People should already know the following, but I am surprised at pot
lucks and such at those who don't so please bear with me.

Putting on my food police hat again:

Please do not leave meat to marinate on the counter at room temperature.
Keep "hot foods hot and cold foods cold". General guidelines for foods
at risk of growing buggies are keep under 40 or over 140 degrees F.
High risk foods left at room temperature for more than two hours should
be discarded. Reheating does not kill all the germs.

I know that sounds conservative and yes, sometimes I feed my family
leftovers that have been out a bit longer. We are all healthy and would
survive a bout of food poisoning. I would not serve questionable foods
to my father (he would hate me if I called him elderly).

Jeanette--who knows a big strong teenage boy who spent a couple days in
the hospital because he breakfasted on pizza left on the counter
overnight.

In article <bvlb5vgkr80obob9m8d5ic0a362seegat0@4ax.com>,
krin135@aol.invalid.com wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 13:39:09 -0500, Howard Berkowitz
> <hcb@gettcomm.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >[1] Of course, there are things that need to be prepared ahead, or
> >freeze or can well and lend themselves to bulk. For example, I'm making
> >several bean dishes today, and soaked the beans overnight. When I do
> >soak beans, I prepare several times the amount I need, and preserve
> >them, currently by freezing but one of these days by canning. I use
> >mason jars as freezing containers just to help refine the technique.
>
> have you tried vacuum packing prior to freezing?
>
> I ordered a 7 cu foot chest type freezer, and am going to work on
> stocking it, mostly with home made and vac packed individual
> servings...
>
> then put the ready to use stuff in the freezer in the kitchen...
>
> ck
> country doc in louisiana
> (no fancy sayings right now)

No. I do have a bag-style vacuum packer that I acquired recently,
without directions, and whose operation is not intuitively obvious. I
like using Mason jars for freezing (with the non-sealing plastic tops)
because they can be nuked more reliably than plastic bags, or even most
reusable plastic containers.

I've certainly autoclaved enough instruments and culture media that
pressure canning shouldn't be a big deal, although I've just happened
only need hot-pack for most things I canned.

Adding to this, I do have an Excalibur dehydrator that I use
extensively. For example, I'll puree and dry celery, and crush it
into powder. Mixed with skim milk, perhaps some real or powdered
chicken stock, and additional seasonings appropriate to the dish, it
makes an excellent more-or-less white sauce. For those that can deal
with the concept of the vegetable, it is excellent (with added black
pepper) over properly cooked brussels sprouts.

Just as an aside, I will blanch and then glaze/fry brussels sprouts in
ginger, soy, oyster sauce, plus sherry and/or garlic.
excellent white sauce base.