Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week
– Leah weighed in on our White House Chef guessing game: Um, so last night, I was at a restaurant in Chicago and overheard the convo next to me…and I’m betting the chef is coming from Chicago… (or at least that’s what the convo next to me lead me to believe)
Spill it, Leah! Tell us more!
– If any of you Top Chef fans missed our Top Chef season five premiere live blogging, you can check out the whole thing on replay. Don’t miss JoeHoya calling Andrew from season four at Spike‘s request. Although Flamingo has no love lost for the bromancers: Wow, that transcript just reinforced what a complete douchenozzle Spike is.
– mariah carey has some interesting soup advice to share: OH MY GOD this reminds me. Last Thanksgiving my brother made an amazing soup – so amazing I cant remember if it was squash or pumpkin or tomato, but it was to diiiie. Anyway, the consistency was so incredibly thick and creamy my entire family was raving and scared for our arteries – surely it must have been made up of pure lard and cream.
SECRET OF THE DAY: the consistency was made of RICE! He said his trick is to always grind down the rice for any of his thicker soups. You obviously can’t tell it’s rice bc it’s been made into such a fine consistency and takes on whatever flavors you’ve incorporated into the soup.
You’re welcome.
– And ya’ll were all up on it with suggestions for what I should do with my leftover fat and bones:
Tim: those bones and fat will make the most incredible greens you’ve ever had. Kale is definitely the best, but they’ll make you see collards, turnip, mustard, any greens in a whole new light. You’ll never cook them w/o pork fat again. Also, bean soup. Grab a lb or two of your favorite beans (dry), or if you don’t have favorite beans, then get the 16 bean mix, soak in cold water overnight, drain, rinse, and then slow cook them with bones and pork fat for a few hours. Throw in some celery, salt, and pepper and you’re good to go. Word. Oh, and apple cider vinegar goes perfectly with the greens, actually I put it in the soup, too.
Maidelitala: I know a really amazing cook (whose cooking I rarely get to sample because it’s so heavy on the leche and the meat) who used leftover pig carcass to make what – by all accounts – was a truly tasty potato soup. He soaked the bones in cold water for a few waters, drained the water, boiled the bones is fresh water for a few minutes, drained the water again. Then he added fresh water, to the bones, brought to a simmer and added a bunch of spices and potatoes, adding more water as the broth reduced. it took several hours, but in the end everyone oo’ed and ahhh’ed and I glared menacingly at our host.
Keep ’em comin! I’ve got plenty of fat to go around.
And Yvo needs some help too: I’ve been eyeing a slow cooker for this very thing – pulled pork which I ADORE (sorry Gansie but pulled pork = teh yumz, the way it melty fat in my mouth ahhh). But – ok I’m going to guess you worked from home that day – I really have an issue with leaving it on all day while I’m at work, and I see yours doesn’t have a timer – I’m all sorts of confused over what kind of slow cooker I should get so that it doesn’t overcook 
(I leave the house at 8:15 and on a good day, I get home at 6:30, but most days it’s closer to 8.) ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR A FIRST TIME SLOW COOKER PURCHASER?
Photo: Superbez
Yvo should get a Rival Smart Pot Crock Pot. They’re about $30 and let you cook on high for 4 or 6 hours, or on low for 8 or 10, then it automatically switches to warm. There are programmable ones, but they run about $100.
I once left a crock full of food simmering away on warm overnight, after having it cook on low for much of the day. (I had to rush off to give birth after dinner. I was a bit distracted, you could say, and I neglected to turn the crock off.) The food was still warm and delicious the next morning. My husband had it for breakfast. I had nasty hospital eggs. Life isn’t fair.
I love baby soup! I thought I was the only one.
I often buy pork neck bones or similar when i don’t have them on hand to make posole. My dad’s family are born and lived in Albuquerque so we have a surprising number of ‘family’ recipes that are Mexican influenced. I put the bones or extra meat in a crock pot with broth or water (depending on the amount of meat/bones) to cover, toss in a few cans of white hominy which I love, diced green chiles, and a few shakes of some chile ancho and another random Mexican sale-spice. Cook low&slow for 10 hours – mine also goes to auto-low which is great. For gansie you could top with cilantro, avocado, probably even corn or any misc veggie you happen to have! This week I cheated with Jeb’s left over pulled pork and just simmered it all for a quick Mexican version of chicken noodle soup in an attempt to fend off this cold….
can we put this baby in the hall of fame?
aaaaaaah. I fully support that.
neat pic. Our guys and gals at 2nd story love the pic too