Dinner 2016 (Part 6)

[JohnT]

It may not look all that great — but it was! Below is one of four batches of Mozambique prawns, fried in a butter/EVOO/lemon juice and garlic with a good dash of peri-peri. Served on a bed of rice with lemon wedges!

[Tri2Cook]

Chuck roast is in the smoker along with a pan of beans seasoned with bacon, onions, garlic, molasses, brown sugar, mustard, tomato sauce, wooster-cester-shister-shyster-schuster-shister-sister-shire and assorted seasonings. Made up a batch of German potato salad, it's doing it's thing in the fridge. When the chuck gets about 4 hours of smoke, I'm going to wrap it in foil on a bed of onions with a little beef broth and stick it in a 225 F oven to finish. I'll toss the beans in the oven at that point as well, I need the smoker for some shrimp I'm going to toss in when the beef comes out and I think that will be plenty of smoke on the beans by that point. Should all be ready to eat just in time for the evening rebroadcast of today's stage of the Tour de France. Had to go in to work for a bit this morning so I missed the live broadcast.

[Tere]

wooster / wusta / woosta  did a quick check with hubby - neither of us would add the shire

 

liuzhou did a phonetic translation a while back.

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, Tere said:

wooster / wusta / woosta  did a quick check with hubby - neither of us would add the shire

 

liuzhou did a phonetic translation a while back.

That's okay, I know how to say and spell it. That was a Looney Tunes reference. Some of my childhood refused to be left behind, I'm still a fan of Looney Tunes.

[sartoric]

This is ham hock and pearl barley soup ex freezer.

Served with tomato, onion and cheddar toasties. I sprinkled some dried mixed herbs on the toasties for an earthy flavour.

I could live on toasties.

 

[Auro]

Today's dinner was Ossobuco.

I tried make a faster ossobuco, only 1 hour cooking.

I marinated the meat for 6 hours in a brine of pineaple skin, salt and pepper.

The taste and the texture was very good!

The gremolata I made using skin of kumquats or kinkan, passeri and garlic.

 

[sartoric]

@Auro that looks delicious, one of my all time favourites.

 

Can I ask, did you brown off the meat after marinating ? Did you use a pressure cooker ?

Thanks in advance

[Auro]

I browed the meat in the pan and cooked in the stove.

[ProfessionalHobbit]

We have a dinner party tonight so there won't be much in the way of pix.

 

 

 

B is definitely Mr. Organized.

 

 

Lamb meatballs with barberries, to be served with yogurt and mixed herbs -- from Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem", page 199

 

Most of what will be served tonight was made in advance, hence the photos of food in Tupperware.

 

 

Saffron rice with pistachio and mixed herbs, from "Jerusalem", page 105.

 

 

Poached pears in white wine and cardamom, from "Jerusalem", page 267.

 

Here are two vegetable sides for tonight:

 

 

Scarola con fave, olive e mozzarella -- escarole with fava beans, olives and mozzarella

 

 

Fagiolini con pomodoro -- Romano beans braised with San Marzano tomatoes

[Tere]

Sounds like a wonderful way to give a dinner party. I used to love entertaining and my main motto was either prepare in advance for quick reheat (or not) or as simple as possible

[Fava]

Dinner last night was Mussels in a broth of Wine, some Butter, Pepper corns, Bay leaves, sliced red Onions, over an open fire, accompanied by fresh, sliced rolls to mop up the sauces. The sides of Tomatoes and Corn didn't seem all that necessary, but they disappeared eventually too. The whole thing happened in the Gazebo with lots more Wine and good company.

[mgaretz]

My first home-cooked meal after being on the road for two weeks.  Tri-tip (of course!).  This was a big one at 3.75 lbs.  I dry-brined it with salt, a bit of pepper and a some dill seeds for two hours (vacuum-packed) and then into the SV at 128F for 8 hours then finished with a torch. (Really loving my Sansaire Searing Kit.)  It was as tender as prime rib but way more flavorful!

 

 

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, mgaretz said:

My first home-cooked meal after being on the road for two weeks.  Tri-tip (of course!).  This was a big one at 3.75 lbs.  I dry-brined it with salt, a bit of pepper and a some dill seeds for two hours (vacuum-packed) and then into the SV at 128F for 8 hours then finished with a torch. (Really loving my Sansaire Searing Kit.)  It was as tender as prime rib but way more flavorful!

 

 

 

@mgaretz, thank you for that information about the sous vide time and temperature.  I have a tri-tip awaiting the arrival of my new Anova; now I have general tips on how to set it up!

 

@Fava, I don't want to repeat all your beautiful photos, but they are well worth the look.  That sounds like an excellent meal...and I have a serious case a Magnalite envy. That looks like one huge pan, and very well maintained. 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I reheated the leftover Shake 'N Bake chicken with a couple biscuits that I made the other day. I made mashed potatoes and chicken cream gravy from chicken drippings and fat I always save in the freezer. I had gravy on my crumbled biscuit as well as the potatoes. My husband only wanted gravy on the potatoes, but what does he know, being from Pittsburgh and all. 

[huiray]

13 hours ago, ProfessionalHobbit said:

B and I went to Sam Wo, a so-called San Francisco institution whose claims to fame were one extremely rude waiter and crowd-pleasing food.

 

The restaurant closed a few years ago after having failed a DOH inspection and then reopened last year at a new location.

 

Hong Kong-style iced milk tea

 

Duck jook.  Was as average as you could imagine a bowl of porridge to be.

 

Mongolian beef.  It was as unexciting as it looks.

 

Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.  The stems were tough but the leaves were not.  I'm learning to distrust any review written by Michael Bauer (restaurant critic of the SF Chronicle).

 

Salt-and-pepper chicken wings.

 

This was billed as a "must-get" item, and while I don't know about that, it was easily the best thing we ate last night.

 

And now that we've been to Sam Wo, we don't ever have to go back again.  I suppose I could have posted this in the California subforum, but I thought I'd spare y'all the disservice of an entry.

 

Sam Wo

713 Clay Street (Kearny Street)

Chinatown

San Francisco

 

I took a look at the dinner menu (and also the lunch menu) of this place. I don't know the past or present reputation of this place, but just from the menu I would hesitate to order something like Mongolian Beef from what seems to be a Cantonese place that seems to specialize in Noodle dishes and rice-combination dishes. The tough kai-lan was a bummer and they should have done better, yes. The duck congee? Maybe that wasn't what they excelled at in their repertoire of congees? It's not something that is very often eaten for dinner in (again) a Cantonese restaurant, anyway... for lunch or breakfast, more likely** - maybe they served the dregs of it augmented with fresh (under-prepared) congee?  But also, Cantonese taste profiles are much more muted than, say, Szechuanese or Hunanese - is that a factor? Just wondering.

 

Many Chinese restaurants have a certain "skew" towards some dishes being excellent - due to the particular abilities and proclivities of the chefs, whether or not it is a famed restaurant or a hole-in-the-wall place. Many menu items are there because of "expectations" but they may not be what the chef is good at. Yes, even at the best places.

 

But when all is said and done, maybe this place is simply no longer what it was before if it was good to start with. Yes, true, some would also say that if something is on one's menu it should be excellent, otherwise why put it there? But that argument is more relevant to high-end Western cuisine restaurants. Lower-end ones would have that familiar panoply of all sorts of things, while many Chinese restaurants fall into the trap of what I referred to above.

 

** Even if I myself, personally, would eat congee for the night-time meal if I felt like it. :-) 

Edited July 17, 2016 by huiray (log)

[ProfessionalHobbit]

1 hour ago, huiray said:

 

I took a look at the dinner menu (and also the lunch menu) of this place. I don't know the past or present reputation of this place, but just from the menu I would hesitate to order something like Mongolian Beef from what seems to be a Cantonese place that seems to specialize in Noodle dishes and rice-combination dishes. The tough kai-lan was a bummer and they should have done better, yes. The duck congee? Maybe that wasn't what they excelled at in their repertoire of congees? It's an unusual item for dinner in (again) a Cantonese restaurant, anyway... for lunch or breakfast, more likely - maybe they served the dregs of it augmented with fresh (under-prepared) congee?  But also, Cantonese taste profiles are much more muted than, say, Szechuanese or Hunanese - is that a factor? Just wondering.

 

Many Chinese restaurants have a certain "skew" towards some dishes being excellent - due to the particular abilities and proclivities of the chefs, whether or not it is a famed restaurant or a hole-in-the-wall place. Many menu items are there because of "expectations" but they may not be what the chef is good at. Yes, even at the best places.

 

But when all is said and done, maybe this place is simply no longer what it was before if it was good to start with.

 

 

The Mongolian beef wasn't my order, that was what B wanted.

 

If you read the review, Bauer says that the chicken jook had an intense flavor.  I wasn't in the mood for chicken, so I tried the duck jook.  I'm also Chinese (family is from Fujian and some relatives are from Canton), so I know what to expect when it comes to jook.  I found myself dosing it liberally with the pot of chili paste they had on the side.  ETA @huiray -- I expected there to be some level of flavor.  You know, like if the cook seasoned the jook with ginger or with white pepper or whatever.  After all, jook is just rice porridge with toppings; it's the liquid the rice is cooked in that contributes part of the flavor.  What I received was just not very exciting as far as congee/jook goes.  One other thing that I almost forgot.  The waitress asked me if I wanted a fried doughnut to go along with the jook.  I said yes, of course.  Well, when the order arrived, the doughnut didn't come.  On second thought, maybe it was good that they forgot the order because we realized we ordered too much at that point.

 

And since you bring up the point that they're a Cantonese restaurant, very little of what was available was what I would expect from a Cantonese restaurant.  No steamed fish with scallion and ginger, no seafood or roast meats other than the rice plates, hardly any food along the lines of what you usually post.  Most of it, since you saw the menu, was fried rice, noodle dishes and Americanized renditions like sweet and sour pork and beef with broccoli.  A touch disappointing, but whatever.  Maybe I should have gotten the pork jook with preserved egg, but something tells me that if the duck jook failed, the pork with preserved egg wouldn't have been good either.  Call it a hunch.  Or maybe we ordered wrong. 

 

We only went because I had heard so much about it, and also because it's #13 on Eater's list of places to eat in SF's Chinatown.  For what reason it's #13, I have no idea.  It was worse than the most forgettable Chinese takeout I've had in this country.

Edited July 17, 2016 by ProfessionalHobbit (log)

[mgaretz]

11 minutes ago, ProfessionalHobbit said:

We only went because I had heard so much about it, and also because it's #13 on Eater's list of places to eat in SF's Chinatown.  For what reason it's #13, I have no idea.  It was worse than the most forgettable Chinese takeout I've had in this country.

 

I have not eaten there, but I have eaten at their #7 pick, Hunan Home.  It's definitely Americanized Chinese food, but it was done very well.

 

House of Nanking is also "famous" (also maybe infamous) for their waiters that will tell you what to order.  I've only eaten there once, but I remember it was good, if different than any other "Chinese Food" I have had before.

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

Lamb meatballs with barberries, yogurt and mixed herbs (parsley, mint, chervil).

 

We have a ton of leftovers, LOL.  Oh well, I suppose that's a good problem to have.  Anyone who wants to fly to SF is welcome to take some of this off our hands.

[ProfessionalHobbit]

31 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

 

I have not eaten there, but I have eaten at their #7 pick, Hunan Home.  It's definitely Americanized Chinese food, but it was done very well.

 

House of Nanking is also "famous" (also maybe infamous) for their waiters that will tell you what to order.  I've only eaten there once, but I remember it was good, if different than any other "Chinese Food" I have had before.

 

I'll keep that in mind.

 

I have been to #6 on Eater's list several times.  Good lunch spot.

 

ETA it's Hon's Wun Tun House for those who are curious.

Edited July 17, 2016 by ProfessionalHobbit (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

With dinner, as with life, sometimes one must adopt plan B.

 

Dinner was intended to have been Fagioli e Tonno -- Rancho Gordo Marcella beans and recently acquired Callipo tuna.  For this I made flatbread in the Cuisinart CSO-300N.  Flatbread that was supposed to have been a baguette.  Oops

 

I prepared a timer for the beans but I forgot to tum it on.  Worse, I did not add enough liquid.  The top fifth or so of the beans were dry.  This should add an interesting textural contrast to the finished dish.

 

Anyhow I postponed these cares until another day.  I opened a bottle of Zinfandel.  Looking around in the refrigerator I found a sous vide lamb chop and reasonably fresh green beans.

 

I seared the chop in a drop of barely burning grapeseed oil, turning off the smoke detector first.  The lamb was perfect.  Seeing an abundance of rosemary and recently rendered ovine fat, I briefly sautéed the thirty second green beans in the fragrant grease.  Laughingly I wiped my chin with tasty sops as the unctuousness ran down my cheeks.

 

Did I mention the Zinfandel?

 

[suzilightning]

Sweet and sour turkey meatballs with coconut pineapple rice and olive oil roasted green beans.

 

[HungryChris]

Pepperoni and cubanelle pepper pizza.

HC

[David Ross]

After visiting an Indian restaurant in Sacramento last week, I'm now doing some experimenting at home.  Last night I did baby back pork ribs in my smoker.  Slathered first with a Madras curry paste, (which was mild), then in the smoker for 5 hours at 250 over alder wood.  I typically use alder wood for salmon, and would have preferred something like oak or hickory but didn't have any. I couldn't get very close to duplicating the fragrant mint sauce the restaurant served with samosa's, but my version was quite good.  About 2 cups fresh mint leaves, 1 cup cilantro leaves, one large clove garlic, 1/2 yellow onion, tamarind juice, sugar, salt, pepper, 1/2 a jalapeno, bit of lemon juice and some water.  I'll stir some olive oil in tonight when I use the rest of the mint sauce.  Had I used local pork, I suppose I could stretch the descriptor and call it a Northwest farm-to-table Indian dish.

 

 

 

[huiray]

@ProfessionalHobbit, thanks for the additional commentary about Sam Wo. Appreciated. So much for that place, then. :-( 

[huiray]

Couple of meals.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

More of the chillied pork cheeks w/ daikon (from here).

Served over rice and w/ sliced cucumber ("Tasty Green"; from [Funny Bone Farm]) & sliced scallions.

 

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Salt & Pepper Shrimp, the night's version.

I used "大頭紅蝦" ("Big Head Red Shrimp") picked up from a local Chinese grocery – I strongly suspect they were Argentine Red Shrimp. These were pretty red and were around 7 inches long on average. (And yes, the taste (after cooking) & texture was lobster/crayfish-like and what I expected from either Royal Reds or, indeed, said Argentine Red Shrimp which I have had before.)

Washed shrimp patted dry, floured w/ corn starch, shallow-fried (big pan), reserved on paper towels. Dry-toasted ground black+white pepper plus kosher salt, reserved. Oil in hot pan, julienned ginger & sliced garlic, de-seeded red Thai chillies, lots of trimmed scallions, reserved shrimp added back in, gently turn/fold over, reserved toasted pepper & salt sprinkled over, folded/turned over. Plated.

 

Plus "flash stir-fried" thin asparagus and halved baby zucchini.

 

Several bowls of white rice.