music-city-missy
Well-known member
Okay so it's not really day 1 but day 1 of cooking. The adventure up to now....
Last Thursday decided I would make a real cassoulet for the International Cuisine class next Wednesday. Friday night I volunteered to assist with teaching a community service class in Sushi making so the gathering of the ingredients would have to wait until Saturday.
Saturday got up at the crack of dawn and took DD to school to take the ACT. After a VERY stressful week at work and then being on my feet Friday night helping with the sushi class, there was no way I was going back to school to help make chocolates to sell for Valentines Day to raise money for the gourmet club. Before I could start rounding up ingredients I started getting sick so that killed my day. I finally got out around 5 and headed to the far side of town to this butcher I had heard about (actually I had met him and he made great promises). Not having a lot of faith in the butchers around town, I was skeptical. I finally found the place less than 15 minutes before he closed at 7. It's hidden away in this tiny little multi-use commercial center with insurance agents and a liquor store.
Started with the pig's foot. If I couldn't have a pig's foot I wasn't doing this - don't know why but that was the sign for me. He had it. Told him to split it for me. He finally brought it out and said he had torched it to get the hairs off and split it. Instead of being about 2-3" long like the ones I had pickled as a child, this sucker was over 1' long. I asked him to cut it in half the other way to make sure it would fit in my pot.
Now I was on my way. All of his salt pork was smoked. All of his Italian sausage had fennel. All of his other sausages were smoked. Okay, so he had the pork and cut it into the 3" cubes for me. No duck. Partial success.
Next day I knew I would hit Costco and cheat and use the duck confit they had. Was pretty sure I could get the fresh country style pork sausage links at Publix along with the unsmoked salt pork. Cannellini beans at Fresh Market. This is coming together.
Sunday - dropped DD off at work at GFS Marketplace and headed to Costco (I am a traitor she says). No duck confit. Off to Publix. No duck confit, no duck, and today, no fresh country sausage links. Settled for fresh kielbasa and the unsmoked salt pork. Maybe Fresh Market would have Duck Confit since they carry D'artagnan products.
Fresh Market - no duck confit, no ducks fresh, frozen or otherwise. Well maybe they had breasts. Got the beans.
Called DD’s boss at GFS and asked could he get me duck confit - he asked what it was then looked it up. It is a Special SPECIAL order. No hope. Tired I gave up and went home to rethink this adventure. Still not feeling great, decided to freeze all the stuff I had and make this at a later time.
Slept on it Sunday night and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the adventure. Thought maybe, just maybe this one little hidden gem of a restaurant that makes his own duck confit might have some and sell me 4. So I put the beans in to soak while I went to work and put the pork products in the fridge to thaw and off to work I went.
6:45 am got call from hubby, he made it to his desk and work and got so sick he couldn't stand it. Headed home with the flu. 5:00pm leave work and take meal to elderly lady who had surgery. Get call from DH to pick up Tamaflu on the way home. Never got an answer at the restaurant. Oh wait, I remember, they close on Mondays. Great! Go to Costco and get it and double check one more time for the duck confit. Pick up daughter and head to Harris Teeter who I remembered had frozen ducks. NO DUCK! Call and found frozen duck at Wild Oats which was back by Costco. Decide to try the other Publix that was closer to where I was. Halleluha (hear the angels singing?) - 2 frozen ducklings – I got them both! Head home happy but tired and late - it's 7:50 by the time I finally reach the front door.
Medicate dear hubby and set off to cook the beans. Only thing is, it wasn't until things got up to heat good that I started smelling this familiar smell and not a pleasant one for most folks. Chitlins. So now, with no way to turn back, I have a huge pot on the stove with the beans and pork and DH staggering into the family room asking what is that smell and proclaiming that it is making hit start to vomit again.
Oh well, too late. Smell is in the house. Told him to go back into the bedroom and keep the door shut. The less he came and went, the less the smell would get in there. Had I known I would probably have been considerate enough to cook on the burner of the grill outside. I haven't told him what it REALLY is - a pig's foot. Told him it was beans and sausage. Needless to say, I won't have to worry about him eating any of this.
Oh - duckies are thawing but not as quickly as I had hoped. I am thinking that they might be thawed by morning and I can salt & season them at least for the day then render the fat and cook tomorrow night as the pork stew cooks.
Only thing is, now I am starting to feel sick. Throat and ears are killing me. Well, if I get sick, at least I'll be home to cook and the cooking should kill any germs - that is if I get sick and feel like going to class on Wednesday.
Oh, and have I mentioned the small fortune I have invested in this dish? Dish, OMG, what dish am I going to assemble this in? I don’t have a cassoulet pot and the pot I THOUGHT I could cook it in will never hold it now that I see what all is in it.
Oh and DH just walked out again begging me to put THAT food away. I think he's establishing grounds for divorce based on my cooking.
Last Thursday decided I would make a real cassoulet for the International Cuisine class next Wednesday. Friday night I volunteered to assist with teaching a community service class in Sushi making so the gathering of the ingredients would have to wait until Saturday.
Saturday got up at the crack of dawn and took DD to school to take the ACT. After a VERY stressful week at work and then being on my feet Friday night helping with the sushi class, there was no way I was going back to school to help make chocolates to sell for Valentines Day to raise money for the gourmet club. Before I could start rounding up ingredients I started getting sick so that killed my day. I finally got out around 5 and headed to the far side of town to this butcher I had heard about (actually I had met him and he made great promises). Not having a lot of faith in the butchers around town, I was skeptical. I finally found the place less than 15 minutes before he closed at 7. It's hidden away in this tiny little multi-use commercial center with insurance agents and a liquor store.
Started with the pig's foot. If I couldn't have a pig's foot I wasn't doing this - don't know why but that was the sign for me. He had it. Told him to split it for me. He finally brought it out and said he had torched it to get the hairs off and split it. Instead of being about 2-3" long like the ones I had pickled as a child, this sucker was over 1' long. I asked him to cut it in half the other way to make sure it would fit in my pot.
Now I was on my way. All of his salt pork was smoked. All of his Italian sausage had fennel. All of his other sausages were smoked. Okay, so he had the pork and cut it into the 3" cubes for me. No duck. Partial success.
Next day I knew I would hit Costco and cheat and use the duck confit they had. Was pretty sure I could get the fresh country style pork sausage links at Publix along with the unsmoked salt pork. Cannellini beans at Fresh Market. This is coming together.
Sunday - dropped DD off at work at GFS Marketplace and headed to Costco (I am a traitor she says). No duck confit. Off to Publix. No duck confit, no duck, and today, no fresh country sausage links. Settled for fresh kielbasa and the unsmoked salt pork. Maybe Fresh Market would have Duck Confit since they carry D'artagnan products.
Fresh Market - no duck confit, no ducks fresh, frozen or otherwise. Well maybe they had breasts. Got the beans.
Called DD’s boss at GFS and asked could he get me duck confit - he asked what it was then looked it up. It is a Special SPECIAL order. No hope. Tired I gave up and went home to rethink this adventure. Still not feeling great, decided to freeze all the stuff I had and make this at a later time.
Slept on it Sunday night and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the adventure. Thought maybe, just maybe this one little hidden gem of a restaurant that makes his own duck confit might have some and sell me 4. So I put the beans in to soak while I went to work and put the pork products in the fridge to thaw and off to work I went.
6:45 am got call from hubby, he made it to his desk and work and got so sick he couldn't stand it. Headed home with the flu. 5:00pm leave work and take meal to elderly lady who had surgery. Get call from DH to pick up Tamaflu on the way home. Never got an answer at the restaurant. Oh wait, I remember, they close on Mondays. Great! Go to Costco and get it and double check one more time for the duck confit. Pick up daughter and head to Harris Teeter who I remembered had frozen ducks. NO DUCK! Call and found frozen duck at Wild Oats which was back by Costco. Decide to try the other Publix that was closer to where I was. Halleluha (hear the angels singing?) - 2 frozen ducklings – I got them both! Head home happy but tired and late - it's 7:50 by the time I finally reach the front door.
Medicate dear hubby and set off to cook the beans. Only thing is, it wasn't until things got up to heat good that I started smelling this familiar smell and not a pleasant one for most folks. Chitlins. So now, with no way to turn back, I have a huge pot on the stove with the beans and pork and DH staggering into the family room asking what is that smell and proclaiming that it is making hit start to vomit again.
Oh well, too late. Smell is in the house. Told him to go back into the bedroom and keep the door shut. The less he came and went, the less the smell would get in there. Had I known I would probably have been considerate enough to cook on the burner of the grill outside. I haven't told him what it REALLY is - a pig's foot. Told him it was beans and sausage. Needless to say, I won't have to worry about him eating any of this.
Oh - duckies are thawing but not as quickly as I had hoped. I am thinking that they might be thawed by morning and I can salt & season them at least for the day then render the fat and cook tomorrow night as the pork stew cooks.
Only thing is, now I am starting to feel sick. Throat and ears are killing me. Well, if I get sick, at least I'll be home to cook and the cooking should kill any germs - that is if I get sick and feel like going to class on Wednesday.
Oh, and have I mentioned the small fortune I have invested in this dish? Dish, OMG, what dish am I going to assemble this in? I don’t have a cassoulet pot and the pot I THOUGHT I could cook it in will never hold it now that I see what all is in it.
Oh and DH just walked out again begging me to put THAT food away. I think he's establishing grounds for divorce based on my cooking.