Mike Nolan
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The stock is in the cooling stage now, then I'll strain out the aromatics and chill it overnight to separate out any remaining fat. I should get 12-14 quarts of stock from 2 chickens, normally I get 4-5 quarts from one chicken.
I plan to start using it by making a batch of potato leek soup, probably tomorrow or Friday.
Wound up making pepper steak stir fry for supper. Chicken stock still going, I'm trying a different process, based on the one in Rachael Mamane's book "Mastering Stocks and Broths". It is a bit more time-consuming.
I'll be making a Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake tonight for the Halloween feast at my wife's office tomorrow.
Today I'm making a large batch of chicken stock, probably 10+ quarts.
I made Veal Marsala this evening, which we had over toast.
I can well imagine he's happy to be home, hope you're holding up well, as your caregiver duties probably just increased.
They were pretty good, too. A whole breast, skin on, with a cherry sauce and some onion strings (that I thought were possibly unnecessary.)
Some of the sites that talk about white striping are a bit alarmist, I'm not planning to stop buying chicken, though I try to stay away from the super-breasts when possible.
Also, see this post on white striping in chicken breasts, which is increasingly common, especially in the really large breasts.
There are several membranes in chicken breasts, which are actually several different muscles, and there are usually membranes in between muscle groups in warm blooded animals. In beef, these are the 'silver skins' that I try so hard to peel or cut off before roasting meat.
Some of them can get noticeably thicker as the bird grows, especially the one between the breast and the tenderloin or 'chicken finger'.
Recently I've been making turkey tenderloins rather than buying deli turkey, which is way too salty, and there's a rubbery membrane in the middle of most of them.
How big was the breast? Some of the super-breasts tend to be a bit rubbery when cooked. (I've seen some that were nearly 2 pounds!)
Lowering the cooking temperature (usually from 375 to 350 for me) and making sure the surface stays moist seems to help. I also like to add a little acid, such as lemon juice or white wine.
I tend to avoid the festivals, and even stopped going to the Nebraska State Fair, which then moved from Lincoln to Grand Island. We went to the Lancaster County Fair last year, but not this year.
I was thinking of going apple picking at one of the local u-pick orchards last weekend, but then we got 3 inches of snow last Sunday. If they're still open, I might try to go tomorrow, though I've got a plumber coming to replace a leaky outdoor faucet. If they're still open next week I might go then, assuming the weather doesn't turn cold again. I've still got enough frozen pie filling from last year to make a half dozen pies, so I'm not desperate.
I wonder if she's making pie dough or using packaged dough, I think it would be difficult to cut my butter crusts into strips that thin and still be able to work them into those designs.
I'm making a meat loaf, with mushrooms and black beans.
I've only made Boston brown bread a couple of times, both times it came out pretty solid and easy to slice. (I made it in a ring mold, not in a mason jar, though.) I would think adding flour might make it more crumbly, but it might have been undercooked.
I made a double batch of banana nut mini-muffins, which is about the most I can make in a 4 1/2 quart mixer bowl. It made about 12 dozen mini muffins plus 3 cupcake-sized ones to use up the last of the batter. I froze most of them.
My wife likes a crisp exterior crust on muffins, so what I do is bake them until they're golden brown, about 22 minutes for mini-muffins, take them out of the pan and let them cool a little, then throw them back in the oven for about 5 minutes.
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