What I learned today (Take Two)

[Jenise]

Earlier this week I purchased a rotisserie chicken at Whole Foods and if this was a contest between WF and Costco, well I learned that Costco wins. I'm not even sure the WF chick was rotisserie vs. merely baked, the color and texture of the skin would not support a rotisserie situation.

Anyway, the bones are in a pot making broth now.

Discussing this with my brother in law last night, he who keeps a pot of bone broth on the stove 24/7 with which to make food for their dogs (the headcount of which tragically went from 3 to 2 yesterday with the loss of my favorite Polly), he claims that adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the pot hastens the release of proteins. He doesn't resort to that since his is a long/continuous process, but he mentioned that he knows it's so which is why there's a faint sourness to many commercial bone broths.

[Jenise]

Yesterday I ate lunch in a Pho restaurant whose menu, amusingly, had four basic categories: Appetizers, Pho, Specialty Soups and Vegetation.

Did the Vegetation menu include a Shrubbery?

[Jenise]

Not salads as you might think, just their word for 'vegetarian', mostly phos. Cracked me up, though.

Did the Vegetation menu include a Shrubbery?

Provided by Roger, the shrubber?

(So that's what I learned: Melinda's Sriracha Wing Sauce is good!!!![/quote]


I was not a fan of Sriracha for a long time until I discovered Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Mayo. That stuff is tasty. I make a killer Bacon, tomato, avocado, sandwich, and that stuff is my secret ingredient. My son loved it, and the next time he came up, I gave him a bottle as a gift.

[Jenise]

It's really popular stuff, Karen. Supermarket sushi has contributed a lot to that, I think--the color's so decorative.

[Jenise]

I'm currently binging Mad Men, which I'd not seen when it originally aired. The period references are, in general, astonishingly accurate and in many cases surprising. The anti-semitic attitude of the profession they're suggesting were prevalent, for one. Maybe that really was New York at the time, but wow. To a liberal West Coaster, this suprrises. Food and drink--drink especially--play a part in setting up a lot of the scenes. I was especially surprised by an episode where they're having the owners of an Israeli cruise ship company in for a midday meeting and they served Mai Tai's and caviar. Forget any church-lady bias against day drinking, the weirdness of that combination...really? That would have been considered good?

It certainly sounds splurgey. Nothing succeeds like excess.

I don't know. A properly made Mai Tai (as opposed to an overly sweet mashup of fruit juice and rum) might not be too bad with caviar. Not nearly as good as a decent champagne, but maybe not bad?

[Jenise]

I would think it would be awful! Just a good example, though, of how tastes have changed.

Last night I learned not to store coconut oil in the refrigerator. Many years ago I had a dinner completely ruined because the peanut oil I used had gone rancid. Ever since then I've kept peanut oil in the fridge during hot weather even though it goes solid and has to be warmed up before it will pour from the bottle. Ghee sets even harder when refrigerated, but fortunately it does fine at room temperature.

I have a tub of coconut oil that I opened several months ago the last time I made Thai curry (first step is to briefly fry the curry paste in oil) and I've been keeping it in the fridge. When I opened it last night I found that the coconut oil had frozen solid. We're talking ice cube solid. I had to use a hot knife to break off a piece.

So the coconut oil joins the ghee on a kitchen shelf from now on.

-Paul W.

Last night I learned not to store coconut oil in the refrigerator... When I opened it last night I found that the coconut oil had frozen solid. We're talking ice cube solid. I had to use a hot knife to break off a piece.

So the coconut oil joins the ghee on a kitchen shelf from now on.

-Paul W.

We always keep coconut oil in the refrigerator. I guess it would be fine in the cabinet, but doesn't seem to matter much either way. And pretty easy to chip off pieces with a knife. No need to heat the knife, at least for us.

I keep all my nut oils in the fridge. If I am going to use one, I take it out of the fridge and set it on the granite counter, which is usually cool, then I can use the oil later in the day. Peanut oil is one that takes some time to be pourable because it is in a larger container. My olive oils are kept on the granite counter, where the cooktop is, it is in a dark corner within reach of the cooktop but far enough away so as not to spoil it.
Sunflower and Safflower oil is kept in a pull-out drawer under the cooktop as is a large bottle of California EVOO. It is dark and cooler under there. So far, nothing has gone rancid before I use it up.

Interesting, I don't make bone broth, at least I don't think I do, but I was making stock today. A turkey carcass, two chicken carcasses, plus a whole chicken (pulled after 90 minutes, bones put back in) to freeze for enchilada meat. Three onions, bunch of carrots, bunch of celery, several sprigs of parsley and basil. Simmered till everything falls apart, strained, boiled down into two cups of demi-glace. I don't know where that recipe comes from, but it's truly culinary alchemy. Takes all day, an absolutely giant stock pot (I use a 50L turkey fryer, which has never fried a turkey), and a willingness to get poultry steam all over the house (even with the fan on high).

I learned that Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser sheets really do erase. I wiped the front of my toaster oven and the temperature markings came off.

"Magic" erasers consist of fine quartz powder suspended in melamine foam. Quartz is slightly harder (in the Mohs sense) than steel. They are great for certain things but I wouldn't use them on a surface that I really cared about. Also they throw off a ton of melamine microplastic so I make sure to wipe up with a damp conventional cloth afterwards.

Interesting, I don't make bone broth, at least I don't think I do, but I was making stock today. I don't know where that recipe comes from, but it's truly culinary alchemy.

This sounds like glace de viande. Julia Child gives a recipe for it in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (don't remember which volume). Demi-glace is a far more elaborate preparation involving the reduction of equal parts of brown stock and sauce espagnole. It's what professional cooks like to use to make brown sauces.

-Paul W.

Interesting, I don't make bone broth, at least I don't think I do, but I was making stock today. I don't know where that recipe comes from, but it's truly culinary alchemy.

This sounds like glace de viande. Julia Child gives a recipe for it in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (don't remember which volume). Demi-glace is a far more elaborate preparation involving the reduction of equal parts of brown stock and sauce espagnole. It's what professional cooks like to use to make brown sauces.

-Paul W.

Interesting, looks like it is! I looked at this from The Spruce Eats, usually a reliable source:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/glace-de- ... ipe-996070
I had to chuckle when they said 1 hour. It takes longer than that to boil down even halfway when I do it.

This morning, I learned to poach an egg in the microwave! Wow... no more hassle of pulling out the poaching pan. I saw it done on The Kitchen and could not believe my eyes. It works great. Fine for one person; I topped the egg with Mexican oregano and served it over a slice of roasted heirloom tomato and a side of raspberries. I nuked it for one minute, but next time I will try 58 seconds. The white was a tad tight, but the flavors were great. Wah Hoo!

[Jenise]

Karen, did you wrap it in cling film?

This morning, I learned to poach an egg in the microwave! Wow... no more hassle of pulling out the poaching pan. I saw it done on The Kitchen and could not believe my eyes. It works great. Fine for one person; I topped the egg with Mexican oregano and served it over a slice of roasted heirloom tomato and a side of raspberries. I nuked it for one minute, but next time I will try 58 seconds. The white was a tad tight, but the flavors were great. Wah Hoo!

This sounds interesting! I like runny yolks a lot. I have been experimenting with Jacques Pepin's recipes for oeufs en cocotte lately. He's very casual about it, of course, but it's such a small thing that the proportions and the flavors are fussy to get right.

On the other hand, can't go too far wrong with a poached egg.

Jenise, wrap what in cling wrap? If you are speaking about the coffee mug, no...I simply folded half of a paper towel over the top of my
Mike, the yolk was perfect, runny and delicious. Going to try again as I posted above to do 2 seconds less so the white is not so tight. As you know, all microwaves are different, so the first time is always an experiment.

Note: I forgot to mention in my first posting about this, the egg goes into the mug along with 1/2 cup of water.

[Jenise]

Note: I forgot to mention in my first posting about this, the egg goes into the mug along with 1/2 cup of water.

A popular poaching method is to wrap the egg, beggars purse style, in cling film. Since you hadn't mentioned the mug yet...

[Jenise]

Speaking of eggs, on an episode of Mad Men (I never saw it originally but am binging it now), Don Draper holds an egg up to the light to make sure there isn't a chick in there before breaking it into a skillet. I don't recall ever doing that, but I suppose that's because all our eggs were storebought, not farm eggs, and maybe one had to do that with farm eggs. Anyone know?