbon, 1/3 C. soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon Tabasco and 1 C. water. After 4 hours, I dried it, salted it and grilled it outside. Potatoes were washed, pierced with a fork four or five times, rubbed with oil, salted and baked at 375 for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Served with butter, sour cream, bacon bits, and fresh chopped chives. Cassie made sugar peas in the oven with cheese. She sauted some mushrooms too and brought a sparkling wine to serve with the meal. I made green beans but forgot to check on them until I smelled them burning. I saved as many as I could, cutting off the burned part. Charlie asked if I smoked them and said they were really good. Whew. for Dessert we had strawberry shortcake.

This was part of an article in today's Kansas City Star: "The problem centers in Mexico.....Bad weather and disease cut production earlier this year. Meanwhild drug cartels in the state of Michoacan are demanding extortion payments from lime growers and have taken control of a distribution center where they sell their limes, ...

I don't think David Chang serves uncooked country ham.

Country ham takes some time to make. After soaking it, boiling it and baking it, It is still to salty so I slice it and simmer it water the pan fry it. This extra step removes the 'too salty' effect. It is very different from city ham with a much more intense flavor. I don't do one every year but the extra trouble is worth it. Picnic hams have bones that make slicing a problem.

Many years ago the wrestling coach at the high school had a farm that was once a dairy. He used one barn for his rodeo roping horses and the milking barn for hay storage. He rented the farm house to me and across the driveway was the old bottling plant which I turned into a pottery. The house was on the Smoky Hill River and there were grape vines down the hill by the river. I made about 20 to 30 gallons of wine a year. I used the basement because the cool temperature kept the secondary fermentation slow for better taste. Without fermentation locks on the carboys, the wine would spoil or oxidize before the wine finished fermenting. I had to measure sugar and acid content of the grape juice and balance it before primary fermentation or it would not produce enough alcohol to keep. After fermentation it had to be clarified and bottled. I have no idea what kind of advances have been made since then but I have trouble imagining how there could be a finished bottle in such a short time.

After some thought, I am thinking of a separate process using apple flavor as a sauce. Here is pork confit with a cider reduction http://food52.com/recipes/1832-pork-confit-with-cider-veal-reduction

I believe the kind of cherries lesliec is referring to are the kind used in fruitcake. In either case, dried or candied or even coarsely chopped and drained maraschino cherries would probably work. I imagine the one thing you should be wary of is getting the fruit too hydrated or juicy because that could dilute the batter and then affect the texture of the brownies. As long as the fruit you add does not interact with the brownie ingredients, you should be able to add them without problem. It would be similar to adding chocolate chips, raisins, nuts or other ingredients to cookies.

You might consider using cider instead of an apple.

The last time I had invited guests for dinner that was planned ahead of time we had a Shrimp a la Louis appetizer with beets and hard cooked eggs, Scandaninavian style cucumber salad, home made bread, Slottsteck Norwegian Pot Roast with gravy, squash and onions with brown sugar and Schwartzwalder Kirschtorte (black forest chocolate cherry cake) Everything was made from scratch. The appetizer was plated ahead of time, the rest of the meal was served family style where all the dishes are passed around The dishes were white and black decorated stoneware and the serving dishes were green white and gold decorated porcelain. Serving utensils matched eating utensils. Wine served in stemware and water in tumblers. ps OOPS forgot to add baked potatoes and the pot roast was braised and served with carrots, celery and onions. Guests were neighbors and dinner was casual.

Cassie, my son's fiancee had a half brother that she had never met. After they found each other he flew in from New York City. In the morning Cassie's other brother and sister who both live here in Kansas City met to all go out and see the sights together. I was expecting they would be gone all day and was not planning a meal but I had put a slab of spare ribs in the smoker. When they saw that they said they would be back for lunch. As soon as they left I ran to the store and got a couple slabs of baby back ribs because they cook faster, and added them to the smoker. We had ribs served cut up on a platter, homemade BBQ beans, grilled corn, store bought potato salad and hard rolls. Everything was served in bowls, on a platter and in a bread basket. Everyone helped themselves to whatever they wanted. Serving size spoons were used. In this instance, serving utensils matched the rest of the tableware. They were not used for aesthetic considerations, just used because that is what I grabbed. We ate off of paper plates. Cooking utensils were not on the table. Soft drinks, juice and water were served.

When it comes to making flavorful stock, the older the chicken the more flavor in the stock. The older, the longer it needs to be stewed to make the meat tender. I was in an asian market the other day and saw whole stewing hens for sale. It included the head and feet. I would think that old bird would make very flavorful stock. PS added to say I didn't read all of dcarch's post before I posted this.

despite all the discussion about what is and what isn't soy sauce and when it is used in different cultures, the original query was about take out packets that comes with Chinese restaurant food in the US. Here is a link you may find useful: http://kariout.com/product_list_details.php?id=13bb4c48d5c45b&productid=13bb4ca730e25b

I had that feeling for many years too. I'd say to myself "I have been cooking for xxx years and never needed one before, why should I get one now?" I was gifted an Oster Kitchen Center with a mixer and never used it either. But then I did get a KitchenAid and wondered how did I ever get along without it? There were things I'd think twice about making that I don't think twice about doing now with a stand mixer.

Besides the muffin method, there is the biscuit method where the fat is cut into the flour before adding the liquids. This in effect coats the flour to help prevent the formation of gluten when the liquid is added. Reduction of gluten formation in biscuits help keep them tender.

When I first started cooking I got the James Beard Cookbook and bought two more after each of the others started falling apart.. They were paperback. I got a first edition on line and then got another to keep the first edition in good shape. I had three copies of American Cookery. The first one had a tattered cover and dog eared pages. I keep the second one on a bookshelf with glass doors. It still has the dust jacket. I use the third one which replaced the first one. I have a first edition of BakeWise and a second copy that was given to me when I thought I'd lost the first one, then found it.

I like the stoneware bowl. (food looks great too) But is that hand thrown?