Coleslaw

No, it's not "Coldslaw."

I had occasion to make some coleslaw on the quick.  I picked up two packages of slaw mix at my supermercado and when I tasted the "dressing" that came with it I balked.  I looked up allrecipes.com "Easy Coleslaw Dressing" and modified it a bit for my liking. Here we go...

You'll need;

• 3/4 cup good mayo
• 1.5 - 2 Tbsp agave nectar or honey
• 2 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 Tbsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard 
• 1tsp black pepper (maybe more)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 18 - 28 oz coleslaw mix

Mix everything but the slaw mix and half the pepper in a bowl.

Whisk well. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Put the slaw mix in a bowl and add half the dressing.

Stir to coat, add a layer of pepper and evaluate.  You don't want this stuff saturated but each piece should be wet.

You will add small amounts of dressing and pepper, evaluating each time.  

When it is done you should cover and refrigerate for another 30 min.  Serve with pepper.

Salmon Cakes

Healthy (until you top 'em with hollandaise)!

Just before this whole low-carb mania at my house I came up with a recipe for salmon cakes that I used to make salmon sliders.  You can use canned or fresh poached salmon.

You'll need;

• 14 to 16 oz cooked salmon (fresh, canned, or pouch)
• 4/3 cup Panko bread crumbs (half for the mix and half for breading)
• 3-4 Tbsp minced shallots
• 3-4 Tbsp mayo
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp old bay seasoning
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 egg yolks
• zest from 1/2 lemon or juice from one lemon.
• (opt) chives for garnish
  
  
  

Combine everything but the reserved 2/3 cup of Panko in a large mixing bowl and mix together.  Break up the salmon but don't mash it into a paste.  There should still be recognizable chunks of salmon.

<Pic coming soon>

Form the mix into balls somewhere between golf ball and baseball sized.  Arrange on a plate, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until just before cooking.  Use the time to make some Hollandaise sauce.

Preheat a skillet with a bit of oil or butter on Med High.  Roll the salmon balls in the remaining Panko.  The coating should be complete but you will still be able to see pink through the crumbs.

Flatten the balls into patties ahead of time or by putting the balls into the skillet and spatulizing™ them.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side.  2 min if they were warm and 3 if they were refrigerated.

Serve on buns with garnish or on a plate with some kind of sauce.  I prefer a bit of Hollandaise.

They keep a couple of days once cooked.  I prefer to use them within 2 days before cooking because even though the salmon is cooked, the egg yolk isn't.

Driving the Chevy Volt

Actually a really nice car!

I have been driving a Chevy Volt as a daily driver/commuter car for about 8 months now and can give you all some clear feedback about it.  Overall it has exceeded my expectations.  I have driven fewer miles on less power using very little gas and no loss in the driving experience.  Here are my thoughts;

Electric Range:

The first thing that I noticed is that the EV range number in the lower left of the speedo display doesn't always correspond to the battery life display.  The second thing I noticed is that the battery life display doesn't always correspond to the battery life. 

I use the simplest speedo option.

The Volt's battery is advertised to be 18 kWh but the 10 segment display seems to cover 1.5 kWh per segment.  No problem, I hear it is bad to run a Li-ion battery all the way down so the car pretends that you have a 15 kWh battery pack.  Nevertheless I have never run it all the way down.

The range number seems to be a prediction of how far you could go on your remaining battery based on your most recent driving patterns.  When I drive home at higher speeds the range number is lower the next morning.  When I nurse it the previous day the range can be as high as 57 miles on a full charge.

Hypermiling:

Have you heard about these drivers called "hypermilers?"  They are called that because they use all kinds of tricks to increase the mileage that they get with their internal combustion (IC) powered cars.  They are the ones that started the trend of turning off the engine whenever the car is stopped.  They accelerate slowly and try not to brake.  It is crazy, but efficient.  

The Volt teases you into driving like that.  The display turns yellow if you accelerate too much and the report at the end makes you want to use the least energy to get where you are going. I challenge myself to do my daily commute for less than 10 kWh.

Arriving at work one day.

Use of regenerative braking is a must.  There are three ways to regen in the Volt.

1. Use the "L" mode on the gear selector.  There is no transmission in this thing so why is there a low gear?  It isn't actually a gear but a mode. In "L" the car does light regen whenever you let your foot off the accelerator.  This "one foot" driving takes a bit of getting used to, but Tesla drivers have to get used to it as well.  The nice thing is that when another driver gets in the car they will put it in "D" and get a traditional coasting experience between acceleration and braking. 
   
2. Light pressure on the brake pedal apparently uses regen.  I have yet to really feel the changeover to the grab of the brake pads, but when I need to brake I use the least pressure possible.
3. Best of all is the regen paddle behind the left side of the steering wheel.  I use this as much as possible and only use the brakes to stop the car in a hurry, or hold it still.  This paddle is so fun/useful that I find myself reaching for it in other cars.  That is a problem for me when I drive my wife's Mercedes because she has paddle shifters.  Hello downshift.

The Volt gets great electric efficiency below 70 mph.  It also does better in the city and in traffic than on the open road.  It is the opposite of a traditional car. To that end I accelerate as slowly as I can to the lowest freeway speed that I can.  I anticipate braking and use the regen whenever I can.  My commute is $1.50/day.

When you first drive the car this display is fascinating...later it is boring.

Long Trips:

I have taken a few longer trips in the Volt and it is easy-peasy.  Just drive until the battery runs out and the IC engine kicks on and you keep driving.  Or you could pre-plan and use one of the fancy driving modes like "mountain" or "hold."  

Mountain allows your battery to get down to 20% and then turns the car into a traditional parallel hybrid car.  This means that it uses the battery and engine in tandem to provide the best ride.  I think they call it mountain mode because it could be very useful in hilly terrain to have some battery to help out the 1.5L IC motor uphills.

Hold will turn the car in to a traditional IC car.  The engine is providing the propulsion and you are "holding" onto your remaining battery.  This mode could be most useful on long trips with both highway and city driving.  Use Hold on the freeway and save your battery (when you are driving at high speeds that are perfect for IC and hell on your electric power consumption).  Switch to Normal when you are in town and get the benefits of the battery whenever you are stopping and starting.

Complaints:

Of course not everything is sunshine and puppy farts, a few things bout the car really bug me.  No headroom in the back seat. Blue upholstery trim on a red car. A sticker between two body panels that sticks out a bit. The A/C makes noise over the AM radio.  The larger seat-side lever lifts the seat up down instead of reclining it. Most of all the absence of a built in garage door opener is a real head-scratcher...

The Future:

Is the future electric cars?  Yes, for most applications.  I see 4 major types of vehicle on the road a decade from now.

1. ICE vehicles.  Sports cars, long trip cars, trucks and legacy vehicles will continue to use the road because they are good at what they do for the price.
2. Pure EVs will become a larger and larger segment.  These cars can do what we need them to do with fewer emissions and a focus on efficiency.  Costs will come down with economies of scale and competition. Most city folks and commuters will use these.
3. Extended Range EVs will be a niche segment for two reasons. First, existing hybrid platforms can be reprogrammed into plug-in EREVs and second, a small segment of the population will need one car that can occasionally do a long trip.
4. Exotic fuel EVs will be a small segment of the market.  I'm talking to you, Hydrogen fuel cell car.  They just don't offer any kind of marketplace advantage, but rich folks gotta have something to brag about.

What do you think?

There is often up-front parking/charging for EVs.

This particular Level 2 charging station was free!

Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork or Carnitas

Pressure and heat make good shredded meat!

I've been eating a lot of protein lately.  Trying a low-to-no carb kinda diet. So I wind up making large batches of meat in order to have lunches at work.  Here is an easy recipe for pulled pork.  It can also make Carnitas with a small change in the seasoning.

You'll need;

• 3 to 5# Pork Butt (shoulder) (bone in is fine)
• Seasoning Rub (I used my smoky rib rub)
• Salt
• BBQ sauce

That's it!  So here are the instructions.  Preheat the oven to 400F and set up a roasting pan with rack.

Pat the rub and some salt all over the Pork and put it in the oven for 30 min.  This should create a crust.  Add cumin to the rub for carnitas.

Meanwhile put 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Use chicken stock for the carnitas.

When the roasting is done, cut the meat in half so that it better fits in the pressure cooker. 

Pressure cook on high for 65-70 minutes.  

Vent the cooker and let the meat cool for about 15 minutes.

Shred with a pair of forks and sauce with additional BBQ sauce.  I add as little sauce as possible because I can add more later and over-saucing is a rookie mistake.  Add salt to taste as well.

In order to make this carnitas trade the liquid in the pressure cooker for 1 cup of chicken stock with 1 Tbsp oregano and 2 tsp cumin.  

Pea Puree

More peas, please!

This is some good stuff, Maynard!

Again, the suggestion of a vegetable puree got me thinking and I found an older recipe for salmon and mashed peas on the Chefsteps website. Chives and fresh taragon in a pea puree sounded good. A few recipe iterations later and I present this masterpiece. Ingredients are in weights because the initial recipe came from that website, but I try to tell or show how much that really is

You'll need;

• 1# frozen peas (I find the organic ones actually work better)
• 5g salt
• 2Tbsp water
• 2Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp butter
• Juice of one lime
• 1/3 bunch of chives (chopped)
• 3g parsley (opt)
• 1 clove garlic (or 1in from the squeeze tube) (opt)
• 5g fresh chopped taragon (it should fill your palm) or 1Tbsp dried if you cant find fresh 
• 2 dashes cayenne
• 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper

Put the peas, water, oil, salt and pepper in a small sauce pan over med heat and heat through. If the water starts boiling that is fine. Stir to make sure that the peas all thaw and cook a little.

Turn off the heat and add the butter, garlic, herbs, cayenne, and lime juice. Stir in.

Now get your stick blender and puree the s**t out of it. If you don't own a stick blender (shakes head) you can transfer to a blender and pulse.

You want to keep going until there are no more whole pea pieces.

Taste for flavor.  I usually need to add some more salt and lime juice. If you have no more lime and need juice use vinegar sparingly. Set aside with a lid and/or keep warm over a super low flame.

Tonight's application was under some salmon.