Kim Shook

Dinner tonight: Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, butter beans and my MIL’s incomparable yeast rolls. With gravy: There ARE leftovers, so I’m thinking steak biscuit sliders for breakfast tomorrow!

Breakfast looks great. I never have much luck with muffin tins –EVERYTHING seems to stick in them. I even use cupcake liners when I make corn muffins. And the rolls look fabulous. From the dark and crispy ‘shoulders’ to the pale part where they meet (my favorite part – soft and tender) they are exactly what cinnamon rolls SHOULD be!

Just thought I’d finish up the description of my gravy for anyone who is interested (still got Christmas coming up, too). The beginning of the roux: All browned up: Finished gravy: It will be much thicker when I get it out of the freezer and I’ll need to thin it a little with some chicken stock.

Bruce – your slider is what I’d choose for breakfast almost every morning. What could be more perfect? Seems like I’m doing nothing but projects lately, but I did make breakfast Thanksgiving morning: Scrambled eggs with ham and cheese and toast with the last of my beloved Little Scarlet strawberry preserves (are you reading this, Santa? ).

Gorgeous stuff, everyone! Rico – your cookies looks fantastic and I love the composition of your picture, too! As everyone says ‘ganache’ means chocolate, but I make something that is a ganache of sorts with Reeses peanut butter chips and cream. It is heaven. Genkinaonna – love your fake bacon! dystopiandreamgirl – as always, your work is awesome! I made this cake for an auction to benefit the Food Pantry: It’s a gingerbread layer cake with cranberry-orange filling and cream cheese-orange icing decorated with sugared cranberries and gingerbread men. It was the 2nd highest bid - $63! That was very gratifying.

kayb – thank you so much for the links – but, I can’t get anything but an ‘oops’ when I try the link to the cheddar scones? Are you getting to the recipe when you click it? If so and it’s my problem, would you just post the actual name of the recipe and I’ll search for it on the site. I am definitely making those things for Christmas morning! Your desserts are gorgeous and I think that the noshy lunch would suit me right down to the ground this weekend!

Fantastic meal! It all looks delicious, but I am especially enamoured of the scones and bacon jam (maybe because I am still full of turkey and trimmings)! Did you make that yourself? If so - would you share the recipe?

Mr. Kim came home with this as a surprise last weekend. I was so glad and am really looking forward to cooking LOTS from this book. I am in the midst of some projects and starting my Christmas cooking, so I'll have to wait until the new year to really get into it, but I DO have some duck breasts in the freezer that I need to use to free up room and it IS kumquat season. Hmmmmmm.

Janet and Maggie - the two smartest ladies on eGullet! Thank you, thank you!!!

David – that veal looks amazing! Scottyboy – I want that hamburger. The onions are especially calling my name. dcarch – Your scallop/pumpkin dish is gorgeous and I am intrigued by the sound of black garlic – must see if our Whole Foods carries it. I cooked all day today and somehow, we never had breakfast or lunch! I guess we just snacked! I did some Christmas cooking - this morning I made Sour Cream-Cheddar potatoes for 50, Brunswick stew for Mr. Kim to take to work for a soup sale to benefit the Food Pantry and started my Christmas gravy. The wings, carrots and celery – tossed with Bell’s Seasoning, pepper and a tomato paste/olive oil slurry. All roasted and gorgeous: Then they got covered with broth in deep stock pot and simmer for a few hours to make stock: When I get home from work tomorrow, I’ll use the fat to make a good, dark roux, the stock to make the gravy and then I’ll add in the shredded wing meat to ‘heft it up’. I also made croutons for the salad (it’s the only green vegetable allowed on MY Christmas table ) and cornbread for the oyster dressing. The stew: Brunswick stew is just plain ugly, but SO good! Jessica came in and borrowed the kitchen for two hours to make some things for a ‘Friendsgiving Dinner’ potluck. Corn casserole: Sweet potato soufflé: And a gorgeous apple galette: She is definitely the pie queen in this family! We actually did have dinner (there was some doubt after all the other cooking today): Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce, rice pilaf (from a bag – you nuke it for 90 seconds and it’s done – it was pretty good, too) and some stuffed delicata squash that Matthew might (or might not – those raisins got a little dark – though, not QUITE as dark as they photographed!) recognize. Mr. Kim really loved the squash and I would eat it to be polite (this is saying a LOT for me – I don’t eat ANY kind of squash).

Gorgeous, inventive and fun. In fact, exactly what I would expect of a Matthew dinner!

So it's not just me! That's a relief. Yes! This is me, too (three)! I almost dread having to reduce things. At least I am experienced enough now to feel fairly comfortable eyeballing it. When I was a new cook, I'd pour it out into a measuring cup every couple of minutes. This is fine if you have a cup of something, but a big, giant PITA when you have a GALLON!!

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.