fifi

Cornbread dressing goes back several generations. I finally "wrote up" the basics that my mother made for years. Of course, she changed it just a bit every year. For a few years, my mother would make a Waldorf salad, with pecans, of course. The sweet potatoes would often have pecans. Mother's potato salad. It was made with a mayo dressing with a little mustard and the "secret"... celery seeds. I don't think she ever put pecans in that. Pecan pie. (Are you seeing a theme here?) Oh yeah... The really stupid relilsh tray that was rarely molested. Well... except maybe for the pimento cheese stuffed celery. The separate platter or two of deviled eggs went fast. There won't be any pictures this year. My sister and I went on strike. Nephew has to take us to the buffet at the yacht club... That is if we don't have to buy a yacht to get there! (Rain, rain, go away.)

WHEW! I thought he meant that he was going to saute the pup! Well... The wee beastie does appear to be a bit of a ham. (Sorry.)

Nope... Not me... Not this time. I actually don't have one now. When the son moved out, he took it with him. He is a buttless string bean and we got the thing for him to make these disgusting protein shakes. Of course, I appropriated it for soups and such. I miss it. That is where the true magic is and I would buy one just for that. You have great control over texture, all in the same pot, and no hot soup geyser blenders. I will probably need a new toy under the tree.

NUTHIN' fixed that roast.

My favorite for pot roast is chuck. I usually use a dutch oven in a slow oven. Milt... Sometimes it is just the meat. I had that happen to me with a pork butt one time. I was in my HEB, usually pretty reliable for pork, and this piece just called out to me. It was well marbeled, exceptionally so, and I thought AH HA! It cooked up really fine looking but had as much taste as the styrofoam tray it arrived in.

OH my goodness... A soup based on smoked turkey with garbanzos sounds so good, I may have to smoke some turkey to make some.

Oh my Carolyn, that sounds good. I may have to put on the other half pound of garbanzos on to cook. What really appeals to me about this recipe is the cinnamon. I have been increasingly enchanted by the use of cinnamon in savory dishes.

Doing that preheating in a smoker is truly inspired. We aren't frying turkeys this year but I will remember this for the next. I agree with you about the non-trussing. We mount the turkey on the "rack" fully splayed so that all parts get cooked evenly.

Here is the ingredient list... salt, Turkish oregano, garlic, lemon peel, Tellicherry black pepper, marjoram. I am surprised that it doesn't have mint.

You just inspired me to have my leftover salad for "brunch". (OK... I slept late. ) I added some feta and a sprinkle of Greek seasoning from Penzey's. Divine!!! There is something really satisfying about the texture of those beans... er... peas... whatever.

I have to report a use of confit that I haven't tried yet but comes highly recommended. My sister had a jar of onion confit in the back of the fridge. She was baking some sweet potatoes, scooped them out of their skins, put them in a casserole with some butter, then spied the confit. On a whim, for about three potatoes, she added about a half a cup of onion confit to the sweet potato in the casserole dish. She and the guests went nuts. She has done the same thing a couple of times now to rave reviews. She also reports that a good grating of nutmeg doesn't hurt. I can't wait to try this.

I have to bump this up to relate a delightful lunch. I had cooked a half pound of Goya dried garbanzos in my little Le Creuset. I have to agree with Richard. The taste and texture is astounding. Anyway... Having put the beans in the fridge for various uses later, I was in the position of thinking of something for lunch today. I was "rained in" for all practical purposes and couldn't get to the store to work on a couple of kitchen projects so I was relegated to lolling around, reading mysteries, (AWWW!) and then finding that I needed lunch. I didn't want anything heavy. Then I remembered the garbanzos in the fridge. I diced some red onion, red bell pepper and celery. I made a simple vinaigrette emulsified with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and added a little garlic. Dousing the garbanzos and veggies resulted in an awesome "salad" that made for a very satisfying lunch with saltines and orange juice to drink. The improved texture of the garbanzos cooked using the Parsons method added to the delight. I think these cooked garbanzos are going to become a staple in my fridge.

It seemed strange to me when I did it with the chicken thighs as well. I don't know why I started doing it. I think it was the fact that I was throwing out the flabby, unappatizing skin and felt that I was throwing away a lot of paprika flavor. Anyway... once I did that I found that the flavor permeated the meat much better. It does seem to fly in the face of tradition for confit, though. Of course, flying into faces is not a strange activity for me.

I have actually seen them at my "larger" grocery stores. Sometimes they have been an odd brand so you have to rummage around on the lower shelves. That recipe actually looks like it is worth doing. I have tried for years to make something edible with the noble turkey. I am wondering about that many juniper berries though. They are pretty strong and it seems like that many could overwhelm the other flavors. But... What do I know. I have another question. Let's say that I want to confit a small batch of thighs to have the meat on hand to shred on salad or add some chunks to a bean dish... not necessarily a full blown cassoulet. Would you take the skin off first? Remember that I am not talking about crisping up for serving like in the recipe. I am working off of the same learnings from doing Paprika Chicken thighs.

Brined or not brined, previously frozen or "fresh", the key to safely frying a turkey without explosive consequences is to have the bird fully thawed and dried before the dunking. When we fry turkeys, we are usually doing a dozen or so. Neighbors and friends bring that "free" bird over. We carefully check to see that it is fully thawed, no little ice bombs inside the cavity, and away we go. We may or may not inject. I do like a nice garlicky butter boost. When we are on a real marathon, we actually pre-warm the birds in a slow oven for about half an hour to reduce the oil temperature drop. I think that makes for a crisper skin as well. It also helps insure that the thing is dry. Back to the original question... While I am a big fan of brining, we don't bother with it anymore for frying. We did do a comparison one year, having brined one, and really didn't see enough difference to bother. Also, keep in mind that a lot of those turkeys are the "grocery store" variety and are probably already pumped up anyway. If smoking... I definitely brine. Fried... NAH. edit to add: Keep in mind that the USDA standard for "fresh" is something like 28F (I am not sure that number is right but it is below freezing) and you can still have ice. Look, feel, check, and check again.

Welcome to eGullet, jocelyng! As to injection stuff, when we bother to do it, it is usually a butter mixture with spices. You can usually find premade injection concoctions at the store. You don't want a water based anything. I am not sure what would happen but the thought of dunking a turkey with pockets of water into hot oil just doesn't sound like a good idea. If someone insists on gravy, I buy some turkey wings or other parts, brown them in the oven and make gravy from that.

OK... Head on comparison between Ore-Ida "extra crispy" and Safeway brand, Safeway brand wins hands down. This is in a DeLonghi convection oven. The Ore_Ida doesn't seem to have enough fat to really sizzle. The taste is somewhat funky as well. Maybe they would do better in a deep fry test. But... They really don't have that good potato flavor. (How did they manage to get rid of that?)

BWAHAHAHAHA! Actually, Paula Wolfert put us onto the black chamba stuff and I don't have any... yet. Now... Give in. Go get that gratin. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks for the link. I share in your shame at the misspelling. But... I still want those pots.

I encourage you to go with your preferences. I, for one, tend to keep my onion confit "pure". I can add herbal notes or other flavors after the fact. I have added rosemary for a condiment for a pork roast. That was awesome.

I like what you have done with the Lowe's design. Now, take that to Ikea and see what you come up with. I would go with more drawers in the lower cabinets. I like what you have done with the sink in the corner as well... heh... that is what I am doing with the one corner I couldn't get rid of. The one single big sink is definitely the way to go. You won't regret that. I did find a sink that has the drain off-set into the right rear corner. If you can have a disposal, that puts the thing more out of the way so that you have better use of the cabinet under the sink. You will need to install some of those slide out drawer things (like made by Elfa) to actually use it without shameful groveling. You will have to be sure that that little piece of wall is not a structural support before you remove it.

Maybe by that time I will have invented the muck sucker that I dreamed about, have become a popcorn ceiling removal empressario, and will have made enough millions that I would be happy to have "my people" come up and remove it for you. I can't wait to see what you come up with for the floor.

I really don't know how long it will keep. I have a jar that got pushed to the back of the shelf in this fridge-from-hell for... oh, I don't know... two months? It still smells good. It still tastes good. I tasted it two days ago and I am not dead yet.

Wowser... You found Chambra there? I have been drooling over that stuff for some time. Yes, LC makes a line of pottery. That is why when I am extolling the virtues of a LC gratin, I always mention the enamelled cast iron, not the pottery. I don't remember a problem with LC glaze. Personally, if the concern was with the exterior I wouldn't worry about it. I worked at FDA from about '67 to '72. We had a lot of pottery come in for testing from Mexico and Italy. I would really be surprised that a product manufactured in France would be a concern. But I might be wrong. Having been involved in this kind of testing for several years, I have always had an interest and I think I would have noticed a problem with something as high profile as LC. You could go to the FDA web site and send them a question. You can also purchase lead testing kits. If I can find that thread where we tracked that down, I will provide a link here.

No problemo... I was trying to scale down the recipe (my latest kick for cooking for one) and I actually tried a couple of things to enter into the chicken contest that I never got around to. I use skinless, boneless chicken thighs. For every 4 thighs, use about 1/4 cup of paprika. Salt the thighs fairly generously. Put them in a plastic zip type baggy and pour in the paprika. Toss around and kinda massage the thighs to get the paprika coating all surfaces. This will look like an insane amount of paprika. Slice onion, about one medium yellow or white onion for each 2 thighs. Layer the onion in the bottom of the crock pot or heavy pot with lid on (e.g. Le Creuset). Place the thighs on top of the onion in one layer. From there, several cooking options are available and seem to result in the same delicious result... Crockpot on low, 5 to 6 hours Crockpot on high, 3 to 4 hours LC in a 250F oven, 3 to 4 hours LC in a 275F oven, 2 hours All of this is not critical. You are looking for fall apart tender chicken. However you get there is up to your preferences and time schedule. The onions should be soft. There is often a wide variation of liquid depending upon how much water the onions contain, and that varies a lot. Then you can cook down the onion "gravy" on the top of the stove, thicken it a bit maybe, whatever floats your boat. I like the idea of cooking it down on the top of the stove then adding a big dollop of sour cream.