Duvel

They do - hence I included my short history of suffering, in order not to diminute your hankerings. Let’s agree that you and me plus two bottles of fine scotch (one of which could possibly be Laphroaig) would make a fine breakfast, lunch and possibly dinner feast. I’ll bring the boudin d’oignons, you the Hunan blood sausage and we are all set ...

As someone who dealt over years with phenols, their derivatives and more than one ancient synthetic approach towards them, I just can’t stand the über-peated whiskys ... Now - a nice Speyside one for breakfast is a different animal altogether 🤗

Woke up with a hankering for Lahmacun. Found some minced lamb in the freezer. Done 🥳 Had a two dough discs surplus, so these were just dusted with sumac and some cheese. Chopped up what veggies I found in the fridge. Enjoyed outside with a cold (alcoholfree) beer, before taking a nap 🤗

Chicken cartilage ?

Smart idea 🤗

21 oC and sun, soooo ... BBQ and eating outside ! Some fixings ... Pork collar, beef and sausages ... A „beer“ based on recycled bread 🙄 Yum !

Crappy-o or more the Japanese way O-crappy ?!

Fantastic ! Do you do the pre-boiling step ?

The meat is cooked first skin side down submerged in liquid. So, that would technically count as boiling. I am not quite sure what your intention is. Do you want to roast the hocks ? I do not think that a preboiling makes much of a difference qualitywise other than shortening the time in the oven. The preboiling technique is usually enployed to create clear(er) stocks from protein, but has not that much advantage if you are aiming at „just“ getting it cooked ...

Spring be praised 🥳: mixed grill (again; pork collar, sausage, aubergine) with simple leaf iceberg lettuce w/ kewpie & sourcream dressing and couscous with chorizo and tomato ... Served with 2019 Chimay Bleu ...

Yes on the salmon ... As for the cheesecakes - notnquite sure yet. Strawberries are in season in Spain right now, so good quality is available (and my mom loves them) - will work on how to do the cakes tomorrow 😉

Thank you all for your suggestions - that helped me really a lot. My first draft looks now like this: Foie Gras Cappuccino Eggs Benedict Graved Salmon w/ red beets Belgian crab & potato croquettes Asparagus quiche Fresh rye bread (Müslistangen, Croissants) Various cheeses, marmalades & honey Individual strawberry cheesecakes w/ fresh strawberries Champagne, fresh juices, coffee I will sleep over it and start working on recipes & logistics tomorrow. Thanks again 🤗

Spring is here - so we enjoyed the encore ...

Test run ... Eggs Benedict Eggs Norvegienne “Sausage McMuffin” (because the upper two varieties were not that much 🤭)

First BBQ of the year (after starting this year’s “garden maintenance season”) ... Bratwurst, marinated pork collar and chicken thigh skewers Served with pasta salad, pesto tomatoes and herb butter baguette And I found some nice beers to go with and assist with the subsequent nap ...

Please allow me to tap into the collective wisdom (or creativity) for a moment. Upcoming Easter Monday it will be my mom’s 70th birthday. Unfortunately, due to the Covid restrictions, all planned activities (such as family fathering at a hotel, fancy dinner etc.) are cancelled. The only thing we will / can do is to drive up and have a nice, yet simple Easter Sunday dinner (for which I will procure a great selection of cheeses, fruits and some good wines) and then a birthday brunch, before we need to head back in the afternoon. Now I will need some ideas for said brunch, and that’s not my forte. So far I know I want to make Eggs Benedict / Norvegienne. I will also get some good Champagne and freshly squeezed juices. For the rest I rely on your suggestions. My general thoughts are: - No additional dishes featuring eggs - Foods that are not too far out of the comfort zone of a 70 yo German grandmother. - Something saying “festive” but could be partly prepared ahead (and travels well - optional) - both sweet and savoury ideas are highly welcome. I am not very into sweet things, so here is my larger “blind spot”. - There will be significants amounts of French raw milk cheeses and their cousins left over from the night before. Using these partly would be a plus. I have not compiled my list, but assume any cheese would be part of that portfolio. That would be my train of thought at the moment. I am aiming for 3-4 additional dishes. Your help (as always) is very much appreciated 🤗

I was about to say the same ... certainly a combination ! Kudos to @scamhi (and also: you baaaaad enabler - just looked through my collection and will stock up on Riesling Spätlese on Tuesday).

Agreed ! And I will in the upcoming week 🤗

Thanks - I was not aware of this being a general “thing”. Just checked: this article has a nice analysis ...

Why ? It’s a type of blood sausage ...

Sorry to push my opinion again: I think the assumption that you would get easily food poisoning from properly cooked food that spends a few hours between 10-20 oC is not correct. And keep in mind you are approaching this window from “below”, not coming from warm food to veginnwith. There is no significant bacterial activity below 10 oC (even if the “unsafe window” meme suggest otherwise). As a side note: I do not know anyone amongst our friends that run their fridge at 5oC or below. As in SV cooking, it is question of temperature and time, plus a hospital environment and whether you have sizable bacterial population to begin with. The latter I would contest (if the food comes from a reputable source). How an item starting out with a very low bacteria count would a) allow for sufficient bacterial growth and b) providing enough time to build up toxins to cause food poisoning within the few hours it could have maximum spend in above mentioned temperature gap is not clear to me.

I did some research yesterday, and there is a regional dish from Swabia called “Saurer Pressack”, in which headcheese (typically two varieties, one “white” and one “red”, based on blood) are thinly sliced and marinated with vinegar, onions, oil & spices before served with rustic bread ...

I think that is a very sensible decision. Essentially following the cooking instructions from the package and adding that extra bit of time (at least in the brisket case) for piece of mind ... Please enjoy ! (and don’t worry - pharaoh wouldn’t have gotten you anyway. He is afraid of flying [Horus is watching] and ship transport is currently not available around Egypt)

May I offer a different opinion ? Now, first of all you trust the guys you’ve ordered from. Because you are accepting their food is prepared according to standard and will leave their place in proper condition. It is relatively easy to calculate the rate the content warms up (depending on mass, insulation and cooling during transport). The position of the ice pack, IMHO, is irrelevant, as up and down during transit are not fixed. They will have done their math. Even with little to none insulation the content will hardly reach outside temperatures, which aren’t warm right now anyway. If - see above - the food was prepared hygienically and has been sealed in sterile vacuum bags (which you will subscribe to, otherwise you wouldn’t order there) and out of your 18h transit most (if not practically all) time the package remained cold you are good to go from my point of view. That many of the items need to be reheated is “the belt to your suspenders” as we say. I’d happily eat it.

With or without APO, may I suggest this method ?