Ashen

I will second that, about the quality . I have only visited their stall at the St. Jacobs market, but that gives Vincenzo's a run for its money for best cheese counter in the K-W area.

Steve- that tart Tatin looks awesome.. Could you please share the recipe??

Mutti is a very good Italian brand of canned tomato products. In my experience,passata is just fine in any recipe calling for tomato sauce, assuming you have a relatively good idea what finished consistency you want. Most likely adjustment would be to adjust any other liquids if possible or extend simmering time until desired consistency .

I am a die hard convert to the smash burger .. Pics of a double one I made a few weeks ago. topped with smoked jalapeno havarti and homemade relish. I needed a roll of paper towels and a carpet steamer for my beard afterwards.

there are so many varieties , it may well only be grown there .. the yellow to white pods remind me of pictures I have seen of Peruvian white habaneros . The most similar I can find, Pretty in Purple but still not quite the same . http://www.bobby-seeds.com/Pretty-in-Purple-Chili-Sortenr::1709.html?products_id=1709&language=en edit.. I am not sure why the link doesn't go to the english language version of that page but here is the description on that page. "Only 50 cm (20 in) tall and very popular for containers The name of this variety is derived partly from its slightly purple tinted foliage and partly from its fruit which ripen from purple to yellow to red. Medium hot."

d steak sliced and rubbed through board dressing Adam Perry Lang Style grilled top sirloin steak with homemade steak spice, beech mushrooms , baked potato

I thought the same thing myself, that you need an egg cup to eat a soft boiled egg easily. I was proved wrong while visiting my in-laws. My MIL eats a soft boiled egg every morning for breakfast and just taps the large end of the egg hard enough on the plate to make a flat spot that lets it sit up quite well. Obviously wouldn't work with seriously undercooked soft boiled , but if the white is mostly set, it works just fine.

I saw a good tip for removing the eyes a while back. Basically the eyes line up in spiral pattern down the pineapple so a spiral v- groove with a knife can take them out with a minimum of waste. taking slightly longer , the small side of a melon baller works well and even less waste. the pictures here with give you an idea of what I mean. https://www.google.ca/search?source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XJebU-TmINKtyASctIC4DA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=972&q=removing%20eyes%20from%20pineapple%20v%20groove%20spiral#q=removing+eyes+from+pineapple+v+groove+spiral&tbm=isch

Ever since I saw Norm Mathews' post about the leaping frog chicken , I knew I would try it sooner than later. If anything , mine turned out even stranger looking, sort of looks like the starship enterprise if you ignore the wings. Rubbed with bone dust( Ted Reader recipe with a tweak of my own homegrown smoke dried chili powder) on the smoker with sugar maple and black cherry wood for smoke. nicely juicy even after a good rest. busy day , great for using smoker.. sides are just storebought salads. mac & cheese salad and a real weakness of mine toxic green coleslaw

Instead of breaking down and stopping a McD's on the way home.. Beer and a Burger.

I guess I didn't parse the original post properly.. I thought it was actually two questions. what regular neutral oil do we have for everyday use , and then the deep frying issue separate. For deep frying I use veg oil, canola or soybean usually

It is great for certain applications. I don't like to add oil to meat or fish marinades that are grilling over charcoal, it is such high temp that it generates an off taste. Small amounts of this avocado oil in marinades has a cleaner taste. Depending whether the flavour of the oil is compatible with what I am cooking, it is great for shallow or pan frying , pork chops , boneless breasts in cast iron pan for example. The high smoke point means you get a great sear with a clean taste. It is ok in vinaigrettes and dressings but for those things I still much prefer extra virgin avocado oil which I don't buy often or EVOO. The last bottle extra virgin avocado oil I bought had a pretty steep price though, so I tend to just get a nice EVOO for fresh/cold use.

Buttertarts, my wife made for the Worlds Biggest Bake Sale today in K-W Ontario. proceeds for charity

DiggingDogFarm - that is the brand I buy at Costco. I think the price was better than that too. This map of which costco locations that carry it is out of date since it doesn't show mine. http://chosen-foods.com/pages/retail-locations

a few meals from the past week Fresh ground sirloin tip burger , with point reyes original blue, homemade relish, sliced onions and dijon . served with potato and mac salads spaghetti alla puttanesca [ yes I put parm on it , even though there is anchovies in it.. call me a rebel ] grilled lemony drumsticks, mushrooms and my first taste of local asparagus season. This was the serving platter , not my plate. although I could have eaten all the asparagus myself.

I believe refined soybean, safflower or sunflower oils have higher smoke points than canola. Information varies depending on which lists you look at , but most list these higher than canola.

does anyone know of any cast iron producers that are making pans from ductile cast iron? Half the weight of traditional cast but just as strong. The only two I know about are Komin and Ferramica. Ferramica , I only heard about while researching online and seems to only be available in Japan. Komin is available at williams sonoma and I almost bought the frypan at the Williams Sonoma Outlet in Frankenmuth just based on how awesome it looked and how lightweight it was. The matte black silicon Coating was the only thing that held me back. Does anyone have experience on how the silicon coating wears on these pans and how it reacts to high temps? http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/komin-fry-pan/?pkey=ccookware-komin&cm_src=cookware-komin||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-

grapeseed is my go to neutral oil.. High smoke point and little added flavour If for whatever reason we are out of grapeseed, I usually also have a bottle of organic refined Avocado oil around also. (decent price at costco) Even higher smoke point than grapeseed, but it does have enough flavour that I don't consider it a neutral oil.

tri-tip steak, fries and grilled mushrooms

This talk of Tri-tip is topical since I will be grilling some steaks cut from tri-tip later this evening. The place I buy it from here doesn't t usually sell it as a whole piece unless you specifically call and order it. They cut it into somewhat ugly rectangular steaks and sell it under the name Steak Tails. ( presumably because it is from the tail end of the bottom sirloin) http://www.canadabeef.ca/ca/en/beef_export/products/loin.aspx The pictures and descriptions in the previous link explain the difference between 184d Beef Loin, Top Sirloin Cap (Bottom Butt) and 185c Beef Loin, Bottom Sirloin Butt Tri-Tip Boneless both have a triangular shape but top sirloin cap aka culotte muscle is the biceps femoris, and the trip tip aka bottom sirloin butt is the tensor fasciae latae

A small cheese plate snack gunn's hill - five brothers cheese point reyes -original blue cold smoked jalapeno havarti ( he hasn't post on the boards in a while but Mr. Holloway cold smoked this on his green egg last month along with some 7 yr old white cheddar I havn't opened yet. ) bella di cerignola olives termite di bitetto olives tomatoes

sunny eggs over fried potatoes and toast. dash of Nanami Togarashi

Sorry it was bought ground. I do often grind my own beef for burgers but I haven't looked into good choices of cut or grind for lamb. The burger itself turned out quite well. I am a plain beef burger fan, patties that are simply seasoned with s&p and cooked hot and fast . If I am making burgers with other meats on the other hand , I usually end up tarting it up a bit more. This time I sweated down some diced onion and sweet red peppers , juice of half a lemon in the pan then left to reduce down. I put this aside to cool . In a bowl I had minced garlic, lemon zest, dried greek oregano, the onion/pepper mixture , a good pinch of a spice blend I made with coriander seed, red chile flake, white pepper, and marjoram, S& P and the lamb.. mixed til just combined and made the patties. ( actually I fried off a small bit first to check seasoning and needed a bit more s &p) homemade tzatziki and fine slice onion on top. Thankyou My wife has been bugging me about a couple of large stewing hens that have been in the freezer for a while . I broke one down for dinner tonight and braised it in a braising liquid I made earlier from beer,water, the chicken back, onions, carrots, a couple of baby bok choy , garlic. Slow oven for a few hrs. Drained the braise liquid off and made a sauce with beurre manie , browned off the chicken pieces. served with salad and smaltz roasted hasselbacks

Lamb burger and salad.

grilled lamb shoulder chop, roasted lemon potato, shrimp saganaki, tzatziki