Steve Irby

basquecook - My kind of marathon. It's obvious that your year-round training has paid off. Prawncrackers & Ann_T - Both of those meals are so beautifully presented. Ya'll really have the knack for letting the ingredients shine. dcarch - I have a new found respect for vegetables after your various posts. Actually I'm been having vegetable nightmares. In keeping with the simple and sustainable theme. Eggplant with homemade quanciale from earlier in the week. And from deep in the freezer a few packs of homemade feta sausage.

It's been a couple of rough months (over 60 - new job) since I posted but I'm still cooking and inspired by all of the great meals on this thread. A few meals of late: A great leftover mish-mash of grilled salmon and pasta with remoulade sauce thinned with heavy cream. Duck confit (prepared sous vide at least 9 months ago ) , grilled salmon, grilled chicken and potatoes anna. with roasted cauliflower with a feta/heavy cream/sage/oregano rub. Tonight was an adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe with roasted peppers and feta over barley. With the exception of the barley the other items were prepared on the grill.

A few general comments. I've had my VacMaster VP112 for about 4 years and can't really complain. The lid has been replaced two times under warranty with overnight shipping at no cost. Like daveb says it is a heavy 50# but it fits on conventional counter tops and once in place I don't move it. For home use the 12-inch width is great since you can double up when sealing 6-inch x 10-inch bags. The 6x10 will hold 2 cups of ingredients or 1# of sausage in bulk or when formed into 3 links. I also use 12x12 bags with all bags being 3 mil. If I am sealing food with pointy ends (shrimp, crabs, bones) I sandwich the food between spare bags, cardboard, etc. Today I got a deal on pink eye purple hull peas and it was snap to bag them for the freezer 23 pints in vac bags saves a lot of freezer space.

Shelby - Nice meal. I'm from Mississipi and did a lot of dove hunting (and beer drinking-its part of the social aspect of dove hunting) in the fall. It is really hard to top a dove breast wrapped in bacon, marinaded in Dales sauce and eaten hot off the grill. Basquecook- I saw the first post and thought you were batting a 1000 and then I saw the second post and I think your batting 2000. What a great weekend of grub.

Deboned chicken thighs seasoned with a harissa seasoning blend served with a corn meal porridge (grits).

Nothing like a good meat glue supper. I bought a pack of bacon "ends and pieces" to season baked beans yesterday and decided to bond some of the pieces to chicken thighs. After I deboned the thighs I cut them in half lengthwise to separate the two main muscles. I then used some chicken skin trimmings or bacon pieces dusted with transglutaminase and bonded to the non-skin side. There was a lot of nice meaty pieces of pork with the right shape to bond. Getting ready to dust. Post dusting Vacuum bagged and left in the refrigerator overnight. Each piece is individually wrapped and then packed pretty tightly to give the meat a uniform cross section. Grilled with various vegetables. Tasty dish that was not as complicated as it may sound.

After a little rummaging in the freezer over the weekend I found a fresh picnic ham (front leg) and lamb neck. I decided to cross the pond and put an African twist on the pork and Black Sea twist on the lamb. The pork was seasoned aggressively with a Harissa blend from World Spice in Seattle with Guajillo Flakes, Caraway Seed, Coriander Seed, Smoked Paprika, Garlic, Hungarian Paprika, Cumin Seed, Pequin, Kosher Salt, Indonesian Cassia, and Lemon Crystal. Smoked with mulberry wood for about 10 hours. The lamb was prepared in the pressure cooker with another spice blend from World Spice with basil, savory mixed with fenugreek seed and leaf, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves and coriander. The neck was pressure cooked with fresh onion, garlic, celeraic, lemon and dried peppers. After the meat was cooked the pre-soaked chickpeas were cooked in the broth. Pretty darn tasty.

Ann_T - Thanks, from what I've been able to figure out there is no real difference between grits, polenta, porridge, etc. I think I lucked out and bought a fresh, coarse ground meal that is superior to local offerings. I've got to try your moussaka variation with potatoes. It looks like a great way to give the dish a little more structure and lightness. Beautiful plating as usual with a nice twist in the background. Tonight's supper was a very loose interpretation of a seafood paella.

I just returned from the Miami/Dade area where I did environmental site assessments at a number of C-Stores. After 25+ years in the business and having eaten at or been exposed to a lot of crap food at these venues I did not think it was possible to find really great food. It was mind blowing to see scratch cooked food with no hot dogs, roller burgers, chicken strips, nuggets etc., offered. Most stores had Cafe Cubano/Leche from freshly ground beans from a real espresso machine. All had really nice pastries with food offerings including various panini sandwiches, empanadas, croquettas. The bread was always local cuban style bread. Coffee for $1, pastries $1.25 and lunch for $6 were average. The best was Redlands Food at 11100 SW 216th Street.

First home cooked meal after being in Miami for nine days on business. Used the trip as inspiration and for ingredients. Dinner was chicken thighs seasoned with sazon seasoned salt and Bijol for color swerved with Haitian cornmeal porridge. The porridge is the same as grits or polenta. The coarse grind grits (harina gruesa) were a bulk buy item at the Sedano grocery chain and are phenomenal.

Definitely feeling the love from that dinner. Summer on a plate photo is great. Is your friend Welsh? He's my go to guy (to blame) when things get out of control.

From yesterday - Since we're in the deep south my wife had dinner at noon, supper at 8:00 pm and I had dinner at 8:00 pm with lunch at noon. It's kind of what was your main meal type of thing. So for her dinner: Citterio Mortadella with feta, tomatoes, herbs, lemon zest, etc., on sprouted wheat bread And my dinner: Homemade saffron papperdelle pasta with shrimp, scallops, salmon and roasted aspargus in a light lemon cream sauce I also made a nice tuna carpaccio (not shown) and an off-cut of pork that I prepared porchetta style that became my lunch today.

I'm not sure of the exact wattage but probably in the 1200-1500 range. I posted the time I use as a starting point since it appears that most folks are not using a microwave oven to cook corn. In my experience it produces a superior result without leaching out the "goodness" of the corn in boiling water. Fresh corn in the shuck will be superior when cooked in situ whether on the grill at high heat or in the microwave as opposed to preparing naked. To answer mgaretz question use a hot grill and the corn will cook perfectly. If the corn husk is a little dry pull back the husk from the tassle end and hydrate under the faucet prior to grilling . It helps to ensure a good blast of steam to ensure uniform cooking.

I use the microwave method all the time for corn on the cob. Twelve minutes for three or four ears of corn is going to result in some seriously overcooked corn in my experience. I usually cook three ears at a time for a total of three or four minutes in a high wattage microwave with a carousel. If the corn is fresh it steams up perfectly every time. If it's not fresh you shouldn't be having corn on the cob!

Grilled chicken and vegetables just minutes away from the table. The chicken was seasoned with a spice blend from World Spice (Khmeli Suneli) consisting of basil, savory,fenugreek seed & leaf, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves and coriander mixed with Rouses's cajun seafood boil. A little unconventional but the flavor profile is fantastic. Served with a mixed greens salad.

I have not tried duck prosciutto but I have cured a lot of hog jowl for guanciale and pork belly for bacon and pancetta. I use a refrigerator that is not self-defrosting and I have not had any problem with surface hardening. I'm sure the relative humidity is higher than a self-defrosting refrigerator which is the typical type in the US. The cure times have up to four weeks.

Thanks, it's really simple. Caramelize five large vidalia onions in 2 T of butter, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 t thyme and S&P to taste. The crust is a pate brisee using 2 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup lard, 1/4 - 1/2 cup ice water and maybe 1 t of salt. The crust was enough for an 8" tart, two 4" tarts and a 4" x 12" tart. I had a pretty good size piece of Piave cheese that I substituted for parmesan, maybe 1 cup. I think I used about 4-5 tomatoes of varying sizes. To assemble put a layer of grated cheese in each crust, followed by onions, tomatoes, a little more of the onions, oil cured olives and more cheese. Bake at 425 till the the cheese is browned and the filling bubbling. Hope you enjoy.

I bought a box of tomatoes this morning at the farmers market at $8.00 for 20 lbs. that were sold as canning tomatoes. They did have a few soft spots but will become tomato sauce tomorrow. They made a great salad for lunch with burrata and avocado. Tonight I made four separate tomato tarte tatin's for dinner for us and to share with our neighbors. The crust was a half lard and half butter and would be hard to improve upon.

Home cooking tonight. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes with pan gravy, fried okra, field peas, homemade sweet pickles, fresh sliced tomatoes, vidalia onions and buttermilk cornbread.

Last night I made a mixed grilled vegetable platter for a pre-fireworks get together. The dipping sauce was mayo, sour cream, anchovy, garlic, lemon juice, and pecorino romano. And tonight I made boudin ravioli with andouille cream sauce and salmon agnolotti with a white wine and butter sauce.

Field corn is great IF your goods friends with the farmer that harvest it at the right time and you can devote the day to putting it up. When I was a kid all corn was field corn and when it was deemed perfect for canning you would spend the whole day in the backyard shucking and cutting. Your right though if it's not at it's prime it can be pretty lousy.

Fazzoletti with lemon cream, pistachios, spinach, and roasted tomatoes from a recipe by Jody Adams. A really tasty dish for summer.

A friend brought me a really nice bushel of Silver King that had just been picked. I left work a little early so I could put it up southern style. The way my mom cut corn was to cut off just the tip of the kernels then use the back of the knife to extract the milk. I'm a little less patient and I also enjoy a little more texture so I'm kind of a middle of the row cutter. The key is to have fresh corn that is still starchy. Field corn is really nice but harder to find. Getting started Cutting and extracting the milk Insert Emeril or Fieri cliche. Look at that milky goodness. Blanched and ready for the freezer

Great summer meal. Mixed tomato salad with feta and fritto misto consisting of eggplant, three types of squash, cremini mushrooms, shrimp, squid and octopus.

This may fit the bill - http://www.herbco.com/c-8-glassware.aspx