Manitoulin test kitchen

[Kerry Beal]

 

Anna and I are sipping on a Rainbow Sour while we contemplate getting the pictures up from today.  We are a little uncertain why it's called a sour given it's sweetness - but I'm enjoying it.  Last of the Apry though!

[Kerry Beal]

Breakfast this morning at Jeremy's Truck Stop in Nairn Center - I think it was faster to do a sit-down breakfast than try to grab something quick!

 

 

Peameal and eggs along with potato pancakes for me.

 

 

Crispy bacon and sunny side up with potato pancakes for Anna.  

 

I added some nice home made apple sauce along with the sour cream for my pancakes.  

[Smithy]

'Peameal'? Is this a local treatment of ham, or am I looking at the wrong thing?

[rotuts]

very nice.  

 

however ...

 

what might this be ?

 

 

sour cream or what might be called that there ?

 

and

 

AnnaN got none ?

 

 

many thanks again for this fine thread.

[Kerry Beal]

Places we hit today in Sudbury - LCBO of course, Bulk Barn, Dollarama, Gourmet World, Paris Natural Foods, Cas's Natural Brewhaus, Homesense, Costco, Jarrett Center, Stop Restaurant supply and Value Village.  

 

 

A few food items (not a ton today as the fridge is still a bit bulgy).

 

 

Realized as I was chopping up the walnuts that I had no really disposable cutting boards.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

'Peameal'? Is this a local treatment of ham, or am I looking at the wrong thing?

Smithy - peameal is cured pork loin (canadian bacon) with cornmeal on the outside.  Used to be peameal when they first made it.  

[Kerry Beal]

very nice.  

 

however ...

 

what might this be ?

 

sc.jpg

 

sour cream or what might be called that there ?

 

and

 

AnnaN got none ?

 

 

many thanks again for this fine thread.

Sour cream indeed - Anna's is just out of the picture.  She doesn't approve of sour cream and apple sauce but does enjoy just sour cream with hers.

[Ashen]

That is some nice looking peameal... I hate the kind that seems to be taking over these days, which  is just too wet , doesn't brown up nicely and has that weird white spume that leaks from it.. bleh. 

[curls]

IMG_1388.jpg

Anna and I are sipping on a Rainbow Sour while we contemplate getting the pictures up from today. We are a little uncertain why it's called a sour given it's sweetness - but I'm enjoying it. Last of the Apry though!

So sad to see that you are out of Apry. Hope you can restock soon.

[Kerry Beal]

So sad to see that you are out of Apry. Hope you can restock soon.

Yeah - made a second version last night with the luxardo apricot.  Perfectly serviceable - but it's not Apry!  Will need to try a Jim Jam and see how it holds up there.

 

Feel like a road trip to Canada bearing Apry?

[Kerry Beal]

That is some nice looking peameal... I hate the kind that seems to be taking over these days, which  is just too wet , doesn't brown up nicely and has that weird white spume that leaks from it.. bleh. 

I've found with a hot enough pan, no crowding and enough fat that I can usually get decent crispiness.  I suspect the flat top grill is what makes it possible at Jeremy's.  

[rotuts]

if you use the 'foot bath' for something in the kitchen other than feet  Id like to hear about it.

 

maybe its just the right temp for a SV-ish thing-y

 

[Tri2Cook]

if you use the 'foot bath' for something in the kitchen other than feet  Id like to hear about it.

 

maybe its just the right temp for a SV-ish thing-y

 

You mean you don't want to hear about 48 hr. sous vide feet with toe jam jus and a bromidrosis foam? Where's your sense of adventure?

 

[Ashen]

I've found with a hot enough pan, no crowding and enough fat that I can usually get decent crispiness.  I suspect the flat top grill is what makes it possible at Jeremy's.  

 

 

I have given up looking for good storebought and just make my own these days.   So simple and so good and I know exactly what is in it.  I use the recipe from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts

 

the hardest part was finding decent centre cut pork loin, but Costco solved that.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Ashen (log)

[suzilightning]

Nah - not a fish eater to any great extent.  

Try the walleye if you can get it.  The one thing that bummed me out during our trip to Rochester in April was that the U S doesn't harvest them in Lake Ontario.  Meaty but mild flavored it is my favorite fish of all.

[ElsieD]

I have given up looking for good storebought and just make my own these days.   So simple and so good and I know exactly what is in it.  I use the recipe from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts

 

the hardest part was finding decent centre cut pork loin, but Costco solved that.

It found the recipe on Epicurious. Do you make a full recipe or do you scale it? if you scale it, what do you scale it down to? 4 1/2 pounds of peameal is a lot for this two-person household.

[Kerry Beal]

I have given up looking for good storebought and just make my own these days.   So simple and so good and I know exactly what is in it.  I use the recipe from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts

 

the hardest part was finding decent centre cut pork loin, but Costco solved that.

I have that book!  Is it a dry cure?

[Tri2Cook]

I have that book!  Is it a dry cure?

I don't have that book but all of the recipes I have use a wet cure.

 

[ElsieD]

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Peameal-Bacon-368929

This is the Epicurious recipe.

[Kerry Beal]

I have a serious amount of catching up to do.

 

Started with a lovely sunny morning - then this rolled in - 

 

 

It did however burn off before long and by the time we were ready to head into town for lunch it was sunny again.

 

Anna suggested we try another recommended poutine place - so we went to Griffon's which is apparently the place you go when you want fried fish.

 

Two small poutine were the same price as a family size - won't make that mistake again - we managed to eat a small piece out of each side.  Disappointing that they use mozzarella instead of curd.

 

Then we hit the beer store where the delightful lad had been saving me some 375 ml Absolut bottles - just the perfect size for so many things.  They are in the dishwasher now - sadly it seems to have gone tits up again - totally full of dirty dishes!

[Kerry Beal]

 

Managed to get a little baking done this afternoon - used the Buttermilk Quickbread basic recipe - added some slices of ripe bananas and pecans as well as some rum and vanilla for flavouring.  I have to have food for rounds tomorrow as well as to take to the clinic in Manitowaning so it made sense to bake two loaves.  

 

They smell quite divine this evening.  I seem to be getting some of my sense of smell back thank god.  

[Kerry Beal]

We were just reaching a point where we were going to cook dinner - the sitter hadn't yet brought back Kira - when a couple of friends who are staying out at the cabin dropped around after grocery shopping to fill up their water jugs and have a little visit.  

 

 

Cocktails had to be had - Paper Planes all around - another had to be made when the sitter arrived - along with an elderflower cordial for the young helper.  

 

It was a while before everyone cleared out and Anna and I were able to get dinner on the table (or on our laps).

 

The little Egg was well preheated by the time we put the lamb shanks on.

 

 

I had made a little mint sauce to go with it - the mint in the planter is changing colour and while green when added - the whole thing turned pink.  Tasted just like mint sauce though!

 

 

Boiled down the sous vide juices with a bit of vermouth, seasoned, added a bit of flour and some cream.  

 

 

Lamb shank, celeriac puree and sautéed carrots.  The celeriac was steam baked in the Cuisinart Steam oven then pureed with some butter and cream in the thermomix.  

 

 

Also cooked in the steam oven was this flan - a bit of experimentation required - after a total of 60 minutes at 180 F - upped it to 200 for 30 minutes and it was done.  I suspect 200 for 40 minutes steamed would have worked perfectly. 

 

[Ashen]

It found the recipe on Epicurious. Do you make a full recipe or do you scale it? if you scale it, what do you scale it down to? 4 1/2 pounds of peameal is a lot for this two-person household.

It would easily scale in half, although with a brine you do need a certain amount for coverage  to soak properly.     After rolling in cornmeal and letting dry it freezes well   in  1/2 lb  to 1 lb chunks that you can slice after defrosting.   Also  works really well as an oven roast or slow cook on the BBQ. 

 

I have that book!  Is it a dry cure?

It is a wet brine cure,  injected and soaked.    Something I have found out the hard way is to inject while the meat is submerged in the brine.. It keeps the brine from spraying about   when you move the needle to another spot. 

[Anna N]

Good morning. I seem to have been MIA yesterday. Breakfast today was a healthy plate of fresh fruit:

Payback for all the unhealthy stuff of yesterday.

Have an ambitious plan for today but you all know that my ambitions are really achieved. I need some cooked chicken for a dish I have planned for later today. It is something Kerry and I want to test out for the August Eggfest in Niagara. I thought I would try to kill two birds with one stone. I will cook the thighs in the combi oven to fulfill a promise to rotuts. And here they are ready to go in at 425°F with the steam bake function:

I noticed that Kerry binned the last heel of very stale sandwich bread this morning so I have some dough rising for a new loaf:

Covered with my just-bought Lillypad:

Don't know why I waited so long to get it.

[Anna N]

So the thighs came out perfectly cooked with shatteringly crisp skin. The Cusinart combi oven wins this round.

And I now have a respectable supply of Schmaltz

With that success under my belt I thought I would give beets another go. Found these in Sudbury. Much larger than I would have liked but sometimes you have to settle:

Going into the combi oven now at 425F steam bake.

And the time it just went off to get the bread ready for the oven. It will go into a conventional oven.