What I learned today

Turkey - white meat is the common form, although tasty enough for what it is.

Dark meat is the foie gras of turkey - juicy, delicious and rarely second rate.

It is interesting that people like one or the other but rarely value both equally.

I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner by a distant relative. They cooked two turkeys. That isn't uncommon, I've done it myself. WHat is uncommon is that three of the legs from the two turkeys were thrown out. There were on two people besides myself who ate the dark meat. By the time I found this out, the legs had already been discarded.

I have a small pork tenderloin marinating in Gochujang, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, local honey, lots of garlic, and fish sauce. This will be roasted surrounded by cabbage wedges, drizzled with a little butter and sesame oil, which have gotten a head start in the oven on high heat, pork will be added later and with luck, I will get a nice char on the cabbage and a perfectly cooked tenderloin.
Not sure of a side yet, but a recipe in my binder for Yukon Gold potatoes cooked with fresh rosemary and garlic-infused olive oil caught my eye.
Feeding one mouth instead of two means I need to check my available food to see what NEEDS to be used up, and not always what I feel like cooking. Today, it was the cabbage.

Sorry, posted in the wrong place...AGAIN

Today I learned that some days you just cannot do anything right.

I planned a simple-seeming menu -- two 1.5" strip loins, a big bunch of pan-fried fingerlings with garlic and rosemary, and some mixed sauteed vegetables. Nothing conceptually hard here except that (A) it's a lot of plates and pans: half a dozen vegetables cut, the two steaks prepared differently, potatoes parboiled then returned to the pan, bottles/jars/butter standing around waiting to be used; and (B) the steaks can't be done together and each one requires 3-4 touches.

So, I reach for a measuring cup and accidentally knock a shot-glass off the shelf. It hits the granite counter-top and shatters into a zillion pieces. I move everything from one side of the counter to the other, rinsing off every item as it goes past the faucet. (I still missed a few shards among the chopped vegetables and throw them away *after* having made and served them.)

Later, I've gotten one steak ready to come out of the oven while the second one goes in. I move the ready steak to a cutting board to apply butter and rest. I then think better of leaving its now-empty pan in a 500*F oven -- could be a lot of work later to get the fat off it -- so I use a mitt and bring it to the stove-top. It's big and it's hot and my stove-top is crowded under the best of circumstances so I rest it between two burners.

The moment I take my hand off it, it slides forward into the pan with the potatoes and sends it crashing to the floor. Nothing broke this time but a lot of hot potatoes (and garlic and rosemary) went skittering across the floor. As the cook, I will occasionally eat a piece of food that has, ahem, left the pan inadvertently. But not a whole serving of potatoes, way more than the 5-second rule(!) to pick up, and there are probably still glass shards down there....

There were two other minor mishaps, too.

Haven't had a day this clumsy in a long time.

Bleh.

I feel your pain. Some days are like that.

I had an interesting, first-time-for-me boo-boo while cooking p'sketti for my wife last night. I put the strands into boiling water and fanned them out, letting them soften so I could bend them completely under the water. I turned my attention elsewhere for a minute or so, and when I turned back, the ends of the strands had burned and turned black from the heat coming up the side of the pan.

Came out okay, though. I just broke off the black ends.

I've read that you can use a stick of dry spaghetti as a spill, if you've nothing else.

(And "p'sketti" is very funny... I think it's supposed to be little-kid speech but it mostly makes me think of older relatives who imitate little kids.)

I've read that you can use a stick of dry spaghetti as a spill, if you've nothing else.

Please explain.

[Jenise]

Jeff I had one of those days a few weeks ago. Can't remember the details except that I got so mad I finally threw the third or fourth item--essentially the only one that had not gotten damaged by other means--on the floor to join the rest. I was DONE.

Jenise, I understand. I was nearly there. It's so maddening because you're not doing anything out of the ordinary... just... nothing works right.

Larry, a spill is usually a long, skinny, twisted-up bit of heavy paper. You light one end with a match then use the spill to distribute fire to multiple places, e.g., a whole bunch of candles, several locations in kindling in the fireplace, a hard-to-reach pilot light.

That's a new word for me. I do know that a spaghetti strand on fire is good for lighting candles, etc.

Jeff,
What a great word. I didn't know it either. How did you come to know it ? Were you and Eagle Scout ??

Jeff,
What a great word. I didn't know it either. How did you come to know it ? Were you and Eagle Scout ??

I was definitely not an Eagle Scout. I made it to "Bear" as a Cub Scout and that was that.

I think I learned "spill" from my parents because we had a manual oven when I was little. Reaching way in the back with a little match always seemed unsafe somehow; the spill more comfortably protected the hairs on the back of your hand.

[Jenise]

Yesterday I learned that there's such a thing as a green Daikon radish. I'm a big big fan of watermelon radishes and purple and red daikons, but the green one is new to me. Yes it's really green, about the shape that the bigger colored daikons are coming in and a medium green shade you might call brussels sprout green. Haven't cut into it yet but the one I bought is about 6" long by 3 inches in diameter, with a blunt rounded bottom (vs. tapered).

I have a small pork tenderloin marinating in Gochujang, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, local honey, lots of garlic, and fish sauce. This will be roasted surrounded by cabbage wedges, drizzled with a little butter and sesame oil, which have gotten a head start in the oven on high heat, pork will be added later and with luck, I will get a nice char on the cabbage and a perfectly cooked tenderloin.
Not sure of a side yet, but a recipe in my binder for Yukon Gold potatoes cooked with fresh rosemary and garlic-infused olive oil caught my eye.
Feeding one mouth instead of two means I need to check my available food to see what NEEDS to be used up, and not always what I feel like cooking. Today, it was the cabbage.

I’ve never roasted cabbage but was going to try tomorrow….any thoughts?

I’ve never roasted cabbage but was going to try tomorrow….any thoughts?

Turn on oven.
Run away.

Done!

[Jenise]

Yesterday I learned that sauerkraut combined with cooked potatoes and mayo makes an excellent potato salad. Texturally interesting, and the kraut replaces the need for other vinegar. Seasoned with finely chopped onion and celery seed. YUM.

After this weeks work with rye flour specifically the bread and cookies described in the What's Cooking threads I learned not to judge too quickly....especially rye. Even though it was completely cooled before cutting the crust looked nearly burnt and was crackling. The crumb texture was very good but I thought the flavor wan. Today everything is in balance. The crust has softened a bit and is extremely flavorful melding with a more dense and smooth rye and caraway flavor in the crumb. Lesson learned....bake this rye bread at least 2 days before serving. I'm going to enjoy using this loaf now.

The roasted cabbage was excellent, roasted along with the meat and the other seasonings, the house smelled great. It was not stinky and all. Actually, I do not find the ordor of cabbage offensive, when I do it stovetop, it is usually in olive oil, a little butter, a little vinegar, or sesame oil.

Actually, I do not find the ordor of cabbage offensive, when I do it stovetop, it is usually in olive oil, a little butter, a little vinegar, or sesame oil.

I often sautee red cabbage and I wouldn't call it offensive, but it does leave a pungent aroma in the air afterwards. Nothing a bit of fresh air can't handle.

I think sauteed radishes leave some of the strongest odors (aside from usual onions and garlic), so much that I often forget I was cooking them and wonder what that foul odor might be!

I learned to be more careful when browning chicken. I splashed hot fat on the back of my right hand that left a second degree burn the size of a quarter between my third and fourth fingers. No blister--the skin came off in a sheet when I wiped the fat off. The only good thing is that the burn isn't a bit painful, at least not yet. And I'm left-handed.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Ouch, Paul! I'll bet it hurts today. Can't expose raw flesh without consequences.

Ouch. I did a similar thing but it was salmon, and between thumb and forefinger, and I'm a righty. But not as bad as yours... the skin stayed on, just hurt.

When I changed the dressing yesterday I noticed for the first time a string of blisters up the side of my middle finger, ending just above the first knuckle. The defoliated area is starting to itch a little, which is good because it means it's healing.

Paul Prudhomme cautions in his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook that hot roux is nicknamed "Cajun napalm" by his restaurant's cooks. Similarly, Joseph Carey in Chef on Fire tells the story of teaching one of his cooking classes how to prepare brown roux. While the roux was simmering in the pan one of the students decided to taste it and stuck his index finger in the roux. He immediately got a bad burn, of course, and to cool his finger off he instinctively stuck it in his mouth, thus burning his tongue and palate. Chef observed that he doesn't choose his cooking class students based on intelligence.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Cajun napalm! I like that.

Paul, do you have any of that silver-something medication on hand? It's a godsend for bad burns, and would be worth the trip to a day-clinic to get an RX.