Classics we just. don't. get.

[Jenise]

I'm sure there's more than one on my list, but today's mailer from Leite's Culinaria targets something that is widely known and apparently very popular but leaves me scratching my head. I made it once. Bleh. Had it at a friend's home. Bleh. I look at the picture that came from Leite's: bleh. It just looks dry, like something you'd choke on.

https://leitesculinaria.com/79364/recipes-roast-pork-in-milk.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_campaign=0&utm_content=1098215

Who loves this? And what classics are on your own personal list of headscratchers?

Bleh about describes the way it looks, and the sound of it does not push any of my buttons.

The first classic that comes to mind is a pairing, roast lamb and mint sauce.
Roast lamb. Oh yeh baby
Mint sauce. no way Jose, filthy stuff.

Never done it, I don't drink milk so the idea of cooking meat in milk doesn't register - but - the pork in the picture looks attractive, and the accompanying text explains that milk tenderizes the pork.

Barb, I often feel the best part of having roast lamb is the mint sauce which we both coat over not only the meat but also the veg. Unfortunately none of the commercial brand mint sauces are very good, having a very small proportion of mint and lots of syrup.

[Robin Garr]

I can see why everybody doesn't get this version. It appears to be a devolved form of arrosto di maiale al latte (pork loin braised in milk), a Bolognese icon that Marcella Hazan listed in her first book, the 1973 Classic Italian Cookbook. I made it, once, back when the book was new, and with its thick brown sauce it looked nothing like the photo above. It was good, very good, but way too much time and trouble, dealing with the thickening, browning milk sauce, to ever try again. . Let's see if I can get this scan of the original to fit in here and still be legible:

[Jenise]

Mint sauce. no way Jose, filthy stuff.

DITTO. Tastes like mouth wash.

[Jenise]

Never done it, I don't drink milk so the idea of cooking meat in milk doesn't register

I don't see the connection. I despise milk as a drink and haven't touched it since I was about four years old, but I use it in soups and bechamel sauces.

Mint sauce is awful. I'll admit, though, that lingonberry dressing is good with lamb.

The milk-pork recipe sounds to me like a throwback to the days when meats were not always so tender.

How about a boring classic dessert? My mom used to exclaim about Charlotte Russe. I cannot imagine what was so interesting about a thin slab of vanilla cake, covered in a big pile of whipped cream, served in a push-up paper cup. (I like dairy fat plenty well but meh.)

Who loves this?

Laura Calder has a nice version of this at https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/milk-pork/9134/

It makes a very moist pork with a lovely brown sauce (I remove the herbs, then just purée the sauce, vegetables and all without reducing it, so I get lots of sauce). Reheating the leftover pork in the leftover sauce works very well.

[Jenise]

Ted, that looks REALLY good. Creates more sauce and a more complex sauce, for one. The one time I made it, I definitely whizzed the sauce, the curdles were rather gross looking and I couldn't imagine leaving them like that.

I am in the camp of mint sauce haters - my parents always had it, and usually not even the savoury British version, but what was basically mint jelly. Yeuch!

Other things I don't like includes taking decent cheese and dripping honey on it - whyyyy?????? More than once I have asked for a piece of cheese at the end of a restaurant meal only to have them bring me that miscegenation. Usually goes something like "Please remove this and bring me what I asked for" "But this is the way we serve cheese!" "Good for you. Now bring me what I asked for, unadulterated, please"

Especially if you are ending the meal with an older dry red, trying to taste it through honey is ludicrous

[Jenise]

Bill, I'd have to send that back, too. No honey, honey!

[Jenise]

Who loves this?

Laura Calder has a nice version of this at https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/milk-pork/9134/

It makes a very moist pork with a lovely brown sauce (I remove the herbs, then just purée the sauce, vegetables and all without reducing it, so I get lots of sauce). Reheating the leftover pork in the leftover sauce works very well.

Ted, I made this last night. I'd bought two whole we're talking really WHOLE, like almost 30 inches each, pork loins to do a special dish for the wine tasting on Friday night, and saved a section of it to do this dish for dinner last night. The results was fabulous. I gave us each a thick slice nestled on that sauce and topped them with small piles of green beans that I blanched, and finished with brown butter and a bit of garlic. I did grind the onions into the sauce, but I removed the carrots--because I wanted to eat them as a pre-dinner snack!

I must admit (Larry, are you reading along?) that I came *this* close to following the recipe only for proportions and process but leaving out the herbs in favor of deviating into the world of New Mexican cooking with the addition of green chiles and some of their friends. I didn't, but you bet the leftovers are going to become green chile burritos.

Re honey on cheese... With the right choice of cheese, I like it. It is certainly done far more often than it merits. And it does not go with dry red, of course.

Re milk pork... Glad to hear the review, Jenise. Alas, His Squashy Majesty is almost never interested in pork roast (or loin or tenderloin or even chops).

It;s amazing how many things go well with a bit of good green chile. It's fun to try it in any number of things.

[Jenise]

It's sure true. Can't live without my green chiles!

It's also hard to beat a quality red chile sauce, such as over huevos rancheros, etc. I have a simple authentic recipe for Chile Colorado (which means red) if you want it.

[Jenise]

It's also hard to beat a quality red chile sauce, such as over huevos rancheros, etc. I have a simple authentic recipe for Chile Colorado (which means red) if you want it.

Love that, too. Please post!

CHILE COLORADO

Makes 2 cups

2 Tbs lard or shortening (I've even used oil)
2 Tbs flour
1/4 - 3/4 cup powdered red chile (not chili powder)
2 cups cold water
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt (I skip the garlic salt and used minced fresh garlic)
Oregano (opt.) [I always add a big pinch]
Comino (cumin) (opt.) [I frequently use a pinch; not too much or it'll take over the flavor]
[I also sometimes use a drop or two of liquid smoke.]

1. Make a roux with fat and flour over med heat; stir one minute.
2. Add powdered chile; stir another minute.
3. Gradually add water, stir so no lumps.
4. Add seasonings to taste; simmer 10-15 min. You may want to add a little water if it gets too thick.

Amount of powdered red chile used depends on your taste buds.
This is really easy and tastes great. It's what I use if I make huevos rancheros and other dishes.
Freezes well, but I never had to do that.

Is this a hot sauce or a warm sauce?

That chile colorado looks really good. Which variety/varieties of chiles do you recommend?

-Paul W.

More that I don't get (this particular list is mostly nutrition rather than taste driven):

Filled crust pizzas - like they aren't already carb/fat bombs, we need more, so let's double the carbs and calories. The North American obesity epidemic obviously comes second to making a buck.

Megaburgers - some o these meat sandwiches would feed a third world child for days. I think the worst is the Burger King Triple Whopper at 1730 calories

Sugar loaded drinks - make them larger (32 - 64 oz.) and load them up with sugar so you can turn the little blighters into obese diabetics before they hit high school. And they don't look as dangerous as the loaded milkshakes that top 1.000 calories in some cases.

Saw 'Super Size Me' awhile ago, which is probably what got me started on this particular bad food rant.

I could as easily have ranted about desserts as I don't like them, but many people do and that's fine - different tastes....

A few other foods I don't get:

Kale - leaves me cold. Gaack! Doesn't seem to matter what you do with it - make chips, shakes, salads. Who likes this stuff? Why?

Any soup served in a hollowed out loaf of bread. Give me a regular dish and donate the bread to the people that can't afford food fer Krisake. Saw one yuppie couple that got talking and his bread bowl disintegrated before he finished the soup and it ran all over his jeans. I'm afraid that I laughed and pointed....

Deep dish pizza - we make our own and we are thin crust people (wholewheat flour, please)

Hamburgers that are stacked so high you can't pick them up. Had one that was stacked with so much shredded lettuce it about doubled the height. And it was on a small plate. By the time I jettisoned the lettuce half of it had fallen on the table.

Pork belly - a love hate thing. Love lean bacon; hate being presented with a slab that consists of a few strings of lean meat amid a huge hunk of tepid fat. Done the right way it can be wonderful. But it usually isn't.

Finally - mac and cheese. Let's see - how often would I like to indulge in a plate of over processed carbohydrate covered in melted 'cheese' that looks like molten Velveeta (thank you Yup - never. Thank you dyes Yellow #5 and #6 (banned in civilized countries but not in the US, or sad to say, Canada).

[Jenise]

Mac n' Cheese is a classic that I don't have a soft spot for, either. #1 issue: sauce/cheese to pasta ratio way off, #2 issue pasta's usually overcooked and #3 issue is that too often the cheese used, like aged cheddars, aren't proper melting cheeses and the result is gritty. All too often, all three issues are present in the same dish. Yuck. But if the sauce is silky and sparingly used and the pasta true al dente, it can be delish, especially with lobster or crab in it. But most of the time it's a no for me.

Can't stand giant burgers, either.

Mac n' Cheese is a classic that I don't have a soft spot for, either. #1 issue: sauce/cheese to pasta ratio way off, #2 issue pasta's usually overcooked and #3 issue is that too often the cheese used, like aged cheddars, aren't proper melting cheeses and the result is gritty. All too often, all three issues are present in the same dish. Yuck. But if the sauce is silky and sparingly used and the pasta true al dente, it can be delish, especially with lobster or crab in it. But most of the time it's a no for me.

Can't stand giant burgers, either.

You should understand the difference between a bad implementation and a bad idea. I'm not a big fan of the "cheesy 'mac" style of mac and cheese and you are correct that aged cheddar isn't a good melting cheese. But a good M&C is a good, easy casserole that can easily feed a crowd or yourself.

[Jenise]

You should understand the difference between a bad implementation and a bad idea. I'm not a big fan of the "cheesy 'mac" style of mac and cheese and you are correct that aged cheddar isn't a good melting cheese. But a good M&C is a good, easy casserole that can easily feed a crowd or yourself.

I understand the difference perfectly. If you re-read my response, I think you'll see that.