Ask a chef

[DwayneNLiz]

No, no...I don't want to be THE boss...

Guinness book of world records has this as the "largest single food item listed on a menu."

Hmm...I wonder how fresh "2 kilos of pine nuts" would be??

and how expensive 2 kilos of pine nuts would be

 

[Akrnaf2]

 
No, no...I don't want to be THE boss... 

Guinness book of world records has this as the "largest single food item listed on a menu." 

Hmm...I wonder how fresh "2 kilos of pine nuts" would be?? 

and how expensive 2 kilos of pine nuts would be 

Here you wil get them for 300 shekels almost 85$ not to much, but the camel is another story!

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Here you wil get them for 300 shekels almost 85$ not to much, but the camel is another story!

i paid $7 for <2 oz of pine nuts at my local store
not sure how that would compute to 2 kilos

i think $125

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
7 for 2 oz..= 56 dollars a pound

1 kilo = .45 pounds
2 kilos = 4.4 pounds
56 x 4.4 = 246.4 dollars

deb

 

[CanuckBock]

Here you wil get them for 300 shekels almost 85$ not to much, but the camel is another story!

Hmmm, in 2013, one camel would cost you 35 sheep or goats...since I have seen sheep going from $1.85 live weight (100 pounds x $1.85 on the hoof) and a high of $322...two calculations are in order for this exercise in meal costing...LOL

Low side, thirty five sheep @ $185 = $6,475 for the camel

and high side, thirty five sheep @ $322 = $11,270 for the camel


I think the consumption of a camel seems a bit much since the well taken care of beast may live 40 to 50 years...at that cost per year, a reasonable $250 to $144 per year if the camel lives to be 45 years old--they are considered a good dairy animal that produces on very marginal lands. There is one camel at a zoo here not too far away. Camels originally evolved here in North America...many of us are more familiar with the camelids like llamas, alpacas and less so with vicunas and guanacos.


There are feral camels in Australia...I watched a program about rounding them up and the culling of some...this link below has a news item about a halal butcher shop near Melbourne...the butcher must bring in four extra camels for holidays like Ramadan.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-07/camel-meat-halal-butcher-sold-here/6663716:

i paid $7 for <2 oz of pine nuts at my local store
not sure how that would compute to 2 kilos

i think $125

There are about 35 ounces in a kilo, so two kilos would be 35 times $7, that's $245 for two kilos of pine nuts...

**I see Deb beat me to posting and she got the same answer as I have...YAH! We are double troublemakers, eh!**

The stuffed camel is a meal for a wedding celebration, said to feed what, 80 to 100 persons...

Using just two of the ingredients, pine nuts from $85 to $245...camel from $6,475 to $11,270...

Two ingredients on the low side, $66 to $82 per plate

Two ingredient on the high side, $143 per plate at 80 persons or at 100 persons, $115.


Not outrageous given what I have seen some wedding plate costs go for. And just "think" of the impact that would have on the guests...would they be impressed or repulsed? Ha ha ha...

On to the harvest progressions here...harvesting of food...

Already taking "clumps" of the oats to supplement the sheep's diet!​

Well if the tomatoes were not that great this year for us...the oats are making up for that...and the potatoes--boy oh boy I have harvesting to do now!

Yukon Gold and Red Fingerlings​

Nine plants gave me a five gallon pail full and I also will keep back three or so seed potatoes off each plant for next year. Forward planning...

​

My helpers expect to get payment for participating...

You'd figure I was holding the most desirable item in the world...two tiny taters for dogs!!!
​

Roasted corn, potatoes and rib beef steak​

Last night, we had our first meal on the new barbecue...

Corn in its own husk with silk removed, butter added and tinfoiled up
New potatoes with some oil double wrapped in foil​

We purchased a new BBQ because the infra red burner burned out on our old one...use it quite often to sear meat. I like my steaks raw (blue rare) and my spouse likes his well done (not burnt but to me, pretty darn close to that!). So the infra red burner really speeds up the process of doing the steaks as to how each of us likes them cooked. I think the heat gets to something ridiculous like 1800F...I do know you carmelize the meat and man alive...it tastes ever so fine!

I think I even overcooked my steak a bit...so happy to once again have that searing ability​

While the steaks were cooking...I looked at my spouse and commented that we really were missing that function! Not no more! I am looking forward in the future to lamb chops cooked this way...and so much more...hee hee...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[DwayneNLiz]

7 for 2 oz..= 56 dollars a pound

1 kilo = .45 pounds
2 kilos = 4.4 pounds
56 x 4.4 = 246.4 dollars

deb

i thought i was off, i am not good at converting lol
very expensive meal for many people, especially as you factor the other ingredients as Tara started to do

 

[CanuckBock]

i thought i was off, i am not good at converting lol
very expensive meal for many people, especially as you factor the other ingredients as Tara started to do

No worries on the calculations...my mind has gone to mush since I retired from bean counting (accounting), so I often wonder aloud...did I carry the one, did I use the calculator correctly...ah well, be kind to yourself you gave it a go, eh.

In some cultures...the whole point of a celebration is the fact you work at paying for it over time--a long time...special because it was earned!

Shark fin soup comes to mind...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup:

I can imagine saving and working a WHOLE year to have one good special meal but to me...at the expense of the animal as a species existing...like you ate the last shark fin...that would not make me happy; memorable for all the wrong reasons. I would not want to be the human that ate the last of something. Does nothing but make me sad.

Meals like swan or peafowl tongues have the same affect...what for...doubt you really TASTE the addition of these items...bird nest soup is another one...costly too and I do believe they have made efforts to make this more sustainable. Only so many nests harvested.

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/recipesbyingredient/fl/Birds-Nest-Soup.htm:
Like the shark fin soup...the birds nest does not add much to the taste...

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/recipesbyingredient/fl/Birds-Nest-Soup.htm:
It makes you ponder ... and the point was? LOL

 

[DwayneNLiz]

No worries on the calculations...my mind has gone to mush since I retired from bean counting (accounting), so I often wonder aloud...did I carry the one, did I use the calculator correctly...ah well, be kind to yourself you gave it a go, eh.

thats crazy about the bird nest soup, someone actually mentioned it elsewhere and i was wondering more about it, thank you

i am giving myself credit for the conversion because even though i am sitting at a computer i did not check the pound to kilo and was thinking 2.2 LOL
i was only off a bit

 

[CanuckBock]

thats crazy about the bird nest soup, someone actually mentioned it elsewhere and i was wondering more about it, thank you

i am giving myself credit for the conversion because even though i am sitting at a computer i did not check the pound to kilo and was thinking 2.2 LOL
i was only off a bit

That's my mantra...you never fail if you never try. You never push the limits, see where the boundaries are...you have to fail on occasion to know, "OK, ease back a bit and give it a go again!" I like to push the limits to know how far you can bend the rules without actually breaking them.

How many burnt dinners, how many times the wrong spice (won't use that in there again...yuck!)...but sometimes you stumble (OK, I will do the stumbling) upon something fabulous because we tried something more than the normal day to day, boring to all heck things. Switch out corn flakes to honey nut flavoured corn flakes...wow, all the difference in the world, or not!

Cooking is an adventure where you better be ready to quickly make KD (kraft dinner, macaroni) to feed the family when you ruined what was suppose to work.

Brings to mind the first (and last time) I ever made Curry Chicken. I thought, "Hey, why not...big surprise for Rick." Surprise, yes, good one, not so much. I proudly brought the dish out to him and his comment was hilarious...we were between dogs having his old one pass on and us waiting till we moved and then got another dog when we were once again settle in...love dogs! His simple comment..."Some people will do anything to get a dog." Course I never got his sarcasm...not right away. What he was meaning is that the dish was a "dog's dinner" and not fit for humans to eat. He is a truthful man and sometimes the truth is interpreted in the eye of the beholder...yes?

His opinion...he likes liver, I do not...so I guess if I did want curry again, that would be when I would make it, for me...he would have liver and I would be happy he was not getting any, if I had liked the dish I had made. Hee hee...

 

[Akrnaf2]

I won't pay even one cent for bird saliva!