From Joy of Cooking to Modernist Cuisine

[Genkinaonna]

Those cheese muffins look delicious! How is Kira doing? I have wondered about that since I read Kerry's blog for the first time about a year ago. I know that's not food related, so I'll pretend I asked, "what's Kira eating these days?"

[Marlene]

They do look great! I would love the recipe if you can share!

[Kerry Beal]

They do look great! I would love the recipe if you can share!

Sure thing - Anna linked me to them originally - from 'The Pioneer Woman's' blog -here.

[Kerry Beal]

Those cheese muffins look delicious! How is Kira doing? I have wondered about that since I read Kerry's blog for the first time about a year ago. I know that's not food related, so I'll pretend I asked, "what's Kira eating these days?"

Funny you should ask - we do kind of measure her progress by what she eats. She has gotten much bigger - mostly because she does enjoy her food. Sous vide has been quite wonderful for allowing her to share meats with us - in the past she was more likely to choke on meat - but the stuff cooked sous vide is sufficiently tender that she has no real trouble eating it. Today for lunch I suspect she had one of the Jamaican patties (with the black scraped off the bottom).

She will be missing a few weeks of her weekly physio while we are up here - but we continue to try to get her to sit unsupported (which she can do for as long as she choses to!) and stand supported but the bigger she gets the harder it is for the one supporting her.

[Anna N]

So the ciabatta is done. One loaf got just a little too well done and I suspect the oven is running a bit hot. I reduced the heat for the second loaf and it did much better.

Although this kitchen is amazingly well-equipped all things considered, it is missing a cleaver and I have needed one twice so far on this trip. But hey, the Island is full of rocks and there's a dud chef's knife here that could be sacrificed and so the knuckles came off the drumsticks.

These 4 drumsticks were leftover from the meat I bought to make the MC chicken stock. I bought whole legs instead of just thighs. I knew there was a sweet potato in the house and some carrots and I ground up some spices to make a curry powder and lo and behold Vietnamese Chicken with Sweet Potatoes from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table via Epicurious but first discovered on eG's Recipes that Rock topic. I will add some of the leftover cooked chicken that Kerry did on the Little Green Egg two nights ago and we can have a meal from it.

[Genkinaonna]

Thanks for the update, Kerry! It's good to hear she's making progress. Amusingly enough, my children won't eat chicken cooked sous vide...they say it's "too soft." Go figure.

BTW going somewhere for a month for the express purpose of cooking and trying out new recipes is pretty much my idea of heaven. If only you ladies weren't on the other side of the continent from me!

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks for the update, Kerry! It's good to hear she's making progress. Amusingly enough, my children won't eat chicken cooked sous vide...they say it's "too soft." Go figure.

BTW going somewhere for a month for the express purpose of cooking and trying out new recipes is pretty much my idea of heaven. If only you ladies weren't on the other side of the continent from me!

The chicken cooked on the BGE is tender enough for her.

She has gotten too big for the high chair that we keep for her up here - last year I came home to find one of her sitters (who is a retired nurse and not very strong) with the chair over on it's side trying to get her out - they were both pretty much in tears. So feeding her now is most easily done by sitting with her beside me on the couch - hands pinned so she can't pull all the food back out. Lots of tea towels involved so we don't both end up covered.

I wish that our whole trip was for the express purpose of cooking and trying out new recipes - sadly I have to work for at least part of the time so we can afford to cook the rest of the time.

[Anna N]

The ciabatta exceeded my expectations:

One loaf went home with Kira’s caregiver (along with some ginger snaps) and the other became a non-traditional accompaniment to a Vietnamese Chicken Curry that Kerry and I enjoyed for dinner last night.

Unlike Kerry I don't have to work so my whole month can be spent cooking. Today, however, I am not sure what I might get up to. I think we may have to re-stock before I can do too much more. I will definitely be mixing up dough for some bread.

[Kerry Beal]

Crumb cake for today's offering. Just got a call to tell me that the obstetrical clinic starts at 9 rather than 10. Better get moving since it's after 9.

[Anna N]

Today's offering to the hard-working staff at the clinic:

Snickerdoodles.

Plan for tomorrow is a Bakewell Tart and some white sandwich bread. I must also pull together a shopping list for the weekend when we can roam a little farther afield than the grocery stores in Little Current. I think on Friday we will be paying a visit to Max the butcher.

In the grocery store today we met a gal known as "The Honey Lady" so I ordered some honey to take home at the end of the month. I know that Kerry has ordered some Manitoulin garlic too and I will be so glad of that when I head south as the grocery store garlic seems to get worse each year.

[Kerry Beal]

Lemon Bliss cake for Wiki today.

[Anna N]

I was going to make a couple of loaves of white sandwich bread this morning but Kerry was yearning for more cheese bread so I incorporated 3 ozs of sharp cheddar into one of the loaves and it seems to have turned out rather well.

Next up was Bakewell Tart but no ground almonds in the house although loads of unblanched whole almonds. So I blanched some almonds and skinned them and the Thermomix quickly turned them into ground almonds – one down. No sliced almonds either but if Heston Blumenthal can peel peas (see The Fat Duck Cookbook) then there’s no good reason for me to avoid slicing a few almonds with a chef’s knife – two down. Ah need pie weights – usually complain bitterly about the weightiness of Canadian coins but today they came into their own – three down!

Bakewell tart is on its way to be being a fait accomplish.

And here it is:

Potatoes for tonight’s dinner. They will get drizzled with oil, well-salted and then roasted until crispy and delicious.

[rotuts]

whatever you want to call this thread its inspirational!

many thanks for the efforts to put this out

love the pics!

[GregW]

Those would be called Loonie Toonie pie weights?

[FauxPas]

Here's why I consider the MC stock to be expensive relative to my usual stock. It took 4 thighs to obtain 350 grams of thigh meat - those 4 thighs, with a side dish, would feed 2-3 people at my house. 350 grams of wings with some blue cheese dressing and carrot sticks would be a meal for one. The procedure produces just 400 grams of stock which is only a minor component of almost any meal I might make! Wings are expensive here. In contrast, I usually make stock from those parts of the chicken that don't make a meal - backs, wing tips and the carcass.

Poultry, eggs and dairy products are all very pricey here in Canada due to the existing Supply Management and "quota" system (which personally I think should gradually be dissolved, kind of a pet peeve of mine, actually). I'm sure you are familiar with the results of this system, but not sure that all your readers are.

When I am living in the US (usually in AZ), I usually buy a whole chicken for less than $1/lb, sometimes around 69 cents per pound. Looking at the store flyer where I am now (Vancouver Island), whole chickens are on sale for $2.69/lb. Drumsticks here are on sale for $2.29/lb, the Fry's store in AZ has them for 88 cents per pound. A rotisserie chicken here is $8.49 or so, $4.99 in AZ.

The same management system also makes cheese and milk very expensive in Canada, I'm guessing about 2 to 3 times more in Canada for many products.

On a lighter note, I truly enjoy reading about your cooking adventures on your island! Looking forward to lots more details and pics!!!

Edited July 7, 2011 by FauxPas (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Here's why I consider the MC stock to be expensive relative to my usual stock. It took 4 thighs to obtain 350 grams of thigh meat - those 4 thighs, with a side dish, would feed 2-3 people at my house. 350 grams of wings with some blue cheese dressing and carrot sticks would be a meal for one. The procedure produces just 400 grams of stock which is only a minor component of almost any meal I might make! Wings are expensive here. In contrast, I usually make stock from those parts of the chicken that don't make a meal - backs, wing tips and the carcass.

Poultry, eggs and dairy products are all very pricey here in Canada due to the existing Supply Management and "quota" system (which personally I think should gradually be dissolved, kind of a pet peeve of mine, actually). I'm sure you are familiar with the results of this system, but not sure that all your readers are.

When I am living in the US (usually in AZ), I usually buy a whole chicken for less than $1/lb, sometimes around 69 cents per pound. Looking at the store flyer where I am now (Vancouver Island), whole chickens are on sale for $2.69/lb. Drumsticks here are on sale for $2.29/lb, the Fry's store in AZ has them for 88 cents per pound. A rotisserie chicken here is $8.49 or so, $4.99 in AZ.

The same management system also makes cheese and milk very expensive in Canada, I'm guessing about 2 to 3 times more in Canada for many products.

On a lighter note, I truly enjoy reading about your cooking adventures on your island! Looking forward to lots more details and pics!!!

Where are you on Vancouver Island?

[FauxPas]

Near Comox/Courtenay.

[Kerry Beal]

I lived in Nanaimo for a while and my mother was born in Ladysmith. Her parents had a marina and guiding business in Cowichan Bay.

[FauxPas]

I lived in Nanaimo for a while and my mother was born in Ladysmith. Her parents had a marina and guiding business in Cowichan Bay.

You're a woman of many islands, so to speak. Heh.

I love Cow Bay, there are some great food shops there. Seafood, bakery, cheesemaker, wineries, etc. Have you been there recently?

[Marlene]

Those are one of my favourite ways to do potatoes, Anna!

[Kerry Beal]

I lived in Nanaimo for a while and my mother was born in Ladysmith. Her parents had a marina and guiding business in Cowichan Bay.

You're a woman of many islands, so to speak. Heh.

I love Cow Bay, there are some great food shops there. Seafood, bakery, cheesemaker, wineries, etc. Have you been there recently?

Not for a few years for sure. I also lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands for about 3 years - quite the culinary challenge at the time.

[Kerry Beal]

A new restaurant has been opened in Wiki at the same location as the last restaurant by a couple of the cooks who worked in the nursing home. It's called Eddie's Place.

I opted for the low carb wings lunch.

The nurse working with me today went for the special - a 'blanket dog' and baked beans. It's a wiener wrapped in the same dough as an Indian taco and fried.

[Kerry Beal]

This little beauty was in the supermarket the other day - corn finished rib roast (or steak for Anna and I) a bit over 2 inches thick.

About an hour and half sous vide at 56 C, then a few minutes a side on a really hot mini BGE - resulted in this.

Anna made some metzgaldi onions (baked with spices and olive oil) and crash potatoes to go with - yum. Sorry Fat Guy - we couldn't bring ourselves to go vegetarian today!

[gfweb]

Crash potatoes?

[heidih]

Crash potatoes?

Essentially boiled whole potatoes then smashed with the potato masher to level them and open their surfaces. Oiled, seasoned and baked in a hot oven to yield a nice contrast of crispy bits and tender potato. Popularized by The Pioneer Woman blog.