My son and daughter-in-law and their brood of 3 have spotted mountain lion on their driveway. They have a few variety of raptors in the air and rattle-snakes on the ground (right next to Jack London State Forest in Sonoma County) so the kids walk in the back yard with thick boots. They rarely see deer.
With Hurricane IAN in Florida, there will be plenty of alligator to shoot (taste like chicken?).
Here are some racoon recipes:
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There is a restaurant called 'Carnivore' in Eastern Africa, they served crocodile and giraffe, among other types of meat.
The menu should be interesting...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_(restaurant)
The menu should be interesting...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_(restaurant)
I made chili once with venison a friend gave me (actually we were going on a fishing trip together and I made the chili for the trip, so he didn't exactly give it to me). It wasn't ground, I just cut it up into cubes and cooked it with onions, beans, and spices. It was very good.
I always remember a chili "recipe" published in Gray's Sporting Journal, by A D Livingstone in his "Campfire Cooking" column:
In a large pot place several pounds of meat, preferably venison, preferably with bones.
Add some salt and a handful of crushed dried chili peppers
Add water to cover, bring to boil, simmer until meat is falling apart.
After all, "chili con carne" only has two things in the name, neither of which is beans.
That's the point. "Chili con Carne" means "chilis with meat", it doesn't mean beans or onions or shudder tomatoes. (Don't get me wrong, I love tomatoes and am harvesting them from my garden, I just don't think they belong in chili.)
First test tonight. I had a couple of pieces of chicken (a leg and a breast) in the freezer, which I thawed (shout out to LG who make a microwave oven which, when you tell it to thaw chicken, thaws it without partially cooking it). I got some charcoal burning in my cheap little BBQ, let it settle down a bit one it was lit. Seasoned the chicken bits, put them on the grill, waited as few minutes to turn them, and by that point the coals were nice, so I inserted the Meater probe into the breast, started the app on my tablet, started a new "cook", selected poultry -> Chicken -> breast, selected "medium-well", and let it rip. It took a few minutes to figure out the internal and ambient temperatures (no surprise since I had the lid off the BBQ to insert the probe, then partially closed the lid so the ambient temperature was rapidly changing), and projected time until done. It started making little noises as "time to done" shortened, then when internal temp matched target temp it alarmed and said to take it off the heat. I removed the breast from the BBQ but left the leg on. Then it told me to wait while the meat rested -- not sure if that is driven by temperature or just time, but eventually it said it was ready. I pulled the leg off at that time, assuming it would need a little more time than the breast. The result was excellent, the chicken breast was cooked perfectly and not dried out. Could I have achieved that result without a thermometer? Probably, because I know what a cooked chicken breast feels like, but I would be more likely to overcook it.
So after test #1 I give it an A while acknowledging a small learning curve on my part.
If you are cooking on a steel BBQ, you might want to get the "plus" version with extended range. When I brought the tablet inside it lost the connection, though I was able to find a spot inside that worked. I gather they have some sort of bluetooth->wifi extender thing as well.
There will always be an argument about what makes a chili. When you enter the chili competitions, if you add beans you're disqualified. If you use ground meat, you are laughed at.
I never won one but I still think that's because I used more cumin than the judges were looking for. Me? Can't get enough. That's why I keep it as Jeera and only grind what I need, when I need it. Just like coffee.
I never won one but I still think that's because I used more cumin than the judges were looking for. Me? Can't get enough. That's why I keep it as Jeera and only grind what I need, when I need it. Just like coffee.
Today: steamed artichokes.
3 for $2. All you have to do is cut the bottom of the stem, soak on the frdige overnight and voila, they are full and plump again.
Also: Hamburger helper.
Ground chuck with elbow macaroni and a special Italian style (kind of) tomato sauce.
3 for $2. All you have to do is cut the bottom of the stem, soak on the frdige overnight and voila, they are full and plump again.
Also: Hamburger helper.
Ground chuck with elbow macaroni and a special Italian style (kind of) tomato sauce.
Growing up in Ohio, never saw one. Upon matriculating at a university in the Bronx NY I was regaled with all manner of this wonderful veg served in a variety of ways. Carciofi!
Best, a salad of artichoke hearts, radicchio and shaved fennel with a bit of truffle infused oil and vinegar!
Yes Jack, I admit to having jars of the pickled hearts in the cupboard. I find them indispensabl. I just love to get artichokes fresh especially when they are that price because they are a bit older and dry. So simple to plump them up with a little soaking. I just put a little coarse salt on top and the steam does the rest.
Bagasse!!
It is mentioned in many of my old machinery handbooks. I can picture it as kid-chewed but not as a mass byproduct; but there it is! If fed to the fire raw it has about zero heat content because it is wet. So they would gather as many waste-heat sources as possible to pre-dry the stalks for firing the boiler. Probably still do, any scale bigger than that man.
Bagasse is watered twice in sugar mills here, to extract as much juice as possible after two regular crushing stages.
It is then used as fiber for paper making, particularly school note books, or a fuel for the boilers.
There is normally enough waste generated that the sugar mills are independent from the grid, the boilers are used for steam turbines apart from process heat, and the waste heat is used to dry the bagasse.
The wiki article covers much of what I said above...
It is then used as fiber for paper making, particularly school note books, or a fuel for the boilers.
There is normally enough waste generated that the sugar mills are independent from the grid, the boilers are used for steam turbines apart from process heat, and the waste heat is used to dry the bagasse.
The wiki article covers much of what I said above...
In Mauritius they feed the crushed stems to the ox operating the press in the older rum producing areas.
In Alaska this week it's fat bear week https://explore.org/fat-bear-week. The food thread for bears would get quite boring 'today I ate everything in reach'...
In Alaska this week it's fat bear week https://explore.org/fat-bear-week. The food thread for bears would get quite boring 'today I ate everything in reach'...
As a person located in lovely Portsmouth, UK, I have been considering if there is a better place to live...
So far, negative. I am sticking around here.
Latest Local experiments involve growing Mexican Chili Peppers:
So far, so good! If a bit slow growing.
Can't wait to add them to one of my Curries!
So far, negative. I am sticking around here.
Latest Local experiments involve growing Mexican Chili Peppers:
So far, so good! If a bit slow growing.
Can't wait to add them to one of my Curries!
Well it is Canadian Thanksgiving. I have some very welcome American relatives visiting, and they are vegetarian and insisted on making our holiday dinner, so I had my first experience of "Tofurky". I will be cooking real turkey next weekend. I appreciated the effort they made, and enjoyed the time together in the kitchen, but the food was, to me, lacking. I feel like I could have made a better vegetarian dinner without resorting to fake meat.