Steve Irby

It's been pretty chilly for us folks in the Florida panhandle so comfort food is in order. Lentils and lamb with sun dried tomatoes, parsley and green onion. The french lentils were cooked in turkey broth and seasoned pretty aggressively with a harissa blend from World Spice with additional coriander, cumin and fenugreek.

Thanks, this is the first time I cooked the leaves and stems and the dish turned out to be really tasty. I got a giant cauliflower (6#) at the farmers market with the leaves attached. I cut the leaves from the stems and sliced the leaves thinly. I chopped the stems in the food processor with lots of fresh baby vidalia onions and garlic. I sauteed the stem mix in bacon fat till they started to soften then added the julienned leaves and cooked the mixture until they sweated down. I had some pickled pork in the freezer that I cubed, browned and added to the greens. All the ingredients were combined, with addition of chicken stock, and baked in a casserole dish for about an hour.

Supper tonight was a little bit of this and that. Roast chicken using Judy Rodgers recipe. And a few dishes based on produce from our local farmers market. White sweet potatoes with satsuma and bourbon honey glaze, turnips and greens with guanciale, and baked cauliflower leaves and stems with pickled pork.

I guess this is my Judy Rogers tribute. Two chickens, both under three pounds, roasted using her recipe. Straight forward perfection. And the pan drippings are such a bonus.

Thanks for the link. I teared up also.

The liquid is released from the legs as they cooked and is probably not carryover from prep. Most juice evaporates but what is left is SDT (so damn tasty). The gelatin is fantastic in sauces or to moisten rillettes. As long as the fat cap is in place it will keep for quite a while, at least as long as the confit meat.

Thanks for taking one for the team. Thy look like there worth the scars.

I thought it was a terrific recipe and the flavor has improved after a couple of days of rest. I prepped the turkey two days before thanksgiving and used Active RM to bind the skin and meat. After removing the tenderloins I dusted them with the Activa and formed a nice little roll that I seasoned with cajun seasoning and cooked at the same time. The breast went pretty much from the circulator to the fryer which was a wok.

No particular reason. The cauliflower is cooked sous vide with white wine, olive oil, butter, roasted garlic and red pepper flakes which adds additional flavor prior to roasting. The whole head also makes a nice presentation and retains its warmth.

I cooked a 2.75# fryer tonight that I prepared from Judy Rogers Zuni Cafe Cookbook recipe. I let it sit in the refrigerator for two days and roasted at 475 for about 45 minutes. By far the best chicken I have ever had. Not the best photo but definitely the best bird. Don't try this without a strong vent hood as it will set off the fire alarms for sure.

Here's a few photo's from the past week. Seafood gumbo Sous vide turkey porchetta from Seriouseats.com Postage stamp ravioli with robiola cheese. I'm still working on the roasted cauliflower Lamb ribs Salmon cured with a little kashmiri curry

That's a new one on me. The broth looks great. and does the bird. Other than the obvious does the chicken have a different flavor or texture profile?

Here's the link. http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/whole-roasted-cauliflower-with-whipped-goat-cheese I'm going to make the spread later today and substitute robiola for the feta and use it as a filling in ravioli. It definitely didn't bomb.

Beautiful job on the chicken. I've confit chickens leg before but I always had trouble with the skin tearing. I guess I'll try the "gently, very gently" approach again.

....... Steve, that appears to be a ralatively small cauliflower. Can you share time and temp for the SV step? Have previously attempted a whole cauliflower SV and it certainly needed much longer or a higher temperature. Thank you. The cauliflower was relatively small. I took my largest pouch (12" x 12") to the grocery store to be sure I selected one that would fit. I cooked the eggplant for about 40 minutes at a temp between 175-185. I used a stockpot over a gas burner since I felt the cauliflower wouldn't be very temp sensitive and used a plate to keep it submerged. After it was cooked it was held in the hot water until it was time to broil. I going to try this again on Thanksgiving and go for more caramelization.

Here's a couple appetizers from dinner last night. Boudin balls and roasted cauliflower. The cauliflower is cooked sous vide then browned under the broiler. It's served with a goat feta spread. The recipe is from Domenica in New Orleans. The goat feta spread is the bomb.

Here's a couple of dishes that I prepared for the Confit Cook-Off. Last night I made a shrimp bruschetta with satsuma preserves, preserved lemons and fennel. And tonight confit five spice pork and confit turnips. Served with potatoes anna, oyster mushrooms and pork demi-glace. The confit turnips were served with turnip and beet greens prepped with homemade tasso.

Yesterday I took some off cuts of pork from the freezer and prepped then two different ways. One was seasoned with five spice and one with New Mexico chili rub. Both mixes were from Worldspice in Seattle. They were vacuum bagged overnight then cooked in rendered pork fat today. The pork was a locally purchased Tamworth that I bought last fall and butchered. I cooked some small turnips along with the pork in the hot five spice oil and they tasted great. Dinner was Confit Five Spice Pork, Potatoes Anna with Oyster Mushrooms. The confit turnips were with served with a mix of turnip and radish greens cooked with homemade tasso.

I guess this dish is on the boundary of confit-confiture. Royal red shrimp dusted with kashmiri curry and poached in olive oil with satsuma preserves, preserved lemons, and fennel.

So many great dishes so a shout out to all contributors. The turkey porchetta and Emeril stuffed chicken legs are on my Thanksgiving holiday menu for sure . I'm working on my skill set for the chestnut scaled sweetbreads but it may be a few years before I try that one. Actually, I had sweetbreads for the first time at MiLa in New Orleans this past weekend and couldn't believe how good they were. Today I bought the first box of oysters this fall. So fresh shucked oysters and a quick po'boy for supper.

What a timely challenge. I ordered four ducks from Maple Leaf a few days ago with the intent to confit the legs and thighs while serving the breast for thanksgiving. Now the quandary is to see what great dishes are put forth ( and try to duplicate) or forge ahead with my limited skill set. I assume the cook-off is for proteins cooked in oil. I have some pork off-cuts that will be perfect to experiment with.

It's cooling off so the fresh herbs are going to fade away. I worked in some oregano, basil, mint and lemon zest to top ziti with light tomato sauce and homemade sausage. The feta sausage is based on a recipe from Len Poli and a second sausage that is very lean (fresh ham) that is seasoned with homemade hot sauce. The Poli site has been a great resource for many different types of sausage over the past years (http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm)

A quick supper tonight after a little trip to the back of the freezer and frig. White bean and barley soup with fried pork belly

Beautiful dishes. Being from the the deep south it's difficult to appreciate the nuances between breakfast, lunch and dinner in eastern cooking . In the south breakfast has a sweet component and the noon meal can be either dinner or lunch depending on the volume and composition of the meal. It you performed manual labor the noon meal was dinner (meat and three) and supper (at least in my family) was leftover cornbread and buttermilk. What's the hierarchy in eastern cooking regarding the daily meal structure.

This ones for huiray, a totally improvisational conglomeration of quasi chinese influence. I started with a little toasted sesame oil, added canola then stir fried leftover sous vide pork (ala Thomas Keller), shiitake mushrooms cooked in butter, fresh shrimp, baby bok choy, onion, garlic,and finished with Lee Kum Kee spicy noodle sauce. MM84321 I took the photo in the bedroom closet to add a little flair.