Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Recipes for Corned beef and pastrami #13371
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      The Montreal Smoked Meat dry rub was interesting to make, as several of the spices, including mustard seed and fennel seed, had to be toasted first, and each seed took a different amount of time to toast, and smelled interesting as they toasted.

      in reply to: What are you cooking the week of September 2, 2018 #13366
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        I tend to skin bone-in breasts before cooking them, and you have to do something to keep them from getting tough on the outside. Coating them with oil isn't quite enough, coating them with a sauce (often tomato-based) or cheese seems to work better. Adding wine seems to help, too, so I've wondered whether the acid in wine or tomato sauce is what's keeping them from drying out.

        I tried covering them with cabbage leaves once, it worked well, but the cabbage leaves weren't very edible. Spinach might work better.

        in reply to: Bracing for Gordon… #13350
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          We've had rain here every day since last Friday, upwards of 8 inches so far. It's still misting today, and rain is forecast through the coming weekend as the remnants of Gordon is expected to move into eastern Nebraska.

          The Akron@Nebraska football game was called off because of thunderstorms last Saturday night, a first for Nebraska football.

          It takes a really heavy rain to dissuade the hummingbirds, though. We must have at least 30 of them visiting our feeders.

          in reply to: Recipes for Corned beef and pastrami #13341
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            I've never made pastrami, I've made corned beef a few times, none of the recipes I tried were worth repeating. The best thing I've made with a brisket is the time I tried to do a variant on Montreal Smoked Meat (without the garlic.) It was almost good enough to convince me to buy a real smoker. It bears some resemblance to pastrami.

            The pastrami at Katz's on Houston in NYC is world-famous, and for good reason. I had a friend who lived in Chelsea for a while and he would take the subway down to Katz's every few days. Later he moved to the DC area for a few months, and was ordering whole pastramis from Katz's every few months.

            in reply to: What are you baking the week of September 2, 2018? #13334
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I grew up in a small town (population 1200 then, more like 800 today) that had as many as 3 grocery stores. Today there are none, just a convenience store/gas station that seems to me to have a somewhat larger than usual section of groceries. I think the nearest real grocery store is 15 miles away.

              Two of our neighbors raised vegetables and sold them at roadside stands in the summer and fall, another baked bread and cookies that she sold to a regular clientele. Our neighbor across the street at times ran a roadside hamburger stand, when she wasn't running one of the two restaurants in town.

              The farmers markets here are too big and have too many procedures, rules and limitations, but if I lived in a small town I'd think about baking for a local farmer's market at least occasionally.

              in reply to: What are you cooking the week of September 2, 2018 #13331
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                Tomato soup and open-face fried cheese sandwiches here.

                in reply to: Hummingbird Central #13326
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  At one point this morning there were 5 or 6 hummingbirds trying to feed from one of the feeders at the same time. I got some video of 3 hummingbirds trying to feed at that feeder a few minutes later, I'm not sure how to get it off my iphone so I can post it. It's 28 seconds long but about 52 MB, most email engines won't handle files that large.

                  in reply to: Hummingbird Central #13317
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    Yes, we're in the western band of the rubythroat flyway. There are some other varieties that are seen in Colorado, but we have to be content with the rubythroat.

                    Depending on when the seasons turns, we could have some here until mid-October. Usually the peak is in mid-September, if this isn't the peak we're going to be really inundated when it get here.

                    in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of August 26, 2018? #13287
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      The tomato flood hasn't started here yet, maybe next week. My wife's appetite seems to be coming back, so we had Steak Diane for supper. (Her favorite meal, and one of mine as well.)

                      in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of August 26, 2018? #13270
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        I baked custard yesterday and today, and will probably have to make white bread soon, as I think I just took the last half-loaf out of the freezer.

                        in reply to: Reducing Saturated Fat #13269
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          When I switched from using margarine and/or shortening to using mainly butter, my serum cholesterol went down and my good/bad cholesterol ratio improved too. My doctor asked what I did to change it, I told him I started eating more butter.

                          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of August 19, 2018? #13267
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I've seen one pizzeria that puts huge basil leaves on and throws the pie under the broiler for 10 seconds, but otherwise it is usually added as the pie comes out of the oven.

                            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of August 19, 2018? #13256
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I haven't baked or cooked much in the last two weeks, today we had eggs for breakfast, toast with cheese or peanut butter for lunch and custard for supper. (My wife is essentially on the BRAT diet at the moment.)

                              in reply to: Question about Durum Flour and Semolina #13255
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I believe that semolina is not considered a whole grain product, because it's essentially just the endosperm from the durum wheat berry that isn't pulverized into a fine powder after stripping off the bran and germ. (The same thing is true with couscous.)

                                Durum flour may or may not be a whole grain flour, most of the durum flours I've seen are not whole grain flours.

                                in reply to: Reducing Saturated Fat #13254
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Recent studies suggest that dietary cholesterol has little or no impact on blood cholesterol and heart health.

                                  For example, see cholesterol study

                                  Eggs were nearly outlawed by the 'food police' over the last few decades, but it turns out they're actually good for you. It also appears that butter is better for you than most margarines.

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