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Tropicalsenior

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    Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    17 hours ago, gfweb said:

    Not sure what they accomplish in cooking a burger.

    Here are some photos of a bacon press that I was given some time ago as a gift. I only use it now as a panini press when I am making only one sandwich. It rusts like crazy and I can't figure out how to temper it as it has a wooden handle. It's quite small and only weighs 26 ounces. Several restaurants that I worked in had them and they were used only for bacon. Anyone caught using them to mash the juice out of a hamburger would have been promptly shown to the door.

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    • Like 1

    Bacon Bits

    in Cooking

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

     

    Here are the two alternatives in image

    Thank you so much. This will be a big help. I like being able to get the authentic ingredients but it can be frustrating.

    Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 5)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted · Edited by Smithy
    Added host's note (log)

    Host's note: this post and the ensuing discussion were split from Hoarding Ingredients - suffering from Allgoneophobia?

     

     

    Does anyone else hoard cookbooks? I have over 200 cookbooks that I never use and can't bear to part with. I have spent so many hours reading them and dreaming about things that I would like to cook that they have become like old friends. Most of them called for ingredients that I would never find here. For the most part, I used them to find innovative ways to prepare the things that I could find. I rarely followed a recipe exactly, but I spent hours surrounded by books looking for the perfect one.

    Now with all the knowledge and pseudo knowledge on the web and recipes from every corner of the world, available for the asking, my cookbooks have become nothing but dust catchers.

    • Like 1

    Bacon Bits

    in Cooking

    Posted

    4 hours ago, andiesenji said:

    brewed Lapsang Souchong tea,

    This product intrigues me. I would like to have it  to try your method  of cooking sausage. We have a small, very slowly growing Barrio Chino and I may be able to find it there. Would you, perhaps, be able to send me a picture of your package? My problem in buying things there is that the personnel in these stores do not speak English and barely speak Spanish. A picture would be worth a thousand words to me.

    Bacon Bits

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by Tropicalsenior
    Spelling error (log)

    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.

    • Like 2
    • Haha 4

    Bacon Bits

    in Cooking

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, lindag said:

    What I do like is a BLT, which is just about the best sandwich there is.

    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.

    • Like 3

    Hoarding Ingredients - suffering from Allgoneophobia?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    58 minutes ago, andiesenji said:
    2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

     

    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.

    • Like 3

    Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by Tropicalsenior
    Consistency of measurements (log)

    6 hours ago, ElsieD said:

    How much pork belly do you cook at one time?

    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.

    Hoarding Ingredients - suffering from Allgoneophobia?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    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.

    • Like 3
    • Haha 2

    Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    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.

    • Like 3

    Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

    If anyone has cooked pig cheeks in the IP, could they please post here how they cooked them?  I searched and found mention of braising them but couldn't really find anything specific.  I was going to cook them sous vide but directions for that are all over the map so I thought I might try them in the IP.

     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.

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