eG Foodblog: tupac17616 - Barbecue & Foie Gras

[mizducky]

Hail to thee, fellow blogger! Looks like you're off to a roaring good start. Though they are now relegated to the occasional-treat list, I love me some good chicken-fried steak with nice thick white gravy. Haven't had a good exemplar of that dish in ages, so I am happily enjoying the virtual version here.

And finally, we have come to probably my biggest culinary pet peeve:

I hate leftovers.

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You HATE leftovers! I am rendered speechless. Aren't they the main reason for cooking?? What do you have for breakfast? lunch?

I am so stunned I am rendered speechless, or writer-less - which is why I had to edit this post - I was so stunned I posted it as soon as I had edited the quote, before I even added anything.

Are there any other leftover lovers out there?

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I confess to adoring leftovers--both on their own, and recombined into other dishes. But I am aware there is some difference of opinion on this matter. As a matter of fact, Madame Old Foodie, I bet, with your love of quotes, that you may already be familiar with the quip about leftovers in the old versions of "Joy of Cooking"--the one in which a parson is saying grace over the family dinner, pauses to look down at the main dish before him, and murmurs something to the effect of: "I believe I've blessed a considerable amount of this material before ... "

[The Old Foodie]

I confess to adoring leftovers--both on their own, and recombined into other dishes. But I am aware there is some difference of opinion on this matter. As a matter of fact, Madame Old Foodie, I bet, with your love of quotes, that you may already be familiar with the quip about leftovers in the old versions of "Joy of Cooking"--the one in which a parson is saying grace over the family dinner, pauses to look down at the main dish before him, and murmurs something to the effect of: "I believe I've blessed a considerable amount of this material before ... "

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I love quotations almost as much as I love leftovers, but I had NOT heard that one before, so thankyou mizducky, it has been added to my collection, so dont be surprised if you see it in an Old Foodie posting sometime!

There is another one (Calvin Trillin??) - said his mother always served leftovers, but the original meal had never been found. Kinda like the perpetual stock pot on the back of the stove, or that Chinese marinade/sauce thing that is re-used and re-used for years.

[snowangel]

Beautiful dinner!

My tomato plants don't even have a single blossom yet. It's going to be a long summer...

[tupac17616]

Thanks, all, for the kind comments.

Wow, Tupac, whose beautiful kitchen is that?  Are you renting that house, staying with your parents?  I must have missed something.

Yeah, sorry, I think my original post may not have made that clear. When I am here in Texas, I am at home with my parents and my younger brother. I have an older sister as well, but she's married, so her and her husband live just a few minutes from us. After graduating next year, who knows where I'll end up, but for now, this is where I hang my hat.

You HATE leftovers!  I am rendered speechless. Aren't they the main reason for cooking??  What do you have for breakfast? lunch?

Sure do. Sorry to disappoint. I know some people love them. My mom and dad both do, to name a few. I just look at it as one of two scenarios: A) I portioned the meal wrong, and made too much, or B) What I made was not good enough to be worth finishing. Both situations are not cool.

For breakfast and lunch, I have fruit. Very rarely do I have anything else. To give you an example, the other day I had

Breakfast & Lunch

...the one in which a parson is saying grace over the family dinner, pauses to look down at the main dish before him, and murmurs something to the effect of: "I believe I've blessed a considerable amount of this material before ... "

Classic...

P.S. BryanZ: I can't remember, but I'll find out the info from the 'rents and get back to you.

[Susan in FL]

Do you do all of the cooking in the house, or at least take part in the cooking of all the dinners (when you're home, of course)? Does your mom also cook often? Her idea for the okra was great. It all looked yummy. How long has it been that you've done this much of the family's cooking, and do any of them have as much interest in it as you?

[Kouign Aman]

What a pretty plate, with the nicely arranged okra and tomatoes so vibrant against the blue.

Im not much for leftovers, but you can ship me the rest of that cornbread if its really bothering you to keep it around.

[tryska]

Wow, Tupac, whose beautiful kitchen is that?  Are you renting that house, staying with your parents?  I must have missed something.

I don't know which is weirder, the fact that you count out your fruit, or the fact that Tryska counts your fruit!

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hey now - i've just got a natural compulsion to put things in order. it serves me well at work.

tupac - i'm nto sure what i'm more jealous of - your kitchen or last night's dinner. I'm not a big fan of leftovers either unless it's soemthing like soup or chili or curry that's supposed to taste better the next day.

and again with the 3s and 7s. i'm not gonna even try to deal with the dried fruit.

Edited June 14, 2006 by tryska (log)

[tryska]

oh my god. i just noticed the okra and tomatoes on your CFS plate.

are you doing that just to mess with me now?

[Toliver]

I hate leftovers.

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Please feel free to FedEx the leftovers to me.

There is another one (Calvin Trillin??) - said his mother always served leftovers, but the original meal had never been found. Kinda like the perpetual stock pot on the back of the stove, or that Chinese marinade/sauce thing that is re-used and re-used for years.

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Old Foodie, this may be of interest to you...an eGullet discussion of the Chinese Master Sauce:

"Lushui Zhi, Questions About This 'Master Sauce' "

edited for spellling

Edited June 14, 2006 by Toliver (log)

[tupac17616]

Where did you get that kitchen trolley thing you have all those appliances on?  I need something like it.

Apparently we got them at Sam's for around $40, and my parents think that they still carry them.

Do you do all of the cooking in the house, or at least take part in the cooking of all the dinners (when you're home, of course)?  Does your mom also cook often?  Her idea for the okra was great.  It all looked yummy.  How long has it been that you've done this much of the family's cooking, and do any of them have as much interest in it as you?

Well, I don't do all of the cooking in the house. Just as much as my family can stand! I do cook every meal, but not always alone. My parents and my younger brother are like my sous chefs, as my mom jokes with me. Seriously, though, they are extremely helpful to me, chopping things, keeping an eye on things when we're cooking several things at once, setting the table, helping clean up. Everything from start to finish is kinda a family effort. We're just weird like that. I'm not sure how long that it's been that I've done this much of the family's cooking. At least 3-4 years very consistently. Cooking started as an interest for me some time during high school I think, and it just really caught on more and more as time went on. Now, there is almost no circumstance when I would choose not to cook on a given night.

But of course, I don't just enjoy the cooking. I also do the food shopping. And I try to learn as much from my mom (the household gardening expert) about growing the various foods that we grow as well. Really all aspects of food are fun for me. Of course including the eating. The cleanup after the meals? Eh, not so much. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I'm not one to enjoy leaving huge messes in the kitchen for others to clean up. As far as I see it, that's part of the job of being the cook, too.

oh my god.  i just noticed the okra and tomatoes on your CFS plate.

are you doing that just to mess with me now?

Heh heh. Actually that was a coincidence, but the fact that I did that unconciously is kinda funny. I was just going for looks in that case, and that just happened to be the number that fit in that space on the plate. I swear!

[ludja]

...

And I try to learn as much from my mom (the household gardening expert) about growing the various foods that we grow as well.  ...

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Does your family have a garden this year? If so, do you mind sharing what you are growing?

I think it's great that your dinner prep/cleanup is so consistently a family effort.

[bavila]

Major kitchen envy over here... Tell the 'rents they did a nice job. Did you contribute to the design? I'm assuming it was recently done.

Ah... hating leftovers. A luxury afforded by the childless or filthy rich.

I can't say I've ever seen roasted okra. I'll have to try that. And I may now be brave enough to cook my own CFS instead of waiting for a Cracker Barrel stop on my next road trip.

What kind of cooking do you do when you're in school?

[MissAmy]

You don't make your gravy out of the pan drippings? Did you use the bacon grease for the fat?

By the way, your chicken fried steak looked fantastic. I haven't had one in a month of Sundays, and am feeling the urge....

[tupac17616]

Does your family have a garden this year?  If so, do you mind sharing what you are growing?

Sure. Off the top of my head, so I may forget some: beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, cabbage, onions, lemons, limes, mint, thyme, basil, spearmint, peppermint, pineapple mint, marjoram, sage, rosemary, parsley, japanese eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, blackberries, figs, bananas. Of course not all of these plants are productive, unfortunately. But there's still quite a variety.

Major kitchen envy over here...  Tell the 'rents they did a nice job.  Did you contribute to the design?  I'm assuming it was recently done.

...

What kind of cooking do you do when you're in school?

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Thanks. I'll pass on the kind words to them. I can't claim to have contributed much to the design. I thought they came up with some really awesome ideas for the layout and the specifics of the kitchen. It's just a very convenient set-up all the way around.

When I am at school, I am usually cooking for just myself, so that makes things a little interesting. But I've learned to portion things right for myself (so there are no left-overs ). And if I get a weird idea for something I'd like to try, the only person whose approval I need is my own. I cook much differently at home to keep the specific tastes of my family members in mind. At school, I cook a lot of pasta. And I eat a lot of eggs, in one form or another. They are my most consistent source of protein. They are very affordable, and easy to store in my TINY dorm fridge. I also eat a lot of vegetables. Every kind under the sun. I love the looks I get from the cashiers at the grocery store when I buy just one each of like 12-15 different kinds of vegetables. "Can I get a price check on a...yo, what IS this thing? Jerusalem artichoke? Say what?"

You don't make your gravy out of the pan drippings? Did you use the bacon grease for the fat?

Yeah, I should've made it with the pan drippings. That's the way I would normally do it. I was in kind of quick-cooking mode yesterday, so I just did it in a separate pan and used butter as the fat. That way I could get the gravy going while the chicken-fried steaks were still cooking. What can I say, I am impatient sometimes.

[MissAmy]

You don't make your gravy out of the pan drippings? Did you use the bacon grease for the fat?

Yeah, I should've made it with the pan drippings. That's the way I would normally do it. I was in kind of quick-cooking mode yesterday, so I just did it in a separate pan and used butter as the fat. That way I could get the gravy going while the chicken-fried steaks were still cooking. What can I say, I am impatient sometimes.

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Ahh.. yes, impatience gets the better of us all at times. It can be SUCH torture to have to wait for the gravy to thicken up when you're hungry! I understand completely.

[The Old Foodie]

Old Foodie, this may be of interest to you...an eGullet discussion of the Chinese Master Sauce:

"Lushui Zhi, Questions About This 'Master Sauce' "

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Thankyou Thankyou Toliver! I should have known that there would be an eGullet thread on this somewhere! I made this years ago, and kept it for years, but it got reluctantly thrown out when we moved house, and I have been meaning to re-start it. Now I have no excuse.

I am loving e-Gullet. I think I am in love with all of you.

[tupac17616]

So I said I hate leftovers. Which I do. But I never said I didn't use them...

Mushroom Dressing -- Leftover cornbread , 1 slice multi-grain bread, mushrooms sauteed in butter, some chicken stock. Bake in individual ramikin for a while at some temperature until it looks good. Who says ya have to wait til Thanksgiving?

Also blanched some asparagus, served on some smoked peppered salmon, topped with Caprino, an Italian goat cheese. Took the torch to it so the cheese would get a little melty. Topped with some salmon roe.

This dish was basically an interpretation of a dish I make often:

Asparagi alla Milanese

Both plated up, along with some sweet potatoes (my FAVORITE vegetable, without question) that were simply cooked in some butter, and a tiny homegrown tomato. Not bad at all.

For dessert (gotta have it)

Honey Butter Toast with Chopped Dates, Cinnamon, and Maldon Sea Salt -- The same Blue Ribbon honey again. So simple, but so good.

Dinner was just for me tonight, as my mom had yoga, my dad was mowing the lawn, and my brother decided to eat this...

Hamburger made on the Cuisinart Griddler

Edited June 15, 2006 by tupac17616 (log)

[mizducky]

Both plated up, along with some sweet potatoes (my FAVORITE vegetable, without question) that were simply cooked in some butter, and a tiny homegrown tomato.  Not bad at all.

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Dayum, boy, you do have that 3-and-7 thing ingrained, don't you?

(Actually, as a writer I find myself working parallel phrases in threes all the time--there's just something inexplicably balanced about doing that in English prose. Plus I learned way the hell back in my college coursework in cognitive psychology that the human brain's short-term memory really does its best with remembering seven bits of data in a row, more or less--that's actually one of the reasons the phone company standardized on seven-digit phone numbers. For whatever it's worth ... )

Oh yeah--the food looks stunning, too.

[tupac17616]

Dayum, boy, you do have that 3-and-7 thing ingrained, don't you?

(Actually, as a writer I find myself working parallel phrases in threes all the time--there's just something inexplicably balanced about doing that in English prose. Plus I learned way the hell back in my college coursework in cognitive psychology that the human brain's short-term memory really does its best with remembering seven bits of data in a row, more or less--that's actually one of the reasons the phone company standardized on seven-digit phone numbers. For whatever it's worth ...  )

Heh heh. I did that with the asparagus and sweet potatoes on purpose specifically for tryska.

Interesting info about the 3's and 7's. Still not sure it justifies my weirdness, though.

[Abra]

Beautiful dinner, Tupac. I especially covet that dessert!

[kaneel]

So where in texas are you again????

Great food and beautiful kitchen!!!!!!!

[bavila]

Re: 3s and 7s: Prime numbers rock! Why is this so surprising?

How did you do the sweet potatoes? Peel, slice, then roast? Fry?

Lovely dinner. My kind of veggie plate.

Was there sugar in the cornbread? Was it more of a bread or more of a pudding? It looks very moist in the pics.

[tryska]

*lol* i never should have pointed it out - to see if it was just a recurring pattern with you or not.

altho i don't know when you made the Asparagi alla Milanese but that's got 7 too. so maybe it just is subconcious.

either way the meal was beautiful. I never cook like this.

Edited June 15, 2006 by tryska (log)

[tupac17616]

So where in texas are you again????

Great food and beautiful kitchen!!!!!!!

Thank you. I'm in San Antonio. Most of my family lives here, although I do have family in Houston and Austin as well.

Re: 3s and 7s: Prime numbers rock!  Why is this so surprising?

Amen to that.

How did you do the sweet potatoes?  Peel, slice, then roast?  Fry?

Was there sugar in the cornbread?  Was it more of a bread or more of a pudding?  It looks very moist in the pics.

I rarely peel potatoes. I like potato skin. I just sliced then sauteed in some butter. But they were done before the cornbread dressing had browned, so I tossed them in the oven for a few mins at the end to keep them warm.

There was sugar in the cornbread. And brown sugar. And honey. There were still enough dry ingredients that it ends up as more of a bread than a pudding, though. The reason it looks so moist in the picture of the dressing above is that is right after I had mixed everything up with some chicken broth to bring some extra moisture and flavor. So while the top was browned and crunchy, the inside was warm and moist. I liked the texture of it a lot.

[MarketStEl]

TEXAS CUISINE 101: Chicken-Fried Steak

And finally, we have come to probably my biggest culinary pet peeve:

I hate leftovers.

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You HATE leftovers! I am rendered speechless. Aren't they the main reason for cooking?? What do you have for breakfast? lunch?

I am so stunned I am rendered speechless, or writer-less - which is why I had to edit this post - I was so stunned I posted it as soon as I had edited the quote, before I even added anything.

Are there any other leftover lovers out there?

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Present and accounted for!

I fight an uphill battle with the roomie over this very subject. There are lots of things that I cook in order to have leftovers that I can pack in lunches on subsequent days. In fact, I've got one of those in today's lunch--shredded beef in barbecue sauce, the remnants of a braised top round roast I cooked in my Crock-Pot on Tuesday.