What's for dinner?

[muldoon]

Theres different kinds of smoking, some people do the cold smoke for fish or cheese.  I don't know anything about that process other than what I do for meat doesn't work for that.  Also, there's grilling which is different for smoking again.  grilling is high heat - like steaks, chicken, hotdogs, hamburgers, shrimp and such.  smoking is a long process of low heat to cook tough pieces of meat into tender edible meat.  basically, things like brisket, shoulder roasts, and such.  the collagen (muscle fiber tissue) makes the meat very tough and needs to be broken down - which only occurs at low temps on a long period of time.  It turns into a gelatin and makes the meat juicy when done right.  For that, 225-240F is the sweet spot, usually needing about 1.5 hours per pound or so for whatever your cooking..   

[glenn kangiser]

Great info, muldoon.  Thanks.

[muldoon]

...snipped, see previous page
...
I'll add a picture later, I took one of the final result but cant do that now. 

[glenn kangiser]

I'm hungry, muldoon, please drop some of that down here.   

Signed

Your friend,

Spike

[glenn kangiser]

Spike, Stop begging. 

Sorry -- he got a hold of my computer.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Seeing as how politics and the economy range from depressing to terrifying, I thought I'd try to think about something else for a while and see what's for dinner.... I think tonight we're having salmon patties, salad, and probably some homemade "Hippo rolls".  (The girls roll them into the shape of a hippo with a big open mouth and then stick raisins on for the eyes.)  Certainly nothing fancy.  We need some groceries, but I am sick as a dog and just don't feel like going anywhere.  It's nuts.  My husband earns probably three times what we earned combined when we first got married, and we're still eating like we get food from the church's food pantry!  OK, so actually not quite that bad... we do have real meat more often now.... but the prices at the grocery store have gone up so much it makes my head spin. 

[glenn kangiser]

All the more reason to enjoy that garden or container garden.  Seems food is still economy related...as well as everything else I guess.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Guess there's just no escaping it, then, is there?    We ripped out the sad cucumber vines and replaced that knock off earth box with salad greens which have sprouted, but aren't eating size just yet.  Spinach and Asian redleaf lettuce.  In a few weeks, one less thing to buy at the store.  Switched dinner last night and made up chicken noodle soup with tomatoes and lots of garlic, oregano, pepper, basil and the like.  Didn't have much chicken, so I added some leftover chickpeas for some more protein.  I was so sick yesterday that was the only thing that sounded remotely edible by the time dinner rolled around.  Lots of celery, cilantro, and parsley, too, and carrots. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Last night the girls and I made a cherry pie for dessert that was delicious.  Unfortunately didn't have any icecream to go with it.  Supper was sirloin marinated in orange/pineapple juice and soy sauce and grilled medium, salad, and corn.  And iced tea, of course.

[glenn kangiser]

Oh sure, Homey -- make me hungry for cherry pie and Ice Cream.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Sorry Glenn... when I got up this morning, I was thinking that a slice of that pie would taste good with my coffee, but I went to get it and it was all gone.   Maybe DH thought I would be offended if he didn't have a second piece... a really LARGE piece.

[glenn kangiser]

May have taken it for survival at work.  I take bags of cookies.

[Redoverfarm]

deer steak, mashed potato's, corn.  Got to start eating out of the freezers more.  Just put 1/2 hog in an already stocked freezer.  Will get beef in January on top of that.  Might have to buy me a couple of plastic barrels and stick some in salt bri.  

[glenn kangiser]

A Yugoslavian friend used to do that with leg of lamb -- cure it and dry it and then we would eat it while consuming mass quantities of his bad home made wine and eating slices of it.  It wasn't coooked , but after a few glasses of that wine you didn't care and it didn't taste bad either... after a few glasses of the wine the wine didn't taste as bad either.

[Redoverfarm]

Speaking of Salt bri. Did you ever wonder how they knew when the mixture was right. I know of one but just wondering if anyone else does.

[MountainDon]

A fresh egg will float when enough salt is in the brine.  I think what I remember my grandmother saying/doing. Long time ago.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Ugh.  I remember when I was a kid and it got close to butchering time, Grandma would start cleaning the freezers all out.  One day I walked into the kitchen from working with Grandpa and she stuffed a large serving spoon of something in my mouth and said, "How does this taste?"  It was like chicken salad, but it wasn't, and there was something a little weird and freezer-burned tasting about it.  Rudely, with my mouth still full of it as I asked, "What is that?"  Grandma grinned and answered, "Tongue salad!"  It was then I noticed a big platter piled high with sandwiches made with it!!  She was taking it to Wednesday night after church fellowship.  Usually Grandma was a great cook, but when people asked what it was that night and who'd brought it, I kept my mouth shut!!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Oh, and tonight we actually had liver and onions with wild rice.   I don't know what came over me, but here a while back I got to thinking that it actually sounded good (maybe I'm low on iron or something??)  Anyway, I made it tonight, and it wasn't too bad as far as liver goes, but it'll probably be another ten years before I get another hankering for it.  Can't believe I actually went to the store and paid for it.  I think I'd rather eat tripe.

[MountainDon]

Liver and onions is good!    Tastes good anyhow... not sure if one's diet should include it too often.

IMO, most liver is ruined by overcooking, or too high a heat. The onions want more cooking time than the liver.
(I  don't mean to say you did...)

You could have used the liver my grandmother fried for shoe soles.      

Soaking in milk before cooking can soften the strong flavor of beef liver. Baby beef liver is milder.

[MountainDon]

We had baked wild salmon, hash brown potatoes fried in a mixture of olive oil and Smart Balance, with parsnips mixed in and brussels sprouts on the side.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

It was baby... and it was good as far as liver goes.  I never cared too much for liver, but always ate it if someone else made it or if it was what I had on hand.  I made it Korean style, so it also had a lot of ginger and a little soy, sugar, sesame oil and seeds.  The flavor of the broth was good and the onions were downright yummy, but the liver still tasted like liver.  I don't think I cooked it more than ten minutes because I've always heard that it is better if you don't over cook it.  

The liver that my grandma used to cook was always kind of tough and gristly too.  But I ate it... and didn't even make faces.  That and poke salad.... never understood what possesses people to take a poisonous weed and cook it so that they can eat it.  Give me collards or mustard anyday, but I still hate poke weed, though I'd eat it if someone cooked it for me.

[glenn kangiser]

I like liver and onions once in a while but I only get it every few years.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I love parsnips fried in butter.  Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.  That is one of those foods that I'd never tried until I was an adult.  I planted them in one of my first winter gardens after we got married just to have one more different veggie during the cool season, and fell in love with them.  I like them for breakfast with a little maple syrup (don't knock it until you've tried it.)  Brought them for Thanksgiving dinner one time and none of my family knew what they were.  And boy, do they smell good cooking!

[glenn kangiser]

We have them growing on the roof and in the garden.  I picked some last week and Sassy french fried them in coconut oil.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

That sounds good too.  I never tried them in coconut oil (though I've cooked other stuff in coconut oil.)  I just cooked the rest of the steaks that were marinated the other day.  Now the steak smell has overtaken the liver smell..... which is a good thing.  Now DH will have steak for lunches for a few days.  They smell wonderful.