BREAD-  In my religion, God created Bread on the first day,  and it was good.  I will post my information and advice here on the sourdough bread which I bake four to five nights a week for my family and friends.  I usually use a bread machine to make the dough up, and then bake in free loaves on a bread tile in my home gas oven.  I bake anywhere I travel, taking sesame seeds and sourdough starter with me and buying local flours.  Maybe on the first day of Creation, Bread created God.  I make variations of the sesame sourdough bread with rosemary, with whole wheat, and with coffee/black cocoa/molasses/maple syrup using black sesame seeds.  details later	PEANUT BRITTLE   I have been making peanut brittle since 1973, when I was too broke in college to buy Christmas presents.   I make a maple-flavored peanut brittle most of the time.  I also make cashew and sesame seed brittles, and others.   I use the same pot I started with in 1973, but instead of a candy thermometer I use  an infrared electronic thermometer.  Small batches poured out on a slab of granite which replace the recycled men's room marble I used to have. I buy peanuts from the Sunland Peanut Cooperative in Portales new Mexico, where the world's best Valencia peanuts are grown.   Aside from family, I put together packets of peanut brittle for auction at local charity events.  The sample bag gets nibbled by the bidders, and the price goes up.  Summer is too humid for keeping peanut brittle from sticking- winter food mostly.
SALMON  I grill big salmon at the beach in Maine for family dinners.  I have been dubbed the big ***** at the grill by a Japanese tea master.  It is not that I am a grillmaster; it is that I so love to grill salmon dinner for a lot of people.	Elk and Venison Stew   Buy stew meat, or chop up what you have.  Drain well.   Since the meat is lean, put a couple tablespoons of olive oil is a big fry pan and brown the meat.  Since it often juices up before it gets dark brown unless you have a commercial stove, I slip in under the broiler for a few minutes to give some dark flavor to it.  Then dump it into the stock pot.   For each pound of meat, add ½ onion-  I like to cut in half, peel, then cut “moon” wedges.                For the venison which had more flavor than the elk, I browned the onions in the                  fry pan with a little sugar to give a darker carmelized onion flavor                to match the meat. 2 cups water (enough to cover everything) 1/4 cup red wine for elk and white wine for venison (we can argue this) ½ teaspoon salt  (maybe more- adjust last) 1/8 teaspoon red cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon black pepper- fresh ground 1 large carrot chopped to bite-sized 2 big red potatoes- reds have thin skin you can leave on     (peel brown potatoes,  or tell me how sweet potatoes work- gotta try) 1 large piece of celery 1  tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce or BBQ sauce 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar   For my Elk Stew I added a bag of fresh cranberries. I’d have added dried mushrooms if I had them.  Could have had more cranberries- a bag per four lbs of meat.   For my Venison Stew I added a half head of red cabbage, sliced thin,  and a half cup of fresh chopped rosemary for a eight pounds of meat.   After this simmered overnight,  I added a half cup of my sourdough starter (which half flour and half water) just for a little thickening and flavor.  See my bread recipes for info on sourdough’s benefits.   The venison needed another half teaspoon of salt, perhaps due to the cabbage. Anyway, adjust your salt after the overnight simmering.    This is my first stab at game stew, and it was down the hatch with seconds for everyone I was told.  Fifty guys ate about 15 pounds of meat. That three tenths of a pound per guy, plus ham and egg sandwiches and corn chowder, and the stew vegetables.  Then apple pie with cheese and ice cream.  Anyway, my philosophy was spices and flavors to stand up but not overwhelm the game flavor, with a blend of fairly well-known spices, potatoes and carrots to absorb and carry flavor with so little oil.  Broiling the meat darker, caramelizing the onions, the Worchestershire or BBQ sauce, the balsamic vinegar, and the pepper  all are rich dark flavorings to complement and take the strange edge off the game.  I doubted the fresh rosemary would work, but its pine-like richness seemed to be appreciated- it raised questions.    Thanks to Joy of Cooking and all the web sites I peeked at before charging into the kitchen.  I thought cranberry would be cool for some reason, and I Googled elk and cranberry, and found I was not crazy. So use your imagination, look at what’s available in your kitchen or store, and Google your ideas to see if someone may say it worked.  Still your idea.  Same idea with the red cabbage and venison- I thought red cabbage with vinegar, apples, and caraway would be a great side dish, so why not put it right in the stew.  Google said- yes- been done, works.  I still think I got lucky.   rr