Norm Matthews

Charlie has made several friends going to car meets with his 1993 Caddy Fleetwood and asked if he could have them over for BBQ this weekend. They came today and I smoked a brisket, pork ribs. Also had hot dogs-not pictured- and several sides.

I believe this one is from James Beard. I think mayonnaise replaced these salad dressings when it became commercially available. BOILED SALAD DRESSING 2 Tbsp sifted flour 3 Tbsp sugar 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 C. white wine 1/3 C. lemon juice or vinegar 2 eggs, separated 1/3 C. olive oil salt & pepper 1/2 C. sour cream Combine the flour, sugar, mustard, white wine and vinegar or lemon juice together in the top of a double boiler. Add the egg yolks, oil salt and pepper to taste. Heat over hot water until the mixture thickens. Beat the egg whites until stiff. add the sour cream and the stiffly beaten egg whites to the mixture and beat with a whisk or wooded spoon until the dressing is thoroughly blended. This can be served hot or cold.

I haven't found the one I am looking for but here is one from a 1947 cook book. There is another one that I can type for you if you want it. The only ingredient that is has that this one does not is lemon juice. Boiled Dressing #1 2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 2 T. flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp. dry mustard 1/2 C. cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. butter 1/2 cuo evaporated milk or cream few grains of pepper Beat eggs until light in top of double boiler. Mix dry ingredients together and blend thoroughly with eggs. Gradually add vinegar and cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in butter, evaporaated milk, and pepper. Cool; store in covered jar in refrigerator. Makes about1 1/2 cups. Note: Evaporated milk makes dressing smooth and velvety and less apt to curdle.

I have that dressing. It was used on potato salad at a Swedish restaurant years and years ago. Give me a little time to try and find it.

The store had loin back ribs on sale @ buy one get one free. I believe loin back ribs are also called baby back but these had longer, more curved and meatier bones than I expected. (I am not complining) With the discount, they were only $10.50 per rack.

While I was at the store, Charlie called and suggested steak for dinner. I picked out a T-Bone because it was the cheapest of the good steaks and one was big enough for both of is. I should have asked why Porterhouse steaks were a dollar a pound more. They are both from the same part of the cow. Porterhouse is the same as a T-bone only bigger. It will cost more because it's bigger. It should not cost more because of its name. Charlie had Mac N Cheese with his. I had some corn and baked potato. I also had a small piece of Stilton cheese.

The white is kimchi (pickled) but it isn't spicy and it is made with diakon radish. In the jar, it's in big chunks, and I cut it into slices for serving.

I went to an Asian grocery today so we had Korean food: Beef bulgogi, two kinds of kim chi and rice. We also had some kim bob but we ate that while I was cooking the bulgogi.

I asked Charlie what he wanted for Easter. I gave him a choice of ham, lamb, turkey, roast beef or Cornish hens. He chose Cornish hens. While I was at the store, I also picked up a small lamb roast which I braised with wine and rosemary. I liked the hens better. We also had deviled eggs, rice, creamed corn and strawberries with whipped cream and angel food cake.

I used to live by the largest lake in Kansas and they would (maybe still do) have a fishing contest once a year with money awarded to anyone who caught and turned in alive various crappie who had been tagged. The biggest money award fish was caught by someone who didn't know there was a prize and filleted the fish. I made Mongolian Beef for dinner. Charlie said it was good.

Dinner plans for yesterday were delayed so the marinade for the pork chops and the brine for the apricots and radishes were on overnight instead of a couple hours. I think they turned out better that way.

Koreans like the combos in the videos. I was suggesting stuff you might like to substitute. A video that followed used leaf lettuce and grated carrots. My son is Korean. He has no problem with Spam. He just used some in kim chi stew. His grandmother put cold hot dogs in kim bob.

How about ham and gruyere?

We had our Rueben sandwiches today.

True, corned beef isn't Irish. Green beer isn't Irish. St. Patrick wasn't Irish and he didn't introduce Christianity to Ireland nor did he banish all the snakes. St. Patricks Day in Ireland is a religious holiday. In the United States it's based in part on what Irish immigrants ate in America because they were too poor to afford much of anything else. And they didn't save it for once a year. Our St. Patricks day is an Irish/ American concept embellished and enlarged upon by some people who would have trouble finding Ireland on a map. It's a fun holiday for anyone who wants to eat and drink too much and pretend they are a little bit Irish, if only for a day.

It was just the two of us for dinner tonight. March 17th dinner is always a given. Homemade corn beef and all the usual stuff. We had Irish scones instead of soda bread, and I made accordion cut potatoes, baked with butter, parm cheese and other seasoning instead of boiled.

Spam was ubiquitous where I grew up. I guess you are always accepting of something that was always there. It was good fried crispy in a sandwich for a quick meal or snack. I still like it but not as much. I get some once or twice a year. Charlie recently made some Korean/Hawaiian Kimchi stew with Spam.

The first thing I was told by the maker was to fire up the smoker a couple of times while it was empty to get the smoker tempered with a coating from the fire. It is supposed it be "smoked" inside. I clean the racks every time I use them with SOS in the sink. I usually clean the convection plate by scraping it with a putty knife maybe three times a year and scrape the excess out of the bottom once a year. I never gave a thought about the smoke build up inside. The metal is a quarter inch thick and not supposed to ever burn or rust through, at least not for at least several decades.

Charlies cat is 21 years old and that is one of his medicines. I probably should have moved it but it has sat there long enough to have become almost invisible to me.

Charlie asked if we could ask his cousins family over for dinner tonight when I told him I was going to smoke a pork shoulder. The pork was about 5 lbs. and took 10 hours. I made some corn relish from Stevensons Apple Farm Restaurant cookbook that closed 15 years ago but once was a great place to eat. I made a salad that the lady who gave it to me about 20 years ago said "even men love this salad" and she was right mostly. I also made baked or roasted potatoes that are waffle cut and seasoned with butter, herbs and parm. cheese.

I was preparing some sides for dinner for tomorrow so Charlie went and picked up some Korean food from a restaurant he said was well known for fired chicken and a had just opened one here in Overland Park. He got some wings that he said were fried then grilled. They were spicy-sweet. A little sweet a LOT spicy. I needed to eat some ice cream after. He also got a dish with vegetables, fish cake and rice cake and some white radish kimchi. We already had the rest.

When I was 9 or 10 and we were visiting my aunt and uncle in West Plains, Mo, my uncle saw me spread my toast with butter then some jam. He commented disapprovingly, I think it was something about excess. Even now, I always remembered that, but it never stopped me from doing it.

Charlie suggested hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. We ate outside. I tried a new brand of hot dogs: Wimmer's Las Vegas Brand made in Illinois. They were really fat and kind of long. They tasted like i remember hot dogs tasting when I was young. Charlie like them too.

It was warm enough to grill outside today so I got a couple of thick ribeye steaks and some corn on the cob. I had mine with a salad and a small baked potato. Charlie had Mac & cheese with his.

We had crispy pork chops. They got a little too crispy around the edges. There was a sauce and pickled radishes and apricots included in the recipe.