What I learned today

Is it just the appearance of the pesto or did freezing/thawing affect the texture or flavor, too?

Curry leaves also go dark green to near black when frozen. It probably has something to do with ice crystals rupturing the chloroplasts in the plant cells.

-Paul W.

I did not like the appearance and the texture did change, I smelled it but did not taste it. I could smell the parsley and walnut, but not so much basil.

[Jenise]

Today I learned that this device exists:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/pi ... ame=sp_atf

It was shared in a wine forum where someone started a thread about kitchen "gadgets". An American who has lived in the Netherlands for 30 years described owning this item as a way of producing fruit juice. I know it can be used for other things, but this he said is why how they use it. So yeah, steamed/cooked fruit juice. I'm perplexed about that.

I have to do some research about that fruit steamer set up. Have never come across such a thing.
What I learned today on investigating something I had never seen in an egg before is that a very tight and somewhat cloudy albumin is a sign of super freshness. It was a farm fresh egg and I was concerned at first but the albumin was very tight, always a sign of freshness and yolk looked normal and there was no smell. The white was a uniform slight cloudiness throughout. It is caused by carbon dioxide in the whites not yet dispersing through the shell and said to be desirable by chefs as an indication of superior freshness. Another cause might be that they have been frozen, as might occur in a cold coop overnight. Although I am now in Wisconsin it hasn't reached freezing overnight in June for some years

[Jenise]

Had no idea, Christina. I think, though, that I try not to look very hard at eggs other than to fish out that ugly little cord when making scrambled eggs.

I had a proverbial moment the other night. I was making a caprese salad for dinner, of which I have no one right way of making. I had three firm tomatoes of different colors and sizes but the flavors weren't very developed, so I decided to slice them into narrow crescents and marinate them with salt and EVOO a bit before arranging with cheese and basil, of which I have a pot of fresh growing on my kitchen counter. And here's how my thoughts went: I'll add black pepper since I'm using fresh basil, but wait when I make this at other times without fresh basil I used dried French basil from Penzey's which is very peppery, hey why don't I skip the pepper, add dried basil to my marinade and then load up on the fresh basil at service anyway--why does it have to be one or the other?

So that's what I made. OMG. Best caprese ever. Dried basil (as long as its Penzey's French) PLUS fresh basil. FANTASTIC.

Had no idea, Christina. I think, though, that I try not to look very hard at eggs other than to fish out that ugly little cord when making scrambled eggs.

The chalaza (Greek name remains unchanged), which attaches the yolk to the amniotic membrane, which in turn lines the eggshell.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I call it the umbilical cord, which I presume is the same thing. Is it?

I call it the umbilical cord, which I presume is the same thing. Is it?

Woo hoo, I can answer that! For once...

And the answer is: nope. The chalaza doesn't transport anything (blood, nutrients, hopes and dreams). It's just there to hold the yolk in place and keep it from banging around inside the shell.

And that's no yolk

[Jenise]

That makes me feel slightly better, Tom, thanks. But it's still ugly.

That makes me feel slightly better, Tom, thanks. But it's still ugly.

Lol. I'm guessing you don't eat sea slugs either, then.

[Jenise]

F*ck no.

Sea Slugs, there is such a thing? Now I know why I was never a fan of swimming in the ocean. Our local lakes, which there are many, and swimming pool is good enough for me!
OK, I just looked them up, some are very pretty, but hopefully not edible.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sea+slu ... e&ie=UTF-8

Sea slugs, like their land-based counterparts, are shell-less gastropod mollusks--snails without the shell. The maritime ones aren't slimy like the terrestrial slugs. I've seen them in Bermuda and I assume they occur in the warmer parts of the US Atlantic coast as well. I've never heard of them being eaten, but I'm sure it's been done in China. Consider it escargot, winkles, or whelks without the bother of the shell.

As a culinary term 'sea slug' generally means the cylindrical echinoderms usually called sea cucumbers. These are pretty commonly eaten, after being salted and dried, in coastal China and as a banquet delicacy inland. Virginia Lee and Craig Claiborne include a recipe for stir-fried sea slugs (sea cucumbers) in The Chinese Cookbook. Claiborne observes, "No ingredient in the Chinese repertoire appeals less to the Western palate than the sea slug or sea cucumber." All of the recipes in that book show two recipe yields: "Chinese servings"--assuming you will be serving the dish in the Chinese manner along with several others--and "Western servings"--assuming you will be serving it as a main course with a couple of side dishes. Typically you'll see something like "8 Chinese servings, 4 Western servings". For the sea cucumber dish it says, "8 Chinese servings, 64 Western servings".

-Paul W.

That makes me feel slightly better, Tom, thanks. But it's still ugly.

I don't mind eels
Except at meals
And the way they feels.

Ogden Nash, "The Eel"

-Paul W.

For the sea cucumber dish it says, "8 Chinese servings, 64 Western servings".

Ha!

A friend tells a story about sea cucumber: He was traveling for work, and is of an adventuresome bent, so, one day, in Seoul, he put himself on the subway, got off a few stops later, and walked around whatever nabe he was in. At dinner time, he found a restaurant. It had the menu written on wooden boards, up on the wall, all in Korean, of course. His usual method was to find somebody already eating something and, if it looked good, he'd point to their plate. But he was alone in the restaurant so he just picked a board at random.

The woman takes out two brownish ocean-floor-dweller-looking things and two bowls. She cut into the slugs, revealing a bright orange interior. She scoops the orange interior into one bowl and cuts the rest into rings and puts them in the second bowl.

At this point, my friend considers his options and, privately, settles for, "just let her cook them."

Of course, she does no such thing. She seasons the two bowls with vinegar and a few other condiments and serves them.

I don't recall whether he liked either dish. I suppose it's an anti-climax after watching the prep.

That makes me feel slightly better, Tom, thanks. But it's still ugly.

I don't mind eels
Except at meals
And the way they feels.

Ogden Nash, "The Eel"

-Paul W.

Haha! Love ol' Ogden

[Jenise]

At this point, my friend considers his options and, privately, settles for, "just let her cook them."

Of course, she does no such thing.

Hilarious. Just think of all the really good Korean dishes he could have been lucky enough to randomly select, but he got that. I'd have left money on the table and made a run for it.

Jenise's recent posting mentioned two pork loin pieces that had been packaged together for the freezer and were now frozen together into one lump. I make jambalaya a lot and that means using a lot of tasso (Cajun hot ham). North Country Smokehouse in Claremont, NH makes excellent andouille and tasso. I can get the andouille in my local supermarket but I have to order the tasso online. So I order a lot of it at a time, cut it into the ~1/2-pound pieces needed for jambalaya, then freeze it. Last time I did this I put 2 or 3 hunks of tasso per freezer package, and I've had a hell of a time prying them apart.

Lesson learned. Next time each hunk of tasso goes in its own freezer bag.

-Paul W.

Could you package like they do pancetta when you buy it...they put strips of paper in-between each slice. Would that work?

I'm not sure that would work. Unless you use wax paper, it will freeze to the meat on either side of the paper. And getting the paper unstuck from the meat might be messy/difficult. But individually wrapping the meat chunks in plastic would work, I think. I personally don't mind bagging them separately--the bags freezer bags are cheap and reusable.

-Paul W.

Yes, I should have said wax paper. I have used that with success.
I bought a package of flour tacos last week and I cannot separate them without causing holes in the one I want out. I wonder if they were packed while still warm?

Not that I learned it today but am reminded of something that I knew but disregarded. Do not put winter squash seeds in the compost. I have volunteer squash coming up everywhere the compost was distributed, primarily around base of fruit trees. Some volunteer things I don't yet recognize but look like possibly in the brassica family. Leaving those to be surprised
I have let a few squash grow and they are sprawling all over the grass with huge fragile flowers. Too fragile to fry but I might try layering them with seasoned bread crumbs or rice and baking them under some type of sauce. I need to think on that OR rip out the plants before I can't bear any more blossoms.

[Jenise]

Isn't it funny the things we know/knew but only realize we did when it's too late? Happens more and more these days.

Christina,

My dad similarly learned the hard way not to throw tomatoes in the compost heap. He had raised hybrid steak tomatoes one summer. The next year he had volunteer tomato plants everywhere he had spread the compost. They produced tomatoes of every shape and size, from beefsteak-like down to tiny cherry tomatoes. He left most of them to grow where they were but had to weed out some of them where they were crowding out other things he'd planted.

-Paul W.