Hey good lookin', what's cookin'?

So... anyone had any summertime cooking epiphanies, or adventures, or massive failures?

I guess I'm in a wee bit of a food slump these days.  Not that we're not eating well, or that I'm complaining, but I usually count on a handful of "game changers" a year, and I haven't really had any in a while.

I'm hoping to eat well tonight, though.  The various groceries of Chinatown always have beef ribeye for sale for $5-$6/lb.  It's basically just a 2-3lb hunk of ribeye, which you can cut into steaks of your preferred thickness, or slice thin for a stir-fry or a curry, or whatever.  I've got a nice piece of it tied off and sitting with a dry rub right now, and I'm going to barbecue it over charcoal and hardwood, and hope for a poor-man's brisket ("half the taste, one eighth the time!").  So basically, an outdoor roast beef.  Maybe a side of rice or risotto, some green beans, and maybe I'll grill a few mushrooms or whatever.  See what I mean, though?

How's your eatin' been?  Anyone latch onto some fiddleheads while they could?  Or pick asparagus?  Even a local radish would be big news at this point.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the sticker shock on those chanterelles?

I seem to recall buying some at St. Lawrence Market way back in the day, and IIRC they were on the order of $30/lb or something like that.

Nice.  In hindsight, I'm wondering if maybe they were more like $20/lb, and it was puffballs that were $30.

I can't deny, I'm very tempted by some of the offerings here. 

Ya, if you want to sell your kids on hard cider, the right time isn't "drinking age" it's "drinking age -2".  :)

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do families actually follow the drinking age now?

I could be totally wrong about this -- maybe it was nothing more than a legend -- but I've heard that minors in Ontario (at least) can consume alcohol with the blessing of a parent.  Probably not tequila shooters, but a glass of wine, or a beer after mowing the lawn (which is exactly how I came to appreciate a cold one).

So yesterday I popped into one of my favourite produce grocers in Kensington, to buy a few fingerling potatoes, and lo and behold, they had ripe jalapenos for sale for $1.99 a pound.

[IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/qzlq2f.jpg[/IMG]

They're nothing exotic, really -- just the red, ripened version of the familiar taco and pizza hot pepper -- but they're strangely hard to find, considering how much of them North Americans eat (whether they know it or not).  A ripe jalapeno, dried over a slow mesquite fire is a chipotle.  Or, puree it, mix with vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt and you have sriracha.

Mine ended up smoked, to make jam.  Cleaned, seeded and then smoked for about 90 minutes over maple, mixed with some cider vinegar, brown sugar, white sugar, some fresh garlic and salt, and pectin.  Nice with a cracker and a piece of old cheddar, or mixed with mayo for a sandwich spread, or just used straight up with roast chicken or pork, or on a burger.

As a sidebar, my hands are screaming from cleaning those peppers.  They feel like I've spent the last hour spanking a bowling ball.

Washing them does NOTHING.  :0

In fact, it was only my left hand at first (as my right hand was holding a melon baller to scoop out seeds) but when I had to wash my left hand was when the heat spread to my right, even with plenty of soap.

A smarter man than me might have put a plastic bag over his hand before starting.

The jam turned out good, though!  Smoke and fire.

Mindful of the day, I thought this thread deserved a post.

I'm thawing some breakfast links to make some basic stuffing for a basic bird.  I had originally considered stuffing it and smoking it whole, which I've never done before, but when we realized there'd be no gravy, that idea got scuttled.  So, basic roast chicken, 'taters and some kind of vegetable (TBA), and of course stuffing and gravy.

I got the chicken from my local butcher yesterday, and got there just as they were about to close.  There was one other customer in the store, a young-ish woman evidently there for a turkey.  There was only one counter staff working, so I just waited, and watched their exchange as the staff plopped a frozen, 9 pound turkey on the scale.

Customer:  you don't have any that are fresh?

Staff:  this is the last turkey I've got.

Customer:  do you think it will feed fourteen?

At this point the staff's eyes went a tiny bit wide, and she looked over at me and I just very subtly shook my head.  The customer inquired whether there might be anywhere else in the neighbourhood where she could get a fresh turkey.  The staff suggested Metro, but when I went to Metro five minutes later I noticed they didn't even have chickens left, much less any turkeys.

I definitely felt for that customer.  I'm betting she either regretted leaving her turkey-getting to the very last minute, or perhaps regretted ever offering to host the big dinner this year, but either way there was about zero chance of her finding a bird large enough to feed fourteen, or if she was lucky enough to find one, about the same meagre chance of being able to thaw it in time.  Even if she was planning to cook it today rather than yesterday, you don't thaw a 16 pounder that quickly.

If it were me, I'd have asked for fourteen Cornish Game Hens, and then gone to get some baby carrots, baby potatoes and then off home to bake up some wee pumpkin tarts for "Tiny Thanksgiving".

I'm pretty jelly.  I've always wanted to deep-fry a bird.  Or at least since the very moment someone else thought of it and proved it could be done.

Sounds to me like it would be a bit frightening at first though.  That's a lot of hot oil.  And a lot of moisture bubbling away in it.

Just out of curiousity, how much oil did it take, and how long was the turkey in for?

ed'd to add:

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Apple, raisins and pecans

If I can't make it to the store, could I just substitute a cup of trail mix?  ;)

Okay, well, I'm probably not going to go out and buy the rig tomorrow.  But I'm definitely putting this high on the bucket list.

And I'll note that if you deep-fried a french fry for 55 minutes, you'd find out where pencil lead comes from.

I'm guessing I'm too late, but if it were me I'd go with a handful of fresh (or even frozen) green peas.

So my posts on this thread could take a bit of a strange turn soon.  The other day I was running some errands in the neighbourhood and passed by a pair of houses that, over the years, have discarded a lot of good things.  That day, they were discarding this:

[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/6g90yt.jpg[/IMG]

I've always kind of wanted one but could never really justify the price.  Plus, I've always managed to deep fry, when I care enough to, in one of the woks.  But the idea of a bit of safety, a proper basket, and a thermostat sounded nice.

Anyway, I checked it out and it seemed complete.  I brought it home, scrubbed it up, and gave it a "dry run" with water in place of oil and everything checked out.  My guess is that the former owners had either bought it on a whim or been given it as a gift, and found they didn't use it.  I'd say it wasn't ever used more than three or four times.

So the other day I took it for a spin and made some french fries.  Not bad, gotta work on it.  And then I made some apple donuts.  Also not bad, but I think the fryer might be running a bit hot.  Further delicious testing required.