Tropicalsenior

It's interesting to see that so many have mentioned the way that our parents cooked liver. They sliced it so thin and then cooked it until it was hard and dry. My ex-mother-in-law was the worst. You could have taken the liver that she cooked and resoled your shoes. You would have only had to have done it once. I used to hate liver until I finally had it medium rare and it was a life changer.

They sell the cubes here in only chicken or beef flavor. Unfortunately, with the humidity here, within just a week they turn into gummy little squares that are almost impossible to unwrap. But they have the powder in envelopes in quite a few flavors. These are the three that I have on hand right now. I particularly like the tomato cubes that we used to get in Mexico. I always came back with a few packages of that. I keep looking here but no luck.

I'm paying about $3.50 USD here in Costa Rica, and I thought I was having to pay a lot. I don't know for sure but I would suspect that most of these are from caged hens. If I can, I try to buy from a vendor at the Farmers Market that I have known for years and his chickens are all free range. His eggs are always larger and fresher and cost about $3 a dozen.

I will be more than happy to share recipes as soon as I get them in a form that I can put on the Recipe Gullet. Just out of curiosity, do you have my recipe for cheesecake that I posted on the instant pot topic? I thought I had posted it in recipes but I can't find it. If you don't have it, I will post it there, too. It is probably one of the easiest cheesecake that I have ever made because it uses just Pantry items and it has never failed.

What a great idea @ElsieD. Thank you. With just two in the house for years, I've had to come up with a lot of small desserts. I've amassed quite a collection of small baking items. I have a six and a seven inch springform pan that I use to make cheesecake in my instant pot. And I bake my cakes in 8 inch square glass pans that have snap on plastic lids. For muffins, I love these cute little silicone molds that are only two and a half inches in diameter. If I cut most muffin recipes in half, I get 12 to 18 nice little muffins. I have a Hamilton Beach countertop convection oven that I use for all my baking. I use my big oven to store cast iron skillets and some cookie sheets. I used it Monday for the first time in 3 years to bake some baguettes because it goes to 500°. My little one only goes to 425° but it is perfect for small baking. I would never bake as much as I do if I had to use the big oven all the time. When I read recipes now, I just automatically calculate if I can cut it in half and if the quantity will fit in my small cake pan or even a loaf pan. Sometimes if I wind up with extra batter I bake it in a little 3x5 loaf pan and that is Cooks treat. There are still times that I wind up with leftover cake and when that happens I developed a recipe for a bread pudding type dessert that I make in my instant pot. It's a great way to use up cake, cinnamon rolls, or a quick bread. It's easy to make and you don't get tired of it because it is always something different. This pudding was last week's cinnamon rolls made with an eggnog type custard. Served with a homemade butterscotch sauce, it was delicious.

I really don't know. I use a teaspoon and a half to four cups of flour. I thought maybe the salt conversion was off because I use sea salt instead of the kosher salt that it calls for. But according to my salt conversion chart I should be using less sea salt.

Okay, I think I'm almost there. 4 days in the refrigerator, 8 hours rise on the counter, baked at 500° for 30 minutes. I'm happy with it. I think it needs just a bit more salt for flavor.

Me too, but the top blew completely off my electric pressure cooker and I had pork chunks and broth all over my kitchen. My kitchen is 25' by 20' and it managed to hit every surface, including me. It sounded like a bomb had gone off.

Sundays are supposed to be my day of rest because I am absolutely forbidden to cook dinner. So I have gotten in the habit of cooking some sort of stuffed bread to have to snack on during the day. This Sunday I cooked my favorite, Char Slu bao. With the extra dough I made a loaf to have with dinner this week. The shaping was a complete failure but I'm sure the bread will be a success.

When I was little, whenever they butchered a hog, my mother used to take the heart, pickle and can it. She and I were the only ones that would eat it but that was all right because it left more for me. I loved it. I have since tried to recreate her recipe but there's always just something missing.

Hello and welcome. You'll find a lot of good ideas here for whatever style of cooking you choose. Check out the recipes and the posts from @shain. It might be just what you're looking for.

Years ago when Sushi first came to the Seattle area, it took a while for the people to get used to the idea of eating raw fish. One night when we went to our favorite steakhouse, The Refectory, we found out that it was now The Shogun. Not wanting to look for another place to eat, we decided to give it a try. We were the only ones in the place and we went to the sushi bar. The sushi chef was wonderful. He gave us a complete education that night in sushi. The different types, the preparation, and the etiquette. We left that night completely stuffed and completely hooked. I've had sushi from Canada to Argentina and that is still my favorite experience.

Thank you. There are some really good recipes here but unfortunately the meat in this is not carnitas. It has no browning whatsoever. It's strictly braised in some sort of broth. I'm beginning to think that this is what I need to do. Maybe just flavor the broth with oregano, cumin, and coriander. I'll see where that gets me.

Reminds me of the old joke. I went to the store with an empty stomach and I am now the proud possessor of aisle 12.

Any idea what seasonings they use in the braising liquid?

I guess I'm a bit too timid. I put them in at 450° for 25 minutes. Next time I will put it up to 500° until they get a little bit darker. I don't have a stone so I heated a sheet pan and slid parchment and all onto the sheet pan.

I had trouble uploading them to begin with. Let me know if this works.

Well, I tried baguettes again. My dough had been in the refrigerator for 4 days. I finally decided to take everything I was storing in my big oven out because it reaches a higher temperature than my small one. I put boiling water in a pan on the bottom so that I had a lot of steam. Taste is great and I'm happy with the crumb. The crust is pretty tough. But I think I'm happy with it.

The ones that we had in Guadalajara were completely different than regular carnitas, that are cooked in oil. This pork was braised with a combination of spices and the taste was entirely unique.

@gulfporter when we were in Guadalajara we fell in love with the lonches. I've got the bread down pretty much pat, but I would love to have a recipe for the pork. It is the most delicious melt in your mouth pork that anyone could imagine. Thank you for that article. It certainly brought back memories and if you know how to make that pork I would sure love to know how.

My husband loved that stuff. The problem was that we would buy it and he would use two tablespoons out of the jar and it would just sit there until I threw it out. We would go through that ritual about once a year. I thought it was gastly.

For some reason these come out better at the lower temperature. I forgot to readjust my oven one time and tried to bake them at 400°. They browned much too quickly and they were quite soggy inside. Another thing I like about this recipe is that they can be reheated. 5 minutes in a 350° oven or 3 minutes in the air fryer at 400°.

I'm not @Dejah but I have a recipe for popovers that has never failed me. I just posted it so maybe you would want to check that out.

I had tried to make popovers several times and usually wound up with soggy little lumps. Most of the recipes that I found were unnecessarily complicated or I was told that I needed the special popover mold. Then I found this recipe that assured me that anybody could make popovers. I gave it a try and sure enough it works. I've never had a failure with this and I love to see them pop up in the oven as they're cooking. They always have the perfect buttery custard-like center and the puffy, crispy exterior. And the best part about it is that they are so easy. Only 5 minutes of prep and you have the perfect thing to serve with soup or to cover with gravy from a roast.

Easy Crusty Popovers Yield: 6 popovers These are the closest things to foolproof that I have ever made. Just follow a few simple rules. DO NOT open the oven until done! Beat the batter well until it is thoroughly mixed and make sure that the muffin tins are completely covered with butter. 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted - divided Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Put 6-cup muffin tin in oven to preheat as well. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl with an electric hand mixer or with a wire whisk until thoroughly mixed. Add flour and salt; continue beating into smooth batter. This can be made up to an hour beforehand. Pour into a measuring pitcher. Put about 3/4 teaspoon butter into each muffin tin and carefully spread butter up sides of each cup. Quickly divide batter among prepared cups. Bake until popovers are risen well and browned, 30 to 35 minutes. Do not open the oven during baking. Note: to make cheese popovers, fill the muffin cup about 1/3 full and sprinkle cheddar or Parmesan cheese over the batter and finish filling with the rest of the batter. For breakfast popovers, add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 quarter teaspoon cinnamon with the flour. Optional, add 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves