Culinary Conversations

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#421

Post: # 69174Unread post worth1
Sat May 07, 2022 9:33 am

karstopography wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 8:23 am @worth1 with those Mexican grills you can plan the fire to have hot and cooler spots and move on and off the direct flame as needed. The smoke I believe isn’t trapped so much and more subtle, is that what you observe?

I buy the mesquite lump charcoal from HEB. El arriero, the muleteer. It’s about the cheapest in town. From Mexico.

My large BGE lacks the space of a Mexican style grill. I can build the fire to be on one side for direct and a cooler, indirect side and cook with the lid open so the smoke isn’t trapped. I just can’t do a lot of food that way at one time like a Mexican grill can.
Took awhile to answer your questions but yes.
The smoke isn't trapped and you get a much better flavor.
Back when I was 21and older I worked on an oil rig.
Sometimes we would gather up mesquite and build a huge fire and let it burn down into hot coals.
We would have logs on two sides that would hold a big expanded metal grate to cook on.
Everyone had one in the back of the oilfield truck for this purpose.
It was normally around 3 feet by 3 feet nothing fancy.
In the morning we would stop at the store in Crane Texas and buy our work gloves meat and whatever else we were going to eat and use that day.
While we worked the fire would burn down.
Then at lunch we would cook our steaks on the hot grill right out there on the ground.
We would control the amount of heat by moving the coals to one side up higher and moving the steaks.
We would always have potatoes wrapped in foil someplace around the coals to cook.

I simply cannot express how good this food was out in the middle of the desert on a cold day in the middle of winter with temperatures in the 20's and 30's.
I worked the derrick and was especially exposed to the weather 60 to 80 feet in the air.
Looking back it was probably the best time I had in my life.
No drug testing no ridiculous rules plenty of money and wide open spaces with lots of friends and freedom.
If we got a spring blow we couldn't work so we would gather at someone's place and listen to rock and roll drink beer and smoke weed and have an all around good time.
The girls would know we were off and come by too.
Its basically how I met my late beloved wife of 34 years.

We weren't like those idiots you see on the discovery Channel at all
I have no idea where they found those people.

The steaks were nothing fancy just 7 bone and sirloin.
Salt and pepper was the spices.
Hot pepper on the side.

I tell these stories to the young ones today and they just gobble them up and tell me how lucky we were.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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karstopography
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#422

Post: # 69179Unread post karstopography
Sat May 07, 2022 10:23 am

@worth1 another lover of the desert here. I find walking around and being in desert landscapes very enjoyable.

I also like open fire, hot coals, open grill cooking.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#423

Post: # 69254Unread post worth1
Sun May 08, 2022 9:45 am

Just incase you missed it.
The perfect avocado cut the easy way.
This critter is at the perfect ripeness but not bruised.
Here is how you dice one without the mess.
Cut around the seed and separate.
You will know its ripe if it separates easy.
I know its ripeness by way of a palm test without ruining it if it isn't.
It takes practice.
It wasn't ready yesterday and I always buy my avocado in advance so I don't get bruised ones.
They are hard.
Now that it is separated cut into dice pattern with a knife.
Scoop out with a spoon.
No mess.
You can also grow the seed and collect the leaves from the plant and let them dry.
They are toasted and used in authentic Mexican cuisine.
You can buy these dried leaves at the Mexican market.
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Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#424

Post: # 69297Unread post worth1
Sun May 08, 2022 4:31 pm

@JRinPA
Additional information on sauce vs salsa.
I put it here instead of whats cooking.
First you can't just look up what people have to say on Google because they're wrong many times.
Think of Pace Picante sauce for example.
These people say picante sauce is chunky.
Which it is.
So they somehow translate picante as chunky.
Totally wrong.
Picante means spicy.
Now look at the label on Valentina hot sauce.
At the top it says Mexican hot sauce.
On the bottom it says picante salsa.
Now you might think picante means hot.
It doesn't.
Caliente means hot.
Once my 80 something year old neighbor lady in the back was drinking beer with me and wanted to try my hot pepper powder.
She licked her finger and got a big dollop and put it in her mouth.
This lady couldn't speak hardly any English.
She loudly exclaimed Muy Caliente !!
That means very hot.
Then she sucked down the rest of her beer. :lol:
Many when speaking of hot food say spicy.

In the dictionary a sauce is defined as.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sauce

Not trying to beat a dead horse i just like to talk about language and translations of them.

We as English speakers picked up sauce from the French language.
Food in it's own way has totally mixed up our language.
Sometimes we translate sometimes we don't
Quite often for our own good.
Like vermicelli.
It means little worms.
No restaurant in their right mind would put little worms with sauce on the menu.
Pico de gallo means beak of the rooster.
Try serving that.

My all time favorite is.....
Strozzapreti
Priest strangler.
Say what? :lol:
You can buy this pasta at the store under another name that escapes me at the moment.
Buenas noches mis amigas y amigos.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#425

Post: # 69301Unread post worth1
Sun May 08, 2022 5:25 pm

I just watched somebody make the most godawful carnitas on the planet.
I watch the guy occasionally and he cooks some good stuff sometimes but not this time.
You simply cannot make carnitas with pork loin and lard baked in the oven for lord knows how long.
Talk about dried out.
But I'll forgive him, he's from Massachusetts. :lol:
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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Tormato
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#426

Post: # 69303Unread post Tormato
Sun May 08, 2022 5:55 pm

worth1 wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 5:25 pm I just watched somebody make the most godawful carnitas on the planet.
I watch the guy occasionally and he cooks some good stuff sometimes but not this time.
You simply cannot make carnitas with pork loin and lard baked in the oven for lord knows how long.
Talk about dried out.
But I'll forgive him, he's from Massachusetts. :lol:
If one is from Massachusetts, one shouldn't even know what carnitas are, let alone knowing how to make them. :roll:

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karstopography
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#427

Post: # 69309Unread post karstopography
Sun May 08, 2022 7:43 pm

B3EBCAC7-811A-454F-9ED5-F0DF002C10E5.jpeg
A shockingly good Mustang Grape Pyment. Anyone from the deep south or Texas that might be familiar with wild Mustang Grapes knows just how crazy and painfully acidic these are. They look a lot like the more northerly and very palatable, delicious Concord Grape, but imagine a Concord grape with almost no sugar and about 1,000 times more mouth puckering acidity then you’ve imagined a Mustang Grape.

The honey wine ended up being something like a grape sweet tart candy, but in every good way possible. I’m blown away by this result and unfortunately didn’t take any notes to try and replicate the effort. All I know is that the wild Mustang grapes can be made into a good wine, a really unique and delicious wine. Blind hogs do find acorns once in a while.
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Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Tormato
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#428

Post: # 69341Unread post Tormato
Mon May 09, 2022 10:07 am

karstopography wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:43 pm B3EBCAC7-811A-454F-9ED5-F0DF002C10E5.jpeg
A shockingly good Mustang Grape Pyment. Anyone from the deep south or Texas that might be familiar with wild Mustang Grapes knows just how crazy and painfully acidic these are. They look a lot like the more northerly and very palatable, delicious Concord Grape, but imagine a Concord grape with almost no sugar and about 1,000 times more mouth puckering acidity then you’ve imagined a Mustang Grape.

The honey wine ended up being something like a grape sweet tart candy, but in every good way possible. I’m blown away by this result and unfortunately didn’t take any notes to try and replicate the effort. All I know is that the wild Mustang grapes can be made into a good wine, a really unique and delicious wine. Blind hogs do find acorns once in a while.
If those blind hogs have been drinking Mustang, they'll find even more acorns. That's due to a staggered pattern in their movement, rather than going in a straight line. :roll:

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karstopography
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#429

Post: # 69342Unread post karstopography
Mon May 09, 2022 10:24 am

@Tormato My children and I used to forage for wild Concord grapes along the Charles river in Millis. They are very tasty and it’s exactly like eating a ball of Welch’s concord grape juice. I hear that variety makes good wine, but I never tried making any. Concord grapes don’t grow here.

My buddy says no one can make good wine from Mustang grapes, that Mustang grapes only serve to make the vilest of the vile undrinkable wines. He’s entirely honest about my mead making efforts. He hated my first mead, a blackberry mead, tolerated my second mead, a beauty berry type, and loved the magnolia petal mead and a bochet. I can’t wait for him to try the Mustang grape one. If he give a thumbs up, I’ll know I really achieved something. Mustang grapes are so acidic they burn unprotected hands. You have to wear gloves to pick them and the ripest ones still burn your mouth eating them. In spite of that, there is a signature enjoyable flavor hidden beneath all that acidity.

I did a brief cold maceration skins on, and then squeezed all that pulp, skins and seeds through layers of cheese cloth and a fine stainless sieve. It was popeye forearm building work, but no skins or seeds, zero stems were allowed in the macerated mix, and very little pulp made it into the fermentation vessel. The juice only, along with a clover honey and champagne yeast.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Tormato
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#430

Post: # 69360Unread post Tormato
Mon May 09, 2022 6:32 pm

Speaking of wild Concord grapes, there are several vines of them across town on private property. The homeowner has a long arching semi-circle of a driveway. Between the driveway and the road is a large wild overgrown area, which makes a good privacy barrier for them, and that's where the grapes are. I've never tried cultivated Concord grapes that taste that good. In late August, I think I'll make a visit, and see if I can get some cuttings over the winter.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly approaching my own cultivated grapes, cutting back the jungle that has grown up around them for the past several years. I think that I know within, about 5 feet, where the roots of those vines are. Every year I toss a few handfuls of fertilizer over the tall brush, just before a heavy rain. In drought, I aim a stream of water from the hose over that same tall brush. Several of the vines, the ones that stay on the property, are probably 25 feet long. The ones that grow out into the road get pruned by a bit of car traffic. No wine making, just non-slipskin table grapes.

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#431

Post: # 69665Unread post worth1
Sat May 14, 2022 8:51 am

Tormato wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 5:55 pm
worth1 wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 5:25 pm I just watched somebody make the most godawful carnitas on the planet.
I watch the guy occasionally and he cooks some good stuff sometimes but not this time.
You simply cannot make carnitas with pork loin and lard baked in the oven for lord knows how long.
Talk about dried out.
But I'll forgive him, he's from Massachusetts. :lol:
If one is from Massachusetts, one shouldn't even know what carnitas are, let alone knowing how to make them. :roll:
You would think one would do a little research if anything.
He was also celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

Real carnitas are done with all manner of meats from pork.
Including many times pork belly with the skin still on.
Pork shoulder.
Pork feet and so on.
But I have never seen pork loin used.
It's done in a huge kettle and the method takes a long time.
Cooking and frying in its own juices and fat with other ingredients added as time passes.
What you end up with is heavenly.
The leftover fat/lard from making carnitas I buy from the Mexican market to make tamales.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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karstopography
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#432

Post: # 69671Unread post karstopography
Sat May 14, 2022 9:20 am

I’m reading a book where food, history, and culture intersect. “Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brûlée” A fascinating read.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#433

Post: # 69681Unread post worth1
Sat May 14, 2022 11:05 am

A few weeks ago I cut some habanero in half and put them in a jar of tiny sweat pickles.
It was two habaneros cut in half and seeds removed.
I just tested a pickle.
Not hot at all when first bitten into and chewed.
A few seconds later approximately a 30 the heat kicked in.
But not overly hot.
Loving it.
The things are ripping in my opinion.
Something I'll always do from now on.
I'm sick of stuff being advertised as hot and spicy and it isn't spicy at all.
That's what super hot peppers are for and I use them for.
Not something to make things screaming hot but to just liven things up a a bit without a large volume of peppers.

Now back to Thomas Jefferson. :lol:
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#434

Post: # 70322Unread post worth1
Mon May 23, 2022 5:24 am

When I eat a hamburger I want to taste beef not a smoked sausage patty.
Another thing I've learned is don't mix salt in with the meat.
It breaks down the tissue in the meat and turns it into a rubber patty.
For years I didn't know that.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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Julianna
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#435

Post: # 70330Unread post Julianna
Mon May 23, 2022 7:46 am

worth1 wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 5:24 am When I eat a hamburger I want to taste beef not a smoked sausage patty.
Another thing I've learned is don't mix salt in with the meat.
It breaks down the tissue in the meat and turns it into a rubber patty.
For years I didn't know that.
That is interesting about the salt. Next time i make turkey burgers i will add the truffle salt afterward and see what i think.
-julianna
10a Monterey Bay
Lover of Fogust, tomatoes, flowers, and pumpkins

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worth1
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#436

Post: # 70446Unread post worth1
Wed May 25, 2022 9:17 am

Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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Re: Culinary Conversations

#437

Post: # 70667Unread post worth1
Sun May 29, 2022 10:03 am

The orange habanero spread jelly stuff cooled off all night.
It was the first thing I had in my mouth this morning.
WOW, what a flavor rush.
The first thing that hits you is the strong sweet orange flavor with a background of the volatile oil acidity of the orange zest.
(The true orange flavor origin.)
Then the habanero kicks in.
Not bad but you will definitely know its there.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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Re: Culinary Conversations

#438

Post: # 70694Unread post worth1
Sun May 29, 2022 3:49 pm

When is expensive too expensive.
I'm drawing the line at $14.00 for 5.5 ounces of seasoning/rub.
Hey if these guys can get that price fine and dandy.
But not me especially when there isn't any expensive ingredients and the main ingredient is salt.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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karstopography
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Re: Culinary Conversations

#439

Post: # 70712Unread post karstopography
Sun May 29, 2022 10:34 pm

Big Green Egg Classic Steakhouse seasoning is the best I’ve ever had on a steak. I grilled choice NY strips the other night with the seasoning liberally applied to both sides of the steak. Truly, the best steak I ever ate. Someone gave me the seasoning as a gift, I see it is $9 for 5.5 ounces, I’d buy it at that price.

On a different note, I was talking over the phone to my tomato growing gardening buddy about what we’ve been doing with our recent harvests. He’s been having BLT sandwiches morning, noon and night. I said why don’t you make a salsa. Great idea, but Betty, his 90 year old live in MIL, doesn’t like salsa. Betty is I guess there in the room and states she’s never had salsa. I blurt out “how do you get to that age without ever eating salsa”, but didn’t know I was on speakerphone, which my friend then informed me of that. Yikes, I said something like friend, it’s time to introduce Betty to salsa.

Seriously though, what American that has lived in various states, north and south, to the age of 90 hasn’t tried salsa?
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Re: Culinary Conversations

#440

Post: # 70715Unread post pepperhead212
Mon May 30, 2022 12:21 am

And how can someone who has never had salsa say they don't like it? They can say they don't know if they like it, but not that they don't like it. Not to mention, there are countless varieties.
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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