Dinner! 2012

[patrickamory]

C. sapidus the Sodsook will get a reprieve while I try that recipe!

I was also planning a green curry of chicken for a friend tomorrow... may change that to beef balls...

[Paul Bacino]

Sometimes you just need the Action shot!!

These are 2.5 inch strip steaks, with a BMS of about 6-7. Seared on my 1/4 " SS plate and finished with a french butter sauce. ( Plugra Butter, garlic, lemon zest, parsley )

Edited March 11, 2012 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Paul Bacino]

Last of the weekend!!

Hickory Smoke Wings!!

[ddelima]

Sous Vide Filet Mignon with Warm Mushroom Salad and Duck Fries

[rotuts]

PB: may I ask what 'BMS of about 6 - 7" means?

those steaks really look delicious. how did you finish them?

[Paul Bacino]

Rotuts-- its a grading scale used for Beef ( Beef Marbling Scale/Score ).. 6-7 is a decent about of marbling in the meat>

I get most of my beef here: http://www.majinolameats.com/

[rotuts]

Wow. good for you. it looks so delicious and would be better not SV!

[ChrisTaylor]

I've finally got around to uploading photos from the southern dinner. Apologies for the terrible, washed-out photos. I got out the SLR (you'll see it in a couple of the shots, just resting on the table) with the express purpose of taking nice photos of everything, but after ~10 hours on my feet after a whole week of teaching, I sort of just sat down on the tiles when I was finished and let my partner take care of the photography (when she has the flash turned on and takes a picture with her camera, it's a little bit like that Danny Boyle Sunshine movie, where at the end the heroes all die hurtling slow-motion into a star and talking into handycams, but manage to save the world by reigniting the sun). You can notice this most of all, I think, on the beef chuck. It had a little bit of olive oil w/ parsley drizzled over the top but came out in the photo looking like it'd been sitting in a pool of congealing fat underneath a heat lamp for a couple days.

Popcorn crocodile and some boxes of cakestuff my sister brought.

Rice, barbecue chicken (the competition thighs from Lang's Serious Barbecue), black-eyed peas, popcorn crocodile, red beans, coffee and garlic-crusted smoked chuck (see what I mean about the congealed-look?), chicken and sausage gumbo (using the andouille I made a while ago).

A friend brought along Heston Blumenthal's perfect chilli con carne. It was very good.

Keith_W's popcorn, corn and jalapeno salad. Very nice.

Two versions of forum lurker Nich's chocolate/rum/chicory tarts.

Some fudge my sister made.

Pineapple upside down cake from one of Nich's friends.

Cupcakes from my sister.

annachan came with gifts. For context, this sort of thing is hard-to-find here (even in well-stocked stores, like the Casa Iberica deli and Oasis Bakery I showed you in my blog, you'll only find ancho, chipotle and maybe one or two other varieties of chilli--and you'll pay ~$10 for a bag of two or three).

Edited March 11, 2012 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[ScottyBoy]

OOOOooooOooohhh I wish I was there!

Sunday Funday with hamburgers after a marathon of work. Had to cut sideways to eat it but was good.

Kobe chuck, blue cheese, tomato, mayo, home made ketchup, ice burg lettuce (a burger must for me) on potato bread.

[dcarch]

I have been traveling for a few days. There have been a ton of great cooking by everyone. I feel selfish looking for inspiration from everyone's good work and not letting you know how impressed I am.

Back in the kitchen.

Birshire pork ravioli in chanterelle mushroom gravy.

Real wild rice (harvested the traditional way) with chestnuts.

Strawberries with cream cheese.

dcarch

[ScottyBoy]

Dude this strawberries are awesome! Thats a lot of work.

[dcarch]

Dude this strawberries are awesome! Thats a lot of work.

Thanks.

Not as much work as Coffee jelly and sauce with yuzu whipped cream.

dcarch

[C. sapidus]

Paul Bacino – your hickory smoked wings look fabulous

ChrisTaylor – that looks like a wonderful feast, and it is always fun (if sometimes humbling) to eat other eGulleteers’ cooking

ScottyBoy – now that’s a burger!

dcarch – another amazing display of food and art

My bro and his wife hosted a chilli cook-off, so I tried something different

Smoked pork butt

Smoked pork butt chilli

[Keith_W]

Thanks chris for having us over. It was also great to meet some other eG'ers at that dinner party. The food was sensational, with special mention to the pastries that Nich brought along.

dcarch I am pretty intrigued ... how did you get those shapes for your ravioli? Did you actually cut them with scissors, or do you have a special cutter? And how did you cook your rice? Did you wrap it up in lotus leaves and then steam it?

Edited March 12, 2012 by Keith_W (log)

[patrickamory]

Paul those hickory wings look amazing.

Below are some photos of my Thai meal tonight.

First, Bruce's chicken thighs Isan from Victor Sodsook. I think Bruce might have scraped off the marinade before grilling (I actually roasted and broiled) - I could have benefited from doing that. The dipping sauce is Sodsook's vinegar with sugar, salt and Chinese garlic-chili sauce. It's quite thick and sweet.

Then I made Su-mei Yu's green curry with meatballs and squash. Her version of the curry is quite a bit thicker and sweeter than David Thompson's (Thompson actually makes a point of adding no sugar to green curries).

It's also a more complicated paste, incorporating a great deal of roasted dry spices (cumin, caraway, white peppercorns and coriander seeds), a puree of jalapenos for color, along with the usual array of bird chiles, garlic, salt, coriander root, kaffir lime zest, galangal, lemongrass, shallots and shrimp paste (which I roasted first).

Partial mise of paste ingredients:

The chiles going into the wetgrinder (the paste at this point already includes garlic, salt, coriander root and the dry spices):

The finished green curry paste:

The ingredients for the meatballs: ground beef, minced yellow corn, chile water squeezed from the jalapeno puree, and salt:

Thai basil (incorrectly marked and marketed by Kalustyan's here in NYC as holy basil):

The kaffir limes were full of way more juice than they normally are; I used an extra short squeeze in the curry and adjusted the flavors accordingly:

The remaining chile water is added for color (in Thailand, they use the minced leaves of the chile plant):

And the final green curry, including the yellow squash, kaffir lime leaves, halved green chiles, fish sauce, white sugar, some more chile water, and of course coconut cream and coconut milk along with the Thai basil, the meatballs and the curry paste:

Edited March 12, 2012 by patrickamory (log)

[Kim Shook]

ChrisT – lovely sounding meal! So glad you posted the pictures. I know exactly what you mean about the flash pictures. I need some lessons, because when I use my flash, everything turns out like that !

Paul – what are potato tops? They look great.

David – your lamb is absolutely gorgeous – exactly like I like it to look!

dcarch – your ravioli are so beautiful and whimsical that they made me laugh out loud!

Bruce – your butt is divine !

My mother and I went to visit my grandmother in NC for the weekend. Mr. Kim welcomed us home with a great dinner. We started with some cheese and crackers:

Point Reyes bleu and aged Gouda.

He made a massive and delicious muffeletta with all kinds of meats and cheeses and a homemade olive salad that was perfect:

And his wonderful Emeril-inspired split-pea soup:

This is one of my favorite soups. It only takes about an hour and a half to make. It’s hard to believe that something so fast can be so good.

Dessert was red pears, grapes and date-nut roll:

The perfect meal at the end of a long drive. And he even did the dishes (the cook is usually excluded from that duty in the Shook house).

[Paul Bacino]

Kim,

I take red russet potatoes, cut in half and just peel the sides and bake , leaving the top with the skin on!!

Paul

[mm84321]

Miso black cod with daikon broth

Squab roasted with carrots and dates

[C. sapidus]

Patrick – Wow, that’s quite an undertaking, and I am jealous that you have access to kaffir limes. How did you like the green curry?

First, Bruce's chicken thighs Isan from Victor Sodsook. I think Bruce might have scraped off the marinade before grilling . . .

Actually I did not, but I probably pureed the paste a bit longer (and made barely enough, so I had to spread it thinly). Did Victor get a reprieve, or is he still on the chopping block?

Also, how do you like your wet grinder?

Kim – thanks, and kudos to Mr. Kim on the welcome-home meal

Chilli cook-off leftovers for dinner tonight: chicken tamales; macaroni and cheese; cole slaw; cornbread; and the remaining pulled pork tossed with Mayhaw Man’s Western NC BBQ sauce replica (click) , my favorite BBQ sauce so far.

[patrickamory]

Bruce the green curry was delicious, thanks, but creamier and sweeter than I'm used to. I think I may prefer David Thompson's thin salty broth. But they really are two different beasts.

I love my wetgrinder. It's the Ultra Pride+ and it really has made it easier to make curry paste. The key thing which people don't even mention is that you can be prepping the next ingredient while the wetgrinder is grinding the previous one. The only difficult part is getting all the paste out. I feel like the grinder "eats" about a fifth of it.

Tonight I made chole from Maya Kaimal's book. It was interesting to find a Punjabi recipe in a south Indian cookbook, which instantly interested me (why the outlier), and I had had Rancho Gordo garbanzos soaked and ready to go. This was delicious. (Surprisingly, especially delicious with the leftover Sodsook chicken and jasmine rice).

[ScottyBoy]

Delicious everyone, Delicious!

[FrogPrincesse]

Seafood risotto

[Pilori]

Made a dinner from The French Laundry At Home with my girlfriend for my parents - first time really cooking from this book and it was really fun!

"Linguine" with Clams

Dungeness Crab Salad with Cucumber Jelly and Frisee (used some arugula instead)

"Fish and Chips" (used sea bass since I couldn't find red mullet near me)

Whipped Brie and Port Reduction (sorry for the weird focus!)

Strawberry Shortcake

Edited March 13, 2012 by Pilori (log)

[nikkib]

Wow pilori - all looks great and I bet your parents were impressed!

[Keith_W]

pilori, it is posts like yours that keep me coming to this thread! Superb effort! I would be proud to serve a beautiful meal like that.