Manitoulin test kitchen

[Anna N]

Wanted to post about how we rigged the pork to hang in the Big Easy:

Both Kerry and I were very glad of that pork roast this morning! I had some for breakfast:

And as I was eating it Kerry was called in to emerg. A short time ago she returned home to say she was needed to accompany a patient in the ambulance to Sudbury! Between the two of us we were able to throw together a pork sandwich in no time flat. Wrapped in wax paper and placed inside a plastic bag it will keep Kerry from starving over the hours it will take to go there and get back. She did at least get some tea this morning.

[Anna N]

I had planned tonight's dinner around Kerry's schedule knowing we needed something that did not need last-minute fussing and could probably tolerate re-heating if necessary. From the book Jerusalem I chose chicken with arak and clementines

The mise:

Notice the little scale left front. I picked it up for a $1.99 in Sudbury. Kerry was able to get a replacement battery from the pharmacy. I tested it as my son tells me drug dealers do with a loonie and it appears to be quite accurate. Also you will see Herbes de Provence in the mise. The recipe calls for thyme, quite a large amount of it. Kerry is not a fan so it is getting just a pinch of the Herbes.

As for the rest, from the left

An orange (zest used to garnish cocktails), clementines, Arak, olive oil, chicken thighs, grain mustard, fennel seeds, Herbes de Provence, brown sugar, lemons, salt and pepper, fennel bulb.

All combined,

Covered with my new Lillypad lid.

It will now marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours. At dinner time I will make rice in the Cuisinart combi oven and cook the chicken in the regular oven.

[Anna N]

Lunch today was fast and simple. A few pieces of well peppered cold pork and some of my Asian pickled pears. The pears are quite intriguing with a very good hit of ginger. At last a pickle I would make again.

[rotuts]

were these pears a bit under-ripe ?  my copy of Asian Pickles has not arrived  for me just yet.

 

was it this one ?

 

http://foodinjars.com/2013/01/karen-solomons-pickled-asian-pears-with-lemon/

 

BTW like here old blue LeC sauce pan.  just like mine .

Edited July 7, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[Porthos]

Educational thread - I had to look up what a "loonie" is. Now I'm going to look up the weight of US 25 cent pieces and see if they can be used.

[huiray]

Educational thread - I had to look up what a "loonie" is. Now I'm going to look up the weight of US 25 cent pieces and see if they can be used.

 

Consider using a Sacagawea $1 coin or a Susan B. Anthony $1 coin instead.  

[rotuts]

the above coins usually have no wear on then 'cause no one wants them

 

 

a bit OT: the cost of removing and replacing the 'one dollar bill  USA or CAN' each year is eye opening.

[Anna N]

were these pears a bit under-ripe ?  my copy of Asian Pickles has not arrived  for me just yet.

 

was it this one ?

 

http://foodinjars.com/2013/01/karen-solomons-pickled-asian-pears-with-lemon/

 

BTW like here old blue LeC sauce pan.  just like mine .

It is indeed. I could not find Asian pears so used a western type instead.

My blue LeC sauce pan is much younger. It has a lid that works as a small skillet.

[Anna N]

the above coins usually have no wear on then 'cause no one wants them

 

 

a bit OT: the cost of removing and replacing the 'one dollar bill  USA or CAN' each year is eye opening.

We haven't had a one dollar bill for years and years and our two has long gone also to be replaced by the toonie. Sonwe have loonies and toonies and our one cent coin has also been retired. Prices are now rounded up or down to the nearest nickel.

[Porthos]

Consider using a Sacagawea $1 coin or a Susan B. Anthony $1 coin instead.  

Quarters are much easier to come by, 6 quarters = 34 grams. Using clean, relatively clean quarters should do the trick. I have a bag of quarters in my wife's truck leftover from vacation. I will test my scales with them this evening after she returns from work.  I will select 2 sets of quarters measure them each and see what I get.

[rotuts]

1) Im not sure what any one is trying to ref. w coins ....

 

2 ) Roll on Canada !  Roll On.  South of the Border, it they removed One's, there would be an Insurrection from the 

 

Couch Potatoes about Big Gov.  they would not, however, make it out very far from the Couches.

[Porthos]

1) Im not sure what any one is trying to ref. w coins ....

Rough check of functionality - not a calibration-level operation.

[Anna N]

1) Im not sure what any one is trying to ref. w coins ....

 

2 ) Roll on Canada !  Roll On.  South of the Border, it they removed One's, there would be an Insurrection from the 

 

Couch Potatoes about Big Gov.  they would not, however, make it out very far from the Couches.

Just checking if a cheap scale is anywhere close to accurate. Coins are convenient and their weight, if not really old and worn, can be trusted. I'm told by those who shouldn't know but do that if you have doubts about the honesty of your drug dealer then ask him/her to weigh YOUR loonie to prove that their scales are "true". For my purposes I only needed to know if the scale I bought for just $1.99 was accurate enough to use for the kind of baking/cooking I do. If a loonies comes up around the 7 gram mark I know I'm good to go. You can legitimately argue that it needs to be a pre-2012 loonie since the new ones are only 6.27 g.

[Tri2Cook]

I had to look up what a "loonie" is.

It's usually safest to be sure when discussing loonies... even when in Canada.

 

[Kerry Beal]

All this talk of quarters reminds me of something I used to hear "so he called me a two bit whore - so I hit him with my sack of quarters!"

 

 

Here are the Forkish loaves I made - cooked on a stone under an overturned bowl.  Works just as well as cast iron.

[Smithy]

Do you think Forkish's book (I assume you mean "Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast") is especially better or more insightful than, say, one of Peter Rienhart's books? I'm signed up for a Craftsy class on bread baking, taught by Reinhart. I keep thinking that I should be working my way through the multiple baking books I already have, as well as the two online classes, before I go buying more books on bread baking. However, you do seem to particularly like Forkish.

Anna N, what's the resolution on that new, cheap scale? Does it read fractions of grams, or just to the nearest gram or even - as one of my scales does - to the nearest 2g increment? That was a GREAT find!

[Anna N]

Smithy,

Kerry asked me to respond because I have taken the Crafsy class. I think Forkish and Peter R are like chalk and cheese. Forkish recipes are pretty much all alike in terms of technique. Only the proportions and types of ingredients differ. Once you have the technique down his bread is easy to make and make well. Peter R on the other hand seems to have more techniques, more varieties of breads and more of a traditional approach. I love the simplicity of Forkish's breads but learned so much theory and practice from the Peter R Craftsy course.

The scale is 1 gram resolution. Adequate for my recipes and I have a scientific scale if I want to weigh modernist ingredients. It is really a back up scale in case anything happens to my regular scales.

[Anna N]

So here is the chicken with arak and clementines ready to go into the oven.

And ready to be dished out.

And here's the rice done in the Cuisinart combi

And ready to be tucked into

It went down very well.

[gfweb]

Consider using a Sacagawea $1 coin or a Susan B. Anthony $1 coin instead.  

Krugerrand for me.

[Anna N]

I'm drinking alone tonight as Kerry is stiil on call but she made this for me. It's an Intro to Aperol.

[Smithy]

It looks pretty. What is it like?

[Anna N]

It looks pretty. What is it like?

I lack the language to discuss the taste of a cocktail. I would say this one is for newbies as it has no overwheming tastes of its alcoholic ingredients. I don't consider it sweet, sour or bitter but a pleasantly balanced, mild sipping drink. Some might call it a cocktail for wimps but it is one I like.

[weinoo]

Yes, it was a cocktail created by Audrey Saunders, at Pegu Club, to specifically break newbies into the world of Aperol/Campari.

 

It's a great drink. The other night, at Cherche Midi, I had a drink called Julia's Crush.  Quite similar to the Intro to Aperol, with Campari subbed for the Aperol, and if I'm not mistaken, Grand Marnier for the simple?

[Kerry Beal]

I'm seeing one called Julia's Blush - 

• JULIA’S BLUSH Campari, Citadelle Gin, lemon juice, agave

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm drinking alone tonight as Kerry is stiil on call but she made this for me. It's an Intro to Aperol.

image.jpg

 

I have a glass that looks like this...what is the recipe?