Dinner! 2013 (Part 6)

[Dejah]

How did you make the batter?

I used 1 cup of flour + 1.5 tsp. baking powder and .5 tsp. salt. Chilled this in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Whisked in 1 cup of beer and chilled in the fridge again until the fish was dredged with seasoned flour.

Whisked in enough cold soda water to make a batter. Dipped the fish in and deep fried in a mix of canola oil and rendered beef fat. I topped it up with canola as I didn't have quite enough beef fat.

I have never tried the chilling part before and it seemed to have made the difference in maintaining the crispy texture.

Any other suggestions would be most welcomed.

[Norm Matthews]

I plan to fry some catfish on Sunday so I copied your technique and will try it. Thanks Dejah.

[robirdstx]

Chicken Parmesan

[ChrisTaylor]

Apologies for the shite photograph but here's tonight's dinner: fish and chips. The fish is Murray cod, an Australian freshwater species. Considering the size of the fillets once I removed them from the carcass, the fact that it seemed impossible to pin bone it without making a mess and my unfamiliarity with the species I stuck to pan-frying it. The skin was removed before we ate it: not for bullshit health reasons but because it's not a particularly pleasant thing to eat, apparently. Well, at least according to some website sponsored by a very nasty beer. The fish itself wasn't bad. A bit sweet in flavour but not in the way of, say, King George Whiting. Inoffensive without being bland. Might stand up to something like a salad (i.e. dressing) or curry. In fact, that might be a more appropriate treatment than what I did. The frites--triple-cooked--were a mix of Dutch Creams and sweet potatoes. Having never cooked sweet potatoes in fry form before and finding most of the recipes available online to be weirdly complicated (i.e. a four stage cooking process plus a reheating stage) or too health-centric (i.e. steam in organic kale juice while you're at yoga class). The sauce was the New Orleans-style remoulade from John Currence's Pickles, Pigs and Whisky.

[Anna N]

Sous-vide chicken breast with microwaved broccoli. (I did not think that I would ever eat a boneless, skinless chicken breast by choice but sous vide kept this juicy and tasty. I am sure others can produce the same result in more traditional ways but this is my way.)

[Anna N]

A dinner from a day or so ago. Linguine with peas and leftover chuck tender. A very little parmesan and butter for a sauce.

[Kim Shook]

I’ve been gone so long that I don’t dare go back and comment on all of the incredible meals that you have all been sharing. But I have been keeping up and reading and WANTING so many things!

My long absence was due to technical difficulties that SEEM to have been fixed now (thanks so much to Chris!). I haven’t posted in forever, so I’ll start with Thanksgiving. We did Thanksgiving at Jessica’s. We potlucked it – I did the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberries (the forgotten dish – it languished in the fridge until after dinner). Everyone else did side dishes and dessert.

Jessica’s delicious salad.

Sweet potato latkes with brie and arugula. These were fantastic. Jessica made them in honor of Thankshannukah. I really didn’t expect to like them since I prefer my sweet potatoes to taste like dessert, but they were fantastic.

My mother’s fruit salad.

Jessica’s challah and dried fruit dressing. Another winner – she tried 2 new things this year and both were really good.

My MIL did the baking – apple pie and pecan. Also her wonderful yeast rolls. The feast:

Some more recent meals - spaghetti with meat sauce and Italian sausage:

Breakfast for dinner:

Skyline chili dogs and baked beans:

With Skyline chili nachos:

Apparently Cincinnati chili is an acquired taste, but we loved it as soon as we tried it when we lived in southern Indiana. Luckily we have a Kroger grocery store (Cincinnati based store) that stocks frozen Skyline chili and can get a fix pretty fast!

Decorating the tree night. We decided with everything going on this fall, we’d punt the traditional fondue meal and just go with the basics:

Steak with béarnaise and Jessica’s mushrooms, Marlene’s crispy smashed potatoes and collards. We also had salad and bread (crusty rolls and cornbread) and I bought a cake that no one had room for!

I’ve got more to post, but it is mostly still in my camera!

[Paul Bacino]

Bacino's Cioppino's --Sounded Good to Me!!

Nothing real special about the Proteins !!

[rotuts]

PB : Yum still I think you have small plates or scallops on 'Roids.

just saying ...

[Anna N]

Baked salmon with miso butter glaze, steamed broccoli and some tiny sweet tomatoes that I tossed in with the salmon while it baked.

[judiu]

Kim, can you give out the Rx for the fruit salad, or is it a family secret?

[kayb]

Last night: Leftover blackeyed peas and jail slaw from New Year's, along with sweet potato and pulled pork barbecue hash. A favorite stand-by for a quick meal, as there's a good bbq joint less than a quarter-mile from my house.

[Plantes Vertes]

Dare I ask about 'Jail Slaw'...?

[Norm Matthews]

Fish seems to be a theme this week. Here was our dinner. I made fried catfish, hushpuppies, coleslaw (cooks recipe) and brussels sprouts.

[heidih]

Dare I ask about 'Jail Slaw'...?

As member kayb noted in the New Years cooking topic

Crittenden County Jail slaw (that's where I learned to make it, and no, I wasn't an inmate!) -- vinegar and mustard based slaw, very tart and very crunchy.

[Dejah]

Dry Stir-fried Cumin Beef - Hakka style as presented in The Hakka Cookbook - Danford Dragon Restaurant
Thinly sliced beef stir-fried in a hot wok and a little oil. Removed from the wok. Chopped onion, ginger, garlic, hot peppers, cumin, red chili flakes and curry leaves (my addition 'cos I love the flavour!) fried separately until fragrant. The beef is tossed into the veg mixture. Add a splash of dark soya and thinly sliced green onions. The recipe called for Asian chili sauce, but the peppers gave enough heat, so I left it out. This is the best version of dry cumin beef I've found. Served with stir-fried bell peppers, blanched gai lan and rice.

[patrickamory]

Is it time to start the first Dinner! 2014 thread?

[liuzhou]

Is it time to start the first Dinner! 2014 thread?

Done

Host Note: 2014 http://forums.egullet.org/topic/146716-dinner-2014/