What I learned today

I have recurring issue with radishes that start out fresh and crisp going soft, sometimes within a day or two in the fridge. Any suggestions?

Last week I learned that while a Harissa rub looks pretty on an uncooked chicken, it does nothing for the cooked chicken skin. It was a super moist, flavorful chicken, and I could taste the Harissa in each bite. The skin was soft and unedible for my taste. It had lemon juice, rose harissa, and various spices. I wonder what I could add next time to enable a crispy skin. Smoked paprika, perhaps, honey?

I have recurring issue with radishes that start out fresh and crisp going soft, sometimes within a day or two in the fridge. Any suggestions?

That seems strange Bill, are they picked from your garden? I buy my radishes at both Farmer's Market and grocery store and put them in a small plastic, open container in the crisper drawer. They last two to three weeks...as I usually consume them by that time. I do cut off the green stems before storing them.

Regarding harissa and crispy chicken skin,

Harissa is very moist. If the chicken skin is moist, it won't crisp up until the moisture boils off. In effect you will be steaming the skin. It sounds like, in your preparation, the chicken isn't cooked long enough for the moisture to evaporate from the harissa to let the skin dry out and crisp up.

I'd try using the harissa mixture as a marinade. Make some slits through the skin so that the marinade penetrates, then slather the chicken thoroughly with the mixture. Leave it for several hours or overnight in the fridge. Wipe off the harissa mixture to get the skin dry(ish), maybe apply a dry rub of herbs/spices and then cook the chicken.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Last week I learned that while a Harissa rub looks pretty on an uncooked chicken, it does nothing for the cooked chicken skin. It was a super moist, flavorful chicken, and I could taste the Harissa in each bite. The skin was soft and unedible for my taste. It had lemon juice, rose harissa, and various spices. I wonder what I could add next time to enable a crispy skin. Smoked paprika, perhaps, honey?

A restaurant review I once read described the skin on some chicken they were served as resembling a used condom. That came to mind when I read your note! I don't think paprika or even honey would help. More likely, oil and finishing under the broiler, or air drying prior to baking. You can accomplish the latter with a hair dryer. Seriously.

I have recurring issue with radishes that start out fresh and crisp going soft, sometimes within a day or two in the fridge. Any suggestions?

Well the cheeky answer is that you should eat them on the first day!

But, I too have had the same problem. And I'm pretty sure I've had variation within the same bunch, with some getting soft and others remaining crisp.

Curious to see if someone has an explanation.

[Jenise]

Due to his disease, my husband is losing weight without trying. I really have to pack on the calories, and it recently occurred to me that I really should be giving him three meals a day even if I only eat two or even just one. And last week, having extra fresh crab on hand, it occurred to me to try to work that into a breakfast dish for him. An omelet maybe, or that dish I only know as 'baked eggs', and not from personal experience but from some long ago offhand mention of same by some celebrity chef, wherein eggs are cracked into a dish of cream, herbs are added and the whole is baked, would be a great use of that crab. No recipe required, just common sense: and he loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Made that dish for him twice last week and then again today, though sans crab I pivoted into Italian with tomato jam, parmesan and basil. It's a perfect dish for the toaster oven and I've been experimenting with time/temperature. One thing I've worked out over three cooks is that not only do I not need to wait for the toaster oven to heat up, it's better that I don't. The upper element is what creates the heat desired during the warm up phase, and that actually sets the tops of the eggs while everything else catches up. So straight into a cold toaster oven with ingredients cold from the fridge, 12 minutes at 400F is getting a great result. Next I'll try 11 minutes, and so forth. Important thing is no matter the texture of the yolk, the whites are thoroughly cooked.

And what I learned today after posting a picture of same in a French food group I participate in on Facebook, is that in Europe this dish is known as 'shirred eggs'. I've known the name but not being an egg eater I was never curious enough to find out what it was about. And the French call it Oeufs in Cocotte (correct my spelling if needed), though they usually bake it in a bain marie.

Tonight the other half of the flank steak that I stir-fried with snow peas will become Sichuan dry-fried beef.

-Paul W.

...eggs are cracked into a dish of cream, herbs are added and the whole is baked, would be a great use of that crab. No recipe required, just ... 12 minutes at 400F is getting a great result.

Sounds great on all fronts! I'll have to see about trying it out myself: I love breakfast foods but almost never have the oomph in the morning to make breakfast.

[Jenise]

I am definitely not a breakfast eater, Jeff, but this dish is so beautiful in that perfect French way I wish I almost wish I were. Cool thing is: two minutes of prep work max and 12 minutes in a toaster oven gets you a restaurant-worthy meal. Do your prep, pop it in the oven, take a shower, and it's ready when you get back.

That dish reminded me of a cooking show I followed with Laura Calder...I loved that show. Her recipes were French-inspired, simple and always flavorful. I really miss that show, wonder what happened to her?

Catching up on some of the recent posts. I became familiar with eggs en cocottte because a friend has a huge collection of the ceramic cups with metal rim to which a lid attaches. They are then cooked in a bain marie and she is able to serve a huge number of people a very elegant breakfast with perfectly cooked eggs. However the Jenise method is brilliant. No lid, no water bath and perfectly cooked top and surround. Now who wants to buy a lot of cocottes? The cooking utensil not the other kind

[Jenise]

Karen, Laura Calder's show was produced in Canada. I too watched it on the Food Network, and enjoyed it. She was one of the last real chefs shown there. Then along came Rachel Ray followed by Guy's game shows. I haven't watched the Food Network since.

Speaking of TV chefs one of the most famous chefs in America, and we're talking Top Chef Masters here with a lot of restaurants, started hitting on me on Facebook last week. I kid you not.

Christina, thanks for the compliment. It's just proof of what can happen when you feel your way through something, knowing nothing. I've been using gratin dishes. Years and years ago on my one and only foray into the Big Lots store in this town, which may have gone out of business during Covid, I found these wonderful, modern/sleek solid off-white thick walled pots--all things gratin and ramekin--there. Famous maker. Corning maybe? Like $1 each. Small oval gratin, large oval gratin, ramekin, large baking dish suitable for dinner for two with lid--gorgeous stuff. I had no particular plan for them but they were too gorgeous (exactly my style and color) to pass up at the price. And the small oval gratin couldn't be more perfect for these eggs.

I mentioned some apple varieties in another thread. Tolman Sweet and Stayman Winesap. I was under the impression that the Tolman was well known because when I moved to Wisconsin an apple orchard featuring many older varieties had many Tolman Sweets because they were so popular. It was the favored apple for pie, again shape holding and taste, more sweet than the Pippin.
My MIL was a terrific pie baker and if she couldn't get Tolmans she settled for Greenings
Here's some info. https://www.outonalimbapples.com/varieties/tolman-sweet I guess it is rare and certainly I've never seen it at any other market.
When I planted the trees 17 years ago it was with purpose to have apples not found at the markets. In fact these are not found in any local orchard anymore.
The Staymen Winesap is a superior eating apple. Extremely crisp, beautiful deep burgundy red color and very good keeper it matures later than the others. Thank God because I couldn't handle all at once.
They all have been producing better since we added the Golden Delicious as pollinator.

[Jenise]

Christina, my other favorite childhood apple was a Winesap. I don't know one Winesap from another, but they were a pretty purple-ish dark red outside with very white flesh with a few red veins running through them. Very sweet but just as tart--the 'wine' comparison was apt. Oh, and we bought them at a regular supermarket. No Winesap I've had here in Washington comes anywhere close in appearance and flavor. And such as they are they only shop up at like the Food Coops who dare bring in unusual apples, where supermarkets only show the usual suspects. Very annoying.

Oh, I also loved Red Delicious. But they were picked green and streaky, which an apple grower told me was the proper ripeness for them. Modern growers let them get overripe for that uniform red color that consumers these days expect.

[Jenise]

Today I learned the word "nutritarian". Dietarily, it is what I now aspire to. That means I'm about to get boring.

[Jenise]

I've been trying to cut back on salt. Yesterday, as an experiment, I went salt-free for the day. Dinner was a broiled chicken breast with asparagus.

Conclusion? Lower salt I can do. Salt free? Kill me now.

Conclusion? Lower salt I can do. Salt free? Kill me now.

Agreed.

That's my attitude towards salt as well. I use it sparingly and I'm certainly not one of those folks who shake a large amount of salt over their food at table without even tasting it first.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, that's the way to go. I like salt but am increasingly bothered by amounts I don't think I'd have objected to five years ago, particularly on snack foods of the type I don't buy anyway but run into at OPH (other people's houses), and deli meats. I commented to Bob the other day that I would appreciate a low salt potato chip simply because I think I'd appreciate the flavor more. I think my system has naturally changed. Maybe it's an aging thing, although I'm reminded that in my lifetime my grandmother's favorite foods went from enchiladas, chicken chow mein and pot roast to salt, sugar and grease. Can't account for the grease except for the fact that it seems to come with the other two, but it stands to reason that the more sugar she craved, possibly for energy, the more salt she needed for flavor. I seem to be heading the other direction.

But what I learned yesterday: I'm not going to buy black cod (aka sable fish and butter fish) anymore. Friends served some last week and I couldn't finish my portion. It seemed so greasy, but I attributed that in part to their preparation (marinated, then barbecued). Last night I pan fried two pieces that were simply painted on one side with miso. Used to love that. But last night I hated the texture. I have always preferred non-oily fish like halibut, and I guess that's what I need to stick to.

Today I learned the word "nutritarian". Dietarily, it is what I now aspire to. That means I'm about to get boring.

Jenise, years ago when I had some weight to lose, I went to Weight Watchers with a friend. I learned there that diets do not work and I fully agree. One must change their lifestyle, and that includes the way one eats. One must learn to eat healthy, and how to cook healthy. We can actually eat anything we want but in moderation. I started watching people in restaurants, especially those who looked fit. One thing I learned was that some women would order dinner and ask for a takeaway box to be brought out with the food. When the food arrived, they took out what they felt proper, and ate the rest. I loved that approach because around here most restaurants serve way too much food. I eat mostly the Mediterranean way. I cook what I want but have very little bad fat to none. I eat small amounts, but a lot of veggies and fruit. I love potato chips and always have a small bag of my favorite here, but only eat three to four chips. I buy the mixed bag of chocolate candy bars in the mini size and eat ONE of those when I crave chocolate.
Since Gene passed away and I do not have 2 gallons of ice cream in the freezer or need to make cookies for him, or have to cook high-calorie foods to keep weight on him, I started dropping weight immediately...I was amazed. I no longer crave the sweets I used to. I stay away from temptation as much as possible. I discovered a ciabatta bread that I love, an almost flat loaf, full of holes and I cut it very thin when I need a bread fix, put on a sun-dried tomato topper and I am happy.
Weight Watchers also said we do not need to give up the foods we love, but we do have to give up how much of it we eat. I love that way of thinking...it just makes sense.

Jenise, regarding your apparent decrease in salt tolerance, it might not be you. Commercial snack foods have become saltier and saltier over the years. Lay's used to be my go-to potato chip. Then one day I noticed the words "New improved taste" on one corner of the bag. I thought, "I've got a bad feeling about this." I was right--there was so much salt on the chips that I found them almost inedible. I switched over to Utz potato chips, which have a lot less salt.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Karen, WW is right/wrong. Diets do work, but fad diets are stupid because keeping the weight off long term does yes require lifestyle changes. I'm in the same boat you were, needing to keep Bob's weight up while trying to reduce my own. And I'm doing it, but thank goodness I know how to cook and have a good understanding of nutrition. People who live on storebought food would be in big trouble faced with our set of problems.

I'm not a binger but unlike you, I can't eat just four potato chips.

Jenise, the fad diets are what WW was referring to. their programs are proven to work and most doctors refer folks to WW. In fact, they are great and I was stunned the very first week on started on WW, I dropped ten pounds...a lot of water weight but still enough to make a difference. The whole idea is to learn to take and keep weight while still enjoying the foods you love. I'm so thankful I love to cook, and when someone says, "I don't cook" I always have to say, "how do you eat?" I learned a lot about food science, and it was there that I really learned to love a wide array of vegetables. Even though I grew up within families who had huge gardens, I was the typical kid. I did not know how wonderful they were.