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Food Thread: Oysters And Squirrels And Ribs...Oh My!

Is this a successful attempt at humor, or is it mandated by the unelected lunatics of the EU or is it a bit of both? I'm not sure, but it got a chuckle out of me.

I saw this at a Sunday market in Scotland, and was amazed that they can actually sell it! Is squirrel legal to sell anywhere in the US? I have eaten it once and was underwhelmed, so I am not rushing out to clandestine meetings with squirrel poachers for my weekly fix. Although...I just put a red dot sight on my 10-22, so I am capable of becoming a squirrel bootlegger....

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I am a big fan of oysters, and I will seek out Dollar Oyster happy hours for my fix, simply because I am a glutton and just love to eat to excess. But as many of you oyster fans are aware, the typical dollar oyster is a pretty pedestrian thing. Around here they tend to be good, but nothing exciting. They are usually Long Island grown; pleasant, but nothing to write home about.

So I was thrilled to discover that Pound Oyster happy hour was an actual thing in Scotland, but resigned to the low end of the oyster hierarchy. And I was spectacularly wrong! This bar offered three different local oysters, all of which were magnificent. Certainly some of the best oysters I have ever eaten!

Yes, I promptly got fitted for a kilt and will be moving to Edinburgh.

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Yup. That's in my yard, from a couple of months ago. It was a little long in the tooth when I discovered it, and i am only 99% sure that it is a morel, so I wouldn't have eaten it anyway without a positive identification from an expert, but damn! Maybe next year I will have a huge crop and be able to bathe in morels sauteed in butter, or grilled steak topped with morels, or scrambled eggs and morels, or French Toast and morels.....

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Regular commenter and shiv aficionado Bluebell and I are a bit puzzled by this recipe. I made it a few years ago and remember nothing except the cookies were good. But why is there molasses in it when there is also quite a bit of brown sugar? And what's up with the double dose of vanilla? Inquiring minds want to know, so put on your Baker Geek hat and figure it out.
Joy's Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans
I do remember enjoying the salt on top, but that makes sense, because chocolate and butter are marvelous both savory and sweet.
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I saw some really nice meaty beef ribs at the store yesterday, and I couldn't resist. So I will be smoking them this afternoon with a simple salt and pepper rub. I did cheat a bit and put a light dusting of garlic powder on them last night, for no particular reason. Any thoughts about beef ribs? I like them simple, but there are plenty of people out there who use lots of ingredients in their beef rubs.
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Food and cooking tips, tender meatballs, really good jelly beans that aren't just cloyingly sweet, gefilte fish replacements, thick and fluffy pita and good tomatoes that aren't square, pale pink and covered with Mestizo E.coli: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com. Any advocacy of French Toast with syrup will result in disciplinary action up to and including being nuked from orbit.