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@KennethT interesting idea. beef flavor would depend on which cuts of beef were shaved . they probably shave cheaper cuts , and sometimes those cuts have more beef flavor . re : maillard flavor : make some beef stock , and call that sandwich a French dip.

Seems worth a try. I'm not sure the deli roast beef I buy sometimes for sandwiches has much of a Maillarded edge to it, though now that I think of it that may explain why it sometimes tastes "flat" to me.

Looks like a perfect medium rare to me. Anymore then that i would consider medium.

I had a thought recently about making beef for roast beef sandwiches. My local Wegmans supermarket commonly has shaved beef slices - I guess to use for stir fry or for Korean BBQ? I was thinking - you could put a bunch of slices in a ziplcok bag and SV at like 120F and have easy, thin sliced roast beef for sandwiches - but they just wouldn't have the maillarded edge. Thoughts?

I first noticed them at Costco, but Albertsons has a Bob Mills brand, and now I just checked and Walmart has them! Shelby, there is good satisfying flavor and texture in this dish. I think you’ll love it. You can play with the ingredients, too. I usually have pecans on hand, but other nuts would be good, as well. After the veg is sautéed and the pecans slightly toasted, I add the hemp hearts, stir it around, and then add some chicken stock, and let it get absorbed. Season to taste. ETA: If you’re interested, I’ve made falafel and tabouleh with hemp hearts!

Thanks for this. Always on the hunt for new low carb recipes. Do you find hemp hearts at a regular grocery store?

@Smithy I think that beef looks perfect. the roast looks so good , I can imagine the aroma. Id consider slicing some of the remainder thinly forroast beef sandwiches.

To me, that level of rare is just perfect. Beautiful.

I indulged myself recently and had ButcherBox send me a package that included a Sirloin Cap. 1.5 pounds. Looked irresistible. Yesterday I thawed and cooked it. They noted in the online instructions that it's a lean cut of meat so DON'T OVERCOOK IT. I coated it lovingly with a blend of chopped garlic mashed with rosemary, oregano, parsley, salt and olive oil, then browned it in a preheated cast iron pan. In the same pan I cooked it at 375F, uncovered, until it registered 120F. I pulled it out and let it rest while the potatoes finished cooking. The idea of pulling it such a low temperature was (a) not to overcook it and (b) knowing that the temperature would keep rising for a while as the heat redistributed and the meat continued to cook. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? I learned that the internal temperature of a 1.5 pound piece of meat won't rise nearly as much during resting as it would for a 5- or 10- pound roast. (I know. duh.) So it was really still quite rare, a bit rarer than I prefer. Good, though: and individual slices will lend themselves well to a quick sear in the pan. Years ago I had prime rib served that way: very high heat to develop an outer crust of delicious brownness, then a quick pan sear to get the slices done to order.

I made a big lot of green chile stew (beef) early for Christmas Day. But the way we've been plowing through it, I don't know if I will have it for long. It's that good. I made my @ninagluck egg nog late, so it hasn't had much time to temper. I went off recipe a bit with a batch and added ube powder. Who doesn't love purple egg nog? It's fiery thanks to the everclear base, but the vanilla ube notes are really nice. My Christmas Eve meal is planned to be weinerschnitzel, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage. I am precooking the veal cutlets sous vide ahead of time. I have some Modernist Pantry Ever Crisp and CrispCoat to use added into the breading for extra crunch and stability. Precooking the meat means you just need to focus on the desired breading color and crisp, I find it a very friendly way to deep fry meats, I use that technique for chicken wings also. This is also my first go at schnitzel, what's that old adage? Don't try new recipes for Holiday dinners? Bah, humbug. I think dessert will be cinnamon crisps with a sweetened cream cheese dip. Need simple one this time.

Those look amazing, and a nice variety! 😍 I made two cookie boxes a few days ago, but baked what I needed for those boxes (with extras for my husband). Chocolate chip, dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal, chocolate dipped peanut butter, and salted vanilla toffee cookies. I have cookie dough in the fridge for making boxes as needed, and will make more of some for the cookie tray.

You need to correct that! Given where you live, it may not be possible to buy packaged gumbo (for instance, Zatarain's boxed mix) but you can get a good start on making your own by checking out this topic: eG Cook-off #3: Gumbo. Incidentally, @patti's gumbo has the quintessential dark roux. I don't think I've ever gotten mine quite so dark! Hers looks wonderful!

My sister and I decided that except for giving each other a jigsaw puzzle this year, we would do a Christmas cookie exchange. My offering, left to right: Samosas, candy cane shortbread, speculoos behind them, turtle cookies, shortbread, triple ginger cookies, and candy cane cookies.

I just checked on shipping frozen gumbo to Canada, but it appears that mixed ingredient foods are not allowed. 🤨 Gumbo is to Cajuns what pho is to the Vietnamese, or chicken soup is to the Jewish community. Soul soothing and comforting. With rice is best, of course: But sans rice, and with deviled eggs subbing for potato salad… also delicious. Seafood gumbo is pricey these days, but it is truly my favorite. I would LOVE to make it for Christmas Eve, but son and DIL wouldn’t eat any, and my husband would be good for one bowl and then done. Sigh. Not sure why I keep so many pics of gumbo on my computer, haha! Shrimp and okra gumbo.

Good heavens, I am in my senior years and then some, and just realized I've never even tasted gumbo, simple or otherwise!!!!

Grilled filet and air fryer green beans a couple of nights ago. Leftover filet turned into beef & broccoli last night. And a little salad.

I rescued some BBQ Rancho Gordo beans (Varieties unknown at this point) from the freezer and heated them up with a couple of my ribs from the other day. Tasty enough that I think I need to make some more beans soon. I've still got ribs.

Last Christmas Eve was the first annual Mimi & Murphy making cookies for Santa event. We will repeat that, and have a simple gumbo for Christmas Eve dinner. We’ll be having Christmas dinner at son & DIL’s house, along with her parents, sisters, and their families. Everyone brings something, and mac and cheese and cookies were requested. I will happily comply. My DIL’s father is Lebanese and he will be making a couple of dishes that I look forward to trying. I’ll probably also bring a low carb faux wild rice pilaf, using hemp hearts in place of wild rice. It consists of diced mushrooms, chopped pecans, diced onions and red bell pepper, garlic, and hemp seed hearts. DIL and her mom and sisters enjoyed it last time I made some. And it ends up looking like this: The cookie tray will include lemon crinkles, dark chocolate dipped peanut butter, dark chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies*, salted vanilla toffee cookies, and the ubiquitous (but delicious) chocolate chip (with flaky salt). I’m not good at making pretty cookies, but I can make some that taste really good! *Might be replaced with iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies.

OMG, twice on one night!

This is a quick and easy "ladie's lunch." I usually serve it with an orange and arugula salad. Love the frozen puff pastry. I have made it from scractch a couple of times, but it's one of those things (like croissants) that just doesn't seem worth the trouble so I always keep a package in the fridge and a package in the freezer.https://vikalinka.com/ham-cheese-puffs-asparagus/

Yes, @JeanneCake, all pre-cooked. Thanks.

Indeed, it's a new one to me also! After I looked it up, I asked Mr. Google whether it equates to "zhuzh". Blew the AI's mind. But I gather they have similar meanings.

Do you have space indoors? Growing chillies indoors is really easy and contrary to what a lot of people on the internet say, you don't need hot weather to grow chillies - what dictates their heat level is genetics and ample light. I use a couple LED grow lights and my chillies taste just like I was there. I actually just cut down my rawit plant today as we're planning to go away in a few days and it was getting unwieldly large. I have probably harvested at least a full gallon ziplock bag full of those little pieces of plump, juicy dynamite, now happily IQF'd in my freezer. If you have the space and desire, let me know - I'd be happy to send you a few seeds of the rawit and/or the keriting chillies - send me a PM if interested. They are the most commonly used in Indonesia/Malaysia. Quite a few sambals are "fried" like that. Dabu dabu from North Sulawesi and sambal matah from Bali are both made that way. What's interesting is that a common Javanese sambal - sambal terasi (means shrimp paste) - the ingredients are pretty much exactly the same as the sambal ulek (I dont' think it uses palm sugar though, just a bit of white sugar to balance), except it is a fried sambal and it is ground very fine (like in a blender or really worked over by hand in the cobek).

@Norm Matthews, what a great story - from start to finish. Thanks for posting about the cookbook, and the backstory.

Last month, I was reading the newspaper and it had an article about Pyet DeSpain. I know her. We aren't close friends and the last time I saw her was at my son's wedding. He was getting married to Pyet's half sister. At the time she had an office job for a local car dealer. I learned from the article that she had gone to culinary school, moved to LA and was making meals for delivery to clients when she decided to start creating meals based on her background. She and her mother and grandmother are members of the Potawatomi tribe and her father and his Mexican family lives in Kansas City She grew up in both cultures. Her food attracted some attention in Los Angles and was asked to be a contestant on Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Chef She was the winner of Season One. She has a cooking show on PBS. This was all news to me. I preordered her cookbook and after it came, had it signed it at a book signing event here in Kansas City. This is the first cook book that I will have read from cover to cover and am acquiring items for her recipes that are not often found or grocery store shelves, like sumac and juniper berries. I remember sumac trees all along an area where I used to take walks in Junction City and made tea with them once in a while but now have a chance to learn how to put them to greater use. Same for juniper berries. I have a tree in my backyard that has a gazillion of those blue seeds on it. She has some sauces that have been modified to use as BBQ sauces and I do a lot of BBQ in my smoker and have used fruit flavors in my sauces and her sauces also use fruit flavors. I have inclded another picture of my son's wedding day taken with is bride and her siblings. Pyet is on the left.