fifi

I had no idea that that is how it is done. How ingenious. Do they use a band saw to cut them in half?

I want to add another angle to JimHeard's question. I have been thinking about the Falk pan that he described. My thinking is that the "responsiveness" (as in getting those precious BTUs in there more efficiently) of the copper would help with stir fry and saute on a less than ideal stove. Is there enough difference between the copper and aluminum to make the cost worthwhile?

I went to the big HEB at 646 and I-45 last night. I should have taken my notebook. As I thought, there were more CM brands showing up. But . . . the horror . . . they were out of blood orange soda.

A group of us went to Hugo's for chocolate after the Michael Coe lecture on chocolate at the Museum of Natural History. We only had assorted starters as it was late and we were after the chocolate. They were very gracious. I have tried to go back a couple of times but the plans fell through. It is a beautiful room.

I am in love with my 2 1/2 quart since it is just me. I must use it three or four times a week. It does a half pound of beans (will actually do a whole pound), four chicken thighs, a small roast etc. My larger oval is the 6 3/4 quart, one size larger than the 5. That comes from measuring a largish chicken or a 4 to 5 pound pork or chuck roast.

Ah yes. Don't forget the browning step. I neglected to mention this in the picante sauce post. The only time I don't do the browning step is for my recipe for "Aggie Brisket." This can also be done with chuck roast. Originally it called for double wrapping in foil. Then I discovered the Reynolds Cooking Bags. These are much easier and don't leak. The Aggie Brisket involves a lot of seasoning on the meat (primarily lemon pepper and granulated garlic in the original) and the addition of three to four cups of double strong coffee. It seems that the coffee provides the "brown" component to the flavor. It really doesn't taste of coffee.

For pot roast, I also go for the LC in the oven. I do use the crock pot sometimes if I want to set it on low and be gone all day. One day I did this really ridiculous "recipe" and it became a favorite. I had a really nice chuck roast in hand. It had called my name at the grocery. I had the leftovers of this really big bottle of Pace Picante Sauce that was used in a really big batch of Texas Caviar for a big do. With about two cups of the picante, a sliced up onion or two, a few cloves of garlic roughly chopped, and some added jalapenos, I had the makings of a South of the Border Pot Roast. It was incredibly good. Do NOT knock Pace Picante for cooking if you haven't tried it.

Well, you are right that it is similar to carnitas, but you don't take a confit all the way to browning and a typical confit will be cured before poaching in fat. (I was trying to braise some country ribs one time and finally made carnitas when I forgot about it. ) I would be inclined to try the spice mixtures in this post in the Confit of Turkey Leg topic. I did and it is incredibly delicious. I am thinking of grinding up a few batches of the cure (minus salt and sugar) to keep around as a general purpose seasoning. That mix with pork would be delicious. Too bad you had to use the lard off the shelf. It is hydrogenated and doesn't taste very good to me. If you can find a Latin grocery or butcher shop, they may have fresh lard. It is easy enough to make yourself if you can get your hands on some pork fat. The hardest part is cutting up the fat. Fresh lard is delicious and will add another flavor dimension. If I were going to cut up some pork butt to make this, what size and shape of pieces would you suggest?

I grew a lovely Vulcan red variety and an heirloom Italian white a few years ago. I liked to use the tender leaves and sliced stems in salads. If you garden, it makes a lovely addition to the flower beds. Then you can chose the younger leaves for salads or let them get bigger for cooking. I also liked to add it to stir fries and Thai curries.

We had some fun a while back with preserving citrus. Click here. cdh did some candied limequats, which I still haven't found BTW. I have used the preserved calamondins on pork roast and it was fabulous. My sister makes a mean marmalade with them. Over the holidays, we were on the hunt for bergamots in the Houston area. I never did find them. If anyone is interested in growing some exotic citrus, you might find this site interesting. I have my eye on the varigated calamondin.

Duh! Thanks for the reminder about the eGCI sourse. It was fun going back and re-reading it. However, the rinsing discussion is more about rinsing salted ingredients. So, I am still puzzled.

I have revewed several recipes for the pork and beef. I keep running into a step that I don't really understand. The common theme seems to be: boil in plain water for a really brief time, flush off the grunge, proceed with the recipe. Is this a common technique in Chinese cooking? What is this supposed to accomplish? It certainly isn't enough time to do any pre-cooking. Why not just rinse it well to remove any surface gunk? I have also seen that in other Chinese braise recipes including a fresh ham recipe that I got from a Taiwanese friend. I finally got rid of that step because it is a real pain, dirties another big pot and you have to wrestle with a big chunk of hot meat. I can't tell any difference in the final product. The only thing I could see happening with the ham is that a little bit of grunge comes off. Now I just rinse the darn thing.

While sitting at the lunch table one day, we were discussing the finer points of smoking brisket and pork butt. Once I had explained the temperature stall phenomenon, pencils flew out of the pocket protectors and, before you could say "Design that!" several napkins were covered with temperature control and monitoring schemes.

Paula . . . Oh wow! Does this mean that your next book will focus on clay pot cooking? If so, I can hardly wait. I would like to see some discussion of what is glazed and what is not. A little of the materials engineer comes out here. The thermal properties of the various sorts of ceramic pots ensures even and steady heat. So . . . that is kind of a given. Where I get confused is where porous, unglazed clay or procelain is used and where it is not. Of course, even unglazed porcelain is not that permiable to flavors, but I suspect that there is some of that. Anyway, my anticipation continues. (Perhaps at some point we should have an all-purpose clay pot topic.)

Oh my. Thank you for the pictures. I am sending a link to my son in Chicago so he will be inspired. I think that too many folks give up when the temperatures drop. I know that I am in a climate that lends itself to smoking year around, but conversations with my son makes me aware of the challenges of a colder climate. You said it was about 20 degrees F when you did this. Do you think it would have worked at all in the really deep freeze? Funny thing. Your barrier to smoking is temperature. My barrier is how to clean the grills. I am about to load the grills, water pan and such up into a big plastic garbage bag, take them to my sister's so I can clean them up. I am in an apartment with these pitiful double sinks that nothing fits in. I do need to get the WSM back in shape and smoke some of those rodeo chickens (since I have already bought some more), put some smoked meat in the freezer and some portions of smoked chicken stock. Smoke on angel lady!

Ditto what andie said. I didn't really get feel for the maze from the floor plan. Those pictures did it for me. That will help a lot for the before and after experience.

Marlene, I had to go lie on the couch for a while after reading your post. You are truly a brave lady. And I thought the Cook's Illustrated version was a pain. Does anyone really think the average maman is going to do all of that? Well, probably not. I guess it is an example of applying classic technique to a traditional rustic dish. The pictures were particularly helpful. I kinda wish you had taken pictures of cleaning up. Onward to Bourdain!

Thanks for bumping this up, sourmango. And welcome to the Society. I really need more pots. If you are getting into dried beans, you might want to check out this thread. I think we gave the subject a good thrashing. While I have been using the "parson's method" from that thread, using my handy Le Creuset for the more pedestrian beans, I am a believer in clay pots. I can certainly see how they can add a lot to some of the more elaborate recipes. For a Mediterranean mood, Paula Wolfert's books have some marvelous recipes.

Thanks for the link, Transparent. That is a really cool pot. The recipe looks darn good, too. The pork I had wasn't belly but looked like leaner chunks. I see those cuts in my Asian markets and appear to be hunks off a fresh ham as I noted above. I am going to speculate that the restaurant started using that due to the current (but hopefully fading) pork fat phobia. The markets have the belly also, of course. I am certainly not opposed to good pork fat. Now on to some more nit-picking. Some recipes seem to call for tangerine peel and some call for orange. I think I see tangerine more often. I can certainly see that you would want to scrape off the pith from tangerine after soaking. After all, you can't really get a hunk of peel without it. But if you had a thick skinned orange, you could conceivably pare off the peel and leave the pith behind. Maybe. Since I haven't been able to find it, the DeLonghi has a dehydrator setting, and the stores have oranges and tangerines, I thought I might give it a go. My library is whoafully inadequate in the Chinese department so a-googling I will go. edit to add: Voila! Tangerine peel here. This is a great site. I had lost my favorites link in a computer swap. It was worth this exercise just to find it again. But . . . It says to age it for six months.

OH my goodness. I am not normally a fan of cold or dessert soups. But I think that you may have just converted me with that blueberry business. "Pick your own" blueberry season isn't far off here. I can't wait.

Oh my BettyK, that sounds awfully close to what I used to enjoy at Dong Ting. I am marking that post as a favorite. I am doing a brain thing on that recipe and to match what I remember, I might increase the star anise. Also, the serving in the individual sand pot didn't have any of the aromatics, just the broth. I am now wondering if the broth was infused ahead of time. I don't recall any orange notes so that isn't a problem. But I am wondering, I have seen dried orange peel called for in other Chinese braises. I have toyed with the idea of stripping off some peel, without any pith to lend bitterness, and drying it in the DeLonghi. I can't seem to find it on the shelf at the Asian groceries.

Jason beat me to the split pea reply. What I have done in the past with a pile of smoked poultry bones is to make a stock and reduce it by four. Then I freeze the reduction in 4 ounce jars. (Please note that I don't use the dark smoked skin when making the stock. That is a bit much.) A bit of that stock does wonders for braised cabbage. It is also really good in any pot of beans. Smoked poultry stock is a treasure when used judiciously.

Thanks for the curing instructions. I need to make another excursion to Hong Kong Market. The only problem last year was that all they had was the individual serving size, like I used to get at Dong Ting, and the really huge. I was hoping for about a two or three quart size.

Ain't science grand?

Then you just call it carnitas.