The year is starting to draw to a close. Deadlines are coming about, new projects (smallish) are being dropped in my lap. So far so good. Winter market was yesterday I was able to restock my egg stash. Clearly this means I need to make the 145º egg. We’re going to have some fish again because practice makes better (and fish is not bad for you).
Sous Vide fish (serious eats as a guide)
Brats! (for lazy Sunday)
Ham & Gruyere scramble
Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes
Chatted with Jason from Lucky George, and They’re all out for a bit (til early spring) of the specialty sausages. So I was unable to fulfill this dining request from Shannon.
This was interesting. Under cooked noodles, then breadcrumbs to make crispy top, cooked in a half sheet pan to create a crispy bottom. Fascinating concept on making it. Attention to detail on pan and pot reduction and all that. Good meal. Will have to do this again.
Heats water, keeps timing, holds at a temp. Flaky fish. So this was ridiculously easy way to cook fish. I’m often not paying fully attention to cooking and fish goes from done to over done to way over done pretty quickly. This was a simple sort of thing. I used a couple of zipper top bags, salt, pepper a bit of butter and pretty much done. I like that the app told me about how much time was left til the water temp was right, then swaps right into cooking mode.
I adjusted this a bit, and did add mayo, so this really wasn’t a legit expression of this. I thought the Mayo and Kim Chi and chicken was pretty good though
Yeah…the smoke alarm got angry at me. I need a vent fan.
Simple, quick, good.
So I put in the vanilla and vodka in the back of the fridge on 11/10/2018 and took it out on 12/1/2018 (21 days). I had intended to give a sip every week to see if I can figure out what was close to the ideal wait time. I suppose with vegetable matter, there will always be a bit of inconsistency, but getting a window would be nice. After 21 days it had a fairly strong vanilla flavor, but less then a vanilla bean. The beans went in there unmolested for the most part, and were a bit old. As it stands, 25g of Vanilla beans + ~32 oz of Vodka + 21 days.
I picked up a bit of dried Chocolate Mint from Wabi Sabi. I think I had originally intended to do something else with it, but ended up forgetting what I had planned for it, so this seemed like a reasonable choice. I had did about the same thing as above, but 10 grams of dried mint is a lot more. This gave a bit of a mellow flavor. Something that would probably need to have quite a bit for a flavor, or create an undertone in a drink. But not something that is MINTY. I would be curious on the varietals vs flavor. I should also probably do more research on the alcohol soluble flavors in various vegetation. As it stands 10g Dried Chocolate Mint (includes stems) + ~32oz Vodka + 21 days.
So after a year or so of pondering to get the gadget and seeing them go on super sale, I finally picked up a sous vide device. I have vague plans for a couple of things, but to make sure I use It, I’m going to try to implement it in at least one recipe a week. I’m going to start with fish. Since I don’t have a lot of experience in fish, it may be the way to go. I’m curious how this will work. I was going to do eggs, but most of my providers are having new flocks or etc, so I’m kind of eggless right now.
Bangers & Mash, apprently I don’t have bangers…
Sous Vide fish (serious eats as a guide)
Mayo-Free Chicken Salad With Kimchi, Ginger, and Scallions Recipe
Hamburgers (Lucky George)
Taco Salad
This came out of going to the Richard the Whale release. I’m not sure how this came up as we were driving to drop the Matta’s teenager off at a swim meet and a mild lack of a filter as the mild intoxication was wearing off (it was a beer release party). So the Thought and discussion of how to do a french taco came about, so you need a shell, and then ingredients that are French (in essence, not necessarily in actual origin). So after a bit of back and forth the combo was made. I picked up a american brie style cheese, some country style pate from the cheese shop and I had some leftover cornichons from thanksgiving (bought two jars). I wasn’t able to make it to La Mie to get a baguette, so I picked up an “artisinal” one which was…ok…I guess. I baked it in the oven for a bit and added cornichons to my “taco” afterwards. It was pretty damn good.
This was quick, it was easy and it cam together in a very tasty fashion. I was happy with how it turned out.
I’m was almost out of farm fresh eggs (now am). So I decided not to experiment on the last set of eggs.
I originally started on one website’s recipe and after reading it and finding it incomplete, shopped around a bit and found one that seemed ok. I’m not sure what I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but it was kind of lacking. It seemed to not hit all the notes that one would expect. The roasted garlic stood out, good cheese, but not like the random mac that I do (mustard and blue usually stand out as notes). I dunno. Lots of pots and pans too.
Good, Shannon requested mashed potatoes, so I’ll do that next time.
French Tacos: baguette, Brie, Pate, cornichons
Quick and Easy Skillet Tamale Pie With Brown Butter Cornbread Crust Recipe
Bangers & Potatoes
I took some of the spice rub tossed it with the chicken, some potatoes and olive oil and roasted them in the oven. It turned out pretty good. Shannon wasn’t feeling like curry, so I called adjusted.
I couldn’t imagine making this for real…well for us at least, but leftovers and some Lucky George brats? Yes, Please
I love this combination, bread, fatty meat and fat. Ok…maybe that’s why. Even so.
Saw a recipe on this combination. I think for something else, but simplified it in my mind.
So part of me thinks having more control over my website I can do things like adding a strike through, which I complained about, but then I remember the purpose of hosting it here is that I don’t have to worry about that. Anyways, this turned out well.
Brats and Leftover Potato Salad & Boston baked beans
Grilled Cheese and Mortadella (or something else)
Summer Sausage Scrambled Eggs
Hamburgers swapped to pork patties with bacon, cause it was right on top of the pile. (Remnant Hills Farm)
I used a Crooked Gap pork and it turned out very well. The rub was adapted from a book, and advice from my brother. Generally to be happy I tweak and prod and poke and experiment until it’s adapted to my flavor profile, with account taken for heat level for Shannon. The amount of time from start to end did not really allow for this, but I think the ratios:
1/4 c salt
1/4 c brown sugar packed
2 T black pepper
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
Work as a good base point to move forward. Now the mix of wood, how often I top the smoker container off, when I put in. And I’m thinking a new step, over the last couple of hours, to retain more liquid. If that is done by spray or wrapping the pork. Currently I’m using 1/2 Jack Daniels Barrels oak and 1/2 apple wood (by volume, visually inspected), topping off the container every 3 hours with apple wood.
Anyways, more variables to adjust, more practice to do.
Delayed!
They were good, and after a busy(ish) day.
Getting these to come together pretty quickly, as it is. Just a good simple meal.
There is a whole stream of photos, that document the progress along the way. My primary take away is that this is a better way of doing things. By limiting the amount of work the day of, it is generally less stressful, especially when you don’t have to worry as much about the semi-exacting timing to get a gigantic bird to cook well. I did not plan that last hour well, I should’ve had a number of things ready to go before then, and I had time too.
The potatoes struggled in the smoker to get that last texture right and I had to finish them in the oven at a slightly higher temperature. This also led to a debate between a few friends as to the proper texture of potatoes in potato salad. I compared it as similar to al dente, but a bit firmer. I’m pretty sure the smoke flavor is associated with the olive oil that they’re in, rather then the potatoes themselves, but I don’t know enough to know for sure. But even so, the fingerlings (Grade A Gardens) were a bit softer and the other potatoes (another producer through the Iowa Food Coop) were firmer. Had I known, I may have cooked them separately.
For the Pork, they were of varied size, and bone size, So some were a bit over 200 degrees and some where a bit under and some were about on. It was a bit challenging and I didn’t have enough things to monitor them all, especially since the climb in temperature at the end was very slow (falling temp outside probably slowed it a bit). Mixed together, I think it was pretty good, not as good as I want it to be, but still pretty good. To serve, I mixed in a bit of apple cider vinegar, the spice mix, and warmed it up in a crock pot with apple cider in the bottom.
I literally misplaced half a pound of Parmigiano Reggiano. I good portion of that meant to go into the mashed potatoes. I still don’t know where it is. So I called an audible and we had garlic mashed potatoes.
Everything else went about as expected. The Cheese spread got some complements and asks for the recipe, I toned down the spice level a bit to adapt to my family. Overall I’m pretty happy, and I was able to be social with my family, as opposed to normally where I stare out the window, sip whiskey for half an hour and unwind the stress.
I want to thank my wife Shannon for helping me pull this off one more year (taking care of all the non-kitchen stuff and some of the kitchen stuff), The support of many local wonderful farmers, and high class shops like the Cheese Shop and Iowa Food Coop. And my family for helping expand the food selection and helping with the serving and etc.
Going for an easy week of non-Thanksgiving cooking.
Yet another practice Boston butt
Mutton Burgers
Pasta
