Son of What's Cooking

[fishinwrench]

This afternoon I'll be asked what I want for dinner, and I'm gonna say that blanched beans and polenta sounds really good, just to see the puzzled stare that'll follow.

You can always tell when a hillbilly has been jacking around on the internet.

[rps]

[rps]

Lamb. IMO nothing better. Shanks. Slow cooker braised with wine, stock, and herbs.

Polenta. One of God's gifts.

IMG_0574.jpg

yes, braised

[Flysmallie]

I'm starting to think that Ness and JoeD are the same guy.

[rps]

The Kalamata olive is a large purple olive with a smooth, meaty texture named after the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese, Greece.^[2]Often used as table olives, they are usually preserved in wine vinegar or olive oil. Kalamata olives in the European Union (EU) have PDO status, whereby only olives originating from the Kalamata region have the right to be branded as Kalamata if sold in the EU.^[3]

Description

Kalamata olives are grown in Kalamata in Messenia and also in nearby Laconia. They are almond-shaped, plump, dark purple olives^[4] from a tree distinguished from the common olive by the size of its leaves, which grow to twice the size of other olive varieties.^[2] The trees are intolerant of cold and are susceptible to Verticillium wilt but are resistant to olive knot and to the olive fruit fly.^[5]

Kalamata olives, which cannot be harvested green, must be hand-picked in order to avoid bruising.

Preparation

There are two methods of preparing Kalamata olives, known as the long and short methods. The short method debitters the olive by packing them in water or weak brine for around a week. Once complete, they are then packed in brine and wine vinegar with a layer of olive oil and slices of lemon on top. The olives are often slit to decrease the processing time. The long method involves slitting the olives and placing them in salted water in order to debitter them, a process that can take as long as three months. Levels of polyphenol remain in the olives after processing, giving them their slightly bitter taste.^[6]

[rps]

BTW, I took ness' post as humor and my responses are intended as humor.

[Terrierman]

Food fight!!!!

Both of you guys are killer cooks. I'm OK, but know better when I see it.

[ness]

linehan_yellow_grits_bobs_red_mill_photo-1.jpg

Sorry rps -- and Bob too -- grits are not ground corn. They're ground hominy. That product is simply labeled wrong. Bob's trying to sell more stuff.

Salt curing isn't brining. Two different things. I'm sure Wikipedia has an article on salt curing too. If not, I'll write one.

[ness]

BTW, I took ness' post as humor and my responses are intended as humor.

That's why I stuck that one smiley in there. Here's an extra one, for good measure !

[Terrierman]

Well this whole Polenta V. Grits debate made me curious. I've learned that grits are made from dent corn and often but apparently not always from hominy. And polenta is made from flint corn. The dent corn has a form of starch that cooks up creamier while the flint corn has a starch that retains a granier texture even after cooking. So you're both wrong.