G Wiv wrote:What’s up? Chicken soup. That’s what’s up!

The chicken soup looks great but is that a vintage bottle of 80-proof Rittenhouse rye that I see in the background? Very nice, keep-you-warm combo!

=R=

Back to the wok with another stir-fry tonight. A few weeks ago, when trying to get RID of stuff, I stumbled upon a combo I really liked -- ground pork and charsiu -- so, I thought I'd give it an intentional shot this time around. And, I remembered a long-ago-purchased pouch of Chinese-style pickled cabbage that I had in the back of the fridge (funkier and less salty than sauerkraut). I thought would be fun to include it . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Sanjo YS, Gyuto, 240mm
Dark/mushroom soy sauce, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, leftover charsiu, veg oil, green beans, fermented black beans, minced ginger, minced garlic, scallion tops, scallion bottoms, ground pork and pickled cabbage. Not pictured -- but also included last-minute -- were a few Thai birds eye chiles. As I began to cook, I felt like it was going to need some heat. More on that later.

I loved the pickled cabbage. I couldn't taste it directly in the finished dish but it definitely provided a depth of flavor via its inclusion. I only used a bit but in future cooks, I plan to use more of it. And here's another important lesson, one I learned the hard way tonight (and one that seems so obvious now) . . . when cooking a dish that includes little pieces of green beans and Thai birds eye chiles, best to avoid any confusion and only use red chiles. Luckily, I only used three green ones but unfortunately, we found two of them the hard way!


Plated Up
Double Pork & Green Bean Stir-Fry with leftover/reheated jasmine rice.

Solid dish and I think there's something to the 'meat in two forms' template. Guessing ground pork and shrimp could be a successful combination in future cooks.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:The chicken soup looks great but is that a vintage bottle of 80-proof Rittenhouse rye that I see in the background?

After our conversation earlier that day it was hard to resist the siren song of brown liquor.

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:The chicken soup looks great but is that a vintage bottle of 80-proof Rittenhouse rye that I see in the background?

After our conversation earlier that day it was hard to resist the siren song of brown liquor.

Ah. That's a fine sentiment. I don't think Rittenhouse even makes that 80-proof anymore, which is why that white label caught my eye.

When it comes to salad, generally speaking, making them is more fun than eating them. We were tasked with bringing a salad to our friends' house for dinner tonight. Here's everything except the greens . . .


Salad Mise En Place & Konosuke Sanjo YS, Gyuto, 240mm
Some stuff on the right -- zucchini, radishes, cucumber, castelvetrano & kalamata olives and roasted pimientos -- are for the salad itself. The rest -- salt, black pepper, four vinegars (balsamic, rice, Greek-style, apple cider), minced shallots & microplaned garlic, cashew/nutritional yeast paste, dijon mustard, tupelo honey and evoo -- are for the dressing. Eventually this will find its way onto a mix of spring greens, iceberg lettuce and baby arugula.

Really digging the cashew/nutritional yeast paste, which I made out of total curiosity. It was touted as a 'vegan' queso sauce. That application didn't necessarily interest me but the concoction itself has a nice, intensely nutty and funky flavor. Its texture also works well as an emulsifier. Remembered I had it in the fridge and used a large spoonful of it in the dressing. It delivered a nice flavor punch and helped hold the dressing together, too.

I'm planning on assembling and dressing the salad on location tonight, so probably no more pics . . . but maybe.

=R=

I am making Guinness Stout Pepper Beef.

I am taking a 1.5# piece of beef chuck. I seared it in a stock pot for a few minutes. I tossed in some onions, garlic. ginger, bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt. Add in one bottle of Guiness stout and 2-3cups of beef stock I added in a poblano pepper chopped and a whole bell pepper. It is currently braising in the oven at 325F for 4-5 hours.

When the braising is complete, shred the beef using forks. Serve the beef, the onions, and the peppers on a roll or a hearty bread. Then I spread a mix of sour cream, mayonnaise and blue cheese on the top of the roll. It sounds kind of weird but it has always been a hit.

The sandwich will be served with

Dinner from last night started the night before.

Digging into the freezer, I found this.

Thawed/brined overnight in salted water.

Vacuum packed for sous vide at 175° for five hours.

After the five hours, chilled in ice water to set the skin and gelatinous layer underneath.

Made a sauce of cream, the juice from the octopus sous vide packet, and an ice cube of Genovese pesto.

Briefly broiled the octopus (in retrospect, sautéing might have produced a bit better browning/crisping).

Broiled octopus served over scalloped potatoes, garnished with dried crumbled Merlot lettuce leaves and komatsuna flowers.
Octopus was very tender, and I thought went well with the sauce and cheesy, oniony potatoes.

Potatoes were left over from making Devils on Horseback for the 2/6 Small Household Food Exchange at Tava (unrepentant promotion — extras were made in case we can get a few more participants).
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Wow. Looks great.

I hadn't made milk-braised pork since my maiden voyage with it a little over a year ago but I remembered the family enjoying it, so I thought I'd give it another shot . . .


Pork Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Sage & lemon zest, smashed/evoo-toasted garlic cloves, evoo-toasted dried hot chiles, whole milk, evoo and seared pork shoulder pieces.

This prep started with an overnight pre-salting of the pork. Cooking begins by lightly toasting the garlic cloves and chiles in the evoo. Once fragrant and the oil is infused, they're removed and the pork is browned on all sides in the infused evoo. After that, garlic and chiles go back in -- along with the sage, lemon zest and milk -- and the whole deal braises, uncovered, in a 300F oven (turning the pork every ~30 minutes) until the pork is tender . . .


Braise
Everyone in the pool!

There was also some lazy man's, clean-out-the-fridge side-dishery . . .


Eggplant Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Leftover/jarred roasted red peppers, leftover tomato sauce of unknown vintage and origin, minced garlic, red onion, lemon (leftover after zesting for the pork), black pepper, salt, salted eggplant and evoo. This cooked on the stove top until it was soft and had reduced significantly.


Plated Up
Milk-braised pork with eggplant stew and Mrs. Suburban's infamous oven-roasted broccoli.

=R=

Heinz 57 Sauced Chicken (using up Heina 57 Sauce that was given)
Orzo with Romano Cheese (again, the orzo came from a chef meal)
Braised Kale with country ham
Glazed carrots (with Mike's Hot Honey)
Maple Syrup customer (to use up our backlog of free milk)


I appreciate that people drop off food that they cannot use but when there is so much ...


======================

I think that I am going to make Ronnie's recipe as I have a refrigerator full of Indian eggplants, bell peppers of all colors, still more milk and the pork cubes from this week (labeled as pork fat).

jlawrence01 wrote:I think that I am going to make Ronnie's recipe as I have a refrigerator full of Indian eggplants, bell peppers of all colors, still more milk and the pork cubes from this week (labeled as pork fat).

Can't take credit for anything other than making it twice. It's a Bon Appetit recipe that I originally read about here. Here's a link to the actual recipe:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/maial ... aised-pork

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:I think that I am going to make Ronnie's recipe as I have a refrigerator full of Indian eggplants, bell peppers of all colors, still more milk and the pork cubes from this week (labeled as pork fat).

Can't take credit for anything other than making it twice. It's a Bon Appetit recipe that I originally read about here. Here's a link to the actual recipe:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/maial ... aised-pork

=R=

I have done that one before. That is a good recipe.

Even though temps are unseasonably warm right now, the dead of winter calls for something like cassoulet. I knew I wasn't prepared to pull that off today, so instead, I went for a reasonable, stove-top 'use what you have on hand' homage to cassoulet. With the exception of the sausage, which I bought because I'd been thinking about making something like this, the rest of this is pretty much a pantry/fridge RID'ing exercise. It's basically our pot of weekly beans with a few frills and add-ons . . .


Rancho Gordo Cassoulet Beans
Well, at least I got the bean part right.


Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Herb plate (bay leaves, fresh sage, dried thyme & rosemary), kale, coarsely chopped garlic, carrot, yellow & red onion, slitted jalapenos, gelatinous pork stock, minced parsley, Manale spice, red wine, seared cevap and fresh kielbasa nuggets, celery ribs, celery leaves, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, evoo, and overnight-soaked cassoulet beans.

Standard build . . . seared the sausage nuggets in some evoo and once browned, removed them. Sweated some of the veg/garlic in the rendered fat to release the fond, then added the beans, stock, water, some more of the veg, the wine, etc. Brought to a boil, then boiled hard for 10 minutes. After that, reduced to a simmer. As the pot simmered, continued adding the remaining ingredients -- and re-seasoning it along the way -- until all the vessels on the cutting board were empty, the beans were tender and the pot liquor was suitably thickened and reduced. That is when the tomatoes and tomato paste went in.

There is, in my opinion and experience, a misconception that adding salt early in the cooking process toughens beans and/or prevents them from cooking fully. I've never found this to be the case. After all, how many bean recipes start with rendering some salty, cured meat in the bean pot? But I have found that too many acidic ingredients can have this effect. That's why I typically hold back the tomato components until the beans are well on their way. After that had happened -- and having allowed them some time to mingle -- I added back the seared sausage nuggets and simmered it all for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

Okay. Confession time: I really like kale. I try to always have some on hand and when I do, I try to work it into as many dishes as I can . . . but it's not because I'm trying to "sneak it in there." I love its flavor and the texture, especially in wet preps like soups, curries, stews, braises, etc. It grabs and carries liquids very efficiently. In that respect, it did its job very well here. Yay, kale!


Plated Up
Sausage & Bean Stew with some delicious, toasted/buttered ap/whole wheat/rye boule, baked by a friend.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Quick, super simple dinner tonight. Took advantage of the warm weather (aka the calm before the expected storm) and fired up the kettle. Prepped two sides on the stove top. One, while the charcoal was getting up to temperature and the other while the flank steak rested before slicing . . .


Mushroom Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
4x gelatinous beef stock, evoo, red wine, black pepper, salt, minced garlic and sliced creminis & shiitakes. Normally, I like to cook shiitakes on their own but all these mushrooms were near their end, so it was an all-in situation. Got all these done in the ~15 minutes it took for the charcoal to get up to speed.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled flank steak, sauteed mushrooms and sauteed zucchini. Managed to get the zucchini done during the ~10 minutes I let the steak rest.

=R=

I took the leftover Guinness Stout Beef and the leftover braising liquid and simmered it. Then, I added in onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and ginger. I let it simmer for a few minutes. I added in three heirloom tomatoes as well as a can of green beans and black bean. After about a half hour, I added in rice.

I thought that the braising liquid would be too overwhelming but it turned out very well.

jlawrence01 wrote:I took the leftover Guinness Stout Beef and the leftover braising liquid and simmered it. Then, I added in onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and ginger. I let it simmer for a few minutes. I added in three heirloom tomatoes as well as a can of green beans and black bean. After about a half hour, I added in rice.

I thought that the braising liquid would be too overwhelming but it turned out very well.

Sounds good. What was the final texture like? Jambalaya, soup?

Hardly severe weather by our typical Chicago/February standards but messy nonetheless, so definitely back to indoor cooking today. Started with the side dish, which was actually the focal point of the meal . . .


'Spanakopita' Casserole Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Greek-style yogurt, Greek feta, fresh dill, sauteed red & yellow onion (with a touch of garlic), evoo, dried oregano, lemon for juice, wilted/squeezed spinach (2 pounds fresh netted one pound processed), salt, black pepper, minced garlic and leftover sauteed shiitakes & creminis from last night's dinner.


Ready To Bake
Casserole in waiting, after a brief spin in the stand mixer, which helps evenly distribute the feta. Next, 1 hour at 350F, the first 30 minutes loosely tented with foil, the last 30, uncovered.


Plated Up
Sauteed shrimp with an emulsified butter pan sauce (white wine to deglaze, chicken stock, lemon juice, mounted butter), 'spanakopita' casserole and tomato-cucumber salad.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:I took the leftover Guinness Stout Beef and the leftover braising liquid and simmered it. Then, I added in onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and ginger. I let it simmer for a few minutes. I added in three heirloom tomatoes as well as a can of green beans and black bean. After about a half hour, I added in rice.

I thought that the braising liquid would be too overwhelming but it turned out very well.

Sounds good. What was the final texture like? Jambalaya, soup?

=R=

My biggest concern was the texture of the meat as the original dish was shredded. However, that did N OT detract from the soup a bit. All of my soups tend to be thicker than the average soup as people prefer to eat more solids and less liquids unless they are looking for a pho-type dish.

Super simple supper. Large strip* from Costco, grilled tomatoes (spices, panko, parm), frozen corn sauteed with sweet onion, garlic and a whisper of Maggi.

click to enlarge


Steak, count me a Fan!

*for two

Last night was pretty simple. Started with two nice pieces of skate from Fortune Seafood and Gourmet (they do a nice job of cleaning up the fish). To prepare it à la Meunière, I dredged it in flour (before lower, after, top). In retrospect, a little salt and pepper in the flour might have helped, but those are easily added at the table.

It was browned in butter in a cast iron skillet. Served with spinach with garlic, and mashed, lightly torched sweet potatoes. Sauce was more browned butter, which was used to crisp up some finely sliced shallots, and capers.

Skate and browned butter — fan me a count (or something like that — I get easily confused).
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'Back to one' tonight . . .


Broccolini Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Minced garlic, red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, lemon, evoo and broccolini. Just a quick, garlic-assisted sear/saute until tender. Drizzled a bit of the lemon juice on at the very end, then seasoned it.

And, as I alluded to above, there were chicken thighs but before that, this had to happen . . .


A Path Through The Snow
Shoveled by none other than Mrs. Suburban. I guess she really wanted chicken thighs!


Grilling
Penzey's 'Forward' rubbed, indirect, covered, over lump charcoal for about 25 minutes.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled chicken thigh, sauteed broccolini and leftover/reheated tomato-garlic eggplant.

=R=

Last night I made garlic shrimp scampi with fettucine, with fresh shrimp that I had frozen. Tonight is leftover hamburger stroganoff with noodles. I post most of what I cook on Facebook and instagram. I'm good at repurposing food and using up leftovers. I made nachos for lunch this week with tortilla chips we had that I did not want to go to waste. I try to cook every few days, not every day. I fill in with some carry out food occasionally to lighten the cooking load. I've got some nice fresh mushrooms in the refrigerator and I will try to make stuffed mushrooms soon.

My first-ever attempt at hot pot at home, which actually started the day before, roasting a troika of bones for the stock . . .


Roasted Bones - Barnyard Blend
Decided to get pretty much the entire farm involved. Chicken necks, pork necks and beef soup bones. Convection-roasted these for 1 hour at 375F, turning them over halfway through. After that, they went into the instant pot with water to the Max line for a few hours.

Being my first try, I intentionally hedged on this by combining the homemade stock with a base that was recommended by a friend who knows her stuff (and a few trusted internet sources endorse it, too) . . .


Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base - Plain
I would have preferred a hot or spicy version but taking this route, everyone feels comfortable eating it and I was still able to amp up my own bowl with some homemade chili oil, etc.


Mise En Place & Katayama SG2 Suminagashi Gyuto, 210mm
Fresh bamboo shoot, lotus root, watercress, meat plate (beef tongue, pork shoulder, leg of lamb, beef ribeye), wawa choy, Shanghai bok choy, ball plate (fish, pork, beef), shrimp, previously frozen pork & shripm wonton, mushroom plate (enoki, shemiji, cremini), tofu plate (fried, puffs, silken), rice vermicelli noodles and daikon radish.

In reality, there really wasn't much knife work required here. I cleaned/trimmed up all the mushrooms, quartering the creminis, trimmed and quartered the wawa choy and bok choy, trimmed/sliced up the bamboo and used a mandolin on the daikon and lotus root. Picked up the pre-sliced meats, wontons and ball assortment at H-Mart.

I'm a total n00b at this but from what I could ascertain, there's an accepted order to how things go into the pot. Since we were starting with a supercharged broth, I'm not sure how much it mattered but we tried to stay on the path nonetheless . . .

The order:

Balls - to establish a baseline flavor dimension
Meats - they cook quickly and add a little more to the broth
Shrimp - same as with the meats; figured this was the logical next item after the meats
Mushrooms & Veggies - with the pot now well-flavored, they absorb some of what's there and impart some of their own
Tofu - with the pot now fully imbued, the tofu absorbs it all.
Noodles - more flavor absorption; a traditional end to the hot pot, especially if not serving rice (though, we also had rice)

So, we fired up the pot (I used an enamel-coated cast iron dutch oven) on the stove to get the broth going. After that, we moved it to a tabletop butane burner on the dining room table. I do have an ac induction burner but I wanted to eliminate the potentially hazardous variable of having a cord dangling over the edge of the table. Instead, we opted for the potential hazard of having an open flame on the dining room table.


Off And Running
We stuck to the plan. As you can see here, the balls went in first. It all worked out very well. By the time we finished up, the noodles were cooking in an opaque and deeply flavorful broth. We ate the items in order, as they came out of the pot but we couldn't keep up, so we had a little bit of each leftover. It was too fast and furious to get any shots while we were eating/cooking but when we were done, I managed to put together a 'recap' plate with a little bit of everything on it. It'll make a nice lunch for one of us tomorrow . . .


Recap Plate
Conidmented with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, LGM spicy chili crisp, homemade chili oil and scallions. I think a little bit of everything we cooked ended up here. And you can't even see the three ladles full of broth under all the stuff.

This was a really fun and delicious dinner but it took quite a bit of time just to get through all the items. That was a rookie mistake. Next time, I'll definitely pare back the ingredient list. I think on the beast side, shrimp, pork shoulder and only one type of balls will be more than enough. The clear surprise on the veg side was the daikon, which absorbed a ton of flavorful broth. It's not saying much but it was easily the best daikon I've ever cooked.

=R=

For Saturday night’s dinner:

Homestead Meats (Evanston) had canoe marrow bones (beef femur bones, split down the middle) this week, so I had to get a few (actually, four). (Lots of marrow recipes, like those for Osso Buco, use cross-cut bones, but I’ve always thought the canoe cut is much easier to deal with.)

After being brined overnight, the brine had turned reddish-pink and the marrow was somewhat more pale. The bones were salted and peppered, then arranged on a cookie sheet, over crumpled foil to keep them relatively upright and help prevent too much fat from draining out. (Some fat did, which I later added to the small container of tallow that we keep in the refrigerator.)

After roasting for about 18 minutes at 425°, I let the the bones cool slightly, and topped with a parsley salad, per Alton Brown.

One of my Dad’s favorite sayings was “I study to perfume the rose; I love to gild the lily.” He claimed it was from Shakespeare; I haven’t found any confirmation of that (but my Dad was good at embellishment — he rarely let facts get in the way of a good story). With that in mind, I added lumpfish caviar to the parsley topping — for texture and a bit more saltiness.

The marrow (aka “God’s butter”) went on grilled baguette slices, accompanied by a basic salad.

We didn’t get as much marrow from the rather large bones as I had hoped, but it made for a good meal nonetheless. It was enough work, though, that I probably won’t be repeating it any time soon.

(Full disclosure — Moetchandon, who usually wakes up in the morning next to me in bed, is the manager [but not an owner] at Homestead Meats.)

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Shakespeare, in King John wrote:SALISBURY:
Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

JoelF wrote:

Shakespeare, in King John wrote:SALISBURY:
Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

Thanks. I'd seen that, but I've never seen the exact quote that my Dad used.

The aftermath of yesterday's hot pot -- about 1.5 quarts of supercharged broth, a gaggle of already-prepped veggies/fungi and a smattering of previously simmered meat -- came together to produce a delicious, low-effort soup for tonight's dinner . . .


Plated Up
Hot pot leftovers & left-behinds soup, garnished with scallions and homemade chili oil. Sidecar of leftover/reheated jasmine rice.

Happy Monday!

=R=

After spending a weekend downtown where I couldn't convince SueF to go for Chinese, made gong bao ji ding - I'll treasure Fuschia Dunlop's book for that recipe even if I never make anything else ever again.

Thank you for the suggestion. It is such a great dish and I haven't made it for a while. I made it tonight and one thing that I do is use about 1/4 of the dry chilies she suggests and fish them out before eating. Since mine are pretty old, they do break up in cooking and I probably only fish out 1/2 of them. Heat is perfect for us.

We threw together a quickie over here that was definitely more than the sum of its parts . . .


Pepper & Onion Mise En Place & Yoshimi Kato VG10 Nickel Damascus Gyuto, 180m
Evoo, red & yellow onion, black pepper, salt, minced garlic, red/yellow/orange bell peppers and white wine. I also sprinkled in a bit of oregano on the fly, which ended up tying it together nicely with the rest of the meal.


Sauteed Peppers & Onions
Garnished with scallions.


Pan-Seared Chicken Thighs
Boneless skinless thighs seasoned with a homemade rub.


Plated Up
Drizzled with a butter-emulsified pan sauce (white wine, rice vinegar, 4x chicken stock, whole milk, mounted butter) and served with leftover/reheated 'spanakopita' casserole.

=R=

tonight i tried the serious eats pressure cooker / instant pot mushroom risotto, with some lovely criminis and oysters i got at the logan sq indoor farmers market on sunday.

the flavor was boosted by wine, miso, soy sauce; everything enriched with a little cream and parm. it tasted great, and the texture was perfect - well cooked arborio grains and a loose pooling in the sauce.

but i'm completely unconvinced that the instant pot saved any time...

I’m not sure why you say that. Takes 25 minutes of constant stirring to make risotto traditional way and 5 minutes after coming to pressure in instant pot