What's Cooking (Take Three!)

And tonight's dinner... clam chowder. Thick and hearty, served with biscuits and a salad.

Mmm, mmmm. Been quite a while.

New England or Manhattan Style? I prefer the NE-style, but years ago, I would go with my father to the local Elks where they served a fantastic clear-broth clam chowder (Rhode Island-style maybe?).

And tonight's dinner... clam chowder. Thick and hearty, served with biscuits and a salad.

Mmm, mmmm. Been quite a while.

New England or Manhattan Style? I prefer the NE-style, but years ago, I would go with my father to the local Elks where they served a fantastic clear-broth clam chowder (Rhode Island-style maybe?).

New England - Pumpkin is a Yankee.

I like both NE and Manhattan style. I appreciate the creaminess and contrast to the briny clams in the former, while I think the latter is New World bouillabaisse, snappy and not so domineering at the table. The RI style, with clear broth, seems a bit tame.

The TJ's chicken was just heavenly. Each one was only around $11, so they're not super expensive like one might expect around that word "heirloom".

I'll look for it, too. But I will observe that $11 / 2.5# = $4.40/lb which is not cheap.

Found it. $2.99/lb, which is reasonable. 3.09# which is a good size. I roasted it with a bunch of herbs. Tasty bird.

Thanks for the heads-up, Jenise.

[Jenise]

Last night it was time for tacos. Tacos are something we both crave, so while I rarely repeat anything, a need for tacos comes around every few months. So I made the filling and after a long phone call with friends in Los Angeles, got the corn tortillas out of the fridge to make the shells.

And discovered: a live fly living in the reclosable tortilla enclosure. I kid you not. It was alive. Small, maybe born in there vs. getting trapped. The tortillas had been in my fridge for about three weeks.

So, new plan: taco salad!

And discovered: a live fly living in the reclosable tortilla enclosure. I kid you not. It was alive. Small, maybe born in there vs. getting trapped. The tortillas had been in my fridge for about three weeks.

Yeesh.

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "shelf life".

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

LOL, it does, Paul. Scary.

Tonight, speaking of scary, for dinner tonight some lamb shanks that were nearly two years old. They're in the oven now with onions, tomato, bay leaves and marsala wine.

Tonight, speaking of scary, for dinner tonight some lamb shanks that were nearly two years old. They're in the oven now with onions, tomato, bay leaves and marsala wine.

Yeah, we usually don't see lamb that is older than six months; it's mutton after that.

[Jenise]

Very funny, Jeff. [grabbing rope, putting it around my neck, eyeing tree branch....]

[Jenise]

We're roasting our own turkey today, but it's a 16 pounder so I'm going to part it out and freeze some for later. It's been on the front porch brining since noon yesterday. (A cold climate trick.)

Thanksgiving's coq au vin came out especially good. I think it's because I made real lardons from pork belly this time. It used to be that the only time you ever heard of pork belly was price quotes from the Chicago futures exchange. It was next to impossible to find even at specialty butchers. Julia Child and others suggest using bacon or salt pork as a substitute, after boiling the pork for about 10 minutes to remove the smoky and salty flavor, which otherwise would overwhelm the dish. That's what I've always done when making French dishes that call for lardons. Then pork belly got all trendy and now it's everywhere. The freshly rendered pork fat is the perfect medium for browning the chicken and it imparts a flavor you can't get with preserved pork products.

I only needed four ounces for the lardons. The rest of the pork belly will become Sichuan twice-cooked pork.

-Paul W.

Interesing, Paul. I always thought bacon was a really good substitute because it brings more flavors to the dish. But, just within the past month or so, my local supermarket has started carrying pork belly in a reasonable size package so maybe I'll give it a whirl.

Thanksgiving's coq au vin came out especially good. I think it's because I made real lardons from pork belly this time. It used to be that the only time you ever heard of pork belly was price quotes from the Chicago futures exchange. It was next to impossible to find even at specialty butchers. Julia Child and others suggest using bacon or salt pork as a substitute, after boiling the pork for about 10 minutes to remove the smoky and salty flavor, which otherwise would overwhelm the dish. That's what I've always done when making French dishes that call for lardons. Then pork belly got all trendy and now it's everywhere. The freshly rendered pork fat is the perfect medium for browning the chicken and it imparts a flavor you can't get with preserved pork products.

I only needed four ounces for the lardons. The rest of the pork belly will become Sichuan twice-cooked pork.

-Paul W.

One of my most unusual kitchen tools is a larding needle dating to the 60s. I very rarely use it nowadays. Most commonly used years ago for larding venison.

FWIW, I just watched a day ago an early Julia Child b&w episode in which she was boiling bacon for use as lardons.

[Jenise]

Because of the high Asian population in my area, plus the new familiariarity of pork belly to other ethnicities but probably more because of the former, we can get fresh pork belly now at Costco.

Last night we had open-faced turkey 'sandwiches'. The word sandwich is totally out of place here, and it exists most likely because in the Julia days Americans couldn't relate to bread as a whole crouton in the French sense, an underlayer to be topped with something, so it has to be a sandwich even if qualified by the adjective "open-faced" to indicate that it's knife and fork food. I toasted two big slices of sourdough bread. Separately I put a bowl of sprouts into the MW (see response to Bill's quack thread), and while they cooked I heated leftover gravy in a small skillet, seasoned it with wine and a healthy amount of black pepper (always coarse, I have no use for powder) then added three halved slices of turkey breast. Those were only in the skillet to heat for about two minutes--not enough time to recook and change into that flavor I hate--and I scooped the turkey and gravy over the bread. Rustic elegance, elevated by the emerald color of the sweet and tender brussels sprouts splashed about. And a total prep time of about six minutes. I could eat that every day of my life.

Yum! I like open-faced sandwiches, reminds me of diners (which I also like).

[Jenise]

Last night I made lamb burgers. I don't think I've ever made lamb burgers in my life, or if I did it was so long ago I can't remember it. I've had them at other people's houses, though. Anyway, I was inspired by rosemary English muffins by a local bakery. I made a panade of finely diced onion, cilantro stems, mint, cayenne pepper, egg and panko crumbs and blended that into the meat which was pan-fried in a cast iron pan. The surface turned out crunchy-crisp just as I'd hoped with a well done but juicy interior, and the combination with the bun, a thick layer of lightly pickled purple daikon radish and arugula for greens was one of the best things I've made lately. I served them with roasted delicata squash rings and a chunky tomato/celery salad. We had those with a Wind Gap grenache.

I've done a similar thing, but in my case it was grilled merguez sausage patties.

-Paul W.

So, last night I cooked a duck breast with lemon sauce served with rosemary potato bake and teeny baby beets (thinning ou the new patch) on their sautéed greens.

My local store is starting To stock a number of products from a company called of ll things luv-a-duck
http://www.luvaduck.com.au/
An Aussie family business producing a terrific range of duck products with a decent shelf life, both raw and cooked, fresh breasts, Peking style cooked breast, confit legs,etc.
I got a bit excited so I’m eating duck ( the packs all have two pieces.) a bit. Like to encourage the store to carry stuff I like!
So tonight might be duck breast ummmm still got a while to think about it.

One of my most unusual kitchen tools is a larding needle dating to the 60s. I very rarely use it nowadays. Most commonly used years ago for larding venison.

FWIW, I just watched a day ago an early Julia Child b&w episode in which she was boiling bacon for use as lardons.

Larry! Someone else owns a larding needle,!
One of my odder bits of kit is a retort stand with retort ring and tet tube clamp. Bought it in Los Alamos, in curious second hand lab equipment supermarket located in a former Piggly wiggly. Couldn’t fit the Electron microscope in my suitcase.

My local store is starting To stock a number of products from a company called of ll things luv-a-duck
http://www.luvaduck.com.au/
An Aussie family business producing a terrific range of duck products with a decent shelf life, both raw and cooked, fresh breasts, Peking style cooked breast, confit legs,etc.
I got a bit excited so I’m eating duck ( the packs all have two pieces.) a bit. Like to encourage the store to carry stuff I like!
So tonight might be duck breast ummmm still got a while to think about it.

Confit for the win!

One of my most unusual kitchen tools is a larding needle dating to the 60s. I very rarely use it nowadays. Most commonly used years ago for larding venison.

FWIW, I just watched a day ago an early Julia Child b&w episode in which she was boiling bacon for use as lardons.

Larry! Someone else owns a larding needle,!
One of my odder bits of kit is a retort stand with retort ring and tet tube clamp. Bought it in Los Alamos, in curious second hand lab equipment supermarket located in a former Piggly wiggly. Couldn’t fit the Electron microscope in my suitcase.

I think I know the store you shopped in. Unfortunately, I think the owner retired a few years back.

[Jenise]

No idea what I want for dinner. Timing-wise it's soon but I'm still too full from lunch and nothing sounds good. We might just resort to a cold platter (cheese, veggies, fruit).

I did the first phase (simmering) of twice-cooked pork last night. The cooked pork belly is in the fridge and will be stir-fried tonight.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I remember twice-cooked pork from the Cantonese restaurants of my childhood. It was the only time the weird (to me) taste of recooked meat wasn't an issue, and I loved the heavy use of cabbage in the stir-fry. What other ingredients do you use?