MacKenzie

It's time to get ready for winter. My carpenter did these shutters give more protection for the ODK and I still have to stain them but that won't take long. On the other side is Sunbrella shades. They are the same as the ones on the wall behind the grills. In the summer all these shades come down and opens the ODK to the great outdoors. The wall to the right of MY chair comes down from ceiling to floor exposing a white hand rail and the great outdoors. There are also Sunbrella shades that go right across the front of the counter and grills to keep the snow out. Believe me there will be snow. See what I mean, this was from last Feb. just one of 5or 6 blizzards we had. When it is warm enough this is my favourite place to sit and watch the wildlife, squirrels, chipmunks and the birds. I have a Bluetooth speaker so that I can listen to my favourite radio station. When it's too cold to sit in the outdoor kitchen then it's a short hop skip and jump to the sunroom. It's good for all winter too because there is a wood stove in the corner.

I would be over joyed if mine turned out as good as yours did, your dinner looks perfect.

tinyfish, that cook looks awesome, I might have to steal it.

Not even a cherry chocolate?

Poutine was followed by a cherry chocolate that a friend of mine made- and inside-

I was out for dinner this week and had halibut with giant shrimp. I could have sworn that the shrimp was cooked in butter but the chef assured me that there was no butter involved only olive oil and spice. I thought I'd died and went to heaven and I'm not a fan of shrimp. Lucky me the person I was with didn't like shrimp so I had two of these beauties.

Thanks, everyone, I have to admit I was pretty happen when I opened the lid.

The fries were crispy but over cooked. I would like to have started with bigger potato pieces and in order to do that I'll have to hand cut. That's asking for trouble but we'll see. I do want more inside the fry. Made poutine with these fries- Back to the drawing board.

Syz, I will read that with interest. Right now I'm working on a recipe from chefsteps.com. This the procedure I have in the works. I am ready for the second fry later today I hope. I already did a one fry and a two fry using this method but I over dried the potatoes, so changed the drying time from 2 hours to 1 hour. Cut fries maximum size with mandolin, ~ 13 mm. Rinse in cold water until water runs clear. Weight fries and add an equal amount of Glucose Solution to an SV bag. SV for 18 mins, fries should be in a single layer. Shock in cold water. Drain and blot dry. Place in dehydrator for 1 hour on no heat setting or very low setting. Check after half an hour to see if they are dry. This is important. For 1 Fry Fries: Freeze the fries. Heat oil to 355F allowing for a slight drop when the fries are put in. Fry until desired doneness about 4-5 mins. Blot oil off and salt the fries. For 2 Fry Fries After drying fry the fries at 266F for 8 mins, stirring and checking the temp. Blot dry and cool. Once they are cooled freeze, this is important, the ice crystals will break open the cells and release the liquid. Heat oil to 374F and fry for about 2-3 mins until desired colour is reached. Blot oil off and salt the fries. Glucose solution: 1 000g water 2.5g baking soda 1.5g salt 10g glucose or 2.5g sugar Recipe is very largely from chefsteps.com These were SVed for 17 mins. then put in the fry to dry for about 3 hours then I decided why not try the dehydrator so I put them in there for 2 hours which was too much drying. These are the one fry chips at 350F for 4-5 mins. One fry interior- Two fry method, first fry- Second fry- Two fry interior. They were both crispy but the 2 fry was even more so and stayed crispy until they were all eaten. I am on another trial and have tweaked things a little so we'll see how that goes.

Used a Ruhlman curing recipe for this 5 pound slab of pork belly. Here is it after 5 days in the cure. Next step is to clean the belly and do two wash outs for about 4 hours. Then dry and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours before smoking on the KK. Not a pretty site but wait, just wait... Started Pebbles up about 8 AM. Pork Belly is start the smoke stage. All smoked using Maple Leaf lump, apple wood and cherry pellets to an internal temp. of 145F Bacon off the grill. Flip side. One last shot before putting it in the fridge to cool oven night. I'll probably slice it tomorrow morning. It looks much better now.

Bosco, everything looks wonderful and tasty. It would be hard to pick a favourite from this array.

Bryan, that is really interesting. Thanks.

My carpenter came today to do some work so that my ODK can be better winterized and I had no time to experiment. Hopefully tomorrow. I happen to like fish and chips but that's not my plan for the first cook of this experiment.:)

:sign5: This is so much fun what are we going to do when he gets grills!

If it wasn't so late I'd report on today's experiment, there is still more fine tuning but I will do a write up tomorrow with pixs.

It's all part of the intimation or initiation.

Love the colour on that duck, grrreat cook, Wilbur.

Nice looking dinner, ck, yummie.

I have another batch underway but not sure if I can try the fry part tomorrow or not, but Thurs for sure I should some something to report, good or bad who knows. Enjoy the other dinner plans.

Not just yet;)

You know where this container is going to end up when the ship hits the dock.