stab it all over with a cake tester, and drench it in honey (or sugar) syrup?
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I am so tempted to shame you for this egregious oversight, but I think you’re suffering enough 
Good luck! And remember, the best part about gathering to eat and drink is the company, not the victuals.
Play the “add a word” movie title game to distract them. Worked for me last night. 
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The gif thingie helps… though, sometimes I have to go and do a google search for what I want…
I hope your St. Patrick’s day dinner went well at the end of it! Of course, what matters (especially in these dark times) is spending time with friends.
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Not food per se, but food related.
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Thanks for that! Attempt #1 is habanero and pineapple (also with a couple of cloves of garlic and a knob of ginger). The photo is just before the brine went in and I discovered that the lid of an old Vegemite jar is the perfect size to force everything under the brine (and is the only thing I could find that was made of plastic.)
Will report back in a fortnight when it’s fermented and blended.
Edited for grammar
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The past couple years I’ve really grown to love my weekend custom of planning out the week’s meals. Not what we’ll on specific days, really, but just looking around at what we have and using that as a basis for a list of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes.
I was inspired by St.Patty’s day and the abundance of cabbage available when doing my farmers’ market order, so on the menu this week is Shepherd’s Pie, colcannon, a cabbage/kielbasa skillet dinner, and a somewhat unrelated, pinto bean stew to use up some canned tomatoes we opened this week. Did I mention they had soup bones at the farmers’ market?
It’s pretty meat-heavy compared to my typical week, but the gullet wants what the gullet wants! I do wonder if the yearnings vary depending on the weather when I make the menu. Like, today it’s overcast and dreary, menu full of comfort food…
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I’m reading a book called The Next Supper, and while I’m not very far into it yet it has had some cogent things to say about the restaurant industry. I’m really enjoying the breakdown of how kitchens work(ed) in fine dining. One reason I’m tired of hearing that people just don’t want to work anymore in foodservice is that I can recognize how having a long, enforced break from the cycle of overwork, stress, pressure and internalized expectations and norms let so many people see just how toxic the set up was.
When you are deep in it it’s all too easy to fall in with the mindset. I lost many a potential job because I straight up said that I had a life beyond the kitchen and I couldn’t/wasn’t going to give it up. Or when I pointed out that the wage plan they offered was against the law, as well as ethics.
I am delighted that the whole rock-star chef idea has gotten tarnished. Any of the shows that promoted abusive behavior as the norm, as what you should expect and what you deserved were shows I hated and railed against to friends, or strangers in bars if I saw one there. They play into the whole idea of “toughness” as a prime virtue, which leads inevitably to exploitation and cruelty.
I will post more as I get further into the book.
It is worth noting that I got into the industry after a college degree and several other types of jobs, instead of going straight from a part-time job in high school to the pro kitchen. I had had time and experience to see what was and wasn’t reasonable for a job to expect.
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Is it a hot brine or cool?
Sounds delicious.
Cheers.
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I wouldn’t even neccisarily say it’s just the mind set. Though certainly a sort of toxic, put up with it or you’re a tourist mentality exists. Especially in kitchens.
Otherwise the industry is structured in a way that leaves you without the time or the resources to pursue better. You can’t hold out for better pay because bills are coming due and you need to work now to pay them. If you manage to get a leg up, it consumes too much of your time to really pursue anything else.
The pandemic didn’t just give people a bit of perspective. The small amount of extra public support we offered gave people just enough runway to actually plan ahead.
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A cool brine. I’m assuming a hot brine might run the risk of killing any present Lactobacillus and preventing fermentation - that was certainly running through my mind as I waited for the brine to cool.
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Of course!
Fermentation!
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I know you all were probably curious about how the ill-fated St. Paddy’s day dinner turned out: we ended up postponing a day due to life things, which was perfect. I reheated the corned beef last night in the sous vide, whipped up some colcannon with kale and roasted some cabbage wedges (20 mins at 500F, flipping halfway through). Everything turned out great, even the backup torte (which, lets be honest, is better the next day anyways).
Our friends brought Guinness and we had a merry old time, as one should when one’s eating with good company!
Thanks, fellow foodie mutants for talking me off the ledge and reminding me that’s what it’s all about.
PS: as a bonus, I made some corned beef hash for breakfast with the leftover spuds, as one does.
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You have no idea how many eggs they cooked to get the pretty ones shown.
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I’m not sure what that is aspiring to, but it looks tasty!
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