Camping, Princess Style

heidih · March 22, 2019

I was talking about whole smoked turkeys. Its alot of meat.

**Smithy** · March 22, 2019

13 minutes ago, heidih said:

I was talking about whole smoked turkeys. Its alot of meat.

I'd like to try some of that!

JoNorvelleWalker · March 22, 2019

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

*That will not rhyme, if one pronounces the state's name as the natives do.

I'm afraid it wouldn't rhyme around here either way.

**Smithy** · March 22, 2019

The ribeye steaks (and roast) that we bought at home have been a disappointment this year. We aren't sure why; that butcher shop has always been our favorite, but this year's purchase has been tough and not very flavorful as that cut goes. We're down to our last two. We've had 1 wild success, where the partially-frozen steaks were cooked at high heat over a very hot campfire flame. (The next time I tried that method, the results were not as good.) I liked the steaks in wine sauce that I did at Death Valley, but he wasn't impressed and I admit the meat was slightly overdone. We're down to our last pair, and the final ribeye experiment for the trip.

I oiled them, sprinkled them with a Texas Sweet Hickory grill rub my sister gave me for Christmas, sprinkled with fresh parsley left over from last night's dinner, and packed them. I bought a little hand-pump vacuum packer, with reusable bags, for the Princessmobile last year or the year before. It may not be as satisfying as the motorized hmmrrooOOMM of the FoodSaver, but it takes less space and works surprisingly well.

In a couple of hours these steaks will go into a sous vide bath: 124F for 1.5 hours (or so), to give them plenty of time to lose their toughness. Then, because our plans don't include a grill or campfire tonight, they'll go onto the hottest cast-iron pan I can manage for no more than 30 seconds on a side. We'll see what happens!

**Smithy** · March 23, 2019

The steaks' 124F bath was more nearly 2 ¹/₂ hours, I think. Here's how they looked afterward. I thought they looked pretty good.

In the skillet, browning:

Dinner:

Overcooked, I'm afraid. I'm not sure how I could have dried the surfaces more for a quicker sear. I may have weenied out on the "screaming hot cast iron" because I was doing it inside. However, the (safflower) oil film was starting to smoke when the steaks went on, so there should have been plenty of heat. We both agree that these steaks were cut too thinly in the first place. Ah well, we're done experimenting with this batch of steaks.

I find using the Joule very frustrating in the Princessmobile, and I think next year (assuming we hit the road again) it's going to be the Anova instead. I always have to troubleshoot the connection between my cell phone and the Joule before they'll "talk" to each other. Last night the phone went to sleep twice, once while the water was heating, and again while the steaks were in the bath. I had to stop and restart the Joule (and the phone program) to reestablish the connection. Does anyone else experience this problem?

FauxPas · March 23, 2019

39 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I find using the Joule very frustrating in the Princessmobile, and I think next year (assuming we hit the road again) it's going to be the Anova instead. I always have to troubleshoot the connection between my cell phone and the Joule before they'll "talk" to each other. Last night the phone went to sleep twice, once while the water was heating, and again while the steaks were in the bath. I had to stop and restart the Joule (and the phone program) to reestablish the connection. Does anyone else experience this problem?

Do you have the same problem when you are at home in your house or does it just happen when you are on the road in the RV?

**Smithy** · March 23, 2019

1 minute ago, FauxPas said:

Do you have the same problem when you are at home in your house or does it just happen when you are on the road in the RV?

Good question, and with a 6-month living quarter rotation I'm not sure I know. At the house I chalked it all up to having switched routers, and sometimes having a phone talking directly to the printer or some such nonsense. That particular pitfall is sorted out here, now. I may have to go through it again when we get home.

FauxPas · March 23, 2019

I've had a few glitches using Joule but most of them were due to new phones, new WiFi, new/additional Joules. I find that I don't use the Joule here nearly as much as I thought I would, so haven't been testing it much lately.

I can make the usual troubleshooting suggestions but you have probably already seen them and tried them. There is a ton of information for troubleshooting the Joule's connections on the website, so I'd say problems aren't all that unusual, unfortunately.

Boring stuff:

- check app version (should be 2.66.5) to update, see here

- check firmware (should be 105.82) - to update, see here

Bluetooth or WiFi not connecting? Try this first!

If you’re having an issue getting/maintaining a connection via Bluetooth and/or WiFi, try these steps first:

Unplug Joule.

Restart your phone, WiFi router / access point, and internet modem. Please wait until all devices have finished restarting.

Plug Joule back in.

If previously connected, disconnect Joule inside the app by following these steps:

Launch the Joule app and proceed to the main menu (tap the three horizontal lines in the upper left).

Tap Settings > My Joules > [Joule name] > Disconnect Joule.

Tap Okay to disconnect.

Fully uninstall and reinstall the Joule app on your phone or tablet.

After reinstalling, launch the Joule app, sign into your ChefSteps account and follow the on-screen instructions to pair / connect to Joule.

Need more info? Check out more connection troubleshooting steps here:

Why can’t I connect Joule to WiFi / the cloud?

I can’t pair with Joule or I cannot find Joule during pairing.

I’ve paired with Joule, but I can’t connect.

Edited March 23, 2019 by FauxPas
to add link (log)

kayb · March 23, 2019

On 3/22/2019 at 3:01 PM, Smithy said:

I've seen smoked turkey thighs and drumsticks in the Duluth stores, and smoked turkey breast (sliced) in the deli sections. Should I be checking them out when we get home? Or are you describing whole smoked turkeys?

I'm guessing it was smoked turkey breast -- at least what I had was breast meat. Don't know if they smoke the whole bird or not. I got mine as a plate, not a sandwich, with a couple of sides. Sides were forgettable, but, oh, that turkey. It's sliced about 1/4 inch thick, and the servings are generous!

Good camping another hour or so south, just over the line in Hardy, Arkansas, along the Spring River. Plus you could then come through Jonesboro and visit me!

K.

**Smithy** · March 24, 2019

I've spent a couple of hours testing bacon-cookery and bacon brands, then making a giant bowl of broccoli salad. Puzzling over the Joule will wait for another time.

The contenders were the bacon I bought a couple of days ago, as noted in an earlier post: our standard Wright's Hickory-smoked bacon, and Hempler's Applewood-smoked bacon, purchased at the butcher counter of Fry's grocery store. You can see that the applewood-smoked bacon is considerably more trimmed of fat than the Wright's. It has more of a handcrafted look as a result. It also looks a bit leaner, but that might be an illusion because of the trimming.

I tried both microwave and oven-rack cooking. Here, for comparison, are two slices of each type on the rack before it went into the oven. The Wright's is at the top of the photo. Both brands are sliced to about the same thickness.

I forgot to ask about a proper oven temperature, and assumed 350F. The oven-roasting took somewhere over a half hour, and after a couple of bacon-flips and pan-turns I had this:

The microwave oven cooking, on the other hand, took about 6 minutes, with a paper-towel change partway through, to get this:

That bacon is *crisp*!

I had to run the oven-baked stuff through the microwave for maybe a minute to get a similar crispness, even after that cooking - just as @blue_dolphin had noted. Here's the before and after:

The microwave method had the advantage of being quicker and less messy. The oven method gave beautifully rendered bacon fat: "liquid gold", as kayb put it once. Both were better than my skillet work. I think I've been cooking the bacon over too high heat all these years!

I think the brand of bacon, or at least the cure, may also matter. I liked the flavor and "snap" of the cooked Wright's better than the cooked Hempler's. Even the crispiest Hempler's was tough compared to the Wright's. I like the note of hickory smoke in the Wright's. I couldn't really detect much applewood - or pork, really - with the Hempler's. We can get other hickory-smoked bacon closer to home, and I'll be interested to compare it to Wright's when I can for a better comparison. (I will also keep an eye out for Broadbent's, at the risk of being utterly spoiled for lesser stuff.)

Thanks, everyone! I've learned a lot more about bacon cookery than I knew yesterday, and it's because of your collective help. I'll hoist an extra glass to y'all tonight as we enjoy our broccoli salad and beer brats by the campfire.

Edited March 24, 2019 by Smithy
Grammar: "more than I knew" for "more than I did" (log)

Thanks for the Crepes · March 24, 2019

On 3/22/2019 at 6:31 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'm afraid it wouldn't rhyme around here either way.

I actually thought it wasn't bad, although it did take me a bit to find the rhyme @Smithyalluded to:

On 3/22/2019 at 4:01 PM, Smithy said:

We're usually in a hurry when we pass through Missouri.^*

On 3/22/2019 at 4:01 PM, Smithy said:

Or are you describing whole smoked turkeys?

If I am wrong, Nancy, please correct me, but then I don't get it either.

Thanks for the Crepes · March 24, 2019

Whole smoked turkeys are definitely a thing. A very, very good thing.

I had already bought a twenty pound ham one Christmas in Memphis, when my then boyfriend's employer gave us a twenty pound turkey for Christmas bonus on Christmas Eve with no warning. No problem. I already had a whole tribe coming over for Christmas dinner.

I did forty pounds of meat over charcoal fire with a water pan over the fire to keep the meat moist in this poor man's little smoker. It was something like this one, not really, and it was half the price. I had to set my alarm clock for 3 hours while I was trying to sleep to tend the charcoal and water on this beast, and it took almost 24 hours to cook this much meat in cold winter conditions. My smoker was a Brinkman.

Everyone loved the meal, including me, and I can be really picky. Smoked turkey is the bomb.

However, even with fourteen people pigging out for Christmas dinner, I had tons of leftovers from forty pounds of meat. I froze most, but let's just face it. Some went to waste.

Moral of the story? Employers! If your cheap ass bonus is going to be a twenty pound turkey, how about letting your employees know so they can plan accordingly? Thanks, though. It was better than nothing.

suzilightning · March 24, 2019

16 hours ago, Smithy said:

I've spent a couple of hours testing bacon-cookery and bacon brands, then making a giant bowl of broccoli salad. Puzzling over the Joule will wait for another time.

The contenders were the bacon I bought a couple of days ago, as noted in an earlier post: our standard Wright's Hickory-smoked bacon, and Hempler's Applewood-smoked bacon, purchased at the butcher counter of Fry's grocery store. You can see that the applewood-smoked bacon is considerably more trimmed of fat than the Wright's. It has more of a handcrafted look as a result. It also looks a bit leaner, but that might be an illusion because of the trimming.

I tried both microwave and oven-rack cooking. Here, for comparison, are two slices of each type on the rack before it went into the oven. The Wright's is at the top of the photo. Both brands are sliced to about the same thickness.

I forgot to ask about a proper oven temperature, and assumed 350F. The oven-roasting took somewhere over a half hour, and after a couple of bacon-flips and pan-turns I had this:

The microwave oven cooking, on the other hand, took about 6 minutes, with a paper-towel change partway through, to get this:

That bacon is *crisp*!

I had to run the oven-baked stuff through the microwave for maybe a minute to get a similar crispness, even after that cooking - just as @blue_dolphin had noted. Here's the before and after:

The microwave method had the advantage of being quicker and less messy. The oven method gave beautifully rendered bacon fat: "liquid gold", as kayb put it once. Both were better than my skillet work. I think I've been cooking the bacon over too high heat all these years!

I think the brand of bacon, or at least the cure, may also matter. I liked the flavor and "snap" of the cooked Wright's better than the cooked Hempler's. Even the crispiest Hempler's was tough compared to the Wright's. I like the note of hickory smoke in the Wright's. I couldn't really detect much applewood - or pork, really - with the Hempler's. We can get other hickory-smoked bacon closer to home, and I'll be interested to compare it to Wright's when I can for a better comparison. (I will also keep an eye out for Broadbent's, at the risk of being utterly spoiled for lesser stuff.)

Thanks, everyone! I've learned a lot more about bacon cookery than I knew yesterday, and it's because of your collective help. I'll hoist an extra glass to y'all tonight as we enjoy our broccoli salad and beer brats by the campfire.

I could lick the screen....that is some good looking bacon!!

Edited March 24, 2019 by suzilightning
to change like to lick (log)

rotuts · March 24, 2019

@Smithy

thank you for your fine study and analysis of two types of bacon

Ive learned a lot

Im wondering if the Hempler's is dryer than the Wright's

aged possibly a bit differently ?

I think dryer bacon , Brodbents , Benton's and Fathers possibly

Im leaning about Bacon Ends. Im a sausage person in the AM

you have given me some fine ideas to make the most of Bacoon Ends !

thgaks

**ElsieD** · March 24, 2019

@Smithy I really, really, want some of that broccoli salad.

**Smithy** · March 24, 2019

@Thanks for the Crepes - you asked whether you missed it, so maybe it's worth clarifying my throwaway line? The non-rhyme I was alluding to was a single-jingle: "We're usually in a hurry when we drive through Missouri". The way I was raised, that sentence would have rhymed with itself. I've learned the error of my upbringing since moving to the Midwest. In order to make it rhyme with the Missourians' pronunciation of their state, it would have to be "We're usually in a hurra when we pass through Missoura". Anyway, back to food....

@rotuts For our purposes, bacon ends & pieces are usually the way to go. A well-laced bacon covering, such as we see with certain meat loaves or with Porthos' recent "Redneck Turtle Burgers", needs whole slices. A bacon, lettuce (and avocado, and pickle) and tomato sandwich needs whole slices. The above-shown broccoli salad (thanks, ElsieD!) would have been fine with ends and pieces. Our problem is that we rarely find packages of ends and pieces on the road. Once we're done with whatever we brought from home, that's it. I do suspect the cure matters. Our favorite butcher shop at home does a fine hickory-smoked bacon that I'll have to try up against the Wright's when we get home.

Remember the sous vide chicken breast I mentioned here? I cooked it at 150F for 2:09. Today it came out of the bag, and I sliced part for sandwiches.

The texture is much, much better than I got with 160F for 1 hour. Next time I may try @Shelby's version at 141F. (It feels like I'm doing the Limbo: see how low you can go!) The meat texture is good, but the meat itself needs help. Much of the rest will probably get chopped up for chicken salad, so I can mix it with crunchy and fattening bits to improve the flavor. Hmm, might it make a decent shortcut for a curry?

We drove today, and ate breakfast on the road: the last of the persimmon cake I'd made for our dinner party with friends, 10 days ago. I really can't taste the persimmon, but the cake was moist, tender and flavorful to the last. I'm surprised at how well it held up, simply wrapped in its pan and set aside in the kitchen.

robirdstx · March 24, 2019

@Smithy said: “Thenon-rhyme I was alluding to was a single-jingle: "We're usually in a hurry when we drive through Missouri". The way I was raised, that sentence would have rhymed with itself. I've learned the error of my upbringing since moving to theMidwest. In order to make it rhyme with the Missourians' pronunciation of their state, it would have to be "We'reusually in a hurra when we pass through Missoura".“

I got it! ‘Missouri’ and ‘hurry’ rhyme just fine for us! Hubby is native born Missourian and we were both raised in St. Louis. ‘Missoura’ is another way to pronounce it, but not where we were raised. 😁

Edited March 24, 2019 by robirdstx (log)

**Smithy** · March 24, 2019

Once again, my day is not wasted: I've learned something. Thanks, @robirdstx!

**ElsieD** · March 25, 2019

I stopped putting whole slices of bacon on my BLTs. I was forever pulling the slices out with my teeth. I now chop the bacon then put it on the sandwich. Much better.

**Smithy** · March 25, 2019

Tonight's dinner was a new recipe from the latest issue of Fine Cooking: Skillet-Roasted Salmon with Avocado, Pomegranate and Bulgur. Never mind that I'm out of pomegranate and may not have access until next fall; I wanted to cook that dish! It looked so beautiful on the cover of the magazine!

The recipe involves lime zest and juice; cilantro; bulgur with vegetable broth (I used chicken); minced ginger, scallions and garlic, and oil for the fish and for heating the aromatics. Get the aromatics started on stovetop. Add the bulgur and broth, stir well. Put the (seasoned) fish on top. Bake in the oven. Remove from the oven and let it sit, covered (why? to let the bulgur finish?) then remove the fish, fluff and season the bulgur, put the fish back, season all and serve.

Well...food stylists do a far better job than I, and this would have looked prettier with the pomegranate arils and more cilantro. The whitish stuff coming out of the salmon suggests that it might have been overcooked. It didn't taste like it to us. My darling, whose face fell at the idea of salmon for dinner, liked it. He liked it despite its having cilantro, which I downplayed (hence the lack of garnish). His only complaint was that the fish and bulgur were cool by the time they got to the table, and he prefers his fish and grains to be hot. That can be corrected with higher-heat-capacity plates, I told him. Melamine just doesn't cut it. I think I have a new justification for purchasing new dinnerware.

Thanks for the Crepes · March 25, 2019

7 minutes ago, Smithy said:

11 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I think I have a new justification for purchasing new dinnerware.

Yes, glass, ceramic or stoneware can retain heat from sitting on top of a hot stove, or being warmed even in an empty dishwasher on the dry cycle. This requires a non-digital dishwasher with a dial you can control. Not only does this lower tech machine allow you to control it to warm plates, it also allows you, the human controller to actually dry the dishes, which is one of the functions of a dishwasher. I have to turn the dial back to DRY two times after the initial cycle, but at least I can get my dishes dried.

I warm my glass plate by pouring boiling pasta water over it in the sink in several increments. This makes it almost too hot to handle. Sometimes it takes me too long to eat it anyway, and I have to nuke it midway through. I really do not like cold pasta that is supposed to be served hot.

I am firmly in the camp of your darling, on hot plates. I do realize why you chose melamine to take on the bumpy, windy roads, though. Stuff breaks in rough environments, for sure.

My preference for really hot food served fresh makes it difficult for me to eat in many restaurants. I'm lookin' at you Perkins and IHOP. There is probably not much worse than over easy eggs served on a cold thick china platter! That is a heat sink. It can be used either way. Back in the day, they used to heat them to keep the food warm and now, while the thick china platters persist in these restaurants, they're not heated and IMMEDIATELY sap all the heat from the food served to the customers. At least that happens around here.

You can tell your darling that salmon is one of the best proteins in the world. Good for the heart, good for the brain. It is just an excellent food and one of the best. Plus, most people (and bears) think it tastes really good when cooked well. Maybe the bears not so much. 🙂

**Smithy** · March 25, 2019

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

There is probably not much worse than over easy eggs served on a cold thick china platter! That is a heat sink. It can be used either way. Back in the day, they used to heat them to keep the food warm and now, while the thick china platters persist in these restaurants, they're not heated and IMMEDIATELY sap all the heat from the food served to the customers. At least that happens around here.

You nailed it right there! We both prefer our hot food on hot plates, but he has a special bugagoo about it because of his past life. He, his then-wife and daughter worked in a backwoods resort restaurant with exactly those heavy china platters. He could NOT get them to warm the plates ahead of time, so those lovely eggs and bacon/sausage/whatever went onto cold plates and were cold by the time they arrived at the table. I think it's a travesty too, but it isn't quite the burr under my saddle that it is for him.

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

You can tell your darling that salmon is one of the best proteins in the world. Good for the heart, good for the brain. It is just an excellent food and one of the best. Plus, most people (and bears) think it tastes really good when cooked well. Maybe the bears not so much. 🙂

He knows all that (well, except maybe the bears' preference) but still is firmly in the burger / brats / red meat / "the more sat fat the better" camp. It happens that salmon is my favorite fish, so I occasionally make a command decision and buy it. Then the trick is to find a way to cook it that we both like. Just this morning he said again that he really liked that dish last night! It's a keeper.

JoNorvelleWalker · March 25, 2019

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

You nailed it right there! We both prefer our hot food on hot plates, but he has a special bugagoo about it because of his past life. He, his then-wife and daughter worked in a backwoods resort restaurant with exactly those heavy china platters. He could NOT get them to warm the plates ahead of time, so those lovely eggs and bacon/sausage/whatever went onto cold plates and were cold by the time they arrived at the table. I think it's a travesty too, but it isn't quite the burr under my saddle that it is for him.

My childhood was scarred by Howard Johnson's serving 28 flavors of ice cream in heated metal cups.

blue_dolphin · March 25, 2019

32 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

My childhood was scarred by Howard Johnson's serving 28 flavors of ice cream in heated metal cups.

Interesting. Our HoJo's had icy cold metal cups - like your tongue could get stuck to them!

JoNorvelleWalker · March 25, 2019

15 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Interesting. Our HoJo's had icy cold metal cups - like your tongue could get stuck to them!

I could only wish. But now that you mention it, I see a potential use for Kerry's trivet.

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