TicTac

Great tune & welcome!

Some really great looking meals…love this threat as a source of inspiration. My 8 year old cooked dinner with me today and his extra special ingredient for the cabbage…pickles! Worked out, actually 😂 duck fat seared gnocchi, duck, sweet and sour cabbage/carrot/celery

While most Japanese recipes suggest you grill or broil collars; I think the ultimate prep is braising. The resulting collage and fat coupled with a reduced liquid makes for the perfect sauce to go with rice. kampachi, tuna, and seared lions mane…

Thank you. Indeed, I cycle through a variety of veg at the bottom. This time it was steamed carrots/potatoes (otherwise they do not crisp up well enough) and some fennel. It is just a large rack that I place over a pyrex then into the oven it goes. The veg certainly benefit from the drippings. I then deglaze the pyrex and use the liquid as a stock booster. This method works great with all types of chicken (especially whole), beef, pork - you name it!

@Ann_T - looks fantastic, cod is amazing and you are lucky to be on the coast with access to such fresh options! I love keeping things simple and efficient. In this case, the wings are giving their goodness to the veg below…and cleanup is super easy. and a slaw with a green goddess’esque dressing

Well, it did not fully set. It is extremely viscous which is an improvement over the last batch, but it still moves around in the jar. Oh well, it tastes fantastic! 10 year old son who helped me make it (his first time doing so, Gramps I am sure is beaming watching down with pride) gave his full approval. And the jar with a splash of rum smells divine! A side note, interestingly enough there is a small Persian grocery store that took over a local convenience store (in a very residential area) which was pretty cool, stopped in for the first time and started chatting with one of the owners. He is in the fruit/veg import business and uses the store as a first stop or even a DC for some of his clients, trying to bring in as much unique (and preferably organic) stuff as possible. He had cases of seville's. Huge stunning quince. And I bought what I thought were lemons, but when I got home to use one, found it was a 'sweet lime' - something new for me! Great little spot. Might have to bring him a jar of the marmalade...

I used cane sugar for this batch. @FrogPrincesse - I can only imagine, living in CA with the access to amazing fresh citrus, the various preserves you concoct! I can still picture the farmers markets in San Fran years back and the abundance of unreal fruit. I have been known to travel to destinations solely for food (and often tropical/amazing fruit) 😆

Welp, I just checked (my wife laughed that I woke up so early to check on my jam!) and the damn stuff still seems to move around in the jar. It's thicker than previous batches for sure, but still in a fluid state... Ugh! The experiment continues, I guess! Read somewhere that the set can take 24-48h, so hopefully I am surprised later today/tomorrow....not holding my breath though!

If you ever get bored or want a change in careers, I think Jam Consultant might be your new calling! You and @Kerry Beal should hook up to form a sweet tooth's dream team! 9 Jars have been poured, I splashed 2 of them with a tad of booze. One some Four Square rum (a rarity here in Canada, the stuff is unreal!) and one with a local port finished whisky. I guess the results will be seen tomorrow! Good night & I am sure I will be dreaming about swimming in vats of marmalade.

So does that mean you are AKA the Bubble whisperer!? I was reading a few articles and some talk about the 'foam' disappearing from the boil. I understand what you are saying though. Keeping an eye on it. It is going to be a late night (almost my bed time!) but I am not stopping now! You know, I never did ask Gramps who taught him, will have to ask my dad - but I recall the most divine strawberry, raspberry and marmalade jams every time we were at their place. Made it with him a few times, but that was 25-30 years ago!

Trying to figure out how to upload a video - in the meantime here’s an action shot!

Thank you so much @FrogPrincesse & @Katie Meadow for all of your valuable input! The pot is back on the burner and I will get a nice little boil going for at least the next 30 minutes. Gramps never had the internet to use, so I can imagine how many times he toiled with his batches of jam over the years (oh how I miss that guy...) Many thanks again!

@FrogPrincesse - I did not do the overnight process....perhaps that was part of my problem Also, I only let it cook for about 20-25 minutes on medium (brought it down to a low simmer after it boiled) Essentially I had 10 med size oranges, I did 10 cups of water, 8 cups of sugar, the juice from the oranges as well as a few tangerines that were about to go bad. Tied the pips, let them cook in the liquid mixture (sans sugar) until the rinds turned translucent and then let it cook with the pips in there, brought it back up to heat, boil - added sugar, back to boil - removed pips, reduced to simmer for about 20-25 minutes. I did the frozen plate method to test the set. Perhaps I should put it back on to reduce a bit longer? Oh I also read that acid helps to get the pectin working, did not have lemons so I squeezed a lime in there.

Thank you @FrogPrincesse. So I made the batch and no matter the temp I bring it to nor the amount of seeds in there (perhaps it was too tight and not able to mix in enough!?) - it still is not setting to my liking. Should I cook it longer? There were a ton (at least 1/2 cup) of pips in there, I did not include the membranes (there was still pith on the rinds). Hmmm. I know Grandpa used pectin, but I have tried that too in the past and still the damn thing never set. Mind you it tasted great, as it does now (Gramps would be proud!) - but still not the consistency I am going for... oh well, guess I just need to ensure that the PB/butter below has some edges to hold it in...lol

Any thoughts on how it would turn out if I used half white sugar and have dark brown sugar? Edit - also curious if anyone let it sit with the pips overnight to release further pectin (ala Lebowitz) or just plowed straight through? Lastly, when you folks add the sugar, typically how long do you continue the cook after adding it?

Ok so I finally found some organic seville oranges (organic is important to us as citrus is heavily sprayed and given we are eating the rind and all...) Please remind me, I am assuming that I use the juice from the oranges in the cooking process? I have 10 med-large'ish size oranges that I am going to make, I believe they were about 3.5-4lbs. I do not have a special bag like that, but do have cheese cloth - will that suffice for a little bag to house the pith and seeds? I read above @FrogPrincesse used both another citrus juice as well as rum - I am assuming those are just additional flavour agents and not required, per say? Going to get the kids to help me with this batch so I can pass the tradition down to the next generation.

If you let it sit in the pot long enough and pour slowly, you should avoid most of the grounds. One leaves a chunk of liquid in the pot with I would estimate 95ish% of the grounded material.

Listen, @Shelby is simply trying to ensure your company's gender equity initiatives are being accounted for.... Cut her some slack and put in a good word. She does amazing holiday decorations! 😛

Doubtful. But I bet his Co. has a really low turnover rate! Smart folks!

Great marbling on those short ribs. I would say besides the deckle end of a rib eye, short ribs are my second favourite cut of beef. How long did you cook 'em for? Braising liquid?

Evidently, those of Asian descent!

VERY interesting. So are you suggesting a wide/squat pot produces a better end result? More evaporation? My marmalade did not set - I probably did not use enough sugar (I hate the stuff TBH!) so it was a bit syrupy. But it was good. Also put a vanilla pod in one or two jars, worked our quite nicely! Esp so over vanilla ice cream.

The ones with the highest use of veggies.....DUH! 🤪

Looks good. My grandfather taught me to make marmalade with Seville oranges many moons ago. I made a batch a couple years back and I think we are down to our last jar... Assuming the 1.5kg of 'water' is actually sugar?! Otherwise, it seems more like Seville Soup 😛

Gardening is one big experiment. I would suggest if you have 10, then top 3-4 of them and see what happens, try LST'ing (tying down) some of the taller stalks, you can gently bend them (not at a 90 degree angle, just downward) and tie them off. See what works best. As Ken eluded to, there seems to be a lack of light (don't get me wrong, your growing maters in Jan - so consider me green with envy!) - no surprise this time of year. Not sure the size of your space, but you can get some good LED grow lights these days....