donk79

Season Two has just been released. My daughter was enthralled watching Grant Achatz's platings in episode 1. It was a beautiful piece of cinematography.

Chocolate pudding, because Wife and daughter made it earlier. +Golden Grahams, because texture. +Mini Marshmallows, because smores. Could be worse!

William Logan addresses the question. Here is an interview with NPR on his book "Oak: The Frame of Civilization." The book is a good read in itself. In the interview he says that contemporary use is restricted to Korea (acorn jelly) and some Native American tribes. The book talks about other historical uses. It has been several years since I read it, so I cannot recall the details.

Very interesting, Heidi. I do not have any nasturtiums now, but you are inspiring me to plant some!

There was an Aldi's in town when my wife and I had just gotten married, were both still in school, and definitely had a limited income, though we were still above the poverty line, so I will not push that point too much. Anyhow, we weighed our pennies and still found we were better off paying for better quality at Kroger or Meijer. Produce that melted into goo the next day and other food that was just shy of inedible the day you bought it? Money wasted at any price. This was fifteen years ago. It has really made me pause to hear the waves Aldi has been making in the past couple of years. I assumed they must have changed, and went into one a couple of years ago to look again. It did not take me long to turn around and head back out.

I've had Crispin and Strongbow. Strongbow is more to my taste. The Crispin was too dry for me. It may be just what you are looking for! I probably have had the Angry Orchard as well, but it fails to stick in my memory as worth going back to.

Very interesting to watch, even well afterward. Thank you for sharing! I cannot imagine what this would be like on a busy night, but an awesome thing to do on a slow one.

Had 3 bananas that needed using, and some frozen blueberries from this summer. Found this recipe when I decided, "Why not search and see what I find?" Easily the best muffins I have ever made. Thank you, Elsie!

Yes! That's the bottle! And that is very sad news.... Don't suppose anyone has any suggestions for a replacement?

Just picked up my first bottle of Pikesville. Not at $11. $16 instead, but I am not complaining. Quite nice! I will not claim to be a connoisseur, but this hits the spot. I will advise that my usual preferences run to Bourbons with high rye content rather than that which is normally classed as rye.

Possibly (Probably!) a mistake, but if I had one food opportunity in Staunton, I would take it to go back to the Edelweiss Restaurant. Yeah, I know, Edelweiss? How stereotypical can a name be? But this place was excellent, and 15 years ago, there was not much else worth seeking in Staunton. I know the scene has changed now. There is a LOT more worth checking out. But still, given my druthers, Edelweiss would be my first pick. The food was delicious. The hosting was wonderful. And while "light" never entered the picture, I never regretted how full the cuisine left you either. It was a fulfilling experience from every angle.

I picked up some Lairds 7 1/2 year the other week and tried a variation on the Marconi wireless. Not having orange bitters, I added some candied lime peel, 1 dash of Angostura, and a dash of homemade vanilla extract. I'm never going to claim to be a cocktail expert, but in this particular drink, the vanilla definitely pulled everything together for me. I forgot it one night, and the drink seemed too limey. The vanilla really balanced things out.

I'll second salsify, but I suspect it will be harder to lay hands upon than the Jerusalem Artichokes.

Thanks for posting this Andie. I just used it as a base for whipping up a pie while visiting with family. There where a few things I had to improvise though. Among them, you include cream and milk in the ingredients list, but do not specify how to use them. I decided to add them to the custard, and add an extra egg just in case I was wrong and was adding too much liquid. It smells wonderful, and I am very much looking forward to tasting it!

I'm not concerned about the strength of the extraction. I'm using a higher ratio of beans to solvent than I ever have, and honestly than anyone ever would with fresh beans. I just wonder about what I am exctracting. For example, if one were to run coffee grounds repeatedly foe coffee, you could not expect the fifth run to differ from the first run only in concentration. And tea does not merely grow more concentrated if you leave the leaves in the cup. Instead (in my experience) it becomes significantly more tannic. So anything I should be watching out for with my beans? Will later runs start to resemble mere vanillin rather than vanilla? Will the woody flavors our bean eaters upthread experienced become more prevalent? Will all go perfectly? Eventually, the beans will have to have less to give, or something different to give.

So, any ideas on how many runs beans can go through before you start having undesirables flavors be too prominent? I just threw some cheap white rum (which has become my preferred extractive for vanilla, at least in comparison to equally cheap vodka) over some jars packed full with beans that had previously run two batches for about 12 months. Am I on my way to slightly discolored vanilla-ish scented vodka? Or do I still have soem essenc ein these beans to work with? PS: could not leave the liquor store with just cheap rum. Please excuse any typos that I misseed. Already fixed a good dozen!

For those hesitating to attempt their own roasting for equipment reasons, I have had marvelous results roasting in an electric oven. It is not the perfect device for the job, but I even prefer it to our air popper. Not every roast is perfect, but you learn your equipment after a few roasts, and I can confidently say that i prefer my own roasts, even compared to the local professional roaster. I do not have my notes about my roasts with me atm, but I will post more later. (One thing I will say though, is that the Tegu was not my favorite. That is my latest roast.)

Any more updates on this thread? I will be leaving Friday to spend a week between the Hyatt Regency at the Arches and the Americas Center. Looking for moderately prices meals within hiking distance of either...

Started my first batch of extract a year ago and just gave most of it away as Christmas presents. I already have new alcohol on the old beans for a second extraction, but still would like to get some more beans for using without extraction. However, my shopping around is leading me to believe that either supply or demand has changed drastically in the past year (especially for tahitian beans). Has anyone else seen this, or know anything about the changes in availability and price?

Thank you for all of your help, everyone. Unfortunately, I do not have as much to post here as I was hoping. While I was able to assist with dispatching and plucking the bird, I was not able to be around for a lot of the rest of the process (including tasting and consumption!), and I am afraid that not a lot of advice here was heeded. However, I was assured that the result was wonderful, and while some of the more well done bits were dry, the inside, rarer meat was marvelous. So far as process goes, About noon on Friday we slew the bird with knife, cleaver, and various restraining implements. This was not a job to be taken lightly, and did not happen easily or even quite as planned. I'm not sure how old our bird was, but I learned after the fact that it probably would not have qualified as a young bird. We had prepared a scalding drum, but quickly realized that scalding was not necessary. We hung the bird neck down to drain, and eventually realized that an emu does not have large blood vessels running to the brain. The majority of the blood collected in the neck and had to be discarded later. We began to dry-pluck feathers while the bird was hanging upside down and soon discovered that the feathers pulled easily and we were able to save most of them for craft projects down the road. And feathers that would not come out with bare hands, we were able to pull with the assistance of pliers. I had to leave at this point, but when I came back the next day (once again at about noon) the bird was on spit, stuffed with large amounts of garlic and rosemary (Skin left on the bird and stitched to contain stuffing). This was the point where I realized that I probably would not get to taste the bird. My friend also showed me 4 gallon ziplock bags of fat that he had removed from the bird out of concern that it would make the meat greasy. There was nothing around the bird, other than its skin, remaining fat, and stuffing. The bird went into a large, once upon a time oil tank roaster, with a charcoal and wood fire underneath. Foil trays were placed under the bird to catch grease, which began dripping within minutes. Temperature probes were place in the thigh and drumstick, with final cooking goals of about 150. What the temperature actually was when the bird was pulled from the fire, I am afraid I do not know. My friends only comment about something he would have changed, was to have left more of the fat on, in hopes that it would have lubricated the outer drier meat more. He did take pictures during the process, and if I manage to get copies, I will post them here. Thank you again for all your input! It sounds to me like this would be worth trying again, especially with some more experience and control of variables. If you have any further questions, I will try to answer, but i am afraid there will be a lot of estimating and guessing in anything more I have to offer.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I think pit (emulated if not actual) is the way we are headed. The words "wrapped in kale leaves' came from my friend's lips, so we will see where this ends up. Reports will follow!

A couple of times a year, a friend of mine hosts an open house where 50 to 100 people come and go for food and conversation. He is more than a little on the handy side and has been known to construct various cooking implements on a whim, from oversized grills, to spits, to old-refridgerator-smokers. As such, he is always on the lookout for a new protein to put into these implements, even though his cooking knowledge is not always really up to the task. Past meals have included large fish, lamb, goats, and small venison. This year, inspiration struck hard as he was driving past a local farm, and now there is an emu to be picked up tomorrow, slaughtered Friday, and cooked for Saturday. With the oversized grills, etc., he would like to prepare this animal whole. But, despite a couple of hours searching, I find no references to a whole emu roast. Most emu recipes seem to assume the removal of skin and fat for the purpose of rendering emu oil. Then consequently, the recipes shift to light cooking to keep the meat tender in the absence of its fat. We would like to attempt roasting this animal skin-on, but are not sure if this is a good idea. Is the fat/oil of emu palatable? Would the fat left on the animal penetrate the meat if left on for a slow roast? Any sharing of wisdom or wild ideas would be appreciated. The animal is coming, so even if we cannot guarantee perfection, an emu dish is on its way that will at least contribute to the body of knowledge. However, it would be nice to have something tasty to serve also!

There are spoons and then there are spoons. Dakki is talking about the latter. The question is if you need a spoon that looks like it belongs at that table.

I saw this video and immediately thought of this thread. For those who prefer to experience their Fair Food vicariously...

Well, I agree and I don't agree. Admittedly I'm non-native as well. Grew up in Virgnia, spent 5 years in Indiana/Ohio, and moved to Maryland about a year ago. As one who loves a good crabcake, the move last year was terrific for me! But while it quickly led me to some good crabcakes, it also led me to some really aweful ones. Like is said above, "How hard should it be?" But unfortunately there seem to be an amazing number of people who cannot do it. So while maybe it is a little ridiculous to claim the "best" crabcake, pay attention when a place has a reputation for good ones. There ARE some rotten little buggers full of weird herbs and bland crab waiting out there to ambush you!