Duvel

Here they are called galets. They are shaped like a shell / a conch. Easy to stuff with sausage or any forcemeat, which due to the shape will stay in place in the cooked product …

It a triple ring propane gas burner, suitable for oversized pots (like this 30L+ model) or paellas, mounted on a sheet if „unburnable“ metal … Something like this.

A Catalan Christmas dinner: Christmas soup with filled pasta … Accompanying meats & veggies … Chicken with prunes … Baked apple … Dessert !

Ahh … @rotuts is correct on the amount of plates and on the location. The picture was the prelude to the Escudella i carn d‘olla, the non-negotiable „lunch“ (~16.00h-21.30h) on the first Christmas day. Over the years I have graduated to play a bigger part of the preparation, and this year I did most of the work (under the watchful eye of my MIL) and all of the service. 24 adults and 9 kids - it was a busy evening … But starting from the beginning: my in-laws have a huge rooftop terrace, and in a sheltered corner the magic starts to happen two days before the meal … In different stages vegetables, organ meats, ears, bones, salted pork products and cured ham scraps are boiled for hours and eventually removed. It yields a rich, unsalted stock not unlike a good ramen base. Some hours before serving, the stock is salted and divided. In the larger part a variety of sausages, potatoes and cabbage are introduced and simmered for some more time. In the smaller part, huge garlic-heavy pilotas (meatballs) are simmered, then renoved and a special kind of pasta (huge shell shaped) filled with sausage meat are cooked. When done, the stocks are combined again and it’s time for service. First course (and what all are eagerly waiting for the whole year): the soup with pasta. You wont believe how much some Catalans can eat of that … Second course: boiled meats (beef, pork, chicken, lamb), ears, sausages, potatoes, cabbage and pilota, served as per request and dressed on the table with olive oil and salt. To be repeated until ~75% full … Third course (cooked in the meantime): roasted chicken with plums, raisins and pine nuts, that were marinated overnight in brandy, white wine and some proto-stock. Simmered until reduced and well caramelized. Fourth course: roasted apples with minced meat filling … Fifth course: coffee, brandy, cookies. Plus the kids reciting Christmas poems and collecting money from the grown-ups … Sixth course: Champagne & the Christmas toast. No complaints (even a foreigner made the soup 😜) ! Bon nadal 🙏

Before the storm …

Breakfast with the little one in a not so busy side walk cafe in a small town on the Mediterranean coast. Sunshine, a croissant with white chocolate and a cold beer - what could be better at 10.00h in the morning ..?

Sadly, no time. We had the reservation and I had to make sure we’d arrive in time. On the way home … maybe ☺️

‘Tis the season … for holidays. This year - as every second year - it means Spain. For which you need to cross France 🤗 You pass by cities like Bourg en Bresse, which decorate their highway stops with … We took an overnight stop at Lyon … Christmas market - unfortunately an eery emptiness, as all the counter-terrorist measures rather keep ordinary people away, too … Longest queue was at the truffled aligot stand … Was good - super creamy ! This was just a starter - I had booked a place ar my favorite Bouchon Chez Grand Mere in the old city … It located (mostly) in the cellar below the entrance … Copious amounts of house wine … Brioche with sausage … Chicken liver cake … Baked ravioli for little one … Veal head with sauce gribiche … Pike quenelles with crayfish sauce … St. Marcellin … Pralines tarte … Floating island … There was a coffee & digestif, but I was too done to take any picture 🙃 No complaints - too full for that, too …

Yeah … it’s a workhorse. I bought in actually in Japan - funny enough also 17 years ago 🤗 I will get a new (additional) one this Christmas. Bought it in May when visiting Japan as a double pack (larger & smaller one), and Santa will present those to little one and me, so we can cook together 🤭

@johnnyd: Love the choice of wine glass 🤗

Beetroot red (E162) …

I think I might move in with you 🤗

‘Tis the season to be jolly - fallalalalalalalalaaaaaa 🤶

Dinner started as early as 16.00h today, as we spontaneously invited some of the neighbors over for Feuerzangenbowle … I threw some sausage on the BBQ … And some Rahmflecken into the oven … There was a pudding apple cake as well … And plenty of Feuerzangenbowle. And a hot cocoa for the little one 🤗 Happy 3rd Advent 🙏

Well, if there would be cream …

“When you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail” Or more precisely: when you’ve got a new toy, you want to play. I recently aquired an air fryer, and today was the day to apply it to one of my favourite food challenges: Gyros. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with what I can do, but there is always this feeling it could be easier, it could be better. So: pork collar, thinly sliced into 1/4 inch slices and marinated in the Duvel Gyros marinade … and then reassembled, vacuumed for 24h and cooked SV for 4h@58oC. It yielded a brick looking like this … Put into the Ninja air fryer at highest (“air crisp” setting) for a few minutes, roasted sides sliced off, back into the Ninja for a few minutes, sides sliced off and once more back into the Ninja - you get the idea. It yielded quite decent Gyros. Full of roasted flavor, yet tender and juicy meat ... It served as a base for a Greek dinner … With freshly made pita … Greek salad … And some lamb filets for 1/3 of the family which is not genetically primed to enjoy pork products … Croquettes for the same part of the family, but ultimately enjoyed by all. My Ninja has two cooking zones 🤭 Yum ! Was it good ? Oh yes … It it less work than making a skewer and running it through the rotisserie ? Yes, but by a margin … So - no complaints 🤗

Customized …

Not true at all … I send many emails to Ingvar Kamprad (until 2018 at least), yet they continued to offer only two sizes. I had to customize myself …

Don’t mean to belittle the main course, but that is pretty much my perfect dinner 🤗

Little one is sick at home with a bacterial throat thing … so after two days of his beloved chicken soup (made a huuuge batch two days ago) with ABC noodles he requested “something else” today (means he is getting better). After some inquiry he opted for Ramen, which is … soup with noodles 🙄 So: some homemade chicken soup with added dashi and dark soy sauce, spaghetti and some off-the-shelf toppings made him a very happy camper … I had a greek salad and my first air fryer chicken wings (finally got one - thank you, eG enablers) … No complaints (whatsoever) 🤗

You need to work on your pouring skills ... that beer is only foam 😱

I reported you to the moderators for that ...

Sudachi ?

Well … First they dress you up with a makeshift bib and explain you lengthy the history of the drinking style and the liquor. Then they make you warm your hands by rubbing them against each other. You have to press your flat palm onto the funnel, so the liquid can’t run out due to the created vacuum. You need to lift the funnel with the other hand quickly, yet carefully towards your back-tilted head - the waiter helps you by pressing your hand firmly onto the funnel while helping you to guide it to your mouth. At this point you realize there is no hole at the bottom of the funnel, all tables around you laugh and you knock back the liquor in a normal way. I know why I had my plant manager go first …

I‘d say for the acupuncture needles it doesn’t matter, and for the cork - if used as a household remedy for explosive diarrhea - better before …