Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeah, I get that. The frustrating part is trying to explain suet to the butcher. Most have never even heard of it, or what it's used for, or how to get it. And the ones who do know what it is seem to want to talk me out of using it. It's just so weird.

"Suet? What's that?"
"Do you mean lard?"
"Do you mean tallow?"
"Do you mean birdseed?"
"What are you cooking with it?"
"Oh right, one sec." (leaves, returns with a brick of lard) "Here ya go!"

I must have had that conversation a half-dozen times yesterday. But I was finally able to get it from a butcher (an actual butcher, at a meat market--not a supermarket or grocery store), who actually knew what I was talking about. "Oh sure, we usually stock that for Christmas. Looks like the shipment will be in on Monday, you're lookin' at about $2/pound."

Care to enlighten the class a bit?

 

[Scribe]

It's a problem in Toronto as well. Foreign investors buy condos, to park their money and declare as a residence, then they remain empty for years. Sometimes they'll declare multiple addresses as their "home", in order to dodge the additional taxes and fees, and it's up to the government to figure that out.

When they started blocking that in Van, they all just started buying up the Island, its just naughty word.

 

[CleverNickName]

Care to enlighten the class a bit?

lol sure. I'm hardly an expert, but I'll do my best.

Suet is a hard beef fat with a crumbly texture... you can grate it like cheese at room temperature and it won't stick together or soften. Google says it is found just above the kidneys in cows.

It has a high melting point for a fat, so it keeps its crumbly texture during mixing, and I'm told that is what makes dumplings and boiled puddings so tender: when it does eventually melt, the bread around it has already started to cook so it leaves behind a spongy bunch of holes.

Anyway. That's supposed to be the science behind it. All I know is that I've tried using butter, lard, and shortening before, and suet works best. If you've ever made chicken & dumplings, and the dumplings turned out rubbery or slimy, that could be why.

So. If you're in Portland, OR and you're making a figgy pudding, spotted dick, dumplings, or other boiled/steamed bread this holiday season, go to Barbur World Foods for the suet (ask the butcher).

 

[Mannahnin]

I immediately thought of suet pudding, and other historic dishes which show up in the Aubrey/Maturin novels. It makes sense that they'd have it around the holidays, with suet pudding and figgy pudding being old school New/English holiday standards.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Sounds exotic... What were you looking for?

Nothing too exotic, although I can't remember all of it now. Just Founder's Breakfast stout and a couple of ciders, most of which I found by checking their website to see what they had.

 

[Ryujin]

One more day of work-from-home and then I'm off for 3 weeks. The advantages of working in education and at the same place for more than 25 years. Man, I need this.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Yeah, I get that. The frustrating part is trying to explain suet to the butcher. Most have never even heard of it, or what it's used for, or how to get it. And the ones who do know what it is seem to want to talk me out of using it. It's just so weird.

"Suet? What's that?"
"Do you mean lard?"
"Do you mean tallow?"
"Do you mean birdseed?"
"What are you cooking with it?"
"Oh right, one sec." (leaves, returns with a brick of lard) "Here ya go!"

I must have had that conversation a half-dozen times yesterday. But I was finally able to get it from a butcher (an actual butcher, at a meat market--not a supermarket or grocery store), who actually knew what I was talking about. "Oh sure, we usually stock that for Christmas. Looks like the shipment will be in on Monday, you're lookin' at about $2/pound."

Oh man I sympathize with this. A few years ago I was trying to find leaf lard and went through this exact process, with no luck. Then I had a friend tell me she found it at a carniceria, so I checked those. It basically was the same thing all over again with the added step where, because I don't speak Spanish and the actual butchers there usually don't speak much English, we waited for another employee to show up and translate. And then still never found it.

 

[Scribe]

One more day of work-from-home and then I'm off for 3 weeks. The advantages of working in education and at the same place for more than 25 years. Man, I need this.

 

[Scribe]

One more day of work-from-home and then I'm off for 3 weeks. The advantages of working in education and at the same place for more than 25 years. Man, I need this.

I only get the week of the 22nd.

Today started at 4:30, and every single meeting could have been a bloody email.