Norm Matthews

Hi EatNopales. The ham was a butt end city ham which means it was cured and fully pre cooked, so it only needs warming through. I just glazed and basted it with a glaze of apple cider, brown sugar, dijon mustard, honey, and (real) maple syrup. Sometimes I use apricot jam and gluten free tamari instead of apple cider. The glaze was cooked down to thicken a little. The ham was then roasted it at 325 @ 8 to 10 min. per pound and an internal temp of 140. Cook to 160 if the directions say cook before serving.

Even in (large) barbecue contests (and I suppose in chili contests too) with trained judges, all of them don't taste all of the entries. They use a rating system and two tier judging most of the time. And it isn't the judges who have to stay sober, it is the health dept. people that have to certify that all the entries are fit to eat. A 24 hour window is a little long for the conditions in which chili contests are held. It would mean that the meat would not get cooked right away too. edit, going back to the original post, there is absolutely no reason why a home cook can't take a prize winning recipe from a contest and change all the canned, bottled and pre mixed ingredients and convert them to a completely home made version. Professional BBQ competitors seldom make their prize winning recipes the same way that they do when cooking for their family at home and it makes sense to me that neither would chili cooks.

In response to the question "Now, my question is: is the color from the reaction of soda with the acidity of the natural cocoa specifically or would any acid reacting with soda in the presence of cocoa (natural or dutched) produce that color? " There is no acidity in Dutched cocoa powder so if there is any reaction to any acid in a recipe with it would not come from a reaction with that cocoa powder. It would have to come from a reaction to other acids in the recipe such as buttermilk.

I have a 12-inch skillet in which I cook pasta. It isn't very deep but wide enough for a box of spaghetti to lay down and be covered by water by about an inch. It boils faster than a big pot of water and as soon as the pasta softens a little, I give it a stir and it comes out fine every time.

When I smoke ribs, I put them in foil for part of the cooking time but they have not been sauced yet.. That is only done, if at all, at the very end. I think most other BBQers. do the same.

Fall is here and we had a good Southern dinner of ham and ham shanks-not shown- collard greens and navy beans. Corn bread also not in picture.

Main course tonight was Country Style (boneless Pork Loin) ribs. I looked at several recipes for country ribs, didn't like any so I made something up. I put three packages of pork loin ribs in a dutch oven (12 pieces) on top of some celery and roasted it at 300 degrees, uncovered for 1 hour, then removed the celery and drained the liquid and put the ribs back in the dutch oven. Poured a sauce I made while they were cooking over them and topped them with an onion, sliced and roasted another hour. Sauce is 2T. Mirin 2T. triple sec 2 T. gluten free Tamari (soy sauce) 4 T. sugar 1/2 Cup fresh cut and grated pineapple 2 T. A-1 sauce 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 4T. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. You can use ketchup and more A-1 but don't use tomato paste. Put all ingr. in small sauce pan and simmer about 10 minutes.

Son got me a Food Saver that allows food to freeze almost air free. I have been surprised at how fresh food tastes after a month or so in the freezer. Food like country ham, chili, and smoked BBQ brisket and pork shoulder.

I usually go to the store with a list of things I am out of, a list of ingredients for things I want to make- but not a whole weeks worth- and then plan a couple other meals based on what looks good that day. I also have to make a change in plans when the stores don't have everything I need for a particular recipe. That happens more often than I'd like.

I agree with Jenni completely. Your senses and thought process are more important than cups or scales. I don't mean to say to ignore them, just don't be driven by them. Even for baking, measuring by weight is not all that important. When you measure by weight the only thing you are assured of is that your results will be exactly the same as the last time. It does not guarantee good results, just the same results. Lately anymore I never measure flour when making yeast bread. I think it's nice to know how much was added in the recipe but I don't care if it is cups or ounces or grams. I will add flour until the dough is "right" and most of the time it isn't the same as the recipe that someone else wrote. That way I can add eggs or milk or seasonings or whatever and add enough flour to compensate for the differences.

My son made dinner tonight. Cassie helped. I don't have the recipe but I know he cooked the pork loin chops (sliced thin) in butter and a lot of garlic and he marinated the vegetables in rice vinegar and sugar. At least some of the vegetables were diakon, carrots, onions and cucumbers. LImes were involved, the jalapenos were fresh. Here is the one he made for me.

My son worked at a restaurant when he was in high school. The owner was rather tight. His Christmas party for the employees was required and they had to bring pot luck. His Christmas bonus to the employes was that each one got a lottery ticket and he said if anyone won anything they had to split it with him.

I made chili today.

When giving tips, generalities and catch phrases can be problematic, IMHO. Hot pan, cold fat is not a process to be used with teflon lined skillets.

The dairy here has un homogenized milk but I only got some once or twice. I prefer to have homogenized milk and cream in separate bottles.

Dinner tonight was marinated, skewered and grilled pork tenderloin over rice noodles with a dipping sauce and a cucumber, carrot, romaine and radish salad with just lime juice, olive oil and salt as a dressing.

I don't have a link. Maybe I was confused when the dairy said they couldn't then they could. Maybe it was them, not the USDA that changed.

I think I am correct in saying that here in the US it is nearly impossible to (legally) get unpasteurized milk from a commercial outlet. There is a dairy farm a couple miles from here that I get my milk and cream from. They are USDA inspected and licensed to sell to the public and only recently were able to sell small amounts of unpasteurized milk. I know a retired dairy farmer from New York that said he'd never ever drink unpasteurized milk from any cow that he had not raised himself and knew that cows health was sound but that was before the USDA had set up regulations to control how it is sold to the public. I believe that until quite recently is was even illegal to sell or import cheese made from unpasteurized milk.

Canola oil isn't bad for you. It is actually a very good oil for cooking. People who are afraid of it are probably influenced, either directly or indirectly, by an urban legend started several years ago. It said some awful but totally untrue things about it. I am surprised that no one sticks up for it around here. I am surprised but don't know if at myself for not understanding why it is so frowned upon even today or at some of the people who find reasons to dislike it on 'trumped up' charges.

What I keep out is in this hand thrown pottery vessel at the top of the burner knobs.

The kids are making the menu for the next week or more. Yesterday it was meatloaf with carrots, potatoes and Japanese eggplant. Pictures and recipe here: http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

You don't want to leave fresh home made garlic and oil on the counter top for more than a couple hours or in the fridge for more than a couple days. http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/17236 Commercial garlic paste can last much longer. http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/17239

Anchovy paste adds great depth to salted foods.

I have three thermometers that I use for everything but not the same things. One is a laser thermometer by Maverick, a thermapen from thermaworks and a cheap digital thermometer with a probe that goes in the meat or bread with a digital readout that sits outside the oven and sound an alarm when the target temperature is reached. The last one is not any special brand and need replacing every six months or so but I like all three and would not want to be without any of them.

A chef once told me that if you salt food early on then it tastes seasoned. If you salt it afterward, it just tastes salted.