Teaching my kids to eat and cook like grown ups. Seems to be working so far! Also a big fan of my Caja China.
espresso, preferably ristretto
It should read "Lizzy's." They took over the space that used to be Pugliese's (Pugs).
ketchup totally from scratch.
For small jobs, standing over the sink is OK...but for 40 lbs of potatoes, it's nice to sit down.
Please don't break compatibility with the Paprika app!
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Try smoking some bourbon or rye. I used hickory, 30 minutes, temp in the 150-175 range, for about 2 cups. Do it in a high surface area-to-volume vessel, like a shallow Pyrex dish, so that more of the good stuff gets exposed to the smoke. If it's too smokey for your taste you can always blend it back with some of the starting material.
Update - this method was a huge win. Here's the rundown. I injected straight brine (2.5 cups kosher salt in 3 quarts water, used ~ half for 3 shoulders), then rub with salt and pepper. Smoke for about 1:15 (hr) using hickory in an offset smoker. Then into Caja China Model #1, starting skin side down for 1 hr / 16 lbs charcoal. Then flip shoulders and score skin, add 8 lbs charcoal. After another hour, 8 lbs more charcoal. After another hour, empty the ash tray, and 9 lbs more charcoal for 20 minutes (going for the crispy skin here). Then, and this part is key, I took the rack holding the meat out and placed it on the ground, following by putting the ash tray/charcoal grid directly onto the rack holding the shoulders. This works because the stand-offs on the rack keep the coal tray above the meat, but it's appreciably closer than it would be in the box. I left it this way for about 5 minutes to finish the skin. The skin was crisp and ended up tasting like bacon chips, no joke. See the results here. I served this with a vinegar sauce based on the linked recipe with the following modifications: doubled the vinegar and water, used Gulden's Spicy Brown instead of regular yellow mustard, used jaggery instead of brown sugar, used long pepper instead of black pepper, added a bay leaf to the simmer. End result: 3 shoulders all but gone within 1 hour at a block party. Only downside will be cleaning out the Caja tomorrow!
@Nillo - Thanks, I was thinking along these lines. Would you go with a straight up salt water injected brine or mixing some flavoring in there as well? I have partial skin-on shoulders so I'm hoping to get some nice crispy skin near the end as well. I'm not above using a blowtorch, though!
Try subbing in Mexican-style crema for the sour cream for some added funk. Maybe a pinch of chili powder as well.
I remember the first time I saw garlic scapes at the farmers market. I had no idea what they were, so I bought them! A little sauté in olive oil and then tossing with some pasta and fleur-de-sel was all it took to get me hooked.
My wife and I just peeled 40 lbs of potatoes this past weekend for our annual latke fest. She is an ardent "away" peeler, pushing the peeler away from the body. I am a steadfast "toward" peeler, drawing the peeler towards the body. I think "away" is probably faster but less controlled (= more peels on floor + occasional dropped potatoes!), while "towards" gives cleaner results. So SE community: are you "towards" or "away"?
I love roasting pigs in my Caja China, and I love smoking pig parts in my smoker. Now I've got it in mind to try both in combination. I would love to get that tender juiciness of the Caja China slow-roast with the smoky flavor that the smoker delivers. The challenge: I've got 3 pork shoulders that I need to cook up for a block party this weekend. Has anyone out there tried the Caja China / Smoker combo? Which should come first? The smoking or the roasting? Brine injections or not? My hunch is yes on the brine, smoke first but not for too long, and cut back on the Caja China time a bit. Anyone have any advice?
Parked in the backyard of an Austin dive bar, East Side Kings is imaginative Asian-inspired drinking food done right, run by talented chefs from the city's best sushi restaurant. SE editors Erin Zimmer and Robyn Lee tried it last year on their SE book research trip, and left a little obsessed with the late-night fried beets, fried brussel sprouts, and this Thai Chicken Karaage. It's genius drinking food: the sort of crunchy, fried, salty, spicy stuff that was born to be paired with cold beers. More
The Fojol Bros' everyday roster includes two vegetarian and two meat-based dishes, such as this Butter Chicken adapted for Heather Shouse's Food Trucks. As wild as the Fojol Bros' concept is, their take on butter chicken is pretty traditional, with chunks of chicken rubbed with a chile-lemon butter, marinated in a spiced yogurt mix, and grilled, kabob-style. The skewers are finished by simmering in a creamy tomato based gravy laced with all sorts of warming spices, including cardamom, ginger, and cloves. More
Um, isn't White Castle the <Japanese style name> Super Happy Truly Original Ichiban Number One Anime Watching Burger? And it's availability in microwaveable form surely appeals to the anime-watching aesthete. Who's going to go to BK and then bring their food home just so they can watch TV with a luke-warm burger?