Martin Fisher

If you're 'salt box' curing, as in the recipe, 12 hours is likely sufficient. For consistency and to avoid over-salting/curing, I use a specific amount of cure and sugar - 2.25 - 2.50% salt total via the cure calculator on my website (which is in desperate need of an overhaul) - and let it cure longer before hanging it. If using Morton's Tender Quick similarly, one tablespoon (~15 grams) of MTQ per pound of meat is ~3% in-going salt, so, about 2.5 teaspoons for 2.5% in-going salt. HTH

I wholeheartedly agree.

Umami addict here. I stock many of the usual, convenient favorites: Red Boat Fish Sauce, Red Boat Salt, Squid Brand Thai fish sauce (It's inexpensive and locally available. I used to buy Tiparos brand, which was also inexpensive and locally available, but, it's, allegedly, no longer approved for sale in the USA.) Maggi Seasoning, Marmite, Italian salt-packed anchovies, Ohsawa Raw Nama Shoyu (and many other soy sauces), GravyMaster Browning/Caramelizing Seasoning (yes, really...a 'secret' ingredient in a couple things I make), Ac'cent brand MSG, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, miso, bonito, dried shrimp, several varieties of dried mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, Maytag blue cheese (occasionally), Roquefort and other blue cheeses, Limburger cheese (one of my very favorite foods), Kerrygold Dubliner (wonderful stuff, sort of a Parmesan, Swiss & Cheddar amalgamation), and many other cheeses, Prosciutto, black garlic, etcetera. Some of my favorite homemade umami concoctions: Tomato Conserva: It's basically tomato paste thickened to the desired consistency. Here's how I make it...... "I switched to this method long ago because I got tired of processing tomatoes in a super-hot late summer kitchen. Zero-heat tomato water and rich tomato conserva. Wash tomatoes thoroughly (preferably a well flavored roma-type, like Martino's Roma or Opalka, but any tomato will work.) Cut out the stem end of the tomato (this makes peeling easier), place tomatoes on sheet pan and freeze solid. Remove tomatoes from freezer and run under a slow steady stream of cold water, the skins will easily slip off. Very coarsely chop the semi-frozen tomatoes (3/4" sized pieces) and place in a cheesecloth or muslin lined colander overnight or until they stop draining (lightly salting will help.) The resulting tomato water will be quite clear. Run the tomato remains through a food mill to remove the seeds. This is a snap because the freezing does a very good job of breaking down the tomato flesh. The resulting conserva should be thick enough so that a wooden spoon will stand up in it. I then freeze the conserva or reduce it to the desired thickness, spread out, on stainless steel sheet pans in a slow oven, stirring occasionally until it reaches the desired consistency. This requires some planning ahead, but it produces some very nice tomato water and conserva without a lot of fuss or heat!!!" Pinçage: It's basically a caramelized, flavor-enhancing mirepoix with the addition of some tomato paste, and, in my case, a touch of Red Boat Salt, fish sauce or anchovy salt. I make it in the pressure cooker. Caramelized Tomato Paste: Also made in the pressure cooker. Smoke-dried tomatoes and chiles. Anchovy Salt: Sea salt, fish sauce and mashed anchovies dried in the dehydrator. Veal Salt: Veal stock, sea salt and Red Boat salt, dried in the dehydrator. Anchovy Butter: Unsalted butter, anchovies, garlic clove and a touch of lemon juice. Anchovy Mayo Miso Butter Miso Mayo Salmon Katsuobushi: I add a touch of Red Boat salt to mine. Various dried-cured muscle meats and sausages: I, almost always, add a bit of Red Boat salt or Red Boat fish sauce in lieu of a portion of the sea salt to kick-up the umami. But that's a 'secret,' so please don't tell anyone. Dry-cured, lightly-smoked pork tenderloin: This is wonderful stuff. Pork tenderloin, sea salt, Red Boat salt and a pinch of sugar. I often dry it to the point where it can be finely grated on salad, eggs, etcetera. It's very easy for almost anyone - even those without a curing chamber - to make following Jacques Pépin's Saucisson of Pork Tenderloin method. Bacon 'Jam' Wild Mushroom Ketchup And many. many more but I'm tired of typing, for now.

I agree that there has been an increasing trend of fraud among SOME "natural/organic" growers over the past 20-30 years, folks who jumped on the bandwagon for the the money rather than a matter of principle. But, in this area away, they are few and far between. I suppose it varies greatly from area to area. I don't think that one, generally, needs to spend much time with a grower to tell the difference between those who are passionate and principled and those who are just in it for the money.

It's nothing new, food fraud has been an issue for a very long time, see here, here and here. There are no guarantees; but knowing your grower, if possible, is a good policy.

I subscribed to a premium vegetarian mail order meal plan back in the late 80's which had been advertised in Vegetarian Times magazine (I went vegetarian for a time as an over-reaction to a bout of cancer in my very early 20's.) The plan was great and introduced me to many foods that I was, at the time, unfamiliar with, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc. Having grown up in a very rural setting, there was very little exposure to diverse ethnic foods. It was a wonderful experience.

I wonder if, maybe, someone was pulling someone's leg. Sounds revolting! Having said that, the folks eating it are certainly free to add whatever suits them.

Yep!!!

I'd call it crazy people paying crazy prices. I get that some folks may 'require' the convenience for health reasons or whatever. I worked with the disabled for years, including the profoundly disabled; my Mom has Multiple Sclerosis; I have other family and friends with issues. I, myself, have issues where I wonder if, some days, I'll be able to make it to the end of the day. So I do 'get it.' None of the folks I know in such a situation are well off financially, quite the opposite. Reasonably priced conveniences would be appreciated.

I was back at the store this morning. I asked about custom chopping, slicing, dicing, spiralizing, etc. of any fruit or vegetable in the produce section. The answer was... 'Sure, $6.99 per pound for any and all.' Stuff at the so-called 'salad bar' is $8.99 per pound. That's crazy and outrageous in my opinion.

I'm happy to hear that!!!

Yes. I've recently started digitizing the irreplaceable stuff and archiving it on M-Discs (1000 year archival DVDs.) I'll store those in a very safe place as well as distribute copies to family and friends.

Yeah! I do quadruple backups on different media forms because I'm naturally paranoid!

I'm smack dab in the middle between 2 stores, both ~4 miles away. I haven't noticed a stench but there's almost always some nastiness in the dairy cooler, dried egg or milk or whatever on the floor. It is, not surprisingly, the worst during the busy holiday season. There's often some litter outside the store, but not real bad. My sidekick once found a $20 bill that had blown up against the outside of the building.

We use a lot of cream; 3 to 4 pints per week. I do buy ultra-pasteurized cream at Aldi because it's actually Byrne Dairy/Ultra Dairy brand (Plant #36-8580) priced less than the Byrne Dairy labeled cream at Sam's Club and the like. Aldi's 'Country Creamery' cream is $1.69 for a pint; a quart of Byrne Dairy labeled cream is $4.12 at Sam's, a bit more elsewhere. But, we stopped to buy some last Tuesday (I usually buy 12 at a time) and they were out! The store manager said they've ordered it but haven't been able to get it recently. I much prefer 'real' cream from a 'real' dairy but that's a 70 mile round-trip that we can't justify very often. I also, occasionally, buy some Kerrygold cheeses at Aldi but there were none in stock. Aldi's 'Carlini' extra-light-tasting, alleged, 'olive oil' is another product I also buy occasionally - it's very mild so I use it to make mayo - but they were out of that too! So we left the store empty-handed this trip.

Well, shipping is included and Shanghai is ~7,250 miles from my doorstep; so the price isn't a big surprise.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-arrival-ceramic-tea-strainer-free-shipping-hot-selling-special-sale/1670912390.html?spm=2114.40010308.4.65.u9Hokr I'm tempted!

I follow a once a month or once a week cooking routine for many of my meals. Sous vide has made it easier and more convenient in many ways.

I snagged it. It appears to be formatted quite well for the Kindle. I'm looking to give the chicken with mustard a try sometime soon.

For a limited time, from April 3 to April 17th, you can get a copy of David Lebovitz' My Paris Kitchen for only $1.99 in the eBook format.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I thought the point of the thread was discussing products that we, as individual forum members, find priced 'crazy.' It's obvious that SOME folks don't care about prices for various reasons. If my posts are off-topic I'll gladly delete them.

If they don't, they should. At the grocery I mentioned above, there are folks in the 'sushi' area adjacent to the produce section fiddling with vegetables and such all day long.

Chopped or spiralized to order would make more sense in several respects. The butchery department customizes at no extra charge. There's no good reason to gouge. BTW, chopped yellow or red onions were also $7.00 per pound!!!

I have nothing against sliced/diced/chopped or whatever vegetables per se, it's the PRICE (which is what I thought this thread is about) of some of it!!! I mean, c'mon, $7.00 for a pound of squash! And it didn't even look fresh! It's absurd!

It's about the same here. $6.59 for 8.5 ounces at the grocery I frequent the most,