Ttogull

Not really a direct answer, but have you considered a paper towel dipped in an oil of your choosing (I like grapeseed for high heat neutral oil) and, perhaps with tongs, brushing oil on your pan? I use stainless steel and cast iron and don't own Pam at all. A half onion is also great.

River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was recently released in the U.S. Amazon link: River Cottage Veg It's tempting, I'd be interested in what you think of it. Maybe you saw it, but the Wash Post had an article about it and some sample recipes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/weeknight-vegetarian-river-cottage-goes-meatless/2013/06/03/fa581f8e-c8ac-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html The tahini dressed veggies intrigue me, but I wasn't sure enough to buy the book. I would also like others' opinions.

Salt does more than contribute "saltiness" to food: it's a flavor enhancer. Finding no-or low-sodium mechanisms to enhance flavor surely is a worthwhile pursuit for all, but especially those who elect to restrict or limit sodium intake for health reasons.Yes, my question was rhetorical. That said, the WSJ weekend section has a blurb that states acids can be more effective than salt. For meats, it suggests red wine or sherry vinegar. Lemon juice for everything else. I could see variations. Malt vinegar with fries, for instance, would cover for no salt. Somebody - Thomas Keller? - says vinegar is the most underused condiment in the kitchen.

I think this is covered above, but maybe I have a slightly different approach. Having recently become interested in the vegan lifestyle, I find it somewhat interesting that some want to replicate the omnivore diet using vegan ingredients. Why (IMO), when purely vegan dishes without omnivore counterpart are so outstanding? Something similar here. Why try to replicate the sense of or give the illusion of salt? There are so many incredible salt-free dishes that one does not need to replicate. Salt-free fries? Please! They will always taste like cr*p. But give me the choice between salt-free collard greens roasted in the oven for 1 hour or ANY version of salted fries, and I will pick the greens every time. It's hard to explain, but I don't think there is a global solution. No version of fake salt will suffice in every dish. Instead, smart substitutes, perhaps dependent on the individual and the dish, will be preferred.

Having received my PhD several years ago, I recall my version of your situation. Seems we never went hungry though, despite our limited stipends and, more importantly, limited time. Many memorable meals cooked by colleagues from other countries. It's not clear where you live. Where I live, the international stores offer far better quality items at a fraction of the cost of national grocery chains. For instance, limes were recently 3/$2 at a national chain, and 5/$1 at a Korean supermarket. The Korean market's were better quality because, IMO, their customers would not buy the cr*p sold by the other store. Likewise, a Latin store always has ripe avocados (they manage their inventory) at lower cost than national chains. Plantains chaper than bananas, etc. In my experience, the international store product is usually fresher, cheaper, and longer-lasting than its chain counterparts. Again, I attribute this to the clientle knowing the difference between quality and cr*p but having tighter budgets. For meats except pork, I go to a Halal butcher. He's cheaper, but I'd go if he was double the price. Awesome, awesome beef, lamb, and chicken. I agree with the others above about beans. Beans are so versatile. Even today, without a limited budget, I eat a couple of pounds (dry) per week. Yesterday I made 1 lb black beans. Combined with grilled corn and red pepper for a side with salmon. Today was more black beans with super ripe mango, avocado, and scallions with jerk chicken. Breakfast tomorrow will be grilled plantains with black beans. The pot liquor will be used to make rice. Add to that puréeing, refrying, converting to mock burgers, etc., beans are the ultimate cheap food.

So tonight was 500 degree F night. I set the BGE to 500 degrees F with a little bit of mesquite wood for flavor. The star attraction was a pastured chicken dry-brined with just salt for 2+ days. Co-starring were red potatoes and asparagus. I let the BGE preheat for more than an hour at 500 along with a 12-inch cast iron pan. At T-1 hour, the potatoes went on the grate naked. At T-40 minutes, the chicken went into the pan breast up, and the potatoes were flipped and rotated. At T-20 minutes, the asparagus went on, the chicken was flipped, and the potatoes flipped and rotated. Also the chicken was basted with the rendered chicken fat. At approximately T-5 minutes, the asparagus and potatoes were done (the latter at 195 degrees F). The chicken went abit beyond T, but that was good because I could move the chicken around to get the skin on all sides brown and crispy. It was great cooking everything at one temp. It's the first time I've cooked baked potatoes at a high temp, and I have to say that they are fantastic. It was a huge hit with the fam.

I cook beef stews and chili very frequently. I use different methods, including oven, stove, fireplace, Weber grill, Big Green Egg, PC, and maybe some other ways I've forgotten. I have never tried Dinty Moore, but I'm assuming it tastes bad when I say "[Properly cooked] PC beef in no way resembles Dinty Moore." Or any other canned product I have not tried. Of all the ways I've tried, PC is the most reliable and, IMO, the most pleasing from a texture and moisture standpoint. But, as I tried to explain above, I do not treat it like a PC version of an oven braise. I use much less liquid, and of course much less time. As ePressureCooker says, a natural release seems critical (I've never tried an unnatural release). So many variables here.

I did lamb shanks about a month or so ago in my pressure cooker. I think I did them about 40 minutes in my KR with a natural release. They were wonderful. I like doing braise cuts in the PC - it seems that the meat is more tender and moist, and the melting of the collagen seems superior. I am not an expert on the PC, but I like to think of cooking meats as cooking them with flavored steam. I don't put much broth, stock, or whatever in. Just enough (in my mind) to get adequate steam for pressure, and certainly nowhere near enough to cover the meat. What I get afterward is like a reduced stock. For the lamb shanks in particular, this had a very sticky mouthfeel like an over-reduced stock. I should've added more liquid either before or after, but it was sure tasty. One last thing I remember: one of my shanks was too long to lay flat in the PC. I had to lean it up against the side of the PC. This did not seem to be an issue in the finished project.

This advice came in handy tonight. I had some gigantic dried unpeeled fava beans. Soaking did not separate the skins from the bean, and neither did cooking them. I remembered this post, drug out my handed down Foley food mill, and had a wonderful fava bean purée in short order. Chickpea skins have nothing on these fava bean skins, so the food mill ought to work great with them too. Thanks for the posts/advice.

Same here. Not mint, but that direction. Provides a freshness or brightness when raw. For a treat, put cilantro AND mint in, say, grilled ground lamb kabobs. Some of my neighbors smell the stinkbugs we have around here (dunno their position on cilantro). "You can't smell that?!" Nope.

Interesting. Cilantro tastes nothing like soap to me, and stink bugs don't stink. We have a LOT where I live, and I crush them in hopes I can discover why people make such a stink about them. According to this article, there are similarities in soap and bug smells that those poor souls cursed with the unfortunate dislike of cilantro might pick up. Maybe your homemade cilantro differs slightly from commercial and smells like bugs rather than soap. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html

It's not as bad as it sounds, as long as you are ready. I like high-heat grilling. I do not like char, but I do like meats well-browned. I can't get that fast enough in my oven. To avoid a fire, you could put a cast iron skillet over the coals. I did that one time to make smashburgers (awesome) and the temp was around 800 degrees. You might be able to get it hotter burning some wood. I'm not sure how hot my stove burner gets, but it doesn't matter because at that temp the smoke would set off every smoke detector in the house and would splatter fat everywhere. Better to do that outside in the yard. For a large roast, I'd think a blowtorch would take too long. Plus, I don't get good results with one. Plus plus, you can get flames with torches too. ETA: and what would your fur balls be doing that close to the meat?

I take it that you are trying to avoid carbs, but want the flavor imparted by beer in a recipe? My belief is that, no, simmering chuck in beer will not significantly change the carb content of meat. I am not a scientist, however. I did several searches, and the best evidence I could find to support my belief is that sugar-cured bacon is considered low carb. Not no-carb, but low carb. What you are doing is less extreme than that, so if it were me I wouldn't worry. Just don't drink the cooking liquids. Why are you asking? There are probably lots of no carb ways to flavor meat in a crockpot.

A slightly different direction on your question, but you might consider freezing and then reheating sous vide. There was a thread on that not too long ago. I myself was dubious at first, but try it a few times. I've put GRILLED chicken in ziplocks and SV'ed to reheat, and they were fantastic for a no-hands meal (not as good as straight off the grill, but a small price to pay for the insanity I can only imagine with 4 kids). If you go this direction, from experience I can tell you that you should rebag everything. I guess freezing pokes small holes in the ziplocks and water gets in or food gets out if you do not.

I have tried this. It might just be my oven, but it never browns to my satisfaction before the inside gets too hot (an overcooked inside is a travesty). What I did last year was smoke to temp at about 225 and then put the roast directly over hardwood charcoal "propped up" to about 1/2 inch or so below the grate (I use the Weber baskets designed for indirect to prop up the coals). It will start a fire instantly, so you got to have the lid ready and your sh*t together, but man was it good! Stay away from anything that will burn. All that fat smoke rivaled the wood smoke for flavor.

I love roasting them, especially the habaneros, before making a hot sauce. I like to roast-smoke with mesquite.

So, in case anyone is interested and comes across this later, I found the answer. Funny, I bought a new cookbook called "Smoke: New Firewood Cooking" and it has a recipe for Smothered Rabbit Stew that calls for the very La Chamba pot I have. Byres, the author, puts the La Chamba on the coals just as I would a cast iron dutch oven. I'm good to go.

I love cooking in the embers of a fire, such as an outdoor fireplace. Up to now I've used cast iron for this. Recently, however, I have acquired two LA Chamba pieces, and the promo says the can be used in fires and grills. I've seen pictures of a La Chamba beanpot nestled in embers that make me salivate. But the same promo says to avoid large changes in temperature. So how does one start a pot of beans on the fire? Or put a La Chamba skillet on the fire? Or put it on a grill? For cast iron, I'd just put the cookware straight into the coals or on a grill. I'm confused on the La Chamba though. Treat it just like cast iron? Thanks in advance for any advice.

I tried this for the first time tonight. Actually thought of your post when I saw romaine hearts at the store. Very nice. I added a little hickory smoke, and cut the hearts crosswise to make a salad. Forgot about some cherry tomatoes that, roasted, would have made a nice addition. I like the crisp/wilty contrast.

The point above is good. And about that 12.5% (blush) - there were two errors on my part, and the salt is about 8% of the water weight. Still pretty salty. Some would put the brined pork in fresh water for a couple of hours, changing water every 30 minutes, to draw the excess salt from the outer part of the meat. But this is not what you would want to do after a long commute. Better to follow the advice above.

The brine from Ad Hoc is approximately 12.5% salt. That is very salty. Keller's tenderloin recipe, for instance, says do not brine more than 4 hours or it will be too salty. By overnight, I am guessing that means 20 or so hours? Cooking by time on a grill is not a good way to cook. Everything changes each time you cook, so going by temperature (or feel, with experience) is better. The heat source could be hotter or cooler, the ambient temperature matters a lot, the meat will not be the same each time, etc. A thermometer will be your friend.

A picture is worth a thousand words? http://www.abritinecuador.com/2013/04/14/manjar-or-dulce-de-leche/

I am more familiar with roux in the Louisiana style cooking. Étouffée simply wouldn't be étouffée without a properly done roux. The carmelization and Maillard reactions are necessary, IMHO. I've seen this guy on several shows about Louisiana cooking, and he suggests that a darker roux has less thickening power. http://www.jfolse.com/fr_rouxs.htm

I've never made it but I have eaten it. It should very thick, much like the caramel you'd put on ice cream. It should be about a tan color. Good luck.

The Amazon reviews http://www.amazon.com/Hershey-Special-Dutch-Natural-Cocoa/dp/B0007SNZ52 suggest that people have called Hershey's and that the Special Dark replaced the "European Style Dutch Processed." It does indeed have a silver label. I have a half-empty can I bought last summer. It makes the best chocolate ice cream. I wish I had known that it would be discontinued, but this is the first I've heard of it.