rustwood

For months now at my local grocery store, Eggland's best have been the same or cheaper than the store brand. Currently they are $3.49 vs $4.99, but the difference has been >$2. A family member told me they are also cheaper in their store, but the Eggland's are usually sold out. People in my store must not care about the price because the small shelves of Eggland's never seem to sell out there. The high price of commodity eggs has definitely made me more inclined to spend what is now not all that much more for the organic/cage-free/local/etc eggs. I don't mind paying an extra dollar or so for 'premium' eggs now, but I had a harder time paying several dollars more when the commodity eggs were cheap. I don't notice any difference in the eggs, buying them just makes me feel better. I'll be interested to see how much the fresh eggs are when my local farm stand re-opens this spring though. They are usually much more expensive and not as uniformly sized (mostly smaller). They don't taste any better to me either though so perhaps I have an unrefined palette.

Good find. "If anything, the eggs that sat with salt for the longest were more moist and tender than the eggs that were exposed to salt for less time, though I can't stress enough that the differences were incredibly subtle." Of course their longest wait was an hour, not many hours overnight.

I thought that it didn't sound right. Thanks all for sharing your thoughts. Next time I am going to try straining the eggs though. Nothing to do with fluffy omelettes, but similar to FeChef, I grew up eating egg sandwiches that tended to be a bit scorched and I still make them that way - on purpose.

Good thought. If he is adding anything, he hasn't shared those details. I suppose pre-seasoning with salt might have an impact overnight though.

The owner/cook at a popular breakfast/lunch place told me the secret to his excellent omelettes is that he beats his eggs for the next day before he closes (~2 pm) and stores them in the refrigerator overnight (covered/sealed) because they then yield fluffier omelettes. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? I haven't and I haven't been able to find anything along those lines via google.

I still haven't found the site I was thinking of, but I did find another one that was helpful when I was looking for cookware: https://www.centurylife.org/how-to-choose-cookware/ . Of course not everyone will agree with all of their conclusions, but like their approach to reviewing cookware and kitchen gear and they present a lot of information on the site.

We went through this last year and I found a great site for comparing cookware that had loads of objective data and tests, but I can't seem to dredge it up now. I'll respond again if I find it. Have you checked out the recommendations on Wirecutter.com? I've relied on them many times and have no regrets. Of course, like any such site, one needs to read and understand the rationale behind the recommendations to ensure that the issues and features they mention are relevant to your needs. When we bought our induction range we needed to replace few saucepans, a stockpot and a tea kettle. We ended up getting a small Cuisinart Multiclad Pro set, plus a stainless tea kettle from Amazon. Everything works great for us. If you look around, those Cuisinart sets are often listed as a good budget/value choice for induction. They used to be a Wirecutter pick, but they've been demoted because of problems with them warping under high heat. We weren't concerned about that though because we've always used cast iron or carbon steel cookware for high heat applications. Earlier this summer I picked up an inexpensive carbon steel wok with a flat bottom at Home Goods. I'd never heard of the brand, but it was the right size, material, style and it appeared to be well made so I took a chance. I am glad I did because it works amazingly well - especially for the price. The flat part fits perfectly on one of my hobs. I have a bigger wok and a high BTU propane burner out back, but I'll probably only break them out for messy cooks now.

Have you tried it yet? I made it yesterday. It smells good, but I tried it on my eggs this morning and I can't say I could taste it. Perhaps I need to be a little more heavy handed with it, or I could still be blown out from the smell that filled the house yesterday. BTW, I ate some sauteed ramps with my eggs yesterday morning, set the ramp salt to dry in the toaster oven, then after a while went out to run an errand. When I got back into my car, it smelled like a bag of everything bagels but I think it was just my lingering odor (or perhaps my clothes). I guess the smell coming off of me at least helped with social distancing. Of course now I want to pick up some poppy or egg bagels and try mixing ramp salt in with the cream cheese.

This is true, although I am sure I am conflating the saltiness and the overall flavor to some extent. That's especially hard to avoid with country ham since the salt is such a big component. Breakfast is over now (yum!), but I should try adding some next time. It seems so obvious now that you've said it, but this is the first time I've had the slightest temptation to add salt to country ham. Thanks.

When I saw this, I wondered if she was the cookbook editor that Dave, and perhaps others, were raving about on a show just couple of months or so ago. I am a little behind on my episodes, but I guess I will find out soon. Then again, it sounds like they had quite an episode this week so I may have to listen out of order.

It varied. I'd say for me, the outside 20% or so of the cut edges weren't salty enough. The inner parts were good though. Of course it is all relative. I am at this moment eating some of the outer edge and while it isn't quite as flavorful what I expect for country ham, it is still a tasty side for my eggs and toast.

Coincidentally, hours before yesterday's posts, I had started soaking a good-sized chunk of country ham (dry cured, not smoked - the hard, super salty ham). It was too late to start cooking it by the time I got back to it, so it stayed in the fridge overnight. This morning I drained it, put it in a bag, set the bag inside my mostly empty SV bath, filled the bag with water, finished filling the bath, then cooked it at 150 degrees for 8 hours. I've had good results cooking city-ham in cryovac packaging, so I thought I'd try a variation of it with country ham. It came out with a very nice texture - much better than another piece of the same ham that I cooked via a more traditional boil/simmer method a while back. The extra long soak might have also helped though. The meat along the cut edges was quite bland, but perhaps no more so than when I had simmered it. I am definitely going to try it with SV again, but with a much shorter (or no) pre-soak. Hopefully the cut edges will retain more flavor and/or the texture will be just as good.

I think it would give some useful perspective if you could share more info on what sizes/types of smokers and grills you already have. I have a standard 18" Vision (similar to the classic Kamado Joe and BGE) and although I've often thought it might be nice to add a smaller kamado, I haven't done it because I just don't see the point. If I am going to do a long smoke, I want plenty of room. If I am just grilling, if anything I tend to wish I had more room - especially with veggies. Most of my grilling is l for just two of us. I start a half chimney of charcoal while I am prepping the food and my only concern is getting back out to it before it gets too hot. As soon as I am done I close the vents and the fire goes out - little to no wasted charcoal. I used to think my gas grill was convenient for quick grills, but I gave it up long ago and I don't miss it. I think it is very easy to clean out the ash even though I don't have an ash drawer. It isn't necessary to get out every last bit of ash. Unless there is a lot of ash built up, I usually don't clean it out for a short grilling session. I have stainless steel grates that are easy enough to clean, but I always use GrillGrates when I grill - flat side up.

They look great. After I asked about the sequence, I saw your post about them in the sous vide thread. So there was no finishing other than the pre-sear?

Like cheese dip or a dipping sauce for ham? Details/recipe please!