What's for Dinner?

[JohnT]

Made fried chicken with my niece last yesterday. MAN, was this good (if I do say so myself).

I am going to post the recipe..

 

[ibglowin]

Marked with a sticker right on the package for one.

BB,

Care to post how you tell prime from choice? Have any tips that you can share that will help us pick out a really good steak?

 

[Boatboy24]

BB,

Care to post how you tell prime from choice? Have any tips that you can share that will help us pick out a really good steak?

As Mike said, the sticker will tell you. But its all about the marbling, basically. For a visual, here are a few pics.

This pic is a Choice grade NY Strip. Not a ton of marbling in there, but there is some.

This is Prime NY Strip. Notice the marbling. There's a lot more and these two steaks actually look pretty good to me.

On the extreme end, here is a Wagyu NY Strip. A crazy amount of marbling. I have splurged for this twice - both times it was my birthday and I wanted to treat myself. All that interior fat is soft and rich. These steaks are like butter - incredibly rich, tender, and you can just about cut them with a fork. Generally speaking, the more your steak looks like this, the better its going to be. The nice thing about the Wagyu is that because it is so rich, a little goes a long way.

If you pick through the selection of Choice steaks, you can often find some that look borderline prime. That's what I try to do and I think it does make a difference.

 

[GreginND]

Chinese fried rice and Indian roti. Served with apple wine.

 

[JohnT]

As Mike said, the sticker will tell you. If you pick through the selection of Choice steaks, you can often find some that look borderline prime. That's what I try to do and I think it does make a difference.

OK, so it is all about the marbling. Thanks.

 

[geek]

"The Last Supper"

Verdict: Good, but not great. I've seen these Prime steaks from Costco before and always felt that they looked 'just barely prime'. I'm a little picky when buying beef and usually search through whats available to find what I want in terms of size and marbling. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good steak. But I think a Choice grade in sous vide for an hour or two is just as tender. Pretty good though - the Costco price for Prime NY Strips is the same as the non-sale price at my local Giant for Choice.

Man, if that tastes as good as it looks, I wouldn't say it is good but GREAT

 

[sour_grapes]

On the extreme end, here is a Wagyu NY Strip. A crazy amount of marbling.

Here is some genuine Kobe. (In case you are wondering, that price works out to about $200/lb. Needless to say, I did not indulge.

 

[ibglowin]

Somebody pull the trigger on one of these please and let us know if they are any good!

 

[GreginND]

Lentil stew with black and brown rice.

 

[Boatboy24]

Shrimp Étouffée

 

[stickman]

I made a focaccia today, I ended up splitting a piece open for a mortadella sandwich.

 

[sour_grapes]

Bucatini Bucatini all'Amatriciana. This is so very easy to make! This and a grilled zucchini, then turned into salad.

 

[Boatboy24]

Bucagini Bucatini all'Amatriciana. This is so very easy to make! This and a grilled zucchini, then turned into salad.

You make your own guanciale for that?

 

[sour_grapes]

You make your own guanciale for that?

No way! I do make my own bacon (i.e., regular bacon, from pork belly). But I have no idea where I would get uncured hog jowl!

I mentioned that my little mom-and-pop gourmet grocery store just went out of biz. I bought a big hunk of guanciale from them at a big discount.

There is another store a few miles away that carries guanciale, but I would have to make a special trip.

 

[Boatboy24]

No way! I do make my own bacon (i.e., regular bacon, from pork belly).

Once you cure and smoke your own bacon, there is no going back, is there?

 

[ceeaton]

Too windy around these parts today to fire up the smoker, so to celebrate my wife being able to spend evenings with us again (she was on 2nd shift for training), I'm doing a hunk of top round very slowly in the oven. Coated and wrapped overnight with Kosher salt. Then started around 1 pm at 170*F (did sear on the stove top first), just raised it to 225*F. Aiming to get it up to 115* internal temperature, then turn off the oven for an hour so it slowly creeps up to 125*F. Should turn out nice and tender, and because of the odd, almost triangular shape of the cut, will be able to offer medium well to some and rare to the boys. Only about 3 lbs so I suspect there will be no leftovers since we rarely eat beef (better to avoid red meat for the diabetics in the house). Plan on serving with ho-made mac'n cheese (two types, one GF) and either a large salad or some petite green beans.

Also got the Smokey Joe going and made some grilled fajita chicken breasts from my wife to use on her lunchtime salads.

 

[Boatboy24]

Did a nice beef Ragu last night.

 

[ceeaton]

Tried to edit my previous post, but I don't have "privileges" to do so?

Two images of the variety of doneness of the finished roast. Most was medium, the thickest part was medium rare. Both parts were very tender. All family members actually ate the same meal. Miracles do happen!

 

[geek]

Costco pizza [emoji487]

 

[dralarms]

Tomorrow I'm searing a sliced pork loin and then putting it in the crock pot with some onion soup mix cook for about 4 hrs, then add whole red potatos and sliced onions, cook for 2 more hrs, add baby carrots and finish up 1 hr ( I like my carrots crunchy). Usually very good.