Food & Drink

KARNUT · February 25, 2023

14 minutes ago, customboss said:

Little lady is a whiskey gal. Gonna try this for our next opportunity of drinks and entertainment. I still prefer clear liquids....LOL

I tried the expensive stuff. This brand is my favorite. The flavored variety. I absolutely hate Crown Royal. I actually like margaritas the best not the calories. So flavored whisky and brandy. At the casino it’s Brandy Alexander. Keeps my blood sugar in check playing cards.

Grumpy Bear · February 25, 2023

3 hours ago, customboss said:

Little lady is a whiskey gal. Gonna try this for our next opportunity of drinks and entertainment. I still prefer clear liquids....LOL

Gin or Vodka :crackup:

customboss · February 25, 2023

20 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Gin or Vodka

Yes. However Gin is hard on the gut anymore.

customboss · February 25, 2023

1 hour ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Gin or Vodka

Yes. However Gin is hard on the gut anymore.

Here's my favorite from Brasil. A caipirinha is a traditional Brazilian cocktail that is made with a mix of muddled limes, sugar, crushed ice, and cachaca. Cachaca, pronounced cachaza, is a popular Brazilian sugar cane liquor, similar to rum and aguardiente. You can burn Cachaca in your race car or your 4.3 V6 when you are done drinking! If you can stand up! LOL

https://www.laylita.com/recipes/classic-caipirinha-recipe/

Grumpy Bear · February 26, 2023

2 hours ago, customboss said:

Yes. However Gin is hard on the gut anymore.

Here's my favorite from Brasil. A caipirinha is a traditional Brazilian cocktail that is made with a mix of muddled limes, sugar, crushed ice, and cachaca. Cachaca, pronounced cachaza, is a popular Brazilian sugar cane liquor, similar to rum and aguardiente. You can burn Cachaca in your race car or your 4.3 V6 when you are done drinking! If you can stand up! LOL

https://www.laylita.com/recipes/classic-caipirinha-recipe/

I used to have a gal pal that did Jamaca every year and would bring me back a bottle of 191 proof Rum. Never got all the way down the shoulder. Also race car fuel.

Grumpy Bear · March 27, 2023

Variation on Poached Chicken Breast

Base recipe in an earlier post. My Rosemary plant is dormant so I tired something I did have fresh. Two words for ya.

Lemon / Dill

Usually, a fish thing but pretty good in this as well. Enjoy.

Grumpy Bear · April 17, 2023

Duck Eggs

Neighbor gave us a half dozen duck eggs and a few goose eggs. Duck Eggs vs. Chicken Eggs: Nutrition, Benefits, and More (healthline.com)

Link I just found interesting.

I fried up 1-1/2 strips of thick cut hickory smoked bacon really slow. It splatters less, curls less and IMHO lands perfectly between rubbery and coke clinker crisp. Renders out the fats nicely as well. I also pepper my bacon instead of buying it that way. Pulled the pan from the heat and gave it a few seconds. Swirl to coat and cracked one rinsed duck egg into the pan. I've never eaten duck eggs so to me this was new. No idea what to expect and as I didn't want someone else's thoughts running around in my brain I didn't do any reading until after I cooked and ate them.

So, one equals two was my first observation and the yokes are quite dark orange. Fried this one over easy. Pepper and salt. Firm white, runny yoke. Perfect for whole crushed grain wheat toast points.

If there is a difference in taste I didn't notice. But...the yokes are like heavy cream and coat the toast points beautifully. Stayed on the toast and out of the beard. whites are firmer/denser. Not weighed but the ratio of light to heavy albumen favors the heavy in the duck egg. Low and slow was the way to go. Neighbor did his higher and quicker and that crisped the white well before the yellow was ready. Some people like that. I don't. More of a French thing.

I love a good, peppered bacon fat fried egg. I don't see me boiling them or using them in baking. Took me too long to figure out chicken eggs but fried or poached is on the menu now. I haven't tried it obviously, but the neighbor says if you scramble these you need a whisk. A fork will just wear you out. He's a better cook than I so....

Grumpy Bear · April 18, 2023

Goose Egg

How the Eggs of Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, and Geese Compare - Cackle Hatchery

This egg took the entire base of a 9" skillet making 'over' anything a tough call. Sunny side up it was. Glass lid and let the steam to the work. Well as it is my very first one, I over cooked it. Yoke medium hard but not hard. Albumen edges crisp as was under the yoke. It just didn't glaze over like a chicken egg. High light to heavy albumen ratio. Opposite the duck.

The yoke, as the data in the link will attest, is HUGE and even over cooked quite creamy. I have one of the gift set left. I'll try scrambled next time. With that much yoke it should make a pretty rich scramble.

Taste among all three is quite similar. The difference is in richness and texture. It's been quite a while, but I have also eaten pheasant and quail eggs. I like eggs. Will have to try turkey if I can find them.

Grumpy Bear · April 21, 2023

Italian Swirl

1-815-978-3185

It's an artisan bread from JEN's Bakery. (number above) Flour, water, salt, yeast. Bacic bread then they add Green Olive, Parmesan and Provolone, Pesto and Giardiniera. Lots of olive oil in that pesto so no need for more or butter.

I toast up two slices and put two slices of hard salmi and one slice, folded of Corned Beef. I had the mustard out and thought, nah, try is first. Glad I did. There was a party going on in the mouth. Near choked drooling while eating it. I also nearly choked on the price of this slightly over a pound loaf. $7! Wish they were closer. This is a 75 mile round trip. Oh well......

Grumpy Bear · May 22, 2023

Pork Loin Bone In Chop

PBS Americas Test Kitchen had this method of pan frying a New York Strip that I tried on notoriously flavorless Yorkshire hog. You need a cut at least an inch thick for this and a good nonstick skillet.

Pat dry with a paper towel.

Salt liberally on both sides. (Nothing else but salt)

Wrap back in butcher paper and/or cellophane.

Refrigerate for 45 minutes but up to 24 hours. (I find overnight is best.)

Unwrap and pat dry both sides with a paper towel again. Salt will make it release some moisture.

Place the chop in a DRY, COLD skillet. NO OIL.

Place the skillet on the stove on medium HIGH for two minutes.

Flip the chop with tongs and turn heat down to medium. Another two minutes. Use a timer.

Turn every two minutes and start checking internal temperature at about 8 minutes or twice on each side.

If you like it a bit pink stop at 140 F. If you like it white 160F. Something in between? Two minutes per side.

(Use a rapid response thermometer)

Remove from skillet and let it rest on the cutting board tented in foil while you finish up your sides but at least 10 minutes.

Bone, season with flake salt and carve/serve.

Notes:

At the end of four minutes, you're going to think this looks awful. It will be notebook paper white. Keep going. I will build color as it caramelizes the fats. Tis the reason you need a slice at least an inch thick so it isn't dry as bone on the inside by the time it gets color or sheet white by the time the inside is at temp. If the cut is more than 2 inches (Iowa Chop) you will need to oven finish to get the internal temp without killing the outside. Inch to inch and a half is perfect.

If you have a glass top electric turn on the heat for about two minutes before you place the pan on it. I have one and they heat up more slowly than straight electric of gas.

This method cooks the meat evenly from both sides like baking and like baking adds zero extra fat but browns like frying. Zero splatter. Very moist, tender and guess what? Yorky has some flavor, who knew?

Try this as written before experimenting with other spices. Yorkshire does have some flavor after all. It just requires you to coax it out of the flesh.

If you cannot resist and are a pepper lover, wait to about the eight-minute mark to season with COARSE black pepper. It will burn if you do it to early or grind it to fine. Heat releases the peppers oils. Burnt is awful tasting.

If you're a garlic person. Rub the cooked pork with a roasted garlic clove when you put it on the board to rest and before the final salt seasoning. In the skillet it will burn even the oils. If you use raw garlic, it will taste like you're eating at Chili's.

I liked this so well I made the 100 mile plus trip to Kilgus Farms and bought a few packages of their Berkshire pork. And a shoulder roast. No need to waste a trip, right?

Hope ya all like this.

Grumpy Bear · May 29, 2023

Smithfield Bacon

Ever eat paper thin sliced lard? Walmart carries this brand. Total waste of money. IMHO of course. I've never seen bacon cut this thin or this fatty, or with that much water pumped into it. Got to be the boldest thief in the industry.

Micky D's Deluxe Quarter Pounder

This isn't a place I go to. It's a place I sometimes wind up. Like some smaller town and it is the only game in town. Happened today. Not only does it look like something my grandfather slopped hogs with it taste like something picked out of dumpster behind a kill shelter. Dog wouldn't even eat it. Smart dog.

:rant:

KARNUT · May 29, 2023

When we go to Fayetteville we use McDonald’s for egg McMuffin. Usually my wife knows where the 5$ menus are for fast food. I usually gravitate towards some kind of chicken sandwich. It’s seems thats where the competition is with fast food. My wife had a Chick-fil-A app sometimes that’s handy but not on Sunday. Bacon, thick sliced when I indulge. I believe Aldi's is our brand.

Edited May 29, 2023 by KARNUT

Donstar · May 29, 2023

Quarter pounder with cheese is my choice of fast food while driving. McD's are typically consistent in cleanliness and food prep/taste. I do appreciate fine cuisine but am glad we have "fast food" options like McD's. Sometimes we just need to expeditiously satisfy a meal requirement in a familiar and safe manner. And.... A Quarter pounder is less likely to dump in your lap than a Big Mac!

OnTheReel · May 29, 2023

Unfortunately the Quarter Pounder is the only edible burger at McDonalds. Their regular little patties sit in the warmers so long they are old enough to legally drive my truck home. Wendy’s is my choice though. Love pretty much everything they have. Even the salads.

Grumpy Bear · May 29, 2023

We have a regional chain, Culvers. Their tenderloin in my favorite. For burgers it's Red Robin or Fuddrukers. Grab and go or out of town, it's Wendy's. Dave Single with cheese, no mayo. I do not like wearing my meal. Jr. Bacon cheeseburger when I'm in the mood. Chick-fil-A when chicken suits me. Beef-a-Roo, another local for specialty sandwiches. Portillos for dogs or brats. It's a Chicago thing.

I get to eat two or three times a day. It's one of a few things we do that engages all five senses. We are designed to enjoy it. When served slop or garbage it wastes a chance at the joy God intended for us. Burns my bacon.... :mad:

I don't need top shelf every meal. A simple PBJ is fine, but it better not be made from mud and oil between dumpster reclaim and assembled like an epileptic chicken made it. Simple with quality and care.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Grumpy Bear