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

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Once, in Barcelona, I had grilled trout (the fish, I mean) stuffed with honey-flavored jamón serrano (dried mountain ham), basil and marjoram. Unusual but good.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

... I'm an experienced mead maker.

Is tofu similar to Enrique Borgos' bugbutter? You could mix tofu with your Dendarii Mountain Mead to get Ambrosia.

[Darb]

Dinner last night was a vertically roasted chicken. For dinner tonite I flaked the leftover meat, and did a quick stirfry of ginger, crumbled cayenne, garlic, chopped pistachios, the flaked chicken, white wine, a dollup of my red bell pepper jelly (for a hint of sweetness), fish sauce, thinned corn starch, lots of chopped cilantro, and some cooked whole wheat rotini pasta. It was one of my stranger improvs, but tasty.

[Hunter B]

Dinner tonight (or technically last night I guess) was stuffed pork chops. I brined the pork chops in solution of salt, garlic, pepper, sugar, and rice wine. The stuffing was made of dried bread bits, sherry vinegar (just a tiny splash), spinach, homemade chipotle peppers, and pepperjack cheese. Sides were roasted garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans.

Overall, I'd say it was a success.

[Darb]

Sounds yummy and well prepared.

Just a brief culinary philosophy aside: with the sole exception being stuffed leg of lamb, I rarely stuff meat anymore, unless long braising is involved. The chief reasons being that it limits the amount of stuffing (which I always want more of than the meat will hold) and because it adversely affects the cooking of the meat involved ...for instance, it becomes impossible to request a rare or medium rare burger if you stuff it with gorgonzol, and if you want a nice thick on-the-bone porkchop cooked med-well, it's not wise because the stuffing may not be safe. Bottom line: once you commit to stuffing something, you're limited to cooking it well done, and to small amounts of stuffing.

[MidasKnight]

On Sunday I made Beer-Can Chicken.

What is Beer Can Chicken?

I wish I had taken a picture, but alas ... I didn't.

Anyway, Beer-Can Chicken is simple.

I buy two whole chickens (I have 5 children) from Costco (yes, the crappy ones that Brad has a special name for, but I forgot it).

Empty the inside of the neck and giblets and then rinse them well.

Then I sprinkled a pre-made pork rub (just because I had it in the cabinet already) all over the whole chicken.

Then I open two soda cans and pour them into cups for the kids (Aside: I never have soda in the house, I only buy it when I make beer can chicken because I don't drink any beer that comes in a can ... and I need the cans!).

After rinsing the cans out, I pour half a bottle of whatever beer I have in the garage fridge (this time it was Fat Tire's New Belgium) into each empty soda can.

Then I set the chickens upright with the soda cans in the cavity. The soda can and each leg acts as a tripod to keep the chicken upright (read: vertical).

Put them directly in the middle of the grill (medium indirect heat, I use a gas grill with front and back burners on medium and middle burner off) and cook em for 75-90 minutes.

WARNING: They are hard to get off the grill for two reasons. 1. They are very hot and the beer in the can is boiling. Be VERY careful. 2. They are SOOO tender they want to fall apart if you aren't careful.

Tastes great!!

Here's a link to a teaser video (that's not me in the video). http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/beer- ... 20609.html

Enjoy

[Darb]

The term I used was "battery chickens" . In any case the technique works great and I heaRtily recommend it. I think I even posted a recipe and phot of my own sometime last year ... I will look for it and repost it when found.

Tips:
* To get the skin good and crispy, make sure you towel it fully dry ... then give it a light rub with oil in order to make your spices and seasonings stick. Wet skin tends to cook up flabby, and doesnt fully crisp properly.
* After a lot of comparison cooking, I have found that the re is little difference between a vertical roaster, and a beer can half-full of liquid . check out my review of the norpro roaster on amazon ... it's more stable and less likely to tip then using soda or beer cans, cooks up just as moist, also catches drippings that prevent flareups and can be used for stocks and sauces, and make handling easier. You can also get the bird off easier without having to worry about dumping the contents of the can. I will add linkage later, when I can switch from my cellphone to a pc.

[sweetharleygirl]

Can a person make this in the oven too, or is it just better on the girll? It sounds really good and something my family would like too!

[Darb]

It works fine in the oven, SHG.

Here's the recipe I posted back in 2005 ... you can ignore the reference to recommending a pizza stone, which is not needed.

Here's the norpro roaster on amazon ... it turns out I havent reviewed it yet.

Here's a picture of a rosemary rubbed chicken I did on the grill last fall, using a non-stick roaster similar to the norpro.



The top got a little overcrisped, which can be prevented by draping the top of the bird with a small piece of foil during the last 15 mins of cooking ... something you dont need to do in a regular oven, where the heating is more even.

[Hunter B]

SHG: I've made it a couple times in the oven, and while it does technically work, I prefer the grill. The major reason? Smoke. Not because the chicken gives off smoke when cooked, but I because on the grill, I can create a "smoking pouch." To create a smoking pouch, just throw some herbs and (whole) spices into a double-layered pouch of aluminum foil, with a small hole for smoke to escape, and toss it on the fire (lower heat if you can manage it). The aromatic smoke lends a little extra oomph to the chicken, that I just love. I think it's just one of those things you don't realize it missing, until it's missing.

Obviously, some herbs and spices will work better than others, not just because of whether or not they're usually paired with chicken; but because the way the essential oils vaporize and mingle with the smoke. (Some others may very well burn without ever releasing a whole lot of flavor.)

Sorry if this technique has already been posted in the "Grilling..." thread, but I've yet to peruse all that I've missed.


BRAD: I tend to agree with you on stuffing. For the porks chops, however, I nearly always stuff them like this. To combat the dryness, I always do a long brine or marinade. Also, I don't add mounds of stuffing to my meat (usually, there are exceptions though). To combat this, I make sure that the stuffing I'm using is very flavorful, so a little bit will be plenty. And finally, when actually stuffing, I make sure it's all in one thin layer, but never pack it down. Since it's not packed down, the interior will cook faster, and I don't have to cook the bejesus out of my meat.

[sweetharleygirl]

Ohhh that chicken looks amazing!!! I love chicken. I'm going to have to try that beer can thing in the oven, I'm sure grilling it would taste even better but I don't grill, my husband does that and I don't know if he'd want to expairment this much or not!

[Darb]

Another tip for the vertical roaster (which I already explained is much more stable and less messy than a can) is that you can leave the neck flap open ... the bird cooks better, and faster, if hot air and steam are allowed to rise freely through the body cavity, rather than being trapped by a closed neck flap. Trust me, it's better to leave it open. The inner cavity of the bird will shed plenty of moisture and steam all by itself, without the need for an easily tipped half-full can of whatever. I've cooked both methods fairly extensively, and the norpro (or something comparable) is so much more stable and easy to handle ... and the integrated drip pan is already properly sized.

Worth the purchase price ... you'll never roast a whole chicken any other way once you try one.

BTW, here's my amazon profile, if you want to read some of my other reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AA ... 25-1219269

Tip: the lifetime limit for the number of times you can vote for any one reviewer on amazon is either 3, 4, or 5, depending on how long you've been a member and how active you are with regards to voting and reviewing. If you vote more than that, none of your votes for that person will count. It's a weird system designed to prevent ballot stuffing, but it sorta works.

[Darb]

Lunch yesturday was angel hair, done pad thai style.

Dinner yesturday was angel hair (again), this time with some homemade white clam sauce.

Dinner tonite will be tandoori-marinated grilled chicken drumsticks, and starch/veg will be grated sauteed zucchini & the last of the angel hair, dressed with a little fish sauce and oil, and fresh herbs. <-- we had that the next evening.

[Hunter B]

Dinner tonight will be ramen. I'll use the noodles, but I made a stock yesterday from pork, chicken, and beef, so I'll be tweaking that a bit for the broth. Additives will include eggs, bamboo shoots, crisped glazed ham (brown sugar, black sesame oil, a touch of sriracha, a touch of oyster sauce, and rice wine), and some veggie I've yet to decide on (probably steamed or sautéed green beans or baby carrot though).

[MidasKnight]

For me, tonight's dinner will be beer.

I may also partake of some random bar food.

The kids will be eating leftover hamburgers and brautwursts.

I am seeing off a colleague from Spain who has been in our Sacramento office for the past 3 weeks (and let me tell you, he's made our soccer team MUCH better while he was here. )

[Darb]

Dinner tonight will be ramen. I'll use the noodles, but I made a stock yesterday from pork, chicken, and beef, so I'll be tweaking that a bit for the broth. Additives will include eggs, bamboo shoots, crisped glazed ham (brown sugar, black sesame oil, a touch of sriracha, a touch of oyster sauce, and rice wine), and some veggie I've yet to decide on (probably steamed or sautéed green beans or baby carrot though).

Sounds tasty.

[Darb]

Dinner tonite was angel hair, which I garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds, and grated zucchini that I'd sauteed in browned butter with some three crabs fish sauce. Dessert was an orange and some strawberries.

[voralfred]

Lunch yesturday was angel hair, done pad thai style.

Dinner yesturday was angel hair (again), this time with some homemade white clam sauce.

Dinner tonite will be tandoori-marinated grilled chicken drumsticks, and starch/veg will be grated sauteed zucchini & the last of the angel hair, dressed with a little fish sauce and oil, and fresh herbs.

Emphasis is mine

Dinner tonite was angel hair, which I garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds, and grated zucchini that I'd sauteed in browned butter with some three crabs fish sauce. Dessert was an orange and some strawberries.

How much angel hair did you cook?

[Hunter B]

How much angel hair did you cook?

I was wondering the same thing! Haha, it's always been hard for me to eat the same thing consecutively... except rice. But that's just my Chinese upbringing

Also, to edit my ramen, I didn't have the bamboo shoots, so I used bean sprouts. Not the same but *shrug* we make do.

[Darb]

A pound of pasta goes a long way in this house, and yes, after 3 of 6 meals in a 2 day stretch featuring pasta we're ready for a change.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Dinner tonite was angel hair, which I garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds, and grated zucchini that I'd sauteed in browned butter with some three crabs fish sauce. Dessert was an orange and some strawberries.

What is angel hair?
Is it http://www.crystalinks.com/angelhair.html ?

[MidasKnight]

No, it is very thin spaghetti noodles.

In the US, the more common round noodle ranks (from thickest to thinnest) spaghetti>thin spaghetti>angel hair


I'm not sure if 'thin spaghetti' has an actual name but in the grocery stores it is simply called 'thin spaghetti'

Incidently, I much prefer thin spaghetti and angel hair over regular spaghetti. Too much noodle per mouthful for me.

[Hunter B]

Lunch today: Traditional fried rice. Includes rice (duh), egg, soy sauce, white pepper, ginger, garlic, green onion, and chinese sausage.

[Darb]

EPS: I believe the Italian name for what we Yanks call Angel Hair is either Capellini or Vermicelli ... whichever one is thinner.

[MidasKnight]

I thought vermicelli had a rectangular cross section