JoNorvelleWalker

Could you kindly share the temperature and humidity for your overnight braise? And what exactly were you braising?

Tuna salad's been the last three days of dinner here. Served with coleslaw and frozen French fries.

The cherries were not very good anyhow.

Thanks. I'll try some more of the cherries tonight and if no better I'm sure amazon will make good. They really were a disappointment. They look pretty though.

Do cherries ripen after they are picked? I ask because the Rainier Cherries I recently got from amazon are somewhat astringent and not sweet. In the previous couple years the Rainier cherries I have had from amazon have been great.

Beautiful pictures of beautiful food.

Prime Day 6/21-6/22. https://www.amazon.com/primeday?&ref_=ENGPD21_EventLeadUp_PMP_Hero

Please keep us informed.

This was in the 1960's, so I suspect less variety than now. In any event, in a couple visits I made to Britain, I don't recall seeing a Thai or Italian restaurant. And my one Indian restaurant experience was less than good.

Pretty sure I've mentioned this before. Whilst I was staying at the home of my archeology professor at Oxford (who was, and Lord being willing still is, a decent Yorkshire cook) she warned to avoid British restaurant food. She advised to patronize Indian and Chinese establishments only.

For giggles I increased the proportion of orgeat and Cointreau in tonight's mai tai to what I've seen used by others earlier in the thread. Certainly more almondy and orangey. Sweet, but not really too sweet. But I'm about to run out of orgeat and Cointreau, and I hope the orgeat lasts until the weekend. As a public service announcement I note @feste is again selling orgeat from her website, as opposed to amazon. As good as @feste's orgeat is I am not ashamed to say I like mine better. I love that homemade orgeat does not separate, whereas @feste's orgeat does. Here is a question for all orgeat lovers here: we are now into cherry season. Thanks to amazon I just obtained a bag of Rainer cherries. Would ground up cherry pits be a positive addition to orgeat?

I was researching almonds for another topic when I came upon a topical Kate Winslet interview in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/style/mare-of-easttown-kate-winslet.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces&block=lone_trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=1071460&impression_id=20624db0-c28e-11eb-a494-7748be40cb79&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=882398965&surface=most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces Her hoagies were vegetarian and had no onion. And she did not try scrapple! I grew up in West Philadelphia, and west of Philadelphia. I could probably still do the accent but they did not ask me. I've seen Winslet in only one movie, Heavenly Creatures. I am morbidly fascinated with Anne Perry and the murder. Winslet nailed it in my opinion.

My library has a copy of Ripe Figs but there are six people in line ahead of me. I believe the policy is that we order an additional copy of an item when there are more than five holds. Doesn't your library ordinarily buy cookbooks?

I too was tempted by Ripe Figs. I put a hold on it from the library. I'd like to see it before I buy.

Your picture looks similar to my dinner last night. Amazon managed a grocery delivery, but my dinner plans were sold out. I had ordered duck and lamb. They did not arrive. What dinner was: a chicken thigh, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, frozen peas. I cooked the thigh in the APO. I achieved stringy meat that was underdone. A feat formerly thought impossible. Skin was crispy though. The potato chunks were underdone and almost didn't mash. I ate them anyway. The cream sauce was lumpy, I believe from being overheated. Maybe straining would have helped. Maybe it would have not. Anyhow I didn't bother. The frozen peas were acceptable. Edit: and I didn't watch a movie.

Less of a bargain because I also succumbed to Kitchen Mysteries @$19.32.

Hervé This, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor, @$2.99 (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

The Spice House is having a sale. I stocked up on saffron, which is usually excluded from sales.

Yes, but I have two box graters with ten different sides between them; a Cuisinart with about thirteen different discs; an Ankarsrum with two separate grating attachments for half a dozen textures; and I'm sure some way of grating with my KitchenAid. What exactly is the proper grater for potatoes? @Kim Shook said her shredder was not ideal.

This ties into a question I had recently about potato pancakes: what exactly are "grated" potatoes and how are they achieved? My Ankarsrum mixer has a potato grating attachment. However after using it once to less than good results I realized it is intended for grating cooked potatoes, not raw.

But the batches were from the same bag of frozen French fries.

Smash burger refers to the cooking process. Kenji calls for a temperature of 370C. The constraints of my kitchen dictate slightly lower. I form a quarter pound of ground beef into a ball. Then smash it with this (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). To make sure it's dead I whack it hard with this (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Then turn the beef for about 30 seconds before plating on a Pennsylvania Dutch potato roll. Ohh - and no one likes a cold smash burger.

Last four nights have been frozen French fries. I am not ashamed. A new brand for me, Alexia, that are pretty acceptable. This afforded an opportunity to compare APO "air fried" to traditional deep fried potatoes, at least as far as frozen French fries are concerned. The APO potatoes were better than expected, at least until they got cold. But the deep fried potatoes were far better, and were tasty even after no longer hot. Deep frying is a little more mess than air frying, but deep frying takes less time. Thus I conclude there is no point to air frying French fries. At least as far as frozen French fries are concerned. Full disclosure: three nights were Kenji smash burgers, tonight was tuna salad.

Yesterday morning I had the air conditioning on. Now I can't get warm. Rum helps.

It's not chilly, it's cold.