Dinner 2023

[Ann_T]

Moe mentioned deep fried wontons yesterday, so while we were out I picked up the wonton wrappers and made wontons.

I used my regular wonton recipe but instead of using them in soup,

 

I deep fried them and made a dipping sauce out of apricot jam, rice vinegar, garlic, grated ginger and Thai sweet chili sauce.

[Duvel]

Technically, just as my last Christmas “dinner” post, this is lunch. But as we start at 16.30h and go on for some hours, the dinner thread is appropriate as well …

 

 

 

Second day of Christmas one of my wifes aunts is hosting the 30+ members if the family. Just as on Christmas day, the menu is hard coded, no deviations. I started the dinner by demolishing the iberico plates …

 

 

As usual, kids got their fill of macarons, while the adults prepared themselves for the lunch …

 

 

After aperitif & snacks, we were served small sweet red peppers, stuffed with bacalla, pine nuts and raisins, then dressed with beixamel and gratinated with some cheese …

 

 

 

I could eat a lot of those (and actually did). This is followed by “veal” fillet, marinated in white wine, lemon juice and Dijon mustard, then briefly grilled on a plancha. Served with samfaïna …

 

 

 

Followed by torróns, traditional Christmas sweets, brandy, coffee, the works. Champagne, of course, and good conversations …

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

Wow .

 

does this go on for 12 days ?

 

what's the pasts dish ?

 

Whats for donner @ 2230h ?

 

Bechamel improves almost everything.

Edited December 27, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[liamsaunt]

potato soup

 

[lindag]

YUM!!!

[lindag]

3 hours ago, Duvel said:

 ...Christmas sweets, brandy, coffee, the works. Champagne, of course, and good conversations …

 

 

 

 

 

What a glorious spread!!!

[gulfporter]

Chicken birria.  It's not really a thing here where goat or beef is standard depending on village.  But I had a wet pack of birria seasoning and a 1/2 a Pollo Feliz al carbón.   So, voilla!

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

川味回锅肉 (chuān wèi huí guō ròu), Sichuan Twice-Cooked Pork. Literally Sichuan Taste Return (to the) Pot Meat)

 

Fatty pork belly, lean pork leg meat, celery, garlic, chilli, ginger, douban jiang, scallions, fermented black beans. Twice-cooked refers to the the technique of first boiling the pork belly, then slicing it then stir frying it with the other ingredients. Served with rice.

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[OlyveOyl]

Crab salad, slaw and tomatoes vinaigrette.  Jumbo lump was a Christmas gift and for a change from crab cakes, I made a salad with rémoulade dressing.

Raspberry tart with pistachio pastry cream for dessert.

[liamsaunt]

I let my niece choose the menu last night, and since her brother was going out to eat with friends she chose a meal that he dislikes: chicken katzu, smashed cucumbers and rice.

 

[liamsaunt]

This is not what we had for dinner, but what will be for dinner tonight.  I have a question.  I have 54 ounces of leftover prime rib roast from Christmas dinner that I want to serve to the meat eaters tonight.  It is off the bone, in one piece, and was cooked to the rarer side of medium rare.  I want to keep it at about that same level of doneness.  Can I sous vide it and get that result?  I have a sous vide but basically never use it.  If it will work how long will it take to reheat?    Or would you suggest another way.  Any advice from more experienced meat cooks than me would be greatly appreciated!  

[Kerry Beal]

Keep it below 53º C - I'm sure a couple of hours would heat it through in a single piece. Sliced it would probably only require 30 min or so. 

[rotuts]

I think you will be fine w the @Kerry Beal  suggestion.

 

and you are safe to keep it a bit longer if other items take up your time.

 

Id think about the fat on the meat .  I do like a little fat w beef , less so w reheated beef.

 

consider a trim of sorts  Id also add a little beef stock if you have it to the bag.

 

save that to drizzle over the cuts.    Im guessing the beef will be refrigerated .

 

if you know the portions you want out of that beef , consider portioning first when the beef is cold

 

re-assemble and SV the whole together 

 

im always interested in before , during , and after pics , BTW

[Norm Matthews]

After the ham dinner on Christmas eve, I used leftover ham to make ham and egg salad.  By the time I remembered to take a picture, it was almost gone.  Early this morning Charlie asked if I would make a tuna casserole.  While I was trying to remember if I had ever made one before, he explained that he had first had one when someone I was dating in the early 1990's made it for us. He was surprised that he liked it. Then his cousin's wife had made it a few years ago when he  was visiting. He described what was in it and I found a recipe that covered those ingredients.  It was topped with potato chips. He said it was good. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Norm Matthews (log)

[gfweb]

Braised short rib ragu

 

[Duvel]

After all the holiday food, I just baked a rye bread and put some cold cuts & cheeses on the table (plus pickles, Schmalz and - for some reason - octopus) …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No complaints ☺️

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, Duvel said:

After all the holiday food, I just baked a rye bread and put some cold cuts & cheeses on the table (plus pickles, Schmalz and - for some reason - octopus) …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No complaints ☺️

I don't know if we've had this discussion before but does your schmaltz have bits of rendered chicken skin and/or onions? If so, that's what my grandmother and father would call gribenes in Yiddish. Schmaltz was just the pure fat.

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

I don't know if we've had this discussion before but does your schmaltz have bits of rendered chicken skin and/or onions? If so, that's what my grandmother and father would call gribenes in Yiddish. Schmaltz was just the pure fat.

Indeed. Griebenschmalz will contain pieces of the crisped skin and meat bits, but in this case from pork 🤭 …

 

This one has onion and apple, too …

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

so your schmaltz was from pork fat , not chicken ?

 

so it might be a bit rillette - ey ?

[Duvel]

36 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Duvel

 

so your schmaltz was from pork fat , not chicken ?

 

so it might be a bit rillette - ey ?

We render Schmalz mostly from pigs, but ducks, geese and sometimes chicken, too. If you do that with meat attached (and shred that once cooked), you’ll end up in all cases with rillettes. Otherwise, just Schmalz 🤗

[liamsaunt]

Thanks to @Kerry Beal and @rotuts for the sous vide advice.  It worked out very well!  The meat stayed just as pink as it was on Christmas evening.  Everyone was very happy with it.  I took a picture before it went in to the sous vide and after I sliced it.  Unfortunately, the post cook slice came out really blurry.  Here it is before going in to the water bath.  It looked pretty much the same after heating once it was sliced. 

 

 

I should have taken the advice to slice it before heating it.  I will do that next time.  I did get a picture of my (meatless) dinner plate, which was basically the sides to the beef.  Mashed potatoes, roasted assorted small beets, torn and roasted wild mushrooms, and purple carrots

 

[TicTac]

@Duvel & @KennethT

Interesting points on the schmaltz.

 

My grandmother who sadly I just had to bury this past week (though not so sad, as she had an amazing life at 99 - just the last few years sucked; dementia is a fucking bitch!) used to make this all the time.  Always with onions and chicken skin - and SALT.

Very interesting the addition of apples (and looks like herbs?) - I would think that the water content in the apples would vastly reduce the shelf life of this stuff (it usually lasts for weeks in the fridge), no? 

 

Everything lately reminds me of her.

[Katie Meadow]

7 hours ago, KennethT said:

I don't know if we've had this discussion before but does your schmaltz have bits of rendered chicken skin and/or onions? If so, that's what my grandmother and father would call gribenes in Yiddish. Schmaltz was just the pure fat.

Agree: schmaltz is just the fat. Gribenes, to me, means chicken skin cooked in the fat until it's crispy. As far as I know, my grandmother never cooked anything, except for gribenes. My mother, not a great cook, learned nothing from her. Most of what I got from my mother I had to unlearn. My father did make a mean chopped chicken liver, though lacking schmaltz he used butter. And he always added cognac. I'm planning to do the same for New Year's Day! 

 

 

 

 

though, and that's what I am planning to have on New Year's Day. 

[rotuts]

@Katie Meadow

 

''''   My father did make a mean chopped chicken liver, though lacking schmaltz he used butter. And he always added cognac.  '''

 

French-y-fied.

 

penally , I dont care for chicken fat.  

 

pork , duck , goose ,   you bet.

 

I wonder if my experience w chicken fat schmaltz 

 

from kosher establishments or homes 

 

might be because the results were oxidized.

[Captain]

Just for me.

12min in salty boiling water.