Steve Irby

A quick lunch that presented well. I bought a tray of pre-cooked tiger prawns from Sam's that had been marked down and served some over cheese grits that I had previously cooked and frozen in silicone molds. I microwaved the frozen grit pucks for a minute to defrost then browned in an olive oil and butter mix. The grits were topped with the shrimp, red onions, garlic chives, capers, oil cured olives and sun dried tomatoes that were sauteed in olive oil. Served with a simple salad dressed with olive oil and champagne vinegar.

Dinner was SV turkey breast over celeriac and potato mash with wilted spinach and carrots. The turkey was half of a turkey breast half that was divided length wise after coming out of the water bath. The breast was seasoned with Cavender's Greek Salt, lemon slices with fresh sage and rosemary. I browned the breast prior to serving and deglazed the pan with the bag juices to make a sauce. The breast was seasoned and sealed the day prior to being cooked. I left it in the circulator for four hours at 141F.

Thanks, they were pretty tasty. I'm not sure about legs but they still have shoulders🐷 I cut these steaks out of a boston butt that I was breaking down for sausage. I think the cut would be roughly equivalent to a beef chuck steak.

Another dessert in the again category. Galatorie's Sweet Potato Cheese that I made for my neighbors 98th birthday get together.

Lunch was SV pork steaks that were cooked about two hours at 141F.

I try to use lean bacon and the meat glue helps in the finishing process which is browning the roll in oil. I've certainly had better luck when using it. Here's a photo of a ready to serve tenderloin roulade from 2022.

It's turkey time again! I had a 24# butterball turkey in the freezer that was competing for storage space with the sausage that I made at the first of the year. I solved that issue by roasting the legs and thighs and prepped the breast and tenderloins for the circulator. One breast half was seasoned with Cavender's Greek Seasoning, kosher salt, lemon slices, rosemary, sage and olive oil. The second breast half was seasoned with a mystery green spice blend that my sister brought back from Istanbul. The fragrance and flavor is similar to a spice blend from Spicewalla that includes curry leaf, fenugreek, dill, tamarind, cumin, coriander, onion, garlic and S&P. I added orange and lemon slices along with a little olive oil. The tenderloins were seasoned with Tony Chacere's and Cavenders seasoning blends, dusted with transglutaminase, and bacon wrapped. I cooked the batch at 141 for 4 hours plus. The breast halves were a little less than 3 lbs and the tenderloin was 1.75 lbs. I split the breast lengthwise and resealed after chilling. I also cooked two 8 oz pork steaks for about 2 hours

I went to the farmers market to buy turnip greens this morning and spotted this robiola in the cheese counter. The cheese smelled great thru the paper and it had right kind of squishy feel. I've decided to take a chance and brought a piece home. OMG it was perfect. The producer is Boxcarr Handmade Cheese in Cedar Grove NC. The price came out to be about $19/lb which is a bargain for artisanal cheese. Served with a sourdough bread from Craft Bakery.

@patti Thanks, it's a bit of production but we get to enjoy the results for the coming year. I ordered the correct size horn for the sheep casing that I have on hand so I'll be ready for the next batch.

We had some pretty cold weather forecast for the Florida Panhandle so I decided to devote NYE and NY to sausage production. I prepared my spice formulations on NYE and mixed them with the requisite ratios of pork shoulder, belly and fat. I prepared two different formulation for a total of 12 kg of sausage. On NY day I ground and linked up the sausages. I prepared the Salsiccia di cipolla (sausage with onion) in hog casing with no problems. The second batch of Nürnberger Bratwurst in sheep casing was beset with technical problems. My sausage horn was sized for larger sheep casing and I ordered a smaller casing. It was struggle to get the casing on the horn and more of a struggle to have it feed smoothly. I also had air pockets in the stuffer which further complicated matters. I finally called it quits and bulked out the last three pounds. I grilled a few of the culls and the taste and textures are very good.

I usually start the day with a smoothie but decided to give the blender a day off. I had a few odds and ends in the refrigerator that became a tortilla de patatas-ish breakfast. The filling was leftover potato pave, red onion and yellow pepper sauteed in butter and tomato infused olive oil. I topped the two egg dish with labneh and semi-dried tomatoes.

Ajax (my dog) and I really enjoyed an extra fatty pork steak for lunch today. I bought four at BJ's a few days ago and grilled them today. The trim, or lack thereof , was just like the good old days! Served with potato pave and avocado drizzled with picual olive oil.

Last nights dinner and todays lunch. Okra based gumbo with smoked turkey, Conecuh sausage, shrimp and blue crabs.

The last of the home corned brisket served as corned beef hash.

A neighbor that cooks? Most certainly!