What's cooking for May?

[ShadowsDad]

I do NOT cook major meals every day; except for breakfast. I enjoy cooking but I have other things to do as well. I tend to make items that can be used for other things so that we don't get tired of eating the same basic item day after day.

Tonight I put 2 shoulder roasts in the SousVide bath @ 130°F with fresh ground BP and gran' garlic in the bags. In 24 hours plus it will be completely pasteurized, cooked through, tenderized, and ready for slicing or whatever. The plan is to use them for sandwiches, as a roast for dinner, and whatever else that strikes us.

Tomorrow we have 'burgers planned. Cherry smoke grilled in the Primo and the first of the year. Maybe I'll do some colder smoke early on and let the beef roasts grab some cherry smoke first. Undecided on that move. I probably won't since I want to taste what I did with the spices. I'm still getting a handle on SV cooking; that is, what works and what doesn't. I think the spices will work fine. Of course I'll hit the roasts with "the solution" and a torch to get browning and the Maillard reaction for flavor. Of course for burgers we need buns and I hope I have time to grind the wheat to make homemade buns. I've been eating far too much factory wheat lately- it has no flavor or character- it does have ease of accessibility though and exactly why I've been eating too much factory flour.

[ShadowsDad]

The magical Sous Vide bath... just incredible.

I just took the roasts out. Simple flavorings, granulated garlic and black pepper. But I tend to more conservative flavorings anyway. Just fantastic! I can't repeat the comment from SWMBO; but it was that good! If I described how tender the meat is you'd accuse me of lying, so I won't. But at my age and the age of my friends I could tell them to leave their teeth home and they would still be able to chew it. I wanted to rub off the flavorings to get a better Maillard reaction from the torch and solution, but began rubbing the meat apart so I stopped. OK, despite that tenderness, it's still medium rare. You just can't imagine this rare and tender at the same time.

I can't fully describe how much I love SousVide. But grilling season is here. I need to meld the 2 techniques if possible. I'll work on it. I think I know how.

I see no reason I can't cold smoke steaks then pack them for future SV. When -20°F temps get here just SV them, hit them with the solution, torch them, and be in business. Burgers too. Pulled pork and pulled beef might be a bit more difficult.

SV gear is definitely under $200, and Annova (sp?) has one that is under (I think) $150 now. I wouldn't be without the cooking technique having had experienced it. Just suggesting. If you can't cook, but can be a handyman, trust me, this makes you a cook. Maybe not a chef, but definitely a cook.

OK, that's my hard sell gents. You have the ability to be a food god (note the lower case "g") in your bailiwick . I'm done. At least until the next time.

If I was younger I'd ask if you want to get L**d; so do this. But at my age I just want to survive getting L**d. :lol Of course I exaggerate: Ladies like gents who know their way around food. Don't ask me why, they just do. If you can protect them as well, you achieve superstar status. I don't pretend to understand the female mind, but that's just the way it is. If I had only known this when I was 20 years old... I might not have survived to be here now to tell the youngsters.

OK, so today I also made some onion hamburger buns from hard white wheat berries (no big deal; it sounds far more difficult than it is) for Tuesdays cherry smoke/grilled burgers. The first of the season. But tomorrow we're headed to the coast for the best fried clams on the planet @ Reds Eats in Wiscasett (Google it). We need to get there before the tourists arrive (that is, before Memorial Day). It's a sort of mecca for me in the spring and autumn. I love their fried clams but they're known for their lobster roll. Their haddock sandwich is to kill for too. You just can't imagine such palate nirvana! Reds Eats is nothing to look at; just a hole in the wall, but their food is to kill for.

I hope you all had a great Mothers Day!

[jww]

Simple meal for us. Grilled eptenderloin steaks in our favourite marinate, with salad and roasted garlic potatoes and upside-down cake for afters.

I haven't had upside-down cake in years, literally. I am not much of a dab hand in the kitchen. Oh, I can get by alright, and following a recipe is no biggie for me, I just don't feel very capable, nor am I terribly interested. I do like simple grilling though. That I can do rather well.

Made for a very nice Mother's Day for my wife as our children who live in town were with us and the oldest was on Skype for a chat this afternoon. I even got to speak with my own usually elusive mother on the phone before the gang arrived.

[ShadowsDad]

Wendell, I don't need the calories, but please tell me more about the upside down cake. Is there a recipe?

I would have made dessert cookie/bars today also, but if I had done so I think I would have had a rebellion on my hands. We also made ~5 gallons (30 days worth) of "fresh" dog food today (peanut/egg) early on. Then spent some time outside with the dogs. Today was the best day since last autumn. Just absolutely glorious! What I wouldn't give to have all of the years weather just like today! (It can rain at night for the groundwater) The pollen still hasn't hit too badly, it was low humidity, and in the low 70s with a deep blue sky with a few clouds from thin cirrus all the way down to just a few cumulus. Tomorrow should be a carbon copy day. I can almost taste the fried clams and smell the salt air already! After this winter we deserve a few good days before the heat hits. (IMO heat for us is anything above 80°F and the same humidity)

We were going to make cherry smoke grilled burgers today, but instead postponed that for Tuesday.

[jww]

Our daughter-in-law made it ----- I think it's a family recipe from her mum. I'll check -- think it's pretty simple, and full of sugar, of course.

[ShadowsDad]

Pollack was sale priced yesterday at the supermarket and I like Pollack, so I bought a 1.4# fillet. Yup may have had Pollack and never known it. The McDonalds FilletO'Fish is Pollack.

Tonight I'll give it some S&P and some olive oil, and bake it. Just until tender/flaky so as to keep it moist. It only takes minutes @ 350°F.

I tried dolphinfish in the SV bath last week and didn't care for it done that way. In order to get it the way I prefer my fish it never would have gotten above the pasteurization temp'. Maybe some day, but not with supermarket fish.

But the reason I'm writing all of this is as an introduction to my accompaniment to most any fish; tartar sauce. FWIW, it probably wouldn't work with something like salmon. It works great with fried clams as well.

Anyway, this is a really good tartar sauce. Sure TS can be bought at the supermarket, but try this and you'll never buy your TS again! The cornichons are required. It won't be nearly as good without them. Most times I use dry herbs and maybe a TBL of dried onion; all in the effort to soak up some of the liquid and dry the mixture out a bit. Recipe follows. Make it at least a few hours ahead. It's better after sitting for a time. It will require refrigeration.

Homemade Tartar Sauce

For years I (Brian) made my own tartar sauce and while it was good it lacked something that I couldn’t put my finger on. That something was the cornichons. It’s a sour French gherkin pickle, quite unique, but well worth looking for for this recipe alone. If you like a sour pickle the rest of the jar of cornichons won’t survive to make it to the next need for tartar sauce. Even as I write this my mouth is watering up bigtime just thinking of the cornichons.

When I first encountered cornichons in a recipe I googled it and got loads of hits, so they are available on line here in the US. Where I live (Maine) has a large French community and just within the last few months they’ve become available in our local supermarket. What I’m trying to say is that you may have to order them.

This has been modified from a Boston Globe recipe.

Yield is greater than 1 cup.

1 cup prepared Mayonnaise- homemade is OK
2 tsps lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped cornichons
2 TBLS sweet pickle or India relish
1 ½ tsps dry Chervil or 2 TBLS fresh chopped
1 ½ tsps dry parsley or 2 TBLS fresh chopped

Optional: ½ tsp hot sauce of choice
Optional: Salt and Pepper to taste -I don’t use any and it’s fine
Optional: capers
Optional: minced onion

Just mix everything together and let the ingredients get to know each other for a few hours in the refrigerator. If a more tart (tarter? pun intended) tartar sauce is desired reduce the sweet pickle or India relish and/or increase the chopped cornichons.

Note: I chop the cornichons in a tiny food processor. How does one gauge 1/4 cup of chopped cornichons while they are in the gherkin state? Where I’m going here is that the amount is a WAG (Wild A--ed Guess).

Further Note: I don’t add any of the optional ingredients, but feel free if you’ve a mind to.

This was originally a Boston Globe recipe.

[ShadowsDad]

Our local butcher was unloading corned beef last week. I cooked some up and it was good if a little bland, but I can take care of that (and did). Delicious.

So today we bought all that he had left for $1.39/#. It freezes fine. Such a deal! I can't buy brisket for that and I can convert the corned beef into pastrami; or not. I love corned beef too and spices are inexpensive to make the bland tasty. It was whole corned beef brisket (untrimmed point and flat) but even so it was still a steal. Next time I'll jump on that without any hesitation.