Kitchen Acquisitions

Yeah, Al it's sort of like that. something about the vent getting plugged and early opening with the resultant release of potato laden steam disfiguring her great aunt and plastering the ceiling with potatoes.

 

Aren't the newer stove top pressure cookers also safer than the old ones? I had some friends on a paddling forum from Brazil and it sounds like everyone down there cooks their beans in a pressure cooker. without, beans take forethought. I'm not big on forethought.

 

They are safer too, I just love the programable features of the electric one I have. In Cuba everyone cooks a lot with PC (mostly vintage ones and the accident described looks like something that actually happened in my house when I was about 9 yrs) since beans are an important part of the diet. I like leaving my beans in the PC in the morning or the night before and tell the thing to cook them 1h before I plan to come home to start dinner. Also use it for making yogurt, stock and "Ropa Vieja" so mine get's a ton of use and the programable features come handy. They are both pretty safe at this point but I think the electric ones have the extra features and might be even safer. No real basis for this statement but the fact that mine has a sensor and won't let me sauté with the lid fully on, will turn off automatically after a 30 min sautéing and other such features does inspire a bit more confidence but nothing that common sense wouldn't solve.

Clear advantage of stove top is that you should be able to find cheaper. That said, my Instant Pot 8 quart on sale costed right under $100 bucks (to the person that gave it to me) and I feel like I have gotten that value out of it several times over. Just a quick calculation on yogurt alone tells me I save around $130 a year in Greek Yogurt (there is no way I had be making yogurt without this thing), and I can't even calculate how much I save in other stuff by cooking a lot of beans which are cheap, tasty and nutritious (I make black, pinto, red kidney, chickpeas, peas, lentils, faba... probably at least one of those a week).

 

Any new Scores peoples?

 

Steamer and a bunch of frozen Asian dumplings. Way better than takeout.

Tom

 

Scored an older but pristine pressure cooker in a consignment shop for peanuts.

 

Few items from Craft Butcher's Pantry.



Tom

 

Hot stuff Tom!

I predict some fermented meat photos soon.

 

Picked up an electric grill this week, not something I've considered before, but the mrs wanted one and we are a bit light on cooker top space, so we now have one!

Did a bit of research, the usual George Foreman ones popped up, but reviews seemed to be a bit hit and miss on the newer models.
Ended up getting a Lakeland branded one, they have kitchenware stores in the UK and this grill was getting good reviews.




Nothing too fancy, just a temperature dial and that's about it, the grill plates are removable for cleaning which is a big plus and one of the main features I was after. You can also open the top plate so it's flat so you can cook on both surfaces if needed.
Only grilled some chicked breast on it so far, but it got nice and hot and left some nice charred lines. Doubt I'll be putting a steak anywhere near it, but I might just give it a try on a cheaper cut!
Also makes great toasted sandwiches apparently, I'm just about to find out as it's lunch time!

 

I would experiment with it, Warren. I’ve heard that chicken and pork and steak on those things turn out fantastic. Of course, you can also use a cast iron skillet for steaks. Something like a 30 second seer per side and start eating.
we’ve never had an electric grill. But electric griddle gets busted our every now and then for pancakes. Mostly when we are making a bunch.

 

It's actually been better than I expected JJ!
Chicken has come out nice, haven't tried any other chunks of meat/poultry yet though, did throw some sausages and thick tomato slices on it, they came out nice as well.
It also makes a nice grilled cheese!

 

Works really well for "Cuban" sandwiches!!!

 

I made a version of one of those without knowing it was called that @cheflarge! Some pork left from a roast, cheese, ham, pickles and some mustard, very tasty!

 

Really fussy about our ground beef (we get the butcher to grind it fresh for us and pick out the cut of meat.) We used to be able to pick out a particular piece of meat and get them to grind it, but now they ask us what we want and come out a little later with wrapped up ground meat. Depending on who's working that day, we sometimes question whether we get what we asked for. Since we've only been picking up groceries in the parking lot for the last year, we've run out of burger anyway. Got a new overpriced toy to deal with the situation (a LEM), and we have burger again! It'll never be cost effective, but now we know exactly what's going into our meat. It's fast and quiet, and I'll be able to customize my blend of cuts (butcher at the grocery won't do that for us.) It does a double grind in one pass so there's no sticking the meat in the freezer to re-chill and doing the second grind.

Most of the time is spent prepping the meat (this is about 6 lbs of bottom round):





But the grinder is REALLY fast--less than 2 minutes to go from chunks of roast to this:





The meat also seems to stay fresh longer than when we get it from the store.

 

Looks great lucretia!
I love having a LEM around.
Sausage is great homemade and my bride is a chicken burger lover.
So much better than store bought.

 

Seeing ground beef like that reminds me of the days helping the meat guy at the little grocery store I worked at when I was a lot younger.

 

I've got some ground beef in the fridge right now and am trying to decide between meatballs and meatloaf (meatballs are in the lead right now.)

Several years ago when I used a Kitchenaid attachment for grinding meat, I'd make a chicken/pork blend sausage that was very good, but I HAAAATED the way the attachment worked. I'd end up with raw meat backing up into the mixer. I am loving the LEM so far. Might even have to try sausage again in my copious spare time. The only downside to the LEM is that it's heavy. Normally it wouldn't be any problem to haul it around, but I'm not up to fighting strength right now so the old man gets to haul it out. Makes him feel macho, so I guess that's ok.

 

Bet nobody gave you any grief when they found out you had access to an industrial-size meat grinder!

 

Whats wrong with meatballs and meatloaf?