What I learned today

[Jenise]

Coq au Vin! Now that would be a good pureed meal for my neighbor. Was thinking Chicken and Dumplings too, for another meal into which I could pack a little protein. Btw, to make this about 'learning', I can add that I've learned that dark meat purees more finely than white, which probably doesn't surprise anyone.

But what I came here to post, speaking of fowl meats: what I learned this morning is that there is an official chicken part called an 'airline chicken breast'. Some of you may be familiar but I swear I never heard of that before today--read it called for in a Food & Wine mag recipe.

Interesting about the airline chicken breast. My first high school summer job was as a prep worker at the local KFC. They don't cut up a chicken the way supermarkets do. A supermarket cut-up chicken has eight pieces--two each of leg, thigh, breast, and wing. Instead of splitting the keel and leaving half of it attached to each breast, KFC leaves the whole keel intact as a ninth piece.

-Paul W

[Jenise]

Paul--make that "used to". They did cut the breast into three pieces to make all pieces more even in size, ostensibly, but that's not been the case for years. (I love KFC and am not afraid to admit it.)

I think the advantage of the airline breast, which is cut away from the back/keel so boneless but still attached to the wing drumette (airline/wing--get it?), is that the drumette holds the skin on which is otherwise not easy if you separate the breast from the carcass. Now, take the skin off and pound the breast flat and you have a paillard. Or at least it was required circa 1970 per the Vicar's wife who taught the Cordon Bleu class I took in London. Apparently, nowadays pounding any boneless/skinless meat flat can be called a paillard, though if that's the case why do we need the word scallop/escallope?

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/04/magazine/food-pressing-the-flesh.html

[Jenise]

Trust you to find that, Jeff! Interesting, though; some of what I believed is true but other parts are not, or at least they're not in 2021 no matter what I learned, or thought I did, elsewhere. The recipes at the end of the article are interesting. I can't remember the last time I treated a chicken breast that way, and now I want it. Ditto the braciole--didn't think it would be called that if it wasn't braised.

We aim to please.

I really like pounded/flat meats as long as the cook makes sure they don't dry out. But I've had really good pork schnitzel and Milanese.

I learned this morning is that there is an official chicken part called an 'airline chicken breast'. Some of you may be familiar but I swear I never heard of that before today

Ooooh, Jenise. You just swore in vain!!

We discussed airline chicken in 2016

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57012&hilit=airline

[Jenise]

Well, so we did! I have zero recollection of that (obviously). I think Jeff G brought the most meaningful information to that conversation, though, shedding the light about the Statler cut actually being served frequently on actual airlines. It remains true that I've never seen it sold that way or called for in a recipe before last week.

Once in a great while I will see a recipe call for an 'airline chicken breast'. But it is rather uncommon.

[Jenise]

Tonight: roasted breast of well-endowed chicken. A single share-able mammory, with some stuffing made from the last of my fresh sage plant which has only weeks left to survive.

And, while Jenise is chomping on double-D chickadee, I made a lovely dressing for mushroom ravioli from pancetta, mushroom and carrot, seasoned with basil, juniper berry, and just a drop of (real) truffle oil.

I've been unable to find Mexican oregano for sale in any stores around here. Penzeys has "Mexican oregano" for sale. Does anyone out there know if this is genuine Mexican oregano or conventional oregano imported from Mexico?

-Paul W.

Paul, I can not answer your specific question. I can tell you that I have Penzey's Mexican Oregano and it is very different from the variety I grow and dry myself or the variety I buy in an Italian market in the form of dried, whole stalks. I also have Oregano Indio from Rancho Gordo which is another thing entirely. They are not interchangeable.

Thanks, Christina. Rancho Gordo sells the genuine Mexican oregano. The picture on their website looks right and their description mentions the correct scientific name for the plant, Lippia graviolens.

-Paul W.

I learned the value and utility of restaurant-quality pizza pans last night. There is a chef's supply store convenient to DH. He brought home 2 pans for the grand sum of $9+. Used one last night. Big difference in crust evenness, slices removed so easily, even tasted better. Sure beats Amazon. Plan to shop there for anything needed for the kitchen. Bet those pans last longer while looking decent.

I learned the value and utility of restaurant-quality pizza pans last night. There is a chef's supply store convenient to DH. He brought home 2 pans for the grand sum of $9+. Used one last night. Big difference in crust evenness, slices removed so easily, even tasted better. Sure beats Amazon. Plan to shop there for anything needed for the kitchen. Bet those pans last longer while looking decent.

Restaurant supply stores were favourite browsing places for me, although I never come out empty handed! Much cheaper now 8 live in a rural area and have no access to such temptations.
They selll good sturdy stufff in all sorts of sizes. Lots of fun if you are cooking obsessed.

I buy from Penzeys and yes, the Mexican oregano is very different than the Turkish Oregano.
This is a fun read...
https://www.spicesinc.com/p-3778-the-or ... xican.aspx

I also have Oregano Indio from Rancho Gordo which is another thing entirely. They are not interchangeable.

Oregano indio is the name in Spanish for two species of herb from Mexico in the genus Poliomintha. Confusingly it also goes by the name Mexican Oregano in English. It's as bad as the Thai basil situation.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Today, thanks to my brother's sleuthing, I learned that someone else on this planet had a grandmother who made the identical green Jello 'salad' that my beloved grammy brought to Thanksgiving dinner every year of her life. The recipe's actually called "Grandma's Jello salad"!

Here's a link, should you be so curious:

https://homecookingmemories.com/lime-green-jello-salad-recipe-cottage-cheese-pineapple/

I see that my Mom's total lack of interest in cooking does have a bright side.

I recently saw a meme that recommended a particularly glisten-y, "Transparent Human Body" sort of jello dessert as a way to never again be asked to bring something to a potluck.

I have a recipe called Andy's Pink Fluff using pineapple, strawberry jello, and not sure what else. It is quite good!

[Jenise]

Karen, to like that kind of thing one has to, at the outset, like Jello, which I don't, and the things generally mixed with it like Cool Whip and marshamallow, which I don't. So I'll have to take your word for that.

I knew the significance of varying butterfat content in different butters before but it was never so obvious as to make an impression. Made some clarified butter with a new brand “on special” at our local store. Fully 1/4 th of melted volume was whey and milk solids. It then dawned on me how this could wreck baked goods if not accounted for and was the reason for using a high butterfat content butter for the pie crust that was a disaster for other reasons. I wonder why most baking recipes don’t specify what butterfat content to use but suspect we will be seeing that in the future.

Well, we certainly should! Someone once suggested to me that water content in butter is a national preference kind of thing. No idea whether that's so.