fifi

I much prefer the thaw and then warm gently approach. I gave up on nuking meats stews and such. I think it gives the meat an off flavor. But that just might be my prejudice against microwaves showing. The baggies frozen flat thaw pretty quickly in hot water and then I usually put it in a pot and warm it gently. I haven't had the courage to put the baggie in a pot of hot water. I don't know why. I don't think I have ever had one leak. When I have roasted, braised or smoked meat to put up, I freeze in heavy foil tightly wrapped packets. I try to portion it out into the amounts I will use most often, one serving for me. I put the packets in a zipper baggie and label. Then about 15 minutes at 300 F in the DeLonghi convection oven and it is ready to go. (BTW . . . That DeLonghi is the best thing I ever bought myself for getting something to the table in no time at all. If you have room for one, you might think about it.)

Well . . . We need someone to be there and record the bedlam that seems to ensue whenever one of these opens up. Oh yeah, and taste the chicken, too.

My palm sugar is in a jar. Here's a tip. I put the jar in hot water to warm the sugar. Then you can spoon it out.

Does that mean I am going to have to start planning ahead?

Kingfish in the Gulf of Mexico generally refers to the King Mackeral Scomberomorus cavalla. The flesh is typically rather strong and best kept for smoking. The upper muscle group is often harvested on catching to make "Kingfish Balls" that are fried. With the recent restrictions on the catch, I am not sure what the fishermen are doing with it.

To continue on the historical theme . . . Cacao beans were traded extensively in middle America for eons. Indeed, they were a form of currency. The spice trade between middle Asia and Europe was extensive for many hundreds of years. Even ancient Rome imported food in tremendous quantities from northern Africa. Oranges from southern Spain were a particular treat in Christmas stockings in England from way back. And there is some question as to how much trade went on during the stone age basis analysis of garbage heaps. Bottom line . . . "local and seasonal" may have never been entirely the fate of man in our history. Pass the cherries.

Yeah, from swimming to mouth in less than two hours does make a difference. I truly feel blessed to have been able to experience it. Do not be afraid of Saltines. They are traditional with seafood in the south. (Sometimes they are slathered with butter.) They are also common in Mexico with ceviche and other seafood cocktail type preparations.

Oh my. This does bring back memories. Thank you, sadistick, and a hearty welcome to the Society. I love ceviche. Note the alternate spelling. The emphasis is on alternate. There are many out there but this is the one I see most often in Mexico. Back to the memories . . . Years ago, I had a group of friends that would get together and go to various parts of the world for the purpose of pestering pointy nosed fishes. We had chartered a sumptuous fifty foot sportfisherman in Cozumel in May, the height of the marlin migration, and were ready to fish. But, wisely, prior to boarding the boat, we went to the local market and procured the wonderful little limes, peppers, onions, garlic, but not tomatoes because, weirdly, none of us liked tomatoes. We also got a big box of Saltines. This was prescient. While trolling the edge of a reef, we got into a school of truly awesome dorado (dolphin fish, mahi-mahi). After whacking the first 20 pounder in the head, I mentioned to the deck hand, in my bad Spanish, that this one was destined for ceviche. I motioned to our supply of ceviche ingredients and headed for the galley. He intercepted me and made it clear that he was the ceviche "king." I demurred. About an hour or so later, he came up with a huge bowl of the most incredible ceviche that I have ever tasted. Saltines. Don't forget the Saltines.

Once again, Jinmyo captures in a few words the essence of perfection. But I do have to agree that I have run into examples of overzealous assault on the noble spud. Scallops in a mornay sauce ladled onto a bed of potato is just wrong.

I am not sure how I missed this post earlier, but bloviatrix makes a very good point. The apartment I am currently in has the accursed double sink. I can muscle around my larger and lighter items and get them cleaned. But the thought of trying to handle one of the big mommas seems impossible. It is almost enough to make you want to get a new sink. (That is not entirely ridiculous. My previous house had a big sink/little sink combo that had the exact outer dimensions of the typical useless double sink.)

Here you go on the peas. But I have to agree with Chufi. I think I will increase the lettuce ratio. I have a nice little butterhead awaiting its fate. So, Chufi. What is next on the menu? If you eat pork, you might want to try something like this pork loin. It has become a family favorite. In fact, it was voted in for Christmas dinner that I did at my son's house this season. This is yet another opportunity for that meat thermometer to shine. I mess around with the roasting time and temperature a lot, depending upon the oven and my mood. But, as long as I stick with pulling it out for a long rest when its insides reach 140 F, all is well with the world.

Thank you, Paula, thank you. I have often wondered about wine and beans. I never have tried it, assuming that the acidity would retard the cooking, but I never took the wondering so far as to realize that the wine would lose its acidity and that ultimately all would be well. I don't know why I have never just tried it. After all, depending upon the wine, there really isn't a lot invested.

Interesting. I had an experience with some white beans recently. These were Goya brand white beans (great northern) with a "use by" date of late 2005. I had sauted some onion and garlic in olive oil, put in the beans, water and salt, brought the whole thing to a boil then put into a 250 F oven. This was in the little LC with the lid on. Normally, these beans are done within two hours or less. The odd thing was that the beans were "spotty." That is the only way I know to describe it. I would pick up a bean to test it and see some sort of white patches on the bean and those would be relatively hard spots. I kept going but nothing was changing so I finally gave up and put them in a container in the fridge while deciding if I should throw them out and start over. (I was going to use them in a short cut, lazy man's cassoulet type dish with some turkey confit. That never happened but that is another story.) A couple of days later, I warmed a small bowl of them to have with my lunch and they were fine. All of that says to me that beans can be perverse. I concur with the precooking.

Rest assured, I have compared quality. Most of what is in the big box stores is junk. Oddly enough, there is also a lot of junk in the "architectural antique" emporiums here so your friend's assessment is correct. The high end kitchen remodeling shops here have some amazing stuff but compared to what I saw, it is not worth the price. Granted, what is in Ikea and of the most impressive quality is in the contemporary style. No surprise there. For instance, they have some handles that "match" the handle design on my GE appliances and are very functional. Example on the icemaker here. (Click on the photo gallery.) These are heavy, very well made and functional. $7.99 (US) for a package of two.

What about the tomatos? I think what you are proposing would work but I would leave out the tomatos as well. I know this can be a problem. I got a frantic call from my nephew one day. He was making a pot of pintos to take to a cook-out. He had decided to tinker with the recipe and added some diced tomato. Five hours into the mission and the beans were still not tender and had an unpleasant texture. He was running out of time and I told him to just start over. Using the same batch of dried beans, he started over. The beans were lovely after about two hours so we know that it wasn't a case of old beans. He added the tomato, cooked a little while longer and went on his merry way.

YOIKS! The whole thing freezing in three hours reminds me of going into blast freezers when I was with FDA. I freeze stock all the time before reducing if I need to interupt the process and I have the freezer space. Obviously, you don't have a space problem.

OK! I nearly choked on my coffee when I saw what you have budgeted for handles. I can't find the details on the web site but this picture shows some solid, heavy stainless steel handles that are $7.99 (US) for a package of two. I checked in my kitchen catalog. I have had these in my hand and they are substantial. They have a lot of other styles and finishes. This was just one picture that I could find as an example that I could put a price on. Having looked at handles until I am blue in the face and knowing how much they can cost, when I was rummaging around in the handles at Ikea, my jaw kept dropping. Makes me think I am in the wrong business. $20 for a handle? Nope . . . Can't do it. Even if I won the lottery.

Ok. Enquiring minds want to know. Why did you need to use a pot you hate? What do you mean by "crackled?" Smells? How does it smell? Bad? Living in the cold country does apparantly have its virtues. Imagine having several acres of deep freeze.

But the Lodge web site says imported from France. However, the way it is worded, it isn't clear if the pot or the enamel is imported. I am getting a mental image of one huge factory in France taking all of the cast iron in the world and enameling it to brand specifications.

I agree with Rachel on this one. I would bet that the beans are precooked or canned. That quantity looks really close to the contents of a standard can. I also note the tomatoes in there. Between the orange juice and tomatoes, I can't imagine starting with dried beans would work very well. It would also make some sense that it may mean canned. That much acid in the recipe would keep the beans from getting any mushier. edit to add: Ooops We cross posted. Just soaking them overnight just doesn't sound right to me.

Oddly enough, I was just reading some Pre-Columbian history and find that the elite of the Aztecs and many other groups before them, had runners bringing fresh seafood into the high valley long ago. Some of the facades of the pyramids at Teotihuacan have seashells as a prominent part of the decoration. That was long before the Aztecs. Pass the cherries.

It is going to depend on how acid it gets. Too much will retard the softening of the beans, a little more will stop them in their tracks. We got down to "basic science" here. I think you have reason to be concerned. However, I don't have access to the recipe so what do I know. There may not be enough acid to matter. If you are dubious about the amount of orange juice you can always add it when the beans get to the texture that you want and then just cook it a bit longer to meld the flavors.

I don't cook lamb often but when we did one time, we made a Middle Eastern "taco" for a refreshing sandwich the next day. Spread the inside of a pita bread liberally with hummus. Stuff it with shredded lamb, add some thinly sliced cucumber, chiffonade of mint, add whatever kind of yogurt sauce you like. Of course, you can add other things as well. For a go-with I fried up some small falafel. I made them thin to get the maximum crispies. Some folks stuffed them in there also. (I had the yogurt sauce and hummus left over from the dinner of the day before.)

Oh my that is lovely. Think of your meat thermometer as the magic wand that your fairy godmother gave you. You just wave it and all fears disappear. Thank you for reminding me of the lettuce/peas/mint dish. I just found the sticky note where I wrote that down one day while watching the "Two Fat Ladies." I had never heard of that before. Is that a particularly English or Dutch dish?

Good question. I know that when my Thai cooking friend would plan a dinner party, it took her two days. About the best I have been able to do is the coconut chicken soup out of the freezer, a curry using the paste from the bucket, and rice out of the rice cooker. And another question . . . Does anyone here like to serve curries and such with the short grain brown rice? One of my favorite restaurants here does this. They pack it into a butterfly shaped mold and turn it out onto the middle of the plate. It has a wonderful flavor and texture but the short grain can be hard to find if you don't have an Asian grocery handy.