Ralph's and Private Selection Lump Crab Meat

The tart recipe I wanted to try next called for lump crab meat. I already had a can of Private Selection lump crab meat in the pantry so picked up another can, Ralph's brand.

Before I go on, I'm confident that these two brands are essentially the same, the only difference being the labels themselves. Both are distributed by Inter-American Products out of Cincinnati, Ohio which handles grocery store brand foods. Private Selection is a Kroger label and Ralph's is a Kroger company.

The Ralph's lump crab meat ingredients are crabmeat, water, salt, disodium phosphate, citric acid, calcium disodium EDTA, sodium metabisulfate. And watch out! It contains crab.
 

The Private Selection lump crab meat ingredents are lump crab meat, water, salt, sugar, citric acid, sodium metabisulphite (preservative). And here too, there's a watch out statement: contains crab and sulphite.


Opening the cans, I see both have the weird little liners like the Bumble Bee crab meat did. And the can on the right, the Ralph's can, has paler meat.


Draining the cans, it seems the Private Selection crab meat looks...drier.


Oh! Maybe it's because the Private Selection stuff is old as the hills, and best by DECEMBER 2011. I'm quite sure I purchased it in October 2010, on sale, thinking, "maybe I'll do something with this in the near future," not realizing that time would be almost two years later. The Ralph's can is best by December 2013.


Tasting a piece from each can, the old stuff has a distinct not-so-fresh taste and is indeed drier. I considered going out and buying a new can to replace the old one but decided to live dangerously and roll with it. I'll tell you right now, if you are in this particular position just go to the store.

Private Selection: $4.49/6 oz.
Ralph's lump crab meat: $4.76/6 oz.

Emmi Le Gruyere Switzerland AOC

It's sort of funny how a store will offer Gruyere cheese from three different sections. There's the cheese over in the dairy near sour cream, there's the cheese in the deli, and the cheese near the deli.

This cheese was found near the deli.

I'm starting to notice that some Gruyere's are firmer than others. This one is really firm. It melts just as well as a softer brand, even the part I thought might have been rind. I wonder if firmness is directly correlated with price.

Emmi Le Gruyere Switzerland AOC, available near the deli at Ralph's for $19.99/lb.

Ralph's Whipping Cream

Not only can you buy heavy whipping cream, you can get regular whipping cream. Some recipes call for one and some call for the other and I never paid attention to the difference.

The ingredients of this whipping cream are: cream, skim milk, contains less than 1% of each of the following: mono- and diglycerides, polysorbate 80 and carrageenan. Contains 30% milk fat.


I guess the only difference is cream: heavy in the heavy whipping cream and regular in the regular whipping cream; thus the heavy whipping cream has 36% milk fat and the regular just 30%.

Looking up cream in the Larousse Gastronomique (copyright 1984), it just says

Whipping cream (35%) is commercially produced by centrifugal separation. It is not usually homogenized but may be pasteurized. Whipping cream will double in its volume when whipped and is less likely to curdle through overwhipping. It is ideal in its whipped form for piped decorations on desserts and gateaux.

Now I wonder if one could buy cream instead of whipping cream or would you need to know a farmer for that?

There's no visual difference between regular and heavy whipping cream. They're both pretty thick.


Whipping cream, available in the dairy section of Ralph's for $3.29/pint.

Food Plan and Grocery List, 050512

I had plenty of food last week and didn't make the shrimp risotto. This week I intend to do that as well as another savory tart.

Shrimp and Spring Vegetable Risotto
Asparagus and Crab Tart with Fresh Tarragon

Ralph's

• whipping cream: $3.29/pint
• Ben and Jerry's: $2.99/pint
• Della arborio rice: $4.95/2 lbs
• Ralph's crabmeat: $4.79/6 oz
• green onions: $0.49/bunch
• zucchini: $0.41/0.32 lb
• garlic bulb: $0.50
• sugar snap peas: $1.25/0.25 lb
• Gruyere cheese: $6.80
• Total: $25.47

Market around the corner:

• carrots: $0.59/lb

7-11

• coffee: $1.49

Grand Total: $27.55
Total for the year: $862.32

Caramelized Potatoes

Caramelized potatoes? Caramelized potatoes! Reviewers on Epicurious warned that they wouldn't be sweet like candy but they looked much like caramelized apples. It's a little deceiving.

Caramelized Potatoes

from Epicurious

click to print

1 1/2 lbs small (1 1/2- to 2-inch) white boiling potatoes

3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 tsp salt

Cover potatoes with salted cold water by 1 inch in a 3-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer.

 

Simmer, uncovered, until just tender, about 15 minutes.

Drain potatoes in a colander and cool slightly.

When potatoes are just cool enough to handle (but are still very warm), peel and cut into 1/2-inch-wide wedges.

Cook sugar in a 12-inch heavy skillet, undisturbed, over moderate heat until it begins to melt.

  
In 20 minutes, I started noticing the sugar was browning.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar melts into a golden caramel.

 
Then 4 minutes later I saw a pool of liquid sugar. Four more minutes later the sugar was completely melted.

Add butter and salt, stirring until butter is melted.

 

Add potato wedges, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula from bottom of skillet to coat potatoes with caramel (caramel will seize and form small clumps).
 

Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are heated through and any clumps of caramel have melted to coat potatoes evenly, 10 to 12 minutes.

 


Not knowing what to expect when melting sugar, it was pretty neat to check out. I started getting impatient and sort of jiggled the sugar around even though the directions say to leave it undisturbed. After a few minutes I checked to see if the burner was even on. Patience is key. Sugar will melt.

Though the recipe said to expect the sugar to clump when the potatoes were added, I didn't notice that happen. My potatoes were bone dry and I suspect that if they were damp at all I'd have gotten clumping.

As for the final outcome, it was okay. None of the potatoes went to waste, but it was odd eating them since I really did expect them to actually be sweet like candy. I think if I were to make them again I'd ramp up the sugar quantity like reviewer A Cook From California recommended. And maybe add more butter.

Baby White Potatoes

Not only does Grower's Direct offer baby red potatoes, they have baby white potatoes too.

Available in a package of about 1.75 lbs for $2.79.

Bittman's Broiled Chicken Wings

Plans to move items out of the freezer meant I could use three pounds of wings as part of a batch of stock or I could cook up a batch of wings. Considering how wings go for a premium it seemed a waste to just cook the flavors out of them. Rather than agonize over finding the "perfect" wing recipe, I looked to one of the books on my shelf. Conveniently, the tarragon leftover from the chicken tart recipe was still looking good.

Broiled Chicken Wings

adapted from Bittman's How to Cook Everything, 1998 edition

click to print

3 lbs drumettes and flatwings, rinsed and patted dry

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp minced fresh tarragon (or chervil or basil leaves)

Place a broiler rack and pan 4-6 inches from heat source and preheat.

Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil and some salt and pepper in a large bowl.

 

Add wings and toss to coat.

Place the pieces on the rack and cook 4-5 minutes or until the first side begins to brown.

 
This took 8 minutes for me.

Flip the pieces and broil until the second side begins to brown, about 5-6 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, and tarragon.


Brush the wings lightly with the olive oil mixture.

Continue to cook, turning once or twice more, until nicely browned all over, about 10 minutes total.

  

Give a final brush and serve.

These turned out a little on the dry side even though total cooking time was about what Bittman's recipe counted on. Initial wing browning took a few minutes longer than expected but once the wings were brushed with the oil mixture the final cooking time was cut down by 5-10 minutes. I'd keep a close eye on them if you use closer to two pounds of drumettes and flatwings, which I recommended -- unless you increase the volume of oil, lemon juice and tarragon.

The oil mixture quantity was not enough for my three pounds of wing pieces; the first pass with the brush left hardly any mixture for the final brushing. And that means the flavors were a little on the light side, not what I'd call an explosion by any means yet still good. Since the wings were broiled, the skin was fantastically crisp and not at all rubbery or chewy. That was a certain win for me.

Would I do these again? Certainly. And I'll cut the chicken quantity and cooking time down by 1/3.

Cost:

• wings: $2.37
• olive oil: $0.08
• lemon: $0.31
• tarragon: $0.65

Total: $3.41 or $0.85 for each of four servings.