Honkman

Casserole with polpette (made from fresh pork sausage and ground beef) and pasta (which was added uncooked to the casserole and cooked in the oven and nicely thickened the tomato sauce)

Quinoa salad with red peppers, romaine, kidney beans, corn, red onion, avocado and crumbled tortilla chips for texture - served with a some sausages

Biryani with lamb (marinated overnight in yoghurt and several spices) and okra with tomatoes (recipe from Indian muslims in Uganda)

Just curious why you can’t eat any curry as there are some many variants, e.g. Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Burma etc with very different ingredients, spices etc which have hardly any overlap

Burger with freshly ground sirloin steak tips (which were much better, beefier than the regular store bought ground beef)

Quick stir-fry with pork tenderloin, snow peas, mushrooms, scallions and carrots served over rice

Simple pasta salad served slightly warm with roasted peppers, tomatoes, briefly blanched broccoli and carrots and a handful of fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, basil, lemon thyme, sage)

Sauerkraut and kassler (smoked and brined pork chops) stew/casserole with a grated potato crust

I guess it is time for us to make it ourselves - looking over your pics and recipe I have a question about your minced pork - did you use regular store bought ground pork or (double) grind it yourself to have better control over how finely it is ground ?

Poor Man’s Schnitzel - Breaded Leberkaese (literally translates to “liver cheese” even though it doesn’t contain any liver or cheese but is a very finely minced German-style meatloaf/roast available freshly made at good German butchers (at least here in California) with a German-style cucumber salad (cream-cider vinegar dressing) and fries

Yep - even in Germany with much more competition they would be a top place (I really hope they will make it through the pandemic - so far so good but you never know)

Just call it dedication for good food (or a recent move back to California)

Dittmers in Los Altos/Mountain View https://www.dittmers.com

Sometimes there isn’t enough time to buy anything even though you originally planned and so you have to combine more unusual things - indian inspired stir-fried greens (kale and swiss chard) with black mustard seeds, turmeric, curry leaves, coconut, lime juice and jalapeño served with some excellent sausages from our closeby German butcher. Overall excellent “fusion” food.

Aloo matar (potato and green pea curry in a tomato based sauce) over rice

As so often the least photogenic dishes are often the best tasting ones - veal stew with blanched asparagus and shiitake mushrooms and two sauces (veal jus roti and asparagus puree) served over spaetzle

Frikadellen (German dish somewhere between a meatball and hamburger patty with 50%/50% ground beef and pork, sautéed onions, parsley, egg, roll (softened in milk and water)) and potato salad with celery, red and green pepper, scallion and freshly made mustard mayonnaise.

Simple but tasty - lentil stew with carrots, celery, bacon, thyme, bay leaf topped with an apple, mustard, acetico balsamico mixture and some sour cream

Of course - basic biology that time is an important factor.

Yes - there is plenty literature. Ultimately, if you braise a piece of meat you get it tender because you denature also proteins (not through pH but heat) but the concept is the same

Acids denature proteins, e.g. ceviche, and since buttermilk is slightly acidic (lactic acid) it will denature (tenderize) proteins at the surface of the chicken meat. It might also give a slightly tangy flavor in the final product

Just a simple dressing of olive oil, champagne vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper

I think it might have helped as I was using really high heat to get nearly a “crust” in the eggplants

Thai inspired beef-eggplant curry with beef chuck braised in coconut milk and beef stock with a paste made out of ginger, shallots, garlic, jalapeño, lemongrass and key lime leaves. Added sautéed eggplants for the last 20 minutes and finished with fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, puréed cilantro, thai basil and quickly fried garlic.

Not that his previous book was bad but he adds a lot of marketing/self promotion to the equation. Some of his recipes are good, some are quite bad and his spin on “new/never seen before techniques”can be a bit tiring (especially if they are not that new.)