Anna N

Had to go and verify this. What can I say. It’s just the way I am. My conclusion is that Shelby can make even Vivian Howard rethink her cooking philosophy. Although to be fair to Vivian I think she was using endive as shorthand for poncy food - endive, white asparagus and guinea hen. Endive braised until it caramelizes doesn’t need much help. But perhaps Shelby has proved me wrong. Whatever, it looks delicious.

Toasted and garlic-rubbed sourdough with goat cheese and Campari tomatoes. So simple. So good. edited to add: Given social distancing rules we ought to make the best of them and enjoy our garlic at any time of day!

I had no idea. Thanks. A day without a smidgen of new knowledge is like a day without sunshine.

If I intend to sous vide something that is frozen then of course I will just put it in at the temperature I hope it ultimately reaches. But we are talking of things that we are going to cook in ways other than sous vide and need to get them safely and quickly defrosted. At least that is what I am talking about! edited to add: since the object is frozen when put into cold tap water to defrost it is at a much lower temperature than the 20°C that I am allowed to set on the Joule. So it stays in the safety zone for a very long part of the hour to two hours that it takes to defrost.

I have tried on and off to like what I refer to as “fat pastas”. I define these as any pasta that is larger than a grain of rice or shorter than a 6 inch ruler. Leaves out just about everything except orzo and the generic group of “spaghettis”.

Well this is embarrassing to admit but as Canadian living within a stone’s throw of Elora, I can’t say as I have ever heard of Anita Stewart. Nor have I ever heard of Food Day Canada. I am not sure what this speaks to – – my failure to show some loyalty to my national cuisine or somebody else’s failure to market Anita Stewart and Food Day Canada adequately. Rest in peace, Anita. I might’ve been a better person for having been aware of you and your efforts on behalf of our national cuisine. I hang my head in shame.

@Kerry Bealdid a little grocery shopping for me the other day. I asked her to get me a couple of bunches of beets. I don’t usually use the beet greens because in my experience they are often well past their prime and too skimpy to make the effort worthwhile. But not this time. I have never seen such an abundance of wondrously fresh beet greens. I blanched the greens and stuck them into the refrigerator. I roasted the beets in the steam oven (425°F steam bake for a little over an hour for the largest ones). Today I took some of the beets and gave them a pomegranate molasses dressing. I sautéed the greens with a little garlic and then mutilated an egg! Damn. But on some toasted bread it all tasted just fine.

Obituary. Chiang was the owner, chef and mastermind behind the game-changing San Francisco restaurant, the Mandarin. She is widely credited with bringing authentic Chinese food to America and was a celebrity chef before celebrity chefs were popularized.

Looks really good but I draw the line at buying even one more cookbook at the present time! 😂

Today’s lunch came from Bul & Gogi Korean restaurant in Hamilton. Kerry had the Jap Chae (Stir fried Sweet potato clear noodle with beef and vegetables.) I had the Galbi Lunch (beef short ribs marinated in Korean BBQ sauce). Mine came with miso soup, a small salad, a couple of tempura vegetables, rice and lots of dipping sauces. not the greatest photographs!

At some point I suspect I will find myself making LGD. But I’m not rushing. I am not a fan of green olives and even mint really only calls to me in mint sauce. I need to live closer to one of you who have made it so I could sneak just a taste!

Well I have the Joule and It will not let me set a temperature less than 20°C. So that is where I set it. As for the amount of time required you’ll have to make your own judgment. For a pound of ground meat I would suggest checking it after one hour. I don’t think I would attempt to defrost a whole chicken this way! Chicken thighs probably take between one and two hours depending again on how many thighs you are trying to defrost. To be on the safe side I would not attempt to defrost anything that requires much more than two hours.

I have to question how one gets 2 cups of caramelized onions even if using the largest quantity of onions to begin with!

😂😂

Toasted sourdough, sweet potato purée, roasted shallots and mushrooms, and a fried egg.

Thanks. I just listened to this. I am finding the book a challenging read. There is a part of me that is wishing that an editor could have reigned Nik in at times. It feels as if he is occasionally riding off in all directions at once. It is a long book, 352 pages in the print edition, and it sometimes feels as if Nik couldn’t bear to leave out anything. These are just my very early impressions. I shall keep reading.

I just knew you would have to at least look at a copy of this book! I’m so happy you will be getting it I look forward to hearing your views and seeing the dishes that you are inspired to make.

I pre-ordered this book and sometime after midnight it showed up in my Kindle library. I discovered it only a few hours ago. Naturally, I have had very little opportunity to form much of an opinion. But The Guardian has done quite a review with a very generous smattering of recipes from the book. Anyone else anxious to explore this book?

I did not need Vivian‘s help to make caramelized onions but reading about them moved me to get up and do something! Melting Almost there.

It would appear that it makes perfectly fine toast. Here.

Toasted sourdough bread spread with slow-roasted sweet potato purée mashed with some miso butter then topped with soft scrambled eggs and Campari tomato dice.

Very slow roasted sweet potato with miso butter.

I think you will enjoy it. I use quite a lot of furikake and the book is giving me ideas of other uses. (Wow! I just looked up the kimchee furikake on amazon.ca that I usually buy and jt is at least four times the price I paid for it.)

Couldn’t resist just for the sheer pleasure of reading her writing. So I now own the Kindle edition. Her take on preserved lemons left me with a very sore forehead as I constantly asked myself, as I read, “Why not? Why didn’t I think of this?” Why not all citrus fruits? Why not add leftover lemon or other citrus to the brine? If I make nothing else from the book I will definitely be attempting her Citrus Shrine. I will likely adapt her method to make a speedy version such as the one offered by Paula Wolfert or the one offered by Thomas Keller.

Out of the package it looks most unappetizing. That is grease! I’m going to assume it has something to do with it being vacuum packed. After being baked according to the directions the greasiness is much less apparent. Although I lived for a short time in Quebec (both of my sons were born there) I have never sampled tourtière. I had some expectations including some fairly prominent spicing particularly cloves. I read a comment somewhere that this pie is a little like the garam masala of Indian cuisine – – every family has its own version. This was OK initially but I found out I could not finish it. It was hard to detect spices of any kind in there let alone cloves. I found that it sat heavily on my stomach. I am quite prepared to try other versions of this well-known French-Canadian dish but I wouldn’t buy another one of this brand.