Dinner 2021

[liuzhou]

This was supposed to be last night's dinner. The chicken with black garlic got done, but then there was a problem with lights in my kitchen, so the chook spent the night in the fridge.

Sadly, it seems the light situation was more than a dud light bulb. Whether the bulb blew the circuit or the circuit blew the bulb, I don't know. Anyway, I've got a little man coming tomorrow to do his thing and restore sense to my vision. So, dinner was a bit earlier than usual, in order to take advantage of daylight.

 I reheated the chicken, boiled some spuds and pan-fried my world famous sprouts. At last!

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by liuzhou
multiple typos (log)

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday was cold and rainy.  The whole weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy.  So I made a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, radishes that roasted in the pan alongside the chicken, and spinach.

 

[David Ross]

18 hours ago, Anna N said:

Does this help? Click

Yes thanks for searching.

[gfweb]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Last four nights have been frozen French fries.  I am not ashamed.  A new brand for me, Alexia, that are pretty acceptable.  This afforded an opportunity to compare APO "air fried" to traditional deep fried potatoes, at least as far as frozen French fries are concerned.

 

The APO potatoes were better than expected, at least until they got cold.  But the deep fried potatoes were far better, and were tasty even after no longer hot.  Deep frying is a little more mess than air frying, but deep frying takes less time.  Thus I conclude there is no point to air frying French fries.  At least as far as frozen French fries are concerned.

 

Full disclosure:  three nights were Kenji smash burgers, tonight was tuna salad.

 

 

When potatoes cool their starch can re-arrange itself (from the changes wrought by heating to the gelification point) and change texture. Over the years I've seen this after cooling in some boiled potatoes and not other types cooked at the same time(IIRC red potatoes didn't and purple did).  So at least some of the issue with the cooled fries may be potato type and not method of cooking.

 

Somewhere lurking on eG is a retrogradation maven who can address  this.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

53 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

When potatoes cool their starch can re-arrange itself (from the changes wrought by heating to the gelification point) and change texture. Over the years I've seen this after cooling in some boiled potatoes and not other types cooked at the same time(IIRC red potatoes didn't and purple did).  So at least some of the issue with the cooled fries may be potato type and not method of cooking.

 

Somewhere lurking on eG is a retrogradation maven who can address  this.

 

But the batches were from the same bag of frozen French fries.

 

[gfweb]

29 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

But the batches were from the same bag of frozen French fries.

 

Well that's different.

 

Nevermind.

[Duvel]

34 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Well that's different.

 

Nevermind.

Retrogradation of starch is a slow process, and simply letting the food cool down to rt typically does not affect it much in terms of the retrogradation process.

 

That being said, I would expect a different outcome of the two samples, as the moisture content would be different from my point of view. Air frying is a baking process, with oil droplets aiding the heat transfer and therefore should yield a drier product than deep frying. 
 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Duvel (log)

[Kim Shook]

@liamsaunt – I had to laugh at your post about the salmon on salad because, with some exceptions, I tend to side with your niece.  As someone who detests hot, spicy foods, I confess to hating it when I come across spicy stuff in a salad.  It feels like a betrayal – similar to how I feel about spicy desserts.  Hot things on salads I can go back and forth on.  To me, steak has no place on a salad.  I’m ok with hot shrimp but prefer cold ones.  Same with fish.  I would certainly eat hot salmon on a salad, but I’d rather have it cold.  However, to be completely contrary, I love “killed lettuce/spinach” – iceberg or Savoy spinach topped with a right out of the frying pan dressing of bacon, bacon grease, and vinegar.  So, tell your niece she has an ally 🤪!

 

I can’t see those Lion’s Head mushrooms without thinking of these weird venomous caterpillars we started hearing about in Virginia last year. 

 

@Ann_T – Happy Birthday to Moe!  And what a lovely thing to be able to say.

 

@Shelby – everything looks good, but especially those strawberries 🥰!  How I wish I could find them that small.  Also, in keeping with the fact that we could apparently move into one another’s homes and everything would be familiar, I have a very similar pitcher to the one that you have your peonies in 😄. 

 

Mr. Kim had to fast last Sunday for a medical test on Monday.  So, he picked a favorite pizza place for dinner on Saturday:

It cannot measure up to the incredible home made pizzas y’all make, but it was pretty good. 

 

Since I was eating alone on Sunday, I thawed an ET bagel and piled on some smoked salmon cream cheese:

 

Wednesday was breakfast for dinner:

 

Edward’s country ham:

 

Scrambled eggs and @Duvel's potato pancakes:

Which, I think are NOT exactly like his even though he very kindly sent me his recipe and answered a couple of last-minute questions.  I think that being a little lazy and shredding them in the Cuisinart is NOT the same as “grating” which is what his recipe calls for.  But they were delicious, and everything was properly cooked – crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.  Thank you so much, @Duvel!  I used beef tallow to fry them – not sure that did anything for the flavor, but they were gorgeously crunchy.  Served with a fruit salad of blackberries, pineapple, and mango dressed with lime juice and Sister Schubert rolls and bacon jam:

 

 

Thursday was Toad in the Hole and I used one of the enamel roasting pans that Jessica gave me for the first time.  Found Irish bangers at Fresh Market.  After a partial roast of the sausages and red onions with the batter poured on:

 

Out of the oven:

 

I used beef tallow and I don’t think that I could detect any difference from the usual oil.  Served with leftover potato pancakes and green beans:

 

And onion gravy:

[Duvel]

6 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

  Thank you so much, @Duvel! 

Thank you for making them, @Kim Shook - they look gorgeous ! And I have to steal the idea of frying in beef tallow 🤗

[JoNorvelleWalker]

12 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Thank you for making them, @Kim Shook - they look gorgeous ! And I have to steal the idea of frying in beef tallow 🤗

 

This ties into a question I had recently about potato pancakes:  what exactly are "grated" potatoes and how are they achieved?  My Ankarsrum mixer has a potato grating attachment.  However after using it once to less than good results I realized it is intended for grating cooked potatoes, not raw.

 

[gfweb]

7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

This ties into a question I had recently about potato pancakes:  what exactly are "grated" potatoes and how are they achieved?  My Ankarsrum mixer has a potato grating attachment.  However after using it once to less than good results I realized it is intended for grating cooked potatoes, not raw.

 

 

To me, grated is by hand on a box grater with a raw potato. Food processors have a disc for this as well.

If for pancakes or hashed browns, I soak them to rinse off starch and then squeeze dryish in a dish towel.

[Shelby]

59 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Also, in keeping with the fact that we could apparently move into one another’s homes and everything would be familiar, I have a very similar pitcher to the one that you have your peonies in 😄. 

😁We're twins

 

My gosh I want that onion gravy right now.  A vat of it.

[TdeV]

I was working on differentiating from previous food bits for Backyard Wine Tasting, so these dishes vary greatly from former times (which I haven't yet shown you). Our neighbour has been regularly dropping in to join us and this time brought over some of his barbecue, salmon and ribeye (sorry no photos)

 

This was made with the Bamix (C) chopping blade: half dozen garlic scapes, handful cilantro, ~12 oz sour cream, 4 oz fresh goat cheese, salt and couple tablespoons lemon juice.

 

Using Eric Ripert's VEGETABLE SIMPLE as inspiration, the next was an olive tapenade made with garlic clove, variety of olives, handful cilantro, generous tablespoon of Kozlik's Sweet & Smokey mustard, zest of large lemon, a tablespoon or so of lemon juice, several drizzles of fine olive oil, pinch salt.

 

Also using Eric Ripert's VEGETABLE SIMPLE as inspiration, the next is hummus made with Rancho Gordo black chickpeas (Desi Chana), tahini, lemon, good olive oil, garlic and paprika.

 

Served with all the crackers remaining in the house!

 

And 5 bottles of wine! 🤣

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by TdeV
Missing ingredients (log)

[Duvel]

26 minutes ago, gfweb said:

grated is by hand on a box grater with a raw potato

That‘s how I do it as well. Afterwards I grate the onion on the same grater. I used to rinse the potatoes too, but have given up on that, as I did not find it to make any difference to the product I make ...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

19 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

To me, grated is by hand on a box grater with a raw potato. Food processors have a disc for this as well.

If for pancakes or hashed browns, I soak them to rinse off starch and then squeeze dryish in a dish towel.

 

Yes, but I have two box graters with ten different sides between them; a Cuisinart with about thirteen different discs; an Ankarsrum with two separate grating attachments for half a dozen textures; and I'm sure some way of grating with my KitchenAid.

 

What exactly is the proper grater for potatoes?  @Kim Shook said her shredder was not ideal.

 

[gfweb]

2 minutes ago, Duvel said:

That‘s how I do it as well. Afterwards I grate the onion on the same grater. I used to rinse the potatoes too, but have given up on that, as I did not find it to make any difference to the product I make ...

I've wondered too re rinsing since for potato pancakes or latkes, I end up dusting them with flour.  I think rinsing matters for hashed browns, though.

 

And wringing probably is useful for both.

 

Thoughts?

[Duvel]

3 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

What exactly is the proper grater for potatoes? 

That one 😜

 

[gfweb]

4 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Yes, but I have two box graters with ten different sides between them; a Cuisinart with about thirteen different discs; an Ankarsrum with two separate grating attachments for half a dozen textures; and I'm sure some way of grating with my KitchenAid.

 

What exactly is the proper grater for potatoes?  @Kim Shook said her shredder was not ideal.

 

I'd say use the disc that makes look like it was box-grated with my 4-sided grater.

[Duvel]

3 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I've wondered too re rinsing since for potato pancakes or latkes, I end up dusting them with flour.  I think rinsing matters for hashed browns, though.

 

And wringing probably is useful for both.

 

Thoughts?

I also don’t wring them ... but then again, with the grated onion, the flour and an added egg a little water from the potatoes doesn’t matter much.

 

I certainly agree on the washing and the wringing on products where you want to have visually distinguishable and/or individual strands of crispy potato. 

[Kim Shook]

24 minutes ago, Duvel said:

I also don’t wring them ... but then again, with the grated onion, the flour and an added egg a little water from the potatoes doesn’t matter much.

 

I certainly agree on the washing and the wringing on products where you want to have visually distinguishable and/or individual strands of crispy potato. 

I did wring mine (not rinse) because, like you said the strands were very much visually distinguishable.  I think that next time I'll grate them on a hand grater like yours, but do it the "short way" - across the potato rather than end to end, so that I get a shorter strand.  

[BonVivant]

First chive blooms, finally. "Mapo" has broad bean paste and chilli oil.

 

2 small cuttlefish and pasta with their ink. Lots of it.

 

Sicilian

[cteavin]

This is a savory kabocha pie, this one I seasoned with a bit of garam masala and served it alongside a medley of sautéed vegetables for a low(er) calorie dinner.  

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, BonVivant said:

Sicilian

 

What is Sicilian?

[heidih]

24 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

What is Sicilian?

I assumed the capers but my assumptions usually follow the adage of "making an ass out of you and me".

[Shelby]

I was gonna say it was the wine 🤷‍♀️