Steve Irby

It's been a pretty wet week or two on the gulf coast. Less soggy today so dinner came off the grill tonight. Dinner was nice, fatty pork steaks that I trimmed off of a butt that were marinated in olive oil, meyer lemon juice, rosemary, garlic and S&P with grilled potatoes. The potatoes were parboiled then quartered and slipped into the leftover marinade with the addition of butter prior to grilling.

I may have to add a half hour to my nap after finishing off this one. Grilled luganeca sausage topped with aged gouda and mozzarella cheese. Dressed with roasted red peppers, onions and lettuce. Served on overnight white bread.

Whoops! The recipe was from a small dessert collection published by Consumers Guide. It was probably a stocking stuffer from my sister and the recipes that I've tried over the years have been very good. I had a few hiccups with this recipe that I know how to correct (more gelatin for apricot filling, finer grind of nuts for cake) but the chocolate filling has me stumped. The filling went grainy or seized during the assembly phase and would not flow or spread. What I was shooting for Filling direction My ugly but tasty dessert! The silver lining - Creme Brulee from the leftover egg yolks. Silky smooth.

Not exactly sure of the question but the shrimp were prepped last week in conjunction with another meal for company. A trip to the seafood market yielded two pounds of headless Royal Reds and two pounds of large, brown headless shrimp. Twenty four of the brown shrimp were shelled and deveined (leaving tail segment intact) to become grilled shrimp skewers (4x6 shrimp) as an appetizer. Twenty of the cleaned and deveined shrimp were leftover and were vacuumed bagged in my JVR Vac100 and frozen. The mise en place for dinner started on friday with the wife buying some really nice pencil asparagus at Aldi's which were washed, trimmed and prepped for the microwave. Shrimp were defrosted and put on standby. Pasta cooked and put on standby. After trip to prehab for wifes knee replacement (scheduled 7/12) dogs ate half of pasta and remainder into fridge. Saturday dinner service as described above with copious amounts of butter and garlic providing joint lubricant and anti-oxidant protection as per the Ortho's request. It's been awhile since I baked so we had some overnight white with more butter with the meal. The status is happy dogs, happy wife, and happy cook.

Easy peasy supper tonight. Pencil asparagus nuked for 1.25 minutes then tossed with a butter/lemon juice emulsion, some leftover pasta and butterflied shrimp that I prepped the day before. The quick prep was particularly appreciated after struggling for two days with a chocolate apricot torte recipe that I've been eying for about 41 years.

@Duvel very nice photography showing the progression of dinner! That first photo is great with the juxtaposition of the well used cutting boards, an Apple computer and Charlottes Web. It reminds me of the meals with my Mom. Decades later it ain't the meals it's the memories.

@Heidi the Royal Reds are wild caught from the Gulf of Mexico or east coast of Florida. Here's a link you may find interresting. https://eatalabamaseafood.com/articles/story/royal-red-shrimp-alabamas-gulf-coast

@Duvel We usually leave them in the brine for two or three days before eating but sometimes as long as two weeks. Royal reds are $8/lb for 10/12 count headless shrimp so you can stack 'em high on the bun!

A poor mans lobster roll substitute. Butter poached royal reds served with potato salad. The potatoes were cooked in crab boil and the eggs were brined in Bubbie's pickle juice.

This one hit the spot. I cooked a couple of ribeyes from the $6.99/lb rib roast that I sectioned out at Easter. Served with a garlicky salad and pork rinds. A little rare for my wife but by the time she gets home only the medium rare will be left🙄

We've had a stalled front for the past few days so it's not been the best grill tending weather. I smoked these not-so-baby back ribs on my weber gas grill and Smokai generator with apple pellets. The ribs are cooked over indirect heat using one of the three burners. Temps stay around 250F with a cooking time of ~7 hrs.

My better half bought two pork butts for me to cook for a KyDerby party that were a little on the large side. I portioned (poached) seven pork steaks for the freezer prior to smoking the pork on my weber grill. For the past couple of years I've smoke the butts for the 6-8 hours (internal temp ~ 150) then overnight in the oven at 225F. The finish temp is usually around 205 but this time 215F. Here's a few photo's out of the oven and "pulling". The pork was well received (no leftovers😢) so I grilled two pork steaks for supper tonight with a few supplements resulting in a mixed grill of pork steaks, deboned chicken thighs, eggplant, zucchini and brussel sprouts.

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.