Lunch 2019

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

the traditional sauce for Peking duck in Beijing is not sweet at all - but in fact is quite herbal

 

I'd love to know more about that sauce - especially a name

I've been eating Beijing Duck in Beijing for a quarter of a century and have only ever been served the tian main jiang, even in 便宜坊 (biàn yí fānɡ), the oldest Beijunng duck restaurant, established in 1416. 

 

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

It reminded me of some traditional chinese medicine remedies I've used in the past.

 

That doesn't sound like much of a recommendation! 😄

 

[KennethT]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I'd love to know more about that sauce - especially a name

I've been eating Beijing Duck in Beijing for a quarter of a century and have only ever been served the tian main jiang, even in 便宜坊 (biàn yí fānɡ), the oldest Beijunng duck restaurant, established in 1416. 

 

 

That doesn't sound like much of a recommendation! 😄

 

She called it "traditional Beijing hoisin" but I don't know if it's really a hoisin or something else that she called hoisin just because she figured it was a word that I was familiar with.  I can try to find out from her more info....

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

She called it "traditional Beijing hoisin" but I don't know if it's really a hoisin or something else that she called hoisin just because she figured it was a word that I was familiar with.  I can try to find out from her more info....

 

 

Thanks. The Chinese name would be nice, if possible.

[Raamo]

For Lunch Saturday I made Alton Brown's Shakshuka, we've made Serious Eats Version before, AB's required more planning.  I started the lemons 6 weeks ago.

 

 

We did 7 eggs, this was amazing, way more complex in taste then the SE version, bit more work to plan, but once you make the prerequisites you have quantity for making quite a few of this.

[blue_dolphin]

That looks great, @Raamo and thanks for the link. I'll have to remember to try that Urfa Biber Harissa next time I make a batch and will try this version of shakshuka when I do.  I'm still working my way through a big batch of harissa from the recipe in Shaya. 

[Anna N]

On 11/27/2019 at 3:18 PM, nickrey said:

duck egg cooked sous vide for 2 hours at 62.5C (144.5F). Peel and serve. I chilled all of them and reheated at 50C.

My duck egg supply was miraculously  replenished yesterday so I am finally getting around to doing this. Two duck eggs each weighing 104  grams are going into the sous vide for a couple of hours. Will report back later.

[liuzhou]

36 minutes ago, Anna N said:

My duck egg supply was miraculously  replenished yesterday so I am finally getting around to doing this. Two duck eggs each weighing 104  grams are going into the sous vide for a couple of hours. Will report back later.

 

 

Do you know what breed of duck these come from? I just checked my  8 duck eggs I bought earlier today and the heaviest is 78 grams.

Edited December 5, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Kerry Beal]

25 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

Do you know what breed of duck these come from? I just checked my  8 duck eggs I bought earlier today and the heaviest is 78 grams.

 

Not sure - I'll ask my egg go between to check with the egg lady what breed. 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Two duck eggs each weighing 104  grams are going into the sous vide for a couple of hours.

 

36 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Do you know what breed of duck these come from? I just checked my  8 duck eggs I bought earlier today and the heaviest is 78 grams.

 

I've only purchased duck eggs once, at the local farmers market.  They were reportedly from Khaki Campbell ducks.  They averaged around 73 grams each.  I felt rather cheated, compared with the monsters @Anna N is getting. 

Though, I will say that the ratio of yolk to white was much higher in the duck eggs than in the chicken eggs I buy.  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

Do you know what breed of duck these come from? I just checked my  8 duck eggs I bought earlier today and the heaviest is 78 grams.

I am beginning to blush for the size of my duck eggs!

[Kim Shook]

@Duvel – Mr. Kim and I have a dream of spending a holiday season in Europe – the German Christmas market figure prominently in those dreams.  He’ll love seeing your pictures. 

 

@liuzhou – gorgeous Peking duck.  That is my favorite duck preparation.  Not only do I love the skin, but I am a philistine and like my duck cooked all the way. 

 

I finally got one of these:

It was very good, as chicken sandwiches go.  I’d still rather have an actual piece of bone in chicken.

 

Went to brunch after church this past Sunday at Home Sweet Home in Carytown.  Started with poutine and fried pickles:

 

The poutine tasted good and the fries were great, but not too sure that was cheese curds on top.  The pickles would have been fantastic with another 3 minutes in the fryer.  The restaurant is all about grilled cheese variations.  Jessica had the Upstate – super sharp Vermont Cheddar, applewood smoked bacon and gala apple on honey wheat with a side of maple syrup and tomato soup.  I had the WTF – fontina, home smoked brisket, caramelized onion and fried sage leaves on mountain herb bread, also with a side of tomato soup:

There was no detectable smoke in the brisket and I couldn’t taste the sage leaves either.  A good sandwich, but without the stand-out qualities touted.  Mr. Kim had the DHW Memorial Sandwich (??) – house smoked pork, Edwards country ham, homemade kimchi and pimento cheese on white.  Except they ran out of kimchi and didn’t give him the chance to change his order – they just brought it out (late) as a fait accompli.  Everything we had was fine – good even.  But it was all just a little same/same.  And if your signature side dish is tomato soup, it should be excellent.   

 

I had some leftover prime rib and baked potato from a restaurant meal the other night.  Heated them up in the CSO and made a sandwich with the beef:

Really good and tender.    

[heidih]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

I am beginning to blush for the size of my duck eggs!

 

I'd guess yours are from Pekin ducks - they are huge compared to KCs

[Anna N]

 

 

 

 

The above photos are especially for @rotuts. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Lunch. 

[heidih]

Ummm taste was?  Gotta love the consommer rapidement!  

[nickrey]

Seems to be a lot of pork in the green pepper duck terrine. How did the duck egg go?

[Anna N]

57 minutes ago, nickrey said:

Seems to be a lot of pork in the green pepper duck terrine. How did the duck egg go?

Yes there is a fair bit of pork but it’s quite tasty. I did report back on the duck egg in the breakfast topic. It was a little overcooked to my mind but I wondered if that was the reheating. I put it into a 50°C bath for 15 minutes.I was wondering how you went about doing the reheating before service.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Anna N
Duplicate sentences (log)

[nickrey]

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

Yes there is a fair bit of pork but it’s quite tasty. I did report back on the duck egg in the breakfast topic. It was a little overcooked to my mind but I wondered if that was the reheating. I put it into a 50°C bath for 15 minutes.I was wondering how you went about doing the reheating before service.

 

About the same. The original recipe I worked from had a two and a half hour timing. I tried one and a half and two when I wasn't satisfied with the longer time. The two was closest to my needs. Perhaps the true time is sometime between 1.5 and two hours.

 

Edited to add: Perhaps there was another factor. I rapidly chill in ice water to arrest cooking. If you put them in the fridge, they could have continued to cook. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by nickrey
Added additional comment (log)

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, nickrey said:

About the same. The original recipe I worked from had a two and a half hour timing. I tried one and a half and two when I wasn't satisfied with the longer time. The two was closest to my needs. Perhaps the true time is sometime between 1.5 and two hours.

 

Edited to add: Perhaps there was another factor. I rapidly chill in ice water to arrest cooking. If you put them in the fridge, they could have continued to cook. 

 

After some thought and a little bit of research I think I am concluding that the egg was in fact as it should be for an onsen egg. I did chill the eggs down before refrigerating them. But today I was curious so I took the second egg straight from the refrigerator and broke into it without any reheating. 
 

 

The only thing I could think of to do with a cold egg was to make an egg salad.  Was a little bit different than usual but quite tasty. I added some chopped scallions and a wee bit of Hellmann’s and some salt and pepper and served open face egg salad sandwiches. 
 

 

OK so a lot of pepper. 

[BonVivant]

"Otto" and "Max"

 

I didn't see it coming when I took the fall. Now I know... nothing breaks like a Neufchâtel heart.

 

Für Elise

 

--------

In Sevilla:

 

 

Grilled tuna steak

 

"Presa"

 

For the same price in the Sierra you get 100% Iberico (see chart)

[kayb]

So glad to see Mousie back. He makes me smile.

 

[Kim Shook]

Today - tuna salad and egg salad on toasted naan:

[Anna N]

 

I was anxious to try these which have been in my freezer for a week or two. I don’t think I have even the faintest clue what an English Bangert should really be in terms of taste or texture. It is been far too long since I was in Britain. 

 

Accompanied by an egg, some fried mushrooms, some blistered tomatoes and toast. 
 

here is an interior view of the cook sausage.

 

 

To me it seemed almost emulsified like a hotdog whereas I was hoping for something with a lot more texture. Perhaps @liuzhou will chime in with his take on a true banger. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Beet and clementine salad with clclemtine juice and zest, cumin and EVOO.

 

 

And,.WHAT is THAT????   

 

Well, it started out to be caccio e pepe pizza.   The dough was proofing by heat of the oven pilot.    When husband, who was tending a burning pile, gave me a 30 minute readiness signal, I got distracted and turned the oven up to 550 to preheat.     After some 10 minutes, noticed "cooking bread" aroma and...%$@#...my DOUGH's in there!!!e    Realizing that it was already as bad as it could get, I coaxed it onto a baking sheet, tossed on the crushed ice and threw it back in the oven.    When kind of done, swooshed Romano cheese onto.into the somewhat juicy top,  then coarse pepper and EVOO.      It was actually edible.    And great flavor.   I will definitely do this again...but with head in game.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Perhaps @liuzhou will chime in with his take on a true banger. 

 

It's about 25 years since I lived in England, but I can say that your  "banger" looks wide of the mark. It does look to be an emulsified, industrial effort probably made from mechanically separated meat (MSM).

 

A true English banner is seldom to be found in supermarkets (there are exceptions, though), but more in old fashioned butchers' shops, where they are hand made from real meat and appropriately spiced. My own preference was for Cumberland sausages made by my local butcher. Sadly he and his shop are long gone. When I was back in UK this summer I did have one excellent sausage from a pop-up food cart in London's Covent Garden. It was meaty and well-spiced.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

40 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

It's about 25 years since I lived in England, but I can say that your  "banger" looks wide of the mark

Thanks very much for chiming in. Not sure we have much in the way of choice in terms of supermarket sausages here. These are made by the supermarket and another supermarket makes a lot of their own sausages.  But that’s not to say they are not mechanically made. I rather doubt there is a dedicated sausage maker back there balancing flavours and textures! It’s a shame because it’s hard to beat a good sausage. The obvious answer is to make your own but I am long past that in terms of energy or enthusiasm.