The food thread

I recently bought a very nice French carbon steel pan. I messed up seasoning it. I think I understand what I did wrong, but the result is that the seasoning is patchy, and where it was too thick it is flaking off. It is too nice a pan to leave in that state, so I want to clean it down to bare metal and start again. Does anyone have any advice to remove the oil residue from a carbon steel pan? Is steel wool or similar the best approach?
 
Anaheims?
No, actual jalapeños………near as i can tell one of these varieties. https://www.bountifulgardener.com/largest-jalapeno-varieties/#Big_Guy
I‘m going to try to buy some seeds as I’m afraid to go through the the trouble of saving the seeds from these as they may be hybrids.
Glad your having a easy time of quitting, your story is much the same as mine, the hangovers were getting harder and harder to recover from and could tell it was affecting not only the physical but my cognition also……….noticed what many of my older ‘drinking buddies‘ had become and didn’t want to go there, in fact just about all the people I used to party with have irreversible health problems (and still drinking!) one just had a liver transplant last week and several have died. The first couple three years was rather awkward going to drinking functions but now I don‘t even think about it. Whenever theres food that requires beer (chili,pizza, chicken wings, stuffed jalapeños….etc) I always keep a cold O’douls in the fridge. (N/A beer)

edit; not trying to disparage those that can drink responsibly (one or two here and there) that was not me (or from the sound of it Cal either) …….once the roll started there was no stopping! :cool:
 
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I can handle people who don't have my Spanish Genes and as they older have to cut off booze... that's fine. Moi, myself, seldom "drink" at social events nowadays, I tend to have a Perrier with a slice of lime. It looks good, gives me something to hold in my hand, keeps my hydrated and alert when I drive home.

And at home, I've also cut back greatly my drinking. I will have a good IPA or wine for dinner and perhaps an after dinner rum on the rocks.... but pretty much that's it. My liver numbers are normal, I don't get headaches in the morning.. etc.... I'm finding, as I get older, that my genes are made for wine.

But... BUT.. someone who doesn't like bacon can not be my friend. Anyone who doesn't like jamon serrano, chorizo de soria, a good polish sausage... just can not be my friend. OK, I can deal if someone doesn't like spanish blood morcilla ( I do ) or Scottish Haggis ( I despise it )... but bacon.... BACON?

And anyone who makes bacon at home ( I do sometimes ) is really my paisano. :)

QUESTION: How do you slice your homemade bacon. I was gonna buy a rebuilt, 14" blade, meat slicer but then I noticed it was the size of what they got at a charcuterie ( 24" deep... )... yikes! It just won't fit in my kitchen.
 

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that was not me (or from the sound of it Cal either) …….once the roll started there was no stopping!
TBH, rereading my post, I made it out to be worse than it was. There was no incident, nothing other than I wasn't enjoying it the same way so why bother? Having a couple drinks after work just made me sleepy and meant no more driving. I didn't actually quit, I just stopped. Who knows, maybe I'll have a beer today, maybe never, it's just not something that pleases me like it used to.
 
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(1) Yes.... I also just "stopped" it. Even not drinking, I get sleepy after dinner. Dude, we're getting old... time replace my 6550 tubes and upgrade to a couple of KT150s in the old noggin'

(2) Using a slicer for the bacon... that's my problem. My slicer is not big enough. I can't slice the 12 inch slices and I have to cut the slab in half, so it's only 6 inches across. I got very sharp knives ( got a fancy sharpener ) but I prefer to use the machine for even cuts. As I wrote earlier, I almost bought the commerical 14 inch blade slicer until I realized the thing came in a pallet.... "huh, how big is this? WTH!"

(3) I use the curing salt but I haven't smoked my bacon yet. I ought to give it a try. I have that old smoker in the garage.
 
I can't slice the 12 inch slices and I have to cut the slab in half,
I take the back off the feed table and when it gets down to the nitty gritty I either slice the rest by hand or cut it in half like you said
the commerical 14 inch blade slicer
Hope your mortgage is paid off.
but I haven't smoked my bacon yet.
It's about the only meat my wife will eat smoked. Even the back bacon for her is not.
 
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Growing you know what is legal in California... up to six plants at a time.

I got a green thumb... my tomatoes are wonderful.... so I gave it a try. Is 'pot' a food? Not for me, though. But it has to be "smoked"... nevertheless, I did a great job.

The slicer was refurbished, no electronic whiz bang add ons... with shipping from Central California it came to 700 bucks. That was like 7 years ago. My current slicer, a nice one, has a one piece "feed pusher". I guess I don't have to use it with something like bacon which is long. It is necessary with cured sausages to keep them perpendicular to the blade.

Yikes.. the head of the pig.... my mom was in Barcelona a while back visiting the family. As a guest of honor they held a banquet for her. She sat at the head of the table, my oldest cousin to her right. The main dish was a "lechon" which they presented to my cousin for carving. My mom told me the poor thing was facing her with an apple in its mouth. She couldn't eat it. We grew up in a world of fine meats... we never saw the heads....
 
TBH, rereading my post, I made it out to be worse than it was. There was no incident, nothing other than I wasn't enjoying it the same way so why bother? Having a couple drinks after work just made me sleepy and meant no more driving. I didn't actually quit, I just stopped. Who knows, maybe I'll have a beer today, maybe never, it's just not something that pleases me like it used to.
Thats cool…… the world is definitely a safer place without me drinking! Things were often stressed passed their breaking point. Motto was if your gonna do it, do it right. :ROFLMAO:

We built a cold smoker in the mountains, the county thought we were building another outhouse (apparently your only allowed one) and put a cease and desist sticker on it when i wasn‘t home while i was building it! Building inspector laughed his behind off when I explained it to him.
 
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BTW, my wife surprised us last night. She made a Persian rice that was delicious... With basmati and saffron that got soaked in water for half an hour.

I guess you parboil the rice for a couple of minutes and then drain it.

On a pan, you layer a mixture of greek yourgurt, olive oil and other stuff... then she put nuts and dried berries and the rice on top. She put that on the fire and added the water and saffron... brought to a boil and then let it simmer, covered, for half an hour. The idea is to create a crust. When done, you invert the pan on a platter and then drop the rice with the crust on top.

It was delicious... I'm gonna try to make it with dates, figs, pine nuts, garbanzos, etc... It was DELICIOUS.

Then she paired that with roasted veggies: eggplants ( we had the chinese ones in the fridge ), tomatoes, green peppers and onions. Sort of like a Catalan Escalivada... but without garlic ( yeah, I know... I know... ).

Trust me, it was awesome... and I didn't have to cook....

It was so good, I forgot to take pictures.