Norm Matthews

I got a chicken yesterday, cut it up, froze some of it, made stock with some of it, and breaded and cooked the breasts for dinner today.

I saw a recipe called Creamy Garlic Chicken and it looked good but when I read the recipe just before going to the store, I thought it looked a lot like Chicken Florentine so I looked up some of those recipes and decided to do Giada de Laurentiis' recipe. I also wanted to try a new coleslaw recipe with tricolor slaw mix, pineapple and bacon. While I was making it, I suddenly had remembered that awful salad at every church social in the 1960s with cabbage, carrots, pineapple and lime jello. I wondered if the person who made up this recipe was maybe the granddaughter of the person who made up that green jello salad. I went ahead and made it with a little trepidation. I figured if it was terrible, I wouldn't tell anyone. The pineapple was just a slight addition to the taste and the bacon hardly noticeable. Charlie said it was good.

It's true that Diners and Truck Stops have equipment and resources that makes food taste different than I could ever hope to make at home and perhaps it is useless to try, but Charlie hasn't found what he is looking for in those places either. A very long time ago a couple of guys I knew had set the same quest for themselves and it turned out to be a lot like that song from Don Quixote. I felt sorry for them to set have such a silly goal but I am finding out is isn't as easy as I thought.

Charlie has been searching for Chicken Fried Steak like they had in the high school cafeteria so when I see one, I give it a try. He said it was good but he is afraid the only ones like he had mist have been made in a factory. I tried some with cubed steak and some with pork.

While at Costco today, I picked up a boneless leg of lamb, not knowing what I'd do with it but by the time I got home I knew it was going to be Chislic, which is cubed, marinated, skewered and grilled lamb. A guy from South Dakota who started teaching at our school the same year I started introduced us to Chislic. At the time it was little known outside of South Dakota. Maybe it still is for all I know. A decades long internet friend in Florida who recently passed away always put a little dry powdered Ranch dressing in the mayonnaise when she made deviled eggs. Everyone except Charlie loves them that way. I didn't tell him I put some in and he didn't notice. He ate 6 out of 8.

I smoked today's brisket with oak wood, Texas style, seasoned with just salt and pepper. My smoker was running hot- around 300º. I don't know what was different but it got done in about 8 hours.... well the front half got done, I am finishing the last half in the oven now. The last picture is the crispy end that was closest to the fire. Arthur Bryant used to put these trimmings out for people to take and nibble on while waiting in line to order. They were very popular but he couldn't put them on the menu because this is about all there is on one brisket. There were never enough to make complete servings for one without running out very quickly. After his death, someone reimagined his" burnt ends" by cubing the almost done large end of the brisket, putting some more rub on it and a little sauce and finishing it in the smoker. That is what you will get when you order burnt ends at BBQ restaurants today.

On your list, #6, OB Bear has Dak gangjeong which is the chicken both Charlie and I have made at home and is the same as from the restaurant we ordered from last night. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/dakgangjeong The chicken and waffles concept, sparked an idea that using honey instead of rice or corn syrup in this Korean recipe is something to try next time. I first heard about a Southern and Soul food restaurant that has waffles and fried chicken, around 15 years ago I think it was one in NYC. I had never heard of it before then. My mother's side of the family is from Southern Missouri and Arkansas and my dad's brother, who's son is my age, lived in Mississippi.

Charlie discovered a Korean restaurant we haven't been to and noticed they had fried chicken on the menu. It's the kind with the crispy skin and a sweet ginger glaze. We have both made it before but not in at least a couple of years. It is kind of an involved process. Anyway, Charlie ordered some an picked up for our dinner tonight. He also got a stew with rice cake in it. I couldn't pronounce or attempt to spell the name of it, but it's good to know we can get that really good chicken whenever. We always just did wings but this one had some legs included. The picture was taken after dinner was done. These are the leftovers.

We had dinner a little early. I grilled the wings early expecting to reheat them with the sauce later, but by the time they were done on the grill, we were both hungry and ate them right away. Charlie said they were a good appetizer. I thought they would be less messy if we used the sauce for dipping instead of coating them but I was wrong. They were still messy.

I came across a video of Jaques Pepin making soup from whatever he found in the refrigerator and he mentioned that he didn't throw away the chicken skins. He crisped them up in the oven. He didn't give any details on how he did it, he just had some that he broke up and added to the soup, like crackers. I wanted to try that so I looked for his method and when I was looking, I found his recipe for crusty chicken thighs and decided I'd make that for dinner today. (the crispy chicken skins were good but they were just a snack yesterday) I also came across a recipe for strawberry mousse and remembered I had not made that since before I met Charlie's mom so decided to make that too. It looked fancier that the one I used to make. We had some kimche with it but it didn't make it into the picture.

Your step mother obviously has a great sense of style.

Yesterday was my son's birthday and he invited a few relatives and friends over for dinner. I grilled a couple of his favorites: Two kinds of kalbi, baby back ribs and beef short ribs.

I picked up some corned beef on a whim and cooked it today. It shrank a LOT. We had it with roasted cabbage and carrots and an apple pie with meringue top crust. The recipe said it was an Irish style pie.

@gfweb It could be injected into the middle!

@Kim Shook Speaking of bananas, Charlie just showed me a recipe from a place called Atomic Age Recipes. It was bananas wrapped in ham and melted Velveeta drizzled over all.

I tried a new recipe today. Charlie was skeptical because the printout picture made it look green, but it looked better out of the oven . He said it was really good. We had it ( Apricot Chicken) with rice, mushrooms and salad with that China Coast dressing.

Yesterday was my birthday and I was planning to make a small beef tenderloin roast with a wine sauce and an apple cake. I found out at the store that that roast cost $28.00/lb and changed my mind. I got a couple of ribeye steaks instead. I already bought the wine so made the sauce anyway but I didn't like it and threw it out. Right about then Charlie asked me what I wanted to have for dinner and I asked if our favorite Korean restaurant had reopened yet. He said it was open for pick-up orders so i said that was what I wanted and it was a very nice dinner. The apple cake was dessert. No pictures were taken. The steaks got grilled today.

It probably wasn't a brilliant idea to decide to be baking all day today but I did it anyway. There were two recipes that I wanted to try. One was brioche with extra butter and honey and a roast chicken with a sauce made with star anise, cloves, soy sauce and ginger. There were directions for making pancake wraps but I had tortillas and use them instead.

Now I am tempted to smoke some salmon. Years ago I saw Alton Brown cold smoke salmon but these look like regular smoking. Maybe next time I do a brisket, I'll put some on behind them.

On the potters wheel, I recently made a fermentation jar like those used in China except smaller and was planning to use it for sauerkraut but then I saw some fermentation lock that fit wide mouth canning jars and felt those would be better because I can see inside a glass jar and not with a ceramic one. I would have to take the lid off often to check it. The first batch is going to be like my Aunt used to make. If it turns out, I plan next to make Cortido Kraut with other vegetables and seasonings.

I have dried tomatoes in the oven for a pizza topping. They are almost like candy. This method does not make very many at a time unless you have multiple racks. Oven-Dried Heirloom Tomatoes Makes enough for one 12-inch pizza. • 3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper Place a wire rack on a baking sheet and top with the tomato slices . drizzle with olive oil, S &P. Place in a 250º preheated oven and bake until dry and shrunken, about 3 hours.

I was thinking about trying a lasagna recipe I saw a couple of days ago but then remembered the last one I made and gave some to my niece and we ate the rest and everyone made nice remarks about it, so I chickened out and made the old one instead.

BTW, wet wood chips don't start smoking until the water steams off. The white smoke is steam. It helps keep the meat moist but does not add any flavor until the wood itself starts smoking. Wrapping wood in foil or putting them in a metal box made for pellet smokers in an excellent way to get optimal smoke flavor as because the wood only smokes, never ignites. Even dried wood gives off un-tasty smoke when it first starts burning. Franklin BBQ, for instance burns the logs outside the smoker until it has burned down to charcoal then shovels it in the fire pit.

You're welcome. Almost any time I post, there is a link at the bottom (blogspot) that will take you to the recipes I used. As for sesame oil, I am so used to it that I don't think I can give an assessment of how strong it is. Maybe you should add a little and decide whether you want to add more.

Glad to share: China Coast Salad Dressing Ingredients 1 cup Mayonnaise 10 tbsp Rice Vinegar 4 tbsp Sugar 4 tbsp Sesame Oil 2 tb Soy Sauce 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder My advice is to use a blender and add the oil last, a little at a time so the mayonnaise does not curdle. Serve dressing cold.