fifi

Hmmm . . . There is that. I may have to rethink this.

How was it? Did it taste like L&P? I had heard somewhere that the original recipe was a deep dark secret stored in a cavern somewhere. . . I'm intrigued by the idea of making it! ← It was pretty darn close. I think I still have a jar lurking in the back of the pantry. If I can find it, I will open it and do a taste test. I also have an older bottle of L&P. He suggests letting it age for two weeks. This has been rattling around for at least 5 years so it may have changed. The story he tells about doing it . . .

Did you get to sample any typical Texas "Hot Links?" I am looking for the kind my grandpa used to buy at Otto's when I was a kid. As I recall, it was rather coarse chopped beef and there was a lot of black pepper that you could see through the casing. What I have found lately is just not it.

No definite timing yet but the next time we need to go to the country place at Chappell Hills we are going to time it for a detour to College Station. I do intend to try the cheeses. I had a conversation with these guys a little over a year ago when I went to the Spec's Cheese Festival. They have had a long relationship with A&M and they make killer cheese. I suspect that there are some goodies to be had. Yes, Cougar Cheddar is outstanding. I have a friend up there that has sent some as a gift. Maybe I should call and remind him that he missed my birthday and Christmas is upon us.

Does anyone have any ideas about that? Sounds like a winner, and if there is a sufficient amount of sunlight, it should also be a great spot to grow ginger, cardomom, galanga, and tumeric. Plus other not eaten member of the ginger family ... some have exquisite flowers. Theabroma ← Heh heh . . . You are onto my plot!!! Closer to the drain hose will be cool because the condensate is pretty cold. Further out in the drainage pattern I figure the ginger family will be very happy. I should get enough sun for them. Here, gingers do better in dappled shade with a few hours of sun in the morning (better) or evening. Yeah, we checked the soil and don't have any toxic trees. Still no clue as to why mint doesn't like the place.

OMG!!!! I am hoping that you just got a bad batch. I have more than one recipe that depends on it. I went to the L&P web site and don't find a "contact us" option. Maybe I missed something. Can you identify a batch number on the suspicious bottle? I actually made the stuff from scratch one time. I used Emeril's recipe from Louisiana Real & Rustic. (Sorry, I can't find it on his web site or FoodTV.) It was a gray drizzly day after the holidays and I was up for a project. The house smelled like L&P for days.

Lancastermike . . . Thanks for the info. I suspected that you would have to ditch the water pan to get the higher temperature. I agree that you don't need the slow approach with a bird. I do the same thing as you with the thermometers. I just go by the one in the vent. The temperature at the grate is predictable from that. I do use a remote Redi Chek in the meat though. I just think it is cool to sit back in the living room with a cold brew and watch the numbers. Guests find it entertaining as well. Who knew that you could have a bunch of supposed grown-ups gawking at a thermometer for hours. We are doing a turkey as it turns out. My nephew is going to do it on his offset style. He does this thing with jalapenos and oranges in the cavity and wraps it in bacon. I have never had it but he has done it several times and likes it. We will see if the impermeability of turkey defeats the effort. We will have a braised leg-o-bambi and a ham as back-up. I'm too old to live dangerously.

Now we are getting somewhere. I haven't done a big bird in a long time but I do remember my mother doing something like andie. She had one of those big blue enamel pans, with lid. I think she did the whole thing in the oven, though. As I recall, the big bird I did was done on the smoker. I put it in a big foil pan and covered it with aluminum foil tightly sealed at the edges. The smoker was running at my typical 225 F at the grate. I don't recall the time as I went by internal temperature. I did take the foil off at probably about the same point that andie takes the lid off. I do recall that I was surprised at how good it was . . . for a turkey. The lower temperature is also consistent with what I do with chicken. As the bird gets bigger, I drop the temperature. I use 325, 1/2 hour per pound for Coconut Glazed Chicken. I am usually doing an 8 pound monster if I can get it.

The Cajun flavors are definitely still used. That is what you will get if you order from one of the butcher shops in Cajun country. Perhaps what differentiates it is that, whatever it is, Paul Prudhomme called it a turducken. Chef Paul's recipe is here.

Well, I find that a "proper" fond just doesn't happen easily in non-stick. Oh, you get some browning but not like you do on a conventional metal surface. With my Calphalon or cast iron pan, I generally have to have the burner set at about medium high to get browning without cooking meat to death. I am typically browning meat prior to making a braise or stew. As to aluminum flakes or something like that . . . that is certainly possible. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about Teflon® coatings over the years because they are also used in industrial applications. In fact, I spent some time with the DuPont folks on the subject. As I recall, some of their later cookware coating materials already had flakes. I am thinking it was what they called Silverstone®. So . . . for them to make these "heat transfer" claims is what has me puzzled. Knowing what I do about the microscopic structure of these coatings causes me to scratch my head even more.

What snowangel said. All of that fiddling around before putting on the smoker isn't necessary. And what snowangel said about putting meat on cold is what I do. I think it makes a difference. I am really puzzled about your smoker. The only one like the Weber bullet type that I have seen is the Brinkman. In fact, I bought a Brinkman charcoal pan because it fits where my Weber pan did but is deeper and gets me more water. (Come to think of it, my Weber does look like Dogbert. ) What the water does is provide a heat sink and helps to keep the temperature stable. A lot of folks think it is there for moisture for the meat but the thermodynamics don't work like that. Water has terrific heat capacity. I have done many a whole turkey and they came out fine. However, the only way I was ever able to maximize juicy was to quarter it and monitor the temperature closely. I use a Redi Chek remote thermometer probe in the breast because it gets done first then I switch it to the thigh. Oh yeah . . . that web site is here: The Virtual Weber Bullet They have some great recipes and lots of tips and techniques even if you don't have a Weber.

Geez. I don't remember. It was probably somewhere around 250 or so. I am really guessing here. We were just trying to take the chill off, not get any cooking going. All of the birds had been thoroughly thawed and patted dry. A turkey would come out of the warming oven and into the pot. Another would go from the fridge to the oven and so on so they maybe spent 30 to 40 minutes in the oven. We fried 12 turkeys that day.

Well . . . Even die hard converts have been known to backslide when an attack of the lazies hits.

What annecros said. Use more Crisco or bacon fat and keep doing it. Yes, use makes for the best seasoning. Don't use any of the polyunsaturate oils as they tend to polymerize into a mess.

Turducken was supposedly "invented" by Paul Prudhomme some years ago but that has been disputed. Then, I read somewhere that he really did and this was documented. So, yes, it does have a southern US origin, southern Louisiana to be specific. The original stuffings were Cajun style. It is a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. Some even go so far as to put a quail in the chicken. If I can find it (been looking, no luck yet), jackal10 has a series of pictures somewhere that are an excellent record of the preparation for the gorgeous thing up-thread.

Red wine, rosemary, mushrooms and leeks. My . . . My! Sounds like a plan to me. I would be interested to know how long you have to braise for it to get tender. We haven't a clue as the last leg was turned down to 225 and left overnight so we don't know exactly when it got done. Thanks a helluva lot for reminding me that I haven't ordered the Folse book yet. My Amex card is still recovering from the latest bargains on Amazon.

Heh heh . . . We had what is fondly called an ostrich and emu "bubble" here in Texas a few years ago. It was touted like a get-rich-quick scheme. Breeding pairs went for ridiculous prices. Then the market never really went very far, though you do still see ostrich on some menus, supply ran amok over demand and the prices collapsed. I do hear that some disgruntled folks just turned the darn things lose in the east Texas piney woods where they have become a nuisance and startle the deer hunters. That may be a "country legend" though. As far as I can tell, the more "exotic" birds aren't that readily available here in Texas. Not many folks are inclined to order something like that from "yankee land" you know. But I will bet that if they could get them at the local Whole Foods or Central Market they would be willing to try them. You guys are bringing up some interesting possibilities. How could anybody eat a dodo? They had a high cute & cuddly factor.

Brilliant! I have been looking for that my whole life. (Well . . . maybe not the whole thing.) That kind of thing drives me nuts. We get enough variation even when you aren't crossing borders. I am not perfect in writing my recipes but I have taken to trying to convert that "medium" onion to a quantity measurement when I can. I mean, I know what the onion quantity should look like so I am trying to discipline myself to go ahead and measure it so the user of the recipe will know. Prasantrin . . . Your large eggs must be whoppers.

Why do I see a miniature version of the old washing machine overflowing with suds gag? Now you have to tell us how long it took you to clean up the mess. The "industrial strength vampire repellent" got me as well. Thanks for my daily GulleyLaugh you guys.

The whole thing doesn't make any sense. They do say that it eliminates "hot spots" and that food browns more "evenly" but, depending upon the cooktop, I don't see browning on low to medium. Even on my friends' high end gas ranges, medium high is normally used for browning. Otherwise you get steamed meat. My non-stick saute pan is heavy aluminum so I have never noticed any hot spots. And I doubt that a coating of any kind could fix hot spots on a light weight pan. I don't think DuPont or any other producer of these coatings would ever admit that non-stick doesn't brown worth a darn. I am thinking that this is the genius of marketing or one of those solution-in-search-of-a-problem things.

I have just been informed that we will be having a leg-o-bambi as one of the Thanksgiving treats. (Need to take back some freezer room.) We are definitely going the braising route as that worked so well with the Aggie recipe before. Besides, it can be put in a slow oven (225 F) and let go over night the night before or the day before. The rewarming routine with venison worked really well with braised venison last time. But, I will be watching this topic for other braising ideas. Red wine and rosemary is dancing in my head.

I just caught a commercial on TV about DuPont's new Radiance Technology Teflon® coating for cookware. It is currently available in the Philippe Richard cookware line from Linens and Things. Is this an attempt to "fix" what we all complain about, poor browning in non-stick pans? The scientist in me is curious about what they did. I am almost tempted to see if I can buy a saute pan for not too much and try it. I do wonder about this though: Low to medium heat??? What's up with that?

The round steaks will probably benefit from a braising technique. Perhaps one of the Molly Stevens recipes that includes wine. I asked my nephew about this and he doesn't recall ever getting round steaks cut. He just does the whole leg. That is what I reported on above so that is why I am thinking a braise would do the trick.

Della . . . I don't see anything wrong with your substitutions. Just keep in mind that each one is upping the sweet note. Your suggestion of the cider vinegar is probably right on. You can taste as you go to check it out.

In the first place, 400 is much too hot for the oil. You are probably beyond the smoke point of most oils. What are they thinking? We go by time, not internal temperature. I would have to read back up-thread but I am thinking that we shoot for a cooking temperature of about 350 and about 3 minutes per pound. I may be wrong so go read. That works out to about 45 minutes for a 12 pound bird as I remember. I have never used one of the electrics so I don't have any idea if they have enough power (BTUs) to recover temperature quickly. But we have started prewarming the birds in an oven and get very little temperature drop when we put the bird into 365 degree oil. Being somewhat warm and dry, we also avoid excessive foaming as well. The breast is always juicy. Fried turkey is nothing like roasted. If it was, I wouldn't eat it.