HAPPY NEW YEAR. Here's to another year of good eating and growing.


We ended the year with a nice meal of homemade crabcakes, clams, bok choy, pearl onions and fries. (I made a siracha lemon sauce for the crab; very nice and easy too). The new year is sure to be filled with lots of good treats for us all!

Thank you Sean, for the new thread.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!🥂

Happy, healthy 2024 to all of us...and good food!

My present to myself this fall was purchasing a set of Ninja Premium cookware which I found on sale. I'd bought a large sauce pan several years ago and have really liked it. I'm hoping at some point to switch out the current cooktop with an induction cooktop and this set of cookware is supposed to work for that. I've given away some of the old cookware, but not all of it. I guess I'll keep a double boiler, but probably the rest of the pots will probably follow. The skillets and a large stew pot are gone, but there are several large stew pots still on the premises. So far, the non-stick aspect is working very well. The old skillets were a bit of a problem.

Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks for the new thread, Sean. Heading to bed.

It's here! The new year, and the new Chow Time thread. Nice meal Sean, to begin the years foody group.

I don't own any non-stick cookware so I can't really help in regards to how to use it. The vast majority of my day-to-day cooking is done in either plain rolled steel pans (which are neither lined nor coated, they are just that - plain, raw, rolled steel which, as cast iron does, builds a slick coating through use) or stainless lined copper. I can give some general guidance that probably translates to non-stick as well.

First, protein-rich food sticking to a pan is a chemical issue, not so much a physical one. Protein molecules are forming a chemical bond reacting with metal in the pan.

In my experience most home cooks do not understand the importance of heat, nor do they regulate it well, almost always cooking at too low a temperature in a pan not adequately pre-heated.

Adding an appropriate amount and type of fat to a pan - and the time at which it is added is also important. Learning to feel your food and how it responds is very helpful and makes cooking intuitive. If you tell me what kind of sticking issues you have I will give you specific thoughts; here or by mail if you don't want to risk boring others.

But, as an example if you are having a sticking issue in trying to sear a plain protein such as the (despised) boneless, skinless chicken breast you are almost certainly not heating your pan adequately. Try heating a dry pan until it is at a smoking stage, then add a bit of your preferred oil and immediately add your chicken breast (patted dry) laying it gently in the oil and leaving it alone. Resist the urge to move it. Don't fiddle. The addition of the meat will have dropped the temperature of the pan significantly and the breast may be stuck at this point but as the protein sears it will release. It's hard to resist, but if you keep from disturbing the meat for at least a few minutes - (three, four, five?) you'll have better luck. Then, instead of trying to turn or move the meat in the pan begin by moving the pan. Give the pan repeated quick, short, shaking movements and see if the meat doesn't just slide free. Now, let it continue cooking undisturbed for another few minutes before turning. Obviously this timing all depends on the weight of your pan, the heat source - gas, electric, induction - what the protein is, etc.
There aren't many dishes that should be started in a cold pan and often what home cooks think of as a HOT pan is, in cooking terms, barely warm.
As with any rule there are exceptions. For example duck breast should be started skin side down in a cold pan, sliced garlic for sauce making is often started in cold oil in a cold pan.
Anyway, I'd rather eat a lovely seared cod fillet in a smoky kitchen than an insipid, pallid one in a clear-aired one. Hey, you over there - open a window, would you?

Oh, speaking of duck breasts starting in a cold pan...

I was torn between two options for my NYE dinner.

As you'd expect I began with a repeat of the Christmas pâte de maison which is now at its absolute best having ripened for a week. I am not a huge sparkling wine fan so would not waste a fine Champagne without guests who would appreciate it more than I. Still, being a celebratory evening, I instead opted for a glass or two of a Crémant de Loire with the starter. Oh, and I want to add that the olives on the starter plate - I grew and cured those. It's a fun experiment and I hope in a year or two to have enough to make it a worthwhile addition to the pantry.


Following came duck. In fact I doubled-down on duck and roasted a breast with soy and honey and did a faux confit cuisse. Served with pommes dauphinois (with no cheese, damn it), and blackened haricot vert with shallot rings and a nice little Bordeaux to accompany it.


Finally, a fresh pineapple and spiced rum brioche bread pudding. I wasn't going to make dessert but I had stale brioche and the tiny Victoria Pineapples from the l'île de La Réunion smelled so good at the produce market that I had to do something…



Happy, Merry, bah-whatever to all of you.

Fabulous, JBarstool.

The Ninja cookware is non-stick, but the directions for using it mirror JB's comments almost exactly. Always preheat dry for at least 3 minutes, then add oil. Let pan fried food sit a few minutes before attempting to move or turn it. Then suggested shaking the pan before turning it.

I've been trying to follow those guidelines and it seems to be working, but I forget to check my watch and have absolutely no sense of time passing so believe the pans aren't always heated enough.

I've been cooking with electric heat for decades, but have never really mastered heat adjustments using electric heat. That is much easier using a gas flame which you can see. If I switch to induction, it's my understanding the heat adjustments will occur more like a gas flame than with standard electric, but without the visual aid a gas flame to gauge the adjustment. Likely to be a big learning curve. I'm also wondering what happens when there happen to be visitors who also cook occasionally. That actually happens at times.

And @JBarstool I'd like to see any hints/advice you'd be inclined to post. I've actually learned and applied a few hints and advice from this forum. I'm able to at least cook a basic fish filet and cook fresh beets so that I actually like them. Now if I could just learn to cook steak .

I think the rolled steel pans JB mentioned are also known as carbon steel pans. I had and loved a 12' de Buyer pan that went missing in one of our moves. I suspect one of the movers was a part time chef. I have a 10" Mauviel now and love it, nothing sticks to it, but it is not pretty. If you are one who prides themselves on shiny clean pots carbon steel is not for you.

We bought a new range with an induction cooktop and I love it so far. I had Bosch induction in the last two houses and this is an LG but I think I will like it just as much. Anything is better than the ugly gas range that came with the house. The previous owner admitted to never cleaning the oven - in 21 years! Gross.

Good Morning all,
And...HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone had a good close to the old one and are off to a great start today.

Quiet day for us yesterday. Dave worked and I got through a mountain of chores and some things that needed taken care of. Felt good to get that accomplished before today. Got an added bonus in that my one friend finally got a hold of me. We had a good chat for over an hour. So nice to catch up especially since we've been playing phone tag since X-mas.

My evening was simple and relaxing. When Dave got home, we enjoyed some nibbles and wine on the back patio and was treated to some fireworks we could see nicely from our back patio. Caught some t.v. and enjoyed the fireworks displays each country put on as they welcomed the new year. Will say there were some awesome and spectacularly elaborate ones. We went to bed around 10 as today was another early morning work day.

Little bummed out we missed the Tucson Taco Drop though. https://www.kvoa.com/news/ariz...
I had never heard of it before but caught it on the news. Looks like a great time and I think this may be a fun local way to ring in the next new year.

Interesting discussion on cookware and techniques. I can't offer up any advice as I had to tailor all my pots and pans to work on an induction stove top. I have a set of Viking brand 18/8 stainless steel with an aluminum core. They are made specifically for energy efficient cooking and work best on low and medium heat settings as high heat burns the food and scorches and discolors the pan. Found that out the hard way and wound up having to replace one pot. I like them for the most part but will say they are heavy--- very heavy! On the plus side, the set came with both metal and glass lids and they work very well on the induction cook top.

When we bought this house the induction stove top was already here. So we had to get rid of a lot of beloved pots and pans that wouldn't work on it. Bummed me out but I still have a small assortment of odds-n-ends pans from various makers that I've used forever. They work great on the induction stove top. I keep a couple of Teflon coated non-stick skillets/frying pans but don't use them a whole lot. (A tip I have for storing is to stack some paper plates between them so the non-stick surface doesn't get scratched and only use plastic/rubber utensils on them.) I also have a cast iron skillet which I've had for decades, love and use regularly. Aside from that can't offer up any advice on cookware other than saying pick one that will work on your stove and suit your style of cooking.

Donald... Best way to tell if your cookware will work on an induction cook top is use a magnet. You know--like the ones we have stuck to the fridge. If the magnet sticks to the pot you can use it on an induction top stove. If not, then you can't use it. I wound up giving away a lot of cookware that was perfectly good for that reason. I'll be curious to know how you do with the induction cook top and what your opinion is of it. I am not a fan and just feel after 10 months I am finally figuring out the little quirks. It can be a bit tricky. Honestly, I would much prefer a gas stove but didn't have a 'choice'. Considering that I will say I do like induction stoves far better than any type of electric.

Sean...Nice looking plate! Sounds like you had an enjoyable night. Thank you also for starting the new forum.

JB...Gorgeous looking appetizer plate and the duck sounds divine! And nice sparkling wine choice. Do you know if it has any added (key word) sulfites? I sure do miss white wines and champagne/sparkling wines.
And yes, you are right in that people don't let the pan heat up long enough. Even though my cookware doesn't work optimally well with high heat, I let it sit on m/h for a good bit to get toasty before even thinking of throwing meat or fish into it. The hardest lesson I had to learn was just what you said in regards to 'fiddling' with the food instead of letting it rest, sear and release on its own. Ruined a few chicken and fish dinners learning that lesson the hard way as they all stuck to the pan and then shredded when I tried to move or flip them.

All...Not much going on here today. Only chore is to clean the kitchen. All else is done! So I'll relax and try to finish a painting that I had been working on. Dinner tonight will be a BBQed pork chop, black bean and corn salad and whatever else sounds good. Maybe I'll steam some broccoli to go with.

Hope all have a happy day,
AG

Black beans and rice for lunch today. Not quite black-eyed peas and cornbread, but this is for lunch, not for luck. I still remember when my family visited Dad's uncles in Louisiana in 1973. Beans and rice were part of the menu. I was just a HS student, so I didn't think to get Aunt Earlene's recipe for dirty rice. She used a lot of rice-- bought it in 25 pound bags.

I have always used electric stoves, and I like my glass top better than the old coil burners. I did have propane gas stoves in our camper and trailers, it was just ok.

All of the instructions on most non stick cook wear is not to over heat a pan with nothing in it as it can ruin the coating.

Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, salad and green beans tonight. Oh and Hawaiian rolls.

Dinner last night was the last of the lamb, I made a stew, used the leftover gravy, onions, celery, carrots, rutabaga and potatoes, bay leaves & rosemary. We both agreed it was very good. DH had bread & butter.

I made a small pork roast, and had some with a baked sweet potato and some broccoli. The pork was a bit tough for some reason. I put the remaining pork in the oven and am brazing it for a while to see if it gets tender.

I saw a boneless lamb leg? in the store, not confident I can justify the price by cooking it nicely. my lack of skill.

My New Year meal was a success. Close call on the black-eyed peas though. Instead of using water, I pulled out some homemade vegetable stock and combined it with some chicken stock. While it was heating to pour over the peas, I picked out some spices and put them in a coffee grinder and turned it all to powder to add to the cooking liquid. One of those spices was some of the homegrown peppers which were basically flakes. .5 tsp was putting it on the margin of being too hot. Probably was too hot for some folks, but in the end was okay. The seasoned stock was really excellent even before the spices were added. Celery, 1# ham cubes and a couple of bay leaves were in the peas. No extra salt needed with ham and veg stock. Now I have to replenish the veggie stock and restock some in the freezer. Served the peas over rice. Sauteed half a large onion and added crumbled bacon to go with the kale. Opted to stay traditional and made cornbread instead of dinner rolls.


For dessert, I think these might properly be called maduros. A ripe but not mushy plantain. Cooked in the air fryer with some olive oil and agave nectar mixed up to coat them. I think they might have been even better if I'd smashed them and recoated some more of the nectar/olive oil and then cooked them a bit more, but they were good.


Biggest surprise was the wine. It's an inexpensive Australian Cabernet that I buy all the time. The current bottle was noticeably sweeter than usual and very smooth. I think some other wine must have gotten bottled accidentally . Normally it's very consistant. Had a bottle of it last week. I don't think my cooking nibbles alone were enough to alter my perception of the taste

Margaret, lamb stew is always a treat. No surprise to me that you both found it good!

Don, nice job! The maduros look especially good to me.

The DO decided to return to make ajiaco. It had been a few weeks since the last one Gotta' admit, this one was even better. The only problem is that he makes so much of it... for two of us! I'm already lining up folks to share it with. I had it with a very tasty North Fork (Long Island) wine that came through the door on Christmas. Nice New Year's treat.