Norm Matthews

I made some tacos the other night and put half a jalapeno in some guacamole and a little or the remainder in the meat as it was cooking. It didn't taste hot at all when it was raw but the meat had some real spice to it when I tasted it. I don't know if it was the jalapeno or something else I added but I never noticed it being that spicy before.

I made tacos tonight.

FYI I just noticed the heading on this thread also mentions spare ribs. Here is a video on how to do a St. Louis trim on spare ribs to prep them for BBQ.

Apple juice spritz on the ribs is a good idea. I do it quite often. If you are interested in a good BBQ rub for baby back ribs, here is one everyone seems to like. I put it on the ribs, wrap them up and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon white pepper 1 teaspoon black pepper The ribs and kraut is also classic but I would prefer country style ribs instead of baby backs for them.

Seeing this thread was started over 14 years ago, I didn't see much use in saying anything since the ribs would be dust by now but since it is still alive, I might as well put in my 2¢. Forgive me if I repeat something already said. As per the original post, re indirect heat on a gas grill: with pork baby backs, indirect heat is OK but isn't necessary. Low heat (upper rack) on a gas grill will work fine. We always do a dry rub. I have never considered a wet brine. Baby backs don't need as long a cooking time as other ribs. It's possible to over-cook them. My son is 1/2 Korean and that country's traditional flavors do go well with pork and beef. When we make kalbi though, we use short ribs cut thin and grill them. Baby backs in the oven is an interesting variation.

Braised Boston pork roast, home made fries that tasted like McD's, salad, carrots, and store bought stuffed crab.

Looks really good. Back as in spine (loin or shoulder) or back as in rear (leg)?

I felt guilty about not having fish in a while. I didn't crave fish, I just thought I should make some, so I made some chili roasted cod along with steak fries, green beans and stuffed tomatoes.

We had Buffalo wings (actually used Picante Bufalo sauce) and because Cassie does not like food with bones, I also made some Chicken Parm. with pasta and Alfredo sauce, Italian tomato soup -Giada De Laurentis recipe-and Italian bread made with sour dough starter.

I have a relatively small house and small kitchen to go with it. We moved in less than three years ago. One of the first things the kids did for me was to add some storage space. Here it is under construction The first things I did was replace the refrigerator and stove. I would have liked a gas stove but didn't want to spend the money on putting in a gas line. I needed an oven that worked for Cassie's cakes. Maybe the gas stove is a couple years in the future. This is the side with the sink. The door window now has matching curtains. This is the last of the swing around the kitchen. This one was taken this morning. In good weather- and some not so good weather- we do some cooking outside. Here is a gas and charcoal grill and the smoker. The smoker was probably the first cooking thing I got after we moved.

After dinner Charlie made kimbob.

Son and daughter=in-law made Korean food for dinner tonight.

Maybe not but bowl is very pretty and everything looks really good.

Well I can certainly tell when I forget to add salt in bread I baked even if there is no butter in it at all. That wasn't my point. My point was that there is such a small amount of salt in butter that is isn't generally possible to tell a difference between the two butters. I should have added that I meant in recipes that use salt.

I made another two loaves of sourdough bread this morning.

This from Land O Lakes gives a pretty balanced view of the differences between using the two kinds of butter either alone or in recipes. http://www.landolakes.com/Blog/salted-or-unsalted-which-butter-should-i-use-when This is an excerpt: Both salted and unsalted butter can be used interchangeably in any recipe. You really can’t go wrong with either one, but if the recipe calls specifically for unsalted butter, it’s probably because the recipe has been tested with it and it’s the preferred butter for that particular recipe.

I agree with Porthos. The amount in salted butter is not significant enough to make a difference in taste and I also agree with pbear that the argument that salt masks inferior butter is a false premise in butter made commercially in the U.S. today. I can see avoiding salted butter if you have health problems that demand limiting salt intake but for everyday people with everyday recipes, it does not make any significant difference. I'd be so impressed if ever met someone who could blind taste test and tell whether salted or unsalted butter was used in a recipe.

I made some sourdough bread for dinner last night.

There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground and I didn't go out today. Nothing like the weather back East but still too cold for me to want to get out in it. I stayed home and made some sourdough bread, a slow cooker pot roast with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. My son doesn't eat salad much but he had seconds with this one. It has a sweet vinaigrette dressing with pecans, strawberries, cucumbers and mixed greens. I marinated the cucumbers in the dressing for a few hours before tossing it all together.

Sometimes recipes get passed on and they get changed like a rumor. Here is a reply to a recipe I posted once on another site. I said I like to make French Onion Soup with some stock after I have made some beef stock. The recipe plainly stated dry sherry. I made Norm's French onion soup last weekend for guests and it was delicous! I even broke down and bought a bottle of sherry. I was confused in the store wether to get the cream sherry or plain sherry so I went with the cream. I mean what can go wrong with anything that has cream in it's name? LOL I didn't have beef bones and 6 hours to make my own stock. I found beef stock at the grocery but it was $3.25 for what looked like less than a quart! No way am I going to pay that much for stock, plus I recalled I have a small jar of demi glace from France in my cupboard I had indulged in but never opened yet. So I used regular canned beef broth and demi glace to taste. The recipe says it takes about an hour to cook the onions. I think I had my temp too low because it took me closer to 2 hours and I had to turn up the heat toward the end to get the brown carmel color. No problem though... I had plenty of kitchen chores to do and just needed to stir the onions ever so often. I toasted rustic bread slices on one side, buttered and sprinkled granular garlic on the other side, then toasted that side. I floated those on top of the soup and grated over some Edam cheese. The market I had been shopping in had their guyere cheese over priced in my opinion (6oz for $7.65!!!) so I substituted Edam. I hate shopping a regular grocery when imported or gourmet ingredients are on my list!!! Sams club is great for reasonable imported cheeses but I didn't have time to run by there. Edam cheese is a great melting cheese so it turned out fine. The soup was a hit. My dinner menu was French onion soup, my open face gyro type sandwich, and hot blueberry cobbler for dessert. I swear I have bruises on my back from all the complements I got for that dinner. The rich soup was nicely balanced by the fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and garlicky yogurt of the gyro sandwich. And the sweet warm cobbler can't be beat on a winter night. Thanks again Norm for your delicous recipe and inspiration! I thought a nice red wine would taste great in the soup too. I almost added some but I do try to stick to the recipe if it's the first time I'm trying it. I also thought a touch of soy sauce would have expanded the flavor levels too. Next time I'll get a bit bolder and try some variations. The thing I most liked about the soup was it's layers of flavors. The broth is so exotic tasting I just loved it, and Sunday morning when I woke up all I could think about was the leftover soup in the fridge. Ate the rest for breakfast!!!

Dinner tonight was grilled chicken, boiled then grilled artichoke halves with clarified butter and aioli, and orzo with mushrooms. Dessert was some chocolate raspberry torte.

Looks like in the before picture that the stain was blurry and soft edged. The dryer sheet make it much more crisp and hard edged.

At my DIL's request, I made this chocolate raspberry torte for Valentine's Day.

100% ground beef does not mean 100% ground meat. Lots of parts of beef aren't meat. I like McD's hamburgers except they don't taste like beef to me.

The last time I ate at Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ restaurant on Metcalf, I took my mom there for lunch. We walked in and were seated immediately. That was a while ago. Mom has been gone several years. In the meantime Zagat has rated them the best BBQ restaurant in the country. Twice in the last two years, after I moved back to Kansas City, I wanted to go there for some special occasion, but the wait-time was a couple hours and they don't take reservations. We went somewhere else both times. The other day I ordered some Jack Stack on line. It was delivered the next day (almost as fast as waiting in line at the restaurant itself) Yesterday we had part of it for dinner. We had beef burnt ends and chopped beef. I made a coleslaw with hot vinaigrette instead of mayo, potato salad and BBQ beans (from a can but doctored a little). It was good but I suspect that most of the people who rate restaurants on Zagat are from out of town. I like the ambiance at Fiorella's as much as anything, it must influence the taste of the food .