Zeemanb

Oh my, that chicken under a brick looks amazing. Really enjoying reading the blog!

I think a little cape and accompanying theme music would be way more entertaining for the kitchen staff. Some "Also Sprach Zarathustra" slowly getting louder as the offending dish makes its way back home.

We hosted our first big bbq of the year yesterday. We were showing off our newly refinished deck, so we gave it a little extra effort… Akaushi Brisket (sliced flat and burnt ends) Duroc breed pulled pork Sriracha Mayo Potato Salad (roasted new potatoes, farmer’s market fresh asparagus coins and little batons of “hail stone” radishes, cubed red bell pepper and roughly chopped Peppadew peppers) Candied Jalapeno Cole Slaw Corn Muffins with fresh corn kernels mixed in, topped w/crumbled bacon and served with homemade Maple Butter Bacon & BBQ Rub Deviled Eggs Homemade Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream with Chewy Ginger-Cinnamon Cookies It went over pretty well, I’m looking forward to doing more of these as the produce selection at the Farmer’s Markets begins to expand. While the Akaushi breed brisket is awesome and beautiful, it’s about double the cost of good Vintage Breed from my butcher (7.95/lb vs. 3.95/lb). I’ll get it again and try a different preparation, but I don’t think you get the bang for the buck flavor or texture wise when you smoke it…although due to the rich marbling it only took me 10.5 hours to smoke a 13lb brisket vs. the usual 13 or so. Plus another 1.5 hours or so to “burn” the burnt ends. Adding an extreme-closeup lustful photo of my burnt ends... edited for wording

Okey dokey....after tasting the actual sriracha mayo I'd be using and taking a trip to the Farmer's Market, I went with roasting cubed new potatoes to get a little texture on them and put enough sauce in the mayo to give it some decent heat. To that I added coins of thin fresh asparagus spears, little batons of white "hail stone" radishes from my CSA, a small dice of raw red bell pepper, paper thin slices of spring onions, AND.....roughly chopped Peppadew peppers. My wife loves it, so it should be a crowd pleaser tomorrow. I'll probably add some fresh parsley from my herb garden when I serve it. Thanks for the ideas! Sriracha is such an ideal ingredient in potato salad that I'll be playing with this all summer.

I know, I think my problem is that there are SO MANY options my brain just shuts down.....so hard to know when to say when. Depending on what we get from our CSA in the morning, some batonettes of icicle radishes would be a good textural component along w/very finely sliced spring onions. All the things I have cooked and it's potato salad that gives me brain-block.....

Wherever I can find sweetbreads on the menu that night..... currently that would make it The Rieger Hotel Grille and Exchange here in KC. The sweetbread and bacon terrine.......

Quick question here - My potato salad recipe for this weekend begins with roasted new potatoes and a mayo/sriracha dressing. Trying to think of what to add from there without including the normal hard boiled egg, celery, etc..... Blanched/chopped fresh green beans...pickled asparagus....I know some obvious and delicious stuff is escaping me here..... IDEAS?

To be honest, when I first saw these I was considering a purchase.....on the golf course, going back and forth to meetings, etc., my coffee gets colder faster than I'd like. And I drink my home-roast out of my thermos throughout the day. BUT the number of these things you have to add per x-number of ounces and the space they require make them a ridiculous novelty, IMHO. Now as far as other kitchen items go...should I just start a spreadsheet of all of the cutesy Bed Bath and Beyond gadgetry we got as wedding gifts? There ARE worse things out there than the Slap-Chop!

The only thing that makes an unannounced visit to the kitchen a true success is a table full of mortified family and friends.

BBQ...prepping the meat and the smoker and eventually working my way up to a 14-16 hour cook with any measure of success seemed insurmountable. Now I'd feel embarassed if people found out how easy it was to shame any 'q you're going to find in a restaurant.

Well, at least we'll be able to keep up with whatever new product Buitoni is shilling on any given week.

Veering off the topic a bit, but since this cuts to the very heart of my philosophy of overall cost, value, education, responsibility, etc...just wanted to say ditto - Overall, our focus on using as much local/seasonal produce and meat is more expensive up front, but the “improvisational” aspect mentioned above forces us to cook and eat differently as well. We eat less meat and more produce, and the one major thing I’d add is we end up wasting MUCH less…for intangible reasons beyond just the extra cost, we tend to value the market goods more and find ways to use them up. Factory farmed mega-mart stuff just seems more “expendable”...as illogical as that may be. Our big bag of spinach will make it into at least three main meals...spinach salad, topping for chicken salad sandwiches, quesadillas, etc. It takes more work, but we have more control, we learn more, and we know the actual people providing us with most of our food. The difference in cost is negligible compared to the exponential difference in value. Regarding “disdain”, all I have to do is mention any of this to co-workers in the lunch room to experience THAT. I’m definitely not preachy, but will get laughed off as some kind of space alien or hippie, or like I think I’m a rich yuppie...you realize how far removed you are from the majority of consumers who will hit the farmer’s markets once or twice a year. Not going to get off on THAT tangent, but will say- I’m the odd man out with my co-workers and many of my family members, but when I bring food to the monthly luncheon or picnic my rating goes from weirdo to rock star within two bites .

Interesting topic- We joined our first CSA this year and I am pretty religious about getting as much of our weekly produce from the farmer’s markets as possible once the fun begins. At approximately $10/wk this season, the contents of this week’s CSA basket (spring onions, extra large bag of fresh spinach, radishes, oregano and marjoram starters) is comparable to what I’d buy at the store and nursery especially considering the amount we received...not a massive difference, maybe a little bit cheaper than retail. A couple of meager contributions in an attempt to provide hard numbers: Morel Mushrooms- $25/lb at my farmer’s market (big blonde beauties) vs. $50/lb at Whole Foods within the past 2 weeks (small, dried up) Oyster Mushrooms- ~$7/lb at the market vs. $9/lb at my local store

Thanks again! After a brief huddle we decided we’re definitely going the ice cream sandwich route... my wife found a good recipe for ginger cookies that incorporates black pepper, cardamom and fresh/powdered/candied ginger...that’s a lot of ginger, so practice batches will be made and eaten first. Homemade Vietnamese coffee ice cream will round out the sandwich. Bacon-topped cast iron cornbread with maple pecan butter will also be making an appearance…… Oh, and sriracha deviled eggs. Once I had it on the brain I had to think of SOME application.

Ice cream saannddwiicheesssss, now THERE'S the beginning of a great idea. Can make them ahead, keep some frozen for late arrivals/multiple late night snacks for myself. Thanks for the new train of thought! Black pepper would provide a not-so-obvious element of heat on the back end. You're right about the garlic component there.....that's a toughie. We've been wanting to roast some chickpeas as a snackfood after seeing a recipe somewhere, and that would be more of an appropriate Rooster application. I'll keep thinking....saw a recipe for candied bacon w/sriracha that had promise and may top some cornbread prior to baking. The desserty saucey idea was more about having guests go "Well I'll be darned! Sriracha!", but deliciousness takes precedence over being impressive or quirky.

I'm planning a bbq in a couple of weeks where I'll be serving homemade Vietnamese coffee ice cream along with some sort of ginger cookies. I'm trying to think of a tasty and unique way to incorporate Sriracha in maybe a caramel sauce, or a candied nut...something of that nature that can go over the ice cream. Any ideas or experience with this?

Funny…..recently went on a food-bender in DC where the old “still or sparkling” upsell was in full effect. I wonder if at this point restaurants just ASSUME that everyone understands that it’s code for “not free tap water”? I’ve only experienced this in higher-end restaurants, and when I’m paying for a meal at places like Citronelle or Eve, the extra eight or ten dollars for water doesn’t really make it onto my radar. Trying to remember, but I’m pretty sure the restaurants like Bluestem here in KC ask in a manner that lets you know there is an option for different bottled waters by lumping them in with the offer for wine and cocktails…so it’s a bit clearer. If my regular haunts suddenly started throwing sneaky “still or sparkling” into their repertoire, I would probably take issue with it. As someone who no longer drinks alcohol, I go WILD with the bottled water…I’ve been known to start with sparkling and then order some still, or vice versa….COMPLETELY disregarding the cost. I’m the Evel Kneivel of H2O. “As a child I would drink from a hose outdoors, and look at me now! Spending enough on this bottle of water to literally buy ANOTHER hose if I felt like it!”. All kidding aside, I have a weird (possibly thread-worthy) inferiority complex when it comes to only drinking water or soft drinks in higher-tier restaurants. I pad the bill if they offer the “fancy water” or if they happen to have great house-made colas, ginger ales, various mocktails, etc., and I bump my tip up quite a bit. My neurosis is a different topic for a different thread, but as far as bottled water being worth the cost- as long as there is some degree of consistency between the price of the food and the water, I have no issue going along with “still or sparkling” charges. When it’s obviously part of a larger system of sneaky or pushy upsells like I’ve experienced at, for example, McCormick and Schmick, then it just pisses me off and I don’t go back.

I cannot picture a scenario where it would be my first choice, but I would definitely put RC at the top of my "acceptable compromise" list of restaurants. If I'm going out w/family or co-workers who lean towards chains, I'd much rather go to RC than Outback or Longbranch, etc. The impersonal service and predictable upselling/nickel and diming I've experienced aren't the greatest, but the food is ok. If it's someone else's dime I'll push for Capital Grille every time though, lol. I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but when it comes to mixed-company dining and the inevitable angst over an evening at a mega-chain, I'd pretty much rather go and eat some passable grub at a place like Ruth's Chris than press the issue and get people to eat at one of MY local favorites. In my experience there are just way more complainers than converts, and I just cannot deal with someone hammering on one of my places of worship .

No mangalitsa yet. I keep trying to remember to ask about it when I'm up at the butcher, but I have this irrational fear that they're going to ask me..."ok, what food program have you been watching NOW?" I think overall, and this is probably just because I've cooked with it the most, berkshire is my favorite. Firm, good color, plenty of fat...and one time when I was in there one of the actual berkshire farmers was in the store and he told me "anybody who ever tells you that pork is the other white meat hasn't eaten real pork". So THAT has some influence.....loved that guy. While it's not "bbq'd butt", one thing worth mentioning when it comes to the heritage breeds and the quality difference is that (in my experience), most bang for the buck comes from oven roasting vs. smoking. I think you just get a better overall idea of the subtle and not so subtle differences in flavor and texture when you cook it that way. Don't get me wrong, making the pulled pork is awesome, but before experimenting much with smoking different breeds I'd say smoke a berkshire and roast one and see what you think. Just my two cents.

thanks for the quick response. I'll have to search out some heritage breeds. I wonder how kurobota or some of the other breeds would do or if the berkshire is probably the best option. I almost forgot about that, the "glistening with gorgeous fat" aspect of the heritage breeds plus the darker color, firmer texture and quicker cook time all make them worth the extra money. I've cooked berkshire, kurobata and red wattle at different times....more about what the butcher had onhand than comparison purposes, and I don't really recall huge differences once you make the heritage leap. But now that someone has brought it up, I have one more thing to rationalize purchases going forward.

Since my wife let me in on the secret that my early bday present is the Sous Vide Supreme, I am hereby allowing myself to spend the money I WAS going to use for that on the larger sized 22.5 inch Weber Smokey Mountain. I've got 3 of the smaller ones already, but managing one vs. two when doing big cooks will be nice. Herbs get planted this weekend, and then it is OFFICIALLY bbq season (meaning- guests coming over to enjoy it outdoors, I almost don't know how to cook bbq in reasonable weather)....heading up to my butcher to pick up some Berksire butts next week and try putting in an order for some Wagyu briskets, points-only...burnt ends are the end all be all for me, . Good luck and delicious results to all this spring!

Funny, I was JUST talking about this with my wife the other night. For me, Whole Foods has the POTENTIAL to be “Whole Paycheck”…..but when that happens it is because of impulse buying. And it is HARD sometimes to walk past some good looking matsutake mushrooms or stone crab claws. There is an inordinate amount of luxury “wants” at Whole Foods (and convenience items like their insanely priced mixed fruit containers) vs. what I actually “need”, and self discipline can be an issue. With that said, when I walk in with a list of exactly what I’m looking for....good eggs, yogurt, bulk grains and rice, flat iron steaks, etc., I often walk out spending less than I would at my local grocery store. I’ll generally allow myself one or two “nice” items (they had some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes the other day I couldn’t resist), and always one or two of their salt-topped mini ciabattas. I guess my question is- are the people calling it “Whole Paycheck” thinking of it in terms of a primary source for all of the weekly groceries? Who here uses it as their “local grocer” vs. what I do- more of a specific staple or specialty item location? I would probably have to do some serious planning and strategic shopping in order to afford making it my main grocery store. For example, we recently began trying to get all of our meat from local sources instead of Tyson, Farmland, etc. from the local Price Chopper. The cost difference has meant modifying our diet to eat less (but a MUCH higher and delicious quality) meat. I guess we could do the same in order to shop somewhere like Whole Foods, but then that brings up a whole other discussion about whether or not Whole Foods is the smartest place to spend your money just because it's Whole Foods.... Joined our first CSA this year, so between what we get there, local markets and our local butcher (Paradise Locker Meats in Trimble, Missouri...total rockstars, btw), we try to depend less and less on grocery stores for our fresh goods.

People, people, people....this is EXACTLY why I love the Foursquare app so much. I wait until I see one of you MC-ophiles has "checked in" somewhere for a nice evening dinner, and I kick in your back door and take your books. Then I put the net savings towards the Polyscience circulator (unless I see one sitting there when I snag the books)! In all seriousness, for me it's exactly like spending "too much" on a meal....if I skipped Citronelle last month and added another hundred bucks, I could have bought the set. It's whatever you prioritize.....I can probably afford neither but will inevitably do both. I make very bad, very delicious decisions when it comes to food. And being a guy, I know that as long as "the boss" thinks the results are delicious, I can continue to get away with this behavior .

By Steve Ells, are you talking about "And I'm Steve Ells, owner of Chipotle?". THAT Steve Ells? Because you don't want to get him confused with any other Steve Ells who is NOT the owner/creator/founder of Chipotle. I don't think he's annoying, just really, really considerate in identifying himself as THE Steve Ells who owns Chipotle every single damn time he ever has to say his name.... I watch the show as I'm doing other things, so if I'm wrong feel free to correct me, but does it seem like Steve Ells (owner of Chipotle) has this idea that his restaurant is the gold standard of "healthy", fast casual dining and not just a polished "BURRITOS AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD!!!" joint? I know, I know, you can have it all in a bowl and customize it however you want to make it healthier.....just like you can have a salad with no-fat dressing at McDonald's.

Thanks for bringing this up, I just ordered a copy. I love reading my copy of Authentic Mexican, but I don't really cook from it. I make recipes from my French Laundry and Momofuku cookbooks from time to time, both very involved and complicated, but somehow Authentic Mexican still seems out of reach for me. I have a very good feeling about Mexican Kitchen......