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BON APPÉTIT! What Are You Eating?


Strider

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On 2/25/2018 at 2:05 PM, chef free said:

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Our front yard party spot underneath a large magnolia.  I wish some of us could get together here sometime for smoking and drinking and Zeppelin bootlegs!

 

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Spicy sweet wings smoked in fig wood smoke (Thanks Jabe!) for brunch.

 

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Today's music, Brandi Carlile.

 

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The family, they only hang out if there's a nice warm fire.  Note the mixer tree (grapefruit so bitter that the only use for it is to mix with tequila!)

 

 

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Meat just oozing off the bones, no one choose to use the sauce, that tells you something...

Wow, absolutely awesome setup. 

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18 hours ago, LedZed66 said:
 
It would be great if you could send me the Goan curry recipe, CP  :wave:
My beloved Indian restaurant closed 10 or 15 years ago - and I still miss it.
Penang, the Thai curry? That's one of my favorite dishes, it's a perfect compostion between the spices and the coconut milk.

Yes Penang, the Thai curry which is weird as Penang is in Malaysia- a place I have been to loads of times. I made my own Spice paste which will keep for a while. It was gorge.

I will P.M. you the Goan recipe Led

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On 17.3.2018 at 5:04 PM, chillumpuffer said:

Yes Penang, the Thai curry which is weird as Penang is in Malaysia- a place I have been to loads of times. I made my own Spice paste which will keep for a while. It was gorge.

I will P.M. you the Goan recipe Led

 
Very impressive. I need Thai food once a week.
But my attemps at homemade asian cuisine were ok, but not overwhelming. Apart from springrolls.
 
I'm looking forward to the Goan recipe, thanks in advance CP
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Penang Curry (or Panang as I have seen it spelled sometimes...another way is Gang Penang) is my favourite of all the different curries.

Growing up in the 1970s, Indian curry was pretty much my only exposure to curry dishes. The Asian influx had not quite happened yet. The Japanese and Chinese restaurants that were around, especially the Orange County suburbs, were your basic "with six you get egg roll" dumbed-down for America versions.

But when I came back to California after my Army service, the "boat people" from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and elsewhere, had already arrived and made their mark on the local cuisine. In 1985 I had my first Thai food and it was a revelation. Especially the curries. I tried them all and eventually discovered I liked the Penang curry best.

The Thai restaurant (and Vietnamese and Malaysian) explosion that hit Southern California forced the Chinese and Japanese to step up their game and offer us Yankee Devils something real instead of the usual bland Orange Chicken and Chop Suey crap. The quality of ethnic cuisine increased all along the board as the immigrants saw that there was a sizeable segment of us Americans willing to try foreign cuisines and wanted an authentic experience, not a McDonald's-like bastardization.

I will have Penang curry with anything...pork, chicken, salmon, trout. But my favourite is with roast duck.

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5 hours ago, Strider said:

Penang Curry (or Panang as I have seen it spelled sometimes...another way is Gang Penang) is my favourite of all the different curries.

Growing up in the 1970s, Indian curry was pretty much my only exposure to curry dishes. The Asian influx had not quite happened yet. The Japanese and Chinese restaurants that were around, especially the Orange County suburbs, were your basic "with six you get egg roll" dumbed-down for America versions.

But when I came back to California after my Army service, the "boat people" from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and elsewhere, had already arrived and made their mark on the local cuisine. In 1985 I had my first Thai food and it was a revelation. Especially the curries. I tried them all and eventually discovered I liked the Penang curry best.

The Thai restaurant (and Vietnamese and Malaysian) explosion that hit Southern California forced the Chinese and Japanese to step up their game and offer us Yankee Devils something real instead of the usual bland Orange Chicken and Chop Suey crap. The quality of ethnic cuisine increased all along the board as the immigrants saw that there was a sizeable segment of us Americans willing to try foreign cuisines and wanted an authentic experience, not a McDonald's-like bastardization.

I will have Penang curry with anything...pork, chicken, salmon, trout. But my favourite is with roast duck.

 
I love the Gang Panang with roast duck. I try to eat less meat, so mostly I choose tofu. But in 2 weeks' time I will meet a friend at the Thai restaurant and I will certainly have the Panang/Penang with roast duck :D
 
The Thai and Vietnamese restaurants appeared 15 or 20 years ago. They are very popular. As much as I love the Thai curries I don't like the Vietnamese cuisine. They are possessed with fresh coriander leaves and that's one of the few things I really don't like. I use the dry seeds in my kitchen very much but not the leaves.
 
There were a lot of Chinese restaurants in my childhood. In 1978 I visited London with my parents and we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was very different from what we knew as Chinese food. I think it was a more authentic restaurant because we were the only Europeans in there, the other guests were all Chinese.
 
I like the Indian curries very much but there is not one good Indian restaurant in town. There is a fantastic one in the neighbor town that I visited twice.
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Made a ground turkey meatloaf tonight with green onions, ricotta cheese, and some flavoring-along with sautéed zucchini and mashed potatoes. Not the tastiest recipe ever, but decent non the less.  

Tomorrow gonna roast a prime rib in our new convection oven, that we were supposed to have received when we built the house...  It has a built in meat thermometer. Very interesting. Will update when cooking has commenced. 

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Modified the smoker by lining the firebox with firebox bricks.  It really helps with controlling the temp and I used at least 30% less fuel!DSCF6141.thumb.JPG.673bca7ed0dd50ebd083baa6bdcfed78.JPG

 

Almond wood is the cheap hardwood in California.  I made a grate out of rebar scraps from my neighbor's building project.DSCF6146.thumb.JPG.3bd2f48090162880f61cd621d4c55e4d.JPG

 

Oak wood for flavor courtesy of Jabe. Thank You, Sir!  You can really taste it too, like in red wine or whiskey.  It's sharp but not like hickory or mesquite.DSCF6149.thumb.JPG.6b71b011d88a4dd350a3b8086c1ae39a.JPG

 

Brisket!

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A pie (puff pastry) filled with cod (cooked in white wine, spiced with laurel leaves, cloves, juniper berries), roasted mushrooms, parsley and boiled eggs. Served with compound butter and a green salad (arugula, tomatoes, onions, pecorino cheese)
 
Accompanied by this French white wine
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Edited by LedZed66
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2 hours ago, LedZed66 said:
A pie (puff pastry) filled with cod (cooked in white wine, spiced with laurel leaves, cloves, juniper berries), roasted mushrooms, parsley and boiled eggs. Served with compound butter and a green salad (arugula, tomatoes, onions, pecorino cheese)
 
Accompanied by this French white wine
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I Pm'd you about this

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Lamb chops spiced with thyme, rosemary, oregano
Oven roasted vegetables (red peppers, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes)
Tzatziki - makes vampires run for cover :D
Mixed salad: tomatoes, cucumber, onions, feta cheese (marinated in olive oil and oregano)
Digestif: Pear brandy (eau de vie)
Aperol Spritz later this evening
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At one our favorite French bistros - salad of greens, pears, blue cheese and walnuts; sea bass over risotto with gruyere and asparagus.  A lovely CDR.  

It was fabulous. 

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1 hour ago, ebk said:

At one our favorite French bistros - salad of greens, pears, blue cheese and walnuts; sea bass over risotto with gruyere and asparagus.  A lovely CDR.  

It was fabulous. 

Sounds great!  What is CDR?

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2 hours ago, SuperDave said:

Sounds great!  What is CDR?

Cote du Rhone red wine.  I brought the rest of the bottle home.  I'll get the vineyard tomorrow - I don't feel like getting off the couch at the moment  :D 

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19 hours ago, ebk said:

Cote du Rhone red wine.  I brought the rest of the bottle home.  I'll get the vineyard tomorrow - I don't feel like getting off the couch at the moment  :D 

I love those wines and especially the reds.  I always have a few of them in storage at home.  They don't last long in storage!   I love medium bodied reds like these and great drinking wines.  I visited this area back in 2013 and glad I got to visit a vineyard in this region.  Also included a lunch at the estate and the food was so good with such variety.

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Wild Cherry smoked salmon!  Wild cherry is lighter than regular cherry and a little less sweet, it really let the salmon flavor come through.  The fish was marinated in mirin and soy sauce before cooking.  (Also some chicken breasts that were in the fridge.)

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Cherry log smoking the meat.

 


 

 

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I also cooked up some brisket and tried wrapping them in butcher paper, we'll see how it comes out...

Edited by chef free
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On 17.3.2018 at 5:04 PM, chillumpuffer said:

I will P.M. you the Goan recipe Led

 
Chillumpuffer's Gorgeous Goan Chicken Coconut Curry :thumbsup:
 
I tried the recipe and the curry was awesome, CP. Superb!!!! A perfectly creamy coconut sauce. The paste smelt wonderful with the coconut, spices, ginger and garlic.
Mr. LedZed liked it very much, too,  so it won't be a one-hit wonder
 
Now, there's a very nice French rosé wine waiting for me in the fridge - finishes a fantastic weekend (very sunny, 26C)
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14 hours ago, LedZed66 said:
 
Chillumpuffer's Gorgeous Goan Chicken Coconut Curry :thumbsup:
 
I tried the recipe and the curry was awesome, CP. Superb!!!! A perfectly creamy coconut sauce. The paste smelt wonderful with the coconut, spices, ginger and garlic.
Mr. LedZed liked it very much, too,  so it won't be a one-hit wonder
 
Now, there's a very nice French rosé wine waiting for me in the fridge - finishes a fantastic weekend (very sunny, 26C)

Really pleased for you S. It is quite amazing with only a few ingredients a simple curry can taste so wonderful. I will send you more when I have time.

Had a couple of curries last evening whilst watching the golf. A Chicken Balti and a Chicken Tikka Rogan Josh. An Aloo Ghobi on the side. Breads and rice. I admit they were bought in as we were pushed for time and as we have no hot water we couldn't face the washing up.

Weekend weather here?? Shite as usual. Got soaked on the golf course Saturday, and Sunday was not that much better either. Only good news was City folded against us and didn't win the title - yet

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