SLB

Consider pickled jalapenos instead of salsa. I know it's not the same, and definitely no sub for tomatoes; but it can add enough taste to suffice as a work around. And FYI, in Diana Kennedy, The Art of Mexican Cooking, there is a recipe for the very best flour tortilla I've ever tasted, "Tortillas de Harina Integral." It's at p. 386. The list of ingredients is as follows: rounded 1/2t fine ground salt 1/2C warm water 5oz AP or bread flour 3oz whole-wheat flour 1 heaped tsp gluten flour (optional) 2oz shortening. I grew up in flour tortilla country, and I don't care for them generally although I appreciate their utility. This one, however, was so good none of them ever made it into the freezer. That said -- I only ever used leaf lard instead of vegetable shortening, and the whole wheat flour that I use makes the best tasting everything, it's from a small mill called "Kenyons" [which I can't really recommend for mail order anymore due to gobsmacking dysfunction in that part of the business] But that flour does taste dramatically better than anything else I've used on the whole-wheat front, so that might have something to do with it.

Shelby, you have outdone yourself. Also? I now want gizzards, So.Very.Badly. [Aside -- over a decade ago, I was dating a man who lived far away, in a relationship that involved a lot of travel. He liked livers and gizzards, and I was collecting them over months, chicken by chicken, cleaned and frozen in milk. At about the time I had a reasonable volume, he dumped me.] But where was I? Um. You know how Ronnie gets to have a Friend in teh blind? I think you need a Friend in the kitchen. My guess is, there may be a lot of e-Gullet friend/applicants for the position, but I definitely think it should be me. As I said several hunts ago, I am willing to mop, and I would pour the wine. More important, as Designated Friend, I would have your coffee ready this morning. It would be Irish-style! So then you could go right back to bed.

I would've guess that PCing after frying would lead to the breading sliding off! It's startling that it doesn't. [FWIW -- I've never used and IP, I use an old timey pressure cooker, I know they must be different because the bean cooking times are so very different]

SQUEE!! It's showtime!

I love the look of wood, too. What I don't love is the look of aged, crazed, discolored "book-matched veneer", which is what I'm working with. Trust me, I'd replace this table with a lovely long rectangle of wood if it made any money sense at all. [Also -- thanks to whomever -- my guess is Smithy -- got these posts seated in the appropriate forum. I searched and searched, I can't believe I somehow missed "The Topic" ?! Anyway, now it's straight]

My guess is machine-made; the pattern of the holes is so consistent and orderly. There's no label; how would I be able to tell??

This is not a great photo -- it's a gray day, and just plain dark: I don't know how old the tablecloth is, but I am very confident in my presumption that she did not have a tablecloth until well after WWII, when enough of her 20 children had done well enough for themselves to move her into the kind of house that had an indoor bathroom. I don't even know if it's particularly special; it just was the "fancy" tablecloth in my mother's home. In my child's eye and memory, it is very *pretty*. My adult self prefers block printing, geometrics, etc. Other kinds of visual stimulation.

Also, in my obsession I learned a new term: "Tablescape".

I hunted up this thread because my current obsession is tablecloths. I love textiles, and textile-art, and the whole thing where utility combines with pretty. I've tossed most of my mother's old tablecloths, which were all 1970s polyester. But I have one lace wonder that was my paternal grandmother's, a woman born not long after the end of US slavery. Actually, it's not lace, more like a weave or loose crotchet or something. I have no memory of it having stains during my mother's custody, but when I pulled it out yesterday, it featured several large yellowed areas. Now I want some new ones. Or at least one new one.

I enjoyed it too, although I wanted to hear more from McFadden. Dave can be a bit of a steamroller.

Me too, I'm definitely interested. And, I'm wishing you a nourishing holiday.

Patti-baby. This food you're throwing down on these neighbors in need? It's *sending* them down memory lane, in the very best way. I keep thinking, what must a person feel when they reach into a community fridge and get a meal like one of these??? I said it before, I like everything about this. It's invigorating and humbling and all the things for the season of thanks.

FWIW, I didn't read the detour to food-safety customs as hateration, I saw it as more of a reflex from the professionals who've had the rules branded onto them. Meanwhile, I've been meaning to say, I see all that shiny magnalite in effect! And I see it with my head hanging low in shame, as my own custody of my mother's magnalite has been so derelict that I can't even remember it being shiny, although it sure was shiny when my mother passed it to me back in 1996. It had been my Louisiana grandmothers before (not Lafayette, way over in Terrebone parish). C'est dommage. I'm looking forward to seeing the sammiches.

My first thought was, supply-chain issues.

As always, you and these photos are making the book basically irresistible. In the meantime, if I heard Dave Arnold correctly, McFadden is the guest on next week's episode of the "Cooking Issues" podcast.

First was pureeing tomatoes and chilies for the salsa picante to go with posole. Next was pureeing more tomates and chiles to go into Mexican picadillo de carne molida. [I seem to have Mexican food on the brain these days . . . .]

My neighbor gave me an immersion blender several months ago -- she is purging and turned out to have two of them -- and I only just now pulled it out to finally use. Man are these things useful! I don't know why I haven't BEEN had one!!!

@patti, nah. All I see being revealed is your extraordinary cooking triumphs. This project is such a blessing, and it's also an inspiration. Not just the service aspect, but also the fact that the food looks so good; to echo @Maison Rustique, there's another layer of feeling cared for when the item looks all nice, like restaurant food! Also? You sound like you are having a lot of fun, I'm enjoying everything about this thread.

Oh, I've never done this at the butcher! This is what I put on the cut sheet when I buy the whole side -- butt cut into smaller roasts.

My butts come divided into 3 smaller roasts, too. I mean, that's how I request them. I had pulled one out and had it seasoning hte last few days, and decided to do it a la Smithy's onion soup mix idea. Except instead of potatoes, I have put green plaintains in the bottom. The reason for this is, I bought these little mini-looking bananas the other day thinking that they were a sweet banana; I was coming from the gym and out of my mind with hunger for something sweet, and I saw the banana, and paid zero attention to the fact that they were plainly sitting next to the the plaintain bin, and not over by the sweet fruit. I just bought em. And nearly choked when I tried to shove one in my mouth outside the store, immediately after purchasing. So, I had a few mini VERYSTARCHY plaintains left. They are now providing a bit of a bed bed for 2 pounds of pork butt that has been sprinkled with lipton onion soup mix. I figured, I like mofongo with pork chunks in it, so . . . . I'll report back. NB: This butt looks like it's been brutalized because I cut out about a pound of it to separately confit for tacos. I wasn't ravenous when I did that, but I must've been mad or something. It looks like that butt got murdered, I realize.

Hostess at Marie Callender's Denver (that's how we answered the phone). My mother had directed me to get a job there as a Strawberry Girl, which was the job where you cut strawberries all day for pies. At the interview, I was informed that the hostess job paid a little more, so I took that one. I was 12. Later, after I got my driver's license, I took a second job with a catering company on weekend nights. I liked that job a little better because the workers ate for free. Mostly I was a server but sometimes I worked in the kitchen prepping, which I liked better -- both the labor that was entailed as well as the coworkers on that side -- but no tips. I wanted money. I wanted to go farfaraway to college, and I wanted money. At least that's what I remember thinking at the time. In reflection, though, I think I just wanted to get me some of the kind of food that was served in restaurants. I wanted to work around food so that I could eat more restaurant food.

Whoops! Sigh. My first ferment fail just had to be in the year of our LORDHAVEMERCY food prices. Sigh.

Well, I was just thinking more limited to home-preserved food in jars. But that was an enjoyable re-visit. And I caught my breath sharply to see @heidih. Thank you.

Testify. I'm heading down there this evening for respect. And vinegars.

You know what I would like to see? Peoples storage facilities for their canned stuff. I don't know why I find those photos so much fun. And I for sure don't know if they belong in this thread. But I like seeing the goodies amassed and organized. And I like seeing the creating shelving/structural solutions. Don't even get me started on root cellars. Just sayin' . . . .