donk79

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!

Sue, The first thing to do is to confirm the safety of fish from your waterway. There are a number of streams in Ohio that, though they look clean, contain some pretty nasty pollutants. Here is a link to the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory. You can look up the specific body of water that is on your property to see if their are any advisories regarding the consumption of fish from it. While the advisories do not directly address crayfish, since crayfish are scavengers, I would look to see what is recommended with other scavengers, such as catfish or carp. With regard to dealing with the suckers once you have caught them, a bucket will do fine for a while, though they will attack eachother while in it. Eating them is just like with whole shrimp, though if you can get any meat out of the large claw, it tastes the best in my opinion. I have heard some recommend purging them by feeding them cornmeal, or by simply keeping them without food for a day or so, but I've not tried it. Instead I've simply tried to devein them similar to what you do with shrimp. All this comes with the caveat that it has been several years since I did this ONCE with crayfish from near the Indiana/Ohio border. My memory could be somewhat faded, and I'm only drawing from limited experience here.

And you would not be going wrong doing that! I spent a couple of weeks in Germany in 2005 and toward the middle of the trip found myself dining in a cafe outside of Wartburg Castle. I had a mental block while looking at the menu, and though weinerwurst rang a bell... I could not for the life of me remember what it was. So I ordered one (actually I think the order included two of the sausages). Anyhow, to make a long story short, after that experience, I know what a hotdog tries to imitate. There was no bun, no ketchup, and certainly no need for it! It was a beautifully tasty sausage to which nothing I have had outside of Germany has ever compared. (And it was the blueberry dumpling the size of a bowling ball that caused the lead sinker feeling for me, not the sausages!) Germany is worth visiting for the sausages alone, even if they have become a stereotype of German food.

beef bowl personal computer something there is no eye! The strongest USB burning meat PC Here is more information about the USB grill, along with a helpful Google translation! This seems to be a follow-up to a failed attempt to boil an egg using USB power.

Milk goes with everything!

Oh wow! I may get exiled from Maryland for asking this, but does anyone know if these can be purchased anywhere in the DC area?

For the preservation of this thread and the pursuit of the fugu question...

In the Frog Sashimi Thread here, the question was raised of Fugu possibly being deliberatley left with minute amounts of poison. A quote from wikipedia (ever the reliable source) was posted about this. I have never eaten Fugu, and have no interest in doing so, but have heard this before. However, I have only heard it in one place, and suspect that it might be the source of the wikipedia information. In Ian Fleming's James Bond novel, You Only Live Twice, James is treated to a Fugu meal. This webpage talks about Jame's Fugu meal. I believe the information here is is pulled directly form the book. This is the pertinent paragraph from that page So does this idea of minute amounts of posion being deliberately left in Fugu have any more reputable source than a novel?

soft cheese and a fruit preserve. Brie and Mayhaw jelly work really well.

I'm noting a pattern here... Flats are the best. Drums are all bone and gristle so far as I can tell. Ok, maybe not all, but much more so.

I have to confess that I am ignorant in the ways of duck fat, but my first reaction would be butter. If the smoke point is really an issue then I would say grapeseed oil but make certain to add butter right as the shrimp come out of the pan.

I think the key word here is risk. We assume some risk in most anything we eat. The question is how much risk we want to take. Safe is always a relative term. CDC Information on Listeria

Bruce, This is really great. I just relocated to Walkersville this past summer, and have been searching hard for the local food secrets. Already you have given me two I was unaware of between The Common Market and the Flying Barrel. I'm looking forward to seeing what else crops up. Thank you for sharing!

Menon, There is some discussion of this very question here. In brief, the answers to your first two questions are yes. The third question(s) will have to be handled by someone else.