I like this time at night on HBT

[Dan]

When are you scheduled to go to HI?

I'm not scheduled, LRB. I plan to go early next year for no good productive reason other than I don't want taxed on the loan I took from my work savings plan. It's only a loan until I quit before paying it all off, then its income and taxable; right?..

Why do you ask?

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I'm not scheduled, LRB. I plan to go early next year for no good productive reason other than I don't want taxed on the loan I took from my work savings plan. It's only a loan until I quit before paying it all off, then its income and taxable; right?..

Why do you ask?

Just making sure I haven't missed that you are already there.

 

[Dan]

LRB, finding a bright side, good for both of us I guess.. hell, if not there would never have been a Riddle Thread. I never even figured out many of them but sure did enjoy the place and great people like you my friend. That thread saved me from myself. When I figured one out it felt pretty pleasing.. When I didn't I was just in awe by the answers .

Win win situation, I'm sure glad you embraced it. Wouldn't be the same if you didn't.

My son lives on base Camp Pendelton and I try to visit him every few months. Is that far from where you live? I'd love to have a beer with you around Thanksgiving.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

LRB, finding a bright side, good for both of us I guess.. hell, if not there would never have been a Riddle Thread. I never even figured out many of them but sure did enjoy the place and great people like you my friend. That thread saved me from myself. When I figured one out it felt pretty pleasing.. When I didn't I was just in awe by the answers .

Win win situation, I'm sure glad you embraced it. Wouldn't be the same if you didn't.

My son lives on base Camp Pendelton and I try to visit him every few months. Is that far from where you live? I'd love to have a beer with you around Thanksgiving.

Its not too terrible far away. Maybe we could meet for a brew. There are some great breweries in the general area that I'd love to visit. PM when you have an idea when you'll be down. That'd be great.

 

[Dan]

LRBI will. Late November.

 

[beaksnbeer]

I just received my hop order 18 varieties 15lbs total. I had read somewhere about the bittering of Apollo Hops. I am running a SmaSh hop today starting at 9:30 (I'm usually finishing at that time)

Good job, Stauff, I watched a friend of mine run a brew pub and restaurant for 3 years 16-18 hour days. They closed Monday only. He ran a 3bbl set-up sounded like fun til you have try it AND make enough profit. He ended up selling for a great profit the place went downhill in a hurry failed in just 2 years. As I get older the less I want to put in those hours may just be me. I worked full time since 16 worked on an Amish farm/paper route from 8 til then. Growing up we where taught that you worked hard then retied in your 50's.

Dan, your to hard on yourself. It takes two to Tango, 1 cannot hold 2 together your children know this or will eventually. Long distance relationships are rough, hang in there my friend.

 

[Leadgolem]

I have poolish rising on my counter.

 

[Leadgolem]

Now I have what should be focaccia dough in my fridge.

I wasn't sure what kind of yeast I should use for the poolish, so it was just the active dry yeast I usually use for bread.

Picture one is of poolish soup. That's the water, honey, and olive oil with the poolish in it. Stirred that all until it was fully integrated. Picture two is of the dough with everything in it resting in the pan. That is a non-stick pan. Not my usual choice for bread, but this is really sticky dough. The pan was oiled first.

Sorry I don't have more pictures of the process. I didn't want to stop and wash up, or get my camera all oily.

I decided to go ahead and premix the dry ingredients. Since I was weighing them out, that wasn't really any extra effort. I would have made this last night, but I had to get IDY and unbleached flour. I couldn't find any diastatic malt in the supermarket, so that has been omitted.

Hmm, I'm now wondering why this recipe calls for bread flour? It isn't worked that much, so not a lot of gluten development. What do you think TN, how well is this likely to work if it was made with AP flour?

 

[brewingmeister]

I like your stove.

 

[TNGabe]

Now I have what should be focaccia dough in my fridge. I wasn't sure what kind of yeast I should use for the poolish, so it was just the active dry yeast I usually use for bread. Picture one is of poolish soup. That's the water, honey, and olive oil with the poolish in it. Stirred that all until it was fully integrated. Picture two is of the dough with everything in it resting in the pan. That is a non-stick pan. Not my usual choice for bread, but this is really sticky dough. The pan was oiled first. Sorry I don't have more pictures of the process. I didn't want to stop and wash up, or get my camera all oily. I decided to go ahead and premix the dry ingredients. Since I was weighing them out, that wasn't really any extra effort. I would have made this last night, but I had to get IDY and unbleached flour. I couldn't find any diastatic malt in the supermarket, so that has been omitted. Hmm, I'm now wondering why this recipe calls for bread flour? It isn't worked that much, so not a lot of gluten development. What do you think TN, how well is this likely to work if it was made with AP flour?

Yeah, works with ap. you'd want to cut liquid back or dough would be even wetter. Time will make gluten as surely as mechanically manipulating dough. Nice job panning it. You must be a wee bit anal retentive. I'm guessing you didn't stretch and fold as much as you should have, but time should fix that. I've go IDY coming out of my ears. Bought way to much at the end of last year before I scaled business back. If you want a pound of yeast and some malt powder, cover the shipping and it's yours.

 

[Leadgolem]

Thanks. This is pretty much it. Different year though. Mine has a long burner in the middle that, if I remember right, is actually 27,000 BTU.

I bought a HUD home, so no appliances when I moved in but a busted dishwasher. I would have preferred the range with the gas cook top and the double electric over, but I couldn't afford it. Eventually that will go downstairs in the kitchenette, and I'll get the range I really wanted. That's not a priority right now though.

 

[Leadgolem]

Yeah, works with ap. you'd want to cut liquid back or dough would be even wetter. Time will make gluten as surely as mechanically manipulating dough. Nice job panning it. You must be a wee bit anal retentive. I'm guessing you didn't stretch and fold as much as you should have, but time should fix that. I've go IDY coming out of my ears. Bought way to much at the end of last year before I scaled business back. If you want a pound of yeast and some malt powder, cover the shipping and it's yours.

Me? Anal retentive? Noooooo, not me. I'm really not, I just try to follow a recipe as closely as possible the first time.

Yeah, I should have worked the dough more. It kept sticking to me, so I'll admit I got kinda sick of that and just panned it.

Yeah, I would like some yeast and malt powder. I love homemade bread, and it's cool enough that the heat from the oven is welcome. I don't bake much during the summer, it seems backwards to bake something and then run the AC to cool things off.

 

[TNGabe]

Me? Anal retentive? Noooooo, not me. I'm really not, I just try to follow a recipe as closely as possible the first time.

Yeah, I should have worked the dough more. It kept sticking to me, so I'll admit I got kinda sick of that and just panned it.

Yeah, I would like some yeast and malt powder. I love homemade bread, and it's cool enough that the heat from the oven is welcome. I don't bake much during the summer, it seems backwards to bake something and then run the AC to cool things off.

If you happen to have a fedex or USPS account, I can pack the box and send you dimensions weight for you to ship a label. I can just send parcel post now that I think of it, so even with work winding down for the year, I think I can still afford that.

 

[Dan]

Hmm... Brewers and bakers around here. Any of you folks familiar with Daniel Leader?

 

[TNGabe]

Hmm... Brewers and bakers around here. Any of you folks familiar with Daniel Leader?

Nope.

According to the googles, I get as much (or more) for bread as he does.

 

[Leadgolem]

Hmm... Brewers and bakers around here. Any of you folks familiar with Daniel Leader?

Hmm, who's the candlestick maker then? .. . Ok, yeah I've made a candlestick before. Candles too for that matter.

 

[Leadgolem]

I had a couple of chicken sandwiches tonight made with ground chicken thighs. They were fantastic! Just seasoned with salt and pepper like any other burger. Cooked up beautifully. The texture was great, even better then I usually see from hamburger. Juicy too.

I decided to try grinding some chicken because beef prices have been pretty high lately. $4+ per lb for ground beef. I tried chicken breast, it was horribly dry. Even with lard added to it. So, I thought I'd try chicken thighs. More collagen, more fat. Very tasty. $1.29 a pound. Here's the funny part. It is cheaper, but not by much. $1.29 an lb, but after removing the bone and skin it's actually $1.88 per lb of actual meat. That's pretty cheap, but I only de-boned and ground 3lb and it took me about 45 minutes. So, I effectively paid myself $8.48 an hour to do that in saved money.

I'll still grind and freeze chicken thigh meat, but I'll buy boneless skinless thighs. Minimal work for those, even if they are $2.49 per lb. The flavor is worth the work. Boneless skinless thighs should only take about 10 minutes, instead of 45. When beef is on sale for $3 a lb I'll still buy it too.

 

[brewingmeister]

What's your grinder of choice?

I've been thinking about getting the kitchenaid attachment for a while now.

 

[TNGabe]

What's your grinder of choice?

I've been thinking about getting the kitchenaid attachment for a while now.

Anything Kitchenaid is pretty low duty these days. You'd probably do better with an old fashioned hand grinder.

Unrelated, just what I'm listening to:

 

[brewingmeister]

Well I agree with the new mostly plastic attachment but I was actually thinking of the older all metal attachment. They are supposed to mate just fine with the newer mixers.

 

[passedpawn]

What's your grinder of choice?

I've been thinking about getting the kitchenaid attachment for a while now.

I use that attachment. It works great. I wouldn't bother trying to use the stuffer tubes for sausage though. You want to get a separate vertical stuffer for that.

 

[Leadgolem]

What's your grinder of choice?

I've been thinking about getting the kitchenaid attachment for a while now.

This is the grinder I bought. Despite being plastic, I haven't had a single problem with it. I've put probably 100 lbs through it in the year and a half or so I've owned it.

 

[Leadgolem]

I went to go make myself a keylime mojito. Key limes beaks sent me, some white whiskey, spearmint from my back yard, corn syrup.... I'm out of soda water. No sprite, no tonic water.... Made the drink with diet Mt Dew anyway. So yeah. Hadn't planned on mixing alcohol and caffeine, but it's actually pretty tasty.

 

[ChefRex]

Thighs have so much flavor then *******, only issue with boneless is you lose out on the stock you can make with the bones but they are more work.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Well I agree with the new mostly plastic attachment but I was actually thinking of the older all metal attachment. They are supposed to mate just fine with the newer mixers.

I the older one on my newer mixer mate up just fine.

With the snowstorm that swept through the northern prairie states, last I heard was 100,000 head of cattle + dairy cows dead.

Not that it makes the so called news channels, a friend in the Dakotas has been without electric for almost 3 weeks now, making out with his pellet heater and old Franklin stove. His farm was hit pretty hard so far

 

[Leadgolem]

Thighs have so much flavor then *******, only issue with boneless is you lose out on the stock you can make with the bones but they are more work.

True, but then you have to make stock. I might buy bone in if I was going to do chicken to can the same day. Then I would be able to trim them faster too. I could leave some meat on the bone and it wouldn't go to waste.

I periodically slow cook a couple of whole chickens. Then I pressure can the meat in the resulting broth. I pressure can the broth too as long as there is space in the canner. Some broth usually ends up in the freezer though.

I the older one on my newer mixer mate up just fine.

With the snowstorm that swept through the northern prairie states, last I heard was 100,000 head of cattle + dairy cows dead.

Not that it makes the so called news channels, a friend in the Dakotas has been without electric for almost 3 weeks now, making out with his pellet heater and old Franklin stove. His farm was hit pretty hard so far

Ouch. Pellet stoves are nice, but no power for three weeks?

I just put some curry powder in my chili. Yummy.

 

[brewingmeister]

Ugg pellet stoves. Lived in a place for a while that had one. It's nickname was loud and dirty. Ate through fuel like crazy and only heated the immediate room (kitchen, living room). The rest of the house was cold as hell. It was actually kind of a nice model with variable feed and blower settings. Heaven forbid you opened the door to break up the clink or it would rain ash everywhere.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Ugg pellet stoves. Lived in a place for a while that had one. It's nickname was loud and dirty. Ate through fuel like crazy and only heated the immediate room (kitchen, living room). The rest of the house was cold as hell. It was actually kind of a nice model with variable feed and blower settings. Heaven forbid you opened the door to break up the clink or it would rain ash everywhere.

Beats freezing to death

 

[Dan]

I've never thought about grinding chicken but seems like a good idea. That got me to thinking about Chinese pork hash for some reason. That's what my wife calls it. Not sure if it is called something different. Very simple recipe

Steamed pork hash
Ground pork
fresh crushed garlic
chopped water chestnuts


combine the above, make meat balls around the size of a golfball
steam till done.
serve them hot and with some shoyu and chopped green onion

Another of my wife's favorites, mine too. She calls it Chinese fish. We usually use a whole, cleaned red snapper

I'm not sure I remember the recipe exactly but it's something like this
steam a fish
heat some oil till just under smoking hot
chop garlic, shredded ginger and chopped green onion to your liking. at least enough to cover the fish. I love both garlic and ginger.and use quite a lot.
Once the fish is cooked remove from steamer and sizzle the hot oil over the fish. add the garlic, green onion and ginger plus a little more hot oil. lightly pour on your favorite sesame oil. Eat immediately.

okay one more
beef unchoy, or onchoy. We can't get unchoy in the mainland very easily. I asked a grocer why and he said something about it being banned because it is considered a hostile weed or something like that. Our loss, truly. But in Hawaii it is readily available. Big leafy veggie, the stems are hollow.. It is fantastic roughage and full of vitamins.

Sliced beef sauteed with some garlic and onions. Throw in the chopped unchoy steam till done to your liking. Add oyster sauce, not much. mix it all up and serve immediately with steamed rice.


Guess I'm hungry

BTW. Daniel Leader was a successful NYC chef who fell in love with bread. Quit his job, traveled to Europe to learn the bread making art. Came back to NY and eventually opened his own bakery. If you have any interest in creating the best bread ever read his book "Bread Alone" probably the best bread book on the market. Ever! It is not just recipes and procedures, it is a story and history of bread..Quite amazing.

http://www.breadalone.com/how-we-started

 

[brewingmeister]

Beats freezing to death

Yeah I guess, but just barely. Of course the one I had wouldn't run unless it was plugged in.
Horrible winter that year. Got over two feet of snow in about 24 hrs at one point. Winter sucks.