Bear Down Wildcats

Leftovers from yesterday afternoon.

azgreg wrote:Leftovers from yesterday afternoon.

That's better than leftover ramen.

As stew of barbecued ribs, pork bellies, and beans, "Spanish rice", and stewed mustard greens.

Trout caught earlier this AM at elevation in North Carolina,

BBQ on grill with broccolini and sweet water pale ale.

El Charro

#5: Enchilada queso blanco, Chile relleno, Carne seca
Two margaritas on the rocks with salt

awesome

Airplane food, economy class

"Chicken or pasta?"

"Chicken prepared how? And with what? What kind of pasta?"

"Chicken is chicken. Pasta is pasta.... Sir, are you wearing pajama bottoms?"

"Pants are pants."

"Chicken or pasta?"

"Chicken."

"She got the last chicken. You'll have the pasta."

"Thank you. Um, mam. Mam! Feel free to call this macaroni with ketchup."

Friday, kids bailed on dinner for the 4th so grilled up a turkey breast.



Saturday was our makeup 4th BBQ:



Sunday:

How did that slab turn out, Merk?

azgreg wrote:Ramen

New place here serves a Ramen Burger. Noodles replace the bun.

Update: I got my way and ordered cheese curds (see what I did there?). Boring, until we dipped them in chipotle ketchup.

I ordered the burger with "bacon jam." Ingredients: bacon, maple syrup, sauteed onions, reduced vinaigrette. Comes in a glob that's smeared on the burger.

Good! Just enough sweet and salty mix.

Longhorned wrote:

azgreg wrote:Ramen

For the 4th of July???

For the 4th, took a bite of my son's deep-fried Twinkie. Have to admit it was good.

Longhorned wrote:How did that slab turn out, Merk?

Tri-tip was incredibly good as usual. Hard to make a bad tri-tip as long as you keep it low and slow.

I was going to put the ribs in my charcoal/wood smoker along with some pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches, but didn't get up in time. Pork shoulder takes an extremely long time to smoke.

So tried something new, prebaked the ribs in a turkey baking bag I had lying around then finished on grill.

Turned out very good, extremely moist and tender.

Fantastic. Good to know.

I got stuck with an unexpected layover in Montreal. At the hotel bar, I thought I'd be safe and get a cheeseburger.

"How was it?" the waiter asked.

I said truthfully, "That was one of the worst things I've ever tried to eat in my entire life."

He had no idea what to do or say.

I had the worst burger of my entire life here in fucking Tombstone. Ugh.

scumdevils86 wrote:I had the worst burger of my entire life here in fucking Tombstone. Ugh.

Bet it wasn't as bad as mine. It was thoroughly dry, had a public schools taste to the patties, and the bun was not so much stale as just plain old. The flaws needed to be covered in condiments, but the condiments all came in tiny packets, resulting it about 15 minutes of tearing and squeezing and a volcanic mound of sticky trash.

I got bumped up to first class on an earlier flight that day, where I enjoyed some kind of chicken on a stick.

I'm getting me some real Montreal food for lunch.

Tonight I fly economy class to Geneva, wherein I'll get me that awaited toy food with the foil and the plastic tray, trying to keep my elbows to myself while working my wrists and neck muscles.

Okay, my first dinner was Montreal smoked meat on rye, fries, and slaw. That's good insurance against whatever my second dinner will be.

Shoutout to SD86 for the chicken/fish marinade he posted on TOS. Didn't have any OJ or ginger but did the rest on some pounded chicken breasts for two hours, then grilled it up with some mesquite charcoal. Served over brown rice with roasted red peppers, very tasty.

Nearly every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday.

For the archive, my second dinner (Air Canada, economy class) was a choice of "chicken or pasta." I had chicken. It was in a Canadian barbecue sauce (all about the oregano), Israeli cous cous, a vinegary slaw, and chocolate cake. By the way, I was loving the Montreal bagels.

On to the next thing.

Bought some freshly made tortillas this morning, grilling up some tilapia, cutting up some avacados... gonna be some yummy fish tacos tonight.

Alieberman wrote:Bought some freshly made tortillas this morning, grilling up some tilapia, cutting up some avacados... gonna be some yummy fish tacos tonight.

Corn or flour? I can't think of anything I like fresher than corn tortillas. Where I live there are plenty of tortillerias too.

I can just munch on them plain on the way home.

Stew and biscuits.

Merkin wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Bought some freshly made tortillas this morning, grilling up some tilapia, cutting up some avacados... gonna be some yummy fish tacos tonight.

Corn or flour? I can't think of anything I like fresher than corn tortillas. Where I live there are plenty of tortillerias too.

I can just munch on them plain on the way home.

Flour. Bought at a place called La Mesa Tortillas... they make them fresh Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ($3.25 a dozen)

And my kids and I split a warm one in the car right after picking them up... yum.

Veal in creamy sauce

Röti

Salad

Chocolate mousse

The wife had beef livers

Raclette

Steak tartare

French fries

Salad

Chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream

Still wondering about the Costco "fake" Filet Mignon that Merkin mentioned...

Please explain.

eegeeboy wrote:Still wondering about the Costco "fake" Filet Mignon that Merkin mentioned...

Please explain.

Me, too.

Tonight: too much fondue. No regrets.

I've eaten amazing cheeses all day long.

Longhorned wrote:

eegeeboy wrote:Still wondering about the Costco "fake" Filet Mignon that Merkin mentioned...

Please explain.

Me, too.

Tonight: too much fondue. No regrets.

I've eaten amazing cheeses all day long.

I really, really, really want to eat dinner with you someday.

Chicken tenders and tater tots.

Picking up Nico's Super Fries for poker night.

Grilled trout, pasta with basil, cherry tomatoes, and white wines.

Leftover Caesar Salad (Costco) mixed with leftover Carne Asada (home made) with some salsa and hot sauce added to the dressing. A tasty mash up.

Caesar Asada!

wyo-cat wrote:Leftover Caesar Salad (Costco) mixed with leftover Carne Asada (home made) with some salsa and hot sauce added to the dressing. A tasty mash up.

Caesar Asada!

Caesar Salad was invented in Tijuana, so maybe it was a match waiting to happen?

Marinating fresh cut lamb chops from farmers market in with olive oil, kosher salt, cayenne, lemon juice, basil and thyme from my garden.

Will join with a nice pinot noir.

BBQ at 7pm tonight with the neighbors.

"Salt lamb shoulder" (?)

Not as prized a cut as yours, CST, but still yummy.

Got a little crazy yesterday, ended up making homemade tzatziki and shiraz salad.

Was hit. blew the other neighbors grilling options out of the water.

British pub food: steak and kidney pie, fish and chips.

Perfectly terrible.

I did a reverse sear of some prime tenderloins last night. Perfect wall to wall Medium Rare with a nice sear on the exterior.

I think I have found a new method of cooking steak!

wyo-cat wrote:I did a reverse sear of some prime tenderloins last night. Perfect wall to wall Medium Rare with a nice sear on the exterior.

I think I have found a new method of cooking steak!

Never heard of it. Hate to experiment on tenderloins but:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/635214

Conventional wisdom (generally speaking) on grilling steaks is to sear quickly then finish off either in a warm oven, or in a cooler part of the grill. That's what I am going to call the "Searing" technique.

Then there's the technique trumpeted by Cook's Illusttrated (and probably others), which essentially turns the process on its head, hence the name "Reverse Searing". This technique esseentially calls for first warming up the steak in the oven until internal temp reaches ~90F, then searing quickly on a hot grill or cast iron pan.

The supposed "advantage" of Reverse Searing (at least according to Cook's Illustrated) is that by heating the steaks first in an oven the surface of the steak dries out which allows the surface of the steak to brown more quickly and immediately when it hits the hot grill (or pan).

The other advantage to Reverse Searing (again, according to Cook's Illustrated) is that when the steak enzymes -- the cathespins -- are heated up to 120F they help break down the steak creating a "quickie" dry aging process for the meat. Past 120F, the cathespins stop working, so by first warming up the steaks to an internal temp of ~90F, the enzymes are allowed a longer time to do their work, and thus to tenderize the steak.

Straight from Cooks: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes ... rip-steaks

Adobo marinaded pork chops
Steamed green beans
Roasted yukon gold potatoes with plenty of dried herbs.

Grilled salmon with a homemade rub, kale salad, cous-cous.

wyo-cat wrote:I did a reverse sear of some prime tenderloins last night. Perfect wall to wall Medium Rare with a nice sear on the exterior.

I think I have found a new method of cooking steak!

I use the same technique on a rib roast every Christmas and it comes out a perfect medium rare.

Weekend in review:

Friday night: pretty crappy burger at a bar that we used to think was good, but appears to be going down hill over the last couple of visits.

Saturday night: Twilight Criterium in downtown Boise which is a great annual bike race and really fun event. There was a band playing in the entrance to one of the parking garages along the course. They played a bunch of Ramones tunes, in honor of Tommy Ramone's passing, and other punk and speed surf-metal type stuff that was a ton of fun with racers wizzing by every couple of minutes. Dinner followed at 10 Barrel Brewing on the sidewalk with a packed downtown. Wood fired pizza with pepperoni, bbq pulled pork, pineapple and fresh jalepeno slices and good beer to wash it down. An outstanding combo and fun evening. The friendly Canadian GF had fish tacos that looked excellent and she confirmed as such.

Sunday: Left over pizza, see above, with coffee. Then more criterium bike racing for the Idaho State Championships which is actually held in my neighborhood. Again, lots of fun to set up along the course with a cooler and watch the action all day. They brought in 3 food trucks for the event. We had really good Copper River salmon kabobs that were perfectly/lightly seasoned and grilled with a killer pasta salad made with bacon and peas. I love peas. And bacon. We actually bought a big container of the pasta salad to take home. It'll go with something from the grill tonight. Also had street tacos - carnitas, chicken, adobada (marinated pork) and asada. All simple and excellent. I also had a burrito - carnitas - that was the size of a Nerf football. It was stuffed, but included the rice and beans inside which I really don't care for and seems to be the thing with all burritos outside of Tucson. Anyway, the burrito was piping hot and it was about 102 outside sitting in the shade when I ate the burrito. Holy Meat Sweats! We hit the pool after the races ended and I bobbed like hippo under my cowboy hat for about an hour to bring my core temperature down.

So to recap, we prepared/cooked absolutely nothing for ourselves this weekend. I promise to grill someting tonight.

Was at the first weekend of the annual Over the Line Tournament (OTL) on Fiesta Island. I was in charge of the cooking while camping for our group.

Friday: Apple juice injected, bourbon and brown sugar marinated pork tenderloin, grilled parmesean zucchini, sauteed mushrooms, homemade shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce, and salad.

Saturday: Repurposed the left overtenderloin into some bbq pork sandwiches

Lasagna at Jamie Oliver's. It was good.

Ok, work is starting to lighten up a bit, so I went a little bit crazy today.

I present: Moroccan Grilled Lamb Chops with Tzatziki waterfall and Blueberry compote.



The remaining of the lamb from the farmers market, living about 1 week ago.
Cumin, allspace, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder rub

Tabouli/Coucous with roma tomato and scallions

Homemade tzatziki

homemade blueberry compote with berry from the garden (that have survived the squirrel onslaught)

eegeeboy wrote:Still wondering about the Costco "fake" Filet Mignon that Merkin mentioned...

Please explain.

No idea. Looks like a filet mignon, tastes (somewhat) like a filet mignon, it's about 1/5th the price, and looks impressive.

Note it just says "filet", which only means it is boneless. No "mignon" anywhere, just "beef" in the ingredients. So some sort of beef tenderized chemically to be tender like filet mignon is naturally. Nothing wrong with most tenderizers, vinegar and citrus tenderize great.




Didn't have enough for everyone, so made some fajitas.

Hawaiian crockpot chicken with grilled pineapple, peppers, & onions over creamy rice. Added some broccoli for something green.

I'm on my own tonight and tomorrow.

A Cornish pasty. Street food. While walking in the street.

You guys be fancy. I'm from the KISS school.

Last night: Sauteed chicken strips with onion (buy the chicken by the bag at Costco). Poured in tomato basil sauce (from Trader Joes). Served over pasta (from Costco).

Also use the chicken strips with the various curries they sell by the jar at Trader Joes. Add peppers and chili oil/powder. Pour over the brown or jasmine rice (Trader Joes).

Salmon/steelhead is another staple, paired with green beans from TJ's.

Eating much less red meat these days. When I do, it's a burger.

Boars Head roast beef sub from Fortunatos.