R. Ford

ok,
I'm not Gordon Ramsey, but I am a student of the game when it comes to cooking. I like to focus on WHY things turn out delicious or gross more than just saying "hey that was great". I'm really just channeling my inner Alton Brown So here's my take on fried chicken:
First a marinade is super important for moist and delicious tasting chicken. I like to make a buttermilk like ingredient with milk and dill pickle juice with a heavy splash of hot sauce. let that sit in the fridge overnight. Pull chicken out of marinade and dry off well using paper towels. I let mine sit on the counter for another 30 min. or so and then dry it off one more time before beginning the dredging process.  Use 25 percent corn starch to flour and season heavily. No....that's not enough, even more. Smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and some Cajun blend is my go to. The Cajun blend has a decent bit of salt inside. Whip up an egg wash, and don't be afraid to throw a little seasoning at it too. Into the dry batter, coat well, then into the egg wash, and back once again into the dry batter. This time make sure you press the mixture firmly into the chicken. You aren't gonna hurt it, it's already dead, so really press it in there. Set the chicken onto a piece of parchment paper or spare pan to sit for around 30 min. Now is when I normally start to warm my oil. The time sitting will allow the batter to meld and it will stick a little better. Choice of frying oil can change the way it all turns out, and this will be a preference/ budget thing. I prefer beef tallow, lard, and peanut oil in that order, but don't count out some of the cheap oils if you can tolerate the seed oil fear mongers (perhaps they ARE right, but tallow is expensive) looking down their noses at you. If you can afford enough oil to deep fry it, that is a much easier process for beginners than pan frying. Put about 4 to 6 inches of oil in a HEAVY POT. I repeat HEAVY POT or Dutch oven. You need something with a lot of mass to help stabilize oil temperature swings. If you are over 40, and you grab the pot empty with one hand to put it on the stove, its probably not the one you are after here. Keeping the oil nice and hot around 350 to 375 is SUPER important to ending up with chicken that isn't over cooked, but has a nice golden outside. Too hot and your breading burns while your chicken is raw inside. Too cool, and your chicken cooks but the breading ends up greasy enough to bring back the pimples you thought that you left in high school. Small batches. Depending on your heat source and how much mass you have, maybe 2 or 3 legs at the time is ideal. An oil thermometer will tell you a lot here if you have one. If you are at 350 and it dips below 330, you need to cut the next batch down by one leg and watch again. I prefer to go with 375 degrees, and try to keep it above 360. Remove chicken when golden brown, and allow to drip on a wire rack if possible for a few minutes.  Thanks for stopping by my Ted talk. Happy cooking.

White T shirt, write Life across it with black marker. When someone asks what you are supposed to be, pull a lemon from your bag and give it to them. Always gets a laugh.

I would go with 1x4's (hardwood would be better than pine, but both have been used historically) and lay them 45 degrees to the joists. My house has all rough cut 1x4's so they are truly 1" thick. Some of them have been there since 1890.

Robert Ray wrote:I don't know when I stopped, opening the car door for my wife.

Never too soon to start back. People look at me like i'm crazy sometimes for it, but I know it would hurt my wife's feelings just a little bit if I quit, even if she would never say so or admit it.

In my rural part of North Carolina, (USA) we still bring food to anyone who lost a loved one or has a major unexpected hospitalization. Our church has a lady who has taken it on herself to coordinate those meals amongst the community folks, and when a need arises, she calls and asks if there is a day we could help out so that they don't get more food at once than they can handle.

One of my favorite customs of days gone by that is somewhat still around, but much less common place than it should be is taking extra veggies and fruits grown to the elderly or shut ins in the community.

One of my favorite Paul Harvey quotes:
"At the end of a dirt road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't, some neighbor would fill it with too much Zucchini."

An old timer told me this recipe for the absolute best way to eat a carp:

Take large carp and nail it to a board using three nails directly through the body.
Leave it out in the sun for three days.
Remove carp, and eat the board.


I don't necessarily agree with him, because I've had some carp that was pretty good, but i struggle to get myself excited about eating them as long as I have access to catfish, particularly flatheads.

While your exact reaction to cut it all down is my first as well, i have found myself attempting to be a better person and to use kindness where a younger me would have met them at their same level of vitriol and beaten them with experience. I attempt (poorly) to imitate Christ because I am a Christian, but even outside of religion, we can all aspire to be a better version of ourselves. If you know these people, take them a basket of fruit, explain to them that you didn't mean to come off the way you did, but that you had been putting plenty of effort into saving those plants and helping them thrive, with the hope of enjoying some of the fruits of your labor. They may take it and you might make closer friends, or they may slam the door in your face, Either way, you've done more than your fair share to be kind to them, whether they deserve it or not. I'm not familiar with the plants you are referring to, but perhaps you can take some cuttings or suckers and start some new bushes, well away from the public right of way, and if things worked out between you and them, maybe start a few for them as well.

If I get extra ricotta, I always try to make cannoli. Mix the ricotta with powdered sugar and orange zest, with a little bit of vanilla extract. It makes a wonderful filling.

Using the left over heat to dry wood is an interesting idea, but i believe it will be much too difficult to manage if he is making any type of dimensional lumber. Kilns have precise temperature control needs and schedules. Depending on thickness of wood, you could be talking 5 days or up to 8 weeks. Dry the wood too fast and it cups, warps, and splits. Too quickly and mold and fungi become your main issues. Air drying skips most of that worry. If you decide to give it a try, let us know how the project turns out!