What did you cook today?

[mauichef]

BLaST+

Bacon, Lettuce and Broccoli Sprouts and Tomato sandwich, tomato wedges and Iceberg wedge with Bleu Cheese dressing and Bleu Cheese crumbles.

YUMMY Arnold!!!!! Love me a BLT......and that one looks so good!

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Sue did this one

[mauichef]

Sue did this one

Nice one Sue!

[mauichef]

Pan fried Red Snapper, Patacones and French fries.

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Hi Ray,

Wisconinites still do a Friday Fish Fry and this would be perfect for that.

[mauichef]

Hi Ray,

Wisconinites still do a Friday Fish Fry and this would be perfect for that.

Used to be one of our favorite things when we worked in Milwaukee. Along with Summer Fest and The Cheese Castle!

[aporigine]

Holey cheeseburgers!
I found perhaps the best burger bun in the form of these Bagel Thins. I divided 3/4 lb of moo in two and built my cheese&mushrooms stacks. Patties were too big to fit in my skillet together so I cooked them serially.

Takayuki Grand Chef 210 petty to unstick the raw patties

[billk1002]

Good morning and HAPPY Friday...

Tsunehisa Z18 Damascus Santoku 185mm

[ronnie_suburban]

Good morning and HAPPY Friday...

OMG, yes!

[gladius]

billk1002, those potatoes were inspiring! I had rendered pork fat from BLT a few days back. I fried potatoes in a skillet with it and added leftover Ground Elk and rice. Good base for Elk tacos topped with salsa verde and Irish cheddar quesadilla...



Tacos



Quesadilla

[ronnie_suburban]

Burger night. But first, some side-dishery . . .


Lentil Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Funayuki/Gyuto, 240mm
Yellow onion, salt, evoo, minced garlic, homemade chicken stock, lentils, parsley, carrot & bay leaves, celery, 4x gelatinous pork stock and black pepper.

Would have preferred to make beans but I had limited time, so I went with some no-soak-needed, quicker-cooking lentils (which I do love). Chicken stock most certainly would have been enough -- heck, water would have been enough -- but I had the concentrated pork stock on hand, so I decided to add some to help boost the lip-smacking collagen factor.

Meanwhile, using some pre-formed patties from the now-nearly-depleted box of meat, a variation on Oklahoma Onion Burgers . . .


Burger Mise & Yu Kurosaki Fujin VG10 Petty, 150mm
Sesame seed buns, thick-sliced 'Merikan cheese, homemade garlic-dill pickles, pre-formed beef patties of unknown provenance, unsalted butter, black pepper, salt, mandoline-cut yellow and red onions.


Plated Up
With a blob of the weekly slaw and some Route 11 lightly salted potato chips.

[Kekoa]

Had a couple delicious meals today! For lunch, vegetable and beef soup with a new home made bread I baked for the first time today (check out the bread in the baking thread), and an epic grilled deli sandwich made with that same bread. It tasted like it came out of a very high end deli restaurant, the bread was the absolute perfect texture. I just loved it.

[mauichef]

Pork Meatballs and Spaghetti with Spicy Marinara Sauce.

WE like our meatballs made with pork rather than beef. Lighter and better texture.

[trancher]

Pork Meatballs and Spaghetti with Spicy Marinara Sauce.

WE like our meatballs made with pork rather than beef. Lighter and better texture.

Looks absolutely fantastic, Ray! I'd devour this twice over.

[mauichef]

Pork Meatballs and Spaghetti with Spicy Marinara Sauce.

WE like our meatballs made with pork rather than beef. Lighter and better texture.

Looks absolutely fantastic, Ray! I'd devour this twice over.

Hahaha...we did. Made enough for 2 nights!

[mauichef]

Burger night. But first, some side-dishery . . .


Lentil Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Funayuki/Gyuto, 240mm

Love that knife Ronnie!

[ronnie_suburban]

Burger night. But first, some side-dishery . . .


Lentil Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Funayuki/Gyuto, 240mm

Love that knife Ronnie!

Thanks! Yeah, me too but I tend to love them all!

[mauichef]

Thanks! Yeah, me too but I tend to love them all!

Yes...we both do

[ronnie_suburban]

Thanks! Yeah, me too but I tend to love them all!

Yes...we both do

Ah, Maui. At this point, I bet I miss it more than you do. Just so everyone knows, that was one of your knives I was holding in the pic. As obsessive as I am, I did not bring any of mine to Maui (other than a few pocket knives).

Was in the kitchen early today, where I went from having made pancakes once in about 10 years, to making them twice in 2 weeks. Two reasons for this: popular demand and my desire to experiment with diastatic malt powder.

To a recipe that calls for 240g of AP flour, I added a tablespoon of the malt powder. I thought it imparted a really nice note and a depth of flavor in the finish. It does add some sweetness too. I didn't adjust for that this time and it ended up being not too much. At the risk of possibly going overboard, I'm likely to do this again, next time doubling the amount of malt powder. If/when I do, I'll probably cut back the proscribed amount of sugar in the recipe from 37.5g to 25g . . .


Breakfast
With semi-sunny side-up eggs and some homemade breakfast sausage (freezer stock).


A Closer Look

[ronnie_suburban]

This Washington Post recipe for Chile Relleno Casserole had red flags all over it but still, there was something compellingly comforting about it, so I decided to give it a shot . . .


Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki Fujin VG10 Petty, 120mm
Yellow onion, roasted/skinned/seeded poblano peppers, unsalted butter, eggs, ground pork, shredded chihuahua, shredded aged cheddar, ground cotija, AP flour, salt, cumin, ancho chile powder, whole milk and black pepper.

Once I was into re-reading the recipe, making the dish and tasting it along the way, everything seemed under-seasoned. So, I ended up adding some seasonings that were not called for in the original recipe (ancho among them, along with more salt, more pepper, more cumin, granulated garlic & onion and some Mexican oregano). Since I had ground pork on hand, that's what I used (recipe calls for beef). I also decided that using 100% cheddar didn't sound great, so I went with an 80/20 mix of chihuahua and cheddar. The addition of the cotija was also my modification. I also upped the overall size/quantity and went with a 9x13" version over the 9x9" square the recipe calls for. In the end, I'd say the recipe was more inspiration than actual road map but it worked out nicely.


Chile Relleno Casserole
Because I went with a larger batch/vessel, I baked this for ~45 minutes @ 350F (instead of 375F). I also turned the fan on at the end for 3-4 minutes.


Plated Up
With some Mexican restaurant-style rice (tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken/tomato bouillon power, carrot, onion). Ingredient details aside, in the end, I think this is a great method/technique. I'd love to try it again, working some sauteed mushrooms into the mix. Chorizo might be great, too. I'm definitely glad I followed my gut on some of the specifics but in the end, this is nothing I ever would have come up with on my own. Tasty, comforting, versatile and relatively easy to put together.