BKEats

I bought cumin lamb and roasted squid last week in China.. The cumin lamb was pretty good as far as chips went, the squid was ok.. The strangest flavor of chip I had in China was Milk Flavored.. Heavily seasoned and though it tasted of cream, it kind of made me sick.... All of these bags, I buy, open, eat a couple of toss. Wasteful for sure but, better than eating a whole bag.

Another ok meal: This was ok.. Goose wings, pig tongue and pig ears: Some nice dumplings: pork and greens Spicy and sizzling starch.. Almost like a yucca, this was nice: sweet and spicy and new garlicky glass noodles with shrimp: Well, that's it for now, heading out of town for a little bit..

Which comes as no surprise to anyone, there is shitty Chinese Food in China.. There are Chinese People who don't care about food.. There is shitty Italian Food in Italy, there is Shitty French Food in France.. Just because you are some where, doesn't mean the food is going to be good.. The same way being from a particular place doesn't qualify you as an expert.. We went out to lunch with some executive who could care less what he was eating Here is crappy Food wth no real region covered: Clams, some of them were even opened! Sweet like Cantonese would be Not bad cucumbers: Sour greens and pork.. Hunan Sliced fish SIchuan, not good: Sichuan attempt/ I am looking at all of the peppers and have no idea how they happened to keep it so bland. One might even guess from a photo that this was a proper dish.. Average Cantonese Meats: Gummy:

So, I am going out of order as there is no reason for me to go in order.. At this point, I am in Yangzhou. A few days in, I have been skipping meals here and there as I can no longer eat with the gusto I have had in the past. After skipping dinner the prior night, i was raring to go.. I specifically requested one of the oldest places in town.. Yechun, not to be confused with Fuchun, is a 138 year old dim sum place... And it is awesome.. It's a cavernous place.. There was multiple floors and multiple private and large dining areas... We were whisked up a staircase to an elevator, to your private room Here were just some of the options they had: collection of freshly made baozi.. You think you have had good baozi but, I have yet to find anything remotely close in the United States to the soft pillowly beauty of a Chinese Made Baozi . Dumplings are close but, not baozi. Our host had ordered a set meal for us.. It was 16 bucks a head.. Out comes an array of banchan type dishes.. I wish I had taken them all on the original tray she brought in but, I was confused.. Pig head cold: Seaweed and lotus: organic eggs on the shell: Kimchi with sweet and sour sauce.. A lot better than what i was expecting:L criunchy fried wheaty things: more crunchy fried wheaty things: Spicy cold and garlicky mushrooms not photographed Pickled veg Salt baked eggs.. Pigeon and Goose and a couple other guys These baby shrimp are also all over yangzhou: a yangzhou classic.. Still have not had shredded tofu close to as good as in Yangzhou.. And I have eaten this dish in towns 2 hours away.. Not close... This was in a cold sweet soy Then in the chicken broth with shrimp and pig stomach and mushrooms: Then small pork wontons in a broth with seaweed and little fish: So we are sitting in this big comfortable private room with a huge table and a lazy susan in the middle.. Out start coming the steamed dishes: There are pork meatballs, there is a classic yangzhou dish (wine chicken with bamboo) there is this awesome green, there is another type of pork that is almost shredded, there is pork belly, there is sweet bean.. eh i dont like that these are filled with porky sticky rice: All I can say is, damn, it's delicious.. Getting treated like royalty.. Eating till stuffed and having tons of leftovers, it was all 16 bucks.. What a wonderful place.

Ok well, I will not go in order and I guess I don't need to write up the whole trip as there were some shitty meals.. . Here is this awesome sichuan I went to .. One of the best places I have had Sichuan Food.. This is what the table looked like when I arrived.. At the table is the chief of police, his minister of technology or whatever and some dude who owns a rice wine factory.. He gave me a few really expensive bottles to take home.. We also drank a few really expensive bottles.. They are all shit to me.. From the worst to best, they all tear up your insides.. Cold Chicken: 1000 year old egg: Delicious versions Cold wheat noodles.. Noodles made in house.. They were awesome, sturdy and flavorful.. I ate most of this Bamboo: They have the famous face changer guy who start dancing around and changing is mask face.. He is really awesome and can change his face as you stare at him and the mask slides to reveal a new face.. very cool Spicy cabbage and bsoy nuts: Mushroom soup" Special hard tofu soup: This was beautiful tofu, firm and meaty and tasted of soy.. Really nicely done Easily the best mao po I have ever had.. In house tofu, the sauce was course with crushed peppercorns. One of the best fried chickens I have ever had.. In China or out.. So damn delicious.. The only problem, slightly over cooked, I mean, cooked to China perfection but, not to American perfection. Pork chops with a heavy cuminy anise, peppery dry rub Shrimp and Broccoli in oil: Scallops and mussels with garlic and glass noodle: Cool shell: Spring rolls get handed around: Spicy beef: We ate like champs.. The woman who I do business with felt bad before dinner so, she left the table and went home before the food came.. Which meant, there was feats of strenghth, pissing contests, beer chugging and too much rice wine.. We had dinner for maybe 3 or 4 hours and finished everything on the table.. It was awesome, fun time, great food..

So, a quickie trip this time.. Two cities, Yangzhou and Zhangjiagang in the opposite order.. It's a tough bit of travel (30 hours) as I have stated in the past.. A flight to Beijing, a layover, a flight to Nanjing and then a couple hour drive.. We arrived around 11 pm and we are picked up the following morning at 8 am and the work begins... A straight 7 days of work, a 30 hour trip on the way home and then work starts at 8 am the following day.. This is my life.. But, we are not hear to discuss that, we are here to look at photos of food.. I was super hungry waking up the next morning as I have now rejected all airplane food.. It's kind of crazy to see how the food has not only declined in quality but, abundance.. The airlines now are pushing their add on meals so, they give you less and spend less on it. To think they offer chicken on a flight, god only knows what the hell happened to that chicken between egg and plate. I am sure the beef is just the same.. So, I fill up with what i can at the lounge prior to the flight, i brought a half pound of pistachios and some almonds.. Stupid things like no longer offering soy sauce packets with their noodle dishes. They use to offer turkey sandwiches mid flight, which i never ate but, now they offer these little cheese sticks.. The ice cream use to be Hagen Daaz or whatever, now it's some non branded shit.. I mean, the little ice cream container is so light, it must be 90 percent air. Even the staff use to hand out waters multiple times through out the trip with trays, they came by maybe 4 times with the carts.. And the staff is just not nice.. But I digress.. The trip out, was really strange.. I had a broken seat, so i moved.. Obviously pissing off the person that had a row of three to herself.. She was planning on stretching out across three seats.. So, i am sitting with her when, an old lady behind me starts gasping.. then, silence.. Then screaming "someone help, help, my mother, help, she is not breathing" I get up and can offer no assistance.. I run to get someone.. Doctors come flying all around.. Daughter is asked if she has pre-exisiting conditions.. She starts saying she has a bad heart. They give her nitro, they are doing CPR.. Someone asks the same question, she now offers up the fact that she has a bad heart, she has diabetes.., i hear "she has a pulse" I am now out of the way so doctors can be all around her.. I then move seats again.. This time I am sitting next to a dude that was stretched across three seats. his is pissed at me, i tell him, dying woman is laying in my seat.. He proceeds to sit in the middle sit.. The fucking middle seat.. What a dick.. He is now letting me know that I am invading his spot.. He starts in on my space, we have a conversation about how he paid for one seat, i paid for one seat, old dying is in my seat, get over it.. He is upset and huffing.. eventually, he tries to sleep and he puts his socks torwards me and he is trying to lay across two seats.. This isnt working for me.. I tell him to get his feet away from me.. We are children.. I am thinking, if I punch this guy in the face in international waters and there is no air marshall on the plane, where do I get prosecuted? Is it the perfect crime.. He is a dick.. We come to an understanding, where he doesnt come near me.. The lady infront of me has a cat.. The cat is peering at me over her shoulder.. The cat gets away.. the cat is running around the cabin... The man behind me is laying across three seats barefoot.. His feet are hanging over the aisle.. This man has not washed his feet or cut his toenails in however long he has had feet.. The ice cream now comes out and we are sitting in a tin can and 80 percent of the plane is lactose intolerant.. This is the relaxing 15 hours where i was supposed to read and chill out.. I am ready to murder someone. I digress.. 6 o'clock is some sour green and pork.. 9 o'clock soy beans and a dark green veg,11 is kimchi, 12 o clock is tofu in soy sauce, dumpling, shredded tofu, 3 o'clock is cold sichuan tripe.. more tofu dead center. mushrooms, dumpling, yangzhou rice, kimchi, sour greens, cauliflower and tofu

Miss A and I took a hooky day yesterday which was awesome.. We decided to hit up this place for lunch and it was really fantastic. We were the only ones in there for lunch so, i was nervous they weren't going to bring their A game but, that was unwarranted. The wine list here is really nice for any restaurant.. Prices are reasonable and options are varied.. We opted for a really nice White @ $40 A lovely pairing with our dishes: We started with the Tum Kanoon: Jackfruit salad with pork belly, kaffir, lemongrass, and pork rinds.. This was so freaking good.. Stewed pork belly threaded with tons of lime leaves and lemon grass.. It was spicy and tart and rich.. While there was not a strong Jack Fruit flavor, it was very well balancedm a little cilantro with each bite took it to the next level.. We loved this dish and it went so well with the wine Mango salad: The fish was grated on to the mango.. The menu says served with Bettle leaves but, we got regular lettuce.. Mango was fresh, the dish bright... A very nice version: Jim Som Mok ? This was the fermented pork parts with rice... While it was very good and I loved fermented pork, this was our least favorite dish.. Still very nice but, all the other dishes were home runs and this was a very healthy double. Three really lovely head on grilled shrimp.. Beautiful shrimp, interesting dipping sauce.. One was like a soy tamarind while the other was a fish sauce chili garlic. We both liked the chili garlic. Just very well done shrimp The sausage here is fan freaking tastic.. It's almost like an encased curry.. It's very coarse and there is a ton of stuff in it.. Served with a pate of sorts that didn't excite me.. But, the sausage kicks butt. You know a dish is good when in the middle of eating it, you order one to go.. We were hesitant about ordering this as when we went to Khao Soy, we felt this dish was the least successful.. Here it was the highlight.. Or, one of them as there were three spectacular dishes.. But, this was so rich and seasoned.. The chicken was perfect pieces of leg meat.. It was in this coconut broth.. Oh my, i would have it for lunch today if I could.. Staff was really nice, the space was comfortable.. I really love this place..

Crazy, we are a foursome now, baby Jax no longer wants to eat just pureed vegetables.. He was rejecting food but, we could tell he was hungry.. he ate a quarter of a chop...Mother inlaw spent the week at my house while I was in China. Which meant, the place is packed with food.. She is a COSCO shopper and brought over packs of porkchops.. I have to say, they are nice looking chops... Took some garlic anchoy and olive oil and made a paste to marinate. With the leftover paste in the mortar, i made a compound butter.. which i placed over the chops while they cooled. Orange was the only citrus in the house.. it was good. Roasted brussel sprouts and a bag of salad that we doctored up a little cheese for dessert

Just the tip??? You can boil the whole thing

Handsome guys think alike

After a 30 hour day of travel, i arrived home around 8 pm last night.. I was trying to make it to 12 am last night so I could sleep a few hours and make it to the office early this morning.. i was craving cheese and wine. Headed over to my place around the corned and ordered A bottle of our Orange Wine and a baked Epoisse w/ cornichon and bread.. We started baking cheese for the winter.. I love the idea of baking cheese right in the box This hit the spot.

Damn that is beautiful, BV. I recently purchased a German sauerkraut vessel and will start making my own kraut for the Bavarian Weiss I'm selling at my restaurant, when I get back from this trip from China I'm on. Looking forward to sharing the process. Have you ever made your own sauerkraut? My polish butcher insists I use rubber boots to stomp the cabbage, I bought I wooden "pestle" of sorts.

Hey thanks so much. I firstly had the thing marinating for three to 4 days which I think is kind of important for rabbit as it can dry out. This was kind of an accident as I had just simply purchased too much food And then life got in the way. Each grill is different and this indoor guy is hard to control as its a gas grill with not much control and varying hot spots. So there is a lot of baby sitting. But ideally, I would grill a rabbit on a medium hot charcoal grill that would let smoke impart some flavor. i buy my rabbit from this awesome Portiguese butcher that buys beautiful rabbits from this reputable farm. I also like to give this useful advice that the food is done when you want to eat it. My strongest cooking skill is grilling or cooking meat. So I have a good sense of touch and instinct I guess. But you want it to be juicy and just cooked so it's right around where the meat is slightly less cooked than your average organic chicken. A little pink, but definitely cooked through. If I had to guess I would say 140?

Yeh, I don't understand the obsession with Bourdain.. He wrote a good book years ago and since has sort of lived off this fake bad boy reputation.. He is the host of a really good travel show. I don't know what makes him this expert or gives him the credibility.. He is like the John McEnroe of the food world.. A fake bad boy living off his reputation of being a bad boy? He is a self proclaimed average cook.. He is an ok writer.. I feel like the fact that he has a great voice has kept him around this time. I mean, what makes him a bad boy? That he was a junkie who listens to good music and smokes cigarettes? And now he continues to take pot shots at easy targets? Wow he makes fun of Fridays and Paula Dean, wow, you are so bad Tony.. He had a great show because he went to awesome places. And again that voice.. But, really, he adds nothing about the food.. He sits there and eats food and offers very little commentary or description of the food. I mean, i have watched him eat this amazing meals and has offered no insight as to the flavor profiles.. He drinks a little too much, so cool.. Guy Fierri is actually a chef.. He owns restaurants, he has been on BBQ Teams, he has cooking shows.. Sure he might be a little cheesy but, he doesn't seem like some jaded dick.. Smiling is cool, being nice is cool.. And the fact that Guy has ignored him all this time shows he is a bigger person.. And guess what, i bet Guy could kick Tony's skinny butt all over the kitchen or the parking lot.. Anyway, I like Diners Drive in and Dives a lot..I tape it and usually just fast forward to the cooking... I hate the Flavor Town crap but, at the end of the day, i have learned a lot from his show.. He is Americana, he has highlighted some amazing places and people and has helped countless people.. He builds people up and Tony tears people down.

Ha, thank you. Come to Brooklyn, plenty of room!

Eataly Steak: .93 lbs, dry aged, boneless NY Strip: two minutes on each side before the butter: toss in the oven: Plated: Green sauce and hot buttered dryaged juice: A radicchio treviso and frisee salad (a little bacon). The radicchio is so expensive, it was like 11 dollars for two heads. ok, now i am done!

rilled sardines and stuffed squid.. The squid was a stuffed with rye bread, bacon, wine, onion, garlic, thyme, parsley, lemon,paprika and the tentacles.. cooked, stuffed, cooked in wine and tomatoes. bought close to 4 lbs.. A lot of them are salting right now.

spaghetti with clam sauce: some diced bacon, half a yellow onion, a pad of butter, deglazed with some vinho verde, normally this is where i would add some thyme but, i added tarragon instead. then the clams and covered. a squirt of sriracha, after 12 or 15 minutes, the clams had opened (everyone). removed the clams and turned off the heat. Deshelled the clams and tossed the shells. When the pasta cooked, add the pasta and clams back into the sauce some calabrian chile. turned off the heat, added another pad of butter, some scallions and parsley. had the bowls in a hot oven, plated then a squirt of this really beautiful south african olive oil not the prettiest shot.. but the tarragon added a really nice touch, especially with the scallion and parsley.. kept away from lemon, or parm, or thyme. it was just enough different to keep a house staple interesting. the clams were cooked perfectly. actually, the stars lined up tonight. this was as about as close to perfect as I have ever cooked a meal. I had run nine miles before guests came, i showered, cooked and had everything prepped and the kitchen clean in less than 30 minutes. Branzino. Simple prep. detached the filet from the spine on the inside. added thinly sliced garlic, added a scallion in the mouth the ran along the entire cavity, added salt, lemon, and parsley.. tied with a string which helped me turn it. Instead of a spatula, i just grabbed the string and flipped it. I still don't trust this grill though, it has been coming through lately. i am so worried about it imparting the butane taste that ruins food. i feel like i have made a point to keep flare ups to a minimum. i am super sensitive and have not found it. though, i do search for it. 4 minutes per side and then 3 minutes in a hot oven. the grill, though i have it down, is a wild card. so, to make sure, i gave it 3 minutes in the heat.. the internal temp was 135. by the time i plated a filet on each plate, it was like perfect. there was smoke but, no butane in the fish.. the garlic had melted and seasoned the fish.. i salted and then finished with that really grassy oiive oil.. a squirt of lemon. my friend made delicious chinese snap peas: and baked peanut butter and jelly blondies..

So, after salting and then soaking the sardines in a mixture of lemon, lime and orange juice, I covered them in olive oil.

White wine, paprika, garlic and salt. No herbs and I didn't have any. . It was not marinated that long on purpose but, i just couldn't fit it in.. I have a very busy eating schedule. Tossed the rabbit on the grill: Served with scallions and bacon in a cream sauce. I shot of whiskey, a shot of cream, salt, pepper, sugar and shot of lemon. It was fantastic, really.. So damn good.. Served with roasted radishes as well.

So, here are the salted sardines.. After salting for two days, i brushed off the salt and am soaking in citrus.. i will then toss in oil to preserve. This is my buddy's recipe, i am not following exactly but, the process . The schaller and weber folk had given us various meats to slice up. A three hams a couple of different kinds of turkey.. Miss K's bday was this weekend so, we figured it would be a great time to use this.. We essentially had 30 people to the house and only had to buy bread and a few other things. But, relatively inexpensive for a party. This is a honey ham: We walked to Caputo's and got their Italian Sesame and Regular bread, then on our way back we stopped at Bien Cuit. But, it was nice, we had 30 people over and started hard prep around 1 pm that day. Potato salad and mac salad from the Amish Folk brought by my mother. Turkey and various hams, sharp provolone, my green sauce, a little mayo, picked red onions, tomato and arugula. some had regular provolone, some had mozarella and provolone.. I presliced all the meat an hour before and then made the sandwiches as people were coming in. It was so easy and really good. We made pork sliders from a whole bacon they gave us.. Miss K wanted my mother to make her christmas cookies for her birthday.. I thought that was an excellent choice.

had my friend and his wife over for tapas style dinner. while i was about to serve the first thing, the doorbell rings and it's my neighbor who is locked out.. we pour him and a glass and he call the lock smith I am serving clams two ways. I am fairly proficient at shucking clams and oysters. i feel like that's a good life skill. The first is butter and sriracha on the grill, the second is parsley, garlic, almonds, bread crumbs, lemon in the oven. this really well made portuguese chourico and pickles. they take pork butt and soak in wine and thyme and a lot of paprika over night. there is a lot of garlic too. they smoke them and hang them. they are so good. a half a sausage will add a pork smokey flavor to an entire pot of stock. this deli makes them and they are the best I've had i think. Sardines: The neighbor leaves, he returns with his wife and a bottle of whiskey. Friday was an awesome day and it kept getting better. Miss k got straight A's, we got our liquor license, my fish store had sardines and the butcher had rabbit. It was a home run all around. Friends came over and i got to hang out with my neighbor for the first time in a year. grilled about 20 of them and then am trying to cure the rest. Had this pasta from Eataly from the other night. it was the escarole and prosciutto.. I had bought it the night we cooked steak but, completely forgot to cook them.

Hamburgers: I bought this scale at a bar that was closing the other day for 5 dollars. Apparently, it's a 100 dollar scale. Half pound burgers. since it was 90 percent, i added a little melted butter, a little cream, a Worcestershire Sauce, salt, pepper and a little bit of my bbq rub. I bought frozen fries A really juice jersey tomato, mustard and mayo. sadly, i had no onions. I ate this thing a couple of hours before i went to bed and had the absolutely worst nightmares.. I blame this half pound burger.

Hey thanks... Might as well keep going! Left over broccoli rabe and mozzarella stuffed inside a pork loin, served over mashed potatoes.. I braised the loin in a wine, mustard, onion mixture.. Made a pan sauce with mustard and capers. arugula salad with white balsamic onions and a really nice olive oil..

Another dinner from a while back: This was during ramp season around May: friday night, my buddy came over and we helped him prep for a ramp dinner he was cooking the following evening.. We made together a ramp ravioli, a ramp chimchurri, a ramp pesto, pickled ramps and a few other things.. With the left over potato filling used for the ravioli, we made gnocchi. I had mussels and chorizo in the house and it made for a good combo. Basically, in the same pan of wine and butter that I made Miss K's pork chop, i added onions, chorizo and then mussels. Once that opened up, added butter and a punch of parm, a little paprika. we were having "a discussion" on the size of the gnocchi. i kept coming by and cutting his in half. Finished dish... It was freaking awesome.. the potato filling was potatoes with ramps and garlic. one of the better things I have had in recent memory Here was the ravioli.. we froze it. he then had to go on like a hike and prepare this via campfire. i was nervous it wasn't going to make it but, it did... this was one of several trays. Saturday night, i made red snapper with arugula salad and we had leftover gnocchi: i grilled 4 minutes a side, covered in tin foil and added garlic, tomato, parsley and wine. covered an baked for 10 minutes.. served with arugula salad <a sunday dinner was spaghetti with the leftover pasta dough. butter, sage, scallion and bacon. My father in law was very happy. He says, this is his favorite thing i make. Noodles were pretty great. Miss K was upset as she had eaten too much pasta to have as much steak as she wanted.. What an amateur. my father in law is always given one of the bones, then Miss K is next to receive one.. But not this time, heh heh heh. and i got half her potato. A couple of rib eyes from the P-Dutch folks.. Cooked 4 minutes per side, a little butter baste: inlaws and all like it towards the rare side of town. it was just about 120 when i took it off. these steaks were really lovely.. and 12 bucks a pound.. you know from the pdutch that it's organic and grass fed and well taken care of. and for 12 bucks an elbow, thats a deal. Served with potatoes: A couple of pancakes, a few cheeses and a bacon egg and cheese and that is pretty much what I ate that weekend.