Norm Matthews

Grocery store large grade AA eggs are all close enough to being the same size and age that there isn't a need for concern over the differences. If you raise your own chickens or get them from a farmer down the road, those concerns might be valid. Fresh eggs tend to be harder to peel but steaming them seems to ameliorate that problem. This is an observation made from using this steamer for about 7 years. Most recipes expect one to use large eggs for use in baking.

Several years ago my son brought home a Nordic Ware that steams eggs in the microwave. I was skeptical but it works. 6 to 8 minutes steams the eggs and they peel easy and do not have a green ring. The eggs are shielded from the microwaves while the steam cooks them quickly. The steamer will only do 4 eggs at a time but that has not been a serious problem for me. Here is a link to what they look like. http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-64802-Microwave-Boiler/dp/B0007M2BN0

A couple months ago I discovered an olive oil speciality store, almost across the street from the Farmer's Market. I just finished a small bottle of their butter flavored olive oil. They also have coconut oil and infused flavored white and red balsamic vinegars. I mixed some pineapple white balsamic vinegar with a BBQ sauce and it went well with chicken. I will check out the Asian market for rice bran oil and see if they have any.

Many years ago I had a book by Euell Gibbons who was a proponent of natural diets. If I recall correctly, he said that the young dandelion leaves were edible and I think he said the roots could be roasted, ground and used as a substitute for coffee. I think I have a recipe around here somewhere for dandelion flower wine. edit PS: I could probably make around 5 gallons of wine from my neighbors dandelions.

Sorry if you took offense. I wasn't referring to you but rather separating it from other types of olive oil that can and often do get used for frying. I wanted to make the point that just because it's olive oil does not mean it has a low smoke point..

Smoked Pork Chops with a salsa made with fresh cut pineapple, red bell peppers, onion, kiwi, sriracha and cilantro; sugar peas and rice.

I have never used extra light olive oil but mentioned it to illustrate that for high heat cooking and frying, that olive oil isn't always a low smoke point oil. When you heat any olive oil it loses many, if not most of it's good attributes. I do keep EV olive oil in these two containers and notice that it gets rancid smelling after a short time. However, on the other hand, I have not noticed any unpleasant odors with canola oil, so I went to the kitchen just now to see what the fuss was and discovered I don't have any at the present time. All I have right now is peanut oil, unfiltered EV olive oil, and sesame oil.

One wouldn't want to use Extra Virgin olive oil for frying due to relative cost alone but Virgin olive oil, Pomace olive oil and extra light olive oil all have higher smoke points than lard.

I was at the Asian Market the other day and noticed they had Genco olive oil in gallon tins. Isn't that the company that was owned by Don Corleone?

Some things someone in my family thinks they don't or won't like will get added when they aren't looking, like a dash of brandy or anchovy paste.

I use mostly butter or olive oil or both in combination for sauteing. I use peanut oil for deep frying, but I have no problems using canola oil either. I think it is a shame it was the target of those urban legends.

There are a lot of google tutorials on doing this but most of them are more involved than they have to be. I just cut down the ribs to the breast bone then rotate the breast out in front of the back. The part about cutting the thighs away from the back is a trick I learned from Jaques Pepin.

LEAPING FROG spatchcocked grilled chicken for Banh Mi sandwiches later tonight. Charlie always makes Banh Mi sandwiches with pork but Cassie's sister is visiting and she does not like pork so we are going to make it with the more traditional chicken. I spatchcocked a chicken but instead of cutting out the backbone, i left the whole chicken intact and cut the breast free and rotated it in front so it looks sort of like a leaping frog. I slashed the part between the thighs and back to open it up so that part can cook faster. That part usually is still raw when the rest of the chicken is done. Since the vegetables in the banh mi sandwich are marinated in rice vinegar and sugar, I basted the chicken with garlic, paprika, lime juice and honey flavored olive oil. The chicken was roasted on the closed grill with the outside burners on low and the two middle burners turned off.

The Asian market had some really good looking short ribs. They had a lot of meat and marbling. They looked like they could have been prime. I got 4 lbs and son made Khalbi with them last night. They were really good. We had them with laver, rice and two kinds of kimchi. I grilled some baby zucchini and we also had some okra chips.

Will do.

I smoked a small brisket and small pork shoulder today. I didn't take any pictures. There was about an inch and a half of grease or maybe two inches in the grease bucket I put there to catch it. I came back a couple hours later and the grease was gone. The bucket was even clean. The neighbors dog must have drank it. Charlie and the neighbor both said they saw her nosing around there.

Hen House Market had ribeyes on sale today but Cassie had the kitchen tied up with some cookies and cupcakes she was asked to make so I made dinner outside. Along with the creamed corn, steaks and potatoes we also had sauteed mushrooms, okra chips and some toppings for the potatoes.

FWIW, Re Fish Sauce. I have this in my files on historical regional BBQ sauces. It is supposed to be a close facsimile of the original vinegar sauce used in North Carolina. It has no tomato in it. Note included with the recipe about the fish sauce: It is important to use the Vietnamese nouc mam. Other brands tend to be too salty and fishy to blend with the other ingredients. Also in the notes: In the 1600’s and 1700’s people use a concoction called English Ketchup. It contained clams. This recipe comes close to duplicating the original recipe used by the early colonists except their sauce contained clams. Phu Quac replaces the clams in the original recipe. One True Barbecue Sauce 16 ounces apple cider vinegar 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes 1 1/2 Tablespoons Phu Quoc brand nuoc mam* 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Allow to stand for a day or two and then used with pulled pork or as a dip.

I suppose umami is close a enough definition. The paste adds a salty taste that is kind of muted, but not fishy. You don't notice the anchovy or salt but it enhances the flavor. I first used it in a tapenade.

I use tubed anchovy paste for the saltiness, not the fish flavor. There is a background depth of flavor not found in salt alone.

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.