Quoting Michael Loo to All on 10-07-19 09:58 <=-

For some reason steak and kidney pie was on the agenda. Apparently
in the course of our offal discussions Dale had reminisced fondly
about this dish, and Nancy had said, well, I've made it, and somehow
this translated to let's do it at the picnic. Okay, find the kidneys.

As I recall it, it was an offal discussion, but I'm not sure that Dale
was fondly reminiscing, merely remembering it... and yes, I said that
I'd made it before... and Dale said that would be a good thing to make
for the picnic.... and I kinda agreed, contingent on being able to find
lamb kidneys... :)

Ruth and Stephen suggested that Petra the Halal market was the only
place in town that might sell the desirable lamb kidneys, so that
was our field trip for the day. It's a small store next to and at
least formerly affiliated with a restaurant of the same name. A look
at the shelves showed that most of the merchandise was of Turkish
origin. At Nancy's instigation I got a box of Aleppo pistachio halvah, which was a bit of an indulgence; I also found a pound of Apollo brand phyllo for my cream of wheat dessert. An inquiry of the counter guy revealed that kidneys would be in the next day's delivery.

And we reserved the entire lot... ;)

[at Publix] Nancy found Norm's elderberry ginger pecan jam, which
turned out to be as advertised, though less ginger than I'd prefer.

It wasn't as gingery as I'd hoped for either... but still rather nice...

Nancy brought Camellia brand souse, made someplace in New
York state, but with an appropriate southern tang. It comes
in regular and spicy, but she brought just the latter, which
I liked very much - hot enough, vinegary enough but not too,
with a texture I find unspeakably enticing but that some of
the others present found unspeakably something else.

Made in Buffalo NY "since 1935"... sold in our Wegmans, and one of my
go-to snacks... I tried the milder version, and it was ok, but the cats
still thought it too spicy, so I've stayed with the hot version...
Tossing the package into the cooler as I packed was a last-minute
thought... :) We'd discussed it in the echo at some point, maybe even
the same offal discussion noted above... ;)

I cut up the shoulder steak and made a little pile of interior
meat to snack on raw. Nancy and I had most of this; I think
Steve also had a piece or two. The rest was floured lightly
(Nancy protested that she never did this, as it's an extra
step, but I just sneered at her) and browned in that jowl fat

All I said was that I usually skipped that step, and that it was
therefore probably a good thing that you were doing it instead of me...
It's ok to sneer, though, I suppose... but I never claimed to be a real
cook, you know.... (G)

and then put to simmer with onions and celery and thyme and
savory and a bay leaf. After a couple hours it was pretty nice

And a couple of smashed garlic cloves... :)

but a little pale still, so I cheated with a couple splashes
of tamari. I'd have used Lea & Perrins, but having been warned
by Weller on the echo, tasted it and found it severely wanting,
sweet and tasteless like runny brown ketchup, undeserving of
the name. Worcester, Mass., perhaps.

Too bad the original stuff wasn't available any more... that probably
would have done quite nicely... :)_

ttyl neb

... Experience is knowing a lot of things you shouldn't do again.

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)