Manitoulin — Life on the level

Kerry Beal · July 5, 2019

Experiment number one. Fries soaked about 24 hours, dried and blanched in 160° beef fat. Temperature dropped to 112°C and only recovered to about 125° after about 6 1/2 minutes. They were removed from the blanching oil at five minutes. A sample removed at four minutes was a little undercooked.

A second cooking at 180°C after they had returned to approximately room temperature. Only a small number of the fries were added to the oil. The temperature dropped to about 170°C and recovered quickly. They cooked for approximately two minutes and 30 seconds to attain the brown that you see.

Kira is still happily munching on them. With ketsup!

lemniscate · July 5, 2019

I have this marketing theory that if Mickey D's would do a retro french fry special where they would cook them in beef tallow like the old days and charge $10 a serving, there would be lines around the block for them.

Kerry Beal · July 5, 2019

I know a Sidecar is supposed to be 'up' - but I don't do 'up'!

Anna N · July 5, 2019

So after I misunderstood absolutely everything that happened today and was prepared to put my feet up and enjoy our day at home, Kerry looked at me strangely and said, “But we’re going out. We need to hit Burt’s Farms and the grocery store at Mindemoya.”

And so we did! At Max Burt’s we found:

Then a trip into the Mindemoya grocery store. We had Kira with us and me with my limited mobility and it seemed nobody had any patience or consideration at all. Oh well. We still managed to get everything on our list and more besides.

Then it was time for a treat:

Butter pecan for me and butterscotch for Kerry.

lindag · July 5, 2019

I don't think I’ve ever see milk-in-a-bag before.

Here it’s only in cartons or plastic jugs.

Edited July 5, 2019 by lindag (log)

**Smithy** · July 5, 2019

That looks like quite the stock of meat! Mostly pork, it appears. Does this fill out the shopping list that you were working on before we got to the great scientific condiment debate?

I see that the butter is as local as it can be. Does it have any distinguishing features other than that - say, extra richness?

I want one of those ice cream cones.

chromedome · July 5, 2019

8 minutes ago, lindag said:

I don't think I’ve ever see milk-in-a-bag before.

Here it’s only in cartons or plastic jugs.

It's a Canadian thing, and not entirely coast to coast at that. Cuts down on plastic waste, or so they say.

You get 4 litres (ie, slightly over a US gallon) divided between 3 bags, except in Newfoundland where it's 1 litre/bag. The frugal (ie, many of my family) use them a second time as freezer bags before parting with them. As I can attest, a bag of milk is a chancy thing to hang from the handlebars of your bicycle when heading home. One one occasion the bag got caught between my tire and the front forks as I was heading downhill at a good clip, so my bicycle and I got to trade places for the lower half of the hill. My bicycle may have enjoyed the change of pace, but I did not.

Anna N · July 5, 2019

Just now, Smithy said:

That looks like quite the stock of meat! Mostly pork, it appears. Does this fill out the shopping list that you were working on before we got to the great scientific condiment debate?

I see that the butter is as local as it can be. Does it have any distinguishing features other than that - say, extra richness?

I want one of those ice cream cones.

The meat somewhat fulfils my requirements but it goes far beyond that. There is something about going into Max Burt’s that brings out the carnivore in both of us. His meat is all humanely raised and he says his animals only have one bad day. They meet their maker right on his farm.

The butter was considerably cheaper than what we can get in Little Current for the same brand so Kerry stocked up.

Ice cream cones are gone. You are too late.

Kerry Beal · July 5, 2019

Ice cream is also Farqhuar's Dairy as is the butter.

That was a 'baby' cone and a 'one scoop'.

When @Beth Wilson was still living on the island we had her bring down a bunch of pounds of the butter for our chocolate workshop - best quality for the money!

Anna N · July 5, 2019

Dinner was a salad plate that used up some of the leftover chuck eye. I made a dressing of oil, Worcestershire sauce and heavy cream and Kerry added croutons and made up a Thousand Island dressing for hers (ketchup, Miracle Whip, relish, and a little bit of ballpark mustard.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Anna N (log)

lemniscate · July 6, 2019

32 minutes ago, chromedome said:

It's a Canadian thing, and not entirely coast to coast

For a short window in time, it was a southern Michigan thing. A dairy farm near us started selling milk in bags and since my Dad knew them (all farmers know each other, it is eerie sometimes) we started buying it. We had the special pitcher and the special cutter. The lower shelf of our fridge was piled up with the bags, we drank A LOT of milk. Then Saudi Arabia came over and offered dairy farmers big bucks for their herds and he sold out to them and the cows went to the Middle East. Weird. Then no more bag milk, back to jugs.

suzilightning · July 6, 2019

...and the SPAM is for?

rotuts · July 6, 2019

@Anna N

in the first Meat Photo

their is a largish piece that is seasoned

Pork Ribs ?

lemniscate · July 6, 2019

21 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Experiment number one. Fries soaked about 24 hours, dried and blanched in 160° beef fat. Temperature dropped to 112°C and only recovered to about 125° after about 6 1/2 minutes. They were removed from the blanching oil at five minutes. A sample removed at four minutes was a little undercooked.

Since there was a #1 experiment, that should mean there's plans for at least a #2 experiment using that neato poly sciencey thingie, right? Is one of the future experiments the start with cold/cool oil method? I'm all in on the french fry experiments.

Kerry Beal · July 6, 2019

2 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

Since there was a #1 experiment, that should mean there's plans for at least a #2 experiment using that neato poly sciencey thingie, right? Is one of the future experiments the start with cold/cool oil method? I'm all in on the french fry experiments.

I suspect that will also be one of our experiments. But my next experiment is going to be The serious eats variation of 1/4 inch fries. In an attempt to duplicate the McDonald’s fries of my youth.

TicTac · July 6, 2019

15 hours ago, Anna N said:

So after I misunderstood absolutely everything that happened today and was prepared to put my feet up and enjoy our day at home, Kerry looked at me strangely and said, “But we’re going out. We need to hit Burt’s Farms and the grocery store at Mindemoya.”

And so we did! At Max Burt’s we found:

Then a trip into the Mindemoya grocery store. We had Kira with us and me with my limited mobility and it seemed nobody had any patience or consideration at all. Oh well. We still managed to get everything on our list and more besides.

Then it was time for a treat:

Butter pecan for me and butterscotch for Kerry.

Curious - toasted onion relish? I am a Strubs fan...never seen that one before!

Also, hoping that ice cream is Kawartha's!!!!

Anna N · July 6, 2019

4 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

in the first Meat Photo

their is a largish piece that is seasoned

Pork Ribs ?

Yes, those are pre-cooked pork ribs that Max has asked us to taste test. We performed the same service last year and found them not up to our standards so he has tweaked his method and his recipe and we will try them again this year.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Anna N
Verb tense. The damn thing never hears the last syllables (log)

rotuts · July 6, 2019

2Anna N

interresting

going to char them on the mini-GE ?

gfweb · July 6, 2019

Got one of these @Kerry Beal?

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/adirondacks/2019/07/painfully-hooked-fishing-lure-display-at-adirondack-hospital-is-no-joke.html?fbclid=IwAR0ORQiTA6eTT-XC3WB62Tx1Fq2fiS5kSAgxwUBAX_9uth-niM2eIX3IE7E

Anna N · July 6, 2019

We are in Sudbury at the moment for some serious retail therapy. We have been away from the big cities for a whole week apparently we don’t have much staying power!

We stopped at Jeremy’s Truck Stop in Nairn Centre for breakfast as usual.

The peameal bacon breakfast with eggs over easy, potato pancakes and brown toast for Kerry.

Poached eggs, potato pancakes and white toast for me.

The potato pancakes come with sour cream but Kerry wished that she had asked for applesauce as well.

Anna N · July 6, 2019

3 hours ago, TicTac said:

Curious - toasted onion relish? I am a Strubs fan...never seen that one before!

Also, hoping that ice cream is Kawartha's!!!!

The onion relish is new to us.

Not Kawartha ice cream. It is Farqhuar’s.

TicTac · July 6, 2019

56 minutes ago, Anna N said:

The onion relish is new to us.

Not Kawartha ice cream. It is Farqhuar’s.

Curious to hear about the onion relish...

Northern Ontario and not Kawartha!? Oy!

Kerry Beal · July 6, 2019

4 hours ago, gfweb said:

Got one of these @Kerry Beal?

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/adirondacks/2019/07/painfully-hooked-fishing-lure-display-at-adirondack-hospital-is-no-joke.html?fbclid=IwAR0ORQiTA6eTT-XC3WB62Tx1Fq2fiS5kSAgxwUBAX_9uth-niM2eIX3IE7E

Nope - we should though!

Kerry Beal · July 7, 2019

Maximillian Affair - different vermouth than usual and we can taste the difference! but not going to bin it.

Kerry Beal · July 7, 2019

This is what is required to get the chocolate discount pricing when one goes to the restaurant supply.

Bark made with Caramelized Peanuts ala David Lebovitz. She was checking me out with chocolate and peanuts on her breath!

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