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United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

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Saturday, August 31, 2002

These things are way cool, or hot, depending on which you want. The temperature in the smoker right now is 143F. About where it should be, until the lamb sirloin gets just a kittle dry of the outside. It has been in the smoker just over an hour. I called my firend "Elizabeth", who'll be sharing it with me later. Being English, she knows her lamb and she scolded me, "Things that go BAAA-AA are tender, they shouldn't be cooked slow." Right away it's screwed-up. I'll plod ahead aanyway, it is too late to quit. She also doesn't like the idea of smoking it. Maybe I shoulda done a dry run on the easy-to-please crowd done at the bar. Speaking of which, one guy who works ithere said the nicest thing the other night. He said he was starting to cook because he liked some of the stuff I brought in (maybe he figures if someone as lame as me can cook, why can't he?). He specifically asked for a crab dip recipe I made for a Christmas party last year - it was the standard thing, except it seemed kinda colorless and plain, so I added paprika and garlic. oh yeah, in vol au vent shells (easier to bake than spell for me). Anyway, he says he and his wife are spending less on food and eating better. 1:39:08 PM    comment []

It's Labor Day weekend! Made a morning grocery run to cop a whole beef tenderloin. A friend of mine, "Dawn" (no real names here except mine), and I made a deal to split one. I'll cut it up, freeze, and seal into bags later this morning. On the way home, I made a stop at the farmers' market for some tomatoes. Three medium sized ones. Some ripe anaheims (technically colorados) looked pretty good too. Four of those, maybe for weekend pico de gallo. Got a rosemary plant too, maybe it's late enough in the year that this one will make it for me. It's been so hot and dry, though it has been raining nicely the past few days. A good day to rev up the smoker. 8:47:20 AM    comment []

Brining is also past its peak as a food fad, but I was doing that to cure meat before it came into vogue. Some common sense about brines: No matter what the recipe says, don't throw in a bay leaf. It's dumb. One bay leaf in a gallon of liquid. It looks pretty but show me someone who'll taste it and I'll show you not a gourmand with a wine-taster's palate, but a teenage boy who has instructed his mother not to put bayleaves in his food because he doesn't like them. Season the meat after brining so the flavor is utilized. Sugar, salt, and acids (lemon juice or vinegar) do the osmotic work. Nitrites prevent red meats from browning and also prevent botulism growth if you're going to cook long (4 hours or more) at a very low temperature (meat below 140 F, Clostridium Botulinum are anerobic, they grow inside the meat unlike E. Coli or Staphlyococcus which grow on surfaces). Botulism is rare, but deadly. Cancer is also deadly, but not rare. Nitrosamines are carcinogenic, but they are not formed in lab rat quantities in slow-cooked meats (they do form at high temperatures). I'm going to use Prague Powder #1 in the brine for that lamb sirloin to smoke cook today...one ounce per gallon, half an ounce here... A cup of brown sugar, a quarter cup of kosher salt, and a quarter cup of bottled lemon juice (not concentrated) into a half gallon of water. The lamb sirloin is thin, so I won't bother with a brine pump, the liquid will find its way where it needs to go with a few strategic piercings and help from a vacuum (in a container, it cuts down the time to an hour or two). Oh...a while back I bought some Lapsang Souchong tea, egged-on by the "distinctive smoky flavor" description on the box. The smell is nice, and smoky as promised. It's not anything I am driven to brew again, though it might be nice as a kicker in some straightaway southern sweet tea - maybe one bag of that to 3 Luzianne for a gallon. Now it occurs to me to put some in the brine. I'll just use one of those iced-tea appliances, godchildren of Mr. Coffee, since the brine needs to be cold anyway and add the other ingredients to that. Not too strong, of course, just a whisp. Tea-cured lamb...my taste buds are breaking into song! 6:02:29 AM    comment []

Yesterday, I added an email address to my Road Runner account just to handle the deluge of email coming because of this blog (notice the darkgoldenrod...there is not a suitable emoticon for irony (ironicon?), so I chose a color. Goldenrod makes people sneeze, a good enough reason to try it. When I noticed it matched one of the primary thematic colors at Slate, it was a "done deal"). Blogs are borderline passe anyway, hovering on the line between passe and "too early for retro chic". That's the main reason I started one.Listening to tech nation (showing oringinating August 13) last Saturday, I learned that Rebecca Blood had written a book about blogging. That was inspirational at first, but now I realize it means the phenomenom has gone to seed. Seems like it was only months ago some magazine had a "geek quiz" and I was the only one to know what a blog was (it was a bonus question, and they deducted points if you knew), even though I was clueless on far too many of the other questions. Anyway, the real reason for the added email address is spam avoidance - and if that mailbox fills up with (insert evil thought here) crap, it's off to hotmail. Kinda like the old football maxim: "Three things happen when you pass and two of them are bad". Old football maxims.... You can reach me at paulh300@nc.rr.com 5:02:45 AM    comment []