Dave W

It wasn't a horror story really we did two bathrooms too, although when working on the framing I did overhear the carpenter saying that the place's previous frameup was a "horror show"

Oh and that original kitchen peninsula ^^ was constructed out of stained plywood fascia with a counter made of shellaced 2x4 boards that were laid in a mildly U-shaped concave/boat pattern I guess to prevent spills. But who knows?

Before After Added pantry storage and permanent buffet Fridge and floors Guest starring levain. This was a massive undertaking as we had to add a structural support beam in the middle of the room where the previous owner had removed a load bearing wall and rigged something hanging from the rafters by steel straps instead of pulling a permit and doing it properly. Established January 2014. Induction hotplate and pressure cooker kept us well fed for the 100 days it took. Can't say I ever want to wash dishes in the bathtub again.

Nice étouffée Shelby I like mine with a nice dark roux too.

Made some patak "paneer" (spinach and kale with spiced fried tofu instead of cheese) last night and had enough for leftovers which lit my fire for Indian tonight Arvi Bhaji (Jerusalem Artichoke Curry) Chana masala with sweet potatoes Patak tofu Naan Vindaloo spices grilled yogurt chicken The sunchokes are head and shoulders above any Indian dish I've made before. This recipe is a keeper http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/mobile.php?rid=misc-arvi-bhaji Your plate

Kim the recipe is just puff pastry I made with 56% hydrated bread flour, half milk, instant yeast and plugra with a sugar/cinnamon filling. They proof about an hour before baking after rolling and cutting.

Figured it was fine time to bake up some more morning buns today

Record highs in colorado today draw me outside and get me chomping at the bit to start the garden. Have huge pepper tomato squash and herb plans this year and can only hope the weather bears them out.

Elise I'm not sure how necessary it is to toss all your Asian sauces I don't refrigerate oyster sauce or sweet chili sauce for example and have never seen any mold or tasted any spoilage from them. I would probably toss the curry pastes but that's because they have some fresh vegetables incorporated usually even though they are canned and shelf stable before you open them.

Without further ado, So much flavor in this bread wow!

Char=flavor huh?

Here comes back to back posts. Working from Forkish I made way too much levain so some of the excess was dedicated to these sourdough wheat crackers.

I came to this thread to whinge about the huge amount of levain he has you build and ask about reducing it and there my answer is right in the first post. Gotta love egullet. Thanks Kerry. The overnight blondes are forthcoming.

Well for the break even point on only one 1L whipper I can get a case of good wine from my wine rep friend. And getting a larger siphon would just cause me to buy even more wine in the future. Right now I'm working on some wine made by my uncle in law, on the western slope I colorado. And he even included some peach wine this time. the carbonation improves it for sure. But at what level of production does a vinters wine cease being homemade and qualify as a winery?

Made some sage sausage for the family and started some pizza dough today so the collision was inevitable.

Ok where did I go wrong? I got my .5l isi and rose very cold and then charged the rose with two CO2 canisters and shook. I allowed to settle in the fridge for half an hour and then dispensed upside down. All the carbonation escaped and fizzed out immediately and left flat wine that tasted as it did before. Edit: I see that dispensing through the valve is the problem and if you pour it instead it works great! Cool trick.

Cool prize! It would be cool to own one of those as my isi can only pressure marinate about two servings at once. I've competed in BBQ comps before with additional chefs choice and dessert categories and these are usually "anything goes" for garnish as well. I think garnishing with $100 bills might get you disqualified though. One year I submitted crawfish étouffée but didn't win, I believe the filet mignon took it.

Well Id think all that nicely rendered pork fat that escapes would go great in a pie crust if it's not too aggressively seasoned.

Me too. The unctuous ness you get from the butt or shoulder is irreplaceable. Maybe you could use ribs but then you've got the matter of picking your stew for bones and meat before you eat it. Much of the fat is easily removed from the top of the stew once you refrigerate it. If it really bothers you you could pre render the shoulder, and much of your extra fat will melt out. I often make green chili stew with previously cooked BBQ pulled pork shoulder. An added benefit beyond fat removal is that the stew is cooked in about an hour instead of over three hours.

I think that what the judges like and what they're looking for in a blind box are two separate but related questions.

Is the meat marinating machine a vacuum tumbler? I bet that'd be allowed. Jaccard is allowed, marinade and brine is allowed. You just can't use anything but wood/charcoal/pellets for your heat source. I agree with what rotuts said about competition BBQ above. It's not "BBQ I'd like best" it's "best BBQ according to judges" you don't know what the judges like so the goal is to leave a lasting impression, with perfectly cooked meats, and no offensive flavors. The route you take to get there (trimming, brine, rub, sauce, foil, glaze) is different from cook to cook. In theory the judges are to weigh your entry on its own merits: did you pull off a delicious memphis dry rub rib that needs no sauce? That should be worth as many points as a perfectly sauced sticky Kansas City style spare rib. But at the end of the day you're cooking for an audience. Even if you're the executive chef of your own restaurant you still have to consider what brings home the bacon from your guests even if you'd like something done differently.

I agree with all of this. There's a lot of closed minded presumptiveness in this thread. By and large the competitors and judges at a BBQ competition are in a great mood to be there. And the restrictions placed on entries are there to level the playing field. While people's choice competitions are sure fun there's more showmanship involved than anything else. The team with the loudest/friendliest/most buxom bikinis wins. Double blind boxes forces you to shed all that and simply cook the winning food. And the rules don't specify what that is to taste like. As an aside I've judged a number of CASI chili contests and yes you must cook your chili meat well but it's a lot more complicated than that. There's massive variance in the entries, in style, execution, and seasoning. Just like there certainly is massive variance between the 50+ teams submitting each BBQ meat.

How do you know that?

The time it spends with it's core temperature above the bacterial kill curve temperature doesn't count in that four hour calculation. But I wouldn't play any games right at that temperature. Nothing lower than 55C to be safe.

Dcarch that's part of the crowd but definitely not everyone.