Tropicalsenior

Years ago I worked for a high-end delicatessen that was associated with a great butcher shop. They made their own smoked bacon and trimmed it and sliced it so that every slice was a work of art. That left plenty of trimmings, which we chopped and fried and sold as fresh bacon bits. One of the items on our catering menu was green beans with various seasonings, butter and lots of bacon bits. One morning I arrived to work and was asked to make up a hotel pan of green beans, which I promptly did by opening up four large cans of beans and preparing them in our usual way. Then I had a horrible thought and ask the manager who they were for. They were for the luncheon that I was to serve at noon and the client that I would be serving was a business that was owned by a wonderful Jewish Family. Although the meal was not requested to be kosher, we always respected the dietary requirements of whatever culture we were serving. I rushed to make another pan of beans and there were no more in the pantry and no way to get any more. I had to serve those beans. I did it with bated breath. I thought I had gotten away with it when the owner approached me and said he had to talk to me about the beans. My heart sank. Then he asked me for the recipe. He said that they were the best beans he had ever had in his life and would I please give him the recipe so that his wife could make them for him. I think I crossed my fingers behind my back as I told him that they were made with butter and Bacos, those horrible imitation bacon bits. After that, we made sure that we never ran out of beans especially since it became one of our most popular items. However, in addition to the bacon bits we had to start stocking Bacos, because the word was out and all of our Jewish clients started requesting beans with those wonderful Bacos.

Oh yes! Now I know what we are going to have for dinner. BLTs and broccoli cheese soup. I don't have any fresh broccoli so this will give me a chance to go to the store and restock my overstocked pantry. To address the problem of those terrible bacon bits on salads, usually they are overcooked and overaged. To me, well cooked, nice sized fresh bacon pieces are essential to a spinach salad.

https://youtu.be/WXJMO54Bwbk Give this a try. If it doesn't work let me know.

I save bacon grease and in fact, I buy the boxes of "bacon ends and pieces" to render down into grease for cooking but I use it up quickly. I do know that in some dishes the flavor of good bacon fat is indispensable. However, for me it is just a personal distaste connected with a terrible memory. Here, I can buy an excellent fresh lard, which I prefer. I do love bacon and for some things it is irreplaceable. I have been reading your blog and it is mesmerizing. Your knowledge and expertise is astounding. Thank you for sharing it with us. After reading about Aston I now understand your username.

I started with 48 ounces which left me with a cooked weight of 31 and a half ounces. They had quite a bit of fat on them. I also had two cups of good broth from the water that I poured in after browning them and that I used to steam them.

Scrapple: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple is completely different than head cheese: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese I know from bad experience. My mother used to make scrapple, which I loved and my ex mother-in-law made head cheese, which I couldn't even gag down to be polite.

My ex, thank God, mother-in-law had an obsession with bacon grease. She saved it in 3 lb coffee cans which she stored in her pantry. As I recall, she always had at least six. She very scrupulously always used the oldest can first, which meant that it was always rancid by the time she used it. And she used it in everything! She used it to make pancakes, fry chicken, and to make pie crust, cookies, and cake. It's been 50 years and I still shudder at the memory. The one thing I don't save is bacon grease.

They look delicious. I hope all of this helped.

I had a little old Chinese neighbor who used a smaller version of this as a strainer to take things out of the pot.

I was wondering about the first link but this one is wonderful! I got hungry just reading it.

If you do happen to be looking for recipes, I came across this in my search: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/cheek-meat_n_5522070.html. if you don't figure out what to do with those beef ribs, Send them to me. They sound wonderful. They're beginning to learn about aging here, but most of the beef that you get was grazing in the pasture yesterday.

Back from my research, it seems that in almost all instances they have prepared them exactly like pork belly. Though not an expert on it, I have been cooking a lot of pork belly in my instant pot. I don't have an SV system and I probably couldn't get one here anyway if I wanted one. I don't think I would be much of a fan of one. I'm too much into instant gratification. SV sounds too much like raising the chicken and waiting for it to get big enough to eat. The anticipation would outlast the desire to eat it. However, to get back on the subject. Yesterday I cooked pork belly to be made later into BBQ Chinese pork. This is how I did it. I browned the pork thoroughly. Then I put it on a rack and poured two cups of water directly into the browned bits below. I steamed the pork for 25 minutes and let it release naturally. it wasn't quite done to my liking so I steamed it 10 minutes more, let it release naturally, and it was done to perfection. I put it in a bag with the Chinese BBQ marinade and put it in the freezer to be cooked later. that way I have my almost instant barbecued ribs without having to wait 3 hours of cooking in the oven. I don't see why the browning and steaming wouldn't work the pork cheeks. The trick will be under cooking them if necessary and adding more time if they needed it. And, very important with meat, use natural release. That way the moisture goes back into the meat and keeps it succulent. I dried out several cuts of meat before I found out this important feature of pressure cooking.

Holy cow! I don't pay that much here for New York steak. But I can certainly see your point. I will check around and see what I can find out about them.

What flavor profile are you looking for? Asian, Southern, Mexican? Couldn't you treat them similar to pork belly? There are some really great recipes out there for pork belly. I think that's what I would do and maybe just shorten the cooking time. You can always go longer if you need it, but you can't undo it if you cook them too long.

You have my sympathy. For me, everything is better with cheese.

Finely, something I can feel lucky about. I can't get duck here. But... I do have a 12 lb turkey in the very bottom of my chest type freezer. I bought him just before my husband passed away two years ago. Do you think it is safe to revive him or should he, too, take a ride to the landfill?

Thank you, everyone. I am so relieved to know that I am not alone in this affliction. Now I just need to know what I can do to cure it. I read the topic, Cooking Your Freezer, but it didn't help. It seems like everything in my freezer is "too precious to use". I'm quickly running out of room, I need help.

I was lucky. Both the grapefruit and the oranges were seedless. I saw your recipe and passed it by because, like you said, not only are you picking out lots of seeds, but you're picking out pieces of seeds. Besides, I'm scared to death of mandolins. Once bit, you know.

Do they still smell, or even work?

I forgot to add that I did need to use a splatter screen on top of the pot while it was boiling. It spits stuff all over. Don't use a lid because it impedes evaporation. It will take forever to jell and the flavor well not be as fresh and bright.

Yesterday I made marmalade in my instant pot. And if I do have to say so myself, it turned out great. I use the directions from this site: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCXjCzDnfE&feature=youtu.be and I modified it for the instant pot. I cooked the whole fruit for one hour on high pressure, let it release naturally, and after the chopped peels and sugar were combined, I let it boil on saute, high, until it reached the jelling point. I have used this method several times the conventional way and I must say, this is the easiest, best batch that I have ever made. This recipe is so good! I used two pink grapefruit, two navel oranges and one large lemon. It was just the right amount for the pot.

Hmm, four doesn't seem like very many, maybe I better stop writing and go see if they have anymore.

You are not alone! This is what is left of a ten bag stash of butterscotch caramels that I hadn't seen on the shelves for about a year. my housemate has a terrible sweet tooth and I buy them for him on the nights that we don't have dessert. My weakness is also ginger candy but I make my own. In large quantities of course. I think I have about a quart and a half left.

My problems started when I lived in a beach town about two and a half hours from San Jose. We had no decent grocery stores nor butcher shops. We couldn't even buy decent toilet paper. Because of the curvy, rutted mountain roads and torrential rains half of the year, we only went into San Jose once a month. I had to stock up and make sure that I had everything to last because if I forgot something I went without it for a whole month. I think I developed a paranoia, because I still shop for a month. The problem is I do it every week now. For one thing, I have enough toilet paper to supply the whole neighborhood, should there be a shortage.

It's nice to meet you Martin. My name is Yvonne. Would you care to share with us?