Turned these . . .


Home-baked Loaves

into dinner tonight . . .


Cubanos

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Cubanos

Dear Sweet mother of Carol Channing Ghost, those beauties make me smile, weep and believe in a higher power all in a beat of my engorged heart.

Lovely!

Hi Ron,

Did you press them between caste iron pans?

Were you happy with your bread? That always seems to be where those-in-the-know are disappointed.

Look's terrific!

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi Ron,

Did you press them between caste iron pans?

Here's my method (though, this was a previous effort) . . .


Sandwich Press

I push the top pan down manually when the sandwiches first go in, then place the ~8-pound brick in the top pan. I've done it with the top pan heated and with the top pan cold and find that because I flip the sandwiches a couple of times during cooking, that detail makes little or no bearing on the outcome.

Cathy2 wrote:Were you happy with your bread? That always seems to be where those-in-the-know are disappointed.

Look's terrific!

Thanks. They were tasty. The bread was certainly a step up from the store-bought bread I used in the past. That said, it still seems a ways off from the bread on the Cubanos I've had in the Tampa area (have not had one in the Miami/South Beach area). I think I can make some tweaks and improve the bread but because a lot of components have to line up at the same time in order to make these sandwiches, I'm not sure when the next opportunity will come up. I have a big chunk of ham now, but used the last of my pork shoulder to make this most recent batch. That said, this is a relatively low-effort bread, so it won't be terribly inconvenient to bake it on demand.

=R=

Hi,

I do not like hot and humid weather. I tolerate cold much better, because I can add a sweater or get an extra blanket. Hot weather, especially mixed with humidity, is my least favorite weather.

When I cracked open the can of artichokes, I used maybe 60% for the gratin. I added artichokes to the Puttanesca and later to a dish of potatoes. I did not especially like the potatoes and artichokes, but I had some leftover. I drained the liquid, cooked the potatoes and artichokes along with some slivered green onions and sliced onion. Once the onions were softened and everything else warmed through, I pour in a mixture of beaten eggs and Feta. Effectively I made a Frittata, which I liked much more than just plain potatoes and artichokes.


I also make a simple cucumber salad with some red wine vinegar, sour cream and salt.

In winter, turning on the stove or oven is welcome. It adds some heat and homey smells.

In summer, I do lots of minimalist cooking to keep the house just a tad bit cooler. I cannot wait for this weekend when the temperature drops. I am thinking of smoking pork shoulder(s) to portion and freeze for future meals. I may roast a pork shoulder, too, to portion and use as well. I am really a big fan of pork shoulder. Definitely a cut I have come to appreciate from this website.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I am really a big fan of pork shoulder. Definitely a cut I have come to appreciate from this website.

Yeah, it's an amazingly versatile cut that can be braised in a number of ways into a great variety of dishes, slow-roasted, sliced-pounded-breaded-fried into schnitzel, cooked in its own fat into carnitas, smoked into pulled pork, ground into sausage, etc. The only downside (which isn't always a downside) is that they are large.

I was (mostly) back at the grill tonight, which I really appreciate when it's warm out and I don't feel like cooking inside.


Skirt Steaks
Hot and fast, direct. Only had a before-cooking pound for 3 of us, so I threw on some additional items . . .


Sausage & Spring Onions
Imperfect Foods Chicken-Spinach-Feta Sausage and red spring onions from Three Sisters Garden. The sausages were absolutely awful, with the predominant flavor being sweet. Never again. Yuck.


Sausage and Onions
They looked pretty, though.


Plated Up
Skirt steak and chicken sausage served with an assortment of combined and leftover side dishes . . . sauteed portobellos & corn (now cut) off the cob, sauteed zucchini, spinach-feta casserole, grilled red spring onions and quinoa with peas, asparagus and sauteed onions (in the middle).

The fridge is nice and empty now, which is good because groceries are being delivered tomorrow.

=R=

Pork shoulder is indeed useful in so many ways. FYI a good butcher, including the ones at Whole Foods, will cut a boneless should for you into more manageable chunks. Our family of 3 will do 1lb or 2lbs in a milk braise or char siu or sous vide gyros/ carnitas and have enough for a couple of meals but not an oppressive quantity, which we reserve for like smoking a whole shoulder or making a bo ssam.

Sorry to hear about those bad sausages from imperfect / thanks for the warning. We have only done a few proteins from them - smoked black cod, one packet of which was excellent and the other two salty and subprime texture; maryland crab (very good; total steal); and some smallish ribeyes. We did however order some kind of cheese chip snack called Regrained that was literally inedible. Hilariously awful. We abhor food waste but it was straight to the bin.

Tonight we didn't cook! A true rarity in quarantine! We ordered sushi from KaiZan, our absolute favorite spot. It was packed nicely (lots of daikon etc to hold things in place) and traveled perfectly fine and was buttery silky delicious. They even had a chicken katsu bento on the menu that was ideal for the kid.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I was (mostly) back at the grill tonight, which I really appreciate when it's warm out and I don't feel like cooking inside.

Also didn't feel like cooking inside. Made sushi instead.

Adding to the pork shoulder love, I've started to prepare pork shoulder steaks much more often than your typical loin/sirloin cuts.

If you've got the time, you can sous vide for a couple hours and then finish off on a grill or a skillet. Or you can still get a great output with the reverse sear.

A little more chew and different muscles are apparent, but I really like the texture. And definitely a lot more fat, which may be appealing/detracting to folks.

Are you cutting your own steaks ? If not, where do you find them.

lougord99 wrote:Are you cutting your own steaks ? If not, where do you find them.

Gene's still has pork shoulder steaks in their counter. I haven't been into an actual butcher shop but prior to sheltering in place, everyone would cut them to order when I asked.

I've never done this, but if you have a boneless shoulder, I'll bet you can just make a cut yourself. Now you got me curious to ask if there's a proper method to do this when I'm in a shop in the future.

WhyBeeSea wrote:

lougord99 wrote:Are you cutting your own steaks ? If not, where do you find them.

Gene's still has pork shoulder steaks in their counter. I haven't been into an actual butcher shop but prior to sheltering in place, everyone would cut them to order when I asked.

I've never done this, but if you have a boneless shoulder, I'll bet you can just make a cut yourself. Now you got me curious to ask if there's a proper method to do this when I'm in a shop in the future.

As was pointed out earlier, pork shoulder tend to be big cuts. Lately, I have cut a section up to the shoulder bone that is a boneless portion. The piece I cut off, I use for char siu. It could be cut into thick steaks, instead.

The part with the shoulder bone, I might roast simple or roast bo ssam. Or cut meat from the bone, then use the scraps to make posole.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I did a deeper look into what to make with lotus seeds. I found an Indian curry. I found they could potentially be treated like garbanzo beans by baking or frying until crisp and season to eat out of hand. I found soups, too. While nobody made the link to use lotus seeds as garbanzo beans, I simply found recipes where I could easily envision substituting one for the other. What I do not wish to make with lotus seeds are any dessert. To force the issue, I opened, rinsed, dried and put the lotus seeds in the fridge. Now the clock is ticking.

Stop the timer, I did it!

I was ready to make an onion paste to make the curry, then remembered I had Indian Tikka Masala simmering sauce in the cupboards. Not certain how long it would take to cook these lotus seeds, I simmered them in sauce at low temperature for less than an hour. I then put it aside until it was time for dinner.

If I were Indian, I might enjoy these curried lotus seeds with a flat bread. I made Korean vegetable pancakes instead. These were filled with green onions cut into one-inch sections, a slivered onion and a zucchini cut into matchsticks.


I will admit the family was not smitten with the lotus seed curry. I have less than a cup left, which will be part of breakfast tomorrow.

Several libraries are beginning to accept books beginning on June 1st, so things are looking up. Wisconsin and Minnesota State Fairs have cancelled. This may be the summer of no place to go.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I will admit the family was not smitten with the lotus seed curry. I have less than a cup left, which will be part of breakfast tomorrow.

This morning, I dumped the last bits of lotus seeds in Tikka Masala simmering sauce into a small frying pan. Once it was bubbly hot, I added two beaten eggs to the pan and mixed it in quickly. When the eggs were cooked, it was served for breakfast.


The addition of the eggs lighted the heavy spice-centric simmering sauce. I enjoyed this more than straight simmering sauce. If you did not spend any time studying the lotus seed, you would have thought it was a chickpea from size, texture and chew.

By happenstance, I think I found the easiest way to use lotus seeds in a meal. I am not sure I am impressed enough to buy another can of lotus seeds. I think it could be entertaining conversation at a cocktail party. Yeah, right!

Regards,
Cathy2

annak wrote:Sorry to hear about those bad sausages from imperfect / thanks for the warning. We have only done a few proteins from them - smoked black cod, one packet of which was excellent and the other two salty and subprime texture; maryland crab (very good; total steal); and some smallish ribeyes. We did however order some kind of cheese chip snack called Regrained that was literally inedible. Hilariously awful. We abhor food waste but it was straight to the bin.

I find IP to be a mixed bag overall. I've had at least one problem with every delivery and multiple problems with more than half. Missing items for which we were billed, damaged items, receiving items we never ordered, delivering to the wrong house, delivering nearly 4 hours after the delivery window, etc. They're good about issuing credits but that puts the burden on me and that's a bummer. I'm already spending more time than I'd like on provisioning, so spending additional time keeping track of and resolving their errors is not acceptable. My CSA starts this week, so depending on how that goes, I may start skipping some weeks with IP.

And all this doesn't even speak to the quality of goods we've received, which is its own bag of tricks. Produce is variable but usually decent. Dairy is ok but the selection (or lack thereof) is extremely odd. We've tried a few of the sausages and our favorites were the Fra'Mani Salt and Pepper Smoked Sausages. The True Story Organic Sriracha Jalapeno Chicken Sausages were also pretty good, and they were definitely hot.

annak wrote:Tonight we didn't cook! A true rarity in quarantine! We ordered sushi from KaiZan, our absolute favorite spot. It was packed nicely (lots of daikon etc to hold things in place) and traveled perfectly fine and was buttery silky delicious. They even had a chicken katsu bento on the menu that was ideal for the kid.

Yummm . . . KaiZan! I love/miss it.

=R=

Tonight's dinner will be stuffed peppers. They will be stuffed with a brend of Swaggerty Sage Sausage and Sonoran Wheatberries that I received from an OLLI class four years ago. I thought that the wheatberries would get mushy after too much cooking but found instead that they retained a degree of chewiness It is a quite pleasant mix of textures that is a lot different than when I use a jasmine rice.

With each week, we have gotten rid of more and more of the odd items from the pantry and the old stuff out of the freezer.

This week has been somewhat trying as an hour after our produce order came in this week, we received three large bags of fresh produce from snowbirds on their way back to the Midwest. The produce is appreciated but a bit too much so part of it went to neighbors.

Brussels sprouts with oyster sauce, crab rangoon (wrappers left over from making Turkish manti last week, krab sticks, cream cheese, egg yolk), shrimp in lobster sauce (last of my scallions, fresh package of black beans, leftover stock from making the manti, shrimp and ground pork from the back of the freezer, egg whites). Ridiculously complex recipe, came out wonderful. Enough food for another dinner.

Cathy2 wrote:

Cathy2 - March 19, 2020 wrote:Hi,

Last night, I finished my last container of Cascade dishwasher detergent from Costco. I carefully washed out the container, then weighed it dry this morning: 157 grams.

I weighed a brand new container, then subtracted the container weight:
3709-157=3552 grams

After I added dishwasher detergent to the dishwasher, I weighed the container again:
3552-3521=31 grams

I then weighed the difference and divided by 31 grams:
3552/31=114.5 loads

Typically do a load a day and sometimes twice, I hope this bottle will take care of us for the duration.

Regards,
Cathy2
(who really dislikes hand washing)

Update:
Today container weigh 1244 grams - 157 = 1,087 gram detergent

March 19 - May 4: 46 days

114 loads - 35 remaining: 79 or average of 1.7 loads per day.

If I use about 31 grams per wash, then I have 35 wash cycles left.

I have been using the dishwasher at least twice a day, sometimes three times, I have about three weeks left.

Regards,
Cathy2

On May 5th, I predicted I had three weeks left. I finished the last full load last night and used a dusting (well, fill it with water to shake any soap left) and used my new container to fill the soap dispenser.

Since March 19th, I have done about two loads a day, rarely one or three times and only once a day without washing. It got us through 71 days.

Thanks for putting up with this sidebar of information.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Thanks for putting up with this sidebar of information.

Actually, I really appreciate stuff like this. I use a marker to write start-dates on just about every supply we use in the house. I love tracking our typical usage intervals.

For the first time in a long time, I got my hands on some spare ribs. The bad news is that they were already St. Louis'd (so, no tips ) but I was still happy to have them, especially on such a glorious weather-day for smoking . . .


Rubbed & Ready
Membranes removed, lightly glossed with mustard, sprinkled with kosher salt and dusted with my rub.


90 minutes in
This is just before I spritzed them with some "mop," which I did throughout the cook.


Horizon Offset - Ribs In Progress
Loaded with lump charcoal, extruded coconut charcoal and apple wood. Note the upright section, which will come into play later in this post.


2.5 hours in


Full Slab On The Board
Kanehide Bessaku Honesuki 150mm riding shotgun.


Money Shot
I love it when a plan comes together.

Since man cannot live by ribs alone, there was also spanakopita. This time, I actually overcame my laziness and included phyllo dough, which I brushed with a combination of clarified butter and evoo . . .


Spanakopita
Baked for 60 minutes at 350 and then 15 minutes at 375 to brown the top.


Spanakopita
I saved y'all a corner piece!

Lastly, there was a bonus meat . . .


Bonus Meat
Cured, dried and rubbed, and ready for the smoker. Can you guess what it is?


Upright Section
I only use this section of the smoker occasionally but for this item, I wanted a lower temperature.


Smoked & Ready
On the plate and ready, after about 2 hours.


Pastrami'd Duck Breast
Yep, you guessed it!
Used a variation on my typical pastrami cure (overnight) and rubbed them with a mix of coarsely-ground black pepper and coriander seed. We shared one to make sure it was ok . The rest, we vacuum-sealed and will use over the next few days in sandwiches, salads and possibly one other dish that I've been thinking about; the one that actually inspired me to make these in the first place.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:For the first time in a long time, I got my hands on some spare ribs.

Ronnie,

So much to love about your post it deserves not just a hat-tip but a popped bottle of champagne and fireworks.

Keep on keeping on!

I am amazed at your smoker setups.

And those duck breasts ! oh my.

It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year. We always consider this the first true sign of summer.

lougord99 wrote:It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year.

Be lying if I said that chive didn't look jive. (Felt cute, might delete later )

G Wiv wrote:

lougord99 wrote:It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year.

Be lying if I said that chive didn't look jive. (Felt cute, might delete later )

Oh, don't delete. I think we're all allowed to be cute at least once a month.

It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year. We always consider this the first true sign of summer.

we found a good bunch on our forest hike yesterday and sautéed them in butter to dress corn-burrata ravioli. thanks to you, will use some more in eggs!

lougord99 wrote:It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year. We always consider this the first true sign of summer.

I just planted a chive plant. I look forward to doing this next year. Thanks!

***
Sheltering-at-home (SAH), we have celebrated St. Patrick's Day (well, I was an election judge), Easter, Mother's Day and now a birthday. When birthdays are celebrated, it is usually a dinner the day-of made by yours-truly to the celebrant's wishes. A week or so in advance, I begin inquiring about what they want. If the answer was McDonald's, I would drive over to McDonald's.

It was my sister Laura's birthday yesterday aka the real Memorial Day. Since SAH, she's been coming over for Sunday lunch. Prior to all this, there are random meals together when she'd drop by or something was made we know she likes. Since she really cannot go anywhere else, we are the best offer in town.

Trying to find out what Laura wanted this year was like pulling hen's teeth. "Would you like a German Chocolate Cake?" "No, but if you want it, you can." Actually, I have this box mix I want a reason to bake, so it was more my itch than her interest. I opted to buy raspberries and cream, though at the store I change to blackberries (50 cents a container) instead of raspberries ($2.50 per container). I knew at some point, I would find a better price for raspberries. I knew Laura would happily come back for a redux.

When it came to the main meal, she wished to make chicken livers with apples and apple brandy. I was not expected to make it, she would do the honors. What do you want from my side: French bread, salad and egg salad. Egg salad? What about stuffed eggs? Ok!

Making egg salad or stuffed eggs is not particularly challenging or festive for a birthday meal. I then remembered Jacques Pepin's Eggs Jeannette, which Pairs4Life highlighted some years ago, which I made around that time. It is a stuffed egg, it is fried to warm and brown just before serving, and leftover stuffing is made into a salad dressing.


This is a favorite recipe for Pepin to use as a demo. It is understandable, because it is quick, reliable and few would think to saute a stuffed egg. Sometimes he spreads the dressing on a plate and mounts the eggs on top. He suggests eating this with crunchy French bread and a salad. In the variant I printed out sometime ago, the salad is dressed with the eggs arranged on top.

I did something specifically suggested not to do: mound the stuffing in the eggs. It was not voluptuously mounded, just not flush with the egg. Here is what happens: the yolk mixes with the oil and may drift away a bit. It is far neater to keep the stuffing level with the egg. Lesson learned!

My sister's chicken livers with apples and apple brandy was not a warm savory dish as I expected. It was a pate to be spread on bread, which served as an appetizer. I am so glad I made the Egg's Jeannette, which effectively became a main course. The blackberries with freshly hand-whipped cream was just right.

The next birthday is mine and the ideas are dancing in my head.

Regards,
Cathy2

ronnie_suburban wrote:Since man cannot live by ribs alone, there was also spanakopita.
=R=

So many possible nominations recently, but this one makes me wanna suggest:

Banner quote!

Xexo wrote:

G Wiv wrote:

lougord99 wrote:It's chive flower scrambled eggs time of the year.

Be lying if I said that chive didn't look jive. (Felt cute, might delete later )

Oh, don't delete. I think we're all allowed to be cute at least once a month.

Hehe, agreed. Not wanting to be a chive turkey, figured I'd better get in line behind Lou. So, in his honor, I added some chive blossoms to this morning's breakfast . . .


Beans & Eggs . . . and Chive Blossoms!

Later in the day, it was mostly leftovers but being in possession of some beautiful creminis from Nichols Farm, it was back to work on the board . . .


Cremini Mushrooms and Shibata Kashima R-2 Gyuto 210mm

Not only have my knife skills and speed improved during the quarantine but my overall enjoyment of prep work has increased, too. Knowing how fast I can move through ingredients makes the prospect quite enjoyable. And doing it again, day-in and day-out, I've further refined my food-prep routines and SOPs, measurably improving my overall efficiency in the kitchen.

=R=

G Wiv wrote:Ronnie,

So much to love about your post it deserves not just a hat-tip but a popped bottle of champagne and fireworks.

Keep on keeping on!

Always, Gary. You know you've been a huge inspiration to me and have generously helped me improve my skills time after time over the years.

lougord99 wrote:I am amazed at your smoker setups.

And those duck breasts ! oh my.

Thanks, Lou. I love that Horizon (which I was able to try out at BBQ University back in 2010) and really agonized over whether to get the standard chimney or the cooking chamber chimney. I'm glad I opted for the latter.

What you cannot see in the picture is that the 3 racks come out and there is a crossbeam at the top of the chamber, so using butcher hooks, you can easily hang slabs of bacon, whole salmon, etc to smoke there at very low temperatures. It still feels new to me because I love it and because don't get to use it as often as I like but next month it will be 8 years since I got it. My guess is that I've done about 200 cooks on it so far.

=R=

Well, today was the first chance that I had to make Pailin Chongchitnant's Pork Adobo recipe, In general, I do not follow a lot of recipes as it is difficult for me to access some of the required ingredients. This was no different as I have no access to pork belly within 20 miles. However, last week, I was able to get to an Asian market that carried it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEYkAVCG5Ms&t=301s

This is pretty similar to an ordinary pork adobo but it adds coconut milk and fresh pineapple to the mix. The coconut milk adds a lot of fragrance and the acid and sweetness in the pineapple complements the fattiness of the pork. To reduce the overall fat in the dish, I did substitute about half of the pork belly with pork butt.

That is a truly excellent dish that will make our monthly rotation.