Dejah

Been stockpiling lamb chops for a visit home from daughter and fiancé Ryan-the-Boy. Tonight was the night! Seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper,the chops were pan seared and finished off in the oven. The beets were roasted in foil, and the beet greens were sauteed in the fat from the chops. I think I started enjoying lamb just so I can have mint sauce. Ryan ate 7 chops, I believe! The beets were great with lots of butter.

My great-nephew Brendan was in town with his University of Alberta volleyball team against our guys. He asked to have supper with us, along with a friend. This was post-game, which ended up around 11:30 PM! I did a 5.8 kg prime rib roast as he was bringing one or two team mates, both around 6'8", and eat alot. The roast was pulled at 140 internal but tented and sat for 1.5 hours before the guys made it over. It was still quite warm but a little more done than medium. THat didn't both Brendan's teammate Kurt, who ate 4 slabs plus 5 Yorkies! Even Brendan was amazed. Kurt with his second helping!

Gorgeous, Keith! Such talent presented here by all of you! Mouth watering beyond control...

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Sheepish There is so much more in you to share, sheepish. I hope to see more of your offerings in various egullet threads. Thanks for a great blog!

Wonderful blog - such a contrast to urban offerings! Enjoying your sense of humour in details, AND Mutt On's comments. I'll have to check my sources about using large pig intestines so you can really make use of the whole pig! I just remember my mother stuffing it with sticky rice and black beans (can't remember anything else as I was pretty young). The "sausage" is steamed, sliced and served with a dipping sauce. Pig stomach - braised - SO good! I also used them in dried tofu stick soup along with rehydrated oysters. The braised stomaches are sold in Chinese BBQ shops.

My first thought was the tumbler idea... Wondering if a small rock tumbler would work...that kind of idea?

Thanks for that information, Margaret. Now I know! I'll have to try your riff on the cauli-rice, Heidi. I've been eating SO much cauliflower - in salads and cooked, I am having shiritaki noodles for a change. I haven't had any for a couple of months as I have to go to Winnipeg to buy them. Then today, I saw several packages at our local Safeway - in the gluten-free section! A couple were in fettucini shape, so tomorrow, it'll be ground turkey chili with marinara sauce over shiritaki noodles.

Here ya go, Bruce. Sure wish salmon didn't lose that beautiful colour!

Cross-posting tonight's supper from the "Cooking for weight loss" thread because the salmon fillet was so pretty! I usually cook this on the BBQ wrapped in banana leaf. A bit chilly at the moment, so the fish was done in foil in a 375F oven. The fillet was sandwiched between layers of lemongrass, ginger, green onion, cilantro, chili pepper, lime slices, pepper, salt and sprinkled with olive oil. It was silky, moist, and no fishy tast or smell at all. I've been cooking salmon steaks and was ready to give up on salmon as it tasted fishy to me, no matter how I cooked it! Prep. and ready to go into the oven:

Picked up a beautilfu salmon fillet this afternoon. This is the way I used to cook salmon. Not sure why I switched to steaks, which I find fishy no matter how I cooked it. I used to BBQ this wrapped in banana leaf in the summer. In the winter, I do it in foil in the oven. The fillet is sandwiched between layers of onion, cilantro, lemongrass, ginger, lime slices, chili peppers, salt, pepper, and olive oil. This was silky and moist, no fishy taste at all. Hubby got rice with his. I had tofu shiritaki noodles done in a non-stick pan with a dribble of tamari soy.

Those duck necks would be my dish! I'd take a dish of it, sit infront of the telly and pick 'em clean with my fingers and teeth! I do that with chicken necks. Really enjoying the blog so far. Lamb is one of our favourite meats. Kids can't afford to buy it - not really because of the price, but due to the humongus amounts they want to eat! Mrs. Sheepish's baking looks great. Would she post the recipe? And the kitchen...that's exactly the way it should look when it use!

Darienne, I am at where I was before in terms of weight loss - recupping from Xmas. At least it's coming off again. I got the Caramel Krisda at Wal-Mart, so you may want to check there. Our Safeway is the only other source for regular Krisda, and their prices are higher. I like this stevia product better than any other one - a little more expensive, but worth it! Of course it's great in coffee too! I am glad to be off the aspertime... I also bought myself a double-wall beverage cup. It holds 12 oz. and keeps my hot water hot. Otherwise, it cools off before I can down the 8 oz! This is the thermos I have, and it holds my 8 glasses of water plus enough for my hot water and lemon juice in the morning. I make sure it's empty before I go to bed.

Been doing ground turkey burgers lately - with chopped onion, a bit of egg white, and crumbles of low-fat feta cheese mixed in. The pattie with Cajun rub was fairly thick, pan seared in 1.5 tsp. olice oil, then baked in 400F oven until cooked temp. It stayed juicy and flavourful. Tonight I had Shanghai bok choy stir-fried in a little olive oil and fat-free, no-salt-added chicken stock, ginger and garlic, brocoslaw with reduced calorie dressing, and steamed cauliflower topped with melted fat-free mozz slice and crushed chili flakes. Very satisfying meal. Dessert was 4 oz. of fat-free plaiun Greek yogurt with half packet of caramel flavoured Krisda. I love this new flavour! I split a turkey fillet, rubbed with Cajun seasoning, seared and baked for hubby. He had it on a slab of pumpernickle bread. On the 13th day of the 17-Day Diet and down 8 lbs.

I can see why the boiled pork ribs would be tender and tasty. I love them when I simmer the ribs for one of my favourite Chinese vegetable soups - with bok choy, celery, carrots, and ginger. I will be interested in seeing what you do with the pig stomach and large intestine!

Was butchery something you got interested in after (if indeed you did) you moved out of the city? Did you take a course on butchering your own animals?

Crispy Ginger Beef is similar to crispy Sichuan Orange Beef. Orange beef is made with rehydrated orange peel and orange flavouring in the batter and the sauce. I make ginger beef with ginger powder and shreds of fresh ginger in the batter and in the sauce. The sauce also has a little 5-spice, chili peppers, sugar, vinegar, and water. Have to be careful when coating the crispy strips with the sticky sauce (thickened with cornstarch slurry) as too much would ruin the crispiness. You'd want just enough to coat SOME of the surfaces. I usually deep fry some strands of ginger to put on top before serving. This was a popular dish in my restaurant. The spiciness is adjusted to presonal requests.

Very much looking forward to your blog. Will this be more "village focused"? Sechuan cooking and offal...Welsh ingredients...Irish food...wonderful teasers.

Heidi: Cauliflower rice is very easy. Other's say use only florets, but I just take a big chunk of cauliflower, hold it by the stem and grate on the largest-holes side of a grater until it gets too close to my finger tips for comfort. You can also do this with a food processor, but I find the grater easier for clean-up. I grate into a shallow Corning ware casserol. DO NOT ADD WATER. Cover and microwave for 6 minutes on high on my microwave. I stir at half way and may sprinkle in a bit of salt. It has the texture of steamed rice - "fluffy".

Hi rotuts, This was the way I made char siu when I had my restaurant. At that time, we used a cut called "buckeye" because customers wanted lean meat. Now, at home, for ourselves, and for char siu baos, I use pork butt roasts for the fat in them along with the lean parts. I cut the roast into 1 to 1.5 inch slabs, poke holes in them, and marinate them in the following combination. I don't have measurements, just eyeballing from years of doing it. Marinade: hoisin sauce, a glug of oyster sauce, soy sauce, Chinese wine, liquid food colour, salt, MSG (optional), sugar, sesame oil. The marinade is still of fairly thick consistency and will cling to the meat as it marinates. I use a glass lasagne dish to marinate the meat, making sure every part is covered. I turn it after a few hours, and usually leave it in the fridge overnight. To roast, I turn the oven to 400, and have a pan of water on the bottom rack to keep the meat moist while roasting. I used to use S-hooks (made from cheap poultry skewers) to hang the meat from the rack that holds up my broiling elements. Think I've done that too often with too many chunks, and one of the brackets came away from the top of the oven. (would that be a good enough reason to get a new oven?!) That was the perfect way to get all around "charring" on each piece. Now, I lay the pieces on a broiling pan with water in the bottom pan. This way, I have to turn them after the top has "charred", and finish the other side Right out of the oven, I brushed them with honey diluted with a bit of hot water. This gives them a nice glaze and an immediate hit of sweetness when you bit into a piece. I use this meat for char siu baos as well.

What great combinations, Percyn and Bruce! All of them would be my choice any day. I'll have to remember to work on these combinations next time I have leftovers.

Had a mini-cooking class / feast in our friends Bruce and Suzanne's new kirchen last night. I prepared char siu, hot and sour soup and char siu bars at home. Suz is a NOT a Hot 'n' Sour soup any more... She loved it. Bruce has had it before in my restaurant and was our karate sensi. We started with slices of char siu and dark ale: Suz's first taste of the soup. Good thing I took lots as she loved it. I made some small baos - 2 mouthfull size ones. Larger ones were saved for their freezer. Here are some of the items Suz learned to make: She loved the rolls in restaurants but now she can make her own! Siu Mai with pork shrimp, and waterchestnut Coconut shrimp with mango chipotle dip We stir-fried the choy with ginger and garlic. Chicken breast was added later and topped a big plate of Cantonese noodles. We cooked and ated from 7 - 10. I was happy to leave the messy kitchen to Bruce and Suz...

This was another concoction with ground turkey: 1 can of Alymer's Diced Tomato with Red Chili Pepper simmered with Italian herbs. I dded a small can of tomato sauce as well to make a pasta sauce. Ground turkey was browned with diced onion and herbs. I sliced an eggplant, salted it to remove some of the liquid and to soften it. These were fried in the non-stick pan with a spray of Pam, and used as pasta replacement. The whole lot was layered into lasagne with a sprinkle of grated parmasan cheese, topped with slices of fat-free mozz. I liked it, but hubby misses real pasta.

Xmas was a killer - gained back 4 of the 8 lbs I lost before the holidays. So last Monday, it was back to the 17-Day Diet. I've been using Simply Eggwhites (comes in a carton) done as an omelet with curry powder, diced onions, mushrooms, and sweet peppers. If I have fresh herbs, especially dill and cilantro, I'd chop some of that up and cook in a non-stick pan. As fat-free mozzerella cheese is allowed, I sometimes add a slice then fold the omelet over. Salsa goes well with this as a lunch. Fish plays a big part in this diet. I love basa with cajun spices, pan seared with a little olive oil then finished in the oven. A squeeze of fresh lime adds the sparkle. I use grated cauliflower a lot to replace rice. Sometimes, it's just plain if I have a dish that is distinct on its own. The other day, I had odds and ends of veg to use up, and a package of ground turkey. I browned the turkey in a little olive oil followed by a short simmer with fat-free sodium-free chicken stock to keep the meat moist, and separately, the vegetables, and some egg white in flat form then diced. In a clean pan, I stir-fried the "rice" for that "wok hei", then added everything back in. Mixed it all up with a dash of tamari soy, and voila! Mock fried rice. It was very good, especially qwith a spoonful of Saigon Chili Oil. The leftover fried rice, I had it for lunch the next day. I added a few smashed fermented soy beans, a quick stir-up in the pan, and ate it as lettuce wrap. No picture on that, but you get the idea...

Scotty: That's a beautiful picture...who said that the plate has to be full to be beautiful?!

Thanks, Nickrey. If I had searched more diligently, I would've seen the image for "rice paddy herb". I also saw packages at the store that were labelled "rice paddy herb" and they looked different. Maybe the others were labelled incorrectly. I see it is used mainly in Vietnamese dishes. Think I'll pass it along to my students from Vietnam. I just can't get the initial aroma and taste past my brain this time to try and cook with it.