fifi

What I do depends upon the size of the roast and the cut. I am not sure how "rack of pork" translates to the cuts we get here. Verrrrry generally . . . A fattier hunk such as what we call pork butt (actually shoulder) I will normally slow roast or even braise until it is fall apart tender. This is about the same as a slow cooked BBQ where all of the collagen converts to gelatin and the fat renders to baste the meat. The tradition of "pulled pork" refers to that end product where you can literally pull the pork apart with no effort at all. Internal temperature will approach 200F (about 94C). A well known phenomenon when BBQing, actually smoking, is that the internal temperature stalls at about 170F while the collagen converts to gelatin and the fat renders. Then the temperature starts to rise again and you are just about done. You don't really have to monitor temperature but can tell when it is done when you can stick a fork in it and can turn the fork with little effort. Cooking temperature for this process is typically 225 to 250F (Sorry, I can't read the conversion to C on my thermometer.) A leaner cut like a boneless pork loin, a common cut here, I will do a little differently. I will roast it to an internal temperature of 140F (I think about 60C), tent with foil and let it rest for about 15 - 20 minutes before slicing. It is just barely pink and very juicy. I really haven't had very much success with the high temperature start routine. I find it just dries it out too much. Our pork here doesn't have enough fat. I just roast at 325F for a little longer and get nice browning. This recipe is a family favorite that I have done many times with great success. I delete the high temp start and roast at 325F.

Congratulations, Dianne, on preserving that skillet. My mother had a Sunbeam that I had a great relationship with during the early 60s. I was a latchkey kid that had fun starting dinner. I made some pretty mean braises and pot roasts in that thing and mom often did the fried chicken in there. I need to ask my sister if she ever found it. Please let us know how it works out. Thanks for my daily GulleyLaugh . . . the thighs. Actually, if you mean to "substitute" yogurt for buttermilk, that is not a bad thing or even a step down. I have done it a couple of times and, as I recall, it was incredibly good in its own right. I believe there is a long tradition of using yogurt as a marinade in some culinary traditions. In fact, I may just use yogurt the next time around.

I recall seeing several carnecerias with Michoacan in the name. Now I am trying to remember where. It could have possibly been far out Bellaire Blvd past the Beltway or on Texas 6 around Bellaire. Or it could have been in the SE part of Houston on Scarsdale.

I am still trying to figure out how you make a cooker out of a trolley. Maybe I don't know what a trolley is? How long does it take to cook the eggs in the foil and over what kind of heat? On the picture . . . Scroll down to the next to last segment in the instructions I linked to. That will explain the IMG tags.

In my mind, personal responsibility lies in making any restrictions clear to the restaurant. I will go a little farther than that. If I had a serious allergy, I would actually call ahead to the management and be sure that they understand the situation, perhaps discuss specific menu items, kitchen handling techniques that might cause a cross contamination problem, the whole drill. In that case I certainly wouldn't rely on just the server who may or may not be well trained. How far you go with this depends upon the severity of the restriction, of whatever kind, to you. After all, a restaurant is cooking for the majority. While they do need to be aware that there are folks out there that have dietary restrictions, they can't be expected to read minds.

HAH! Those gas burners will whip that fried chicken into submission. Do you have a cute white dog to sit on top of it waiting to be sauted?

I just got back from Bed Bath & Beyond and bought this thermometer. I have been wanting one but this is the first time I have seen it at BB&B and the restaurant place was out of them last time I was there. While the design is fine, there is no way you are going to get it as deep as the immersion mark in a cast iron skillet. They say it will suffer some in accuracy if you don't get it that deep. It does have a guard to keep the tip from touching the bottom of the pan. I have determined where the fat level will be on that thermometer and have e-mailed Taylor to see what they have to say about how much inaccuracy one could expect.

*Press Release - URGENT! Immediate broadcast requested.* "It has come to our attention that there has been a run on tagines. The tagine market is in a shambles and tagine futures are soaring basis a deepseated fear in the marketplace that supply will not keep up with demand. A congressional committee in the US has been convened to investigate. Senator Honksalot has stated, 'We will get to the bottom of this deplorable situation. Our investigators are looking into a secret Society that operates on the internet.' Stay tuned to your local news sources for updates on this fast breaking news."

Actually, the electric skillet idea has a lot of merit. Mizducky, your thighs look exactly like mine did the first time I tried that on the electric range I had two abodes ago. I hadn't thought of the weight of the big thighs affecting the whole debacle. I think you have something there. Heads up . . . I just got back from my Asian market and they had 2.5 to 2.8 pound chickens, heads off. I was eyeballing the thighs and they look like dainty little things compared to the porkers I was trying to do. They would have tripped the light fantastic over the bottom of the pan.

Welcome to the Society, Tim Z! Sounds like you might be in Australia. Are beans a normal part of your "English breakfast?" What kind of beans? Here in Texas and other parts of the Southwest US and Mexico, beans appear at breakfast as refried in a bit of lard or bacon grease. Info on posting pictures is here. That forum has lots of information. Great to have you aboard.

I will surely try this. I am usually making confit on its own, not in conjunction with stock, so I should have plenty of onion trimmings to play with. What an interesting idea. I also want to try the combination with the shallots. I love shallots. On further thought, I will probably give that reduction a taste test and see what else it could be used for. There may be gold in them thar trimmings.

Here is what is going on with the pot . . . If Smithy's pot had not been soaked with water, it quite possibly "shlurped up" a bit of the water in the beginning. (shlurped up = highly technical term) Dry clay in contact with water is going to try to reach an equilibrium of sorts. In contact with a permeable barrier, water wants to go where it isn't. (If that doesn't fry your brain, you aren't paying attention. ) But even if the pot had been soaked, water loss through the walls is inevitable. Smithy, your instincts are right on. The heat from the outside of the pot is evaporating the water off as it migrates. In fact there are forces at work here that are actually "pulling" the water through the walls. (From a scientific standpoint that is a poor analogy but is the best way I know to describe it.) Back to your observations about water jars . . . In low humidities, the outside of the jar doesn't usually look wet, unless the pottery is very porous to the point that there are actual tiny holes. That is a different process altogether. Remember that you don't have to be at boiling temperature to get evaporation. Heat just speeds it up. As a case in point, when I cured my Black Chamba I reported on this phenomenon here. (Scroll up for the curing process which is just water in the oven.) The pots were noticeably heavier. As they sat out on the table by an open window (It was a rare day.) they were noticeably cold to the touch even in our high humidities. The outside didn't feel wet at all but the temperature is a sure indicator that evaporation is going on. The wet spot on the table is from condensation of that water vapor being trapped between the bottom of the pot and the table surface, aided and abetted by the low temperature of the pot. Now I am going waaaay out on a limb here since I have never cooked in a tagine. (Perhaps Paula can correct me if I am off base because I am operating on a "thought experiment" here, more commonly called a head game.) I am thinking that the conical or domed top of the tagine is actually acting as what we could call a condensor in the chemistry lab or chemical plant. You are providing a relatively cool surface for vapors to condense. The design of the tagine, the "high hat" if you will, gets that surface away from the heat so that it can remain cooler. In the case of unglazed clay, the cooling effect can be enhanced by the evaporation of water from the outside surface as described above. Even if the lid isn't presoaked in water, water vapor will move through it just as described and contribute to the temperature control. What I don't know is if the unglazed clay lids are typically soaked in water. I am thinking that it might not be a bad idea to soak them. In summary, the differences you are seeing is how water is galloping around within the food, the pot and the various surfaces it comes in contact with. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate the genius of the design of a tagine. (My Rifi has been ordered. )

Great job Brooks. A rousing here! here! for the big cooker. I have not yet tried chicken on the big propane shrimp boil burner but I have done a ton of fish. You are right. You can fine tune that puppy to maintain a constant temp and if you do get overzealous at adding pieces, you have the BTUs to just about immediately get it back to where you want it. I am thinking that for any quantity at all, that is the only way I will attempt it. I am actually thinking of installing a couple of those babies outside at the house. Susan in FL, the flour quantity definitely helps. That is why I didn't cut back on the quantity when I did those four thighs. Flour is cheap. snowangel is going to cause a run on chicken backs. Prepare for the price to go to $3 a pound. I predict that one of these days, somebody will figure out how to make the crust without the chicken. The crispy bits will then start showing up as the signature ingredient in the starred restaurants of the world.

mizducky . . . You bring up a point that I had not thought about, conditions that cause a person to definitely want to monitor and control what they eat. It appears to me that there is a range of concerns, maybe on a scale of being concerned with cholesterol as a long term cumulative issue, a more immediate issue like your avoidance of purines, to the acute as in a severe allergy. Whatever the case, and even though I don't have those concerns, I just might like to know what I am eating. I certainly don't appreciate being lied to. (Hmmm . . . The more I think about this, the more incensed I get.) Moderator's note: I am moving this topic from Texas to General Food Topics due to more universal interest.

Smithy, that is a terrific report. Looks like it tastes good, too. You can't have too much paprika. I am not particularly surprised at the differences in the amount of liquid between the two pots. The porous clay pots will lose water through the sides of the pot as well as from the top surface. I am thinking that that process is part of the charm of cooking in these clay pots. You get a more efficient concentration (loss of water) of the sauce in the clay. That is a really cool clay pot!

This is a tough one. While I see their point, this could get dangerous. I am thinking real food allergies here. I can't get too worked up about the kidney fat or marrow butter. I mean, if eating something like that once in a while bothers you because of cholesterol, don't go out to eat. But the allergies are another thing altogether. I was particularly appalled at the lying about anchovies. Take the scenario where the diner who is allergic to fish (I am assuming that that allergy exists.) asks about the anchovies. The server, or maybe even the chef, makes the assumption that the diner is just another anchovy hater and lies about it. The diner doesn't want to sound silly and doesn't mention the allergy. The diner also makes the assumption that he is getting the truth and full disclosure. But then, deceitful diners faking food allergies as an excuse for a less than adventurous palate are not entirely blameless, either. I have to count myself as a skeptic about an avowed food allergy articulated by the bimbo to my right. But then, I do know people who have real problems, mostly shellfish. But the key is that I know them and they are not bimbos. The servers and chefs have no such knowledge. Given our litigious society, I am surprised at this.

Lady peas . . . swoon! Brooks, do us all a favor and report on the size of your chicken and the frying temperature. We seem to be having "issues" with some of the recipes out there.

Thanks for those links. Just to add more fat to the fire, we also discussed biscuits a bit here. I have to admit to dropping the ball on this one. I think I will blame that on lovebenton0's intimidation by biscuit! After seeing her wonderful hunks-o-dough, I lost heart. I mean, you have never seen prettier biscuits. That is my new goal and I really should get back to it. Perhaps my next try at fried chicken will prod me back into action.

shouts . . . You make my college days almost laughable. Reading your list I can only remember our Kraft Mac & Cheese with tuna casserole on Fridays. (We were Catholic then.)

I just got back from my local Randall's market. They had whole chickens labeled as fryers. They were at the very lightest 4.2 pounds, and at the most porky at 5.38 pounds. These are fryers?

racheld . . . I have yet to recover from the fried turkey story. I have tears running down my face. The tik-tik sounds from the drumsticks is where I lost it. Two things to avoid when frying turkey as far as injectables and/or coatings . . . water and sugar. Butter has water in it and you shouldn't use it unless clarified. And honey is . . . basically sugar and water.

I just caught the end of the show. It will repeat April 9 at 8pm ET/PT. I now have a sticky note on the TV. I checked his recipe on the FTV site and it looks pretty straight forward. But the written recipe is minus his usual niggling techniques. I wish I had seen the beginning to get a look at his buttermilk. He does say to fry at 325 and not let the shortening get above that. I wonder if he cycles the chicken pieces in like Aunt Minnie did so that the temperature doesn't drop. He also uses less shortening than she did but that probably isn't significant. He does call for an internal temperature of 180. Yikes.

Those posters are hysterical. For those who may not remember, I have a checkered past with corndogs. It all started here and just got progressively stranger.

The book I looked in was The Essential Cuisines of Mexico which is her more recent compilation. The list of ingredients to make it green makes sense.

Good question, Marlene. Aunt Minnie would put it on trays in a barely warm oven. As I remember, she put a paper bag down on a baking sheet and just loosely lay one on top of it. We all liked our chicken just warm, not "piping hot." But I have no idea how long you could hold it like that, but I am pretty sure a couple of hours wouldn't hurt anything. I rewarmed a thigh for lunch today in my DeLongi convection oven set to convection and 250 for about 20 minutes and that worked really well. It didn't seem any different than freshly cooked. I like it cold but was curious as to how the DeLongi would do.