Culinary Conversations

[karstopography]

The other day I grilled a 5.5# whole chicken. I split it down the backbone, removed that and then cut through the breast bone before grilling. This particular bird had the liver inside the cavity. I seasoned up that liver and tossed it on the grill, on a cooler spot. Gosh, that grilled liver was everyone’s favorite. We divided it up six ways. I grilled it to just barely cooked, still moist and pliable.

Why don’t all whole chickens these days have the full compliment of giblets I’ll never know. You might get a heart or liver or nothing, can’t remember the last time a gizzard was there.

[pepperhead212]

Always loved those giblets! Several years ago it got to the point that I couldn't find any chicken livers in the supermarkets around here; now at least they have 16 or 20 oz containers in the freezer sections. But I still have to go to the Asian markets to get the gizzards and hearts. This winter, when I have more time on my hands, I'm going to try the gizzards in the sous vide, to tenderize them, before tossing in either the Chinese or Mexican sauce I usually cook them in.

[worth1]

Pressure cook gizzards.

[worth1]

I got a good amount of rendered tallow from the barbacoa cook and after I used it to cook the beef hearts in.
Probably a good pint plus.
This will more than likely go into making tamales.
No reason to use factory processed lard.
I'm almost out and the worthless ones at the store have gotten ridiculously expensive.

[worth1]

I have everything I need for banana pudding.
Haven't had it in years.
The last time was in Prudhoe Bay and it was horrible.
I couldn't figure out for the life of me what the chewy leather was in it.
Then I realized it was dried tastless bananas that were still dry.
They must have been dried while totally green.
Horrible stuff.

[Shule]

So, I learned recently that salsa just means sauce in Spanish (not a special kind of sauce, either). So, spaghetti sauce, and even gravy are salsa.

If you try to find a more descriptive term to describe the USA's conception of salsa in Spanish, you might be researching for a while (unless you're satisfied with calling it red sauce, tomato sauce, warm pico de gallo, chile, or salsita). There doesn't seem to be a standard word to describe it, probably because there are so many Spanish-speaking cultures. There are loads of kinds of sauce they use in Mexico.

So, I know in the USA, pico de gallo is generally regarded as raw, but is that true in Mexico, too?

[worth1]

@Shule
Pico de gallo is salsa cruda and it means beak of the rooster.
And yes it is fresh as in salsa fresco.
I have been preaching salsa and sauce were the same thing for ages.
Cooked salsa is salsa cocida.
If you want more than one tamal you ask for tamale not tamales.

[worth1]

Anybody love dates as much as I do?
I picked up a small bag of dates at the store and they are marvelous.
They were in the bulk section.
Organic Medjool dates with the small pit still inside.
Very moist and sweet.
Huge too.
Couldn't resist at 5 dollars a pound.
One of the camps (Endicott Island) I stayed at in Alaska had dates on the serve yourself food line every morning for breakfast.
I would always get dates scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon with coffee and V/8 juice.
No bread of any kind.
A breakfast fit for a king.

What I'm going to do with some of these dates is way over the top crazy.
Pecan pie in over drive.
The filling will have sweet dates in it.
The filling will be made of Steens cane syrup and a pinch of black strap molasses.
Not cheap flavorless over sweet corn syrup.

[Shule]

@worth1 I like dates, but you probably like them more. I wasn't really into them much until I realized two things:

1. They're super prolific. If I ever go somewhere where I can grow dates, I might as well start a business with all the fruits I could get from one tree (same with carob).
2. They're not candied; that's all natural.

[Shule]

Now, date molasses, I'm really into that. It's excellent.

[Shule]

I wonder how dates and carob taste together. I should try it out.

[pepperhead212]

I wonder how dates and carob taste together. I should try it out.

I haven't done it in many years, but when I was in college, I belonged to a co-op that had carob and dates, and I often made a basic date-nut bread, with carob powder in it, in place of some flour. It was very good.

I get pitted dates frequently - they are often $4.99/lb on sale, but recently another place had them for only $3.99/lb, so I got a few lbs, and vacuum sealed them, in 8 oz amounts. They keep forever that way. A lot of Indian sweets are made with dates as the only sweet. A lot of them have cocoa powder, and you could try them, with carob.

I also have that date molasses, which is used in a lot of middle-eastern dishes.

[Julianna]

@Shule the only issue is dates are sexed and you dont know for many years what you have until the inflorescence comes . My husband has always wanted dates but figured we would.line a driveway with them since odds would be we would get a mix of males and females.

Random date fact aside that I just learned? You can eat them green. I never knew that and maybe everyone else did. My husband came home with green dates and i didn't even realize they were dates. I saw them.start to go brown and I tossed one... Then thought huh, that looks like a date. I held off tossing the rest and asked. Found out what they were. They also eat the green almond fruit before the almonds are ripe.

For anyone who ever finds themselves in the Newport Beach, CA area, there is a Ruby's at Crystal Cove that makes the best date shakes ever. And just that one does it.

I make oatmeal date cookies. They are fantastic.

[worth1]

Dates don't come true to seed either.
You have a one in a thousand chance of growing a good date from a seed.
Maybe more.
Best to buy the palm or collect a pup from the tree.

[worth1]

50% female and male from seeds.
5 years to find out which it will be and if the dates are any good.
I heard most aren't.

[Julianna]

In Jordan they just sell trees. So no worry about seeds. They don't seem to have the quality issue on the date front. It gets dicey on kumquats and another citrus that I cant think of right now during my sleep deprived 4am wake up. Issue of they cant tell if it is the sour version or the sweet version until fruiting.

[Julianna]

Which sour versus sweet is yes, easy to solve if you can propagate off a known tree.

[worth1]

Regretfully date palms won't survive where I live in Central Texas.
Olive trees in orchards had to be replaced due to last winters freeze.

[Julianna]

Regretfully date palms won't survive where I live in Central Texas.
Olive trees in orchards had to be replaced due to last winters freeze.

Yeah, where my husband is from is sort of between 10a and 10b climate wise with the min temps. We have a bunch of land there now which we plan on retiring on. Mostly olive orchards right now. Rain is the main concern. Isn't particularly hot there... Maybe a few days in the upper 80s a year and mostly just mild. Olives, almonds, and pomegranates are all native to the area and so do very well along with most other fruits and vegetables.

I lived in Mexia for a year and worked for the state. That was my only time of substance in TX.

[worth1]

Date comparison.
Noor on the left Medjool on the right.

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