Happy Birthday VintagePunk!

[Sicy]

Happy Birthday!

 

[kafrun]

Happy Birfday ^-^ << kitteh ears

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Happy Birthday!!!

 

[VintagePunk]

Thanks again!

Happy Birthday, VP!
I owe you a birthday pint!

I'll hold you to that! We were going to go out Saturday night to see Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies) play solo at a small bar here. Then we doubled checked and it's not till this Friday. We're not the brightest bulbs...

 

[~BrightestStar~]

Happy Birthday Punk.

 

[gvox]

Happy belated! Seems I have a few to catch up on!

 

[VintagePunk]

Happy Birthday Punk.

Same to you. (hope you're feeling better!)

Happy belated! Seems I have a few to catch up on!

Thanks! Yeah, seems like late Dec/early Jan must be a very fertile time of the year.

 

[BoMac]

Still waiting for a cake shot.

 

[VintagePunk]

I forgot.

This is from the recipe website, we didn't take our own pictures. It ended up taking longer than anticipated to set, so when it was ready, we just dove in.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte � Annie’s Eats

For dinner that night, we also had stuffed mushroom caps, beef wellington (Gordon Ramsey's recipe), herb roasted new potatoes and homemade from scratch herb dinner rolls.


I actually wanted to ask you a question about Italian cooking, specifically, about prosciutto.

 

[BoMac]

Ahhhh, there it is.

 

[BoMac]

What about prosciutto?

Ironically, I finally found a place up here that sells it, and immediately bought it. I almost cried tears of joy. It was so-oooo good.

 

[VintagePunk]

Okay, I've made two "wellington" recipes (meat and various things in a puff pastry, I've made chicken and now beef), and they've both called for prosciutto - they sort of line the pastry, as a barrier against juices from the meat, I suspect, so that the pastry won't get soggy. I'm also guessing that the reason it's used is because it's fairly dry, and doesn't have moisture of its own that will seep out in cooking. 3 out of the 4 times I've used it, it's been unbearably salty. The night we made the beef, it was so salty that I had to deconstruct it and take out the prosciutto before I could eat it. the weird thing is, we had leftovers the next night, and the saltiness seemed to have toned down a bit.

I have no clue about what kind of prosciutto to buy. I just walk up to the grocery store deli and ask for it, and it's probably a shitty quality. We don't have an Italian deli around here to get the good stuff. I was just wondering if you have any ideas - could the extreme saltiness be due to the quality of what I'm buying? Or is that normal for any prosciutto? Any idea of something I could substitute for it, or of any particular higher quality brand I should be shopping for?

 

[BoMac]

Okay, I've made two "wellington" recipes (meat and various things in a puff pastry, I've made chicken and now beef), and they've both called for prosciutto - they sort of line the pastry, as a barrier against juices from the meat, I suspect, so that the pastry won't get soggy. I'm also guessing that the reason it's used is because it's fairly dry, and doesn't have moisture of its own that will seep out in cooking. 3 out of the 4 times I've used it, it's been unbearably salty. The night we made the beef, it was so salty that I had to deconstruct it and take out the prosciutto before I could eat it. the weird thing is, we had leftovers the next night, and the saltiness seemed to have toned down a bit.

I have no clue about what kind of prosciutto to buy. I just walk up to the grocery store deli and ask for it, and it's probably a shitty quality. We don't have an Italian deli around here to get the good stuff. I was just wondering if you have any ideas - could the extreme saltiness be due to the quality of what I'm buying? Or is that normal for any prosciutto? Any idea of something I could substitute for it, or of any particular higher quality brand I should be shopping for?

Different brands have different levels of saltiness, although as a rule all prosciutto is salty. That's what gives it it's flavour, but some have a somewhat sweeter taste than others.

The best kind (and most expensive) kind you can get is Prosciutto di Parma. Also, a very good brand that's found in almost all delis is San Daniele - they're probably the best known brand amongst Italian-Canadians.

And remember, they must be sliced thin for the best result. I've seen people slice them thick and I walk away shaking my head.

 

[VintagePunk]

Different brands have different levels of saltiness, although as a rule all prosciutto is salty. That's what gives it it's flavour, but some have a somewhat sweeter taste than others.

The best kind (and most expensive) kind you can get is Prosciutto di Parma. Also, a very good brand that's found in almost all delis is San Daniele - they're probably the best known brand amongst Italian-Canadians.

And remember, they must be sliced thin for the best result. I've seen people slice them thick and I walk away shaking my head.

Thanks, that gives me something to look for next time. It has been sliced very thinly each time I've used it, so that's not the issue. And I did think of a place here that *may* have better quality stuff - a small, independent grocery store that's owned by Italians. If I'm going to find decent prosciutto, it'll probably be there.

I've had San Daniele mortadella.

 

[Diemen]

I came in here expecting the usual birthday talk, and instead I find talk of delicious food with prosciutto.

My kind of birthday!

Happy birthday, VP!

 

[VintagePunk]

Thanks!

Foodies.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Happy Birthday!!!

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Happy birthday!!!

 

[Mrs. Edge]

Happy Birthday and see you in Toronto!