Journal

Thanksgiving 2018 - Updates and notes

Appetizers

  • Carrots, Celery, Cornichons - Tuesday

    • Carrots bought at Iowa Food Coop Tuesday, Prepped Tuesday Night

    • Celery bought Sunday, prepped Tuesday

    • Bought Sunday or Tuesday (depending on availability and quality, last type purchased, not great (inexpensive))

  • (Classic Cheddar Cheese Ball removed) Spicy Cheese Spread - Tuesday

    • Still thinking about this or just the cheese dip that goes over well, consult with Shannon

  • Underground Meats Summer Sausage? (if available) - Thursday

    • Buy Tuesday, Cut up Thursday

  • Cheese

  • Crackers

    • Buy Sunday

Bread

  • Whipped Honey Butter

    • Buy butter on Sunday, Can do this Monday

  • Lefse - Bought (unless someone wants to send me some)

    • Buy Sunday

  • Rolls (La Mie?)

    • Investigate La Mie on Monday, or find other alternatives

Mains

  • Pulled Pork (Wednesday)

    • Need to find about how much I should make per person. Have Pork shoulders from Lucky George (bought today) defrosting)

    • Maybe 10 pounds? ((5 oz /16)*2 (weight loss) * 15 Guests

    • Check freezer for more meet, just in case

  • Smoked Potato Salad (Tuesday, Wednesday)

    • Examine recipe Sunday,

    • Extra potatoes picked up from Grade A, technically yesterday

    • Ordered potatoes from Iowa Food Coop for Tuesday Pick up, smoke Tuesday night?

  • Baked Beans (Wednesday, Thursday)

    • Decide on recipe Sunday

  • Mac & Cheese (Thursday)

    • Decide on recipe Sunday, probably Cooks Illustrated baked mac and cheese? maybe something else

  • Cornbread (Thursday)

    • Go for a good old standby, (cooks Illustrated)

  • Hard Cider Gravy - Thursday (1 Burner) - replace chicken fat / butter, with pork fat

    • done before, should be easy. Maybe buy some cider to pair with this?…or just drink

  • Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes - Thursday, stove top (at times 2 burners)

    • Maybe go to Costco for potatoes, Hy-vee probably fine.

  • Fruit Salad - Mom

  • Macaroni Salad - Nancy

Desserts

  • Apple Pie (Slow Food Central Iowa)

    • Pick up Wednesday? I think

  • Pumpkin Pie (Slow Food Central Iowa)

    • Pick up Wednesday? I think

  • Ice Cream - bought

    • Gotta decide what, maybe I’ll get lucky and Black Cat will have some, if not, purchase something of quality (vanilla)

  • Cookies - Isaac Bringing

  • Pie? - Maybe Mom, not sure per discussion

  • Chocolate Pie - Kim

2018 - Week 46 Cooking Results

Yet another practice Boston butt

Moving to tomorrow, the timing for today didn’t work out.

Practice Smoking fingerling potatoes

I did this today. It made for a nice easy experience. A little olive oil, a little salt, a little pepper, boom, done (like 90 something minutes later).

Tom Kha Gai

Relatively easy to make, a good use of both chicken and coconut milk.

Kimchi Udon with Scallions

I’m going to give up on making this for a bit.

Taco Salad

Easy, done. I used some of the leftover pork butt with beans and tomatoes. This left a nice smokey flavor to the normal flavor. it was a nice touch.

Grilled Cheese and Mortadella

I really do love Mortadella, it warms up nice and contrasts well with the the cheese and the bread. I had some nice crisp bread too, which I seem to be getting better at.

Pork Burgers

OM nom nom.

Thanksgiving 2018

Appetizers

  • Carrots, Celery, Cornichons - Tuesday

  • Classic Cheddar Cheese Ball - Tuesday

  • Underground Meats Summer Sausage? (if available) - Thursday

  • Crackers

Bread

Mains

  • Pulled Pork (Wednesday)

  • Smoked Potato Salad (Tuesday, Wednesday)

  • Baked Beans (Wednesday, Thursday)

  • Mac & Cheese (Thursday)

  • Cornbread (Thursday)

  • Hard Cider Gravy - Thursday (1 Burner) - replace chicken fat / butter, with pork fat

  • Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes - Thursday, stove top (at times 2 burners)

Desserts

2018 - Week 45 Cooking Results

Kimchi Udon with Scallions

Delayed? Skipped? dunno yet.

Hot Sausage and Cabbage Stir Fry

I really liked this, it was a nice combination of familiar and odder flavors. It was also very easy.

Chorizo Quesadillas

Simple and easy, and then done.

Another Practice Pork Shoulder.

This did not go near as well as I would’ve thought. I changed the rub, as the previous one was deemed to be to peppery, I used a boneless shoulder (practicing on cheap meat), it was still, partially frozen, and it was cold outside. So the problem, of many, I think was that the rub didn’t have enough salt, I even added a bit more as to try to get. As it was 8:PM and it was slowly inching up on the last few degrees, I turned the heat up a bit. So there were many mistakes. I’m going to go again, but this time go back to the true part, bone in, tried and true rub and go from there. I’ve only got a few more practice times before we gotta go for it. So the take away, be patient and start early.

2018 - Week 45 Cooking

  • Practice Pork Shoulder'

So my brain has already started to speculate how to do thing, and the ratios and combinations that will change the flavor profile. So the weight of the a mix of wood, the ratio of the rub, ratio of a mop (if a mop is used). This may take a while. I’m starting with some cheap pork before I move up to the pork I normally use (Lucky George, Crooked Gap, etc). As it stands, I’m using something of a recipe and a light mixture of woods, mostly apple.

2018 - Week 44 Cooking Results

Spaghetti Squash with Pasta Sauce

I had left the squash for a bit to long, and it had started to turn a bit. So I called an audible and just used pasta instead. Luckily I had some spare around the house. Good things happened. Dinner was served.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

I think I’ve made this before, but there’s not enough cheese in there and the spicing is a a bit lack luster. I added some red pepper flakes after the fact, and it was good.

Chicken Thighs with Tomato, Orzo, Olives, and Feta

I skipped the olives, as Shannon doesn’t particularly like them. When I served it, it was a bit under salted, but i had also forgot to add the feta, after the addition it reached a nice balance.

Spicy Cheese Spread (Shannon’s Work Thing)

Good Things.

Lamb Burgers

More accurately, mutton burgers. Good Things.

Practice Pork Shoulder

Weather didn’t’ cooperate on Saturday, so Sunday it is. I’ve already got it in the smoker and it’s been going for about an hour or so. It looks good already, but is only at 70 degrees.

2018 - Week 43 Cooking Results

Butternut Squash and Chorizo Hash

Delayed! We took out my brother and his partner(?) to dinner while they were waiting for their flight to Denver.

Skillet Chicken with Corn and Miso Butter

So part of me remembered that Miso, is one of those things that Shannon prefers a light hand with. So I dusted these with some salt, pepper and some spices and made options. I went for an open face sandwich, Shannon for a salad.

Salami Melt

I got a nice crispness to the bread. It was easy, and quick and delicious.

Mexican Tortilla Casserole

I added some chorizo to this and slowly went through. It felt comforting as I was dealing with foot pain which has vastly swung back and forth. It was nice as both the meal and leftovers the next day.

Egg dish of some type

Fried Eggs over bagel. Simple and good.

2018 - Week 42 Cooking Results

Drunken Noodles

I want to have one of the magical markets where the ingredients all exist and are labeled as the recipe states. Anyways. The noodles (ramen) were a bit not quite right, but it was ok. I added more shrimp and took out the tofu (Shannon is generally not a fan).

Farfalle with Spicy Sausage and Butternut Squash

This was quite nice. I thought it would be harder than it was. Tasted pretty good too.

Cheap Creamy Chicken Curry

This needed more stuff in it. Chickpeas? Something.

Slow Roasted Onion Dip (Shannon’s work thing)

I like this thing. I like making it as it is a lot of breaks. The onions were quite pungent, though.

Pork Burgers

Good as always. A little sear, a little salt. Good things.

We had quite a bit of fun with Slow Food of Central Iowa and did a tour of Frisian Farms, Milton Creamery and then Jefferson County Ciderworks. I enjoy these trips and hope to go on more of them.