fifi

Russ is absolutely correct. We discussed this in some depth on the onion confit thread. I don't use "sweet" onions for cooking.

Ah, me dear, you are not backward. Just enlightened. Lard and coconut milk need to be brought back to their former glory of the relatively healthy foods that they are.

Thank you, John. You have just validated my habit of crumbling saltines into my tomato soup. I have always felt a bit dodgy about that. Perhaps it says something about my manners that I, at least, think about the habit.

The manners of address discussed here amuse me. I am a lady "of a certain age" (57) and it has become increasingly common to be addressed as "Miss Linda". And that by colleagues of my age or older. The gentlemen (and I do mean gentlemen) that do this are of the Southern Persuasion. I absolutely love it. My kids still call their step-mother Miss Barbara. And we all think that is proper. We would never dream of calling someone by their first name without the honorific unless the relationship had developed to the point that that was permissable. With children, that is unthinkable. I am "Aunt Linda" to friends' children and that is that. When dealing with friends' children at dinner (which is blessedly infrequent) I just try to remember that it is a long journey and that it really won't start to work until about age 10, like I said up-thread. Amusingly, I have actually had some of the parents ask me to perform gentle corrections on their children because it will make more of an impact coming from "Miss Linda".

I am not sure this is really off topic since the amount of water contributed by the onions is an issue in ronnie_suburban's and my paprika chicken experiences. This also came up on the onion confit thread. "Sweet onions" like 1015's, walla wallas, Maui, Vidalias, and others seem to be more "moist". I am not sure that that is a fair term. But I do know that they do not keep as well as some of the other more mundane types of onions. This is sometimes attributed to the higher moisture content. I do not have any data that says that this is so. But I do know that the various "sweet onions" do not keep as long in my cupboard and are prone to converting to a disgusting slimy mass if left too long. Plain old white or yellow onions seem to keep a lot longer.

Thanks for bringing up the salt, ronnie. I forgot about that. If I have planned ahead enough to give the thighs a quick brine, I don't add salt to the paprika. Also, I did add a little Penzey's garlic powder this last time. I don't think I mentioned it further up-thread. The first time I did this lately (inspired by the new crock pot that didn't work well) I actually used Tone's paprika. I buy those big containers of some things at Sam's since I mix up a lot of rubs and such. Anyway, that is what I had in the house when the whim struck. Actually, I find it is one of my favorites. The other thing that the bag method saves you from is orange fingernails. The last batches I made in the crock pot have required removing the chicken and cooking down the onion "sauce". There seems to be a lot of water in the onions lately. Any sweet onion like a 1015 will typically really have a lot.

heh heh heh... I am really kind of glad you started this, Elie. I always read it and I almost always cringe. I haven't brought it up in The Digest because... well... Because it is just too embarrassing. A couple of years ago I wrote in that Houston just doesn't "get" the muffaletta. Or, at least it hasn't since Crumly Cogwheels closed years ago. I went into the bad bread with no sesame seeds, olive salad either unchopped or turned to mush, and big wads of MEAT. They don't get that the meat and cheese is a condiment and it is all about the bread. Well, the next week there were replies like: "Try the muffaletta at xxxx. They really put a lot of meat on it and it is enough for four people." *runs screaming into the night* I wonder if any of our other Texas institutions of the press have similar, um, glimpses into the local culture?

I haven't done the chicken in the oven in a while. I have been using the high setting on the crock pot and it takes about 5 hours or so. The thighs sit up on the onion and aren't really braising in liquid. I put just a little bit of water in there to get it started. Doing it in the oven, I normally do "slow cook" recipes like this at about 250F for about 4 hours. If I need to, I will reduce the sauce on the stove top. As to what is a "lot"... I pour paprika into a big ziplock bag and toss the thighs around in there to get them completely coated with as much as I can get to stick.

*bump* I am having a serious craving for meatloaf. This was brought on by watching this commercial for Nexium where there is meatloaf and mashed potatoes on the plate and mom is running around pouring this marvelous looking brown gravy all over everything. That is a good thing. Gravy is a good thing. But how the hell do you make a good brown gravy to serve with meatloaf? (I thought about my beef demi glace then realized that I used my last mit in the onion confit.) I am a serious fan of the Cooks Illustrated approach. I like AB's as well but I would really like to go the brown gravy route instead of the glaze. What am I missing?

Boy is that true. My son and daughter are two very different creatures and required a very different approach. But I will say that both of them benefited from knowing where the boundaries were, the rules if you will. We did discuss from time to time that the whole purpose of manners is to convey respect for other people. This is a long process and is not accomplished with one lesson or one discussion. I found that it took perseverance for a lot of years. It finally started to take hold about age 10. Interestingly enough, once you start to talk about "manners" you can get into how those manners may differ in different cultures. When traveling, that was one thing we looked into before we traveled. There have been all kinds of interesting discussions and spin-offs from that.

Given what chefseanbrock has said, I am wondering. Has anyone tried cooking these grits in a crock pot?

OK... How do you do that? In a few weeks I will be doing a marathon chicken smoking thing on my Weber Smoky Mountain. I will need to know how to smoke caramelized onions. That just sounds too good to be true.

Welcome Camdon. Now that is a brave first post. I have to say that I think we all have done such things. Persevere, my dear. You will be rewarded. And don't forget to report back.

happy dance... happy dance... happy dance... I just love it when one of my recipes gets enjoyed. I have been known to eat them for breakfast as well.

I dunno. My son used to watch him religiously. As a 10 to 12 year old with an interest in cooking it seems that the show was at just the right level for him. I have one of his books that my son bought with his own money. Odd thing for a kid that age to do. He has turned into an excellent cook, BTW. What attracted him was the information behind the cooking.

Recipe?

Well... They brought pigs, and cows, and horses (to round up the cows, not to eat ). I am not sure about the chicken. I don't think the New World had chickens but I am not sure about that. I think they also introduced wheat that was taken up in northern Mexico. That is why wheat flour tortillas originate in northwestern Mexico. I will probably think of other things but the current "authentic" Mexican cuisine is a true hybrid of cross-ocean commerce. There is also an Asian connection coming from the trade of the Manilla Galleons. In Chiapas state in southern Mexico, you see the use of ginger and Ceylon cinnamon for instance. Some antropologists say that their was trade with Asia before Columbus and the Spanish but that is controversial.

If you have Windows software, you likely have Microsoft Photo Editor. Image=>Resize set to pixels instead of inches. Click until the largest dimension is 640 pixels. Save it and now you can put that image into ImageGullet.

Arrowhead Mills is another Texas based source for organic grain products. They also have grits.

I agree with that. But, I just might have to try it once out of curiosity. I do love a project. But, I have to say, dumping veal breast into a stock pot gives me pause.

I was thinking the same thing, doc. The soil type is certainly a fit. I ahven't really compared the climate conditions but I would think that wouldn't be too far off either. That is why I was asking if Texas A&M was involved. I recall reading that the Spaniards did not encourage olive growing in the New World because it was competing with their home industry.

And a hearty Texas howdy to our forum. There is this coffee table style book that I go to called Texas the Beautiful Cookbook, edited by Elizabeth Germaine. There is another one that shows up in Amazon as the same title but a different editor. I am not at all sure that it is the same. The Germaine book has a wealth of good recipes and is a beautiful book as well. It is out of print but it appears that Amazon can order it for you. This book is the source of Pedernales Chili that was my father's basic chili recipe for many years. The Blackberry Cobbler is also a winner. Many of the recipes are real winners. This book is worth seeking out. And let us not forget Robb Walsh's Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses. Robb also has a book coming out June 15th, The Tex-Mex Cookbook : A History in Recipes and Photos. I can't wait for that one. If you are inclined to go shopping, hit the Amazon link at the bottom of the page and benefit eGullet.

OK... So we aren't getting very far with pairing those Texas olives with a great Texas bread. What about cheese? A few years ago I was visiting this guy's mansion in Napa Valley. He had some olive trees on the property and cured his own olives from his trees just for the fun of it. He served us some of those and we were whacking chunks of cheese off of this whole wheel of PR. What an experience. (He also still had the family estate in Tuscany. A cousin sent him the cheese.) So, what I am thinking is that now that we have olives, we can do our own Texas Mediterrannea. What are Texans doing with cheeses that would pair well. I suppose that this olive thing is just so surprising that I would think that Texans could toot our horn about all of this.

Thank you for the description, paul. I think I get it. I also use the brown chicken stock glace when I am after the mouth feel and not the beefy flavor. Glace does wonderful things to vegetables.

I find that I use different sized birds for different purposes. And, after much experimentation, I have concluded that the bigger the bird, the lower the temperature. For my Coconut Glazed Chicken recipe, the bigger the bird the better. It is done at 325F for about one half hour per pound. No, it doesn't have a crispy skin but my crispy chicken skin freak friends always request this recipe when I am going to cook them a chicken. For every day throw-it-in-the-oven-and-eat roast chicken, what we typically get is 4 to 4 1/2 lb. chickens because that is what there is. I would dearly love to get 3 to 3 1/2 pounders for pan fried chicken. The smaller pieces cook just right before the crust gets too dark. Alas... The little suckers are hard to find.