Jeeze it's wet here

modom (palindrome guy) said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas. It rained 19 days in
June, officially. From May 1 through June 30, the weather station at
DFW recorded 19.44 inches of rain. Ordinarily we can expect about 31
inches in a year, as I recall. One place near Fort Worth got 3 inches
in 45 minutes this afternoon, according to local TV news reports.

Mushrooms abound. Weird species, too. I saw some today that were so
bright yellow/chartreuse that I'd not be surprised to learn they were
bioluminescent. Bizarre little phallic dudes poking out of the turf
next the university's science building. Made me think.

There's moss growing on the north side of everything, and the
mosquitoes are horrible. I think they've begun seditious plotting in
the back yard, the [censored]. My vegetable patch is so sodden the
pepper plants have started keeling over.

It's a heluva way to end a two-year drought.

OBFood: I'm about to make the brine for another batch of pastrami. If
the rain lets up long enough in three days, I'll smoke the big
darling. Hell, I'll smoke it in the rain if I have to.
--

modom

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Don't forget the 800 little toads per square foot who are hopefully
eating a lot of those mosquitoes. I've got fish on my lawn from the
overflowing pond too.

Pete C.
(north of Dallas)

modom (palindrome guy) said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas.

Jehosephat!! Its Texas aint it? "~)

"Roy Jose Lorr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

modom (palindrome guy) said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas.

Jehosephat!! Its Texas aint it? "~)

Y'all eastern Texans need to take a big deep breath, face the settin' sun
and breathe out all at once. Mebbe them storms'll slide thisa way. We've had
all of 3.5 inches all year so so far. We could use a little wet from the
sky.
Edrena, in West Taxes

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

OBFood: I'm about to make the brine for another batch of pastrami. If
the rain lets up long enough in three days, I'll smoke the big
darling. Hell, I'll smoke it in the rain if I have to.

Consider making basturma, the superior Armenian precursor of pastrami
(by the way of Turkish pastirma and Romanian pastrama). As ancient as
it is, it is still very much alive and well and can even be found at
Russian restaurants in Düsseldorf. You can buy it online in the USA,
but it is expensive and the quality is uncertain. I have posted a recipe
a couple of times:
<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.food.barbecue/msg/0b064738cda431b2>.
You need time, but not all that much effort. Do not smoke it. Pastrami
is fast food, convenience food in comparison.

BTW, traditionally-made pastrami is not brined either, it is dry-cured.

Victor

Pete C. said:

Don't forget the 800 little toads per square foot who are hopefully
eating a lot of those mosquitoes. I've got fish on my lawn from the
overflowing pond too.

I've been trying to find a good food-angle on these
thumbnail-sized toads for weeks now but I just can't. I walk
through my yard and they're scattering like crickets (I have a
huge preserve in my back yard).

I've tried deep frying them and they just don't work (seriously,
I have). Between those, the grasshoppers/crickets, and the new
round of cicadas I could probably feed my family for weeks.

If I just knew how to cook them.

-sw

In article <[email hidden]>,

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas. It rained 19 days in
June, officially. From May 1 through June 30, the weather station at
DFW recorded 19.44 inches of rain. Ordinarily we can expect about 31
inches in a year, as I recall. One place near Fort Worth got 3 inches
in 45 minutes this afternoon, according to local TV news reports.

Mushrooms abound. Weird species, too. I saw some today that were so
bright yellow/chartreuse that I'd not be surprised to learn they were
bioluminescent. Bizarre little phallic dudes poking out of the turf
next the university's science building. Made me think.

There's moss growing on the north side of everything, and the
mosquitoes are horrible. I think they've begun seditious plotting in
the back yard, the [censored]. My vegetable patch is so sodden the
pepper plants have started keeling over.

It's a heluva way to end a two-year drought.

OBFood: I'm about to make the brine for another batch of pastrami. If
the rain lets up long enough in three days, I'll smoke the big
darling. Hell, I'll smoke it in the rain if I have to.
--

modom

Don't complain...
Unless of course you are flooding. Re-plant the peppers in pots for now.

I'm personally sick to death of water prices and the drought.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

In article <[email hidden]>,

Steve Wertz said:

Pete C. said:

Don't forget the 800 little toads per square foot who are hopefully
eating a lot of those mosquitoes. I've got fish on my lawn from the
overflowing pond too.

I've been trying to find a good food-angle on these
thumbnail-sized toads for weeks now but I just can't. I walk
through my yard and they're scattering like crickets (I have a
huge preserve in my back yard).

I've tried deep frying them and they just don't work (seriously,
I have). Between those, the grasshoppers/crickets, and the new
round of cicadas I could probably feed my family for weeks.

If I just knew how to cook them.

-sw

Soup.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 07:18:29 +0200, [email hidden] (Victor Sack)

Quoted message said:

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

OBFood: I'm about to make the brine for another batch of pastrami. If
the rain lets up long enough in three days, I'll smoke the big
darling. Hell, I'll smoke it in the rain if I have to.

Consider making basturma, the superior Armenian precursor of pastrami
(by the way of Turkish pastirma and Romanian pastrama). As ancient as
it is, it is still very much alive and well and can even be found at
Russian restaurants in Düsseldorf. You can buy it online in the USA,
but it is expensive and the quality is uncertain. I have posted a recipe
a couple of times:
<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.food.barbecue/msg/0b064738cda431b2>.
You need time, but not all that much effort. Do not smoke it. Pastrami
is fast food, convenience food in comparison.

I started with a brisket, not a tenderloin. And I'm not certain the
air drying process you describe would work in what appears to have
become a subtropical climate here in Cow Hill. Seriously. I've lived
in Baton Rouge. This is Baton Rouge weather. Only it's moved up near
Oklahoma for the season.

Quoted message said:

BTW, traditionally-made pastrami is not brined either, it is dry-cured.

I got the recipe from this book:
http://www.ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html

Those guys know their onions.
--

modom

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

modom (palindrome guy) said:

There's moss growing on the north side of everything, and the
mosquitoes are horrible. I think they've begun seditious plotting in
the back yard, the [censored]. My vegetable patch is so sodden the
pepper plants have started keeling over.

It is been raining here in Louisiana, too. I have not seen any
mosquitoes, but I have seen a lot of flies.

Becca

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 03:30:57 GMT, "Pete C." <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's a heluva way to end a two-year drought.

OBFood: I'm about to make the brine for another batch of pastrami. If
the rain lets up long enough in three days, I'll smoke the big
darling. Hell, I'll smoke it in the rain if I have to.

Quoted message said:

Don't forget the 800 little toads per square foot who are hopefully
eating a lot of those mosquitoes. I've got fish on my lawn from the
overflowing pond too.

Pete C.
(north of Dallas)

The toad plague hasn't yet reached Cow Hill. And there are no fish in
my yard either, thank goodness. We're just wet. Not as wet the the
poor sods in Haltom City, but wet enough.
--

modom

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:57:54 -0500, Omelet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas. It rained 19 days in
June, officially. From May 1 through June 30, the weather station at
DFW recorded 19.44 inches of rain. Ordinarily we can expect about 31
inches in a year, as I recall. One place near Fort Worth got 3 inches
in 45 minutes this afternoon, according to local TV news reports.

Don't complain...
Unless of course you are flooding. Re-plant the peppers in pots for now.

How very helpful.

Quoted message said:

I'm personally sick to death of water prices and the drought.

This is a sore spot for me. The DFW Metroplex is in the process of
turning my part of the state into a water farm for the benefit of
suburban lawns. One artificial lake at a time, the 'burbs are
flooding east Texas without regard to the locals, the environment,
wildlife, or traditional land uses out here.

Water should be expensive. It's costing my part of the world a lot.

OBFood: D and I are heading over to McKinney this afternoon to pick up
the plates for her new car. While we're there we'll check out a tapas
bar just off the old downtown square. I had lunch there once, but I
need to explore their menu in greater depth.
--

modom

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

(Victor Sack) said:

Consider making basturma, the superior Armenian precursor of pastrami
(by the way of Turkish pastirma and Romanian pastrama).

I started with a brisket, not a tenderloin. And I'm not certain the
air drying process you describe would work in what appears to have
become a subtropical climate here in Cow Hill. Seriously. I've lived
in Baton Rouge. This is Baton Rouge weather. Only it's moved up near
Oklahoma for the season.

Maybe it will be different starting next week or the week after next?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

BTW, traditionally-made pastrami is not brined either, it is dry-cured.

I got the recipe from this book:
http://www.ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html

Those guys know their onions.

Nevertheless, brined pastrami is non-traditional, no matter how good it
may be otherwise. It is a fact, not an opinion.

As to Ruhlman knowing his onions, I, too, was pretty sure of that until
a few months ago. I have started having some doubts ever since seeing a
video of him and Mario Batali making a travesty of risotto. That is, it
was Batali who was committing the actual crime, with Ruhlman just
hanging around, perhaps acting as a lookout. What Batali ended up
making was boiled rice. He kept adding what appeared to be huge amounts
of broth to the rice and letting it boil, not stirring at all. Ruhlman
appeared to be perfectly happy with the procedings.

I was very much surprised, as most every Batali recipe I have seen
appeared to be perfectly competent, perfectly traditional, perfectly
well executed. His culinary pedigree is respectable. He used to cook
at a trattoria in Italy for several years and he also used to work at
Marco Pierre White's restaurant. I do not know why he decided to make
his "risotto" this way. :-(

Victor

modom (palindrome guy) moc.etoyok@modom said:

The rains will not stop in this part of Texas. It rained 19 days in

It hasn't rained here in about two months.

It is 116 degrees, though.

--Blair
"We'll all be exploding later.
Feel free to ooh and ahh."

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:58:59 +0200, [email hidden] (Victor Sack)

Quoted message said:

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

(Victor Sack) said:

Consider making basturma, the superior Armenian precursor of pastrami
(by the way of Turkish pastirma and Romanian pastrama).

I started with a brisket, not a tenderloin. And I'm not certain the
air drying process you describe would work in what appears to have
become a subtropical climate here in Cow Hill. Seriously. I've lived
in Baton Rouge. This is Baton Rouge weather. Only it's moved up near
Oklahoma for the season.

Maybe it will be different starting next week or the week after next?

This is what I've been thinking, assuming, and hoping for ten weeks.
So far I've been wrong.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

BTW, traditionally-made pastrami is not brined either, it is dry-cured.

I got the recipe from this book:
http://www.ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html

Those guys know their onions.

Nevertheless, brined pastrami is non-traditional, no matter how good it
may be otherwise. It is a fact, not an opinion.

Forcefully averred, Victor. I'm certain you know. I just read books
by Ruhlman from time to time.

Quoted message said:

As to Ruhlman knowing his onions, I, too, was pretty sure of that until
a few months ago. I have started having some doubts ever since seeing a
video of him and Mario Batali making a travesty of risotto. That is, it
was Batali who was committing the actual crime, with Ruhlman just
hanging around, perhaps acting as a lookout. What Batali ended up
making was boiled rice. He kept adding what appeared to be huge amounts
of broth to the rice and letting it boil, not stirring at all. Ruhlman
appeared to be perfectly happy with the procedings.

MR is CIA trained and has collaborated with the likes of Thomas
Keller. His co-author Brian Polcyn teaches charcuterie at a culinary
school. I just emailed him about the pastrami recipe. Perhaps he
will answer. Most likely not. If he does, I'll let you know.

BTW, I saw Alton Brown make risotto without stirring not long ago. In
fact he said that the right rice will release enough starch to make it
the poper consistency without all the stiring. Can this be the case?
--

modom

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:18:02 -0500, "modom (palindrome guy)"

moc.etoyok@modom said:

BTW, I saw Alton Brown make risotto without stirring not long ago. In
fact he said that the right rice will release enough starch to make it
the poper consistency without all the stiring. Can this be the case?

Victor will say "no". Victor always says "no".

TammyM

modom (palindrome guy) said:

BTW, I saw Alton Brown make risotto without stirring not long ago. In
fact he said that the right rice will release enough starch to make it
the poper consistency without all the stiring. Can this be the case?

Maybe. A traditional north italian recipe for rice is "riso alla pilota",
where pilota (which nowadays means pilot) was the name for the people
working at the rice farms. Since they had to work at the rice, says the
legend, thay had no time to take care of the cooking rice so they just put
cold water in the pot, toss the rice so to form a cone-shaped mound on the
bottom of the pot, with the top reaching just water level, and then turn on
the fire. When the rice was almost cooked (starting in cold water it could
take about 25 minutes), they would come back to the rice pot, toss in the
crumbled sausage that was cooking in a separate skillet and mix, add lots of
grated parmigiano and serve. This is a traditional recipe which doesn't
require stirring the rice.
Also, many cooks that rice has to be stirred the least possible, also when
giving "mantecatura" to a almost cooked risotto (stirring after having added
some proteins and some fats, e.g. butter and cheese).
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco said:

many cooks that rice

"many cooks SUSTAIN that rice"
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

modom (palindrome guy)' moc.etoyok@modom said:

MR is CIA trained and has collaborated with the likes of Thomas
Keller.

Well, I am not about to cast aspersions on his qualifications,
especially as I think he is a very good journalist specialising in
culinary matters. One can of course say that he is CIA-trained, but I
rather doubt he would say that himself. He spent six months there,
doing research for the book he was wrting, _The Making of a Chef_. The
associate degree program there takes 21 months and the bachelor's degree
program takes 38 months. In his capacity of a professional writer, he
helped Thomas Keller to write his cookbook.
All of this does not matter in the least, as I just take issue with his
pastrami recipe - and not even with the recipe as such - only with it
being nontraditional, and with nothing else.

Quoted message said:

His co-author Brian Polcyn teaches charcuterie at a culinary
school. I just emailed him about the pastrami recipe. Perhaps he
will answer. Most likely not. If he does, I'll let you know.

I'll be grateful if you do. Meanwhile, here are some cites, there are
many more:

<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D9133CF933A05755C0A967958260&sec=travel&spon>

<http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/glossary.asp?id=33660>

<http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ck_culinary_qa/article/0,1971,FOOD_9796_1696221,00.html>

<http://www.professionalchef.com/FrontoftheHouse/Encyclopedia/P.htm>

<http://www.hereinstead.com/PASTRAMI-LAND.pdf>

<http://www.gourmetretailer.com/gourmetretailer/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003252437>

Quoted message said:

BTW, I saw Alton Brown make risotto without stirring not long ago. In
fact he said that the right rice will release enough starch to make it
the poper consistency without all the stiring. Can this be the case?

Not unless he is using glutinous rice, which would be totally unsuitable
for risotto. The rice varieties used, as well as their properties, are
well enough known. They are the kinds of arborio, carnaroli, and
vialone nano.

Actually, I've looked into it and it is not the rice. Alton Brown
asserts that it is the shaking of the pan that makes rice grains rub
against each other and release the starch. I am not at all sure that
shaking the pan is easier and more efficient than stirring, especially
if one makes more than a couple of servings of risotto.

Victor

Vilco said:

Maybe. A traditional north italian recipe for rice is "riso alla pilota",
where pilota (which nowadays means pilot) was the name for the people
working at the rice farms. Since they had to work at the rice, says the
legend, thay had no time to take care of the cooking rice so they just put
cold water in the pot, toss the rice so to form a cone-shaped mound on the
bottom of the pot, with the top reaching just water level, and then turn on
the fire. When the rice was almost cooked (starting in cold water it could
take about 25 minutes), they would come back to the rice pot, toss in the
crumbled sausage that was cooking in a separate skillet and mix, add lots of
grated parmigiano and serve. This is a traditional recipe which doesn't
require stirring the rice.

Yes, and it is a nice enough Mantua/Mantova recipe, with an extra
variation of adding roasted ribs (i.e. col puntel). Not as interesting
as risotto by far, as far as I am concerned. All the critical risotto
steps are missing: no roasting of rice, water instead of broth, no
stirring.

Another north Italian (Venetian) recipe of this kind is risi e bisi.
There are many versions, some of them rather similar to risotto, but
most seem to be different. Water instead of broth may be used, there is
no stirring and the end result may be so liquid as to be soup-like.

Quoted message said:

Also, many cooks that rice has to be stirred the least possible, also when
giving "mantecatura" to a almost cooked risotto (stirring after having added
some proteins and some fats, e.g. butter and cheese).

Maybe they do not like the texture of rice grains clinging to each other
in a risotto and actually prefer the separated-grains texture of a
pilaff.

Victor