Mike Nolan
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I'm making the Swiss Steak recipe today, smells good.
If you don't remove the breast bone when you spatchcock a bird, you should at least crack it so the bird lays flatter.
I haven't cooked stuffing inside a bird in years. I will stuff a goose with a mixture of apples, lemons, brandied prunes and almonds (as recommended by James Beard), and I've done that with turkey and chicken as well, but that's to flavor the meat and the juices, not to eat.
I've deboned a chicken a few times, then stuffed it, but that doesn't really count, since it cooks much faster without the bones. It's also kind of fun to be able to just cut off a slice of chicken and dressing at the table. Some years ago I made a turducken by deboning both a chicken and a duck and partially deboning a turkey, that was a lot of work, especially the duck. Duck bones are large and long.
The chef who taught the course I took on deboning a chicken said that he used to have to debone Cornish game hens, he got to the point where he could do them in about 2-3 minutes each.
I made a batch of banana nut mini-muffins last night.
I'm not sure what the point to air-drying the chicken for that long is, and it does appear to be optional. Personally, I think the juices in a bird are part of what makes the broth so flavorful.
My son likes to spatchcock a turkey, he says it cuts the cooking time at least in half, which means the meat is more evenly cooked.
While we wait to see if we actually get any snow tonight (the original forecast was 3-5 inches, it's been downgraded more than once already; we're getting some freezing mist but I don't think it's actually snowing yet), we had spaghetti and cheese toast for supper.
I'm baking Vienna bread tonight.
We're both recovering from colds, so we had chicken soup.
This is what I do for pulled pork using pork shoulder in a slow cooker, but it should work in the oven as well.
Put the pork shoulder in a pot that isn't too much bigger than it is. Add a half cup of Worcestershire and then fill the pan with apple juice until the shoulder is fully covered. Cook (probably at 350) until falling-apart tender.
Tuna on biscuits here, my wife wanted 'something to warm her up'.
I made an eye of round roast for supper, with mashed potatoes and a salad.
It's in the high 20's here, we picked up somewhere around 9 inches of snow since yesterday afternoon, looks like it should end here in the next hour or two, just light flurries now.
I'm making a batch of custard this morning.
Steak and potatoes here, with sauteed mushrooms.
Earlier today I baked two turkey tenders, I'll slice them up for turkey sandwiches for lunch for the next several days.
Making sure there's only as much light as you need is why we went with 3 banks of lights that can be controlled separately, the inner bank is over the island and is the one we use the most when working in the kitchen, the two outer banks are together. The under-counter lights are on an infrared sensor, so they come on automatically in the morning and evening. (Lights in most of the rooms, including the master suite, are also on sensors, we had one of the first home automation systems installed in Lincoln NE, back in 1996.)
We have a 48" dual fuel range and went with a full-sized range hood with two lights and warming lamps. We almost never use the warming lamps, though. When you turn the fan all the way up, it has a pretty strong draw.
I definitely recommend going with the best range hood you can. Make sure it's properly vented to the outside.
Good range hoods have grease baffles that you can take off and clean. We just throw them in the dishwasher every year or so. There are services that can clean the vent tubing if it get clogged. I checked ours a few years ago using a fiber optic inspection system, it looks fairly clean up there. (Much better than the dryer vent, which I just cleaned out with the big wet/dry vacuum.)
As to grease in the vent being a fire hazard, just don't do anything stupid. If you're flaming something, turn the vent fan off for a few minutes. My older son tend to over-do it when flaming things, he's been known to set off the smoke detector in the butler's pantry just outside the kitchen a few times, I think I've done it just once in 22 years.
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