Smoked goat chili. Texas style, no tomatoes. We'll see. But I have too much leftover goat to eat it any other way.

Simmering and sizzling are my favorite two verb cooking verbs. Do you deliver?

Right now I'm simmering an improvised chicken soup. My husband's not feeling so great, so other plans have turned into chicken soup.

I did the same thing mysef today (not sick however) with chicken stock, some ginger, star anise miso, chili flakes and noodles. I topped it off with cilantro and a good squeeze of lime. Good phake pho.

That sounds wonderful. I'm working more on the bland end of the spectrum, but I was planning to put a little miso in at the end, and simmering a couple of star anise in the broth sounds like a good idea. Thanks!

Chicken stock. 20lbs of backs, 5lbs of necks, 6lbs of feet, two 20-quart stockpots. Mmmmmm.

Wow. That's restaurant quantity. Do you have access to a walk-in? If not, where do you plan to store all of that stock?

Strain, chill overnight (according to New Pro Chef, the par yield for this much bones is about 16 quarts, as I don't count the amount of feet in determining par yield), de-fat, reduce to two quarts tomorrow (so 1/4 cup glace is a pint of full stock), chill again, cut the resulting Chicken Flubber into ~1/4 cup cubes, put each in a small ziploc bag, freeze in a large ziploc bag.

Oh. So, you're planning to reduce the contents of two twenty quart stockpots down to two quarts of chicken Jello. You could sell tickets to your house as a chicken soup steambath tomorrow. Be sure to save the schmaltz--use it for making confit and matzo balls.

chicken giblets for gravy to go with the chicken roasting in the oven

I just took 8 pounds of short ribs out of the oven after braising for 24 hours, now I am reducing the cooking liquid. The ribs were sent to me by my cousin from a mystery breed of cattle that he is toying around with raising, all he would tell me is that the breed is from the Alps.

No stew, but lentil soup w pancetta and freshly roasted chestnuts. One reason to be grateful for a real winter's day.

Chicken soup. It smells wonderful and is making the kitchen warm.

Al's Hunk O' Brisket Chili. Turned out real good!

put up garbi jhim (braised short ribs with root veggies) before I left this morning in the slow cooker. Will be ready come dinner time.

Actually, the simmering happened on Sunday, but this morning I drained and strained a big pot of chicken soup. This is the second time I've tried this method-place chicken parts, vegetables and herbs in the basket insert and make soup. Then, let cool a bit and store in the refrigerator until the next day. Skim fat off top and withdrawl basket and toss. Strain and place into chinese take out quart containers (man I eat a lot of hot and sour soup!). Freeze. I got about 10 quarts this time.
Right now, a pot is simmering with about 2 quarts of stock and carrots (with a bit of tomato paste). When it's hot, I'll add extruded farina, parmesan and eggs.

Matzo ball soup. Never made it before. Oy, I'm nervous .

I've always meant to make this, but haven't gotten around to it. Are you following a particular recipe? I can make a mean chicken stock, but don't have a clue about making a matzo ball.

Try the simple matzo ball mix. Generally I am opposed to mixes, but this one is really good.

No schmaltz around, so mine was matzo meal, eggs, water, olive oil (sephardic!), salt, pepper.

Chinese (Sichuan) red cooked beef--Fuschia Dunlop recipe in Land of Plenty. Smells and tastes pretty good so far. Due to the guest list I went easy on the chili sauce.

A fucking basset hound-sized Zuni Cafe salt/milk cured Eco-Friendly wallet-unfriendly wascally wabbit that my wife and daugher both refused to eat on vague moral grounds, in a madeira/plum braise that was excellent. I have leftovers, if anyone's hungry.

These two different approaches go to the heart of the matzo ball conundrum: floaters vs. sinkers. Which of the two you prefer tends to depend on what you ate when you were growing up. Me--I am strongly in the floaters camp. The ability to produce a fluffy, light matzo ball was adjudged to be the hallmark of a good cook, where I came from. And woe betide the hostess who served leaden matzo balls to guests--she would be privately mocked for years afterward. My mother discovered fairly early on that the most reliable way to serve light-as-a-feather matzo balls was to use Manischewitz Matzo Ball mix. Know why they are so light? Baking powder.

Want to know the best way to make fluffy, light matzo balls without a mix? Add some baking powder. Now this presents a major dilemma to the super-observant during Passover, since they eschew not only yeast, but all forms of leavening, including chemical. Which begs the question: we know that the ancient Jews were in such a hurry to leave Egypt, that they didn't have time to let the bread dough rise, hence all who have followed have been forced to eat matzo to commemorate this historical event. However, if there had been such a thing back then as baking powder, allowing a quick rise, don't you think the Jews would have used it, rather than eat crispy cardboard? I do.

In any case, the observant lovers of light matzo balls try all manner of techniques to achieve lightness without leavening during Passover, including beating the eggwhites separately, using carbonated water in the mix. I have never had success with either of these methods when I have tried them. I stick with Manischewitz mix.

Thanks Zora. Floaters are preferable to sinkers. But, really, now. Which came first? The matzoh or the ball?

I had a pet chameleon and a pet mouse; my mother adopted a praying mantis that lived on a geranium in the kitchen. To this day, I can't do lizards, rodents or insects, either.

On the subject of les chats: clicquez-vous ici. (For more info see Amazon.com w title and author's name.)

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Is it Upton Sinclair or what that is behind our inability to buy game in this country, something Europeans can pick up at the market? Earlier this year, someone at Whole Foods was shilling venison from New Zealand, I believe, where the pretty little spotted fawns are treated humanely as they grow up as domesticated animals. The food isn't local because our over-abundant supply of deer isn't farmed.

The recent beef recall certainly echoes *The Jungle* doesn't it? But I am sure that the ban on game came from the same impulse to regulate food safety. During the 2007 Christmas bird count, Jonathan met a guy who grew up in Upstate New York on a farm where his father raised deer for restaurant venison. All manner of game is farmed. If you want wild game, however, you need to be or befriend a hunter. It isn't legal to sell it, although I do know that in some places, hunters can donate to organizations that feed hungry and homeless people.

Osso buco! One of my faves...

bouef borgoniogne (or however the heck you spell it)

I just call it Beef Borgnine...
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pork shoulder in the crockpot

More like ham.....

Ernest Borgswine.

I did baked beans in the crock pot yesterday that were the best I've ever made. My family is gobbling them.

Golden roma tomato sauce with basil, savory, and garlic.

Ratatouille with my haul from the farmers market. The markets I've found around here are really small --- 5-7 vendor small. Gotta keep checking out different markets until I find a decent one. The local peaches are just starting and they are mighty juicy and sweet.

Where you are located in Massachusetts must be the upper northern limit for peaches, unless someone is bringing them in from a somewhat southern latitude. I seem to recall that the winters were too cold for peach trees where I lived in Southeast Vermont, right near the border with New Hampshire and Mass. Global warming may be changing that.

There are a bunch of peach orchards around here. I spoke to a fourth generation MA peach farmer briefly yesterday at the market and hope to get out to his farm next week for some you-pick peaches and tomatoes. I remember peach picking trips in CT and MA when I was a kid.

Twenty-plus pounds of Roma tomatoes.