Dinner 2014 (Part 7)

[Franci]

I went to Eataly today and I bought some salumi. So I baked a pide, a Turkish flat bread, and we had some mortadella, coppa and a very good speck and some piave vecchio that we like a lot. Some salad on the side.

[Dave W]

Oh my that salumi looks amazing

[BKEats]

That looks wonderful, Franci. 

 

Tonight, we had a meal that was totally foraged from the house.  Weather was nasty and a quick search, provided enough things for a lamb stew.    even the potatoes had been cooked and leftover from the weekend's gnocchi.

Guinness and lamb stew.  

 

Carrots, celery, rutabaga, garlic, tomato, lamb, some anchovy, some garam masala, soy, thyme, brown sugar, tomato paste.. served over mashed potatoes. 

 

 

 

I ended up throwing risotto in at the end for another day. it's such a strong stock that i will add some more water after and it will be a rice soup.  

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by BKEats (log)

[patrickamory]

Franci and BKEats : in totally different keys, yum!

[Dejah]

Found some lovely thick pieces of cod today, so we had fish 'n' "chips", which were cut up pieces of baby taters.

 

 

 

Batter was just flour, rice flour, 1/2 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp vinegar, and enough soda water to make a smooth batter.

 

Did up some Chinese Char Siu on the BBQ today to make baos for when kids all come home for the holidays.

 

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Just a bowl of dashi.

[rotuts]

Dejah:

 

Chinese Char Siu on the BBQ

 

how do you make yours ?

[huiray]

Various stuff.

 

Carrots & leafy celery in chicken stock w/ chicken fat.

 

Fried rice w/ celery stems, eggs scrambled in situ, and using leftover "Chicken Rice" rice (from here; scroll down).  Yu choi sum blanched in chicken stock/broth.

 

Slice of Bête Noir and a rasberry-sugar-covered chocolate truffle from Rene's Bakery.

 

Soup.  Big-leaf tong ho & straw mushrooms (canned); in a broth made from (already salted) gingery chicken & mushroom stock diluted down a bit, some rice bran oil (in addition to the chicken fat already present), lightly crushed garlic cloves, generous ground white pepper, a few good dashes of jozo mirin, a splash of fish sauce.

 

Sliced beef stir-fried (peanut oil) w/ lots of chopped smashed garlic & sliced bittergourd.  A dash of fish sauce & a bit of sea salt.  White rice (basmati).  Leftover broth (with the straw mushrooms & tong ho, from above) w/ chopped scallions.

[Dejah]

Dejah:

 

Chinese Char Siu on the BBQ

 

how do you make yours ?

I usually hang the chunks of pork in the oven to roast, but this week, the oven was strictly for Xmas baking.

 

It was a large boneless pork butt cut into thick chunks and pricked with a fork to allow the marinade to get into the meat..  The marinade is hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese rice wine, red food colouring, honey, 5-spice powder. The pieces were marinated for 2 days, turning over a few times

then cooked in the BBQ at 300F...got some nice char pieces.

[Dave W]

I make mine very similarly on the WSM no water pan.

I like to add bean sauce to the marinade too and rose wine. Maybe that's the taste I learned in SF?

[huiray]

With regards to char-siu:  It needs to have a significant amount of FAT in the cuts used to make it, and they need to be caramelized to some extent for lusciousness.  Largely fat-free/mainly lean pork cuts for char-siu are simply not desirable in my books.  My understanding is that large swaths of the Cantonese eating public also tend to think this way.

[Dejah]

With regards to char-siu:  It needs to have a significant amount of FAT in the cuts used to make it, and they need to be caramelized to some extent for lusciousness.  Largely fat-free/mainly lean pork cuts for char-siu are simply not desirable in my books.  My understanding is that large swaths of the Cantonese eating public also tend to think this way.

Thus the pork butt...  Love the fatty parts AND the grisly bits...

[paulpegg]

 

I made a killer paella with lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, chorizo, onions and red peppers. I used lobster stock to keep the rice cooking properly. This was a big one that fed 10 people.

 

 

[huiray]

Thus the pork butt...  Love the fatty parts AND the grisly bits...

 

Yes.

 

And also why it is often also said that the best char-siu (by Cantonese/Southern Chinese folks) is the stuff that is "poon fei sau" meaning "half fat half lean".

[huiray]

Yes.

 

And also why it is often also said that the best char-siu (by Cantonese/Southern Chinese folks) is the stuff that is "poon fei sau" meaning "half fat half lean".

 

Continuing in this discussion, the "red-stained" all-lean pork loin or whatever that is often seen in many NA "Chinese" restaurants and, um, "lower quality" SE Asian restaurants/food stalls are regarded as poor quality char-siu.  Notwithstanding North American preferences for lean, fat-free pork.  In most Chinese/SE Asian (Chinese community) markets, completely lean pork (or almost fat-free pork cuts) is one of the hardest things to sell, as many folks simply shun it, and is therefore also cheaper than the cuts which have fat interleaved with the lean.

[paulpegg]

Here is the Deconstructed Pumpkin Pie I made for Thanksgiving. Recipe complements of Le Bernadin.

 

 

Sorry I haven't been here in quite a while. I got caught up in many other projects and just took a moment to come back.

 

 

[rotuts]

paulpegg

 

been missing your Posts

 

glad to see you back.

 

SV for 80 soon ?

[paulpegg]

paulpegg

 

been missing your Posts

 

glad to see you back.

 

SV for 80 soon ?

 

 

SV for 80? I have already used my system for 150. I built this thing in 2010 and have used it constantly ever since. The new clip on SV systems for $200 look pretty good to me for home use. Times change fast when you are having fun.

 

Best,

 

Paul 

[rotuts]

Ive followed your Work and your rig.

 

many pardons :  i was referring to the more Intimate, Gala Affairs.

 

 

I think the two Anova's  ( which I have and have not used yet 

 

would work fine for much larger loads :  if you used insulated  top and container systems.

 

chill / freeze / or not and reheat.

[suzilightning]

Salad and a lasagna that Johnnybird could eat ... a bison ragu and instead of ricotta drained lactose free cottage cheese that egg and herbs were stirred into.

Taking the Corning container out of the fridge to heat some up for lunch it slipped out of my hands and now I am minus a lasagna and a glass container that shattered.  Dang... that was the third container I have broken in 2 days...WTF?

 

Guess I will use up the sausage dressing and pork chops with gravy.

Edited December 17, 2014 by suzilightning (log)

[Shelby]

Salad and a lasagna that Johnnybird could eat ... a bison ragu and instead of ricotta drained lactose free cottage cheese that egg and herbs were stirred into.

Taking the Corning container out of the fridge to heat some up for lunch it slipped out of my hands and now I am minus a lasagna and a glass container that shattered.  Dang... that was the third container I have broken in 2 days...WTF?

 

Guess I will use up the sausage dressing and pork chops with gravy.

Lasagna sounds wonderful.  I need to make that soon.

 

I go through periods where I drop and break TONS of stuff.  Most recently I shattered a bowl that I loved from my mom.  Sigh.

[suzilightning]

Lasagna sounds wonderful.  I need to make that soon.

 

I go through periods where I drop and break TONS of stuff.  Most recently I shattered a bowl that I loved from my mom.  Sigh.

 

Thanks, girl.  I thought I was the only one and I am not looking forward to the lecture I will be getting from the husband about how clutzy I am.

[Anna N]

So I was out at lunch today at Thai restaurant but did not have room for my salad so it came home with me and became my dinner. It is a Thai beef salad that is on the far side of what I can tolerate comfortably spice-wise!

[c oliver]

Oh my, Mmmpomps. That is a brilliant idea. My son-in-law and granddaughter would think this the best idea ever. The perfect delivery system for their beloved mashed potatoes.

Agree that it's brilliant!  I've got to copy that.

[scamhi]

Dinner last night the first dish was the last of the white truffles for me for the season. Second dish is grilled lamb with apricots, mint  and turkish spices