What's for Dinner?

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Overcast day, some mist this morning, but not enough to get everything real wet. Thought about pulling out the offset smoker, but tomorrow is supposed to be better weather than today, so I used the 22" Weber Kettle grill. Started up a snake of charcoal with some hickory chunks embedded throughout the front of the snake, salt/pepper with some smoked paprika on the ribs, water pan in the middle to catch the drippings and stabilize temperature fluctuations, then set up two probes, shut the lid and walked away, time for a beer and to get some stuff done around the house. Will have to move one of the probes in an hour or so as the snake will eventually light underneath it.

10-6-18_ribs-1.jpg
 
@geek : it looks great. Just throw that 'gus directly on the grill - perpendicular to the grates, of course.
 
The day before yesterday, I started lamb rib/shoulder chops in the sous vide machine at 132F. I intended to eat them yesterday, but our plans changed late in the day (which was for a nice reason!). I was going to just leave them in until dinner tonight, but I was worried about them getting mushy; so, I took them out last night night and put them in the fridge, then threw them back in the hot tub in the late afternoon. Meanwhile, I made mustard greens, sauteed in EVOO and lots of garlic; fregola (a sort of coarse cous-cous-like pasta from Sardinia) with parsley and fresh marjoram; and I reheated broad (or Italian) beans with tomatoes and onions from last week. For the lamb, I made a big pile of sauteed 'shrooms with shallots and garlic, and lots of fresh thyme. Finally, I took the already-cooked lamb out of the sous vide, dried it off, then seared in in butter at high heat for ~90 sec/side, and seasoned with coriander, salt, and pepper. Very nice.
 
Last edited:
I remembered to take pix today!

Tonight was short ribs, cooked sous vide at 133F for 72 hours. This is a low temperature, allowing the ribs to stay juicy and red, but they were still very tender due to the long cooking time. Served with boiled artichokes (with lemon/butter/garlic dipping sauce); polenta (with blue cheese); and roasted romanesco broccoli (w/ EVOO, lemon juice, capers, and garlic).

In the past, I have been disappointed with the sauces I have made for sous vide ribs. They don't approach the real thing, viz., a long-braised wine sauce with veggies, etc. I was pleased with tonight's effort, however. I browned some onions in the fat that I browned the ribs in 3 days ago, then added garlic and some thickening flour; I added a bunch of wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo), some fresh thyme, the juices from the sous vide bag, some beef stock, and soy sauce, and let this all reduce and thicken. It was considerably better than my previous efforts, perhaps better than my all-day sauces. I would rather be lucky than good!

This was all washed down with the rest of the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, plus some CC Showcase Old Vines Zinfandel from 5 years ago.

DSCN2228.jpg DSCN2229.jpg DSCN2230.jpg DSCN2234.jpg
 
I remembered to take pix today!

Tonight was short ribs, cooked sous vide at 133F for 72 hours. This is a low temperature, allowing the ribs to stay juicy and red, but they were still very tender due to the long cooking time. Served with boiled artichokes (with lemon/butter/garlic dipping sauce); polenta (with blue cheese); and roasted romanesco broccoli (w/ EVOO, lemon juice, capers, and garlic).

In the past, I have been disappointed with the sauces I have made for sous vide ribs. They don't approach the real thing, viz., a long-braised wine sauce with veggies, etc. I was pleased with tonight's effort, however. I browned some onions in the fat that I browned the ribs in 3 days ago, then added garlic and some thickening flour; I added a bunch of wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo), some fresh thyme, the juices from the sous vide bag, some beef stock, and soy sauce, and let this all reduce and thicken. It was considerably better than my previous efforts, perhaps better than my all-day sauces. I would rather be lucky than good!

I love short ribs, and have only cooked them to satisfaction by braising and once in a very long (9 hour) low heat Primo smoking effort. Your sous vide effort has inspired me, thinking about a long sous vide prep, followed by an hour or two on the Primo smoking with mesquite. My mouth is watering thinking about it......
 
I remembered to take pix today!

Tonight was short ribs, cooked sous vide at 133F for 72 hours. This is a low temperature, allowing the ribs to stay juicy and red, but they were still very tender due to the long cooking time. Served with boiled artichokes (with lemon/butter/garlic dipping sauce); polenta (with blue cheese); and roasted romanesco broccoli (w/ EVOO, lemon juice, capers, and garlic).

In the past, I have been disappointed with the sauces I have made for sous vide ribs. They don't approach the real thing, viz., a long-braised wine sauce with veggies, etc. I was pleased with tonight's effort, however. I browned some onions in the fat that I browned the ribs in 3 days ago, then added garlic and some thickening flour; I added a bunch of wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo), some fresh thyme, the juices from the sous vide bag, some beef stock, and soy sauce, and let this all reduce and thicken. It was considerably better than my previous efforts, perhaps better than my all-day sauces. I would rather be lucky than good!

This was all washed down with the rest of the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, plus some CC Showcase Old Vines Zinfandel from 5 years ago.

View attachment 51549 View attachment 51550 View attachment 51551 View attachment 51552


Man, that looks delicious!
 
I remembered to take pix today!

Tonight was short ribs, cooked sous vide at 133F for 72 hours. This is a low temperature, allowing the ribs to stay juicy and red, but they were still very tender due to the long cooking time. Served with boiled artichokes (with lemon/butter/garlic dipping sauce); polenta (with blue cheese); and roasted romanesco broccoli (w/ EVOO, lemon juice, capers, and garlic).

In the past, I have been disappointed with the sauces I have made for sous vide ribs. They don't approach the real thing, viz., a long-braised wine sauce with veggies, etc. I was pleased with tonight's effort, however. I browned some onions in the fat that I browned the ribs in 3 days ago, then added garlic and some thickening flour; I added a bunch of wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo), some fresh thyme, the juices from the sous vide bag, some beef stock, and soy sauce, and let this all reduce and thicken. It was considerably better than my previous efforts, perhaps better than my all-day sauces. I would rather be lucky than good!

This was all washed down with the rest of the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, plus some CC Showcase Old Vines Zinfandel from 5 years ago.

The weather turns much cooler after tomorrow. Might be time for some short ribs. Yours look awesome.
 
I made a version of cianghiale this evening. Not exactly traditional. I have been cooking a piece of pork shoulder at 155 in the sous vide machine for ~3 days. I combined this with a version of Marcella Hazen's very simple tomato sauce, along with some sauteed 'shrooms. shallots, and garlic. In the meantime, boiled up some hard-to-find imported papperdella (sp?) pasta. Paired this up with sauteed escarole (garlic, EVOO, red pepper, cardamom, sherry, and white wine) and an artichoke (Boiled, with dipping sauce of butter, garlic, and lemon juice).

DSCN2236.jpg
 
You are reading my mind lately, Paul. All day long on Friday (after the cooler weather arrived) I was thinking of doing ciangiale on Sunday. Other commitments prevent me from doing it earlier.
 
Well I officially made it yesterday to the Big Six O Club! Got my AARP card and everything! LOL The Kids took us out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse celebration for Retirement/Birthday. It was quite the evening. First time eating there. I have to say it was easily a Top 5 best steak ever. They recommended the Tomahawk Ribeye (for 2) and it did not disappoint. USDA Prime, they serve on plates that are heated to 500F before being brought out to the table so your meal stays warm. They do a nice table side prep removing the bone and cutting the steak up into parts. Pre printed menu with my name on it was a nice touch along with a special birthday dessert. Pretty sure I committed blasphemy in CA by ordering a WA State wine but hey it was the diamond in the rough for sure. Found a 2014 L'Ecole "Frenchtown" right bank Bordeaux blend (90Pts WS) that didn't break the bank and was excellent with about 30 mins of airtime while we had our salads. Needless to say a nice doggy bag was brought home as well!

IMG_3638.JPG IMG_3639.jpg IMG_3640.JPG

63602_2_14%20FrenchTown750_f.jpg
 
Last edited:
Well, this post is eventually about what was for lunch. But first, we went out to dinner the other night, and a popular local fishmarket/restaurant had a special on king crab leg dinners (1 lb/$21). I started with a couple of raw oysters and cheap Chardonnay. Then the crab, which was delicious, buttery, and decadent. I ate 3 of my 4 legs, and my DW ate two of her four, but we decided to bring the other 3 home rather than stuff ourselves. Today, I removed all the meat from the remaining three legs; I sauteed lots of minced garlic in lots of butter, then added white wine and some lemon juice. I then warmed the crab in this concoction, and served it over the pappardelle noodles leftover from last night. Pretty good for a lunch of leftovers.

DSCN2237.jpg
 
Back
Top