Duvel

My wife and the little one woke up this morning with a cold - not unsual, given how weird the weather behaves. With both at home I decided to run to the market, get veggies and a nice chicken and prepare a chicken soup (pressure cooker be praised). Served with dumplings, veggies, rendered chicken schmaltz and some crispy chicken skin. Not much to look at but very welcomed by both of them …

Let’s approach this scientifically: with the given time & temperature, and a properly sealed bag, plus ideal cooling & storage the probability of having active bacteria (Listeria, Clostridium, …) present in the bag is very low. At your fridge temperature and given the anaerobic environment, growth will be slow, but is possible. Overall, sufficient bacterial contamination is unlikely. A potential resulting poisoning from ingestion, will have a serious (major) if not severe (catastrophic) outcome. Applying a general risk matrix will give you: This will leave you at a high risk, per definition in need for fail-proof mitigation. I would assume you don’t have that (e.g. a willing taster), so I suggest to abstain from consumption.

It looks great and while maybe the shrimps & the mushroom Schnitzel might not be strictly traditional, I‘d be more than happy enjoying any of the dishes as German fare 🤗

I bought a slightly larger piece of veal breast last week on offer and cooked it over the weekend SV 24h @ 57 oC, resulting in a lovely tender & pink chunk of meat. Sliced some of it up thinly and quickly marinated with olive oil, vinegar, salt, some „Greek“ spices and garlic. Thrown ever so briefly into a really hot pan to make a faux veal Gyros. Served with a salad, zaziki and some (commercial) Gnocchis. This could quickly become my favorite faux gyros preparation …

I think our definitions of failure are somehow different - if I put that on the table at night and get myself one or two Mai Tai’s I would not only had a nice dinner (and a buzz) but also a feeling of accomplishment. Nothing wrong with being flexible and making do with what you have 😊

I am using SV to cook larger cuts of meat (read multiple portions from one chunk) significantly more than before. And then use in multiple dishes. Condiment-wise I ramped up my consumption of: crispy fried onions (IKEA), mayonnaise (Kewpie), pickles (various) and chili crisp (Lao Gan Ma). And - as @Maison Rustique mentioned - I use more convenience products. Pretty much exclusively carbs: ready made filled pasta, (German) potato products (Knödel, Schupfnudeln, even sometimes mashed potatoes).

Or maybe they used high end rice for $1 per 454g ...

Downtown Novosibirsk ...

I was not specifically referring to the traditional religions, but more to the “modern” beliefs (veganism, fruitarian, paleo, low “whatever”, Duvelism) etc. ...

I am afraid that some (and maybe that’s a growing share) parents are so entangled in a certain view of the world that their beliefs guide their food choices ...

So true ... the Jean George Caviar Egg is something in its simplicity I always admired (yet never made). Thanks for reminding me to add it on my “try to cook” list again ...

Don’t feel bad: first of all it is an acquired taste and then - it needs to be good quality and fresh. I lived almost three years in Japan and had uni on many occasions (in an student/junior academic context) and could get myself to embrace it. A month before leaving I took my girlfriend (now wife) out to a very nice place while visiting Tokyo - and there was a plate of uni. It was amongst the most memorable things I have eaten - and not only because it got scooped out of a live sea urchin while we were watching. It was sublime. I had only one more uni dish that came close, also from a live specimen, also in a upscale place in HK. I hunted, I tried, I wanted to like it but ... maybe your palate is just too refined (like mine) to enjoy the ordinary stuff 😜

Actually, that was outsourced. The rice was cooked by my trusted Zojirushi, and the cooked rice was molded with this nifty device (from a 100 Yen shop somewhere in Japan) by our little one ...

I think maybe the term “high end rice” might not really apply here ...

It is no trouble at all; after all this is what the Zojirushi was designed for. Prepare and keep rice ready for consumption for several meals. If you eat rice with every meal, and have yourself, kids and spouse not necessarily at the table at the same time, it makes a lot of sense to have that feature. And the expectation of the local (Japan) population on their rice is high, so you can expect the product to be as close to perfect as possible. BTW: unlike @JoNorvelleWalker’s Zojirushi I only have the standard model (not the pressure cook version), which is sealed only with a double-lipped silicon gasket. No issues with drying out either ...

They got all the proteins requested (chicken breast, pork - ok belly instead of loin, fine sausage), but did not hesitate with shrimps, bacon/tomato or tsukune. So I’d say they ventured beyond their usual fare. Octopus was a bit of a stretch, but my son anyway inhaled the three skewers, so they probably didn’t had a chance ...

Kushikatsu Moriawase (or mixed grilled skewers), as detailled here ...

And here we go - Kushiyaki Moriawase (or mixed grilled skewers) ... Mise ... In progress ... chicken, pork belly, sausages, bacon with tomato, shishito peppers, mushrooms, chicken wing, sweetcorn. Later shrimp , octopus and more meats. Ready to eat (there were a couple more plates) ... Tsukune ... Some carbs ... Edamame ... Mixed pickles ... Soba in cold mentsuyu and a waxy egg ... A very happy kid, because he got his beloved octopus skewers ! A good opportunity to break out the Tokkuri ... (plus some Dassai sake). And for dessert ... Did they like it ? Yes, definitely. They demolished the plates. I was certain to have prepared too much, but there were few leftovers. It was as envisioned: “their” proteins, known flavors, yet in a unusual context - fun to prepare (for me) and fun to eat (for them and me). Win win ☺️

First of all - thank you very much everyone for your input. It was a busy week, so I didn’t have the chance to reply in detail ... I have come to the conclusion that sticking largely to what the guests would like in terms of basic proteins would be the best option - thanks for convincing me. At the end it is not my place to force them to like other things, but I could try to subtly convince them by offering a couple of choices close enough to their comfort zone. I really liked the idea of teriyaki some of you suggested; not maybe in the original sense of the word, but in a broader sense of grilled meats/veggies with a suitable glace. So actually kind of Kushiyaki. After going through the options again, I decided to do a Kushiyaki dinner, featuring the requested proteins and some veggies, and a couple of simple sides ... theme of the evening would be Robatayaki. Thanks again for all your input - this is your dinner 🤗 I let you know how they liked it ...

Thank you 🤗

I had medium-cooked pork tongue in an Izakaya in Tokyo, specializing in offal. It came in thin slices dressed with Tsuyu (soy sauce/mirin/sake), a bit of vinegar and karashi. It was topped with copious amounts of mild raw onion. Very good !

So ... we will have some distant neighbors over for a BBQ. Our kids like to play together and I offered to entertain, so we can have a relaxing evening and the kids enjoy the trampoline and some other entertaining activities, while at least the parents get some nice food ... And this is where it gets complicated. After some digging I came to the conclusion that - well, how to put it right - they prefer their BBQ “unchallenging”. In terms of texture, in terms of flavor ... The preferred meat is chicken breast, followed by fillet of pork (on a skewer). Maybe a fine (think bologna texture) sausage. Ketchup. Mustard. In principle I could live with that, but ... actually I can’t. I know just like in the restaurant business it’s all about the satisfaction of the customer, but I really do not want to put either of the three options as the star of the show. I want excitement, I want fun preparing it and yet I want to have a glass of Yamazaki 12 at the end of the night and tell myself that I made them a nice dinner. I need some help from all of you ! What would be: - texturewise appealing grillable protein (no “hard”, gritty, sinewy textures); all pretreatments incl. SV are ok ... - an exciting treatment for those boring proteins mentioned above to make then more interesting ... - what “comfort food” options can I serve on the side that are not salad. Thanks in advance 🙏

Argh ! Seems they have a new model ... multi-fuel, 16’’ and some other goodies. Looks nice, but it’s significantly more expensive 😪 I always told myself when I am in the midlife crisis age I would not buy a Porsche ... but maybe now I go for an unnecessary (and yet very desirable) pizza oven ...

It’s getting warm ... With not much energy to cook, I made a truita (or tortilla de patatas) with onions. Served with bread rubbed with tomato, olive oil & salt plus chorizo & fresh goat cheese. Simple tomato salad with burrata to complete an easy dinner. (Picture taken after the first bite 😉)

How is it that your glasses always seem to contain juuust a puddle of liquid, yet the bottles seem to be always empty 😋