Bulk foods has the tomato powder in many amounts, as well as the calcium chloride, citric, dried soup greens, and so many old timey candies, granolas, dried fruits.. etc... I love their sugarless turtles, caramel, pecans, and chocolate. All kinds of stuff there, and the tomato power is free flowing. I keep it in the fridge, as it can darken a bit if left out a long time. Also get a lot of other stuff like starch, powdered eggs and whites and all sorts of goodies. Where else are youb going to find Japanese style peanuts. These are coated with a sslightly sweet/salty soy, and are hard to stop eating. Remember Mary Janes and maple nuts, Kits, rock candy, 2 1/4 inch jaw breakers! You wil go nuts! (pardon the pun) Your right Zabby.. For dried garlic and onion in tomato sauces I tried a dried, sliced, roasted garlic from somewhere, but it was unpleasant tasting . I use the dried minced and granulated stuff , even sweet pepper flakes and because its dry it soaks up the tomato liquids as well as absorbing the necessary acid. Has never failed me yet.. Garlic, is perfectly safe to can by itself is its pickled in a vinegar salt brine. Like eating peanuts, you just can stop ourself., I used to make quart jars for a friend who would go through a jar in a couple of weeks, and used it in almost everything. Placs like Costco and BJ's used to carry the granulated onions and garlic and smome minced. But both seem to now only offer powders (which clump!) and chopped. Here's my favorite source for these now. Used to also get stuff from the Ingredient Store for many years, but the original owner has recently passed away, just 2 weeks after we had a nice converastion about his efforts in the food industry for 50 years. His kids are running the business for now, but are just too busy to effectivly run it with as many selections of items. Its still the ONLY place I can find the modified food starch called FREEZER FLOW, which is even more stable once cooked and frozen and refrozen if needed. Freezer Flow's nicest property is it will still hold up better to high acid foods and freezing that tend to break down a little in Clear Gel. The same people make FAB marinades, for beef, pork and poultry. These mixes are added to water and injected or marinated. Some of the secret recipes of BBQ people use it. Then there is the '11 herbs and spices', which is about as close to KFC as you can get. Unless the Prudhomme stuff is cheap at a local Christmass tree shop, I just use what I like. Big jars of italian seasoning, dried peppers and onion, basil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory and a few others. Goes well with almost any italian things, inlcuding adding to bread dough, and pizza doughs. Nothing like crusty bread for dipping in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar with herbs added.. Don't get me started!! Here is a link that might be useful: Bulk foods

Pork fat can be frozen and refrozen. I use pork fat when making sausages, only because most pork cuts are quite lean to begin with. You can grind up the meat or leave it whole in large chunks and freeze it. I do that for small pork roasts or ground to be mixed with ground beef for things like meatballs and meatloaf. Yesterday, coincidentally I bought a whole boneless pork loin for just $1.77 a pound. It was about 10 pounds. I made up a big batch of Canadian bacon brine, and inject the brine into the pork in several places. The intent is to increase its total weight by 20%. Once injected, I have to cut the whole loin down to fit some tall Food Saver canisters. The cut lenghts get placed in these tall round canisters and they get filled with the same brine (salt, water, maple syrup, sugar, liquid smoke and a little nitrates). The containers have vacuum fittings on top (these are Food Saver canisters), and the containers get pumped down under vacuum for about 20-30 minutes, then placed in teh fridge over night. I use a special vacuum pump, NOT the Food Saver one! Today, I pumped down on them again and then removed the loins and drained them. They get baked very slowly a about 180 degrees for 2 hours, then 200 for 2 hours, then 230 for 2-3 hours. The temp is raised slowly every hour after that, until the meats internal temp reaches 160 degrees, and no higher. They get cooled, refrigerated and then sliced. Store bought Canadian bacon in stores usually runs about $3 or more for pound, as I have seen it at $8 per pound. For my cost thats a lot cheaper! The sliced bacon is frozen in FS bags, and lasts me a year or more. You basically can freeze pork and then thaw, grind and make into fresh sauages, but it should not be refozen again. I have done that here, but add a bit more spices to counteract the second freezing. Also, when they are made, I use less salt added, so it will refreeze firmer.

I have a very large assortment of FS canisters. Sizes from the 6 qt. all the way down to 1 pint. The smaller diameter ones have domed tops instead of the concave type on the big 6 quart models. I have been buying many of the canisters for several years now and was still able to get another of the narrower but taller ones just for the loins. The phosphates help the pork hold onto moisture, as well as acting as a binder. It MUST be dissolved in water all by itself, and can take several minutes of continual stirring. I usually do it in a drinking glass. About a tablespoon or two of the phosphates are used per gallon of brine, more than that and it can bet a 'bleachy' taste. Once dissolved, its added to the balance of water in the brine mixture along with the nitrite cure #1. A good digital scale able to weigh up to 25 pounds can help too. Mine was cheap and is a godsend when it comes to weighing meats before and after injection of brines. I also use it to weigh the ground pork for sausages, so I can usually figure out how much seasonings and salt to use. I like to inject the brine as much as possible into a loin. Its because its quite dry once its cooked, and with the extra brine it helps or retain more moisture. You can't overdo the injection, as it can only hold so much of the brine. I usually use the same injection ratio for pastrami/corned beef. 4 oz per gallon of the nitrites is way too much!! Sausage Maker site- http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2 Has the cures and usually needs about 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of meat. With a gallon of brine, the nitrite can be up to about a tablespoon. Keep in mind the nitrites are only about 30% of the actual pink granuated product, the other 70% is salt. They do this so you can measure more accurately by diluting it so it will not be as difficult to measure. Sometimes the bags of brine mix will include the nitrite as an added packet and they also usually have some basic instructions on how much to add to the quantity of water. Think of the measurements of the total liquid in the brine, and not the weight of the pork loin. Adding maple syrup to the brine is fine. In a gallon of brine, a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup is very small. I would add about a half cup to a gallon of brine. Keep in mind it will make it slightly sweeter, but still has a mild maple flavor when used with a little liquid hockory smoke flavor. The brine mixes usually have salt, brown sugar and some other minor things. Usually when I bake mine at that low 175 degree oven its about 3 hours in the oven. After 2 hours I raise the oven temp to about 200 degrees. I use a digital probe thermometer to measure internal temp. 160 is the max, 150 is fine too. Follow the instructions on the cure mix for baking etc. I don't have a smoker here so I use the liquid smoke. When I do beef pastrami that can be in the oven about 6 or more hours before it reaches 140-150. If you plan to make some with the added herbs, they would be chopped up in the brine, but NOT injected as they can clog the needle. In that case but don't add the smoke, maple or any other flavors. Sage, thyme, and even pepper, and garlic are OK, but the amounts you mention are still a bit small for a gallon of brine. If your only going to do a 5 pound piece, then make a half gallon of brine and half all the other additives. Never reuse a brine, never mix it and then refrigerate if its not injected right after mixing. For sugar, they use dextrose which holds up better to heat compared to cane. As mentioned, the brine mixes already contain brown sugar. Bake the loing untrimmed, fat side up. I cover mine with foil so it doesn't dry out too much while baking. Your loins should keep for at least 10 days in the cold part of the fridge.

" ---------YIKES, blow dry the shrimps until they are very dry. Yes, I know that the shrimp are chemically treated, but if you have friends that are shrimpers you can avoid all those chemicals. Or I can just go out back and either net some or eat my live "shrimp" bait if the fish don't bite which I've been known to do on more than one occasion. -------" No! The idea is not to dry the shrimp completely. The idea is to dry the outside just enough that when you pan fry the shrimps the juice gets sealed in and the shrimp remain tender yet the outside is caramelized. Try it. It works. Regarding "fresh" shrimps: All shrimps you normally buy are frozen and refrozen. However, if in your town you have a large China Town, you may be able to buy life swimming, jumping shrimps, and also order life shrimps in Chinese restaurants there. There is no way to describe the incredible taste to you of eating true fresh shrimps. dcarch .