RETREVR

It has occured to me that boneless skinless chicken breast is the most over-rated cut of meat available. Do you put a sauce with it? even if you don't do a sauce, you can deglaze and pop it into the oven to finish. Pan sear the breasts pour off excess fat add shallot or onion,or leak or garlic if you want( Bell pepper, artichoke, tomato, ....) deglaze with wine, lemon or whatever(wostchesteshire, basalmic.....) add a little stock pop in a hot oven pull the pan plate the breasts reduce the pan sauce sauce the breast with the light sauce or add a touch of cream, or tomato sauce, or swirl in butter for a richer sauce. Use any vegi early and any liquid you want, finish however you want. Use any herb or spice element you want. Finishing in the oven with sort of a pan-braise allows you a little more flexibility in timing the dish to hit the table.

I just helped my dad with a brisket for a small group that has various competitions. They have done ribs, green chile and a variety of themes. I didn't trust my dad to keep a consistent fire for 12hrs and he had trimmed most of the fat cap off before I could stop him, so I outlined the preparation for him. The rub was pretty bassic but weighted a little with cracked pepper. The cut was painted with mustard and rub applied. We smoked for about an hour and a half with apple. Not the best wood but it was all we had. Then the cut was finished in the oven at about 200 for about 8hrs. The mop was onion, garlic, beer, and basalmic. I made a basic vinegar tomato sauce with the heat coming from that asian hot sauce with the rooster on the front. I forget the name of it but it is a great tool for adding flavorfull heat. Mix a touch of it with ketchup for an emergency coctail sauce.....be carefull. I consider it to be a "mother condiment" allong with woschesteshire, ketchup, mustard, and sour cream, you can make most classic American sauces. I also made a nontraditional sauce. I lightly browned onions, then baslmic vinegar, then port, then brown stock (actually it was a bunch of roast drippings from work), reduce, adjust acidity and sweetness, season. It turned out pretty tasty. The cut has a nice smoke ring and is not overly smoky. I wanted to do the whole thing in the smoker but knew that without a fat cap and a better wood, we would be flirting with disaster.

I grabbed the olive oil instead of the clarified butter... to make hollandais. Not checked to see if the drip pan on the stove has been cleaned during my week off. The whole unit went up in flames during a rush. I Finished the rush from a flat top an oven and a salamander. Thank god the ansul system didn't go off. Add just a touch of safron for flavor... and end up with a screamming yellow sauce. Empty the pot of pasta water, which had been replaced by veal stock. (poured half only before I noticed) Dump the days first order of calamari into a stone cold fryer. The old "dump the filtered oil into the fryer with the valve open" is a classic. Messier, but not as classic as the "imaginary coffee pot trick". You may have been lucky enough to see the variation of this performed with an ice tea maker. The shear volume makes this a treat. Often this is followed with the "let me set this tray of my crap down on your station while I clean up my mess". If you are really lucky you might even see this followed by the " fire that ticket I forgot to enter". On very rare occasions, depending on the mental stability of the participants, you may see the "mascara running down the face, I don't remember what they ordered on the ticket I forgot to fire that I need in the window right now". Trust a hostess Others have: Made sausage gravy with powdered sugar. Cooked live lobsters... in the oven. Cleaned king crab legs... and thrown away the claws. Sous, Left the water running to fill the 50 gal steam kettle after we cleaned up, then came out front to have a beer with the crew. Three beers later The entire kitchen is covered in water. Eaten a chunk of raw ginger on a dare. Then later eat chipoltles on a dare...they were a really tar like batch....they stuck to his gums. Watched a sous dump 5 gal of cream of asparagrass soup into an icebath while blending it ....10 minutes before lunch.