TdeV

And I just bought large shiny eggplants!

@OlyveOyl, that looks so totally scrumptious! Could you please post a photo of the baking tin? Dimensions, too.

Yes, please!

@liuzhou explains at the top of this post.

Your Instant Pot Lux 6 Quart is made by Instant Pot, so it has the same (or newer) technology as other models. According to the manual, a minimum of 1 1/2 cups liquid is required. Because of the volume of water in vegetables, many of them "count" as a liquid.

Instant pot specifications say 2 cups liquid in pot minimum.*1 *2 Onion and carrots (and many other veg) count as water. *3 *1. I believe @blue_dolphin said that the actual required amount was slightly over 1 cup, but I don't remember exactly. *2. No idea what are the specifications for your pot's manufacturer; is there somewhere to find out? If you send me a PM of the manufacturer and model of your "Instant Pot" I will attempt to find out for you. *3. Put the onion and the carrots into big measuring device and fill with water to some measurement. Pour out the water and measure it. The difference between the two water measurements is the value of water in onion and carrots. So you can safely cut down the amount of water you're using!

This looks tremendous! And I have oxtails in the freezer. Could you possibly point to your instant pot recipe? Here I have found a recipe for Rabo de Toro by José Andrés which only takes 5 hours. 🙄

I bought both kinds, regular and sour, so I will let you know.

Yes, the pork must help the flavour . . . 🤣

I remember them from my childhood, so of course I had to buy some!

These are the beans of which Rancho Gordo is sold out. (I am planning to make Cassoulet. Grrr.) https://www.ranchogordo.com/collections/out-of-stock-beans

@Shel_B, I have several of these copper diffuser plates: 2 @ 6", 1 @ 8", and 1 @ 10". We have a very large All Clad pan (11" or 12") which never gets properly heated because our largest gas burner only shoots a flame with a diameter a bit larger than 5". Our most common use for this pan is frying eggplant slices dipped in egg and breadcrumbs. Without the diffuser, the eggplant has to get moved around very frequently. My other use for the diffuser plates is in the Anova Steam Oven when making baguettes. One 10" plate and two 6" plates make a terrifiic baking stone. Oh, and I have a friend with an 8 quart cast iron Dutch oven. The diffuser plate is good enough to get the contents of the Dutch oven good and toasty! Edited to add: I don't touch the plates until they've cooled down. They don't need any cleaning. They stack nicely above my fridge.

I have milk in my tea. Regularly leave the cup around. Often takes sips from it when cold.

Thanks to all the helpful suggestions, I warmed some panettone under a damp paper towel in the microwave. The resulting panettone was so light and airy, it just disappeared. Vanished! I'm thinking I need another piece just to made sure that I actually got some.

This looks delightful! And, as it so happens, I have a bunch of chestnuts. I'm very intrigued by your crème de marrons. Do you have a recipe?

Hmm, no culinary schools around here. Sadly, it looks like my wallet is safe too.

@ElsieD, where?

@ElsieD, did you order the feast online?

How many meals was this spread from Le Cordon Bleu? Looks like enough for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, maybe even New Year's week! What were the tastes like?

I read that the popularity of smoking pot was reducing wine consumption in general. I can possibly find the source of such info if folks want me to look.

Not to lose sight of my question . . . Could you tell me how I inquire from a bacon purveyor about the level of smoke in their bacon? If I ask "is it smoky" or "how smoky is it" or "is additonal smoke flavouring added", the answer is surely to be coloured by the vendor's personal tastes and other pressures.

Me too.

I meant to write that "You'd never know it by the percentage of red in my wine consumption" but it's much funnier in the original post. 🙄

You'd never know it by my red wine consumption. 😁

I'm no longer tolerant of heavy smoke, especially added smoke flavouring. When I lived in California I used to be able to choose between two bacons at the meat counter. One had a pronounced smoke flavour and the other didn't. Do anyone know of a quality bacon with a very low smoke flavour? What is Broadbent's Premium Country Ham flavour, @rotuts?