Duvel

“Quattro stagioni” (except all are winter, and found in my fridge): 12’ - Tuna with onions 3’ - Pork belly roast with olives 6’ - Baked ham with olives 9’ - “Grünkohl” - boiled kale with Speck

A very, very famous one ...

I assume you mean the Bavarian cabbage salad posted above ? 750 g thinly sliced cabbage 1 tsp salt Massage the salt into the cabbage. Set aside at room temperature. 100 g bacon 1 small onion Chop and fry at very low heat, just to render the fat out. No coloring or browing, please. Add the following: 1-2 tsp mustard (I use hot) 1 tsp caraway seeds 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar) 3 Tbsp oil 100 mL stock (veggie, or what you have in hand) Mix thoroughly, then add warm mixture to the reserved cabbage. Mix again and let marinate for at least 2h at room temperature. Before serving, check saltiness and add freshly ground black pepper & fresh parsley (or mixed herbs). Salad will keep a few days in the fridge.

Today we drove up the Odenwald mountains for some snow related activities ... After an evening of toboggan, the little one enjoyed a quiet evening at home while I prepared some hearty food to restore his energy levels. Pork belly roast with dark beer sauce, potato Knödel and Bavarian cabbage salad. Process for roast & crackling documented here.

Sooo ... I made a pork (belly) roast today and thought I’d document the process. This is not specific to pork belly, any roast works with adjusted cooking times. The first cooking phase can be also done via SV. This is a 1 kg pork belly - regular local product, nothing “heritage” about it. Salted & peppered, then skin side down into a roasting pan filled with with some stock (water works as well). Cooked in the oven at 140 oC for 1h, then taken out and scored in a crisscross fashion (or whatever you like) to allow the fat to render out. Then placed skin side up into the same roasting pan, filled up with a nice local beer. Temperature upped to 170 oC and back into the oven for 1.5h more. By this time, it looks like this. Meat is fully cooked and fat has rendered out. Skin has shrunk a bit in the process. Oven cranked up to 250 oC and “gratinate” function, the meat is resting outside while the oven is coming up to temperature ... and back into the oven, waiting for the skin to pop. Took about 6-8min at the lowest position in the oven. Most of them popped “regularly”, some expanded more violently (similar to popcorn). All of them were crunchy ... Juicy & crunchy - sliced and ready to be served (full meal in the Dinner 2021 thread).

Quick pizza to accompany lazy afternoon movie (“Bedknobs & broomsticks”): straight yeast dough @70% hydration, 30 min bulk rise with 3x stretch & fold (10 min apart), before balling and 20 final rise. No other kneading. I am surprised how well this works - total pizza from scratch in one hour. Wasn’t half bad ...

From some chunks of pork collar and beef chuck I made a simple stew with the usul suspects (red wine, onion/garlic/celery, bay leaf, ...). Served with both bread and potato Knödel and Grünkohl (and inexplicably cranberrie, that we dollop on larger chunks of meat, but our little one insists to be put into the dumplings) ...

Canelons for King‘s day ... (no plated picture as there was just a blur of forks, knives and plates once the canelons hit the table ...)

Yeah ... I couldn’t find my Duvel glasses (wondering whether they made it back from HK). The glass used is a commemorative beer glass from my (tiny) hometown celebrating its 1000 year anniversary a couple of years ago (2004). It features the original wording for my village („Rasthorp“), as written as it appeared first in a deed of gift to some dignitary. The name itself is derived from the small river running through the village, called „Rase“, and the suffix for village. It is now called Rosdorf, and has about 10.000 inhabitants. The beer glass also exists as a (slightly larger) Stein version ...

Japanese for a change - Tonkatsu with cabbage/gomadare and quick miso-pickled cucumber ... Juicy ! Crunchy ! Umami ! Enjoyed with a Duvel, because I felt I deserved it. And his two brothers 🥳

Last (planned) installment of our Catalan weekend: Botifarra amb mongetes (or sausage with fried beans, heavy on the garlic/lard side of the spectrum) ... Not much to look at, yet very, very tasty 😉

This whole plate looks so beautiful !

As a soup ?!?!

Use Xylitol - it will caramelize.

Allright ... now I was already feeling a bit embarrassed posting the burger here. But then I thought: no worries, if you are lucky it’s will be on the same page as some pointless discussions on MSG or some pictureless posts (that did not happen anyway, as @Anna Nknows all too well), but nooooo ... Now the lousy burger is in line after @shain, @scamhi, @Paul Bacino and - gasp - @David Ross 😱 Need to get some whiskey. Stat.

Yesterday night’s dinner as part of the extended Catalan weekend was supposed to feature a spit-roasted rabbit (now in the “Lunch 2021” thread), but ... the little one convinced my wife that the hamburguesa Arnau would be more fun. Luckily I made a test run the day before 😜 The Arnau hamburger consists of a buttered & toasted brioche, smeared with Kewpie and shielded by a single lettuce leaf, then a 150-200 g chuck patty, significant amounts of Raclette cheese, a heaped pile of roasted onions and Hunts BBQ sauce. Typically the inventor requests a pickled cucumber, but as my wife doesn’t like them and it is her weekend, we simply let the burger sit next to a jar and let the quantum entanglement between the burger & the pickles do the rest. (Commercial) sweet potato fries as a side and full bellies & happy faces a a side effect ...

I do enjoy the rotisserie, but I bought only recently and am just discovering its versatility. This was the first time I tried rabbit, and it was by far the best rabbit I ever made. The sheet pans are used to moisten the meat (they are filled with white wine/water and sprigs of rosemary) and to catch drippings. They are placed under the whole rabbit. Just in the last 5 min I moved them towards the front of the rabbit to allow the thicker parts at the back get more direct heat and allow for a bit more browning.

Part IV of a Catalan „weekend“ (which might go on until King‘s day 😉) ... Today for lunch we had the spit-roasted rabbit. I bought a larger specimen (close to 2 kg), cleaned and marinated it in garlic, lemon and rosemary and send it to sleep for 2 days ... Skewered and tied to a spit ... First use of the BBQ this year. Roasted until core temperature of 58 oC in the thickest part of the rear legs ... Served with simple tomato salad with burrata and leftover maccarons (another Catalan comfort dish). It was incredibly moist !

In continuation of my „Catalan weekend“ efforts ... ... today‘s lunch was trout with almonds and bacon. Very simple - trout stuffed with lemon and baked in the oven; bacon & onions fried in butter, simmered with cream & bay leaf and tooped with roasted almond slivers. Fried fideua pasta from yesterday to accompany ... Happy faces around the table 🤗

I am certainly not qualified to judge the effects of MSG on every individual. When it comes to taste it does make a difference, at least to me. If you want to try, I suggest the following experiment: Make a mixture of 60% salt, 20% sugar and 20% MSG and use this to flavor simple egg dishes instead of using 100% salt. Scrambled eggs, omelette, tortilla de patatas ... The outcome will be surprising(ly good) and I would be surprised if you feel any ill effect from the MSG.

Sure ... Mayo under that patty (providing lubrication & MSG) and BBQ on top (emulsifying the fried onions & adding some tang). It‘s „Arnau style“ ...

Since there is no “2nd dinner” thread (why not ?!), here a continuation of ... I opted for the burger “Arnau style” with a toasted brioche, kewpie, minced chuck, Hunts BBQ sauce, roasted onions & raclette cheese. Very, very good (especially from an IKEA plastic plate) ... Instead of MSG I used EtOH as a flavor enhancer (in the form of Kilbeggan Single Grain) ...

Thanks ! Interesting ... reminds me of vegan Döner. I think where spices dominate the flavor profile, as long as you can get the mouthfeel right I’d be happy with a meat substitute. Now where do I get this in Germany ... 😜

For me it is more of a sequence: first some G&Ts, then comes the rotation ...

Ok ... now: what is that ?!