Kim Shook

jmolinari - Perfect timing, this. I actually just started my Christmas gravy this morning. First I roast turkey wings, carrots and celery – tossing them with Bell’s Seasoning, pepper and a tomato paste/olive oil slurry – I’ve never had a problem with the tomato paste burning, but I roast at 350 degrees. All roasted and gorgeous: Then they get covered with broth (HM if I have it, a good canned one or Better Than Bouillon, if I don’t) in a deep stock pot and simmer for a few hours to make stock: I drain and chill the stock, retaining the wings. If the fat gets good and solid, I make a dark roux with that and flour (I use butter if the fat isn’t solid enough), add some white wine and the stock to make the gravy. I cook the gravy in a cast iron dutch oven and reduce it very slowly, tasting for pepper, salt. Once it is almost done, I add back in the shredded wing meat. If I’m not freezing, I add some fresh marjoram and thyme about 30 minutes before serving. Here are some notes that I made for posterity (that is, if my daughter ever wants to make turkey gravy).

So great to see you again, Chris. Odd coincidence - Mr. Kim just 2 nights ago mentioned you and asked if you were ever around anymore! Please tell me this is a joke..? That sounds like an emetic, not a sweet. No, I don't have a TV, long (not interesting) story. Actually, they look like the results of an enema.

Turkey gravy is the ONLY thing that I make that I brag about. I buy the wings and roast them with oil, carrots, onions, poultry seasoning and a little tomato paste. I roast them very well and then make the stock from that. I make my gravy ahead of time and freeze it. I have WAY too much going on in my kitchen to make gravy at the last minute.

Matthew – Mr. Kim and I really loved the look of the okonomiyaki. I am going to write that one down and take it to our favorite Japanese restaurant and see if they make it. I love when folks know exactly how they got to eG. I remember watching the Chowhound.com feud between Jason and Jim and following Jason over here. I lurked for a LONG time before finally succumbing to the charm of folks like racheld and the dinner thread and the wonderful (welcome back!!) food blogs! That is a beautiful delicata squash peeping through your veg drawer. What are you going to do with that – I have its twin and haven’t decided yet.

A 'worth every penny' hint. If you decide to use the slow cooker (and it works great), go ahead and buy the slow cooker bags they have now. Lift out, no dried cement cleaning!

Yay, it's Matthew! Can't wait for it all to unfold. I'm looking forward to your cooking and also seeing your kitchen and a little of your area of the world! Carry on !

Bruce – that looks and sounds absolutely fantastic! I’m going to print out your directions and see if I can’t make something approaching that! Dinner tonight was a pantry slow cooker pot roast – a little 2 1/2 lb. rump roast from the freezer (still trying to clean that out before I really get going on my Christmas cooking) with a sauce of Lipton onion soup mix, Bisto, onions, garlic and Worcestershire pepper. A really trashy version. It was good, though, after 9 hours in the slow cooker. Served with potatoes (cooked with the roast) and broccoli: Today, I did sweet potatoes for our Christmas eve party and for my MIL’s Thanksgiving dinner and my Christmas cranberry sauce.

Jen – those pancakes sound amazing! Bruce – you are one of the most adventuresome eaters I know! Sardines for breakfast??? They look wonderful. Breakfast this morning: Lovely yellow grits from a local place - Byrd Mill in Ashland. Tarted up with 3 year Cheddar, heavy cream and hot sauce. Unbelievably better than store brands. Served with Cheddar and chive omelet, bacon and raisin toast:

Well, I live in the US, but your kitchen looks much larger than mine! I am serious envious of your gorgeous hob! That entire meal looks delicious, but the twice cooked pork was my favorite. Mr. Kim and I are very similar to you and your wife – I am extremely sensitive to hot foods and he loves them! I am familiar with your culinary contortions to please everyone!

Breakfast for dinner tonight. Alton Brown’s French toast, serendipitous pancakes, ham and apples. The pancakes were serendipitous because I had lots of custard leftover from making the French toast, so I dumped in some flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and made them. I had some leftover apple syrup from Sunday breakfast and some orange maple syrup from a week or so ago and heated them up together. This was a good dinner!

oli - Here you go! Randi - making bagels is one of my 'to try' projects! Do we get to see the finished project?

I adore cast aluminum and cook in it a lot. I have a bunch of old Club pieces that I wouldn't trade for anything. Pretty much anything that I would use cast iron for, I'd use the aluminum for. Mr. Kim found an old one on ebay for me that I use to make southern green beans and I make the best beans in it that I've ever made.

Rico - yep - the Cowboys getting stomped was all the dessert this Redskins fan needed (gotta find my football fun somewhere since the Skins suck so bad!). That soup looks wonderful, BTW.

The pizza looks fantastic. I love adding the fresh greens on top after baking.

On Sunday, Mr. Kim requested apple fritters, which seemed like the perfect fall breakfast: Bite: It was a recipe from Ree at thepioneerwoman.com. I was really happy with the results – sweet and moist chock-full of apples. Served with sausage and eggs: I had some extra chopped apples, so simmered them with a little apple cider and maple syrup to pour over the fritters. Lily gilding is what I do best .

Sunday lunch was leftover chicken noodle soup and sandwiches: Ham, turkey, Swiss, sopressata and pickled peppers.

David – gorgeous duck (both meals)! And those potatoes really caught my eye (again, BOTH meals)! Bruce – I really need to find that cut of short ribs and make some Korean BBQ – it always looks so good! And I like the look of your macaroni salad on your lunch plate – how is that put together? Mark – thank you – we finished it up this weekend and it was STILL crisp and good. I’m glad to have found that recipe! Blether – your fish and chips meal looks delicious and I have a place in my heart (and my kitchen) for frozen fries! Dinner last night was a clean out the fridge football feast. I had a couple of duck livers, so I made a teeny little ramekin of pate: Absolutely fabulous and so easy! Why have I not been making pate all my life? I tossed out pickles, olives, bread and some sopressata on the counter and we just piled our plates: There was also some leftover fennel-apple slaw.

So very excited to see you blogging, Prawn! What a fantastic week we have coming!

We had Mr. Kim’s mom over for dinner last night and for dessert I did Granny Smith sorbet: And fig, apple mascarpone tart w/ Dulce de Leche. Before baking: Baked and glazed: Slice: I got these recipes from eG’s Lisa2K - I've made it 3 years in a row and I’m pretty sure that this is going to be our traditional ‘Welcome Fall’ dessert.

Rico – thank you for the good wishes! I am all better now. Your chimchurri looks fantastic. It is one of our favorite “steak sauces”. Harry – lovely dish – looks delicious and it is beautifully plated. I’m no chef, either, but you’ll find everyone here at this thread very friendly, helpful and welcoming, I think. I don’t even get razzed when I make Sloppy Joes ! Mr. Kim made some of his wonderful split pea soup for a charity fund raiser at work. We had some leftovers for dinner the other night with a salad: We had Mr. Kim’s mom over last night. Pre-dinner nibbles: Olives, pickles, some peppers that she had pickled and sesame crisps. Dinner was soup, sandwiches and salad. My chicken noodle soup: Apple, fennel and endive slaw: Ham, turkey and Swiss on raisin bread Panini: Dessert was Granny Smith sorbet: And fig, apple mascarpone tart w/ Dulce de Leche:

I’ve been sick this week, so this was the first meal that I’ve cooked in a while. We had a chopped salad: And my version of a NY Times shrimp recipe – garlic, lemongrass, lime juice, soy sauce and fish sauce. Jasmine rice and Brussels sprouts. The shrimp was really good – I was winging the recipe, based on what I had and it could have used a bit more of everything:

While I would never put cheese on REAL BBQ (smoked sans heavy sauce), I actually like it on the glopped up BBQ nachos that I've had. And I love cheeseburgers with onion rings and BBQ sauce.

What a fabulous ride you've taken us on, Erin! I could feel the early morning energy. All that hurrying and impatient waiting for breakfast made me wish for a quiet spot to watch it from (I always enjoy sitting lazily watching others rush around ).

Thank you all! I can see I have some experimenting to do!

I'm trying to get a jump on holiday baking this year and one of the annual frustrations is making cut out sugar cookies that blob out of shape when they cook. I have a nice collection of cooky cutters, including some fairly intricate snowflakes that I'd love to use. But no matter how thin I manage to roll the dough, they go in the oven and start 'growing'. I end up with generally star or snowman-shaped puffies, but not those beautiful sharp edged cookies that I see in the magazines. Does someone have a tried and true recipe they would care to share with me? Thanks!