Anna N

Today’s haul. kitchenAid enameled cast-iron cocotte. (OK it’s a kitchen thing but if you have small animals and use this as a water/food dish they cannot knock it over.) I saw the spine of this book as Kerry and I were perusing the bookshelves. I leapt to the conclusion that it was designed for those taking English as a second language (ESL) and would be of little interest to me. As we wandered further afield from the bookshelves I began thinking that I would like to see what such a book would actually look like. Why not teach people English through cooking, I thought. Duh. It’s not as if I don’t know Todd English is a chef. Kerry handed this book to me and I was about to dismiss it but as I did a quick flip through I decided it was a fun book to read even if I was not going to actually make anything from it. With the imminent release of Modernist Bread why would anybody need another book on bread? Again I flipped through this and knew that I would enjoy reading it.

Pepper steak and mixed vegetables for Kerry. Chicken schnitzel, mashed potatoes and gravy, red cabbage and some onions. Not all our choices for a lunch venue are wise! Strangely this was in Denninger’s which is a European food store selling some very tasty food both fresh and ready to eat. Stuff from their steam table belies their skill otherwise. BUT all was not lost. While in there I purchased two jars of pickled herring and a loaf of ROGGENBROT (RYE BREAD). Together with a bottle of Aalborg aquavit from my freezer I can look forward to a lunch worthy of Valhalla. Or perhaps I will make it dinner tonight.

Apparently that is where mine went.

I am going to work myself slowly down into my basement and see if my electric knife is still there or if in a moment of foolishness I got rid of it like 15 years ago.

Carrying a hot, heavy pressure cooker to the sink was never my idea of a fun way to spend my time. The purpose, as far as I recall, was simply to drop the pressure quickly so the lid could be removed. With the electric pressure cooker I use the valve to accomplish the same thing. It is noisy and it requires some care to avoid a steam burn but so does carrying a heavy, hot pressure cooker to the sink. Pick your demons! A stovetop pressure cooker might get used twice a year in my house but the Instant Pot gets used at least once or twice a week. To each their own.

Biscuit and bacon with some tomatoes on the side.

Sent off all but two before I took a photograph. Snickerdoodles.

I have a Kuhn Rikon of similar vintage used perhaps three times. However for candy makers and chocolatiers they make the perfect Caramel pan

Thanks, Shelby. Anxious for deer season to start.

Is there a separate kitchen manual as there was with the two previous iterations of the modernists books?

Started that way too but quickly ran out of patience.

Not for the salad that I bought them for. I really do think that requires single leaves to get the maximum effect intended.

The other day, on one of my rare opportunities to visit the grocery store, I picked up some Brussels sprouts with the intent to make this. For many years the words that explained my cooking were from Shirley Conan: “ Life‘s too short to stuff a mushroom”. I have since stuffed many mushrooms quite happily. Going forward I will cling to my new motto: There isn’t enough time in any life to core Brussels sprouts. Halved and shredded Brussels sprouts with bacon, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and a final splash of maple vinegar.

Orzo with Parmesan, egg and tomato cooked in garlic flavoured oil (some drizzled over to finish) and some chopped scallions.

Ha ha! I just looked up the price of halibut in my local grocery store and it is $66 a kilo or $33 a pound give or take.

Perhaps others will give it consideration. I am awfully glad it works for you but I don’t see a canner in my future. But I thank you for sharing your experience.

I suspect because not many of us own a canner.

Yeah I heard my grandma’s voice. “What will hold a lot will hold a little.”

Nice connection. And fabulous report back from the talk. I wish I could've attended. Can hardly wait now for the book(s) to come out.

Never say never.

Did they bake the breads at George Brown?

My thoughts exactly.

I have taken the mini out of my Amazon basket. I really thought I could not live without it but a few days of weighing it up have cured me of that. It would gain me a minuscule amount of additional space if I got rid of the 6 quart but I guarantee that would never happen. Aside from that the more I thought about it the less reason there was for getting it. There is nothing it can do better than the 6 quart and I would need to start looking for all the accessories again that won't fit in the mini. I'm a sucker for baby things.

Isi's Portuguese bread done in the Thermomix. The round loaf was cooked in the regular oven and the long loaf in the CSO ( Cuisinart steam oven). Both were cooked at the same temperature 425°F and one in the steam oven was finished sooner ( 200°F +) by about five minutes than the one in the regular oven. For the one in the regular oven I sprayed the door when I went into the oven and then again at the two minute mark. I should really have shaped them both the same but I believe that the round loaf done in the regular oven had a better oven spring than the one done in the CSO. I admit that could be subjective. Both are very small loaves made using 500 g of flour.

Lazy? I couldn't think of a word any further from the truth to describe you.