susanl143's Profile
How do I (politely) shut down a dinner party at my house?
No! No hot toddies. They'll stay until the sun comes up. The food and drink must stop coming out if you want them to go home.
Glowing review of Waterhouse in Peterborough, NH
I was there for my second visit this past Saturday. The waiter who served us was the same waiter who had served us drinks last summer. My first visit was pretty rocky although they did a good martini. Saturday was quite good and we'll be back.
Underwood Brisling Sardines in Mustard Sauce?
I bought Chicken of the Sea sardines in mustard sauce and some with hot sauce for twenty-five cents a can today at Shaws. I guess they'll be discontinued.
Is there any good egg nog left in Boston?
A friend just came by with a half gallon of Hood's Egg Nog last night. After a quick look at the ingredient list, and finding High Fructose Corn syrup high on the list, I convinced her to take the remainder home, drinking part of one glass myself just to be polite. HFCS ruins the deal for me. A lot of companies have gone back to sugar. I wish Hoods would do the same.
10 lb roast chicken...help
I raised my first batch of organic chickens and couldn't quite bring myself to slaughter them until they were eating me out of house and home. As a result I had some very large roasters. I checked recipes at chowhound and decided on a high heat method that doesn't resemble either three pound chickens or larger turkeys. I put oil and herbs under the skin, and some cut up orange inside the cavity and then roasted the chicken at 500 degrees for 10 minutes a pound. When the oven started to smoke some, I turned the heat down to 450 and checked for doneness at the 10 minutes a pound mark and it was done perfectly -- one of the best roast chickens I ever ate. Good luck.
Fresh vs. Frozen Turkey???
I fear that your brining the turkey and some of your other steps removed the flavor differences between what you bought and an inexpensive turkey. An organic, pasture raised turkey should have a taste and texture closer to a game bird than the soft, factory raised turkey. As they are properly young birds, they are still tender although generally they are older than the factory birds and have developed more flavor. Add enough water through brining to soften the texture and enough salt and other spices to cover the flavor and you might as well stick to turkeys that need their taste covered up rather than enjoyed for its own great flavor.
Fresh vs. Frozen Turkey???
None of the heritage breed turkeys get this large. You most likely have a broad breasted white -- the kind the supermarkets carry. Of course, if it is pasture raised, it will taste better than the factory farmed turkeys but still, it won't have the flavor of a heritage bird. I raise heritage breed turkeys. The heritage breeds are smaller -- 25 lbs is the likely maximum weight and most are less than that -- but unlike supermarket turkeys they aren't swollen with added fluids and will feed more people per pound than the larger turkey as the meat is denser. The heritage turkey should be naturally juicy unless over cooked and shouldn't need brining. However, I do add some olive oil under the skin as they also have less natural fat than a turkey who isn't allowed out of its cage.
The perpetual guest -- are you one? Why?
The pavilion here is free for everyone -- probably part of the New Hampshire Live Free or Die motto.
The perpetual guest -- are you one? Why?
I've a friend who is a perpetual guest. I've been to her apartment and it is too small to hold more than one or two guests. However, there is a pavilion with grills and tables at a park just down the road from where she lives. Another park by a lake offers the same. After hosting her innumerable times, my friends and I don't understand why she doesn't step up to the plate one summer afternoon for a picnic at the park. It wouldn't have to be fancy and we'd bring food too. Meanwhile after years of her coming and partaking from our efforts we are feeling put upon to never have her make any effort to have us for a meal.
KFC-style light fluffy biscuits?
If you go to the link above -- which leads to a very yummy looking recipe -- you will see a listing for other biscuit recipes on the right side of the page. It includes a listing for KFC biscuits. The odd ingredient in that recipe is club soda. Good luck.
What kind of turkey to buy, & where?
I raise heritage breed turkeys although in NH, too far away for Doug. I ate Thanksgiving at my sister's house last year and she didn't want one of my turkeys. I found the frozen butterball she served inedible, tasting mushy and like combined salt and chemicals. I prepared one of my own turkeys, out of my freezer, for Christmas. It was moist and tender. I didn't brine. I did lift the skin and rub a mixture of olive oil and some herbs under the skin. I prepare stuffing separately but put some cut oranges and apple halves in the cavity for roasting. I roasted as usual and what a difference from that commercial bird. It was yummy -- tender too but not melt in your mouth like the commercial turkey. Less water in the meat also meant that my turkey went further per pound than the Butterball. All my guests raved about the turkey and decided they wanted to order heritage birds forever more. You certainly will have a better and special Thanksgiving dinner with a heritage bird. They also are great for helping the Earth by keeping genetic diversity alive. I was stunned to learn that every one of those inexpensive supermarket birds all come from a single genetic strain. There used to be two but now it is only one. Scary.
Where to buy Vienna Hot Dogs
I find Vienna hot dogs at Market Basket at the Deli counter.
Watching an adjacent diner's meal in disbelief and envy
Please excuse my ignorance but I do hate to miss something tasty. However, it never entered my own head to eat the shrimp heads. Do you eat the entire thing -- eyes, antenna, shell, and all? Just the interior? Of any shrimp or just ones prepared so the skins are crispy?
Decent Food at O'Hare Airport
With two hours another option for eating are the airport hotels, which almost all have shuttles to the terminal. I had one of the tastiest Caesar salads ever at the Wyndom (sic) O'hare years ago.
Not sure how they are now but there are a bunch of hotels and someone on Chowhound surely knows which have good restaurants.
In search of a really good chicken
Most chickens today, whether organic or supermarket cheapies, are the same breed -- Cornish Cross. I think they taste like cardboard. I'm too far away from you --NH -- for a country drive but what you want to ask is for a pasture raised, heritage breed chicken. You can put a Cornish Cross on pasture but you can't make it leave the food dish to eat anything else but grain. A heritage breed chicken will eat the grass and the bugs and anything in your garden that it can steal. They also usually are kept weeks longer than the Cornish X, which also helps develop flavor. You'll pay more but they will be worth it. Good luck.
Help! I Need A Traditional Southern Cornbread Recipe for My Cast Iron Skillet
Use anyone of the recipes here but keep the shortening out of the batter. Instead my method is to make my batter, usually using a mix of cornmeal and corn flour as I live gluten free. Then I melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in my skillet on a stove burner. I pour in the batter and put into my preheated oven to bake. It makes a crispy, wonderful buttery crust and the texture of the cornbread is perfect despite not having the shortening mixed in.
disgusting, I know, but.....I need a jello "salad" recipe....
i wouldn't go for the more sophisticated recipes offered. Keep it simple as, clearly, unusual tastes are not to this family's taste. Pick something easy to make and traditional and get over it. You can show off what a fine cook you are when you are hosting dinner some other time.
Great Comment from Mimi Sheraton on locavores
Local foods are often not the same as food that needs to be shipped. A lot of varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown because they ship well rather than taste the best. When the foods are grown locally and sold locally the farmer can choose varieties for flavor rather than ability to stay in one piece or not become overripe too soon. I'd rather have canned or dried fruit in the winter that was fabulous to taste rather than out of season cardboard flavored and textured food any day.
Saving energy by not shipping is a great thing but having food that really tastes wonderful is even a better reason to eat local.
What to eat when you have wheat allergy?
Those are all gluten items. My bet is he can't eat the other things containing gluten either. The good news is that there is lots of really good, gluten free eating. Many recipes, including sweets never did have gluten items. I've collected an orange cake recipe made with almond flour on this site and some other seriously yummy recipes that please everyone, including those without food restrictions. The many versions of flourless chocolate cake also please me. Even Trader Joe has a good version of this. If you are heading out to eat, Thai restaurants are easy for gluten free eaters as they base their recipes on rice rather than the gluten containing grains. One can order pretty much anything on the menu.
ISO Andouille sausage
I get it at Market Basket too. Do buy some so they keep carrying it.
FFD CTY Blizzard Booty - What are Chowhounders making to cope
I've been keeping around the dried goats milk. It's richer tasting than the dried milk and doesn't ever seem to have that stale flavor dried milk can get.
FFD CTY Blizzard Booty - What are Chowhounders making to cope
Snow still falling here and will be for the rest of the day. I'm going to mull some left over Christmas red wine to go with leftover Christmas turkey (home grown and perfect) for lunch today. The breeding flock of turkeys are inside their own house for the storm but will be getting chopped apples and kale later today.
How do I cook this turkey?
Thank you so much for the needed help. I followed all your links and read every recipe, read every recipe and link in related threads too, and came to the conclusion that when it comes to cooking heritage turkeys, no one knows. Some recipes would give ideas but then leave out how many minutes to cook per pound. They'd say use a meat thermometer. But then they'd say use high heat and don't baste to keep the heat in the oven. Well how the heck do you check for doneness without letting the heat out of the oven.
I had prepared the turkey for cooking by rinsing it and removing a few tiny feathers that had been left. Then I separated the breast skin from the meat. I had put some rosemary sprigs in some olive oil and added a small bit of lemon juice and some sea salt to it. I slathered this mixture under the skin and then all over the turkey, front and back. I stuck some of the rosemary sprigs under the skin. I took an organic orange that was mostly peeled to create zest for cranberry sauce, cut it in quarters and stuck that inside the turkey. I had some other fresh herbs so I stuck some sage and thyme inside too, with the rest of the rosemary and olive oil. I covered the turkey with aluminum foil and stuck it in the preheated oven.
I ended up making my best guess on time and figured 20 minutes a pound for my nine pound turkey at 450 degrees. All recipes were for turkeys larger than mine but one said to cook birds under 10 lbs for 30 minutes a pound but had suggested a lower cooking heat and wasn't talking about heritage turkeys. I choose the high heat method because I've been using a high heat roasting method for my organic chickens and it works wonderfully. I cooked for two hours and then checked the turkey. It was starting to get done. The oven was also smoking, as I hadn't cleaned it before the high heat cooking, so I turned down the oven to 400 degrees and put the fan on, which worked to clear the smoke to my amazement (they almost never do but I guess this wasn't all that much smoke) Company wasn't due for another half hour and dinner was set for an hour after that, so I lowered the heat to 350. I cooked for another 50 minutes and when I tested the turkey the juices ran clear. So the oven went off and I left the oven door open for a bit to heat the house and cool down the oven. Finally, I dared leave it in the oven no longer and took the turkey out and transferred the bird to a platter so I could skim the fat off the pan and make gravy from the drippings and giblet broth I had made while the turkey was cooking.
The company came late but I wasn't going to let this turkey die in vain, so I cut back on the time to drink and eat appetizers and served dinner before the turkey was totally cold. I did have steaming hot gravy. Despite all these challenges, the turkey came out tasting perfect -- tender, moist, and flavorful, which leads me to believe that cooking these birds isn't like baking a cake. You don't need the exact formula and you don't need the exact temperature or time. Get close and you have a yummy bird. My friends also all remarked on how much better this turkey was than the supermarket birds they are accustomed to eating. They said it was so tender it melted in the mouth and yet had a wonderful flavor and texture.
As I also sell these turkeys, I think I got some new customers, although that never entered my head when I invited people over. The company came late but stayed late too -- in fact it was boxing day before everyone went home. It was a wonderful Christmas.
Frozen heritage turkey vs fresh white broad breast turkey
I'm raising my own organic poultry and am pretty sure what the problem with your bird was. You have to let the killed turkey rest in a cooler for 24 to 36 hours before freezing or using. If you don't, the meat will be very tough. Even that semi-frozen temperature will prevent the meat from returning to tender.
How do I cook this turkey?
Please. Someone must have some experience with heritage turkey cooking. Help me out here, if only with a link.
How do I cook this turkey?
I grew my own heritage breed turkey. He dressed out to 9.5 lbs with giblets. He was a young turkey, five months old, so he should be juicy and tender. I don't want to brine it because I don't want all that salt and extra liquid.
But. It's been thirty years since I cooked a turkey and it was larger and store bought. My plan is to separate the skin and slather on some olive oil and tuck in some fresh herbs -- I have a poultry mixture of sage, thyme, and rosemary. I'm not sure which herb to use.
I also don't know how long I should cook this bird and at what temperature. Please advise me. After all this effort raising this bird, I don't want to ruin him now.
I'm from Boston, NY Wife says: "NY Pizza is the best." So where is it?
Maybe this won't help. I grew up on Long Island and ate many, many excellent pizzas. However, I went to NYC a couple of years ago to see a Broadway Show (42nd Street) After the show I meant to go east for a particular restaurant but with no sense of direction ended up going west instead. Think I made it to around 7th or 8th avenue. Hunger didn't permit backtracking and the hour was late enough that most places weren't serving dinner so stopped into a large, bright place specializing in slices. It was the best pizza I've ever had and very reasonably priced as well. Anyone know where I was so I could go back someday and so the diarist could try it?
Forced to eat at Weathervane
Time issued helped. We didn't even have time to stop at Weathervane. After the meeting, we went to a visability for Congressional Candidates and were invited to a party at the Puritan Back Room. I'd never been there before but had read good things here about the place. As it was, the yummy buffet was a gift from the owner but I noticed on their chalkboard menu that there were good sounding entrees for under $10. Their homemade ice cream is incredibly good too. For some reason, I thought the place was more expensive than it was but only the flavor of the food is upscale. The buffet meat offering was their chicken fingers, which had been marinated in honey, I think before being lightly fried. They were the best I've ever tasted. I think if I'd been ordering from the menu that the baked lamb offering for $9.95 would have been my choice. Friends told me it is a very good family restaurant. I'll definitely be back.
Forced to eat at Weathervane
I pulled up their online menu and I guess no one answered this query as there simply isn't anything I can eat there that isn't the expensive and unappealing broiled fish. Can you suggest any place else I might convince my friend to eat -- we'll be traveling route 101 between Milford and Manchester.
