donk79

Cured, I believe. But I really know nothing about the production process. All I can say is what I observe of the product. It is definitely dry and salty. If you are not familiar with chipped beef, it is sliced very thinly. It is a dried beef product that I suspect originally included salt as preservative. Though as I note above, we receive ours sealed and frozen.

Rob, I hear your rawness. Please let me say that for many of us here, you are more than a screen-name. You are an inspiration! And because of your sharing, you are also someone who we want to support. We are cheering with every victory you have achieved, and look forward to the others that we are confident will come. That said, I will encourage you to be wary of the feedback loops of social media and awards. They can be very encouraging, but they also can be very fickle as well. And I know that is more difficult because you are in a position of needing to drive traffic, and the social media and awards can certainly encourage that. But keep track of what is motivating you. Keep track of what inspires you. Don't let the current crisis and all the anxiety it inspires lead you into places of more worry and frustration. Lastly, I think that your sharing here has always been on point. You have provided education, conversation, ans opportunities for us to celebrate with you. That said, when I lived in the Midwest for 6 years, I received some similar critiques and I was not in a position where I need to be doing promotion for a business. I am praying for healing, peace and encouragement for you. May you be well.

A few years ago I discovered something new. My father had taken a few deer to a processor and ordered some chipped venison. Chipped beef was fairly common in our household when I was growing up, and chipped-beef gravy on toast was the way I always had it served. So that is how I have treated the venison in the past as well. The venison is quite lean (no surprise there), but has a good, if very salty flavor. We are in a new age of freezer scrounging, and I just thawed about a pound of shipped venison. I am angling towards gravy, but I have found that it is challenging to tame the salt without making an absurd amount of gravy. So my first thought was that I might soak it to try to remove some salt. I am concerned that I might remove flavor doing this also. Can anyone give me their insights or experience with this? I imagine any experience with chipped beef would translate. Also, are there other things that I should be exploring instead of gravy. We are fairly well stocked (I inherited my mother's tendency to always keep a full larder) so even if I don't have a particular ingredient, chances are I can substitute.

I don't know the crackers you have there, but I would expect a tremendous difference in flavor between something made with EVOO and something made with refined olive oil. Regarding blistering, it makes me think of blistering on a pizza. Maybe simply a function of the baking temperature? All speculation from me.

I am no expert on rabbit, but I can tell you that it is extremely lean and easy to overcook. That said, I find it delicious!

I had to do this translation once a upon a time, and I believe that I recall that pink salt is much more concentrated than Mortons. Yes, Mortons contains. .5% sodium nitrate (which you don't want in a quick cure anyway) and .5% sodium nitrite. Pink salt, on the other hand, contains 6.25% sodium nitrite.

4th infusion, same process as 3rd. Getting some apricot on the nose now, along with the tannin. Tasting, the tannin is definitely less prominent and a creaminess is being revealed again. Lingering finish. Fruit is not as evident on the palate in this infusion.

I received my tea in the mail last week, and am finally able to sit with it. For my first steep, I brewed at 185 for 30 seconds. I brewed 5 grams of tea in 110 ml of water. My first impression is of a very gentle, creamy brew. I get a mild tanin on the nose, and almost more mouthfeel than flavor. On the first sip, I had just a momentary hint of apricot on the finish. Coming back to the cup, cooler, there is a definite sweetness, and perhaps more hints of apricot/peachiness. 2nd infusion, same proportions, temp, for 40 seconds. A great increase in color on this steep. Very much golden, hinting into orange. No noticeable change on the nose. More tanin up front on tasting. Sweetness seems more subdued. Perhaps hidden by the tannin? 3rd infusion, 185 f, 110 ml water, 45 seconds. Tannin seems slightly more muted on the nose. Color has shifted more towards orange. Color may be shifting my impression of taste, as I am noticing a orangey flavor immediately as I sip. Still some tannin on the palate that lingers in the mouthfeel. The creaminess if the first infusion is at least balanced by the tannin now, if not removed altogether. Flavors now seem to be muted as the cup cools.

This is a really interesting angle. I have to wonder about it. Next time I see him, I'll ask if he is keeping the processing minimal to preserve the flavor. We will see where that conversation leads.

Hence my concern and hesitation. I know that I am in no place to attempt anything like teaching. I would like to see him connected with places and people who can help him, though!

Commiseration might work, though... In my one season of efforts at making chocolates, tempering was certainly an issue!

Unfortunately, I have almost zero practical experience in this field. Anything I know comes from curiously following threads here!

Today I ran into a young guy at the local farmers market selling his own bean-to-bar chocolate. Naturally, I was intrigued. He is running some interesting flavor combinations on additions to the chocolate, but what impressed me more was the flavor of his 80% dark chocolate. It was very fruit forward. I loved it. Unfortunately, I did not love the texture anywhere near as much. My relatively uninformed suspicions are that he is not conching the chocolate long enough, and that he is having issues with tempering. These pictures are from his Facebook page. It is typical of what I tasted and purchased. The chocolate was slow to melt, and had a fine grit, almost flour-like texture. I want to help. I would really like this guy to succeed. But he does not know me from Adam. All I am is a guy who bought a bit of his chocolate. I would firstly like any helps with analysis of what you visually see going on with his chocolate. Second, any thoughts on what might be the best way to approach someone starting out, to try to point out some opportunities for improvement?

Pretty sure I saw this one at Costco for north of $10 for a box. I'd be happy to sample it, but it would have to make my pour-over for me in the morning for me to be ready to pay that much for a box of cereal.

Mei Leaf has been a large part of my tea education in the past couple of years. I only wish the videos were more condensed. Very informative when you have the time, though.

I am eagerly awaiting your results on this. A while ago, I concluded that what I found missing in most herbal teas was the complexity and depth of flavor that fermentation provides. Rooibos starts to get there, but I have yet to find a quality that truly satisfies what I am looking for.

Thank you, CDH! I will offer the same, though I need to figure out packaging. I have a "Milky" Oolong that I would be curious to hear what others think of. Supposedly the leaves are steamed over milk.

Oolong's are what have captured me so far. I have sampled a few puerhs, but I have not been able to pick up any of better than commodity quality yet. Green tea, well I am certain that there's more to be discovered than I have yet found.

Cdh, I would have had no interest when the first thread was live. However, tea is something I have begun to enjoy exploring the past couple of years. My current challenge is finding good suppliers, without having to go into ridiculous expense. I used to have a good tea shop about an hour away from me, but alas, it closed a year ago. Now, my tea purchases primarily happen during the holidays, while visiting family. My attempts at online purchasing have been more miss than hit. Direction there would be very welcome!

I have spent many a wonderful hour fishing for brookies in the Appalachians. While I have never kept any, that has almost always been a personal choice, from Pennsylvania down to southern Virginia. I think there may be better books!

Thank you, @DocDougherty! I will look into this! I have been relying on measures other than acidity for true preservation so far, but it's worth checking as to whether the acidity of the pickle might be enough!

Yes, salt is added to the whole. This is basically a fermented pickle right now. Admittedly with very unusual ingredients!

For the curious... Ferment bu-bubbling.

Thank you for the link! The sauce that I am making is simply vegetables (peppers, pears, squash) fermented into a pickle, then blended. Yes, very much the random experiment that occurs when you have too much of this and too much of that laying around. But the first batch (Pepper, pears, garlic) turned out so great that I am optimistic about what could come! All this is noted, though, to say that I am not adding vinegar, and am not confident in the acidity. Hence the desire to process under pressure.

This is quite a nice book. The Red Truck Bakery is near "back home" for me and their baking is good enough for me to have sought out a hard copy of this book. Baking from the recipes in the book has not disappointed.