Annie_H

I predicted a 'free-form' response. Just like latkes or corn fritters. How I have always made them. I grew up EasternShore Maryland/Delaware. Corn, oyster, clam fritters. For a mid week meal, this time, I cut time and we were surprised how good they were. That amount of batter would have been a cast iron slave to the pan for 5-6 batches. No issues for a family gathering or BBQ---not working and on holiday. I like to stretch the norm and be surprised. Excellent next day lunch. We used giant zucchinis for target practice in the past years...less tolerant of food waste now.

Surprised to find a dozen flowers and a half dozen fruit forming this morning. Another bat. The darker green are harder to spot in the back of the bed. I thought our plants were spent. Nice week ahead so I'll get another harvest. I plan to grate, squeeze and freeze a bit. Not much. Just a few four cups for winter corn/zuc cakes. A NewYears dinner menu. Not at all a fussy tweezer plating person but might invest in some smaller ring molds. Or the more reasonable red-neck tin cans....though not sure about tin can lining liking a cast iron pan and its heat. I could use some more ring molds anyway. Not that expensive. I use the English muffin tins all the time for various salads, potatoes...and english muffins.

Agree. Love seeing the menus. I went to both websites. Ernesto's sounded familiar but I don't recognize either room. Fantasy menu choices where I can visualize being pleased. Weinoo has had an excellent rotation lately. A busy couple past weeks I managed decent meals and prepped next day lunches. Big mixed grill BBQ this afternoon so had a light salad last night...10 veg slaw and success on the ramen eggs---after a major failure last week. Slaw for the bbq and roasted chickpeas, egg. Zucchini, purple carrot, fennel, red onion, red cabbage, yellow beet, lacinato kale, chard, jalapeño, endive, green onion...avocado, ginger, hot mustard dressing...

Yes. But I found what I was looking for and multiple times including a pod cast. I was looking for details and temps. "...The majority of cases of foodborne botulism are caused by two bacteria known as non-proteolytic C. botulinum and proteolytic C. botulinum. A major difference between these two bacteria is that non-proteolytic C. botulinum is able to grow and produce toxin at 3°C, whilst proteolytic C. botulinum will not grow at temperatures less than 12°C. This ability to grow at form toxin at refrigeration temperatures makes non-proteolytic C. botulinum a major hazard in minimally heated refrigerated foods, such as chilled ready meals..." LINK 3ºC is 37.4ºF I took out two salmon fillets last night at 10pm. 8am the temps are 25º and 28º (the one on top of the other is 28º) Two small thick steaks are still frozen. Merquez is 26º I'm usually fine with a 'better safe than sorry' scenario but wanted details. My fridge holds 36º consistently and no cold spots that freeze produce. No pre-teens standing with the door open. I usually take it out a.m. but we are having an early afternoon BBQ. Many families are unaware of their fridge temp zones. Purchase thawed proteins for the week that then sit in an unhealthy temp zone. Run multiple errands on a hot day with groceries in the car. Put hot leftover soup in the fridge... Just wanted the food safety skinny, that's all. It is about 50/50 'how to thaw fish' via suppliers. Y-tube, etc. What works best for us weeknights is to thaw the quick method just before cooking. Plans change so often during a work week.

Still baffled by the 'poke a hole' to avoid botulism. I understand the spores are eradicated by air/oxygen. If I poke a couple holes in the top side, the frozen underside is still solid connected to the cryovacked package. No oxygen while it thaws. I should add that I always remove my proteins from the packages to thaw with a marinade or dry rub in the fridge. But would it not be similar to chicken, holiday turkeys thawed in their thick air-removed plastics? Is it just fish?...what about shrimp and scallops. I've had shrimp and scallops come cryovacked but mostly loose. FDA, CDC, WHO, do not mention anything about sealed packages---just temperature. (don't quote me...I have searched in the past but may have missed it). They say best to thaw in fridge under 38º. If I need to speed up a thaw, I take it out, season, and into a zip-lock into a cold water bath in the fridge. Takes an hour. Might sit 10-15 in my sink while prepping. I sometimes take a fillet out in the morning. In the package, no holes poked. When I open it for dinner and dry rub or marinate later...6-10 hours, it is still partially frozen but pliable. At that moment it hits oxygen. Does not that moment kill the spores? BristolBay says to cut a corner and set in water for a quicker thaw with the cut corner out of the water bath to not allow water into the bag...link, HERE I suppose I have a toddler curiosity. Don't just tell me what to do,...tell me 'why' I'm doing it. Botulism is rare and mostly in home canning with lack of acids, etc. Millions of people thaw fish every day in the package. I have a one hour rule about food out. Chill quickly in ice baths or sitting on an ice pack in the sink. Like stocks..ice chilled. Fridge overnight in containers, uncovered, then into the freezer. Sealed and labeled.

Just noticed this post. I grow zucchini/squash for the flowers---then get some fruits I try and catch small for the grill. Now finding some bats. Made some excellent cakes last night. A bit ambitious for a weeknight. So zipped out the cuisinart for ease and speed.. Expectations were low so I just winged it knowing basic proportions via corn fritters. Two big zuks grated, lightly salted, set aside to sweat-n-squeeze. Two green onions, one small red onion. A spicy red jalapeño. A small potato a couple minutes in the microwave. <all through the grater disc. (I probably switched to the slicing disc for the green onion) Two eggs, 1/2 cup panko, cup of corn, ---folded in the zucchini, probably 3 and a half cups. Added BRedMill corn flour, (not corn starch), until it felt right. About a cup and a pinch. Used my English muffin molds. A bit of butter in each. Made six. delicious and crispy. When I flipped I did cover for a few minutes. I'm hoping to find a few more previously dreaded big ones.

I should add, I made many salads and sides last Friday night for a Saturday BBQ. Weather permitting. Saturday was predicted gorgeous. The teenage son woke up not feeling well. Cancelled. (tested twice since and negative). Good quality flash frozen product can remain that way if plans change.

WildFork may solve my holiday issues. Just went down the rabbit-hole planning the usual NewYears menu. Pre-covid we hosted a seafood feast every year. 10-20 guests. Menu changes and the date changes. This year NewYearsEve falls on a Friday so planning NewYears day gathering. Us + 6. Vaccinated. I like frozen. Dry ice packed. I do like single origin providers like my salmon. Boat to flash-frozen then directly to me. BristolBay price includes shipping. The dry ice is still mostly present today in the box---I did play with some in the sink last night. Confident if a delay happened it would still be frozen solid. Interesting WildFork has retail stores. The packaging is small 5-8 ounces. I prefer cyrovacked as it can go into SousVide as long as the labels are easily removed. (local meat Waldon share labels are off in a quick zip). A responsive support team is important when an issue happens. Mistakes happen being human. But it is a pain when it happens and a pain when issues are ignored, 'crickets'. I like the WildFork reviews here and the quick 'issues resolved'. I have a short list of companies that do just that. Dealing with FultonFish was a foul stinky nightmare. Unfortunately they do not have all I need. That was my headache last year---just the two of us. BC, (before-covid), I would swing by AstoriaSeafood, a friend would bring a case of oysters to shuck... Nice to know the inventory changes with WildFork, but that's ok. It is a 8-10 course 6-8 hour party. I'm flexible with what is available. (a few of those are best prepped ahead, night before, so not a stressful cooking insanity). 50$ a year shipping?. Includes shipping gifts? Wow. Did I read that correctly? Last year I sent boxes of salmon and much appreciated. This might be better as I can customize per family member. This I missed the first few times I logged on...lower right corner and tiny. I missed pages of product like duck and turkeys and....quail, whole red heritage chicken...

Just received my Fall box of salmon. This must be my 7th?. I order twice a year---Fall Sept-October. Then again in Feb-March. Double insulated box with big bag of dry ice. Rock solid as always. They deep freeze sushi grade. We like salmon. Direct and no second party sellers. No monthly join. (our local grass-fed farm share is monthly but easily postponed....it showed up yesterday, 🙄). Mr.H missed the e-mail. He likes the sausage being lean and not salty so may have let it slip through----sneaky. (I should take over that account) 28 cryovaced packages of salmon straight to our freezer. Anywho, I can vouch for the quality and company. I can make a mid-week meal easily as it thaws quickly. Even partially frozen I can get crispy skin with rare interior. It is PrideOfBristolBay. ----I sent boxes to family last year. We do seafood heavy holiday-NewYears. Last year I ordered from the FultonFishMarket and gagged and nearly puked when the box arrived. Could not even open it outside. Felt so bad for the delivery fella. The ammonia scent was horrid. Rotting bag of squid for a seafood salad was not sealed and leaking juices all over the other contents. No ice packs.

I've had minor success with mixed seafood. Though if I have a fresh fish stock via a freshly caught cod, or similar, using the carcas---we prefer a Fishermans stew or chowder. Maybe a bouillabaisse. Leek, fennel, celery, smoked salmon with a prosciutto bacon/fennel frond garnish. That pleases the household. Similar greens available like garlic chives, bok choy, etc with fish... Lobster, shrimp, scallops, crab... we prefer other recipes. That said, my first cookbooks were MarcellaHazan's 2 little paperbacks next to my futon on the floor in my first NYC apartment. Besides a wok and stir fry, maybe chili and pasta, my first real serious recipe was Marcella's porcini risotto. I now use porcini and a mixed wild blend---maybe leeks, but really hard to go off that script. I make half the box of arborio and make arancini the next day. The smoked salmon makes good arancini but nothing like mushrooms. Need to check my pantry for arborio rice. Such a good Fall and holiday meal.

A sloppy plating of Momofuku BoSaam I left for Mr.H in the fridge---I went to bed. Ramen eggs he loves. A favorite we make quarterly. Gives a couple freezer food saver packs for quickie mid-week meals. Made a killer lunch Cubano.

I started ordering salmon from Alaska, sushi grade, a few years ago---twice a year...now and February. 5-7 ounce portions, cyrovaced. Dry ice packed. Straight to the freezer. Local meat farm share is excellent. In our area once a month using their own vans. Dry ice. Cyrovaced but one pound portions. Fine as beef is less often in our diet. Dinner, lunch, dinner---6 meal portions in a pound. Different recipes. Having the portions sealed in thicker than food saver bags---no added chore...dreamy. The past week was a blur. I was a singleton. Mr.H worked late all week. (my sous chef). I multi-tasked many salads, grains, slaws. For lunches and easy mixed salad bowl dinners. Every other night to spread out the prep. Fed on nibbles. Worked out well and a re-peat this week. Wednesday insalada caprese, prosciutto bacon. Next day lunch salads, slaw, mixed grain.

Yikes. Also have never experienced an earthquake though have spent time in Greece and all other places that have them and volcanoes. Less of a beauty but such a classic combination of flavors---Cubano. Pulled a BoSaam and ham slices out of the freezer...from earlier meals. Crazy week. Pic dated 21st, last Tuesday. Roasted garbanzos. Made humus with the other 1/2.

I doubt I will ever know. Sure I could have immediately called Murray, a well known and respected cheese monger NYC shop. At the time I was dealing with 3 dozen smashed egg cartons...substitutions, missing items. An employee mislabeled. It was listed under the category 'hard grating style---parm, Romano, etc'. If a soft Romano exists it was not in the description copy. Not at all upset or even ruffled. Just puzzled. Under these circumstances we have been 95% grateful for what we are being sent or curbside pick-up. It was an honest mistake and I have to let some things slide. (DH will eat it, lol. I had smoked mozzarella in my lunch box)

Urfa started my obsession as well as Allepo. A few more likely that first visit. At that time I had already experimented with the Mexican whole dried found in every corner bodega. Interest text about the process...and on the package front---something about olive oil used. So I keep it in the freezer. Nice on eggs, ramen eggs, potato salad, roasted fresh corn off the cob salads. Description 2 oz,6 oz,16 oz,5 lb,2 oz These wonderful crushedpeppers are from the Turkish town of Urfa. These premium ripepeppers are picked and cut, dried in the sun by day, then wrapped and sweated at night for more than a week. This sweating process gives thepurplish black colorin appearance, and a rich, earthy flavor, mellow heat and smoky aroma. Flakes are moist and seedless with an intense dark color. Its less spicy than many other chile peppers, but provides a more lasting build of heat. Urfa peppers have a moderate heat level, rating a 3-4 on a heat scale of 1-10 and 35,000 scoville heat unit.

Amazing looking stack of textures. So the bbq is ZEF I guess? (makes sense) I would set my alarm for 959 every Wednesday morning. I'm dealing the most strange cheese. It was clearly mislabeled. I need to check the invoice again. No flavor. Texture of packaged string cheese. Very bitter. Not nutty. Rubbery and not even a hint of salt. Kicking myself for not including it in the batch I smoked last weekend. Hiding it in lunches. Maybe a few weeks left of good tomatoes.

Just reminded of an Austin start-up that uses some fruit in their hot sauces. Not pronounced or heavily fruity. Nor sweet. Was it mango? Not enough homegrown quantity this year to dehydrate or ferment. AjiAmarillo are tiny things I just toss in a freezer zip-lock as I harvest. Same with cherry tomatoes. I find I use them most often frozen over the tomato powder I've made in the past. Peppers---mild or spicy...smoked, dried, dehydrated, fermented, another ball game. On and in everything. I blame, or give credit to my first visit to Kalustyan's spice shop. The top right picture is hot sauce. Mostly Hatch but kicked up the heat with some baby hots. I just blended the entire contents. Did not occur to keep some of the solids for a chili crisp. Might be good dehydrated for flakes. I never had much luck air drying due to humidity. I eventually invested in a dehydrator. Slice into rings. I keep the seed ends separate on another tray. That will give you two heat levels. Your oven will work fine if the lowest setting is 150-160ºish. Or run an hour, then off an hour, repeat. They can touch on the tray since they will start to shrink rather quickly. Just not piled up.

I should add that carb heavy meals always 24/7 365days includes side salads of fresh raw greens/pantry garden grown salads/micro-greens....grown year round. I do not often post a side salad pic. Usually a big shared salad brunch platter we snack on. Pre-dinner. I prefer a big grazing raw kitchen crisper drawer salad. Pre-dinner. Even a few hours ahead. My family is such a grazing all-day-long picker eater---raw good foods before a meal.

Mushroom envy. Need to make MarcellaHazan mushroom risotto soon. A Fall pre-winter favorite. Looks good!---anything mushroom Such an interesting variety of foods. I do like a bit of this and a bit of that. "Fresh Weisswurst …" no idea what that is....

I was calling it 'Singleton Soup' ---using this and that from the garden/pantry/crisper. Knowing it must have an Italian name specific. A search next day, nope. Sicilan pasta e potate....an empty cupboard using this-n-that. A quick meal hearty what is local veg and pantry staples.

Sometimes the most simple meal addition with a kiss of heat---celery, cabbage, maybe a bit of fennel seed. Garlic. I have a good friend that hates celery...head shake as I can't live without celery.... NYTimes has a long list of pantry cooking. Simple two-three ingredients. No recipe cooking---pantry cooking This was last Friday waiting for a delivery I kept putting off to use what I have. 5-7 pm delivery but came close to 7pm. While waiting I made a pasta salad and a potato salad for the weekend. (BBQ sides)...pasta salad had a minced seed---toasted pepitas, sesame, sunflower...a bit of pesto. Potato salad had lots of veg---celery herbs olives, prosciutto bacon, mustard, fresh grated horseradish...grated carrot, a last bit of fennel...singletons. Half a golden beet. Carrot tops. Garden herbs. Two ribs of lacinato kale. Fridge so empty I took two glass shelf trays outside and hosed off/scrubbed. Nice meal save taking out a pint smoked bone broth from the freezer---added veg as it thawed...a big gulp/scoop of pasta and potato salad. (parmesan rind)... Double/triple starch seems odd...but the texture combination is quite stunning. Using third portions of each starch like a mixed grain. (if I had some roasted garbanzos I would not hesitate to add as well)...but they were soaking Proscuitto bacon for the potato salad---extra for this beauty. Nice to make a kitchen hack that works out on the fly.

Good lobster rolls stop at Ozzy's. It is a NewEngland US EastCoast thing. (we also split a mixed clam/scallop/shrimp platter at Ozzy's)😜 Homesick...we were packing for a few months trip when NY went into lock-down and the border closed. Just one week earlier we would have been stuck in NFLD...grrr. (no place I would have preferred to spent that time than NFLD).

So gross. I see these packages randomly in way, 'out-of-the-way', off the radar, international markets.

My first batch of sauerkraut using my grandmothers 2 gallon brown ceramic crock----hilarious. Opaque. And stressful. Now have advanced to small batch. Wide mouth quart ball jars. Air-locks. 14 hour work days I can glance with morning coffee---clear glass. Start a batch of kraut or kimchi or AC/Pear vinegar...kombucha...every few weeks in rotation. Prep a batch while prepping a meal chopping session. I do think it takes a study/confidence and understanding.

I'm with @donk79 and @&roid: more information, please! Photos would be a welcome addition. I think it is a good personal study to photo a process for a photo file. I have a big photo file after 10 years of fermentation. Do it for yourself first---even quick cell phone pics. On a gardening forum I was asked for a hot sauce method over and over. I made the effort that took some time. The response, "ok, thanks...I was just curious...nothing I will ever do", lol. I did not mind at all. It was a great push to document processes. Fermentation does take some study. Sandor Katz, y-tube.... Took me a while to get confident---slow learner. Now my end of counter near pantry---out of the kitchen triangle, always has some sort of ferment in rotation. Where we also have the coffee station. (grinder lives in the pantry plugged in). Small kitchen. Some good on-line information like this one, HERE