Manitoulin test kitchen

[rotuts]

how do you like cast iron on the Burton ?

 

i have two from my mother that she got about 1938 that i plan to refinish. my mother had three, my sister has one.

[Darienne]

Ha!  I knew what you looked like, Kerry, but now we all know what Anna looks like too.  Always nicer to know what the person looks like.  For me, anyway.  Thanks.

[Kerry Beal]

how do you like cast iron on the Burton ?

 

i have two from my mother that she got about 1938 that i plan to refinish. my mother had three, my sister has one.

Anna tends to use it more than I - I've gotten away from cast iron cause it's too heavy!  But it works well on induction - unlike other pots though the handle does get hot.

[rotuts]

and what are these?

 

 

they look a bit crispy and well.....

 

some what delicious ....

[Kerry Beal]

Pork rinds of course!  Crispy porky goodness in chip format.

[Porthos]

The Oreos - are they still in plastic trays or are they loose in the bag?

[Kerry Beal]

Haven't opened these ones - but typically they would be in a plastic tray inside a cello bag.  When I saw them half price I grabbed them because on Thursday I'm heading over the the dentist's house to play with chocolate with his delightful daughter.  Always good to have a few things to dip since I didn't bring a lot of molds up.  

[Anna N]

I am a little slow posting this morning. Breakfast was toast with Trader Joe's aoili mustard again topped with leftover beef:

After breakfast we headed out to do some errands including picking up more groceries. Kerry has posted a picture of our haul and you can see more potential pickle ingredients as well as some chicharrons which added texture to my lunch sandwich:

More leftover beef topped with chicharons.

And I just had to show you Kerry's rig for melting the cheese in her grilled cheese sandwich:

[ElsieD]

I do something similar. I slap a piece of tin foil on the samdwich and then put a cast iron frying pan on top of it. It do both sides that way. For the last few minutes, I take the pan and foil off in case it needs crisping, if you know what I mean. Perfectly melted cheese between crispy bread. Eat with pickles. Oh, and when I put it on my plate I put the sandwich on a piece of paper towel or napkin so the sandwich does not get soggy.

Edited July 13, 2014 by ElsieD (log)

[Kerry Beal]

 

Satan's Whiskers - nothing satanic about it sadly!

[Tri2Cook]

Satan's Whiskers - nothing satanic about it sadly!

I see Grand Marnier so you went with the "straight" version. The "curled" version uses curacao instead. Which recipe did you use?  Most of the recipes I see call for a dash of orange bitters, the one in my drinks file (which I collected from the Dr. Bamboo blog and was attributed to Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails) calls for a full teaspoon of orange bitters... which did give it a slightly evil edge.

 

[Kerry Beal]

It was the version from the 9 bottle bar - 1 ounce gin and orange juice, 1/2 ounce of the rest - forgot the bitters initially - a dash helped a bit!

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight we had the doc on call in the ER over for dinner - he drives in from Sudbury for a 24 hour shift.  Our plan was to make lomo al trapo, a Columbian method of cooking meat in salt and cloth.  

 

 

Prepping the cloth - a wet diaper (no fabric softener) covered liberally with salt then sprinkled with oregano.  

 

 

Rolling the tenderloin in it. 

 

 

Tying the ends - no butcher's twine to be found. 

 

 

Popped right on the coals.  

 

 

Took a little longer than anticipated - I think the large BGE would have a more reliable temperature with the lid down - had to raise the lid of the mini to get it hot enough.  

 

 

Pupa coming out of it's cocoon.  

 

 

Duck fat smashed potatoes.  

 

 

Gratin of zucchini and tomato to accompany.

 

 

For dessert - strawberry rhubarb galette.  

 

 

 

[Smithy]

That all looks delicious, as usual. Thank you for posting links to some of your recipe inspirations; I'm learning a lot from you and those links. Here's a question about the lomo al trapo: the instructions in the page you linked say to cover the cloth with salt out to within 1 inch of the edge of the cloth. It looks as though the cloth wraps around the meat more than once. Doesn't that result in a lot of salt trapped between cloth layers and not in contact with the meat at all? Do you think that's wasted salt, or does it somehow affect the meat anyway?

[Kerry Beal]

Yup - salt and cloth layers - keeps the fire from burning right through I think.

[Smithy]

That makes sense. It looks from the photo as though the cloth did burn somewhat. Do you think that helps impart a smoky flavor to the meat? Or am I misreading the photo?

[Kerry Beal]

No real smokey flavour.

[Anna N]

Good morning. I have some rather ambitious plans for the day. Even before breakfast I had a new batch of bread dough in the Thermomix. I am simply not convinced that the bread coming out of the combi oven is the best it can be. Yesterday's loaf was decidedly dense. Today I will let it do its second rise without steam and will bake it in the conventional oven.

I also put some beets in the combi oven (super steam/400F). After 30 minutes they were still little rocks. After 40 mins the house starting smelling of burnt beets! HARUMPH AND NEVERMORE. They were cooked after 40 minutes but only just. And talk about a PITA to peel! Skins usually just slip off my beets or succumb to a rub with a paper towel. Not these. Not even scraping them with a paring knife would work. Finally resorted to a vegetable peeler. Far too much waste and decidedly mutilated beets. There are better ways to cook beets.

Breakfast needs a name! It's a riff on Shakshuka using the leftovers from last night's gratin, a little pipelchuma and two fresh eggs.

I also have more ingredients that I want to pickle and then there is the evening meal to consider.

But first I must empty the dishwasher and rewash everything in it! Apparently its last fix did not solve the problem. The day is deteriorating rather quickly.

[rotuts]

consider one more try w 'bake steam' 425.  rather than 'super steam'  cant make heads nor tails of 'super steam'

[ElsieD]

Anna, I see that you make a lot of breads in the Thermomix. Have you ever made brioche in it? If you have, can you give me some tips? I want to make some and wondered about using the Thermomix. Thanks.

Elsie

[Anna N]

consider one more try w 'bake steam' 425.  rather than 'super steam'  cant make heads nor tails of 'super steam'

Happy to try but will need more beets. Will likely try to get them this weekend in Sudbury where the selection is better. Added to my Sudbury shopping list!

[Anna N]

Anna, I see that you make a lot of breads in the Thermomix. Have you ever made brioche in it? If you have, can you give me some tips? I want to make some and wondered about using the Thermomix. Thanks.

Elsie

Oy vey. Now I have to confess that brioche scares the heck out of me! Nope never tried it. Wouldn't be surprised if Kerry has. She is at work right now but will check in I am sure.

[Anna N]

With half of the radishes I bought yesterday I decided to try this recipe for pink pickled radishes

http://www.thekitchn.com/prettyinpink-pickled-radishes-119588

There is not much to the mise en place. Sugar, salt, rice wine vinegar, water and radishes:

:

I also had a small piece of cucumber in the fridge which needed using up. I opted to make Danish cucumber salad. Again the ingredients are simple - cucumber, white vinegar and sugar. First though I used the mandolin to cut very thin slices, sprinkled some salt on top, added a plate and some weights and left for about an hour. I've then squeezed out as much water as I could using a clean dish towel.

Two small jars of pickles ready to go in the refrigerator.

Lunch today was a beautiful nectarine

[Toliver]

Breakfast needs a name! It's a riff on Shakshuka using the leftovers from last night's gratin, a little pipelchuma and two fresh eggs.

Manitoulin machaca? 

[FauxPas]

consider one more try w 'bake steam' 425.  rather than 'super steam'  cant make heads nor tails of 'super steam'

 

Super Steam uses the lower heating elements + steam. Bake Steam uses both upper and lower elements + steam. I agree that Bake Steam is a better choice for a veggie like beets that requires a longer slower cook and more balanced and even heat. However, for smaller beets I have used Steam only @ 210F and they were great. For larger ones, I would use Bake Steam. 

 

I use Super Steam for rice and I can see it for some quick-cooking veggies perhaps. But I do find that the top only (Broil Steam) or lower only (Super Steam) are tricky for cooking some things and it can be easy to overcook things. For example, I used Broil Steam to cook salmon and the top of the filet was browned more than I like. 

 

Edited to add: I place the rack and tray/pan/dish so that the food is centered in the oven for Steam/Bake. For Broil or Super Steam I would adjust the placement depending on what I am trying to achieve and type of food. With Super Steam the lower element is going to be hot, so placing anything in the lower position does put it at risk of burning. 

Edited July 14, 2014 by FauxPas (log)