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

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Monday, October 21, 2002

Look at this beauty! It is a pickle press for making Shio-Zuke. Recipes for these salt pickles are here: cucumber, eggplant, cabbage & carrot, and rice bran! How about some garlic pickled in miso? The pressure forces liquid from the pickle and salt does the rest in as little as 10 hours. Just one of many pleasant diversions encountered linking from Gohan Taberu. 9:21:58 PM    comment []

I picked out 7 apples tonight, cored and peeled them, dunked 'em in lemon juice, sliced 'em into quarter-inch rings, dunked again, then into the dehydrator. Set it at 125F so they dry slowly and don't case-harden. I'd like to maintain a little "chew" in them for use in sausages, maybe cut with a scissors into half-inch wedges to act as a moisture buffer and replace some of the fat. Eventually, the goal is a lowered-fat sausage with a variety of textures. Still, a lot of apples left... Input today: getting some chicharonnes from my friend who went to the fair. Output to him: A slab of selaed baby backs that I cured and smoked a couple of weeks ago. More output for tomorrow:  A sealed piece of smoked bluefish for my friend at work who brought me fresh filets from the catch last weekend, also the applesauce leather to share with anyone who wants some. I sifted powdered sugar on it for appearance and to eliminate much of the surface stickiness. Also, a jar of homemade applesauce for the guy who swears it is the elixir that transforms meatloaf from the ordinary to the sublime. I can almost visualize that metamorphosis, but I haven't tasted it. When food is coming in and going out, it is more fun than when money does the same. There are incoming cayenne peppers on the horizon, and I've pretty much decided that apple chutney is the appropriate response. A nice apple chutney, with rainbows of color and flavor. Something that makes my kitchen sweet with fruit aromas; edible potpourri. 6:50:01 PM    comment []

The oxtail soup made it through phase II tonight, but it's really tough to find Madeira in local grocery stores. The broth, as might be expected from marrow, had pretty much set up in the fridge overnight. Low heat brought it back to liquid form to strain the fat that remained after skimming. The bones got cleaned and discarded early this morning. All the solids got lightly pureed, but not so much as completely homogenize them. Mixed together with the stock, they'll sit in the fridge another day until I can find the Madeira. Saute Wednesday, by Bruce Cole, now featured on the right is an incredible site with Wednesday (every foodie knows that's the day the food sections cone out) links to over 40 newspapers. Great recipes liinks, food magazines, wine, food science, and dining out. A genuine food portal! 6:22:02 PM    comment []