No... Food... Left.... Behind.....

In the fridge, leftovers from creating yesterdays lasagna.  Italian sausage and ground beef.

In the pantry, three new flavors I've never worked with before. Gochujang chili paste, Calabrian chili sauce, and Vietnamese fish sauce.

Korean BBQ, here we come.

Korean BBQ meatballs and sausage over rice with broccoli

All the big flavors are in the meatballs and BBQ sauce.  The sausage I simply roasted, sliced up, and tossed into the sauce.  The Basmati rice is plain rice.  The only thing special I did to the broccoli was brine it for an hour, and drop on a pat of butter when I plated it.

The meatballs: Ground beef, Italian sausage (50/50), Ritz cracker crumbs, Gochujang, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, black pepper, and fish sauce.    Make the meatballs and place on a sheet tray with the sausage. 375 degrees for 25 minutes.0

The BBQ sauce: Red wine, ketchup, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, honey, fish sauce, soy sauce, Calabrian chili sauce, the juice from a large orange, fresh garlic, and fresh ginger.  Brought together and cooked for a few minutes to drive off the alcohol and start the flavors marrying, and then poured over the meatballs and sausage.  This I left to marinate for a few hours.  Then it all went in a wide pan and on to the heat to reduce the sauce.

Not too sweet, not too spicy, not too much anything but LOTS of balanced flavor.  

There were NO leftovers.

Golden nuggets...

 

Cool story girls!  Just in time for making pasta this weekend.

'Scuse me??

 

Does that say ONE degree?

1-16-25 Daily log

W: 313.2                BS: 164

15 degrees this morning.  5:30 am, fire lit, and coffee brewing.

And...... 6:15, and now the woodstove is closed and throttled to build some real heat for the home.  Still, I get that first quiet 30 minutes all to myself, with a mug of coffee and the fire to keep me company.  The time it takes to warm the stove and chimney, and the draft going well... that is my quiet time to sip coffee and stare into the fire.

Note to self:  Meat case thick cut bacon:  $3 per 1/2 pound = 6 slices = 50 cents per slice.

That be bacon math.

Feeling.. unsettled.. physically.  BP was low a few days ago so I backed off meds.  BP back high so I reinstated meds.  Reacted poorly to a few evenings hard drinking, so I knocked that off for a while.  Now my heart is 'thumpy' but the ECG shows up inconclusive.  Weight and B-sugar are in line, which is nice for a change.  Chest is a little tight, but allergies are running hard.

All in all just unsettling.  I feel like I should rest quietly, while also doing chores and moving firewood.

BLT dinner...

I started in writing the usual pile of blathery yadda yadda, but not today.  I want to make a simple point with this BLT as an example.

Never, ever, pass up a chance to add flavor.  Don't get silly, but don't miss an opportunity either.

This humble BLT was dinner last night.  I prepped everything, laid it all out, and aimed the Fam at the counter to make their own.  That said...

The rolls are tasty onion and poppy seed rolls.

The bacon is thick cut, oven roasted, and seasoned with black pepper and paprika.

The mayo is Dukes, and mixed with Mike's hot mustard and Calabrian chili sauce.

The Roma tomatoes were sliced an hour early, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

The lettuce, iceberg and fresh and crunchy as I could get.

A small amount of time and thought, a big amount of flavor.

1-15-25

W: 315.2                BS: 154

Cold today, lasagna tonight, so kitchen hopping all day.  Trying to make my own pasta for the first time, so what better dish to hide it in?

About six hours sleep last night, and still feeling the Bourbon I had two days ago.  I CANNOT drink like I am still 30.  It's a spinny world today, lemme tell ya.

It's astonishing how much work can go into a pan of lasagna when it's all from scratch.

Sadly, I have fears this will be more like lasagna soup.

Now, it cools till dinner time.  Fingers crossed.

Okay, a new PB.  Not by a mile, but a fair amount.  The fresh homemade noodles make a significant difference.  The fam each snarled through a *large* serving.

1-13-25

W: 314.2   314.0             BS: 154

The morning feels..... chorey.

Good morning!

That lovely kind of day where the stove keeps the house warm enough a couple windows can be open.   

After I digest my Carnavarian breakfast a bit, I'll get busy on chores again.  Already did a load of dishes, cleaned out the wood stove and lower chimney, built a fire, unplugged the toilet, vacuum a little, and made a breakfast of pan-fried beastie. Steak and scrapple for the win!

Where has my energy gone?

It was right here only a decade ago.

I remember it clearly.

Saying it again.... Time is an ingredient in cooking.

 

Nothing better illustrates the concept of *time* being an ingredient in cooking than Scrapple.  So often I've been asked "How do you get your scrapple so perfect?  Mine always falls apart!"

It's really so very easy.  Slice the scrapple to your liking, say 3/8" to 1/2" thick.  Place the slices in a good non-stick pan.  Put it on medium/medium-low heat.   GO AWAY.  LEAVE it ALONE.  DON'T PLAY WITH IT.

Come back when the house smells like Scrapple, and not before.  A good 20 minutes at least.

Even then, shake the pan a bit to get the slices loose, and then turn them over carefully.  Back to the technique.... GO AWAY.  Leave them ALONE.

In another 10-15 minutes the scrapple is done.  Just shut off the heat and finish preparing the rest of breakfast.  Plate the perfect scrapple and accept your well earned accolades.

That's it.  The whole secret to great scrapple.  That, and using Rapa scrapple instead of the nasty Hatfield stuff.  Rapa really is the best.

But... what aboot grees'in the pan ya wee twinky?  Nope.  Use a non-stick, and the Rapa scrapple has just enough fat to cook.  If you put in bacon grease or butter or what have you, the scrapple will absorb it and fall apart.   Don't do it!  It's a trap!

Now, for serving the scrapple, I prefer simply laying it on buttered toast, grind on a little black pepper, and drizzle it with honey.  You can eat it any way you please, but my way is the right way.

1-12-25 Daily

W: 314.0                BS: 94

Anywho, Good morning!  Coffee is on.

OMFG (Coffee spew alert!)

 OH MY GAWD....

First, put down any drinks you might be holding.

Consequences

 

The thing is, if they spend generations working hard to create a socialist hell, they shouldn't be shocked when the place finally bursts into flame.

Every hour another critical misstep is revealed that explains why LA is a smoking pile of rubble.

I've read of a theory being advanced regarding 'Luxury Beliefs'.  The notion is that only a very rich, well fed, and well defended society would have the luxury of worrying about such things as DEI, Snail darters, and gender quotas.  Most especially the luxury of regarding things like that as more important than food, shelter, and safety.

Well, those folks out west chose what's important in their lives, and it wasn't food, shelter, or safety so now they don't have those things anymore.  They also don't have a right to demand everyone else fund their luxury beliefs.

Bacon...

Oh Bacon of which angels sing....

I've worked out how we like our basic bacon, and how I like to not clean up after our basic bacon.  Oven roasting, sheet pan, one artfully folded bit of aluminum foil, and some seasoning.

I've tried frying in a pan, deep frying, microwaving, broiling, roasting on a rack, roasting on a plain sheet pan, and then... this.

Just line a sheet pan with one piece of aluminum foil.  I fold the edges of the foil up about 3/8" in, and lay out the bacon on the foil.  There it gets seasoned, then into a 375 oven.  For seasoning, we like doing some simple fresh black pepper and paprika.  It usually takes about 20 minutes in the oven, with a few more for crispier.  

There are several very useful advantages to preparing bacon this way.

• The cook level is completely and easily controllable. Set the oven to 425 and roast quickly, or set it 350 and go do chores or enjoy the coffee.  Either way, after one gets used to this method it's easy to judge when the bacon should be checked.  Unlike pan fried bacon which can go from done to burnt in moments, oven roasted bacon stays in that sweet range for quite a while.  
• Roasting the bacon on foil on a tray allows it to cook in it's own fat, which gives a superior tasting and crispy bacon.  Putting the bacon on a rack certainly allows the fat to render off, but much flavor is lost and it creates more things to clean later.
• Clean-up.  Clean-up!   So easy with the foil/tray/roast method.  Quite literally it's almost no bother at all and takes only seconds.  Once the bacon is cooked and removed from the tray, simply set the tray with foil and fat aside.  I usually shove mine right back into my cooling oven to get it out of my way.  The next day, all the bacon fat is congealed on the foil and can be picked up as is and dropped in the trash.  The tray is still clean.  A bacon grease saver can just scrape the grease up and put it in the can.

When the bacon looks like this, it's ready to pull.

Our bacon goes to a paper towel lined plate for de-greasing.

This mess?  Just set it someplace safe overnight and then lift the foil,
grease and all, and toss.  Cleanup is done!

1-11-25 Daily log

W: 314.4                BS: 174

24 degrees and foggy/misty, which I don't get.  I'll say... Brrr.  How do you get freezing cold WET air?  2" of fresh snow, which is pretty but not difficult.  I'll take it.

RFK

I don't know squat about RFK, or his ideas.

That said, some outfit from Chicago says they have 17,000 signatures from 17,000 unnamed people who claim to be doctors, and they don't like RFK or his ideas.

I have two three things to say about that.

1) There is nobody and no group on earth I am more skeptical of than doctors, especially anonymous people calling themselves doctors.

2) If they were right and RFK was wrong, they'd only need 1 doctor to say why.

3) This pack of twitties is so legit, even *I* was able to sign the letter on their website.  My medical title is now 'His Highness' and my specialty is BSology.

Dr. Rob Davidson <info@committeetoprotect.org>	1:25 PM (10 minutes ago)
to me

Hello Dr. welling, 

Thank you for joining physicians nationwide to call on the Senate to reject RFK Jr.'s appointment to Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As physicians, we understand the grave danger RFK Jr.'s false claims and misinformation pose to our public health infrastructure. Collectively, we must tell the Senate that this appointment is reckless and dangerous, and that they must protect and defend our patients' access to quality health care by rejecting his appointment.

Take your next step to oppose RFK's nomination by visiting doctorsagainstrfk.com. Through that action center you can email your senators, the AMA, and your speciality organization urging united opposition to this dangerous appointment.

We will keep you updated on developments with the letter and our campaign.

Thanks for all you do,

Eggs....

 

Fresh eggs for sale.  $1 each.  No lowball offers, I know what I got.

OH No! I Broke the Yokes!

 

I can't get this in a restaurant, and the Wife turns her nose up.

Rare steak and lightly fried eggs.  I maintain there is no better sauce for steak than a fried egg.    Rare steak.  Still mooing a bit.

(BTW, I am leaving this abominable formatting in place.  Blogger randomly changes the formatting on my posts after I post them, and this is what it looks like when I don't catch the Blogger FU).

Nero Newsom

 

Nero Newsom fiddles while LA burns....

1-10-24 Daily log

W: 315.0                BS: 124

A balmy 21 degrees this morning.

  

Why I write food porn...

 Nancy, Charles, Martin... You've all nudged me to write a cook book.

Well, I have been, and it's being published on Facebook one bit at a time. Also on my blog and on X. The only comments those long posts get are on Facebook, from my friends, who are the people I write these for. No one else notices them, just as nobody would notice down at B&N if there are 3287 unsold cookbooks, or 3288 unsold cookbooks.

I write these things for my own pleasure, and with some small hope my friends might enjoy them as well. That's good enough for me.

Tomato bisque

I vaguely recall watching a history show on Campbells soup. Even more vaguely, I think I heard them say it was considered a 'luxury' to have fancy soup whenever they wanted, just by opening a can.

Naaa... soup has been around as long as there's been humans and fire.  It's an easy way to use almost anything and make something that's good human-fuel.   Now, GOOD soup and FANCY soup, that's a different story.

Herself and I were talking soup, and the question came up (as it does) on what is the difference between seafood chowda and seafood bisque.  One might think it obvious, but boy what a rabbit hole that turned into.

We all know what chowda is.  Lumpy, creamy, potatoes, satisfying.  Seafood, chicken-corn, whatever it is we know a bowl of chowdy when it lands under our spoon.

What about bisque?  Well, first of all, it's got a Frenchy name so we know it's fancy soup for the rich folk.  The kind who have 'staff' and a newspaper butler and a trained soup expert in the kitchen.

Research suggested to me the biggest factor that sets bisque aside is how it's thickened, and how it's treated once cooked.  Bisque does not use cornstarch or a roux to thicken the soup, but rice.  That's right.  A small amount of rice is added while the soup simmers and is then cooked till mushy.  Then the second thing happens... the soup is blended till silky smooth.  The rice breaks down and the bisque (whatever kind it is) becomes that rich luxurious bowl of privilege.

Here we have the meal I made for the family last night.  Tomato soup and grilled sandwich.  The old classic comfort food every kid in America has had every Winter at least once.

This duo though, it's been kicked up. Done fancyfied. Over the top one might say.

Allow me to describe the process behind this 'simple' bowl of tomato bisque.

First, assemble the things and stuff.  Amounts depend on the end desired.

• Carrot
• Celery
• Onion
• Garlic
• Butter
• Salt/pepper
• Dry white wine
• Chicken stock
• Canned tomatoes (No salt added)
• Cream or half/half
• Rice, any kind
• Sugar (teaspoons)
• Basil, Thyme, Aleppo pepper, parsley

Now, the technique.  Most of a day is needed to make this, although nothing is in itself difficult or complicated.  It just needs to be done the right way for the right length of time.

Set your soup pot to the heat and add a knob of butter. Rough chop the onion, celery, and carrot and get them sizzling.  Much heat,  Heat is good here.  Try to get some brown happening if you can.  Don't sweat the knife work as it will all get blended near the end.

While that is going on under your watchful eye, peel and chop two cloves of garlic.  Nice big ones.  Set them aside for the moment.

When the mirepoix is well cooked and beginning to brown a touch, drop in the garlic and stir (This dish calls for quite a bit of stirring). Let that garlic cook in the veg for no more that 60 seconds or so, while stirring all the time.  We can't let the garlic burn or the soup is ruined.

At 60 seconds, pour in a cup of white wine, and get back to stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot.  Keep the heat up, and cook/stir until the wine is almost all gone.  The veg is moist, but no longer swimming.  This gets rid of the alcohol, releases a ton of flavor, and reduces the wine to concentrate all those flavors.

With the wine reduced, pour in a quart of chicken stock and all your canned tomatoes.  Go ahead and lightly season the pot but don't sweat it too much.  The seasoning will happen again another three or four times.

Turn the heat to medium low and cover the pot.  Set the timer for an hour, but that is just a stir point.  This begins the long simmering time where the veg is made soft and the flavors build.  Stir once in a while, but mostly leave it alone right now.  Plan on about three hours total simmer time for this stage.

After two hours of simmer/stir, taste for seasoning and sweetness.  The tomatoes will need some sugar to counter their tartness, but only the cook can say how much.  Start with just a teaspoon or two.  Everything needs time to marry and bloom between adjustments, so give it a good 20 minutes between tastings.

At this two hour mark, add the rice.  About 4-5 tablespoons.  Not too much, but it's not hyper-critical.  Stir it in, cover the pot, walk away.  The rice will be simmering in the soup for at least an hour, with occasional stirring.

After that hour the rice should be as soft and bloomed as it's going to get.  Stir for a bit, and notice the bisque is already getting thicker as the rice gives up it's creamy starch.  Now is one of those seasoning points, and the right time to add your herbs.

Shut off the heat and give the pot a few minutes to cool while you set up your blender, or bring out the immersion blender.  If you are using a countertop blender you will have to work in stages, so have an extra pot and a ladle handy.   Blend the soup (Careful!  That's HOT!) until it turns to silk.  At least 2 minutes, but 3 is better. If in doubt, blend more.  It can't be over-blended. Work through the batches till it's all done and back into the soup pot, and turn the heat back to medium low.

The next thing in is the cream, about a cup full.  Stir or whisk this in gently till completely blended.  From this point on the bisque is a tender creature that doesn't need too much heat or rough treatment.

After the cream is incorporated and the soup comes back to a low simmer (just occasional small bubbles) taste for seasoning and sweet/tart the last time.   Once you adjust the flavor this last time, let the bisque cook gently for another 30 minutes and then it's ready to serve.

We like to garnish with a pat of rich butter, and maybe a small piece of crispy bacon.  Basil is the perfect fresh herb if you go that way.

This is the tomato bisque.  Seafood bisque would use shrimp stock and fresh fish and seafood, but the same method.

The grilled cheese sandwich with cheese inside and out, three kinds of cheese, and lot's of bacon?  That's another story for another day.

What a Grand morning!

Oh....

What can you do with a can of biscuits

What can you do with a can of biscuits

What can you do with a can of biscuits

Earlye in the morning..

Oh....

Line the pan you cook the eggs in

Line the pan you cook the eggs in

Line the pan you cook the eggs in

Earlye in the morning...

And 

Oh....

Roll 'em in sugar and bake them quickly

Roll 'em in sugar and bake them quickly

Roll 'em in sugar and bake them quickly

Earlye in the morning......

Good morning!

 

I was up at 6am to light the fire, start the coffee, and cook the breakfast.

Now it's 9am, the house is warm, my belly is full, and I'm two mugs in on the coffee pot.

Recliner reclined, eyes closing....

Beef chops, the cookening....

These beef loin chops went down to dry-brine yesterday noon.  So, 18 hours or so resting open in the fridge, rubbed with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.  That is ALL the seasoning these steaks need.  Just trim the steaks, rub with seasoning, and put in the fridge on a plate lined with paper towels.  Then.... go away.  LEAVE IT ALONE.  12-24 hours. 

The cooking plan:

An hour before cook time, set the plate of steaks on the counter to warm up a bit.  

Now, in a small fry pan drop half a stick of unsalted butter*.  Join it with 2 cloves of slightly crushed garlic and a teaspoon of dried rosemary.  Set that on a small burner on medium low (Electric stove).  The goal is to infuse the melted butter with the garlic and herbs.  In 20-30 minutes, check it.  When the garlic is turning a bit brown, shut off the heat and let it coast.

Cook time for the 1.5" thick steak:   A large cast-iron skillet on medium high.  Look for whisps of smoke and that bit of burning smell.  Quickly rub the steaks with a slight amount of high temp oil and set them in the pan.

Now.... stare at them longingly, but DON'T TOUCH THEM.  They are now stuck to that pan, and that is a GOOD thing.  They are doing Maillard magic and crusting hard.  Let them. If you tug a steak and it moves freely, they have all reached crust.  It takes just long enough to set off most smoke detectors.

Turn the steak, and shut off the burner.  There is plenty of heat left in the pan to finish those steaks.    Give it about 2 minutes, and turn them over.  Crusty?  Excellent!  Keep the pan on the shut-down-but-still-hot burner.

The next step is to pour the butter over the steaks.  I do it through a strainer to remove the used up garlic and rosemary, but you don't have to.   Immediately turn over all the steaks a few times to coat them well.  Take their temp.  We are looking for 120ish for medium rare after resting.  Flip occasionally and recheck temp, and they should finish within a few minutes.

At 120ish, or whatever you prefer, pull the steaks and set them to rest while you assemble the rest of the meal.  For me, that was getting a plate, knife, and fork.

Plate and eat!

* What to do with that leftover butter?  If you want the kinky answer, keep looking.

A moment of honesty, I will use an entire stick or two of unsalted butter for this.  I WANT a lot of leftover herby beefy butter.  

What WE do is cook it a bit longer on medium low till any moisture is gone, and then pour it into a measuring cup.  In 30-40 minutes on the counter all the herby butter oil will rise to the surface.  Skim any uglies, and slowly pour off the oil into a container.  You now have clarified beefy herb butter.  It's astonishing!

Beef loin chops...

Chop.... Steak.... whatev.  What we have here are some thick beef loin cuts settling down for that sweet, sweet dry-brine time before dinner tonight.  Who cares what the cut is called?  Tonight, the family eats BEEF!

Lately our Giant grocery mart has been having sales on whole Australian beef tenderloin at $8.95 a pound.  They run 6-7 pounds of really nice meat.  A small bit of silver-skin to trim, but that's it. No fat to speak of.  I've been buying them, cutting them into small roasts, and freezing.  One chunk will feed the family of four nicely.  Totally versatile meat with uncounted uses.  Our beef Gorgonzola game has hit new heights, and the beef tips over noodles are mouth watering good.

Some of them I cut into thick steak-type pieces like we see here.  These are just perfect for playing with steak cooking methods.  After four or five loins worth of experimenting, the family has decided a good dry brine followed by pan searing, basting with butter and garlic, and a few minutes to finish in the oven may give the Best Steak Ever.

British father's of young children, looking at their police and politicians....

 

 

Someone asked why I rehydrate my chili peppers in chicken stock. Why wouldn't I? Never pass up a chance to add flavor. Water has almost no flavor, but our chicken stock is rich and hearty. Every bit matters in a good chili! Besides, the stock is going in to thin the chili.

1-6-24

W: 317.2                BS: 134

Snow day, so nothing different. 

Snow day breakfast sammie.  Sausage, egg, and cheese of course.  It's the bacon-onion jam that makes it sing.

The Test

In our bathroom I maintain shaving gear, a bottle of shampoo, and some sort of bar soap.  Some que tips round out the deal, but they are a family commodity.

WIFE, on the other hand, has hundreds of products costing thousands of dollars, and of questionable value overall.

How can I tell what is needed and what it bupkis?  I decided I will do The Test.

This year I will tell her we are going away for a long weekend, and there will be a fancy romantic meal or two while we are away together.  Then, I'll watch closely to see exactly what she brings along, in the assurance anything left behind is certainly not necessary. 

Now, I won't do anything with this information except gloat a little, but it will be interesting nonetheless.

The Saturday morning five minute sticky bun challenge...

 

The Saturday morning 5 minute sticky bun challenge!

You have 5 minutes to prep sticky buns and get them in the oven.  Set the stop watch.

I used 20 seconds the night before setting some golden raisins to soak in Cognac, so I began with 4 minutes and 40 seconds.

In a glass baking dish I dropped half a stick of butter.  30 seconds in the microwave.  Dump in a generous handful of brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon.  Dump in the Cognac infused golden raisins.  Dump in a big handful of crushed walnuts.  Stir hurry stir stir hurry.

Crack open a tube of Pillsbury Grands.  Arrange the biscuits on the sweet gloop in the baking dish.  Toss on some more pats of butter.  Into the 375 oven.

Whalla! Less than 5 minutes to get sticky buns in the oven.

Are they outstanding? Maybe not.  Are they the best damn sticky buns in this home right now?  Oh yeah, no question.

1-4-25 Daily log

W: 318.2                BS: 154

I have a feeling today will be a GOOD day.

It's a good feeling when you bop down the stairs at 6am and get hit in the face with a wave of warmth because the wood stove held fire all night long.

Pork loin roast with a little effort installed.

 

Pork loin roast.  Butterflied and pounded.  Seasoned.

Sliced sheets of fresh pineapple are arranged, and more seasoning applied.

The roast is rolled up, tied, and yet more seasoning applied.
Now it sits for 3-4 hours while the enzymes in the pineapple work their magic.

AAR:

I misjudged the effectiveness of the bromelain in the pineapple.  The inner surface of the rolled up pork roast had a 'mushy' texture.  That didn't stop the fam from scarfing the entire bloody roast, but I can't say I cared for it.

I ate most of one slice and called it dinner.   Whiskey guts not happy tonight.

Templeton Midnight Rye...

 

The in-house surveys most common comment:

"That'll Do".

1-2-25 Daily log

W: 321.0   Ooops                BS: 174

Too much rich snacking and salty foods.  Lets end that today.

Lunches.  Baked tostados with homemade avocado crema, red cabbage, and shrimp.  All spiced and interesting.  Side of pickled red cabbage and pickled radish/carrot.  The richness of the avocado crema carried the whole dish.

After eating, naturally, I added up the sodium on this plate.  Even with making everything myself except the tortillas, it still comes to 1000mg.  In other words, my entire daily allowance.   Damn.

Weather....  I *considered*, for just a moment, telling the fam I have a spare set of long underwear new in the package.... but no.  They know what a weather report is and they know how to read.  Who am I to judge them too damn stupid to understand it gets cold in Winter?