Squirrels's Profile
Thomas Keller Roasted Chicken: Two at a Time??
You are correct - at least I can corroborate that I do pour off the fat as I go. Forgot that step. Two chickens would only generate more fat if they are cooked in a single vessel so it's a valid point.
Atlanta: looking for something good north of the city
I agree with Bistro VG, 5 Season, AND Sushi Nami.
Sushi Nami is a wonderful hidden jem that has fantastic sushi. Scott is a funny, knowledgeable, and highly skilled sushi chef.
Bistro VG is great and some may call it fine dining, but I want to stress it is by no means an elitist dining experience. The food is wonderful though, don't get me wrong. The cuisine is very approachable and the atmosphere is somewhat refined but you would feel comfortable in nice jeans and a nice shirt.
5 Seasons is a brew pub and it has some of the best local beer around. It is far beyond your usual french fries and hot wings bar though. If I'm not mistaken, they have been rated among the top 50 restaurants in the city. I'll echo what jboeke said.
Mandolin recs?
You're correct to clarify, it was the V slicer. As I remember though, the Oxo was the one that COULD slice the tomatoes. All the other straight blade versions could not. It seems like you're confusing the 2...?
Thomas Keller Roasted Chicken: Two at a Time??
Looks like a good simple recipe, you're right! If you have cast iron/carbon steel or any other oven safe skillet/saute pan you could cook it in there. I would consider pre-heating the pan along with the oven. 2 big pieces of cold steel would certainly affect the oven temp when you put them both in there. That's what I do when I cook chickens in the oven.
I have a great carbon steel pan that I preheat to 425 and cook chicken in much the same manner as is described here. I don't bother with trussing though. I start the bird on it's side for about 12-15 minutes then flip to the other side for another 12 minutes and continue, eventually all 4 sides come in contact with the pan (2 sides (legs and thighs), back and breast) for a total of about 50-60 minutes myself.
Baby Sweet Potatoes - TJ's
Well, I could call chicken a tiny cow if I wanted but that doesn't mean it's correct. The fact is that sweet potatoes are not yams, do not resemble them, and are not related in any way.
Thomas Keller Roasted Chicken: Two at a Time??
For birds that small you might not want to keep it there for a whole 20 minutes, you're right. Maybe pre-heat the oven to 475 and then immediately drop the temp to 450. That way the oven will be slightly hotter than the recipe calls for but it won't be cycling on and off for 20 minutes at that high temp. Are you cooking these on a rack? (again not sure of the recipe) I would suggest opening the oven and turning the chickens so that they cook more evenly. Opening the oven might add another 5 mins to the cooking time - I'm familiar with high heat chicken and I know they go quick, especially at 2.5 lbs! - but turning them/spinning them will aid in the cooking. One point of concern might be the additional moisture generated by the 2 chickens.
Baby Sweet Potatoes - TJ's
I find the larger (regular size) sweet potato skin a little chewy and papery that's why I asked. Kind of like eating the skin of butternut squash: sure it's edible but it's not the best part.
This is my first time finding them at my local TJ's. As with everything there, they come and go, I suppose.
The potatoes are in a little shrink wrapped container and it says all you have to do is toss the whole thing in the microwave for 5 minutes. No thanks! Point is they appear pretty well cleaned and ready to eat, so they shouldn't require much scrubbing. I'm planning on roasting them with some carrots and leeks tonight.
Baby Sweet Potatoes - TJ's
I picked up a pack of the baby sweet potatoes at Trader Joe's yesterday and I'm unsure about the prep. Are the skins edible? It seems kinda goofy to roast them and then peel them individually but I certainly will if that's what is required. They are small enough that I think the skin is tender enough not to even worry about, but the package doesn't give much instruction aside from microwaving... which I will not do.
Anyone out there with prior experience?
Oh, and I find it ridiculous that Trader Joe's ignorantly perpetuates the confusion of sweet potatoes and yams... the package calls them Baby Sweet Potatoes/Yams. As most here know, yams and sweet potatoes are NOT the same thing.
Thomas Keller Roasted Chicken: Two at a Time??
It will slightly affect the cooking time, yes, but not drastically. More mass to heat up = more energy required. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the recipe, but maybe increase the oven temp by 25 degrees for the first 20 minutes and count on about another 10 to 15 minutes cooking time. That's just a guess though.
My main point as I said above is that yes it will affect the parameters of the recipe but not by so much that you couldn't handle it. You sound like you have a pretty good idea about what you're cooking.
All of a sudden a bad Reputation!
If these people you speak of were so hard working, you think that they would buy a whole chicken and cook all of it or break down the pieces themselves. If a whole chicken is too fatty for your diet, well, then you have more problems than should be discussed here. That is all my argument is. It's the mind set of the general American public that creates the demand of this kind of item. It is factory chicken, and it represents the dumbing down of taste.
An argument was made previously that other cultures use boneless skinless breasts and I agree, but those other cultures also use the entire animal often from the head to the feet. Here we consider those items waste.
I'm not saying that they can't be made delicious, I'm not saying that I haven't used them myself, all I'm saying is that people should explore food beyond the pre-packaged slimy chicken breasts.
As for the squirrel - eat em all you want. I've killed 86 of them from my kitchen window in the past year.
Mandolin recs?
America's Test Kitchen just reviewed these on the last show and said that for the price and for the user friendly tools, the Oxo was the best option for about $50. Aside from that they recommended the Kyocera ceramic Japanese hand held mandoline... for I think about $20.
Smoked pork shank
Hmm - they are already cooked but I think toughness would still be an issue unless you braise it in something. Braising would turn them tender and fall apart. With that said there's plenty of fat and skin on the things so a dry oven heat might still work without the worry of drying them out.
what cabbage is best to use for this?
I think you could use any type of cabbage. You could even venture into the bok choy arena if you wanted. I find that red cabbage turns a little more mushy than green cabbage if you cook it too long, but other than that any of the regular 3 (napa/Chinese, red, or green) should work just fine. What I'm getting at is "best" is best answered by you because you know what you like best. Just be aware that you may have to vary the cooking times slightly for what you choose.
There are certainly mild flavor differences between varieties but my suggestion is to buy whatever is freshest, cheapest (on sale? though cabbage is cheap anyway), and hopefully local.
Three seldom discussed faves at Trader Joes
Are the skins edible on these mini-potatoes? Obviously its not going to be as tough and fibrous as a regular, larger sweet potato, but I thought I'd ask before I got a mouthful of chewy-ness.
best oil combo for homemade mayonnaise?
I've used olive oil almost exclusively when making mayo at home. Canola can be bitter, especially in large amounts.
Main for side = roasted cauliflower
Could be anything - I don't think there's a limit here. It might depend on exactly what you want to top it with (if anything) but the sky is truly the limit. Could be a steak, could be a whole chicken, could be par boiled and sauteed with shrimp.
blue grits?
I agree.
There isn't going to be much difference in flavor. The colors are more of a novelty. Why have shrimp and regular grits (booooring) when you can say you have shrimp over BLUE CORN grits! Ooooh! How exciting does that sound?!?!? Perhaps we'll charge an extra $3 for it! ;-)
For a sampler, there are very often blue corn tortilla chips in the grocery store. At least down here in Atlanta, we have Tostitos brand just about everywhere. They are often a little harder on the tooth but that's probably because they have less fat in the mix (they are often marketed as a healthier and/or organic alternative) but that's just a guess. Have fun.
Your choice for charcoal?
Type of wood is a valid choice to make but it does not mean it's an indication of quality. I know you didn't claim that, Politeness, but I'm just making the point in general to nickdanger. Mesquite has a distinct flavor and is good for some things, maybe not so great for other things. The real key is to find something that is available in your area (Washington DC, not PNW Washington), has consistent quality at a fair price, and hopefully ranks up near the top of the rating scale that the naked whiz folks have put together! It's truly a great website and they don't play favorites - they rate things fairly.
Your choice for charcoal?
I COMPLETELY agree with the advice baldwinwood has given.
My suggestion is to look around at hardware stores and call your local BBQ shops. The website below is just about the ultimate authority on charcoal quality. Someone is bound to have something better than your average stuff.
The problem with most grocery store brands like Cowboy, Whole Foods, and (maybe, I've never used it) Trader Joe's brands are that they are simply hardwood charcoal, not larger lump hardwood charcoal. Now there's no legal description between the 2 as far as I know, but lump typically has bigger chunks and does NOT contain scrap wood. I've seen pieces of DIY hardwood flooring in bags of Cowboy. That's not to say that it is bad or harmful, it was very likely a piece of simple oak flooring, but the quality of the charcoal does suffer significantly as a result. Smaller pieces burn real hot and real fast and the heat doesn't last that long. Larger pieces burn far slower and with a more regulatable (is that a word?) heat. I just slow cooked (over indirect heat) a 6 lb leg of lamb this past weekend and I never had to think about adding more charcoal. And I was grilling for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours using Wicked Good charcoal.
Do know that you can grill over real wood as well. You can probably find wood chunks in bags at your local grocery store or certainly at your local BBQ shop. Buying wood in those situations is more expensive than charcoal but it can give some good flavors.
Oh, and you have bought yourself a charcoal chimney, right? I'm sure you have but I just have to ask. ;-)
www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm
Le Creuset Stainless
I don't have any experience with the LC stainless but I can offer some advice. Stick with what you know and what the manufacturer knows. LC makes a good product but so does All-Clad. However, they are both known for completely different styles of cookware.
With that said, there isn't usually much difference in actual quality when it comes to things like stainless steel as long as you're talking about truly full clad pans with 3 layers. There are differences in size, shape, rivets, lid type, etc. but in reality, there's only so many ways to create a stainless-aluminum-stainless layered cookware.
My suggestion is to look online instead of your local store. 90% of the time the prices will be better online. If you're a smart shopper, you'll also only consider places that offer free shipping. On Amazon.com, the price difference for 3 qt saute pans between the two brands is about $10...
LC=$155
AC=$165
Table Salt - What is the shelf life?
You must not cook very often. Or you have a massive box of salt.
Vegetable gardens and (4 legged)pest management
There are lots of little tricks that people use but often the critters will find their way into your garden one way or another. The chemicals people use work well... for about 2 or 3 weeks, then you have to switch up with something else. That's been my experience anyway.
One great addition to my garden that the animals have NOT gotten used to is the Scare Crow motion activated sprinkler. It's hilarious and completely harmless unless your particular animals happen to melt if they get touched by water. That was a joke for anyone wondering. It's a little pricey at about $60, but it works and it lasts.
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-Electronics-CRO101-Scarecrow-Motion-Activated/dp/B000071NUS
All of a sudden a bad Reputation!
You said it yourself... it's mindless.
But you're right jpc... Every culture that uses chicken uses boneless skinless breasts at some point. The difference here is that in America people often rely on it as a staple, not as a part of the whole animal. I completely agree with Karl S.
When was the last time you bought a pack of chicken feet jpc8015?
All of a sudden a bad Reputation!
It's trendy to not like them because the food trend now is to have naturally flavorful, wholesome ingredients. Look at the high-end pork industry; now it is dominated by Berkshire and other heritage breeds that offer higher fat content and much more flavor and texture.
Boneless skinless breasts are the epitome of American wastefulness and laziness: They are expensive, lack any significant flavor, they have the texture of wet toilet paper, and they are easy for any Sandra Lee housewife or Bob Vila bachelor to cook.
There's a place for everything of course, even chicken breasts, but when I walk into one of my least favorite local grocery stores (a Kroger) and I can't even buy a decent whole chicken there are problems with the food priorities in this nation. Oh, did I mention that there are literally dozens upon dozens of feet of refrigerated case space exclusively dedicated to boneless skinless chicken breast? It's such a waste!
conversion of gas to LP
Do you know what a blog is? Wikipedia is good for things like that.
Question on cooking broccoli
You have to think in the same way that TV producers and recipe writers do.
If a person is promoting easy cooking (and promoting their book at the same time) you want to show the mass of America that you have the quickest, easiest way of doing things. Microwaving IS the quickest & easiest way, but do know that proper steaming is essentially the same as microwaving.
Stuffed Flank Steak - need help!!!
You can really roll it any way you want but the thicker the roll (say if you rolled it from the short end) the longer it takes to cook through. You would also have a harder time slicing it because it will be so tall.
Stuffed Flank Steak - need help!!!
Avoiding any confusion of "with" or "against"... assuming a (mostly) rectangular shape roll from the long end.
