Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: What’s your 2016 Thanksgiving Menu? #5639
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Ham has more carbs than do some other types of proteins, like beef or chicken. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

      in reply to: What’s your 2016 Thanksgiving Menu? #5636
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        These days we seem to have to choose between a ham slice or a spiral sliced ham, both fully cooked. The spiral sliced ham is really too much for the two of us. Ham is higher in carbs than other proteins, probably due to sugar-curing, so we haven't had much ham lately.

        Is your oven totally non-functional at this point, or could you use an oven thermometer to reheat a fully-cooked ham?

        I'll make the pie dough tomorrow night and make the pie Wednesday evening, which is also when I'll check to make sure the turkey breast is fully thawed. Dinner's at 5 or later, so I don't have to start cooking at an ungodly hour. When I was a boy, my grandmother used to do two seatings for Thanksgiving dinner, one at 11AM for her relatives from Iowa and another one at 1:30 for the local family, including us, after my grandfather closed the drug store for the day. She'd start one turkey cooking on Wednesday and a second one at 5AM on Thursday. And these were 18-22 pound behemoths!

        in reply to: Martha Stewart Rolls & Biscuits #5623
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          You'd think she could have narrowed it down a bit.

          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            You need the collagen/gelatin in bones and cartilage in order to make adequate stock (I never make chicken broth), and I've found that the 'secret ingredient' is parsnips, if I leave them out the stock is bland.

            If I find hind quarters on sale, sometimes I'll brown them in the oven and make brown chicken stock, discarding the meat afterwards, but usually I use a whole chicken (without the giblets) plus any bones that I've saved up from when I debone breasts.

            I wish I could find an expensive source for chicken backs, though. I"m not paying $1.99 a pound for them and the online sources all seem to be for pet food and are labeled not for human consumption. One of these days I'm going to contact the Smart Chicken folks in Tecumseh NE to see if they'll sell me a 40 pound box of chicken backs from their cut-up chicken production line. Tecumseh NE is only about a 30 minute drive from here.

            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I tried what I think is a significant improvement on my Chicken Mirepoix recipe, topping it with fontina cheese and sauteed mushrooms and red peppers.

              in reply to: What Did You Bake the Week of November 13, 2016? #5615
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I made another Celebration Challah, it came out about as nice as the one I posted a photo of a few weeks ago. We took it to a dinner party and brought maybe half of it back home, so I'm looking forward to a little French Toast.

                in reply to: Dinner roll recipes in WSJ #5599
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  The question still remains, what kind of baking powder are they using, does it use aluminum or not?

                  in reply to: Restaurants rediscovering whole wheat bread #5596
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    It may depend on when and where the chef/baker was trained. Some cooking and baking schools were late to the party on 'rediscovering' whole wheat breads. The artisan bread movement started in small bakeries and home kitchens.

                    I was interested in his $6000 flour mill, which looks like it is made of wood, I wonder if it was custom made?

                    in reply to: Ina’s Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits #5587
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      Many sea salts are naturally high in iodine and other trace minerals. Himalayan sea salt is said to be especially high in iodine. (There's the makings of a joke there.)

                      in reply to: Ina’s Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits #5586
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        Foods other than seafood that are said to be rich in iodine include:

                        Navy Beans
                        Bananas
                        Strawberries
                        Turkey
                        Milk and milk products, including yogurt and cheese
                        Prunes
                        Eggs
                        Green Beans
                        Corn
                        Potatoes (especially baked, other forms of cooking may leach the iodine out)

                        However, fruits and vegetables may not be as high in iodine if not grown in iodine-rich soils.

                        Source: http://bembu.com/iodine-rich-foods

                        in reply to: Ina’s Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits #5579
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          Followup: This article seems to suggest that most processed foods do not use iodized salt.

                          NIH article

                          Perhaps the most useful information in this article is the sentence that notes that if a food manufacturer uses iodized salt, it must list it as iodized salt on the list of ingredients.

                          in reply to: Ina’s Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits #5578
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I'm not sure whether prepared foods use iodized salt or not, either. I might have to make some inquiries.

                            I grew up in a small town in NW Illinois in the 50's and 60's, farmers with goiters were not unusual, especially among those who mostly ate 'off the farm' all year long.

                            in reply to: What’s your 2016 Thanksgiving Menu? #5576
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              Sams brands vary over time and possibly by region, it's usually who they can cut deals with. (A company I used to work with dealt with both WalMart and Sams, the folks in Benton Arkansas are tough negotiators, a point they drive home in the sales rep waiting area, where there's a coffee vending machine rather than free coffee.)

                              Sams used to carry Cabot cheeses here, now they have Tilamook cheeses. They're good cheeses (we even took a tour of the Tilamook plant in Oregon years ago), but the Tilamook cheeses at Sams don't include a low-fat cheddar and the Cabot cheeses did.

                              in reply to: Ina’s Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits #5569
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I believe the only advantage that kosher salt has over ordinary table salt is that it isn't iodized (some chefs claim the iodine has a bitter taste), but you can buy non-iodized table salt.

                                Most of us get so much salt from other sources these days that we probably don't need to worry about an iodine deficiency, I know several doctors who went through their entire medical training without once seeing a patient with a goiter, one result of iodine deficiency.

                                I have a sea salt grinder by the stove that I use when cooking, though I use ordinary iodized table salt when baking.

                                in reply to: What’s your 2016 Thanksgiving Menu? #5567
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  According to the food historians, the original recipe for Alfredo sauce used just Parmesan Reggiano cheese, very slowly heated so that it doesn't break. Cream was added by other chefs both because it's cheaper than Parmesan Reggiano and because it makes the recipe less likely to fail.

                                  I've never used egg in an Alfredo sauce, though I do use cream. I actually prefer using a 4 cheese blend (parmesan, romano, asiago and provolone), Sams Club sells an excellent blend.

                                  My wife used to order the Crab Alfredo at Red Lobster, but they discontinued it for a while, and when they brought it back it had garlic in it.

                                  My usual rant about using garlic where it DOES NOT BELONG goes here.

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