I tried doing 2 slight variations for test.
The dish of last night: cabbage too sour, not enough sweetness in the broth to counter balance.
Test 2: served with the vegetable that made the broth and the veal cooked in the Riesling sauce, the broth was thicken with more sweet potato the cabbage was served as a side dish now.
Better than last night, but still the sweet-sour balance was still a bit off. Since now the meat was a bit sour, even with the sweeten broth and the side that was acid, lacked the sweetness to counter balance the whole meal Dish was lightly sweet, a tiny bit of acidity, the side was acid.
Test 3: served with sweet potato purée on the meat. (no photo) The best so far, at last the acid cabbage worked much better with the mashed sweet potato. There was a real contrast. The Riesling sauce was just a touch to enhance the meat. Dish was sweet, side dish was sour.
Unlike the dish served in the restaurant, they used a red wine sauce on the main dish, meat were veal, beef and sausage and two sides were sauerkraut in mousse and pumpkin gnocchi with cauliflower.
(photos by a blogger with the link in my original dinner posting above)
Yes, I suspected it’s not very accurate, the recipe asked for 20cl of vignear, I used only 15cl and found it too acid. Also certain steps that aren’t very clear, I need some guessing… Once a ghost writer for Ducasse told me, the chef recipe books wouldn’t work because they will keep their real recipes a secret, will always left out certain ingredient, certain procedure etc.
Well this book from Gagnaire is a home cooking book, not a chef creation book… I will try a few more recipe to have my conclusion on the book.
It’s become decidedly chill of late. We’ve also got the decorators in painting the windows so they’ve been open all day. This calls for something to stick to your ribs. So faggots and mushy peas it is.
It’s getting a lot colder here, too. I made lamb’s ribs, which were marinated for 2 days in a mixture of Chinese five spice powder, soy sauce, sesame oil, sherry, garlic, ginger roots, and Sichuan peppercorns. The house still smells nice right now.
Ribs were meaty and tender (steamed for 45mins). Next time I make it full blown Sichuan. Btw, the Turk butcher also has goat’s ribs, right next to the lamb’s ribs. They were smaller and less meaty. Maybe I should try that next time, too.
WFD: 1. Pacific Northwest Salmon Chowder. Ingredients include: bacon, I’m using pancetta; butter, I’ll use clarified; shallots; bay leaves; thyme; sliced potatoes; chicken stock; S & P; chunks of salmon; 1/2 & 1/2, not heavy cream as recommended. It works just fine. Perhaps we’ll throw in a small handful of frozen peas while we’re at it.
2. Grilled sourdough rather than oyster crackers with this.
I’ve only used frozen fish from the market once and that was for my first octopus. (Love at first bite.) This week I thought I’d try frozen salmon fillets from TJ’s to see how they’d fare in a chowder. It’s a large piece of wild caught PNW coho from Bristol Bay. Can’t be too bad using one of Jasper White’s chowder recipes. The proof of the chowder will be in the slurping, though. So far his have been perfect.
The temperature here at the moment is 35F and we’re forecast to have snow late this afternoon into evening. Chowders, soups, and stews are perfect for a day like today and I’m looking forward to the chowder. I find that chowders are almost easier than soups to prepare as long as the stock has been made before hand. Although I do use fish stock for fish chowders from time to time, a strong chicken stock adds remarkable flavor. Also, I believe a side dish is rarely needed because the chowder is so filling. For those folks who prefer, vegetable chowders are every bit as delicious as those with meat or seafood.
My man done good last night with the paprikash. He called during my shift at some point, saying that the dish was more soupy than saucy, so I told him to reduce it.
Came home to chicken, pepper and 'shrooms with barely any liquid in the pan. So I added a little water, a bit more wine, a dash of flour, let it reduce, then added the cream. Hit the spot.
Also used 2 (TWO!) English cukes in my salad, which I pretty much finished all by myself - my man’s not as much of a salad slut as I am
Dinner tonight will be at 11 pm, at least for me. Woot. My man’s made some chili with ground beef, spicy andouille, kidney & black beans, green peppers, leftover shrooms, and god knows what else. It’s been snowing this afternoon (should be fun driving) - perfect weather for spicy beans & meat…
While I was preparing the dinner and chopping the green chilli, I started sneezing and had a running nose…I didn’t pay much attention and since we have an open kitchen, 1 minute later, everybody in the living room had the same chilli syndrome. I cooked the chilli with zucchini, it was even worse, not only we continue to sneeze and had running noses, my face and fingers were burning even I washed thoroughly my hands. We tried to eat some cooked vegetable, and it was the hottest chilli we have ever tasted, We need to swallow yogurt to prevent the burning in the mouth.
The night didn’t finish there, while preparing the pork belly bought by Mr n, I noticed this particular piece of meat has a fat to lean ratio of 2:1 before cooking, it became 5:1 after cooking, nothing much to eat except to throw the fat away.
Pork & Noodles in a hoisin-orange juice based sauce. Trying to clean out freezer & use up odds & ends in the pantry ahead of a trip outta town. If I don’t have to shop between now and departure, it’s all good, even if the meals are a bit odd.
It was breakfast for dinner tonight, with fines herbs omelets made by my son to christen my new nonstick pan. Bagels were from a wonderful newish little bagel shop, topped with lots of scallion cream cheese, and bacon was from our terrific charcuterie place downtown. A few Yukon Gold hash browns cooked in more clarified butter than we needed gilded the lily. Quite satisfying.
I have a couple of packs of lamb ribs in the freezer. Although they are tasty, they are fatty as can be. The last time I made them I cooked them on the smoker and the amount of fat in the drip tray was significant. Not that I’m fat phobic or anything but I was a little put off by it. But I have to admit after shedding some leftover meat from bone and toasting it up it made an excellent taco
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
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Found a couple of single portion things in the brown gloop drawer of the freezer. I’m having chilli and herself is having lasagne. Needed to be something quick and easy - a family member is having major surgery today and there’ll be hospital visiting at some, as yet unknown, time.
Yep, the excess fat part is true. I always discard the fat afterwards. On the Weber it drains into the drip tray. The meat is so tender and moist, though!
Lingua, thanks. I numbed my lips yesterday with all the Sichuan peppercorns. (I actually eat them as a snack)
Yam pai, a rack of fatty ribs that are cooked until the meat is ready to slump off the bone and coated in a thin batter, and deep fried. A flavorful, crusty exterior gives way to a tender, succulent interior, all buried under an avalanche of cumin, with a little heat for good measure.
at Peng Shun (space #13) in Flushing’s NY Food Court.
at Peng Shun (space 