Kim Shook

Gorgeous breakfasts, everyone. And Ann, how I wish I could make biscuits that beautiful and fluffy! A breakfast: The hot cross buns are a freezer treat.

Ann – those Danish look delectable! Baselerd – I love the look of your strawberry/sorbet concoction and I adore the idea of freeze dried strawberry powder! Pquinene – your rocky road ice cream looks so scrumptious. Elise – lovely looking and sounding poundcake! Last night’s dessert was lemon chess pie w/ CI’s vodka pie pastry: What is not so evident in this picture is that while I cooked it in a deep dish pie pan, the pie filling makes a fairly shallow pie: It looked decidedly odd when sliced and I made a note to cook it in a regular pie pan from now on .

I am just in awe here. The quality of the cooking on this thread is just incredible. Elise – the texture of that chocolate pound cake looks perfect. Curls – I love your bundt pan, too! I made some Double Chocolate Cherry cookies this weekend to take to a dinner at our friends house: They were kind of unusual and very good. The ‘double’ part was cocoa and chocolate chips. Another ingredient was oatmeal, which I’ve never used in a chocolate cooky. Instead of chips, I chunked up some dark chocolate. They were pretty intensely chocolate flavored and nicely chewy. To me, they needed more dried cherries, though.

Ann – thanks – we eat corn probably 4 times a week when it is in season. I’d eat it every day if I went to the store that often! Oh, that garlic! My mom and I were talked just today about how fabulous really fresh garlic is. I had to Google ‘lahmacun’. Sounds fantastic. We had my mother over for dinner the other night: Hot roast beef sandwiches, roasted potatoes and salad. Dessert was all fruit – I provided peaches and nectarines that we’d gotten from an orchard near Charlottesville: And Momma brought strawberries, sour cream and brown sugar: The peaches were incredible – worth another drive over before the season is out. The strawberries were really large, but still very, very good.

Bruce – thanks for posting the link for the garlic fish. That is something that I’m going to make soon! I really love the sound of your beef salad – sans lettuce. I’ve never cared much for beef salads, but I’ve always had them with lettuce – I think I’d like your ‘manlier’ version ! Bruce, my BD is tomorrow – will you meet me halfway and bring me a char siu banh mi, please? PastaMeshugana – that is some beautiful smoking! Thanks to PastaMeshugana, Rico and rotuts for telling me not to be ashamed of my tamale pie! rotuts – the chili and the tamales were both Hormel. mm – that John Dory has to be one of the loveliest things I’ve ever seen. Syzygies – your 4th of July ribs look exactly how I like mine to look. We are going out to dinner tomorrow for ribs and I hope they are like yours! dcarch – oh, oh, OH!!! Soft shells . My favorite food in the whole wide world. Must get some soon!!! Steve – love the Scotch eggs – I need to make some soon. Wapi – beautiful mussels! The day before the 4th we had pork chops and potatoes: With salad and Michael Ruhlman’s yeast rolls: Independence Day was a quiet, at home day with just us and Momma and Jessica. “Hogdogs” and go-withs, then a drive up to King’s Dominion – we parked on a service road and saw excellent fireworks for free. Hogdogs start with split and fried dogs: Wrapped in bacon: Topped with BBQ: Plated with BBQ sauce, slaw and beans and slaw on the side: Served with corn, pickly things and an odd looking, but really good layered congealed strawberry and sour cream salad that comes from a local grocery store: The green tomato is my MIL’s sweet tomato pickle – truly incredible. Mr. Kim’s hogdog with the addition of kraut: I don’t know how he got it in his mouth! Dessert was watermelon and cupcakes:

Rico – no good tomatoes here in central VA yet, but the first thing I want is a BLT just like yours! Ann – the lamb looks perfectly cooked and potato gratin is my favorite side dish with lamb. liuzhou – gorgeous fried rice and clams. How I’d love to dig into that for dinner tonight. Dinner last night started with, what else, a salad: I also made Tamale Pie. Possibly the trashiest thing in my repertoire: Canned beef tamales, cheese and canned chili. I used to make this a lot when we were first married and broke and haven’t made it in forever. I just got a taste for it the other day. I’m ashamed to say that I still love this stuff.

Ann - I haven't eaten yet today and I can't tell you how ravenous your last two posts are making me!!!

rotuts – a friend recently gave me a 1956 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook which I just love. And my stepmom sent me a bunch of really old cookbook pamphlets from different appliance companies and The Dairy Board – really wonderful. robirdstx – love ALL of your meals, but for some reason that hamburger is drawing me in! Bruce – you really should try the fried pickles the next time that you do BBQ – they are amazingly easy to do and go incredibly well with the pork. That Pescado al mojo de ajo is just delicious looking. Ann - that Greek dinner is one of our favorite meals in the world! A recent dinner - pot roast: Called “Wonderful Pot Roast” at the Campbell’s site, I’ve heard people rave about this recipe for years. People who I trust as cooks. When I recently found a good deal on a small chuck roast, and wanted to do it in a slow cooker for a busy day, I decided to give it a try. The recipe calls for placing the vegetables in the bottom of a slow cooker, topping with the browned roast, mixing the soups and water and pouring that over everything and cooking on low for 10 hours. Easy, no real prep. I decided to caramelize my onions. Then went ahead and caramelized the celery and carrots. And added some minced garlic. I omitted one can of water, thinking it would make it way too watery. And a little red wine couldn’t hurt, right? I switched out the tarragon (NOT with beef, thanks) for Penzey’s salt-free Mural of Flavor. When it was finished cooking I decided to thicken the gravy with a roux. Halfway through all of this I realized that I STILL hadn’t really tried the recipe. I had only used it as a base for the resulting combination of ideas. Sigh. But my version was pretty good . Served with Michael Ruhlman’s yeast rolls: Plated with gravy and green beans:

I really like the idea of making smallish spring rolls with shrimp and vegetables. And it takes the place of the fish AND the Asian salad. I did an open house – almost finger food thing this past Christmas for the first time and found that gougeres went FAST. They freeze beautifully, too.

A burger on a donut sounds awful to me, but I have to admit that I am intrigued by the idea of a donut sandwich made with a boneless piece of fried chicken.

rotuts – well, I’ve thanked you in the breakfast thread and now here! No offense taken WHATSOEVER, I promise! In fact, I’m flattered. I love all things vintage and my family knows that I’m the one to dump all their old stuff on. I’m the only one who is willing to hand wash depression glass, to polish silver and to find a home for worn china! But the funny thing is – the bowls that you mentioned were purchased at Crate and Barrel this January! Also that deconstructed turkey dish – looks delicious and cool and refreshing. Elise – those yummy little lamb-sicles look fantastic! Ann – thank you for the complement. I am overwhelmingly honored that you think we cook alike. And I’m going to add some nicely fried onions to Mr. Kim’s peas next time that I make them for him – he would LOVE that. I also really like the look of your Italian sausage sauce. It seems like the sausage really takes the stage in that dish. I think that I tend to make my sauce too thick and, well, SAUCY and I lose the sausage a bit. Just chopped tomatoes in your sauce? No pureed? Prawn – nice to ‘see’ you!!! That is one gorgeous fish – what a crust. And I’ve been craving summer rolls since our favorite Vietnamese restaurant closed. Well, I’ve been helping my mom to recover from carpal tunnel surgery and recovering myself from a weeklong bout of bronchitis, so not much cooking from me. I did make this the other night: Chicken enchilada bake, fried green tomatoes and Southern green beans. Dessert was another silly, but good cake mix/canned frosting thing – white cake, lime curd filling and pink lemonade frosting: The frosting was surprisingly delicately flavored. We liked this a lot, it turned out.

rotuts – thanks for the kind words. I think that brunch is probably my favorite meal to prepare, so I’ve got LOTS of different things that I do. Here is the recipe for the Benedict baskets: http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/EGGS/Benedict_Baskets.html and here is the one for the French toast: http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/BREAKFAST/Cinnamon_French_Toast_Bake.html . Ann – thanks to you, also! That tomato/bacon baguette is fantastic looking. I love tomatoes on toast for breakfast and would love to know how to make baguettes at home. Is the recipe on your site?

Excellent article from African-American culinary historian, Michael W. Twitty: http://afroculinaria.com/2013/06/25/an-open-letter-to-paula-deen/

Ann – that halibut fish and chips looks fantastic. Time to get my fryer out! I also loved the corn custard ‘shape’. Did you just bake it in a mold? And I’m with you – Bruce’s rice ALWAYS inspires me! I’m really loving the hot chicken sandwich, too! We lived in Indiana for a few years and hot chicken/beef sandwiches are called ‘Manhattans’, for some unfathomable reason. I adore them. Love that you served with fries rather than mashed. Fries and gravy has been one of my favorite foods since after school drug store counter feasts 40+ years ago! David – your lamb burger sounds amazing. I love lamb, but haven’t made a burger from it yet. Something to try this summer. I really wish I could find those brioche buns in my area. Ranz – that pork belly is seriously gorgeous! dcarch – thank you! You pictures are not showing for me – just a photobucket notice in place of each one. Soba – I’m not usually a fan of potato salad, but the combination of ‘warm’ and ‘lobster’ has me very, very interested! Scubadoo – corn and scallops are, to me, one of THE classic summer combinations. Great sear on those scallops. mm – I’m embarrassed to say that I STILL haven’t tried monkfish. I need to remedy that. It looks lovely. Bruce – oh, wow! Those gorgeous ribs, that caramel pork with my favorite bean sprouts. Just incredible. My dinner tonight is looking less and less interesting. menuinprogress – oh, my dear! That lamb burger with the caramelized onions. Might be the tastiest looking thing I’ve seen in a month. Franci – Your charcuterie is reminding me that I need to peruse this thread BEFORE I prep dinner. I now want exactly THAT. Last week was filled with houseguests, so I’ve had no time to post, but I have been cooking! We had a niece visiting who will start college here in the fall. She was here on Monday and Tuesday getting paperwork done for the start of school and looking for apartments. She left Wednesday morning and our other guests, longtime friends who now live in Florida, arrived at lunchtime! Our dinner Monday night with our niece, Jessica and my mom started with, what else - : Bucatini w/ Italian sausage Bolognese: And garlic bread: Tuesday, Mr. Kim was smoking some pork butts for lunch on Friday, so he smoked a chicken for dinner: Gorgeous! Moist and delicious and tender: I served it with Sabra roasted garlic hummus: Tabbouleh from our local Mediterranean deli: And my tzatziki: Also leftover Rice-a-roni and some garlic naan: It was a great combination of Mr. Kim, me and good shopping. Really excellent dinner! For lunch on Wednesday, when our Florida friends arrived, I did ‘things in dishes’ for lunch – sandwich salads and chips: Egg salad: Tuna salad: Olive and cream cheese spread: Veg and dip: Dinner Thursday night really should have been good. I did a slow cooker orange beef thing that I’ve done before: Served on stir fried ramen w/ snow peas and red peppers. As I said, I’ve made this before and we liked it a lot. One problem was the dryness. I think that what happened was that there was not enough liquid to cover the meat and the pieces that were above the ‘water line’ got dry. I doubled the recipe and that may have messed things up. Also, we had a terrible storm and when we got home our power was out. I took the slow cooker over to Momma’s and plugged it in and went back to get it later when power was restored and we were ready to eat. That may have further screwed my dish. I liked the flavor still, but Mr. Kim REALLY didn’t. So I won’t be making this again for him! I also made some candied orange peel for a garnish: It’s Michael Ruhlman’s recipe and was the best thing on the table. Friday lunch was Mr. Kim’s time to shine. He’d done a couple of pork butts on the grill on Tuesday. Our friends were still here and we invited Momma and Mr. Kim’s parents over to lunch and to have a visit. Butts on the smoker: Pulled pork: He got a gorgeous bark and a nice smoke ring this time. Served with slaw, tomatoes, baked beans, corn… and some truly awesome fried pickle slices: Mr. Kim saw someone making them on TV and it occurred to him that they would be a good pair with the BBQ. Good instincts. We put them on top of the pork in the sandwiches and it was a pairing made in heaven. The sharp, briny taste of the pickles worked perfectly with the smoky, sweet pork. Really fantastic and the pickles were really easy to do. Dessert was a silly little box mix and canned frosting combination that actually tasted great: Strawberry cake and Key lime frosting.

Ann – I’ve been wanting to try potato waffles – they look lovely! Ashen – gorgeous eggs, as usual! I use your trick fairly often – to rave reviews – and no one can figure out how I get them to look so nice! Soba – lovely mushroom omelet and that salad is beautiful. percyn – funny that you should make the kolaches because they have been in my thoughts a lot lately. I really want to try making them – nice browning on that. And your lobster breakfasts are killing me. We had house guests all last week, so I managed to do breakfast a few days. Breakfast on Thursday was supposed to be a new recipe I found for a Gouda, grits and egg casserole, but when we were out at dinner on Wednesday night the wife mentioned how much she hated grits, so we just had scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit salad: Friday morning breakfast was Eggs Benedict Baskets w/ hollandaise and B’fast Kebabs (bacon, sausage & ham): Plated w/ hollandaise: Father’s Day b’fast was Cinnamon French toast bake: Plated w/ Benton’s bacon: The French toast bake was made with whomp biscuit cinnamon rolls, but was very, very good. It didn’t have that damp, custardy texture that I find so unpleasant in most baked French toast recipes.

I tested this recipe before the book was published and my notes indicate how surprised I was at how good the soup turned out without stock. Truly delicious.

Ann – I got the recipe from Maggie (I think that she posted it on Daily Gullet article) about 5 years ago and have made it dozens of times – in all kinds of variations (I’m dreaming of a peach/bacon jam one when the peaches are good enough to make you cry). You can get up and have perfect, tender coffee cake in about 45 minutes. Your breakfast would make Mr. Kim’s day. Ashen – very nice! Mr. Kim’s breakfast yesterday: Scrambled eggs with cheese and Benton’s country ham.

Bruce – you definitely need to try Brunswick stew. It is a classic and for good reason. Pork fried rice is probably my favorite variation. The ribs are beautiful and I love those tender long cooked beans! Scubadoo – that grilled meat is absolutely gorgeous! Perfectly cooked. Soba – your biscuit is perfect. It looks lighter and more tender than I ever achieve and I’ve been making biscuits for 30+ years. Bravo! Ann – I thought that your foccacia was the best thing I’d seen all day until I saw those lettuce wraps! Fantastic. I got more of those really good, on-sale steaks at Kroger this week. Mr. Kim’s dinner: T-bone with Rice-a-Roni ( guilty pleasure), green beans and slaw. I had a rib-eye: This was MUCH larger than the last one, so Mr. Kim will have steak and eggs for breakfast tomorrow!

Thanks, Linda - those are my eggs!! And thanks to you both for the ideas and help! I'm pondering what I want to do with the information. I know that I want the eggs to be warm, so I don't think I'll be able to marinate in the oil very long. I'm thinking that I can infuse the oil with the flavors that I want and then just drizzle that over the freshly cooked eggs. I'll post when I finally get a chance to make it!

Keith – your pork buns are gorgeous and causing a serious craving here. dcarch – beautiful, beautiful hen and wild rice! Ranz – lovely soup and gorgeous photography! I love how the soup mimics the polka dots on the plate! Franci – oh, my! That pizza is divine looking. Ann T – and so, my dear, is yours! A couple of nights ago we had breakfast for dinner – Benton’s country ham: Mr. Kim’s plate: Mine: Yesterday: BBQ left over from our niece’s graduation party. Mr. Kim’s sister did it in the slow cooker. I quite enjoyed it, but Mr. Kim has become a BBQ snob ! With Mrs. Fearnow’s Brunswick stew: Dinner tonight was a clean out the fridge night. We are having two sets of house guests starting Monday and going through next Saturday. We started with all the bits and pieces of cheese that were left: And, of course, salad: Finished up some shrimp that I had made yesterday for after yoga (we stopped for 5 Guys instead ):

We went to Paris around this time a couple of years ago. I think about the trip a lot, but have really been remembering so much just recently. One thing in particular has been haunting me. I know it sounds odd, considering all of the wonderful food that we ate, but the medium boiled eggs in olive oil that we had at Cave a’ los a Moelle is something that I just haven’t ever gotten out of my mind. They seem simple enough – medium boiled eggs (solid whites, the yolks were the consistency of syrup in the middle and not quite firm at the edges), shelled and served whole in a bowl of warm olive oil. All I did was to scoop one out, cut it open, sprinkle with a little salt and spread on crusty bread. So my question is – is it really that easy? Just medium boiled eggs and warm olive oil? Or is there something that I’m missing. I really, really need to have this soon. Merci!

Franci – your pasta with clams is just beautiful. The clams look so perfectly cooked and tender. Elise – that is mimolette – a favorite of ours. Apparently the ‘ban’ was overstated and I’ve been able to find it with no problems. Bruce – the steak was seasoning with a sprinkling of brown sugar and Montreal steak seasoning. I always use the same thing. I got the sugar idea years ago from (I THINK) David Rosengarten – it’s supposed to help develop a crust like high-end steak houses get with their screaming hot grills. Love the grilled corn! Our grill rusted through and we haven’t replaced it yet. I hope it happens soon, or we’ll really miss grilled corn this summer, I know! The grilled pineapple is making me hungry, too. I love that – try them with pork sometime. Ann – ooooh – escargot! Maybe my favorite food in the world. When I was a little girl, my mother would take me to a French restaurant in Washington DC and I would get a double order of escargot. That and a basket of crusty bread was my idea of heaven. The owner of the restaurant thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen and always remembered me – even through high school! Yours are gorgeous. Dinner last night was fried chicken. I found a nice little three pound chicken that was perfect for frying: This is still my favorite recipe – Shelby’s fried chicken with the unlikely addition of Sazon and unsweetened lemon Kool Aid in the seasoning. This time, I did a 24 hour buttermilk soak. Served with mashed potatoes and butter beans: And cinnamon rolls (whomp biscuit-style): This odd, but wonderful combination is one that was always served at a restaurant that we used to frequent. The specialty of the house was ribs and fried chicken and they first thing set down on the table was a bucket of tiny sweet rolls. They went amazingly well together.

Ann T – actually beef, not pork – but very light as to sauce. We all really loved both the halibut and the corn custard – the corn appears regularly on my table! I only trust a couple of places here for purchasing fish, so I kind of have to pay whatever they charge. So halibut will probably NOT be a frequent dish for us, but a delightful treat every once in a while now that I know what to do with it! Also – Moe’s BD meal looks great. I have been the owner of a pasta machine for over a year and it has yet to escape from its box. I really need to get started. Bruce – that entire rib meal looks delicious. And everything but Mrs. C’s salad would be too hot for me . Tell Mrs. C that I would really love that salad! What kind of dressing does it have? Tina – your sweet and sour ribs looks wonderful. I really like that flavor combination – one of my favorites. basquecook – lovely oyster sandwiches! Evidence that quick food does NOT have to be ordinary. dcarch – gorgeous smoked chicken. Mr. Kim is smoking some butts next week and now I’m going to get a chicken for him to toss on, too! Everyone’s asparagus is reminding me of our trip to England in May of 2011. It was on practically every menu we saw and at the Old Chesil Rectory in Winchester they were specially featuring it the night we were there. Mr. Kim was in heaven and I was left truly wishing that I liked it. A recent dinner with Jessica: Assorted cheeses, Billy bread (a local bakery), cherry chutney, fig preserves and fruit. Memorial day was burgers with bacon jam and Goats R Us (local cheese): With succotash and salads. Close up: Another one – Matthew recommended this at some point. It was Oven Roasted Lamb Shanks adapted from The olive and the Caper: Served with slow cooker polenta, purchased tabouli, crusty bread and purchased tzatziki: The shanks were delicious – I’ll be making them again. I need to remember that while the tabouli at our local Mediterranean deli is fantastic, the tzatziki is NOT. I found some really good steaks, really cheap at Kroger and we had them for dinner last night. Mr. Kim’s was an almost 2-inch thick porterhouse: Served with corn, baked potato and salad. Mine was a fairly thin rib-eye (my favorite): They were absolutely fantastic – tender and juicy and flavorful and cost $15 for both. Bite:

Rajoress – I agree, your cheesecake is lovely! It looks nice and high, too. That’s the way I like my cheesecakes. Baselerd – that frozen mousse/goat cheese cheesecake thing sounds delicious and looks so beautiful. Elizabeth – between you and Rajoress, I think I’m due to make cheesecake soon! Gorgeous! I did a cake this week for a blog anniversary party. The blog is about the local music scene and the blogger is a young friend of ours: Coca-cola cake with my fluffy white chocolate icing. The symbol on top was made out of fondant and was a ‘play button’: I got texts all night from the kids telling me how good it was!

liuzhou – that bacon is gorgeous. Definitely NO need to apologize for that breakfast – it looks perfect. Breakfast on Memorial day – I did a lemon/blueberry version of Lois’ coffee cake (from Maggie): Served with scrambled eggs and sausage: Breakfast yesterday morning: The pastry is a freezer gift – from Christmas and still good!