Bought some pork belly at Joong Boo (didn't realize it had bones, but it was half the price of the next higher grade, which wasn't skin-on).
I was going to do a Chinese dish, but Sue said "you always make it Asian" so I found a recipe where it's served atop cannellini beans, flavored with garlic and rosemary, with a salsa verde.

4 hours at 325, chill for at least 2, reheat skin down at 425 to crisp. Only part of the recipe I thought was dumb was cooking the beans with EVOO when there's all this rendered pork fat around. The lemon, parsley, and salty things (anchovy and capers) really wake up the dish

ronnie_suburban wrote:Took another swing at Stacey's Garlic Ketchup Shrimp . . .


Mise En Place & Michael Rader 52100 Gyuto, 240mm
Avocado oil, ketchup, sliced ginger root, minced shallots, minced garlic, sweet red Leysa pepper, 26-30 shrimp, granulated sugar, rice wine, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, scallion bottoms, minced jalapeno, scallion greens, salt, corn starch and 5-year black vinegar.

This one is really nice, and some quick comfort. The third time's the charm, too. I feel like I got it all lined up this time around -- started with better shrimp and didn't overcrowd the pan, so they were crispy, etc. The result was absolutely worth the minimal amount of work it took.


Garlic Ketchup Shrimp
On the platter.


Plated Up
Atop some jasmine rice.

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Ketchup???

Evil Ronnie wrote:Ketchup???

Yeah, crazy, right? I was very skeptical but also kind of curious. In this post I describe my first attempt at it (using some older, frozen shrimp). In the end, it's pretty much a shortcut for sweet and sour. After all, what is ketchup but primarily tomato, sugar and vinegar? Surprisingly, the result is definitely more than the sum of its parts. Here's the video where I first learned about it . . .


Garlic Ketchup Shrimp| Juicy And Crispy Shrimp Recipe | Easy Chinese Prawn Stir Fry Recipe

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Grilled pork tenderloin glazed with sauce mostly from fermented red bell pepper sauce - think hot sauce with no heat. Served with some dryish masoor dal (red lentils), basmati rice and Sunset Honey Bomb cherry tomatoes. The Honey Bombs are interesting - they're not as sweet as the name suggests but full of that sort of musky/herbal "homegrown" flavor.

hosting a party of 10 tonight and so yesterday i set up marinating the 80's Silver Palate classic Chicken Marbella. so many intense flavors, so simple to execute, it remains a dead easy way to feed a crowd. we'll pair it with couscous with fresh herbs, haricots vert, and some gingery carrot coins, plus another apple crisp with apples we picked in michigan.

I'm in the midst of a stretch during which I'm not going to be in the kitchen very much, so I'm trying to cram some cooking in over the next few days while I'm able. To that end, decided to make a soup today. Kept me entertained and helped use up a few items . . .


Mise En Place & Makoto AS Ryusei Gyuto, 210mm
Evoo, carrot, salt, tomato paste, beef & lamb cevaps (broken into small chunks and seared off), homemade chicken stock, black pepper, Rancho Gordo Marcella beans (overnight-soaked; this bag was a placeholder), homegrown tomatoes (the very last -- we pulled the plants earlier this week ), celery, 4x gelatinous pork stock (had this extra puck from my last run and decided to use it here), chopped homegrown garlic, home-cured/smoked Iberico pork cheek, redbore kale, cremini mushrooms, bay leaves, yellow onion and poblano pepper.

Used an enamel-clad cast iron dutch oven. Once I seared off the chunks of cevap and set them aside, I built the soup as if I was starting a pot of beans. So, sauteed in evoo the mirepoix, peppers, garlic, pork cheeks and tomato paste. Once all that had softened a bit and the tomato paste had cooked some, I added the soaked beans, the stocks, the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Boiled it hard, covered, for 10 minutes, after which I turned it down to a simmer, added the mushrooms and vented the lid. Let it simmer for a couple of hours, checking/stirring every ~30 minutes. With about an hour to go before dinner, I added the kale. With about 15 minutes to go, I added the cevap and the tomatoes. After that, served it up . . .


Plated Up
Cevap, Bean & Veggie Soup w/Cured & Smoked Pork Cheek. Toasted/buttered baguette.

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ringing in autumn with a melissa clark recipe for browned butter orzo with butternut squash. didn't follow her technique (it seemed silly not to roast the squash to get more flavor, so i did that) but the combo of browned butter, shallot, red chili flake, sage, parm, and lemon was really good! dijon vin dressed green beans on the side.

LTH,
What to do with thick pork rib chops last night?
Seared the lightly seasoned chops in neutral oil. Began adding aromatics: ginger, garlic, salted fermented black beans and scallions. Deglazed with Chao Xing wine and reduced. Built sauce with chicken stock, light soy, oyster sauce, cornstarch slurry and sugar, then finished with frozen peas and sesame oil.
Basmati rice was perfect. Washed three times, 2 to 1 water/rice, 10 minutes in microwave full power and sealed with plastic followed with 7 minutes 50% power then fork fluffed.

Just had to post this. At 10:00 Thursday night, we were 15 miles offshore of Holland, MI. Suddenly, the sky lit up. We had a Northern lights show for 3 hours until we reached Holland - it probably went on longer but we were busy with other things. Just amazing

Making the roux for gumbo using the Alton Brown oven method.

A mountain of vegies and pressure cooker chicken stock.

Add the vegies to the roux and mix thoroughly. Put in a large stock pot with the stock and bring to a boil. Start skimming off the excess oil ( as roux heats it can't hold all the oil ).

Homemade Andouille and chicken thighs that were previously browned in the initial oil.

Enough gumbo for dinner and several frozen meals for Jennie when I am out of town and then plenty for me to take on my bi-annual trip to North Carolina.

The area that I go to in the central part of the state was not particularly affected by Helene, but you can't get there from here on the direct route if driving. So I have to go down through Ohio, West Virginia and then back West to central North Carolina

I love the Cajun process of adding the veg to the roux - it stops the roux from getting darker and cooks down the trinity almost instantly. I think it's time for etouffee soon.

Back at the grill tonight with our favorite protein but along with it, a quickie, use-up-some-more-stuff stir-fry side . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama B#1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Avocado oil, soy sauce, cremini mushrooms, shallot, sweet red Leysa peppers, carrot, mixed kale (much more of it waiting off in a colander), Shaoxing wine, yellow onion, ssamjang and chopped homegrown garlic.


Kale Mushroom Stir-Fry

As for the main . . .


Charcoal-grilled chicken thighs


Plated Up

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Overnight, Thai-style marinade of some pork shoulder chops . . .


Marinade Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama B#1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Lime juice, palm sugar, gochugaru, lime zest, Thai bird eye chiles, pork shoulder chops, fish sauce, lemongrass and microplaned garlic.

Next day (today!), time for some side-dishery . . .


Noodle Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Soy sauce, minced garlic, scallions, Canton Noodles (wheat), fish sauce, oyster sauce and unsalted butter.

Next up, out to the grill . . .


Charcoal-Grilled Thai-Style Pork Shoulder Chops
I usually don't marinate chops like this but I was glad I did this time around. It was a really nice treatment. Patted them dry after marinating them and lightly rubbed them with some light olive oil before grilling.

Back to those noodles, which I assembled while the chops rested. Boiled/drained the noodles, made the sauce (melted butter soy, fish, oyster, garlic), tossed the cooked/drained noodles in the sauce, mixed in the scallions, along with a little black pepper . . .


Butter-Garlic Noodles
Simple but oh-so-comforting.


Plated Up
With a blob of the weekly slaw.

Happy Tuesday!

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Friends bringing dinner over tonight but needed some lunch before that. Emptied the fridge (partially) into a nice, golden fried rice . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Eggs, leftover jasmine rice, grocery char siu (Jason BBQ), toasted sesame oil, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, leftover steamed broccoli, chopped garlic, scallion tops, oyster sauce, avocado oil, white pepper and scallion bottoms.


Golden Fried Rice w/ Char Siu & Broccoli
On the platter.

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Some Chinese broccoli (aka gai lan) from 3SG . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Soy sauce, avocado oil, sliced garlic, fermented black beans, gai lan leaves, gai lan stems & florets, oyster sauce and fermented tofu. Mashed up a couple of cubes of the tofu and some of the liquid in which it's packed to create a paste that became part of my sauce. My main goal here was to cook the stems until just tender enough, add the leaves and end up with a final product in which both components were cooked to my liking. Happy to say that did happen this time around.


Stir-Fried Gai Lan w/Garlic, Oyster Sauce & Fermented Tofu
This probably could have used some rice but after just having gotten rid of a bunch of leftover rice in yesterday's fried rice, I was not incented to make a new batch.

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This is not my typical m.o. but tonight I took a flyer on some jarred butter chicken sauce that I saw at Costco. Can't even say I sampled it but when I saw it, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give it a shot . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke SKD Gyuto, 210mm
Red onion, green tikka masala, ghee, salt, chicken thigh meat, butter chicken sauce and sweet Leysa peppers from my friend's farm. I've had a set of the Cardoz masalas (from Burlap & Barrel) sitting around for a few weeks and figured that as long as I was going 'pantry mode' tonight, this was as good a time as any to break one out. So, I spot-tasted a few, and decided this green tikka masala was the right one for the job.


Plated Up
With basmati rice. All in all, I think the store-bought butter chicken sauce was completely respectable. Not saying I will buy it again but I would buy it again. Fwiw, it comes in a 2-pack and I used about half a jar here. One thing it did need -- something I added before eating it -- was a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top. That burst of acidity and brightness really moved the needle, and helped it approximate some decent restaurant versions of the dish I've had.

Happy Monday!

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Used the exact same Thai-style marinade I used here overnight on some chicken thighs, then patted them dry, oiled them lightly, seasoned them up and grilled them . . .


Grilling


Plated Up
With some glazed/broiled eggplant (ingredients here) and some leftover/reheated basmati rice with a knob of salted butter.

Forgot how much I enjoy this marinade. Have to try to remember to use it more often.

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Time for dinner prep, a kind of riff on stroganoff . . .


Mise En Place, Hatsukokoro AS Damascus Gyuto, 210mmm & Kanehide Bessaku Semi Stainless Honesuki, 150mm/lefty
White wine, heavy cream, salt, boned/chunked pork chops (freezer stock -- long-lost remnants from the box of meat), evoo, pappardelle, yellow onion, 4x gelantinous pork stock, unsalted butter, ap flour, cremini mushrooms, black pepper, chopped garlic.

Wanted to make noodles and was happy to find some protein in the freezer (vacuumed and in very good condition). Each chop had a small piece of what I would describe as ornamental bone attached. They weren't going to add anything if one were to cook the chops whole, so I didn't feel bad about removing them. Using the honesuki, they were easily dispatched, and the chops then cut into chunks.. From there, it was a pretty standard assembly. Season and sear the meat. Remove it from the dutch oven. Sweat the veg in the renderings and some additional butter. Add some flour to make a roux. Add the wine, concentrated stock and some water, and get it simmering. Add back the meat, reduce to desired consistency. Add a splash of heavy cream, followed by the cooked, drained noodles. Mix it all up, garnish with scallions and serve . . .


Plated Up
Pork stroganoff with a salad of mixed greens (from 3SG) and some homemade vinaigrette (made in July), recovered from the back of the fridge.

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Another batch of 'golden' fried rice . . .


Mise En Place & Hatsukokoro AS Damascus Gyuto, 210mmm
MSG, scallion greens, leftover basmati rice, white pepper, avocado oil, grocery charsiu, lap cheong, scallion whites, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, broccoli florets, Leysa sweet red pepper, carrot and eggs.

Finally decided to put some msg in my fried rice. I can't say it moved the needle much but I wouldn't hesitate to include it again . . . if I remember. And normally, I'd use jasmine rice for this but we had a heap of leftover basmati on hand, so that's what I used. It worked out great.


On The Platter
Mixed meat & veg fried rice.

Happy Monday!

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After discovering that my ex-housesitter/current houseguest had a head of celery (and no immediate plans), I realized I had everything I needed for shrimp etouffee - Paul Prudhomme's recipe.

Made stock from the shells from 1lb shrimp, some mirepoix, and a jar of clam juice, while I left the shrimp to brine in salt and a little baking soda (Food Lab trick I've been liking). After dicing the Trinity (bell pepper one of the last from my garden plus onion and celery, 1/8C each), made a dark roux (2x flour to oil [3.5oz to 3.5tbs], because of the butter added later), then take it off the fire to cook the trinity, then 1C of the stock and about half of the spice mix (1t salt, red pepper, 1/2t black and whhite pepper and basil, 1/4t thyme) - it came out very stiff, even adding extra water .

Later, melt a half stick of butter, cook the shrimp with 1/2c sliced scallions, add the last 1/2 C stock and the roux mix, another half stick butter, and the rest of the spices. Cook a couple minutes. Serve over rice. Mmmmmm.

A friend inspired me when he informed that he hadn't made Black Bean Chili in over a year, though mine was mostly pork . . .


Mise En Place & Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Evoo, salt, red onion, minced garlic, black bean, diced tomato, coarsely ground pork, chili seasoning, black pepper, and cumin grinder.

This came together with essentially no plan. Had the pork and needed to use it or freeze it. I've had the chili seasoning for a while and really wanted to finally try it. With limited time tonight, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Had the cumin grinder at the ready just in case the blend was weak but it wasn't and the fresh stuff wasn't needed. The pre-fab chili seasoning was surprisingly good. And I really wanted to try it on its own, so I'm glad it went that way. Other than the salt and pepper, the only other seasoning in the batch was the stuff that was included with the black beans.


Plated Up
Talk about no plan actually working out, I even had a couple of pieces of leftover cornbread from a restaurant meal I had earlier in the week. It reheated really nicely. So, I got rid of the pork, trialed the chili spice mix, managed to short-cut the prep effectively in more ways than one and ended up with a really nice meal. Win, win!

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The most basic of dinners . . .


Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Thighs
Not entirely routine because, well, the first outdoor cook after the end of daylight saving time is always a bummer.


Plated Up
With some leftover/reheated stir-fried gailan from 3SG and a blob of the weekly slaw.

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With shopping day just around the corner, it was time for a fridge & freezer emptying . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Black pepper, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, marinated strip steak, sweet Leysa peppers (from 3SG -- the end of them for this year), 4x gelatinous pork stock, broccoli florets, Shaoxing wine, white onion, chopped garlic, corn starch and avocado oil.

Marinated the strip steak (freezer stock, Costco, from January 2024) in a combo of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, coarse black pepper and corn starch (and a touch of avo oil after the meat had absorbed all the marinade). From there, my SOP on the build . . . veg first, remove, then meat, then garlic, veg back in, add the stock, re-season to taste . . .


On The Platter
Stir-Fried Strip Steak w/ Veg & Heavy Black Pepper.


Plated Up
With some freshly machined jasmine rice. Really loved the floral, aromatic front note of the coarsely ground black pepper. It provided a bit of heat on the back end but after the cook, it was fairly muted.

Happy Monday!

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Hot dog night but first, some side-dishery . . .


Potato Salad Mise En Place, Yoshikane SKD Nashiji Gyuto, 210mm & Global Cheese Knife
Yellow mustard, salt, 5-minute instantpot eggs, horseradish, Dijon mustard, boiled/chunked potatoes, mayonnaise, black pepper and scallion greens. I don't really know from potato salad, so I was just kind of winging it here.

Once the potato salad was put up and chilling, it was grill time . . .


Grilling
Quarter-pound dogs. Vienna Beef natural casing on the near side and Duck Inn's duck hot dogs on the away side.


Plated Up
With potato salad and a home-fermented garlic-dill pickle. This is one of the Duck Inn dogs, which I decided to do chili-cheese style. There's also some of my newly fermented sauerkraut on there.

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Hi,

You have natural casing hot dogs, which my family and I really dig the snap. Unless I am missing something, you likely have no snap from all those cuts.

Could you comment why you slice into almost all your sausages? Surely you like it, so what are the advantages?

Regards,
Cathy

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

You have natural casing hot dogs, which my family and I really dig the snap. Unless I am missing something, you likely have no snap from all those cuts.

Could you comment why you slice into almost all your sausages? Surely you like it, so what are the advantages?

Regards,
Cathy

If you don't score them before grilling (and you want some char on them), they tend to burst open anyway, which really minimizes the snap, so this method actually helps preserve it. So, I score them because you do still get that snap in the individual bites, plus some extra charring in the additional nooks and crannies.

If I were boiling or steaming, I wouldn't touch them before cooking.

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Coming in with the camera in the middle of things, here's a~7-pound pork shoulder about 8 hours into a low & slow cook my pellet grill . . .


Smoked Pork Shoulder
Cooked at 275F, with B&B Competition Pellets, a yellow mustard binder and my version of SPG rub. Here, it was through the stall, and the internal temperature was up to ~190F, so almost done.


Pulled Pork
Complete with 'easy-read thermometer.'


Plated Up
With a few homemade sides: potato salad, bread & butter pickles and a blob of the weekly slaw. Forgot to buy buns, so I basically raw-dogged it.

Needless to say, I'm still loving the pellet grill. This was the first 'cold weather' cook I've done on it (more windy than cold). Seemed like it burned pellets a bit faster than in warmer, less windy conditions but nothing crazy. I won't digress with the list of choring I completed while I was not tending to the fire today but it was substantial!

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Went to Zier's with the express purpose of getting some skirt steaks. I was really in the mood for them. And now I realize why. Somehow, I hadn't made them since April of last year, so over 18 months ago. Fixed that tonight . . .


Skirt Steaks Grilling
Lightly oiled, then salt, pepper and a touch of my take on Manale's spice mix. About 3-4 minutes per side, direct/uncovered.


On The Platter
Letting them rest briefly.


Plated Up
With a 'loaded' baked potato, some spicy-sweet cucumber salad and a blob of the weekly slaw.

Happy Tuesday!

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Skirt looks ridiculously good, I just want to take a bite.

GW

This was yesterday. Baked this fairly faithful rendition of a quiche lorraine early in the day . . .


Quiche Lorraine
Newsom 'Preacher' Ham, 60-day-aged Gruyere, Jarslberg, & Sauteed Onions. For some reason that made sense at the time, I decided to do this in a 9" springform pan rather than a traditional quiche pan. It turned out fine but provided no tangible benefit that I could discern.

Later, right before our friends came over, it was time for some side-dishery . . .


Mise En Place & Toyama Noborikoi Stainless Clad Blue Gyuto, 210mm
Evoo, russet potato, chopped garlic, zucchini, salt and black pepper. Not pictured is some white wine that I ended up splashing in occasionally during the cook.


Plated Up
With a mixed greens salad, homemade shallot vinaigrette.

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Post subtitle: Lick me!

A coworker who regularly buys half a cow at a time from a local farmer was complaining to me that she had a beef tongue, which she'd never eat, in her freezer. She couldn't bear the thought of throwing it away, so I told her I'd take it off her hands. It was funny that she brought it to the office, where it then sat in the lunchroom freezer -- and garnered plenty of snarky comments -- for a few weeks, until I had time to deal with it. Eventually, I found the time and took it home. I'd always wanted to try my hand at pickled/cured/corned tongue, and having already made lengua tacos earlier this year, this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Once home with the tongue, I thawed it and prepped the cure. I decided that one gallon of wet cure would be more than enough . . .


Mise En Place
Pickling salt, honey, pickling spice (sans cloves, I pick them out because I hate them), curing salt, beef tongue, smashed garlic cloves, dark brown sugar and granulated sugar. This is basically the same cure I use when I make pastrami.

I put all the ingredients except for the tongue in a half-gallon of water and heated it gently until the sugars and salts had dissolved. From there, I let it cool slightly, then poured it into a vessel, along with a half-gallon of ice water (mostly ice), after which I added the tongue, which I weighed down with a couple of small plates. After that, into the fridge for an extended stay. On Day 3, I flipped the tongue over and early on Day 7, it was time to remove the tongue from the cure . . .


Day 7 In Cure - Plates Removed
From here, I rinsed the tongue off, then put it back in the vessel -- this time in some clean/plain water -- and put it back in the fridge for one more day. Next day, it was time to cook it . . .


Rinsed Tongue - Ready For Simmer
Cured tongue, pickling spice and smashed garlic.
This probably would have been fine cooked in completely plain water but I figured it couldn't hurt to bolster it with some smashed garlic and additional pickling spice. I didn't actually simmer it but instead, lightly braised it with about a quart of the bolstered water in a covered dutch oven at 275F for about 3 hours, turning the tongue over halfway through. Once it was tender, I let it cool, peeled the tongue, cleaned it up and sliced it thin . . .


Plated Up
Tongue snack plate with home-fermented pickles and sauerkraut, along with yellow mustard and rye bread. I was really pleased with the result and am looking forward to having more of it (and finishing it) in the next few days. It took a week but most of that was passive, so it was well worth the effort. Tongue . . . the only food that tastes you back!

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