MeatHenge Mini-Entry
Not this last Saturday, but the one before the Fatted Calf decided to change the container the Sugo Di Carne came in. I thought the previous container was fine, but I understand the motivation. Taylor didn't like the plasticky container, seemed cheap and all ... well, plasticky.
I'm not sure what inspired me to put together a 'scalloped' potato dish on a work day with not more than an hour and a half for prep and cook time. I know I know, "hey bone, scalloped potatoes aren't that tough." Yeah well, I added extra goodies and had to move pretty darned quick to get this on the table before everyone filled up on peanut butter & crackers. Keep in mind too that I have to take decent pictures and make mental notes along with everything else. Boy did my hard work pay off big time.
This dish was succulent, rich, savory & worth every bead of sweat.
Most of the ingredients make sense, onions, parsely, mushrooms, apple wood smoked bacon and fresh herbies. I decided to render up some pancetta to take it over the top. Yum.
I found out first thing yesterday about Saturday's special. I had to call J. Lee first thing, hands shaking. Fatted Calf's special this week are Hoffman Farms naturally raised quail, stuff with lemon zested savory sausage AND a fig !!!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe. Aaaahhhhhh.
Man, I was SURE the Arista roast from last Saturday was the pinicle, the piece of resistence. From where I sit, this meat slinging rolly coaster is still going up, up and up. Up. I need another slab of pancetta, but how do you think I can remember to even SAY pancetta with those stuffed quails waiting for me? I'll have to stencil PANCETTA TOO PLEASE on my forehead, that is the only way I'll walk home with what I need on Saturday morning. This is too cool.
See you there!
Just when you thought it was safe to come out, just when you thought the Arista Panzanese was done and out the door. You couldn't be more wrong. Last night there was a happy chunk of the special pork roast left over. Eric won't eat leftovers, but here at MeatHenge Labs we have no problems with such things.
Mama said it was time for MEAT PIE !!! I was okay with that, especially since she is the Pie Crust Queen.
Arista Panzanese, oven roasted. That's what you're gazing upon. How many of you made it to The Fatted Calf's stall this last weekend? How many of you picked up a roast, like I TOLD you to? Fess up. Good. But for the rest of you, SEE what you're missing? CHRIS YOU FOOL !!! You admitted to me at the baby shower you missed last weekend. See what happens? I didn't miss out, in fact my wife didn't miss out either. It was delightful, a bit much maybe for a tuesday night meal. But what could possibly follow last night's Dreamland smoked rib dinner? This one did, very well too.
Ha !!! No, we didn't make a trip to Mobile. No, this isn't Uncle Cindy's Rib review for 2004. Although she was kind enough to share this slab. What you're looking at is a frozen, vacuum sealed slab of pork ribs, sauce & bread included. Me being a BBQ/Meat snob, I questioned the whole frozen meat situation. However, pork is pretty damned versatile and I have to say, this easy smoked pork rib meal was worth every penny Uncle Cindy spent.
Joe Bob checks in from Denver Colorado. This time with juicy lookin' foods
Jack n Anna Martinez only opened their Mexican food joint in 2000, and it has been a huge hit in Denver ever since. They came up from New Mexico in 1994 and had the "Chile Shop" for a few years, roasting chilies and doing catering. The demand was such that they had to open a real restaurant.
I have finally been stunned by a plate of pork.
This coming week is Get Thusly to Your Freezer - Get CLEAN !!!
You know darned well it's been over a year since you went through your freezer to clean it out and some of you never have.
Put down that fancy encyclopedia you've been reading, it's time to go have some fun. First open up the fridge and see if you can turn OFF the freezer portion by itself. If not, just turn the entire fridge off.
Pull everything out and sort it by piles of this and piles of that, toss what you can't figure out what it might be. I found some really interesting meat parts, some sausage shaped, some not really shaped much at all.
Toss what you haven't used in 6 months. If it is meat, toss if it's older than a month or two. Keep in mind, you shouldn't be freezing meat unless it going to be used as stock or if it is vacuum sealed. I understand it is so nice just to pull something out of the freezer for that night or the next. Would you please spend a little more time and buy things fresh? You're missing out on some great flavors and nutriments by freezing your diet. IT'S SUMMER TIME YOU NITS !!! There's fresh food outside your door, go find it.
Where was I? Oh yeah. Whip up some of your favorite cleaning solution, I use spray 409 & paper towels. Then wash with clean water and dry thoroughly. Now you have a really nice clean happy freezer, put your stuff back. Don't worry about organizing it, you'll ruin that system in a day anyway.
Meathenge says do it.
Many many leagues ago, back in the time of the vikings, before Starbucks and way before Peet's coffee, was Barnacle Coffee.
This semi-ancient ritual found the heartiest of souls before 6am brewing a morning beverage. This morning beverage did not include sugars, not creams or fats of any kind (well, okay maybe walrus milk but it was damned hard to obtain, you ever try to milk a walrus?). This morning beverage didn't have any cinnamon or powdered chocolate. Well then, what was the draw?
The Barnacle! What an amazing little mullusk:
mol·lusk also mol·lusc n.
Any of numerous chiefly marine invertebrates of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a soft unsegmented body, a mantle, and a protective calcareous shell and including the edible shellfish and the snails.
This just in from Joe Bob in Denver:
Tom's Home Cookin' has this reputation in Denver for authentic Home Cookin'/Comfort food. I am not sure how they garnered this rep. More like Castle of Mediocrity.
YAY !!! A food related post. I'm feeling a little better now, it's been a long week. Already.
Everyone knows I really love sausage, this is no secret. I also like a little variety, such as roast treats. When Taylor and his crew take the time to make us a roast treat I can't resist. I'm going to take a little quote from this week's newsletter about the special this week:
"Arista Panzanese. This is a savory marriage (OK, it’s a roast) of piglet loin and belly, jelly-rolled up and tied with twine, but not before it is lovingly anointed with all manner of Italian goodness, such as rosemary, fennel pollen and garlic."
There's nothing I can say to follow that one up, except that the Crepinettes this week are also something to stash in your meat bag. This week he's gots Pork Crepinettes with Picholine Olives and Thyme.
This will be a GREAT weekend indeed.
Hey, I wanted to stop by the Henge today and let ya'll know we're okay and doing fine. I've decided to sell our 3rd vehicle, a 21 year old 1 ton GMC 12 passenger van. I bought it for going on yearly vacations plus a few smaller ones. The beast served us well for 3 years, going to LegoLand a few times, visiting friends up in the Sierras and then some farther south in Mariposa.
Last year we all decided to try some Home Schooling for our youngin's, which means no more long vacations and no more fancy dinners at the local Denny's. Which means THE VAN HAS TO GO!
What this also means is that I've been darned busy getting the van ready and haven't had time to cook, take pictures, write & post.
Hopefully soon,
Hugs
Thank you for all your life's work, you've changed so many lives over the years. Now I guess I won't get my books signed, dang. Hugs.
Egads, FINALLY. They're baaack. Of course I can't wait for Saturday morning now, but I have to say I'm not nearly as anticipatory as I thought. We've been eating pretty well at the ol' Lab this last few weeks, so my skip to the meat stall won't be quite as skippy. I think this time I'll only be getting a pint of the Sugo Di Carne, some Finnochiona (YUM central) and some Pancetta Toscana. Hey, my interest is picking up a bit. I feel better, I think it was the Finnochiona that did it. If you're interested in what it might be, do a search here on MeatHenge, it's there.
onward ...
Here we find ourselves with August coming full on. Which means most of the day it is either overcast or foggy with some blust. Today around mid day it was sunny, El Yay !
Mid day around these parts also finds the Good Dr., hungry. A handful of months ago a new restaurant opened up around the corner. It's an odd little place attached to Rose & Mike's liquor in Richmond. Grandma K and Grampa were able to check out the place a few weeks ago. They found the experience quite favorable, which drives the interest higher. Today it was time to visit 3 Hermanas (3 Sisters), my wife agreed and off we went. To the bank, cause I didn't have any cash. After the bank though, we were there.
Yesterday was our second meatfest of the year. It was big. It was grand. There was a lot of meat and booze. Yet, there was one thing lacking from the get together. No, it was not more meat. What was missing was a little song about meat and the joy that it brings to everyone who loves it so.
Today, I can right the wrong of yesterday and now provide you with that musical composition to complement your next meat-laden meal. This song is called Meat Cuttin' Blues, written by Hunter and Jenkins (bless them), and I dedicate it to Dr. Biggles (Happy Birthday), and to Rick, our local butcher.
Last night Mr. & Mrs. Meathead celebrated their first anniversary. And here is what they did, they went to The House of Prime Rib in San Francisco:
House of Prime Rib was awesome! Much more hoppin' than I would have expected on a Wednesday night at 8:30pm. The place was packed. Real nice joint. Olde World San Francisco style, lots of charm, and leather booths. We got a nice intimate one that unfortunately happened to be squashed up the backside of a large party crammed onto a four seater table. But they left half way through our meal, and once the cocktails were served, we were too happy to care.
Are you holding on to something? Maybe you should sit down, a good sit. MeatHenge Labs is proud to introduce our very own La Caja China Roasting Box. This year we'll be able to roast a 100 lb pig. Since I figure I'll need a little practice, turkeys get to go first. My eyes are vibrating along with shaky hands as I get this down on monitor. The Caja China is a portable plywood box lined with steel. The marinade injected meat goes inside on a rack over a fat tray. Once loaded, a charcoal tray goes on top. In this tray goes maybe 14lbs of Kingsford charocal briquets. It's kinda like a pressure cooker, a big pressure cooker. There is no smokey flavor, just roasting like in a big fricken' oven. This is a fine wonderful thing.
This last weekend has to have been one of the most exciting weekends in quite some time. Both Saturday & Sunday was filled with shopping, preparing, experimenting & cooking/smoking/roasting meat. There will be a lot of information both informative & fun over the next few days, so please keep yourself propped upright long enough to get through it, K?
The catalyst for the last few days was the arrival of the La Caja China Roasting Box. I purchased it a few weeks ago, maybe 3. I had planned on roasting a pig for my birthday party that's coming up, but realized it was too much too late. I attempted to cancel the order, but it showed up anyway. Fine, I'll find a use for it.
I figure I can do up some turkeys, that's straight forward enough. One of my first rules about cooking for a party is to not do something for the first time that day. This means I have to learn how to inject meat with a marinade (no, I haven't been through that yet) and make a few runs through the roasting box before the following weekend. I can do that. But first I wanted to try out my personal injection technique & recipes before ruining 2 14lb natural turkeys. Which means today we're going to figger out how to inject a marinade in to a Boston Butt Pork Roast. Baby Steps.
