fifi

As it transpires, there is an area of water on my floor just under the crock pot where it has been spitting its cooking liquids. The paprika chicken is delicious but it comes with a premium that the lack of a vent in the lid has caused a swamp of spewed condensation onto my floor and counter. This never happened with the cheap ass plastic lid on the old, now dead, crock pot. I will be sending an irate e-mail to the Rival gurus.

As my paprika chicken cooks, I am alerted to strange sounds from my new cooker. It has a heavy glass lid (The old one had a plastic piece of sh**.) and it dances and makes noises and spits. The lid does not have that enlightened little hole that the Chefmate stock pots do. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. Once I figured out that the noise was not some serial rapist trying to break in, I relaxed and forgot about it. Funny thing is, most of the noise sounds like a brace of really small jingle bells.

I am thinking of putting some on a baked potato for a lunch treat next week. I only have a quart jar full and I have to share with my sister or she won't give up the "mystery orange" marmalade she has made. A friend has snagged some gorgeous pork chops and will be grilling them. I will bring some as an accompaniment for that. I may stir in a splash of balsamic vinegar for that use. That may exhaust my supply. Now that I have the new crock pot, I will probably do this again... and again... and again... This has the potential for becoming a staple in my fridge/freezer. I do recommend storing it in glass jars though so that it doesn't turn the whole fridge/freezer into onion-land. woodburner... How did the ham work out? That is a really interesting twist on this.

We have a hamburger joint here in Seabrook TX known as Tookies that has been serving "creative" hamburgers since the late 70s. They make one called the bean burger that is dressed with onions, cheese, refried beans and salsa... maximum potential for slidage. The genius of this burger is that they strategically add Fritos and that sticks it all together. The Fritos add great texture and flavor as well.

Priceless! Hey Brooks...

Duck fat... YES! By all means.

Returned from Target where the one I linked to above was "on sale" for $39.95. (The little one is thrown in for a bonus.) I have some chicken thighs in it now with a bunch of paprika and onion with a little white wine. The capacity is the same as my old one but I think I like the oval shape as typical pieces of meat will be a better fit.

I don't eat the shells. I have this strange notion that that little spiky thing on the tail is going to stick holes in my innards. I can really get into peeling the BBQ shrimp because that is what you are supposed to do and playing with your food is part of the deal. But when I get the things in a pasta dish at an upscale Italian restaurant it pisses me off. Those of you that have difficulty peeling boiled shrimp, I put a lot of research into that problem last year in this thread. I will spare you reading the whole thread. The problem is two fold, timing from the last molt and shrimp that are too fresh.

I started brining mine for the flavor. I agree that you don't need to for moistness. A lean loin, yes. A butt or ham with a good fat cap, no.

ARG! You are right. I will fix it. Thanks. I have too many eGullet windows open. edit to add: I fixed it in the original but the quote is still wrong and I can't fix that. Oh well.

I did it at 200 for 24 hours just out of curiosity. It was a little under 5 pounds and it was fine. On my smoker, I keep the temperature at 225 at the grate. I have used 250 in the oven. If you are going for pulled pork, I have found a lot of variability in cooking time to get it there. That is probably from the variability in collagen content of the individual roast. All of that has to convert to gelatin to get to the pulled pork stage. I think the 200/24 hour route is foolproof. Don't forget to brine.

I think I am going to go with this one. The little one intrigues me. A friend of mine just got one of these and the smaller pot makes a lot of sense for me when I don't want a big pot of stuff. I don't really get how it works but I'll bet there is an instruction book. I am working on a design that has geese with blue bows attacking an okra plant.

Houston... We have confit! I just had a confit sandwich on a toasted bolillo. It is excellent. Great toasted onion flavor and wonderful sweetness. Those six big onions made almost enough to fill a quart canning jar.

Update on the lemons and limes. They should probably go a couple more weeks at room temperature. I don't know if you can tell but the lime liquid is thicker than the lemon. It is almost jelly like. The lemon is developing a nice viscous liquid. The mystery oranges (calamondins) are not quite as far along. There is still a little salt at the bottom of the jar that is recrystalizing and dropping out. I am assuming it is salt. I don't have a microscope to get a good look at the crystal structure. I suppose it could be some other salt like a citrate. My normal procedure is to put these in the refrigerator after they are "done". Now I am wondering why. With all of the salt and acid they sure aren't going to spoil.

You are ok. Check out this thread. I included some pictures. It takes a few days for it to all start coming together. When they are "finished" I will be taking some pictures of the slices on a white plate that will hopefully capture the viscosity of the juice. I can't tell if you put a sheet of saran between your jar lid and the liquid. Highly recommended. I use the glass lidded jars (my sister didn't have any and I did the calamondins over there) and just try to remember to turn them upside down every day or so. edit to add: I updated with pictures here.

I will add that Mexican cooking is not as laden with chile heat as you might think. Bayless has not "dumbed it down". I have cooked from his books and find the level of seasoning about what I find in Mexico where they aren't cooking for the tourists. If you are eating in the modest cafe on a back street of a smaller town or a famous white table cloth restaurant, you will find that the chiles are used very selectively. The chiles are often present as a side condiment, a salsa or escabeche for instance. Incorporated into a dish, it is all about balance. It seems to be here or in the border areas where there is a tendency to pour on the heat. I have read here that the same thing happens with Thai and some Indian food as well.

Shush, Richard. Don't you get it? Fifi wants a new toy.

Ah... The family roaster. My mother had one of those. I haven't thought of it in years. I will have to ask my sister if it is still around. Very useful.

Good point, Marlene. I hadn't thought of that. I don't like things that turn off and on automatically. I am a control freak. That is one funky crockpot, bleachboy. Ya gotta love it. Chad... Are you saying that you have a crockpot that doesn't have a removeable crock? That would be a real PITA and a really good excuse to "throw it in the yard" and go out and get a new one. They aren't exactly expensive, after all. I am beginning to think that a heating element has gone out in my "grapes of wrath" (excellent, Richard). At least, that is my excuse for going shopping and I'm stickin' to it.

Dear sweetest woodburner... First let me update you on the process. I started this odyssey about 4:30 yesterday evening in my crockpot. Initially, I set it on high, lid on, then turned it down while I had to go out for a couple of hours. Came home and nothing was happening except a lot of liquid out of the onions. I took the lid off, put it back on high and that is where it is now. I think we are getting close. My crockpot seems to be faltering under the weight of this momentous enterprise and I am after a new one that doesn't have the kitschy grape garlands. Yes, this is probably just a lame excuse to get a new toy. Given the performance of my crockpot, I would probably go with a Le Creuset in the oven at 200 if I would do it again. But then, I maybe couldn't have gone out to meet with my architect or slept soundly while the onions were doing their thing. Hey... I am into SLOW cooking. Onions... I used the strongest white onions that I could find. I even avoided the flat ones, what with the old wives tale of flatter onions being sweeter. I did NOT add any sugar. I didn't need to. Predictably, my strong and skanky onions have been cooked into sweet submission. Anyone would swear that I added sugar to this wonderful brew. The demi-glace was just an inspiration that hit me when I put the remaining fishsticks (Yes! Fishsticks!) in the freezer. To recap: 6 large white onions, quartered and sliced 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) 1/2 cup EVOO 3 sprigs thyme 3 bay leaves about 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (guessing here) 1/2 cup beef demi-glace And I have no idea if I am spelling demi-glace correctly and if it really should have a hyphen.

Thanks for the links, guys. I think I am going to be a little bit of a traditionalist and say that the whole point is the crock. The idea of an aluminum pot or whatever seems just stupid. I can throw a Calphalon or Le Creuset in a low oven as well as anyone else so who needs that idea. Plus, I will stick with Paula Wolfert's wisdom of clay cookery on this one. Continuing to go with tradition, I will probably get a Rival. Looking through their site here, I almost miss the geese. There are a couple of models with some kitschy flowers but alas, the geese seem to have flown the coop. (Richard, your link seems to have died. This one now works.) Off to Targaaay later in the day.

Uh... Not one of the big oval ones. Uh... about "that big"? Damn. I don't know. The one I have now is about 11.5 inches in outside diameter of the crock. I just went and measured it. I may also buy a smaller one.

My adventures with Onion Confit have convinced me that my not so ancient and venerable Rival crockpot is probably biting the dust and is in need of replacement. I bought this thing about 10 years ago. The purchasing decision was based on the fact that it was the least revolting design out there. It had a garland of grapes around it rather than geese with blue bows around their necks. This was in an age before crockpots were presented in sleek stainless steel or purist white. The grapes were the least offensive at the time. Now I am compelled to shop on performance rather than design. However, geese with blue bows need not apply. Do any of you out there have some guidance on the ultimate in crockpots?

Um... I think I will get up and check it. I usually get up a couple of times anyway to refill my water glass. On high, my crockpot is barely eeking out a bubble now and then. I think I see a new crockpot in my future. BTW... Even though it hasn't even begun to brown yet, it tastes fantastic! The sweetness is beginning to develop. Another plug for strong and skanky white onions.

Thanks Dave. Now I think I remember it taking that long when I did it a few years ago. I don't have a problem with it taking all night. I will just switch the sucker back to low and go have sweet dreams. Shouldn't I leave the lid off? How else would all of that liquid get cooked down and concentrated into goodness. I am hoping that the demi-glace will add that succulence as well and it is not diluted to a good onion soup like it is now. The demi-glace is from a beef stock exercise that I did some months ago while following the eGCI course. I put it up in the little wide mouth 4 ounce jelly jars and put it in the freezer. Before I did that it set up to about the consistency of a hockey puck so I figure that it should add considerable gelatinous gooeyness to the final product. But, first, all of that onion water has to cook off.