thistle

Zora, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving, w/ the break, although I'm sure you cooked the whole dinner in your head. It's a different experience being a guest at someone else's dinner or a diner at a restaurant, but being thankful is something that happens every year, no matter where or who you eat with. Cheers, everyone...

I am thankful for Pitbull & Ne-Yo at halftime of whatever football game that was- in a coma at an extended family T'giving, I was pulled back from the brink of unconsciousness- making turkey stock today, hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I transported 2 smoked turkeys, bean dip, & growlers of Forge Brew Works' roggenbier & cranberry saison.

"Tom Sietsema Reviewed Eight DC-Area Caterers For Your Next Fancy Dinner Party" by Tom Sietsema on washingtonpost.com

I enjoyed this feature in WaPo's magazine, although I agreed w/ the comment after the article that catered dinner for 8 is probably not a true test for a caterer, rather it's how well they can execute larger events. It's a nice fantasy piece, though, since not many people would spend 1K$ for a catered meal at home, most would probably host at a restaurant.

I know I'm not invited to your T'giving, but I vote for celeriac.

You're smart to do a dry run-I'm in a similar dilemma, tasked w/ bringing smoked turkey to the family gathering, I remember the last time, when my smoked turkey was underdone & I had to commandeer the oven-how embarrassing. So this year, I'm trying to decide whether to do it ahead of time & reheat, or smoke it overnight & take my chances again. It's so fricking cold already (I think the wind ruined it last time). I have 2 birds- 14.25 & 9.5 lbs, I was going to get 1 & a breast, but getting a whole bird was more economical.

My dirty secret- to my Bozzelli's cheese delight sub, which I order w/ lettuce, tomato, black olives, but dry- no mayo or oil- I then go home & mix Hellman's, w/ Pace picante sauce & Cholula, & add it liberally. Some things just really need commercial mayo (even if you embellish it).

Tonight is a perfect night for soup- it may be the last of the beautiful fall weather, going to get cold tomorrow. So, soup mashup- some of that duck stock, w/ leftover sautéed veg-mushrooms, scallions, cabbage, sauerkraut, bacon, smoked paprika-heavy on the cabbage, light on the broth.

Recently, I made a duck stock, w/ a carcass from the first duck I chopped up, it's very gelatinous, heated up w/ scallions, mushrooms, bits of chicken or shrimp, & a touch of commercial Tom yum paste (chiles, oil), I think it's a very good fall/winter soup.

I could tell Pinto stories for days ( my kids are already over it). Mine was purchased by my dad for $100 & a couple of buckets of shrimp- he was totally taken. But he opted for a fancy paint job, blue w/ silver racing stripe down the center.

A Yugo, huh? My first car was a Pinto.

Wish I was younger &/or headed west (or that I could play a fiddle or a banjo or do splits while jumping on a trampoline). I didn't like country music growing up, but now I like the melancholy & heartbreak, & weird optimism.

There will always be people writing bad stuff, it's easy enough to get it online, you read it & forget it (glad you didn't join their blog).

My cousin (who's much younger than I am) is headed cross country, to start a new life in CA, I envy him & I hope this trip is memorable for him. It's kind of scary, uprooting yourself from your comfortable surroundings, & starting fresh-but what an opportunity!

For this afternoon's throwdown, I'd like to highlight an "oldie but goodie" from TBD (The Big Disaster).

Ladies and gentlemen, for your reading pleasure, I present to you once again:

The Worst Thing Ever Written

Lame, certainly, but the worst thing ever written? Makes me miss dirty jokes & mouse sightings...

This is something I got from Mission Street Food by Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz. The recipe itself is a take on Peking Duck. I make this whenever I have chicken skin, which is frequently because I'm always breaking down chickens into parts for various dishes. The technique is simple. Put the skin on a cookie sheet layered with parchment paper. Add another layer of parchment on top and to with another cookie sheet so the skin lays flat. Bake at 300 for 45 minutes. When it's done you can pour the fat off and use it for something great and you get golden crispy chicken skins which you can sprinkle with a little salt and eat while drinking a cold beer. I usually eat them all while I finish cooking. FYI If you use regular grocery store chickens like Perdue (which I do not), you will get a tremendous amount of fat, so you need to watch for spillover. Non-factory farm chickens are much leaner (and tastier).

In my youth I was deprived of poultry skin. My parents followed the prevailing nutritional wisdom of the time, which meant lipophobia. Chicken was always skinned (even fried chicken!), butter was margarine, lard was crisco etc. The Thanksgiving turkey's crispy skin was removed and discarded, at least until I was in my twenties and realized the best part of the meal was going in the trash. After that my uncle and I would rescue the skin and split it between us. It was kinda weird that the belief in the evils of animal fat overrode my father's frugality and what was otherwise an inability to waste any food. My parents still don't eat chicken skin.

I am definitely going to try this w/ all the duck skin I pulled off today-I broke down my first duck, so breasts, legs, & misc skin, fat have been thrown back in the freezer, until I figure out what I want to do, & the wings & the rest of the carcass (chopped up w/ my Thai cleaver) went in the pressure cooker w/ ginger, garlic, lemongrass, peppercorns, soaked shiitake mushrooms Thai basil & rau ram, bay leaves, chilies, & some fish sauce for a stock, which smells miles better than my beef bone broth (which the puppies have enjoyed). I chickened out, & didn't use the innards.

Thanks for all the tips, I look forward to visiting.

I said no accapella, but this was playing in the commissary this morning, a blast from the past..I'm glad I grew up in the south, it affects most of my thoughts.

Restaurant/brewery/boat docks, & goats & chickens? Sounds like my kind of place. My husband has been posted to Germany (Stuttgart), & I'm looking forward to going over for visits, I love beer, & German beer is some of the best.

Soup/sludgy lentils- gold lentils, red onion, smoky bacon lardons, water, chicken broth, s&p- MUCH more than the sum of it's parts. & I'm sure everyone notices how I get on here about 1/wk & post about everything under the sun, I promise no accapella videos this evening.

How about an avocado buttercream? http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/avocado-buttercream-frosting-recipe.html

This sounds good, I made a avocado/ cocoa pudding that was delicious, here's a frosting-http://paleospirit.com/2013/avocado-chocolate-frosting-paleo-and-vegan/

You might have to omit the chocolate chips, doubt they would be dairy free.

Definitely great pictures-beef tongue & beets? not something I can imagine craving, but it looks amazing (just like the rest of the dinner), & I like the picture of the surprisingly small kitchen w/ the iPad or tablet up on the shelf, I cook like that, too.

SPOILER-boom, right off the bat, we've lost both local contestants (George Pagonis & Joy Crump). It's a shame, because I would have liked to see more from both of them. It's early to call a favorite yet, but i already have my LEAST favorite chef picked out. This episode wasn't much fun, team challenges are such a pain in the butt.

It's done & it looks & smells good-it seems much more clear than stock made in the slow cooker, & so fast, after pressure came up, only cooked for 50 min. I'm going to chill it so I can take the fat off the top. I loosely followed the NomNom paleo pressure cooker beef broth (adjusted quantities because I only had 2 lbs of bones, used rau ram instead of thyme). I'm sure the beef bones I got are not grassfed, but at $1.88/lb, it's a worthwhile experiment. I've made broth before from chicken/turkey carcasses & pork neck bones, but I usually use the slow cooker.

My next cooking "first" will be duck- I picked up a frozen duck & I'm going to break it down & try a couple of things.

This thread inspired me to pick up a pack of beef bones at the commissary this morning & I'm making a broth in my pressure cooker, wish me luck...I think I've only used the pressure cooker once before.

I like Buzzfeed, my best chia seed tips have come from there (still learning to love that gelatinous little seed).

This is sad, prayers for his family & friends. My best friend (we've been 'sisters' since we were 9) told me 6 weeks ago she has stage 4 liver cancer & I haven't accepted it yet- it sucks. I'm sure many people have wonderful memories & stories about him, though-he sounds like that kind of guy.

I promise not to post any more accapella groups for 6 months, if someone else posts something interesting/freaky on Fridays. Or just stream of consciousness ramblings...

I think the most important thing w/ a seafood soup/stew is to eat it right away- if the seafood is overcooked, it won't be good. Best thing would be to have a stock/base & slide the seafood in on order.