Norm Matthews

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.

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.