Steve Irby

Fifty pounds of big old gooduns and good old bigguns. Best oysters of the season. Fat, salty and ice cold from Louisiana. Grilled last night, raw for lunch and they'll be fried for supper.

Lunch was a quick East meets West Soup. The soup base was a rich chicken stock with chili paste and bamboo shoots in sesame oil over rice. The greens were BJ's Super Salad Mix with the addition of sliced mushrooms. I had a few leftover grilled baby back ribs that were added along with pickled eggs. We love Bubbies Kosher Dill Pickles and I'll add boiled eggs to the brine as the pickles are eaten. The briny eggs were really tasty in the soup.

A light supper following a hard charge at the chocolate treats this afternoon. Sautéed swordfish and royal red shrimp with a simple green salad.

I forgot how many chicken livers you can buy for $1.83. Definitely more than we could eat for lunch! Fired chicken livers over basmati rice with a side of fresh green beans almondine. The livers were smothered with copious amounts of pan drippin gravy.

I'm not sure what to call this dish other than pretty darn tasty. The base is chicken stock and coconut milk with the addition of spring onions, baby bello mushrooms, spinach and leftover Calrose Botan rice. I finished the dish with bamboo sprouts in chili sesame oil, chili sa-te paste and a squeeze of key limes.

Grilled ribeye and spring onions. Served with blistered shishito peppers and a mix of red and purple potatoes. The steak came from a standing rib roast I purchased prior to Christmas and sectioned into steaks and back ribs. I was pleasantly surprised at the marbling in the steaks.

Practicing waffle making using a 1908 Griswold that has been in the family for generations. I'm pretty sure it was not used after the 1930's when they got electricity at the old home place. Thanks goodness for an IR thermometer to monitor the heat.

This may be a little bit of an unusual paring but it worked for me. Matzo balls in chicken stock finished with lemon zest, garlic chives and chili threads. Served with roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and Villa Manadori aged balsamic vinegar.

I bought a really nice chuck roast and decided to venture out from my usual southern style of preparation. I'll call this a Galician/Sicilian/Cuban inspired braise. It includes key limes, meyer lemons, carrots, satsumas, garlic, onions, white wine, saffron and tomatoes seasoned with a couple of different salt blends. Served with canned black beans and yellow rice. Here's a few photos from start to finish.

It's a pretty simple soup to make. This is a grandma recipe - a handful of this and a pinch of that. I use a head of sectioned cauliflower, one chopped carrot, one chopped yellow onion, two or three small potatoes and cover with water. I add a little salt and Kashmiri Curry Blend from World Spice in Seattle to the pot then simmer till tender. After the vegetables are cooked I take a cup of the broth and blend with raw cashews ( maybe a 1/2 cup to 1 cup) to make a nut paste. I then add the remaining vegetables to the blender and thin with broth to the desired consistency. It's been a homerun recipe so far using my Vitamix wannabe Dash blender.

My Mother told me not to play with my food but I was a stubborn child. Six decades later I'm still playing. After seeing what people are paying for chicken wings on the eG Cook-Off #88: Wings thread I was struck by how many millions of Americans can no longer afford wings and are relegated to drumsticks and thighs! I thought I would attempt to alleviate this crisis by developing faux flats and drumettes. Results to date have been very promising. I think under the right circumstances (smoky bar, 4th quarter of super bowl, AYCE buffet) you wouldn't even notice. Dinner last night was a mixed grill. Bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin, bacon wrapped and sausage stuffed deboned legs, Thunder Drums skin on and bone in, Thunder Drums bacon wrapped and sausage stuffed, Franken Flats served alongside high dollar, conventional flats and drumettes. I've had a lot of laughs while working through this hairbrained scheme and I'm pretty sure the Thunder Drum will never fly (yes pun intended). However the thigh experiment has been very rewarding. I removed the large muscle from the thigh and prepared it as Chicken Picatta and it was great. Tender, succulent and nice serving size. The remaining muscle (dorsal side) remained attached to the bone and was easily formed into the Franken Flat. I vacuum bagged and sous vide the flats which could be incorporate into various dishes. Franken Flats sous vided and ready to fry A little height reduction surgery. For the deboned leg I remove the bone. For the bone in leg I removed a bone section and cartilage\bone from the joint.

Can you spot the ringers in this lineup? Re-purposed smoked then fried wings and trademarked (pending) Franken Flats and Thunder Drums. After seeing the prices for wings in different regions of the country I thought maybe faux wings at a lower price point could be an alternative (tongue firmly in cheek). This cookoff has definitely given me a new appreciation for braised and stewed wings but hasn't moved the needle so to speak for fried. Great to mediocre fried wings are readily available but otherwise wings as a dining choice are non existent. As for the ringers a little fun with food. The flat is a thigh minus the big muscle and the drumette is a drum stick with the bone sectioned or cartilage removed. The boneless was stuffed with pork sausage. The Franken Flat was absolutely the star of tonight's supper. Here's a few photos in the evolution of the FT and TD's

Top secret at this point. I'm afraid that Tyson or Perdue my be monitoring this site.

Chicken Piccata and pesto pasta. I used the large muscle from each chicken thigh and incorporated the remainder of the thigh into another experiment. Three thighs yielded nine ounces of meat. The meat was really easy to pound thin and fried up beautifully.

A little grilled poultry porn for those getting hammered with this weekends winter storm. Chicken wings and thighs with LA devil hot links. Served with fresh corn from south Florida that's been available for the past couple of weeks.

No muss no fuss prep on this one. Grilled wings, thighs and LA red devil hot links. The chicken was dry brined over night and smoked on my gas weber using a Smokai smoke generator with apple pellets. I pulled the wings a little early due to rain moving in but they should be perfect tomorrow after I reheat.

At least we don't have freezer burn anxiety. Those chamber vacuum sealer packs really hold food well back in the far recesses of the freezer!

I'm really enjoying this challenge. Chicken thighs have become the go to at our house based on taste, cost and availability. I'll occasionally roast a whole chicken (small ~2.5#-3#, Judy Rogers/Zuni method) but haven't bought or prepared wings in years. As served at hot bars and delis the wing's coating and sauce takes precedent over the quality of the meat so I thought little of preparing them at home. We have membership at BJ's and they feature Perdue chicken which we find to be of relatively good quality. By we I mean myself, wife and our cat Aspen. Aspen is a tortie that had gum disease resulting in all her teeth being pulled. She was just about to waste away until we started feeding her rotisserie chicken from Sam's or BJ's. I started buying thighs at Sams Club and prepared them boiled, baked and fried but she would not eat the Members Mark brand. I decided if my cat would not eat it neither will I. They must be using a lot of disinfectant to reduce the bacteria count which Aspen is detecting. She is a big fan of the Perdue thighs with Popeye's breast being a real treat! BJ's packages the chicken sections in compartmentalized vacuum bags. A typical retail pack is 8 packs with 4 wings to the pack. Costs this week was $2.67/#. The wings are of decent size with a meaty flat and drumette. Last night I prepared an absolutely delicious chicken curry using a recipe from the website Fatima Cooks. The recipe is Chicken Curry Salan/Pakistani Chicken Curry/Murghi Ka Shorba using eight wings. I prepared the recipe exactly as written and it was perfect for a cold night's supper. The ratio of chicken meat and fat were perfect to my taste in this dish. BJ's/Perdue packaging

What a difference a day makes-at least temperature wise. Last nights meal was inspired by the most recent cookoff, eG Cook-Off #88: Wings, when the outside temp was ~70F. A stiff north breeze and ~20 degrees later soup moves into the mix. The basil plants made one last contribution to dinner last night becoming a classic pesto served with Mediterranean inspired chicken wings. A full description is included on the cookoff thread. Tonight we had a couple of soups in case @liamsaunt family was in the neighborhood. She does the most incredible job of catering to her family's different taste! Vegan cauliflower soup with cashew butter finished with a fried carrot nest and carrot greens. And potato leek soup finished with sautéed shitake, baby bella mushrooms' and Aleppo pepper flakes.

@Duvel very nice lead-in to the challenge. David Ross was one of my favorite eGullet members and it was quite a shock to learn of his passing. Your doing him proud! I've been in a Mediterranean mood so tonight I roasted up some fresh wings that were marinated in meyer lemon juice, olive oil, marash chili flakes, salt, pepper and garlic. I browned the chicken somewhat in the skillet then finished in a hot oven. I would have liked to get a little more color on the wings but I did not want to overcook them. The final dish was garnished with meyer lemon wedges and castelvetrano olives with a sprinkle of marash chilies and cyprus salt flakes.

Oyster and flounder po'boys on a baguette from Craft Bakery. Dressed with shredded cabbage, pickle and tomatoes.

A little fun with leftovers. I'll call it deconstructed mince and tatties although I would catch hell if Huiray was still on eGullet. He was tough on us neophyte eGullters if we took such liberties from the original derivation. Leftover standing rib roast and potatoes repurposed with crimini & shitake mushrooms atop roast carrots and a sprinkling of peas.

The last of the oysters😢. Shrimp, scallops, oysters and bacon in a saffron cream sauce with spinach.

Companies gone so my time to pig out. I think my leftovers will move next year to the main course. I wilted spinach on the plate and topped with paneed gruyere grits, shrimp, oysters and croutons. Generously napped with hollandaise and garnished with red onions channeling Judy Rodgers.

For Christmas Eve we had a few dishes that have been favorites at restaurants that we have eaten at. Obviously pre-covid. First up Shrimp Henican as served at Commanders Palace. Galatorie's Shrimp Remoulade Blanc Madison's Salmon Rockefeller. Madison's closed quite a few years ago but this dish was my favorite. My rendition includes gruyere cheese grits, wilted spinach and roasted salmon topped with hollandaise and fried oysters. I shucked the oysters just prior to company arriving and they fried up great. Dessert on Christmas Eve was a beautiful pear tart that my wife's daughter in-law made. She is originally from Nice France and said it was just like her mother made. It was delicious! The starter for Christmas Dinner was raw oysters. I bought a 50# box and have shucked on an as need basis. My needs have been frequent trips during the day to monitor QA/QC purposes. Our dinner salad with repurposed white remoulade sauce. I should have stopped with salad! Christmas Dinner was a little anti-climatic after the preceding food orgy. The main course was beef standing rib roast, wilted spinach, roasted carrots and garlic mashed potatoes.