Culinary Conversations

[Sue_CT]

Dang, did it again.

[worth1]

I bought some dry cured sliced smoked hawg jowl.
Just wait till you see what I'm doing with it.
Hint.
It involves raisins butchers twine and tomato products.
Plus other things.

[worth1]

Why the sad face @karstopography

[karstopography]

Why the sad face @karstopography

Fat thumb.

[worth1]

@bower
The main reason for my purchase of the enameled cast iron is so I could cook acidic ingredients with the benefit of cast iron without having the iron taste end up in the food.
And stripping the seasoning off the cast iron.
Aluminum is out of the question because after long use it eats into the aluminum and my stainless steel doesn't quite make the grade either because it's too thin for long slow braising.
In a nutshell beef has gotten so expensive I refuse to pay premium prices for the expensive stuff.
Over 20 dollars a pound for a crappy ribeye is outrageous.
I'm getting a lot of use out of the enameled Dutch oven that cost me a little over 30 dollars at the time.
And stained as it is there isn't one chip in it yet.
Hundreds of dollars for one is out of the question.
But that's not saying I would turn one down.

[bower]

I do get it @worth1 . Aluminum and steel heat up fast and cool fast, and you don't get the same slow cooking effect as cast iron. And actually, plain cast iron pans add iron to your food, to some degree. When I was in my 20's and 30's with a youngster at home I cooked in cast iron all the time. Every time I had a blood test, they'd finish up with the comment ".. and your hemoglobin's great." Very likely the pans alone, since we didn't eat meat every week by any means.
My grandmother's recipes were carried out on the woodstove that also heated their entire home, and was running all day for most of the year here. You really get the value of cast iron for long slow cooking with that kind of a setup.
Ceramics to a lesser extent also do the same trick of staying warm and radiant, and that's why I guess the slow cookers of today are ceramic vessels. I have a ceramic baking dish too, not the same staying power as cast iron for sure, but just a nod in that direction.

However the enameled cast iron that I picked up in the store was way, way heavier than any cooking vessel should be.
I'm not especially weak or a slouch, granted that I am not a large person, but I've never held a cooking pan that weighed so much empty. Unless you're a big guy into weight lifting I don't think anyone would be using this easily. Maybe that's why they were on sale. (And still are, for that matter, after a month). Your food has to weigh something and add to that. Probably big enough to hold a turkey if you left the lid off. Seriously calamity type weight for a hot dish. Beyond useless.

[worth1]

I've looked at several cast iron Dutch ovens about the same size.
They all weigh around 11 pounds or so depending on the actual quart size in that range.
My biggest number 12 camp Dutch oven weighs almost 20 pounds.

[worth1]

I just read a review on Dutch ovens.
The Lodge enameled Dutch oven came in dead last due to chipping issues.
I've read other reviews where they recommend the Lodge.
My take on this is if they looked at the complaints about chipping who was doing the chipping and why.
Was it the person's fault or the product?
Would the person that bought the cheaper Dutch oven treat it differently than the person that bought the Le Creuset.
But the testers themselves experienced the chipping.
I just weighed my store brand 5 quart Cocinaware Dutch oven and it weighs 12 pounds.
One thing is for certain it's nothing you can toss around like lighter cooking vessels.

Let's say you put in 4 quarts of liquid in this thing.
It would weigh around 20 pounds total.

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advic ... ot-article

[worth1]

Okay this takes the cake.
I'm looking for a smaller enameled cast iron container to cook acidic sauce in the oven.
Everything is expensive.
Then it dawned on me I've got a plethora of Corning Ware.
You can use it on the stove top or in the oven.
As a matter of fact I have half a cup of Anasazi beans soaking in one.

[pepperhead212]

I have some Corning Ware way up in my cupboard - the one I put a slider shelf in, over my MW, and once in a while use one of them, usually the 3 qt one, because that's a size I don't have in the enameled CI! I don't even have plain CI for braising, or sauces, only frypans - too many things would be acid. But that Corning Ware is a good option. I used have a 1, 1½, 2, 3, and 4 qt (got dirt cheap back in the 70s, when I couldn't afford copper! ) , but only the 2 and 3 now - I gave the others away, when accumulating other cookware, when I got my house, and started up my kitchen. The only thing I ever broke was a lid, fortunately one of the 1 or 1½ ones, which had the same size, so I gave those away to my cousin.

[worth1]

It looked like the Mongolian Horde came through the cheap hamburger hotdog bun section and I was there early.
Settled for Texas toast, more versatile.
I guess everyone was getting ready for the weekend and the HEB will be closed on Easter Sunday.

[worth1]

I hate it when a YouTube contribter makes stupid comments and sometimes I reply back but in a nice way.
Then they reply with another stupid comment and that's when I let the hammer down in another nice way.
This normally makes them look like an idiot.
One case in point was a copper cookware video.
First stupid comment.
Incomprehensible metric system.
Really?
I let it pass.
Second stupid comment.
He was giving the measurements of a copper skillet made in Belgium.
32 CM or 12.6 inches.
12 point 6 inches I have no idea what point 6 is.
I couldn't let it pass.
I explained to him the .6 was 600 thousands or 6 tenths of an inch or a little over 1/2 inch.
He replied back that inches were measured in fractions not the decimal system.

I replied back not in the world of a machinist and manufacturing.
Fractions weren't precise enough.
Plus other details about micrometers and so on.
I haven't heard s squeak out of him since.
I can't help myself and it's probably why some people don't like me but it's who I am.

The very idea of spending 600 dollars or more on a copper skillet is beyond me anyway.

[JRinPA]

I like to stay in one or the other. I actually prefer if people don't give the other, like that. There has to be a good 1/4" diff between those two numbers (no I'm not asking a calculator.) One only ha two sig figs...how can they be on the same level of exactness, just by that, no matter the main unit.
So which one is correct?
So in my opinion only one number should be given.

[worth1]

I like to stay in one or the other. I actually prefer if people don't give the other, like that. There has to be a good 1/4" diff between those two numbers (no I'm not asking a calculator.) One only ha two sig figs...how can they be on the same level of exactness, just by that, no matter the main unit.
So which one is correct?
So in my opinion only one number should be given.

It's Belgium made so they should just stick with metric.
They didn't convert the thickness to fractions or thousands.

[worth1]

Someone needs to get their geometry right.
I read an article that said a Lodge round cast iron skillet had more cooking surface than a square one of equal size.

[worth1]

Just got a double cheeseburger hamburger fries and coke from P Terry's.
P Terry's is a local burger place that advertises as a higher quality eating establishment and as far as I'm concerned they fit the bill.

The burger was excellent and the total was just under 10 dollars.

It actually looked like the picture too.
Much better than what Whataburger has turned into.
I just had to have one to see what they were like.

[worth1]

Video on bucatini.
I got it right on how to use it.

[pepperhead212]

I never used bucatini, mainly because if I can find it, it costs at least 3 times what I pay for the usual shapes I buy, and I really never saw any advantage to that shape - just something odd looking. I don't use much long pastas of any type - I use mostly things that sort of trap some of the stuff, like spirals and shells.

[worth1]

I never used bucatini, mainly because if I can find it, it costs at least 3 times what I pay for the usual shapes I buy, and I really never saw any advantage to that shape - just something odd looking. I don't use much long pastas of any type - I use mostly things that sort of trap some of the stuff, like spirals and shells.

The bucatini I buy occasionally is a central market brand of our HEB stores that is bronze cut and made from organic semolina.
Costs about a dollar more than regular pasta and a product of Italy.
I simply love long pasta for really illogical reasons.
Or maybe not illogical reasons.

Growing up we always had elbow macaroni with tomatoes like all the damned time.
It was always in the refrigerator and we ate it cold.
To have spaghetti was like a real treat that we had just occasionally maybe 3 times a year.
The spaghetti was always that really long stuff you can't find anymore.
We also had regular flat noodles I loved.
I didn't know what fettuccine was.
My Mom occasionally made alphabet soup.
So I like the things I loved as a child but didn't get much of.
I have actually made bucatini at home with my pasta machine but what a chore.
So there you go, the reason I like long pasta.

[Wildcat82]

Just got a double cheeseburger hamburger fries and coke from P Terry's.
P Terry's is a local burger place that advertises as a higher quality eating establishment and as far as I'm concerned they fit the bill.

The burger was excellent and the total was just under 10 dollars.

It actually looked like the picture too.
Much better than what Whataburger has turned into.
I just had to have one to see what they were like.

I see P Terry's around San Antonio but I've never eaten there. Maybe I'll have to try it sometime. Never tried Storm's burgers either but I've seen a number of their stores along Highway 281 going through the Hill country. Not sure but I think it's a local chain.