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@shain, could you please tell us more about that quick bread?

Dinner for 6 last Sunday night First finger food prep: cherry tomatoes, sliced in half, then roasted at 275F for several hours to become Cherry Tomato Chewies from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven p. 60 And after On left are finished Cherry Tomato Chewies. On right are Roasted Pecans which came from farmers' market and rinsed in warm water a few times and then drizzled with a little oil, some brown sugar and cayenne pepper based on post by @JAZ and p 56 Of Katzen's Vegetable Heaven. Next were crostini with thin slices of pear topped with a dollop of mixed cheese: Point Reyes Blue, Taleggio and Italian Fontina which was then broiled for a few minutes (sorry no photo) Shaved fennel, grapefruit, and red bell pepper matchsticks with mint and parsley salad with a sauce made from fennel seed, sumac, honey, lime juice and zest from Dining In by Alison Roman p 103. Barley and pomegranate salad from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty p 238 included celery, pomegranate balsamic vinegar, allspice, dill, parsley, pomegranate and barley. Carmelized Squash with Toasted Coconut Gremolata from Dining In by Alison Roman p 48. I used butternut squash. Also herbs, lemon zest and juice, coconut oil and chips, honey, and a Turkish cayenne pepper. Here is the squash before the gremolata. and Turkish cayenne pepper (some of which were very hot!) and presto! Carmelized Squash with Toasted Coconut Gremolata Roasted Chestnut mushrooms (from the farmers' market) Black beans and slow-cooked carmelized onions topped with Whipped Ricotta. Carmelized onions came from egullet. Can't remember where I saw whipped ricotta so ended up googling it. Used ricotta, cream cheese & cream. Sprinkled with and black sea salt flakes. The black beans came from one of my favourite persons at the farmers' market, so nice and fresh. Sous vide leg of lamb at 131F for 24 hours (from egullet, with a check from Douglas Baldwin Sous Vide for the Home Cook) Creamer potatoes and tiny sweet potatoes (cooked sous vide). In the beginning I perused a few recipes and made lists of possibilities, went to the market and bought fresh items which looked good, came home and assembled a timeline for making dishes. Actually I had the makings of, and started, a couple more dishes than I ended up finishing. I had roped in DH to assist and he pointed out that I had much too much food, so some of it's still in the fridge! . . . and my friend brought dessert. I was comatose on Monday!

Here is a leg of lamb done 24 hours at 131F last Sunday.

Better and better!

I know there are many threads on egullet about Instant Pot and read many of them some time ago. Some threads are quite old–there's a sense of delight and discovery about the new device (toy). What's harder to determine is the comparison between Instant Pot and a true pressure cooker. Is there anything which a pressure cooker can do which the Instant Pot cannot? I know the Instant Pot Ultra model can cook at high pressure as well as low pressure. Also I'm interested to know how many features are used by experienced owners? (Everyone on Instant Pot's website has owned the device for 2 weeks). I'm concerned that the Instant Pot has a whole lot of buttons which I may never use. How many different cooking methods do you use? Do you customize any of the settings? I'm wondering why one is focussed on migrating away from the stove; is there a reason to prefer an Instant Pot?

@Okanagancook, thanks. I vacuum sealed the partial leg in a food safe bag already, but I'm going to bring it out for a dinner party this weekend. I've already paid for the bag and would be disinclined to spring for a second one, but I get very anxious around dinner parties and try to do as much in advance as possible. Question: Is the fell easier to remove when the meat is cooked? (Hence I should wait until after cooking)

Does anyone else keep spices in the freezer?* I've been looking at these freezer safe jars from Lee Valley but I can't see any reasonable way to organize my inadequate freezer space. Edited to add: * Could you post some photos, please?

Here is my new spice cabinet. It is 4.5" deep, 41" wide, and 87" tall.

I am unable to link to another post, so here is my former spice cabinet:

@paulraphael, could you please post a photo of this arrangement? I keep my nuts in the freezer but I have just been reading that I should be keeping seeds there too. Many of my spices are in glass jars, and maybe I'll need to change that.

@liuzhou, what volume is this container?

Looking for something else, I came across silicone seals for canning jars, where the silicone replaces the metal + rubberized lid, but not the band. They're all reusable. Some might be BPA free. I've never done any canning, but I keep thinking I should try it. I have a lot of canning jars which I use for other storage. Are these a good idea for canning? Any caveats?

The bones were on a rack above the pan, not in the water. The pans were tricky to move, so I removed most of the water. The bones got quite charred, but there wasn't very much water at that point. Edit: I have edited the original post to reflect this.

Yes, no carmelized fat. I also couldn't move the pans around, so I have poured most of the water off.

Somewhere I read that one should put a little water in the bottom of the baking pan so that the fat doesn't stick to the pan. I've put in about 1 1/2 cups in a half sheet pan. Will that prevent the soup bones from developing a grilled flavour? Edited to clarify that these bones were on a rack above a sheet pan partly filled with water.

If I'm understanding what the fell is on lamb, should one remove it prior to cooking the leg sous vide?

@JoNorvelleWalker, I've blown through 2 KitchenAids, so curious what you'd recommend. I'm thinking of Bamix as heavy duty; are you saying it's not? I'm about to remodel my kitchen . . . and am thinking where to place appliances.

I also posted this on another Bamix thread: To anyone who owns a Bamix: Would you be willing to take (and post) a photo(s) of the Bamix while it's supported by the wall bracket? I'd like to see what kind of space it needs. TIA. 

To anyone who owns a Bamix: Would you be willing to take (and post) a photo(s) of the Bamix on the wall bracket? I'd like to see what kind of space it needs. TIA.

I'm back. Looking to replace my immersion blender again. 😕 This time I have Bamix in my sights.

I recommend THE SWISS COOKBOOK by Betty Bossi, also printed in German as SCHWIIZER CHUCHI. The page numbers and photos match. It is an updated version of old Swiss recipes by canton in 4 regions. The index is truly appalling. According to Wikipedia, Betty Bossi is a fictional creation by a margarine manufacturer but I have found their recipes quite interesting. My Swiss friend subscribes to two bimonthly Swiss cooking magazines: one from Betty Bossi and the better one called KOCHEN by Annemarie Wildeisen. I've been reading these recipes (in German) for years. I don't speak German, but I can identify an onion, garlic, etc. As a matter of fact, I rarely am able to have the directions translated, relying instead on the ingredient list and the photos. Once my friend and I both cooked the same recipe and they were totally different dishes! Though, other than baking, I rarely follow recipes exactly. One interesting recipe from KOCHEN is called Cholera Pie which, if I remember correctly, dates from the time people were forbidden from leaving their valley for fear of catching the disease. So, over the winter, supplies got meagre. Inside top and bottom pastry, the pie is made of cooked potatoes, onions, leeks, sour apple, and cheese. Yum!

Oh, in the case of green beans, one shocks them to keep them green. But what about potatoes?

@scubadoo97, if the cook time is 45 minutes to 1 hour at 182F (I think that's what Baldwin says about green beens) and anova says 40 minutes, I don't see what leaving the beans "en plein d'air" at 72F threatens.

I can understand that putting the sous vide bag in a sink full of ice is important with meat, as one wishes to quickly lower the temperature of meat so that it's not dangerous. But what about potatoes? Or green beans? Why ice?

I've been researching chicken produced by massive farms, and the results aren't pretty. How prevalent are these dangerous chicken practises? I.e. are these practises of "most" large chicken farms, or "occasional" chicken farms? So, my neighhbourhood farmer has free range whole chickens which have large breasts and small legs (breed choice). Presumably if I can commit to buying chickens from him, he might breed some with with small breasts and larger legs. In the meantime, I need something to do with chicken breast (which I normally find dry and tasteless). Should I pound it thin then stuff it? Stuff it without pounding it thin? Suggestions?