What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I've heard it said, "One sandwich short of a picnic."

I feel your pain, Perhaps if you'd freeze some cloves for such emergencies, which would help in future.

Nah. I just need to start keeping a written shopping list. My memory isn't reliable enough anymore.

-Paul W.

The problem there is remembering to make a list.

I think the water is the problem.

Made the rest tonight. Wrapped it in paper towels for a half hour to absorb excess water. Seems to have helped!: I was able to get a darker, crisper crust this time. With this result, definitely a keeper.

Now thinking along the lines of your 50-50 blend. I made this with coarse meal (#3, I think) so if I use a finer grind (I can get #1) that should make it denser, possibly tougher. The other approach is to find another grain simpatico with corn... lentils? Or take it in the pah jun direction with chunks of scallion? I suppose I could try scavenging the now-famous terrine competitions for other layering ideas.

For >40 years I used regular cornmeal w/o any problems. I seem to recall I tried 100% whole-grain cornmeal a few years ago, but it came out more loose than. (I think the whole grain doesn't absorb water as well as the regular.) I think that's why I now occasionally make it 50/50 or less.

If I were you, I'd make the next batch with 100% regular cornmeal to get a baseline on how it should be. Then, you can add a portion of the whole grain stuff. Remember, the recipe I use is over 50 years old--an era that probably didn't have whole grain cornmeal. At least, I know I never used it until a few years ago.

But, I'm certainly glad you liked it. Next, I'll have to give you a recipe for scrapple. It's fun to invite people over for a breakfast of fried mush and scrapple to watch their expression.

I feel your pain, Perhaps if you'd freeze some cloves for such emergencies, which would help in future.

Nah. I just need to start keeping a written shopping list. My memory isn't reliable enough anymore.

-Paul W.

I’ve taken to making my shopping list on my mobile phone (usually Via my iPad as it is easier) I general remember to take my phone when I go out, the paper shopping list used to stubbornly remain on the bench!

Nah. I just need to start keeping a written shopping list. My memory isn't reliable enough anymore.

I’ve taken to making my shopping list on my mobile phone (usually Via my iPad as it is easier) I general remember to take my phone when I go out, the paper shopping list used to stubbornly remain on the bench!

I think I'm younger than you two. If it makes it to the list, the list makes it into my pocket. But God help it if it isn't written down.

(And HWMBO does things like "yougurt" if he wants one container and "yougurts" if he wants two. I have requested the use of Arabic numerals but so far these are deemed over-specification....)

Next up for me is gai sai takrai (Thai chicken with lemongrass).

-Paul W.

Love lemongrass. And Asian dishes.

But, after a yuge ribeye yesterday, tonight I'm going with spinach-stuffed chicken breasts, asparagus, and something with white and brown mushrooms. It should go well with my St. Michelle Gerwurtztraminer.

Paella tonight. Half-cooked the sofrito earlier in the week.

Made this papas bravas recipe, to go with tacos. I had it once at José Andres's Jaleo in Las Vegas and it was quite different, but this was very tasty. The tacos were made with turkey and my homemade spice mixture of paprika, ancho chile, Turkish "Aleppo" pepper, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, plus whatever I feel like throwing in. We put a dish of meat, cheese, sliced avocado, etc., as well as refried beans. I had never had beans in tacos until we went to the Yucatán, but it's a winning combination to put a thin smear onto a hot (soft corn) tortilla. The cooks at my child's school, who know their way around a taco, only use Guerrero brand, which are at all the stores around here, luckily.

Tonight I’m making porcupine meatballs, an old family favourite. Using some mince I purchased a week ago for other purposes and then got distracted by a plumbing crisis which was finally resolved this afternoon. No running water is not conducive to cooking! Camping experience is useful..

My wonderful volunteer tomato forest is being busy so I started putting up a few jars for the winter, just a jar or two a day but done when there are more than I can use fresh and while they are in peak condition.

So, what kind of a shop sells minced porcupine?

I used to love porcupine meatballs growing up as a kid. When my mother moved into the assisted living part of her retirement community, I inherited her recipe box. The porcupine meatball recipe is there, but I haven't had a chance to make it yet.

-Paul W.

Tonight I’m making porcupine meatballs, an old family favourite.

And it has built-in toothpicks. Pretty handy.

[Jenise]

Good one, Larry.

I made pizza tonight. (For our English friends.)

I made pizza tonight. (For our English friends.)

Topped with mushy peas and Scotch Eggs, dotted with Branston Pickle?

How'd you know? But you left out the Marmite.

[Jenise]

Last night we had barbecued chicken. A friend brought me two whole 3-4 lb fryers the day before, which I broke down into 8 pieces for the barbecue with homemade bourbon sauce, two large breasts that will each make an individual roast-for-two, two leg-thighs for Lan Chi chicken, a breast piece for a chicken-peas-rice dish I might make tonight, and two quarts of broth from the backs, bones, wing tips, and a miscellaneous brat-type singleton sausage from the freezer.

The broth is so good it deserves to be featured in a soup: maybe a Thai rendition of matzoh ball, or what you might call a Jewish pho, since I have fresh lemon grass in the fridge and shrimp in the freezer. Would be very interesting!

I'm eating my way through our freezer. Tonight was bbq baby back ribs for me. Edie had a roast beef sandwich and a homemade bean soup with some freezer ham bones I cooked up last night.

Still weird to see so many bare shelves. Not an egg where I shopped today.

We're binge-watching some old programs we've never seen. And I'll have plenty of time to work on my next book--can't go anywhere--so no excuses. Things are so strange, I sprayed an ebay package I received yesterday before opening it. I'm really not paranoiac, just cautious.

Let's see, since the paella noted above... Seafood Lasagna, Robin's terrific fennel gratin (I add butternut and maitake), fish and chips (well, beer-battered cod and baked spuds).

Oh, and I consolidated three jars of hot sauce, different cookings of the same thing. I'll tell you how old they were but you mustn't think badly of me... the oldest was from December 2000, the commercial bottle had a use-by of Sept 2007, and the third was from December 2012. The oldest was the most intensely orange and spicy but also had darkened and thickened quite a bit; I used only two drops, for sentimental reasons (it was made by a friend, now long-deceased). I kept most of the other two, though the commercial version is too bland and the 2012 version had too much black pepper. Maybe I'll confit half an orange and add it in.

I told Betsy this is longest period I've gone without a dinner party since we moved into our house in 2003.
But she has been doing some great cooking (with some help from Dana and I) for 3 of us.
Last night pork chops with snap peas, feta, mint
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/102 ... s-and-mint
A very different farmer's market Sat- sign up for time zone, stand in lines with 6 ft markers, remote pay when possible, volunteers doing cash/card when not. Got some oysters plus great lemon sole which Betsy did with panko crust.
D did Kylie Kwong recipe for duck breasts with salt/Sichuan/fennelseed
https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/kyl ... 501-gvwb39
I'm keeping office open alone but ran home for grilled cheese with caramelized onions today for lunch
Be safe out there

Next up for me will be yuxiang giezi (fish-fragrant eggplant) from Fuchsia Dunlop's new cookbook The Food of Sichuan.

-Paul W.