I will never again . . . (Part 4)

[Darienne]

21 minutes ago, ChocoMom said:

I will never again open a Rapala Fillet knife without kevlar gloves on.   For those who don't know, Rapala's are sharper than the Sword of Elendil.   (I think they are forged by Finnish Elves.)   I lost my original one in the house fire, so I purchased a new one a few months ago. Decided to open it, so I could get some food prep done quickly, while the grandkids were here. They come with a leather holster, and are securely wrapped in a very thick plastic package.  I cut the top of the package open, and began to pull the sword, no, knife out---and sliced open the thick plastic. Forgetting that the knife blade can cut through plastic like soft butter, my left thumb ended up with a 1/2" long fillet cut, and bled like a stuck pig. 

 

My 4yo granddaughter was sitting at the counter, watching the whole thing unfold. Her little eyes turned as big as saucers when she saw the blood.  Her only comment was "OOOoooooo, Grammie. THAT is ALOT of blood......  Why you do that?"       

Where is the 'aarrrgghhh!' button?

 

[lindag]

I will never again go to bed and leave the dinner leftovers sitting on the counter...

Had a tiring day yesterday, and it's just too hot.  Roasted a half chicken in the CSO (that had been marinated all day in Yoshida's sauce).  It was very good, as always, and I ate only the thigh.  Left the rest on the rack on the stove top.  Why don't I check the kitchen before heading upstairs to bed???  Not the first time I've done this,  it must have been that last glass of wine.

Dogs will enjoy the chicken.

[Darienne]

51 minutes ago, lindag said:

I will never again go to bed and leave the dinner leftovers sitting on the counter...

Had a tiring day yesterday, and it's just too hot.  Roasted a half chicken in the CSO (that had been marinated all day in Yoshida's sauce).  It was very good, as always, and I ate only the thigh.  Left the rest on the rack on the stove top.  Why don't I check the kitchen before heading upstairs to bed???  Not the first time I've done this,  it must have been that last glass of wine.

Dogs will enjoy the chicken.

Do keep an eye on the dogs for the next couple of days.  Cooked chicken bones are brittle and sometimes difficult for a dog's system.  Never give your dogs cooked bones...but you may know that already...

[lindag]

 

17 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Do keep an eye on the dogs for the next couple of days.  Cooked chicken bones are brittle and sometimes difficult for a dog's system.  Never give your dogs cooked bones...but you may know that already...

 

Oh my, yes...I carefully cut the meat off the bones before I give it to them.  My dogs are so very precious to me that I take no chances.

[chileheadmike]

I will never again make a meatloaf with 90% lean ground beef. Terrible stuff. I wonder what they put in it. There was more stuff in the loaf pan after cooking this that 80-20 stuff. That, and it was more like a meatbrick. 

[Toliver]

15 hours ago, chileheadmike said:

I will never again make a meatloaf with 90% lean ground beef. Terrible stuff. I wonder what they put in it. There was more stuff in the loaf pan after cooking this that 80-20 stuff. That, and it was more like a meatbrick. 

I've posted about this before. I am equally guilty as I thought I deserved better than the 80-20 stuff. I also left out the panade (bread soaked in milk) thinking it was just a budget stretcher and I wouldn't need it. I was so wrong on all counts. "Meatbrick", indeed! I could have used it as a door stop, it was so heavy.

Live and learn...

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, Toliver said:

. I also left out the panade (bread soaked in milk) thinking it was just a budget stretcher and I wouldn't need it. I was so wrong on all counts.

 Yep. I made meatballs a week or so ago without any sort of panade and they were tough. I don't care what the recipe calls for, from now on if it's meatballs it will include a panade. 

[chileheadmike]

No panade this time either. It was before we went to the store and we were out of bread. I subbed oatmeal.

 

My wife said it was fine is you put enough ketchup on it. 

[Toliver]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

 Yep. I made meatballs a week or so ago without any sort of panade and they were tough. I don't care what the recipe calls for, from now on if it's meatballs it will include a panade. 

When I was a child, my mom would make large Frito meatballs (a ground beef mixture with crushed Fritos in it) in a canned "cream of" soup "gravy" that she would serve over rice. The meatballs did have a good flavor (tasting of Fritos, after all, and what's wrong with that? ). The meatballs did not have a panade and, even as a child, I knew something was wrong with the heavy, dense meatballs. I could barely hack into them with my table knife.

Ah, memories! 

[Porthos]

Does my crushing Ritz Crackers into my metaloaf mixture count for a panade or are they simply a binder? My wife asks about using oatmeal but I like Rits better.

[lindag]

47 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Does my crushing Ritz Crackers into my metaloaf mixture count for a panade or are they simply a binder? My wife asks about using oatmeal but I like Rits better.

I have this same question, My favorite recipe uses saltines and I have also heard that Ritz makes for a great meatloaf and I want to try that next time.

[chromedome]

On 23/07/2017 at 11:13 PM, chileheadmike said:

I will never again make a meatloaf with 90% lean ground beef. Terrible stuff. I wonder what they put in it. There was more stuff in the loaf pan after cooking this that 80-20 stuff. That, and it was more like a meatbrick. 

Somewhere on one of the USDA's multitudinous pages, you'll find test results for several grades of ground beef. They measured both the amount of fat lost during cooking and the amount of moisture lost during cooking. Reader's Digest version? The lower the fat level, the more moisture you lose from the beef. Eighty percent lean was a reasonably sweet spot on the continuum, with only modest fat left in the finished product but moisture loss also kept to a moderate level. 

[Toliver]

21 hours ago, Porthos said:

Does my crushing Ritz Crackers into my metaloaf mixture count for a panade or are they simply a binder? My wife asks about using oatmeal but I like Rits better.

From the Cooks Illustrated web site:

Quote

A panade is a milk-and-bread paste that’s folded into ground meat before shaping it into meatloaf and meatballs or even burgers; the bread starches absorb milk to form a gel that coats and lubricates the meat, keeping it moist and tender.

A lot of people seem to forgo the milk which is odd. It's part of the chemical(?) process/reaction that tenderizes the meat. 

Otherwise the starch is just a binder/filler. So bread, crackers, oats, whatever...a filler by any other name...yada, yada, yada.

 

[kayb]

I find the meatball (and meatloaf) texture is better with a white-bread-and-milk panade. On burgers, though, I go cracker crumbs. Not real sure why. Just do.

 

[kayb]

Leave my storage room without checking to be SURE the door to the refrigerator is closed. I just finished throwing out copious quantities of food, only a small portion of which I was planning to chunk anyway (it's where leftovers go to die) because I discovered someone -- most likely me -- had left the door slightly open. Everything inside was warm and ruined with the POSSIBLE exception of a half-bushel of peaches (which now MUST be worked up tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest) and the farm eggs, which I am HOPING are all right, and I will certainly know once I crack one and can throw the whole lot away then.

 

Pissed at the world is an understatement. The tossed away food includes the several pounds of figs I drove 200 miles to get last week, which I'd gone outside to get and make fig jam. At least the grandchild had a good time while we were in Hot Springs. I will be in that general direction next week, and may go back and get more.

 

I was so outdone I started drinking early.

[lindag]

I have done a similar thing recently and left the freezer door (out in my garage) not quite closed because a big package of something prevented it from closing tight.  Didn't lose any food because I use that freezer often but the third shelf down is about four inches thick with ice.  Need to get off my rump and clean and defrost but not til the weather cools down, right now it's at least 80F out there.  And it's just about my least favorite job to do.

[liuzhou]

21 minutes ago, kayb said:

I discovered someone -- most likely me -- had left the door slightly open. Everything inside was warm and ruined

 

Been there. Done that.

 

Went away for two days and came back to a stinking house (it was midsummer when we have temps in the upper 30s º C. = like today, 36º C.)

[Shelby]

23 minutes ago, kayb said:

Leave my storage room without checking to be SURE the door to the refrigerator is closed. I just finished throwing out copious quantities of food, only a small portion of which I was planning to chunk anyway (it's where leftovers go to die) because I discovered someone -- most likely me -- had left the door slightly open. Everything inside was warm and ruined with the POSSIBLE exception of a half-bushel of peaches (which now MUST be worked up tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest) and the farm eggs, which I am HOPING are all right, and I will certainly know once I crack one and can throw the whole lot away then.

 

Pissed at the world is an understatement. The tossed away food includes the several pounds of figs I drove 200 miles to get last week, which I'd gone outside to get and make fig jam. At least the grandchild had a good time while we were in Hot Springs. I will be in that general direction next week, and may go back and get more.

 

I was so outdone I started drinking early.

Pour a big big glass of wine.  Gulp it.  Repeat.

 

I'm so sorry,  I do feel your pain.

 

I'm almost 100% sure the eggs are ok.  

 

I'm almost crying myself over the figs  

 

One (maybe weird) thing I do is I always give the door another press and then I give it another one with my foot.  It's probably an OCD move, but it does ensure that it's close.

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, lindag said:

I have done a similar thing recently and left the freezer door (out in my garage) not quite closed because a big package of something prevented it from closing tight.  Didn't lose any food because I use that freezer often but the third shelf down is about four inches thick with ice.  Need to get off my rump and clean and defrost but not til the weather cools down, right now it's at least 80F out there.  And it's just about my least favorite job to do.

 

I purchased a refrigerator/freezer alarm from Thermoworks (Thermoworks Fridge/Freezer Alarm (RT801)) and it certainly has paid for itself. My freezer is just through the door into the garage and the alarm sits on top of it next to the door, making it reasonably easy to hear..

 

 

[Porthos]

Buy just any old brand of corn tortillas for my Chicken Enchilada Casserole (think lasagna construction with tortillas instead of pasta). I picked up a brand that I don't normally buy at a different store than my go-to grocery store. These were significantly thinner and couldn't hold up to serving. I ended up serving bowls of falling-apart almost mush.

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, Porthos said:

Buy just any old brand of corn tortillas for my Chicken Enchilada Casserole (think lasagna construction with tortillas instead of pasta). I picked up a brand that I don't normally buy at a different store than my go-to grocery store. These were significantly thinner and couldn't hold up to serving. I ended up serving bowls of falling-apart almost mush.

Is there a Vallarta supermarket anywhere near you?  They make the best corn tortillas, fresh every day and they are perfect for soft tacos, enchiladas, tostadas (fried in just a little oil in a skillet) & etc.  They are my go-to tortillas for carnitas or carne asada - doubled...

[andiesenji]

On 7/27/2017 at 6:04 PM, Porthos said:

 

I purchased a refrigerator/freezer alarm from Thermoworks (Thermoworks Fridge/Freezer Alarm (RT801)) and it certainly has paid for itself. My freezer is just through the door into the garage and the alarm sits on top of it next to the door, making it reasonably easy to hear..

 

 

I've had one for several years because we used to have power outages periodically.  As soon as it sounded, I would run down to the place that supplies mobile vendors and get some dry ice and stick it in the freezers.  

[andiesenji]

On 7/27/2017 at 2:38 PM, kayb said:

Leave my storage room without checking to be SURE the door to the refrigerator is closed. I just finished throwing out copious quantities of food, only a small portion of which I was planning to chunk anyway (it's where leftovers go to die) because I discovered someone -- most likely me -- had left the door slightly open. Everything inside was warm and ruined with the POSSIBLE exception of a half-bushel of peaches (which now MUST be worked up tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest) and the farm eggs, which I am HOPING are all right, and I will certainly know once I crack one and can throw the whole lot away then.

 

Pissed at the world is an understatement. The tossed away food includes the several pounds of figs I drove 200 miles to get last week, which I'd gone outside to get and make fig jam. At least the grandchild had a good time while we were in Hot Springs. I will be in that general direction next week, and may go back and get more.

 

I was so outdone I started drinking early.

Eggs should be fine.  I often leave eggs out for two or three days when I am into my baking routine.  It takes a while for eggs to spoil. And if they are unwashed farm eggs, they will last much longer.  When my friend Sam brings me eggs, I rarely refrigerate them unless there are so many I won't use them up within a couple of weeks or so.  

[haresfur]

22 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Eggs should be fine.  I often leave eggs out for two or three days when I am into my baking routine.  It takes a while for eggs to spoil. And if they are unwashed farm eggs, they will last much longer.  When my friend Sam brings me eggs, I rarely refrigerate them unless there are so many I won't use them up within a couple of weeks or so.  

 

Grocery stores here only recently started refrigerating eggs rather than just putting them out on the shelf. I heard that unwashed eggs have a bit of a film that helps keep them fresh, but don't quote me on that.

[andiesenji]

2 hours ago, haresfur said:

 

Grocery stores here only recently started refrigerating eggs rather than just putting them out on the shelf. I heard that unwashed eggs have a bit of a film that helps keep them fresh, but don't quote me on that.

That's true.  The U.S. is the only country where eggs are washed, which removes the protective coating and causes them to "age" and the whites shrink more rapidly.