jmcgrath

The Fannie Farmer "Boston Cooking-School Cookbook" has two recipes for mincemeat that contain beef. Interestingly, she also provides a recipe for English mincemeat that contains no beef. My old "Joy of Cooking" also has a mincemeat recipe containing beef. Jim

Green Tomato Chutney The ingredient's list does not include vinegar, but the directions do. Suggested quantity, please. No hurry, tomato season is well past here in New England. Jim

There is a delightful little French deli in my town and I fell in love with jambon sandwiches spread with a very spicy Dijon. I like Maille, but this was a good bit spicier and my preference. The owner doesn't speak much English and I was never able to get an answer from him on the brand. I finally got an English speaking counterperson to go in the back and check. Sysco. Yikes! Jim

The A1 diner in Gardiner, ME is a really neat place. Gardiner is located about halfway between Lewiston and Augusta. A1 Diner

Taqueria Mexico at 24 Charles St., just off Moody is a delightful and very inexpensive Mexican restaurant. There are two BBQ restaurants on Moody, Jake and Earl's, and Bison County. Both are good, but the music (Blues) played at Jake's is better. The East Coast Grill in Cambridge is great, but parking is a nightmare. The Blue Room at 1 Kendall Sq. in Cambridge is excellent and has a nearby parking garage. Any of the Legal Seafood restaurants will have a raw bar. The food is of high quality but I think they are very pricey. Jim

I'm a different Jim, but I will also chime in here. I compete, judge, and Contest Rep in New England. Most of the competition brisket I have seen has either been presented unsauced or with the lightest touch of sauce. Sweet is not an issue. I think it is a regional thing. Any remaining fat is always trimmed off before presentation. The slices are presented about 1/8" thick, with the smoke ring up. The judges are looking for tender and moist, neither chewey or mushy. The flavor of beef should predominate. Jim

Perhaps vertical layers next time

I just got home about a half hour ago and I'm very glad I didn't try to make the trip last night. I had a great time meeting you all and wish I didn't live so far away. Many thanks to our hosts and all of those who helped organize things. I think it was one of my ABTs that did Jason's stomach in. He was the only one who complained about them being too hot. The food was exceptional and I was sad to see so much thrown out. My biggest regret was being too full to sample any of the cheese. I thought about buying some unsampled, but decided I was too full to even think about food or make any decisions about what to buy. If we do this again next year, I will attack the cheese first. Time to go feed my starter. Jim

And I have a pound of Green Mounbtain Smokehouse bacon for Elyse. I hope she remembers to bring my starter. Jim

No problem. Also see Rachel's post about Curdnerd's grill. Jim

It is already packed, and will be more of a hassle to unpack it than to bring it and not use it. Jim

I just checked the capacity of my water jug. It is 5 gallons. I will be bringing my Weber kettle to cook the ABTs that I just finished making. The ABTs cook quickly, just need to crisp the bacon topping, so it will be available for sharing. Jim

I have a very large insulated water jug that I will bring for the well water, in addition to the other things I have signed up for. Jim

I guess everyone has their own way of cooking pork butt. The one thing in common is that it needs to be smoked at a fairly low temperature, between 225 and 250F. Long, slow cooking is needed to break down the collagen. In some regions of the country, sliced butt is more common. The proper temperature for this is 180 to 185F. For pulled pork, you need to get to 195 to 200F. Aim for about 2 hours/pound. Aim to finish an hour or two early. An unsliced/unpulled butt wrapped in foil or Saran will hold for hours in a dry cooler. Fill the empty spaces with balls of newspaper. I'll take the liberty to disagree with an earlier poster. Most smoke flavoring occurs when the meat is colder. After about 6 hours, the smoker contributes little or nothing to the taste of the butt. Finishing in the oven is not unheard of. Wrap the butts, put in a roasting pan to collect fat leakage, stick in a 225F oven and go to bed. Jim

I have about a 5 hour drive from Boston and reservations at Apple Valley Inn for Sunday evening. The storm is espected to miss Boston, but should I be rethinking my plans? Saturday will likely be to late to cancel my room, but I can at least avoid the drive if things are unlikely to happen. Please PM or email me instead of posting to the forum. I have one of those dreaded SUVs and may tow you out of the mud if you apologize. Jim

I think the only book I completely worked my way through is Beard's "Theory and Practice of Good Cooking". I gave my copy to my son and daughter in law when they got married. The son didn't need it much as he helped with college expenses by working as a line cook. I had hopes for my DIL but I think he still does most of the cooking. Can I ask for it back? I spent a lot of time with Pepin's "La Technique" and "La Methode". Before any of them, my first serious book was one from CIA whose name I don't remember and which I haven't run across in a while. Jim

I have a collection of Elephant brand sabatiers that I bought about 30 years ago. They are carbon steel, of course. High carbon stainless didn't exist back then to the best of my knowledge. I call them a collection rather than a set because I bought them over the course of several years, a knife at a time. Jim

I think we are discussing some fine points here that many folks may not care about. I don't think the flavor is in the fat, but on the surface of the butt where it is a combination of surface meat, spice rub, and smoke. I completely trim off the fat cap and after cooking, finely chop the bark (suface meat) and mix it into the pulled pork. I often save some of the chopped bark and serve it on the side. There are many ways to cook a butt and there is no right way, just what one prefers. Jim

I have to disagree with many of the other posters. I think the fat cap adds nothing to the final product and diminishes the quality of the bark. I find mopping or basting to be a totally worthless exercise. There is plenty of internal fat in a pork butt to keep it moist. Do what works best for you. I have described what works for me. Jim

Nes is also quite popular in Greece. I wouldn't call it coffee, but it grows on you after a while. I've mostly seen it served as an iced blender drink. Jim

Unfortunately, they come wrapped in a slice of bacon. I'll do some without the bacon if there is any interest. These need to be made in advance and just finished on the grill. Please let me know. Jim You can unload the extra bacon on me, please. OK, it's pretty nice bacon from Green Mountain Smokehouse in Windsor, VT. Jim

Unfortunately, they come wrapped in a slice of bacon. I'll do some without the bacon if there is any interest. These need to be made in advance and just finished on the grill. Please let me know. Jim

I have Japanese friends who use mayonaise on oknomiyaki, which is sort of a glorified omlet. Jim

I was having dinner with some friends at the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, MA. Pasta from Hell was my appetizer and I was slurping those noodles down until one of them backlashed and hit me in the eye. Hot sauce on the foot can't come close to comparing with what I went through. I was not only in agonizing pain, I was also blind in one eye. That was an endorphin rush!

I was hanging out at a bar in Tempe, AZ and having an animated discussion with another guy seated on the other side of his date. We reached agreement on some topic or other and clinked beer mugs, perhaps too aggresively. My mug shattered and the contents landed on her lap. His date and her problem :-) Jim