Dinner! 2014 (Part 1)

[huiray]

Fried Sweet and Sour Baby Back Ribs. The sauce was based in Worcestershire and ketchup. I know, not really authentic Chinese cuisine but very tasty. The hardest task was cutting the rack of ribs in half to make little riblets.

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Googlemaps shows Spokane has numerous "Asian" groceries - perhaps one could pick up short-cut pork spare ribs from one of them for next time? (If they are not offered in Western-type markets/butchers)

[heidih]

Fried Sweet and Sour Baby Back Ribs. The sauce was based in Worcestershire and ketchup. I know, not really authentic Chinese cuisine but very tasty. The hardest task was cutting the rack of ribs in half to make little riblets.

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Googlemaps shows Spokane has numerous "Asian" groceries - perhaps one could pick up short-cut pork spare ribs from one of them for next time? (If they are not offered in Western-type markets/butchers)

Yes- I buy mine at the big Chinese market (99 Ranch) and they saw them for me to the size I want in less than a minute.

[Dejah]

Luckily, I can buy short cut ribs at our non-Asian supermarkets. I guess our population is such that there is a demand for these "sweet 'n' sour" cut ribs.

I've been making coffee-flavoured ribs that we first tasted in Singapore - a lovely change from sweet 'n' sour.

[patrickamory]

David, your ribs look amazing.

Another run at the Four Seasons Crisp Duck (Margittai/Kovi era).

Ducks drying in fridge, day one:

Ducks drying in fridge, day three:

Marinade after three days (shaken vigorously each day) - honey, soy, unpeeled garlic, ginger, tangerine peel, whole peppercorns, crushed coriander seed:

Ducks, pricked, marinated and roasted for 90 minutes directly on the oven rack over a pan of water:

Served with wild rice and green beans.

[Ann_T]

David, your ribs look amazing.

Another run at the Four Seasons Crisp Duck (Margittai/Kovi era).

Ducks drying in fridge, day one:

ducks_day_one.jpg

Ducks drying in fridge, day three:

ducks_day_three.jpg

Marinade after three days (shaken vigorously each day) - honey, soy, unpeeled garlic, ginger, tangerine peel, whole peppercorns, crushed coriander seed:

marinade.jpg

Ducks, pricked, marinated and roasted for 90 minutes directly on the oven rack over a pan of water:

ducks_finished.jpg

Served with wild rice and green beans.

WOW!!!

[Franci]

Patrick, nice! Can I bother you? Do you mind sharing the details even PM if you prefer?

I'm going to make a duck for CYN but I've not made my mind yet, I was thinking of deep fried duck, or the pressed duck from B.Tropp or the braised duck from Sunflower http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/09/braised-duck-with-plum-sauce.html that is also very good. But yours looks spectacular!

[patrickamory]

Glad you guys enjoy it! It's actually pretty simple except for three aspects:

1. You have to start 3 days in advance

2. You have to have a completely clean and cleared-off fridge rack that you don't mind putting raw meat on

3. You have to have a completely clean oven rack that you don't mind putting raw meat on - and cleaning it up after!

Here's the recipe, adapted from The Four Seasons by Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi:

2 ducks - mine were fresh, a bit over 5 lbs each, rinsed, dried, giblets reserved, excess fat from the cavities pulled off

for the marinade:

1 cup light soy sauce

2 tbs honey

2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

1.5 tsp black peppercorns

rind of 1 tangerine or half a large orange, julienned

2 garlic cloves, peel left on, each cut in half

1 oz ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

Clear off a rack in your refrigerator, clean it, and place the ducks on it next to one another, not touching, so the air is able to circulate freely around the ducks and dry them. Place a pan below the ducks to catch any drippings (there will be some). Leave in the fridge, undisturbed, for 3 days.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a jar and mix thoroughly (it may be difficult to get the honey to dissolve into the soy sauce). Cover tightly and shake vigorously. Place in the fridge for 3 days, shaking well once daily.

On the day you plan to eat, 3 hours before dinnertime, remove the ducks and the marinade from the fridge. DON'T PRESS ON THE BREAST - it will leave little black dots where your fingers were when it emerges from the oven. Using the point of a sharp knife, prick the ducks all over except on the breasts.

Place a rack over a pan and place the ducks on the rack, breast side up. Make sure the marinade is well mixed. Strain it, discarding the solids and reserving the liquid. Now brush the marinade all over the ducks - be sure to cover them both as thoroughly as possible - and spoon the remaining marinade into the cavities. Allow to dry for 15 minutes. If there are any marinade drippings on the bottom of the pan at the end, scrape them up and put them in the cavities.

Then, arrange your oven racks so that one is at the lowest level and one directly above it. Make sure that the upper one is clean - the ducks are going to rest directly on them. Fill a pan large enough to catch the drippings from both ducks with 3 quarts of water, and place the pan of water on the lowest rack. Now preheat the oven to 350F.

Place the ducks side by side, not touching, directly on the oven racks, and allow to cook undisturbed for 90 minutes.

Remove both ducks very carefully (this is tricky), decant the cavity juices into a bowl, and place them on a carving board to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

The juices can be served as gravy or used as the basis for a number of sauces using the reserved giblets and other ingredients.

Optional steps: place tea leaves in the pan of water. And/or sprinkle ducks with a tablespoon of ground Sichuan peppercorns before resting.

[Dejah]

Patrick: What Ann_T and Franci said...DOUBLE that, actually...Wow...WOW!

[Anna N]

Scrambled eggs with cheese and scallions over a portabello cap with some sauteed bean sprouts.

[scubadoo97]

The eggs look really creamy Anna

Tonight I made my first ever SV chicken confit.

Thank you Anna N for the time/temp recommendation

[Blether]

Thanks, Franci. I really admire your cooking.

aaaaaannnnnnndd... once more with feeling. I did sear those onions, honest. And the Chilean Chardonnay I chose blind from the shelves turned out to be on the sharp side, so I tossed in a good handful of raisins (not having sultanas in stock). Spuds hastily zapped and bashed in their jackets:

Good to see you still rocking the kitchen talent, Patrick.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Blether (log)

[Dejah]

Anna N: I love the look of the creamy eggs on portabello cap and the beansprouts. I think you also did the poached egg on cap with spinach and grape tomatoes? I made that last week and loved it. Now, I must make this latest version.

eGullet is indeed a wonderful source for "what should I make for..."

Last night, we had the Citrus Marinated Roast Chicken from Fine Cooking that Smithy had in her blog. Even before cooking, the whole thing looked delicious and refreshing for a cloudy Jan. prairie day.

Smithy added pomegranate; I added kaffir limes leaves.

While it was in the oven, the smell was incredible!

The finished product:

A bite?

Definitely a keeper! Thanks Smithy for the inspiration!

[Anna N]

The eggs look really creamy Anna

Tonight I made my first ever SV chicken confit.

Thank you Anna N for the time/temp recommendation

............

How did you manage to get the chicken so evenly and perfectly browned?

[scubadoo97]

Perfect? Not quite but thanks Anna.

I decanted off the liquid from the bags and used the fat that floated to the top to brown the chicken. Just used a large non stick pan. I dried off the chicken as best I could but part of it still fell apart. It popped like the dickens and made a big mess around the cook top and floor even with the use of a splatter screen. But sometimes you have to make a mess to make good food. All part of the process

I'll likely do this again soon. Dinner was delayed a bit and the chicken sat floating in the bath with the Anova turned off for an extra hour. I'll likely shorten the time on the next go round.

[Ann_T]

Robirdstx, beautiful grill marks on your lamb chops.

David, Love the glisten on your baby back ribs. They look delcious.

Anna, I love bean sprouts but have never thought about serving them for breakfast. I need to cook them more often.

Inspired by Unpopular Poet, I made Maximum Flavour's Beef Short Ribs, using prime rib bones.

Escargot another night.

[Anna N]

Perfect? Not quite but thanks Anna.

I decanted off the liquid from the bags and used the fat that floated to the top to brown the chicken. Just used a large non stick pan. I dried off the chicken as best I could but part of it still fell apart. It popped like the dickens and made a big mess around the cook top and floor even with the use of a splatter screen. But sometimes you have to make a mess to make good food. All part of the process

I'll likely do this again soon. Dinner was delayed a bit and the chicken sat floating in the bath with the Anova turned off for an extra hour. I'll likely shorten the time on the next go round.

Thanks. You are better than me at browning them stove top! I followed Dave's suggestion in the confit topic and finished them in a screaming hot oven.

[scubadoo97]

It's a long topic thread. Missed the oven part. I won't tell my wife

[mm84321]

If anyone ever has the chance to make black truffle ice cream, I highly recommend it. The combination of truffles and chocolate is truly delicious.

[ChrisTaylor]

Kangaroo fillet. Went the 'steak and eggs' route. Hit it with some of the Modernist Cuisine mushroom ketchup. Too lazy to think of or prepare anything more complicated. Been meaning to find the happy point, time- and temperature-wise, for 'roo fillets. The problem with grilling them exclusive was evident with this pieces: the middle was nicely cooked but the ends were overdone. Overdone 'roo is like overdone impala/venison/etc: not at all something you want to have.

Edited January 21, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[nickrey]

Kangaroo fillet. Went the 'steak and eggs' route. Hit it with some of the Modernist Cuisine mushroom ketchup. Too lazy to think of or prepare anything more complicated. Been meaning to find the happy point, time- and temperature-wise, for 'roo fillets. The problem with grilling them exclusive was evident with this pieces: the middle was nicely cooked but the ends were overdone. Overdone 'roo is like overdone impala/venison/etc: not at all something you want to have.

Try sous vide 52C for an hour Chris. Post cook sear on a blisteringly hot pan.

[nickrey]

Chicken breast marinated in Teriyaki sauce with ginger and garlic, cooked sous vide at 65C for an hour then seared on a grill pan over high heat. Served with wok seared bok choy in oyster sauce and home-made kimchi [adapted from home-made sauerkraut (see this post)].

[rotuts]

"" Kangaroo fillet ""

Im assuming you mean the same muscle as the Beouf has? the psoas muscle ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoas_major_muscle

tender? not much real taste?

so does the 'roo psoas have more taste than beouf's? what does the rest of the 'roo taste like?

say a Chuck 'Roo Burger?

[ChrisTaylor]

I'm not entirely sure where 'roo fillet comes from, biologically-speaking. It's lean but so is the entire beast. Not particularly tender unless you hit that perfect medium rare sweet spot and even then you'll want a steak knife. It's game. One of the few 'game' meats in Australia that is actual game. Shot in the bush. Too, there's no part of 'roo I've had you could describe as lacking in flavour.

I guess the closest thing you've probably had, comparison-wise, is venison. The venison I've had was farmed, tho', so it was quite mild. Yet to gain access to the wild shot stuff. Altho' if you've had game from southern Africa before maybe kudu is also in the same territory. Intense.

Edited January 21, 2014 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[nickrey]

I'm pretty sure it's the tenderloin.

[Morkai]

A few recent dinners.

Michael Ruhlman's weeknight coq au vin.

Shrimp and grits.

Placki ziemniaczane z sosem grzybowym (potato pancake with mushroom sauce)