Steve Irby

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!

I started dessert prep earlier in the week with the intention of making a raspberry tart. However the week got away from me and the raspberries were getting soft. The raspberries are now in the freezer destined for smoothies and have been replaced by strawberries and blackberries. Here's a few desserts that will be given to the neighbors. The fruits are glazed with homemade pear preserve syrup. I ate one blackberry tart for QA/QC purposes and it was delicious.

The cod and clam tasted fine in the sauce but the off flavors were evident in the jonah crab, scallops and shrimp. They had that kind of "gray" flavor from being stored improperly.

I'm sorry to have to call this dish "not ready for primetime cioppino". The sauce was great but the shrimp, crab and scallops had an off flavor and the clams were kind of anorexic. It turned out to be a pretty expensive photo op☹️

I split a couple of dozen raw ersters (9th Ward phonetic spelling) with Charlie "Boudreaux" Irby. Actually I ran him off after three since they were running a little small and I was pretty hungry.

Lunch was meat and three as it is often referred to by us southerners. The meat was pineapple and brown sugar seasoned venison sausage from a deer that my nephew shot. It was processed by a small seasonal butcher in Causeyville MS. The string beans and creamed corn came from the freezer from produce that I put up this summer. The au gratin potatoes were prepared from trim that I had leftover from preparing T Keller's potato pave. I'm going to start my nap after one more bite of the corn!

I picked up a couple celeriac roots off the quick sale table and decided to make ravioli. I had enough puree for about six dozen so we had a nice serving for dinner and the rest were frozen. The ravioli were served with brown butter, sage, prosciutto and parmesan cheese. My camera was a little wonky and gave a yellow cast to the food with the sage leaves appearing burnt although they were lightly browned! @Smithy I've also been enjoying tomato pies this summer. I usually make two quiche and one tomato pie per session using prepared pie shells. I place the seasoned tomato slices on a wire rack and cook at 220F for a couple of hours to get the moisture content down. I also enjoy the pan juices😋 We've had a few meals this week from a piece of smoked brisket that was hiding in the freezer. This is the last portion of the really fatty well marbled point.

Bruschetta using Craft Bakeries red sea sour bread with two toppings. The tomato topping is slow roasted tomatoes over Shahia Brand labneh balls with oil cured olives. The mushroom topping is black pearl and Italian oyster mushrooms sautéed in butter.

It's a good thing I'm bald because there was a lot of mopping action on my head with this dish. I picked up a tray of smallish green peppers off the quick sale table and roasted them a few days ago. I sampled a liitle bite from one of the peppers and it seemed pretty mild so I chopped them up and added to some smoked turkey leg quarters that I was clearing out of the freezer. I had a small can of chopped jalapenos on standby in case the stew was too mild. They definitely weren't needed. I ended up with a very h🥵tly spiced turkey and green chili stew. I added a couple of cans of white beans to tame the heat a little but you still felt the heat as soon as you stopped eating. The roasted pepper on top is a mild gypsy green pepper that was added as camouflage.

Yesterday was my birthday (#71) and we had reservations for dinner at a nice restaurant. As the day progressed, and the energy levels dropped, we decided to hang at the house and have a light supper. I ended up preparing a simple salad with hoikkado scallops piccata. Dessert was a flourless chocolate tart from Publix that was very good. We also had a scoop (or two) of B&J Pistachio Pistachio ice cream since we were celebrating.

I was gifted a couple of different types of Hungarian paprika so I decided to make Chicken Paprikash. I served it with spätzle and steamed cabbage. One of the recipes that I was looking at had an affiliates link to the Kull spätzle maker. The price on Amazon was $199.00! I guess it's time for me to move mine to the safety deposit box.

Corvina with oil cured olives, fresh artichokes', slow roasted tomatoes, capers and feta. Finished with a nice splash of very aromatic EVOO. Served with mashed potatoes and green salad. The conspicuous product placement is because Olive Oil Lovers has a loyalty program where they award credit for a review of certain products that include a photo or video. I'll be submitting these photos for my $5.00 credit! We've had company several times this week so I've prepared a variation of this mezze selection as a starter.

I certainly agree with the changing taste observation. I'm making an old school sweet pickles from a recipe that my Mom used so it goes back 90+ years. It's been the benchmark for generations and is immediately identifiable in potato salad or coleslaw. The cucumbers have to be really fresh and smallish so this batch turned out really well.

I use a Smokai smoke generator with apple pellets

Another Jody Adams recipe that I haven't made in awhile - Grilled Smoked Chicken with Poppy Seeds and Pancetta. I substituted Wright's Bacon for the pancetta and dry brined the smallish 3# chicken for 24 hours. The paste applied prior to grilling includes fresh rosemary, fennel seeds, flat leaf parsley, garlic, honey, lemon zest and poppy seeds. It is a thing of beauty coming off the grill and taste great.

Dinner was a favorite recipe from Jody Adams In the Hands of A Chef that I haven't made in a few years. Fazzoletti with lemon cream, pistachios, spinach and roasted tomatoes.