Prog Chefs Unite!!!

Finnforest wrote: Baked some fabulous bread today and to enhance things a bit more, picked up some really good local farm butter....the difference was astonishing.  A rich sweetness that the mass produced butter does not have.  Tomorrow's breakfast will be warm bread with a thick slather of this butter, maybe a touch of honey, and black coffee.  Now, if only I could retire to the garden after that to putz away the morning.....no such luck.

Cool! There's something to be said for being "connected" to the food you eat.

Got everything to make rye and wheat bread, just need to make the time to do it.

Never had butter from the farm, and it sounds delicious, but I did get roped into being the guy with the tired arm after my wife read about putting cream in a jar with some marbles and shaking it for (what seemed like) a week. lol Good stuff.

Had a yard sale this weekend and while I was going through the way-too-much-of-the-crap-we-have, I found a ceramic loaf pan and a ceramic dual French loaf pan that my parents bought and left in the boxes, unused, probably sometime in the late 70s.
The scary thing is that I'm not entirely sure when they came into my possession.
But I'll put them to good use now.

And as for the chili, Chris, damn, that sounds good.

Baked some fabulous bread today and to enhance things a bit more, picked up some really good local farm butter....the difference was astonishing.  A rich sweetness that the mass produced butter does not have. 

Tomorrow's breakfast will be warm bread with a thick slather of this butter, maybe a touch of honey, and black coffee.  Now, if only I could retire to the garden after that to putz away the morning.....no such luck. 

Atavachron wrote: Fresh home-baked white bread, especially toasted with butter, is one of the greatest things in the world.

Yes....

yeah, seriously, give it a shot next time and try it.  I think the lard made a huge difference in mine, a slightly sweet and complex flavor but very subtle. 

Thanks for posting that, I've definitely got the bug to do it again now.

^
That looks awesome, looks quite similar in texture to my Grandmas recipe which uses lard.  I like making bread from scratch....the kneading and all that....it's relaxing.  Now you've given me the bug again!

Ok, I seriously have a problem with people preparing prawns.

oh that does sound ridiculous

rubbed a NY strip with a fat garlic clove, some olive oil, s&p and fried it in an iron skillet till pink inside and crusty outside, made a pan sauce with Worcestershire and had kimchi on the side

hi Zach--   i get Cooks Illustrated each month, not sure if that's the mag you mean but it is from the Test Kitchen show and has great recipes.

I work in my family's restaurant where we make most everything from scratch and every month we get a slew of restaurant/cooking/management magazines. There are only a few I enjoy looking through but there is one in particular that I actually look forward too. The magazine is called Cooks Country, but they also have a show on PBS called Americas Test Kitchen. Tested and re-tested, fool proof, well thought out recipes each accompanied by a short story of the history of the dish as well as all the trial and error that occurred to get to the final recipe. I have never had a bad meal from anything I've made using their advice. Also each issue has helpful kitchen tips, reviews of commonly bought grocery store items, and reviews of kitchen tools/gadgets. I just made their Deviled Beef Shortribs which were amazing. The recipe was accompanied by a brief history of why they called things deviled i.e (deviled ham/eggs/ etc...) Sorry if I came off like a bit like a spokesman but it is really that good. I've given subscriptions to the magazine as birthday and Christmas presents, and while at first they thought it was the lamest gift ever, after they read the first issue or two they always thank me. Once again not a spokesman, just a diehard fan of great food.