fifi

Interesting. I do a baked chicken with Thai seasonings and some lime in coconut milk that I baste often as the chicken is getting done. It does form a sort of caramelized glaze on the chicken that is really gorgeous.

I found that crock pot recipe. It is from Chef Fowke and the chicken is covered with stock. Forget about the worries. It is in Best Chicken Ever I think about page 3 or so. Then later he describes another variation that sounds to die for. *getting crock pot off the shelf*

I think we have identified your problem. Why would you make a roux with corn oil when you had some perfectly good turkey fat?

Thanks, Dave, for explaining "the problem with chickens". I am also trying to wrap my head around a way to slow roast a chicken. I keep trying to tell myself that the interior of the meat should be sterile and that the potentially contaminated surfaces will not stay in the danger zone any appreciable amount of time. Now, I am not so sure. Spatchcocking (what a word) could help with more rapid heat distribution, possibly. I seem to remember a recipe on a thread here that called for putting a whole chicken in a crock pot. It sounded intriguing but now I wonder about it.

What Toliver said. I am having trouble understanding adding fat AFTER making the roux.

The lunch at Felix's was a step back in time. I had to have the Mexican Dinner #1 because that is what Robb Walsh had: Beef taco, tostado, tamale, cheese enchilada, garnished with chili gravy, refried beans, spanish rice (or spagetti?????). Like he says, the gravy says it all... It was all very good. It was all very typical Tex-Mex. I don't know what else to say about the food. But there is something intangible about eating in a place that has been owned by the same family since 1929. Oh... And our elegant waiter has worked there for 30 years.

Turnips! I could detect turnip lurking in any guise or concoction that my mother could dream up. Sometimes she was straightforward about it... "These just came from the garden and they are as sweet as sugar." Yeah... Right... It tastes like a sweet TURNIP for chisakes! Then I was visiting some friends in Delaware and my friend decided to cook up a quick brown stew for us. That was fine, I was helping with the potato peeling and whatever when she drug out... THE TURNIP! I was trapped. I didn't know these folks that well then so I really couldn't say anything. I was dreading trying to eat the stew without gagging. Of course, the stew was fabulous. I had never had stew that good and haven't to this day. The turnip added just the right something. It made me all warm inside on that cold night. I ate three helpings. This story is supposed to end with a declaration of how I now love turnips. NOPE! I still hate 'em. And I have tried to duplicate that stew and it never really works. I have confessed my experience to my friend and she is mystified. There was nothing special that she did to that stew or that turnip.

I kind of equate braising with smoking. I do both. The common thread being long slow cooking. For some absurd reason, smoking (BBQing) seems to be associated with summer. Whereas braising seems to be a winter thing. I dunno. I just like it all.

I am a Gulf Coast creature and I love the soft feel of the humid tropical air. I like to hang out outside in the evening, a cool drink in hand and let the air hug me. That is how it feels, like a soft mantle of a feather bed. I always miss that when fall finally arrives here. I endure fall and winter to wait for the return of my soft air and spectacular thunderstorms. But I do like the change in what I cook. I love pots of things... warming stews, pots of beans, chili, you get the idea. That makes the arrival of cooler and crisper air with a cold front bearable to me. I still dream of my soft air, but the food is a compensation.

Lookie what I found! History in Houston edit to add: My sister and I are going to meet at Felix's on Westheimer for lunch tomorrow. I was googling to see if I could find a menu and I tripped across this link. I will report back on lunch.

After a brief period of intense curiosity about why an Aussie would name a piece of chicken after a state in the US... it finally occurred to me. The shape of the state of Maryland kinda... sorta... looks like a chicken leg quarter. (Well... OK... You have to squint.) If that isn't correct, what is the origin of the name?

When my daughter was little we used to feed her Gerber's Junior Blueberry Buckle. We loved that stuff. It was really good spooned over ice cream. I haven't been able to find it for years. I have used warmed raspberry cobbler over bread pudding. A friend was over and had a jar in her baby bag. I had leftover bread pudding that we warmed up for a snack... looked at the jar... hmmm... it was pretty good.

I can't find any information on a genetic connection but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The oligosaccarides don't get thrown out with the water so that doesn't have anything to do with it. My guess is you have some good bugs.

I do have to admit that living alone has its treasures.

I have heard that about asafetida from fairly reliable sources. That makes me wonder if it might have an enzyme that is helpful.

As I have previously mentioned, I have fallen in love with the flavor of sour orange and pork. I noted that I had seen the addition of up to a half cup of orange juice to a gallon of brine. I tried this and a light taste of orange came through but not as much as I would like. Being wary of too much acid pickling my pork, how much orange juice per gallon do you think I can get away with when brining a pork butt for 24 hours? Do you have any idea what the lowest tolerable pH might be before you are making pork ceviche? (I can get my hands on some test strips or a pH meter. Being a SSB has its rewards.) Or should I just do the simple brine and inject some pure orange juice before cooking? (BTW... My first experiment was smoked. It was good but the smoking overpowered the other flavors so I would do this recipe in the oven.)

Thank you for that. I couldn't think of that word to save me. (I was about to say I had a brain fart but I thought that would have been too obvious a pun.) I just used the "complex carbohydrate" as a trash can generalization. I was about to go find my copy of McGee cause the loss of that word was driving me nuts.

All cooking techniques, magic herbs, burying of newts under a rock won't help. Eating beans will! The problem with beans (and some other "gassy" veggies) is that they contain some complex carbohydrates that your normal bacterial flora is not necessarily ready for. There is a product on the market called Beano that is actually an enzyme to help you out. Some of my friends swear by it. What really happens is that you don't eat enough beans because they give you gas. Then when you do eat some, your buggles are not prepared. I go through periods when I just don't get around to eating beans. Then I will have some problems for a while when I get back to them.

Do you mind if I do not EVEN think about that question?

I can't help you on the high end dining. I think that you will find that pretty much only in the resorts. I don't go there because I don't like staying in the resorts. (Nothing against them, just not my thing. I am just glad they have kept them to the West side of the island so that the rest of it is not messed up. ) You should have dinner at Volcano House just because you have to. The food is good, not great, but how often do you get to dine on the lip of a crater?

What part of The Big Island? This from Chef Fowke's thread on pastrami... clickety for all the details This is from page 4. Then this... I will charge you with a similar mission. (Off Topic... There is a botanic garden just north of Hilo that is a must not miss, even if you aren't a garden freak.

I am glad someone else asked why. Now I have this visual of a large arm and mallet (I must have looked at an Arm & Hammer box recently.) driving a carrot into my brain! And I don't even like carrots that much.

For those of you that like bean salsa concoctions, I urge you to try Goya brand canned beans. I think they are broadly available now in most grocery stores. You used to have to find a Latin market to get them. Goya seems to have perfected canning beans. All of the types I have tried have a nice texture but do not fall apart.

I e-mailed RB through the restaurant web site. I included a link to this thread. Nothing here either.

ARG! Rickster... What are you thinking!