Perpetual "What's for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Today" thread

Topics include: Cooking (recipes, techniques & equipment); Beverages (appreciating & making your favorites); Food Philosophy, and various books, articles, blogs, and related discussions.

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voralfred
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Post by voralfred »

Darb wrote:* Flanken style (cross cut) beef ribs, approx 1 lb
Can one do a variant with Franken styne ribs instead? ;)
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine

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Post by Darb »

http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term ... t-ribs.asp

You could, but the ribs on a human are a lot smaller than bovine ones, and therefore would have a higher percentage of connective tissue .. accordingly, they'd probably benefit from the same low & slow treatment normally accorded porcine ribs.

BTW, it may interest use to know that in English, cannibalism is sometimes referred to as dining on "long pig".

Lastly, given the reference to Frankenstein and the undead, I would recommend carefully limiting your sourcing of long pig to only those purveyors who practice humane slaughter methods, and who age/mature the meat under precisely controlled conditions of temperature & humidity ... simply digging up any old semi-fresh corpse and throwing it in the cooker is just asking for digestive (as well as legal) woes.

j/k ;)
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voralfred
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Post by voralfred »

Darb wrote: Lastly, given the reference to Frankenstein and the undead, I would recommend carefully limiting your sourcing of long pig to only those purveyors who practice humane slaughter methods, and who age/mature the meat under precisely controlled conditions of temperature & humidity ... simply digging up any old semi-fresh corpse and throwing it in the cooker is just asking for digestive (as well as legal) woes.

j/k ;)
Emphasis is mine
:lol:


Darb wrote:(...) and while everything smoked we polished off some beer, plus 2 bottles of sparkling wine and a bottle of sake that my guests brought, plus some mojitos (fresh mint pureed with lime juice, simple syrup, and white rum, then strained and fine filtered and served over ice with seltzer), plus fresh grilled spring corn (6 ears for $2). One of the nicer meals I've had, for under $20. (...)
I wonder what fraction of the $20 went to drinks as opposed to "solid" food... ;)
Sake is not so cheap... add to 2 bottles of sparkling wine and "some" beer (how much?) and that would contribute to a significant part of the $20

So for a teetotaler, your meal would have come even much cheaper, wouldn't it? Of course, it wouldn't have been just as nice ;)
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Post by KeE »

Given the somewhat weird unwritten rules on this forum, I feel compelled to announce that today we had TACOS for dinner.
It is written.
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Post by MidasKnight »

Tacos in Norway? SWEET!!!!
In the 60’s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
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Post by Darb »

KeE wrote:Given the somewhat weird unwritten rules on this forum, I feel compelled to announce that today we had TACOS for dinner.
OMG ... next we'll have a Fremen naib posting about his entire seitch having mint pistachio ice cream cones out in the deep desert.
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Post by KeE »

I've had a long lasting desire to join the Arrakis freshwater anglers club... You think those snackers could point out where to apply?
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Post by Darb »

I hear they have their HQ over in the Solomon Islands on Sol III. You can probably google the GPS coordinates.
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Post by gpackin »

I'm grilling some lamb chops tonight. I picked up some loin chops, I like rib chops better because I like to pick them up by the bone and eat them by hand animal style, but all they had were loin chops. I have them marinating right now in some Zinfandel, soy sauce, minced fresh mint and basil, minced garlic, and ground pepper. I'm also going to take some green onions and wrap them in foil along with some minced garlic, butter, and salt and pepper, and throw them on the grill as well.
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Post by hiram »

Sounds great !

I don't use wine based marinades as I used to. Wine marinades tend to be acidic, and make the meat wet and slightly little boozy - which can be a bit much for small tender premium cuts like loin. I generally use it for marinating larger, tougher & less expensive cuts like butterflied de-boned leg leg of lamb (great substitute for london broil, if feeding a crowd), or stewing meat. However, that's just me.

For loin chops I generally, pat them dry, season with salt, pepper, and generously with ground dried rosemary, then rub them with olive oil, and let them stand at room temp for 1 hr (to shed cold and absorb flavor) and grill them as is. I like to grill them the same way I do beef porterhouse - over a 2-zone flame ... sear/brown on one side, then on the other, then I stand them upright on the chine bone and grill them bone down ... then move them over low heat to coast to a perfect rare to med-rare (125-130F).
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Post by Omphalos »

Darb wrote:
KeE wrote:Given the somewhat weird unwritten rules on this forum, I feel compelled to announce that today we had TACOS for dinner.
OMG ... next we'll have a Fremen naib posting about his entire seitch having mint pistachio ice cream cones out in the deep desert.
That's the Sandwich Islands, of "brown repose." :wink:
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Post by hiram »

Got a batch of white bean, escarole and pork hock soup simmering. Normally, I make that sort of thing in winter, but this has been the coldest and wettest june I can remember, so there you have it.
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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Yesterday I cooked something similar, also guilty of inducing flatulence.
Dried peas (soaked in water overnight), leek, onion, diced "Noix de Bastogne" (smoke-dried ham), diced bacon, a few cubes of beef extract, 3 cloves of garlic and spices.
When cold this soup is so thickly viscous that it holds a spoon upright.

http://www.box.net/shared/static/ibk4x2z5pk.jpg

In all I made about 5 liters. Frozen in portions of 1/2 liter, this is enough to last us a couple of months.
It's called "Potage Saint-Germain" or in Flanders, where I live, just plainly "pea soup".
And even though it looks like ruminant vomit, it smells and tastes delicious.

Dutch even has a very old soldier's ditty about it:

"Wie heeft er suiker in de erwtensoep gedaan?"
"Wie heeft dat gedaan? Wie heeft dat gedaan?"

"Who has put sugar in the pea soup?"
"Who has done that? Who has done that?"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf3m7UdlXPM

[Edit: 66k image link converted to clickable link, in deference to our bandwidth challenged viewers, and to resolve r.margin overflow. -- Darb, 7/2/09]
Last edited by E Pericoloso Sporgersi on Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by hiram »

I'm not big on cubed beef extract (at least not the varieties I've seen), but other than that ... yum. :)

BTW, it's 'leek'.
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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

hiram wrote:... BTW, it's 'leek'.
Oh, yes, of course. Silly me! :oops:
Corrected ...

P.S. I wonder what the main ingredient is for "Plomeek Soup".
T'Pol's favorite, probably rather bland I suspect.

EDIT:
Never mind, Google shows 2,020 Plomeek hits in languages I understand ...
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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

hiram wrote:I'm not big on cubed beef extract (at least not the varieties I've seen) ...
Liebig's beef extract (viscous liquid) is very good but also very expensive.
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Post by hiram »

Haven't seen it. I usually use smoked hocks, a ham shank, or some smoked bacon, for flavor and salt ... and round it out as needed by substituting canned chicken broth for part of the water.

As for plomeek soup:

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Plomeek_soup

The pictures are pretty divergant.

* Nurse chapel's version looks tomato based, which I can't picture being correct.
* Neelix's version (which tuvok said was too spicy) also looks like it has tomato and/or chili sauce in it.=, which doesn't strike me as very authentically vulcan.
* The replimat photo looks more reasonable, as it has stuff floating in it. Plomeek soup would need to be nutritious in order to be a 1 dish meal, so a broth alone wouldn't cut it.
* The broth on the right looks pleasant, but not very substantial. To my eye, it looks like either chicken broth, or japanese dashi ... but since Vulcan cuisine is reputedly vegan, neither can be the case.

So, we're still back at square one.
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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

hiram wrote:... So, we're still back at square one.
All things considered, I'd rather nibble T'Pol *after* she's had her dish of plomeek soup.
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Post by hiram »

I'm really looking forward to the first sunny day all month.

Lunch tomorrow will be tandoori-spiced griddled boneless skinless chicken thighs ... I prepare a ground spice blend of coriander, fennel seed, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, clove in a 3:2:1:1/8:1/8:1/8:1/8 ratio, add freshly grated ginger and garlic, mustard oil, and lemon juice, to buttermilk (or thinned yogurt), marinate overnight, then griddle over high heat until done. I used to grill them, but I've found that they stick less on my 15"x18" cast iron griddle slab. They're great as is, in buns with tomato, or shredded into lo mein or salads.

I also thawed some pizza dough, so I'll probably do a griddle pizza first, then griddle off the thighs and refrigerate them for other use over the coming few days.
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Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

It's almost noon and I'm eating my heart out.

One of the fans in my computer is sick, it makes an awful racket.
But which of the 7 fans is it?

I thought of diagnosing it by sticking a finger in them and see which stopped fan would also stop the noise.

Fan nr. 1: AARGH! ... [sucking my finger] ... Ow... Ow ... Ow.

I'll have to find a better way ...
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Post by gpackin »

Last night I made some baked scallops. I used one and a half pounds of sea scallops and sliced them in half. I melted six tablespoons of butter and poured it into a large glass baking dish. I place the scallops in the baking dish and flipped them over so they were well coated with the butter. I then topped them with a mixture made of a 1/2 cup of seasoned dry bread crumbs, a teaspoon each of onion powder and garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon each of paprika and dried parsley, 3 cloves of garlic minced, and 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. I cooked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. They were excellent!
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Post by hiram »

For lunch I ate at an "On the Border". Think tex-mex version of TGI Fridays ... filling, but kinda boring, and nothing made fresh to order.

For an early dinner snack I took a bowl of plain lowfat yogurt, whisked in a little simple syrup (I keep a squeeze bottle in my fridge, and light whisking does wonders for the texture of yogurt), and stirred in some frozen blueberries and ground flax seeds. One of my favorite snacks, and healthy too.
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Post by hiram »

Dinner tomorrow will be baby back ribs**. I picked up a cryovac bag containing 3 slabs, rinsed, trimmed and peeled them, wiped them dry, made and applied a dry rub, and they're resting comfortably in an airtight container in the fridge. Tomorrow they'll get braised and glazed.

** I actually prefer spare ribs, because they're both meatier and significantly cheaper than baby backs, but I have family visiting soon, and I have to cater to the preferences of others.
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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Poor Man's Oysters

Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Raw mussels for appetizer, lunch or dinner. "Moules Parquées"

Get 1 kg North Atlantic mussels (Mytilus edulis or Blue mussel), that amounts to 36 to 48 mussels. Put them in a small bucket, add tap water until submerged, add a tablespoon of salt (they *are* salt water denizens) and a generous squirt of milk. Supposedly milk is an excellent nutrient for mussels and will make them eat and swell a little. Put them and leave them undisturbed in the fridge overnight, so they can open slightly, take in salt water + diluted milk and lose any trapped stale air.

2 - 3 hours before consuming, gently take the bucket from the fridge. Remove any mussels that float (presumably those are dead).

Take 3 or 4 ceramic or stainless steel mussel plates, each with indentations for 12 mussels. Because my mussel plates were already packed, pending our move, I used regular plates covered with plastic blister foil to keep the mussels from rolling on their side.

Open the shells with a specially adapted knife to avoid cutting your thumb. Separate the shell halves, completely detach the mussel, put the top shell half back and arrange 10 to 12 on a plate. The freshly opened mussels may have a glassy aspect, but don't worry, half an hour later, because of exposure to fresh air, they will have regained an ivory, yellowish or orangey appetizing colour. Then put the stacked plates back in the fridge until you're ready to eat, but wait for at least half an hour.

The mussels can be served with or without crispy bread, with or without white Wine, Vodka, Scotch, Uisge Baugh, Bokma or Akvavit.

Seasoning of the mussels:
My wife prefers adding a little salt, some white pepper (from the handmill) and a dash of hand-squeezed lemon.
I prefer my cold onion sauce.
Important note! When the acid hits the mussel, the mussel's beard should wriggle and contract a bit, proving that the mussel is not spoiled and edible.

The medium sized chicken egg is only there for size comparison. It has nothing further to do, unless it's hard boiled and you intend to eat it. The short knife is my own customized mussel opening knife.
Image

Cold onion sauce:
Finely grate a white or purple (only for colour) medium sized onion. Add some finely cut chive (use hand scissors), add a stacked teaspoon of sugar (to counteract the slight bitterness of the grated onion), add freshly squeezed juice of a half lemon or lime (or vinegar, à la rigueur), add salt, celery-flavoured salt and pepper to taste. Mix well (whether stirred or shaken makes no difference).

Image

The coffee spoon is just to illustrate the scale.
Image

Mussel opening knife (see top picture):
I took an ordinary small kitchen knife and ground it down to a more mussel-adapted shape. Its cutting edge is NOT sharp, but dull enough not to cut my thumb's skin. To detach a mussel from its shell, you don't need to cut anything, just scrape the knife in some spots between mussel and inner shell surface.

"YUMMY!" just now exclaimed my wife and she smothered me with ki ... she started devouring her plate of mussels.
Last edited by E Pericoloso Sporgersi on Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by hiram »

I lke the idea of the onion relish ... somewhat similar to a mignonette.

Never tried serving mussels on the half shell - I've always preferred clams and oysters raw, whereas mussels I've always cooked. However, I do have a tip for you - I've never tried the milk, but for cooking mussels I let them purge for an hour or two in a sinkful of water into which a small amount of all purpose flour has been whisked ... the flour serves as an irritant, which causes the bivalves to expell any grit/sand they're holding. In other words, it encourages them to purge. I'm wondering if perhaps the milk serves a similar function ... either that, or perhaps someone saw the flour technique and reverse engineered it based on appearance alone ?
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