Disappointed - 21 March 2022 - Plague Journal Day 739

Micah 6:8
Ezekiel 24:1-5
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

As we all know, St. Patrick's Day was last week. I determined to cook a corned beef brisket for dinner, although it was on Friday as we hadn't enough time Thursday for the cooking, and cast about for the best method. Well, it sounded like the slow cooker would be ideal - sadly I didn't find that out until noon or so, and it called for nine hours cooking time. A no go for sure. Aha! We have an Instant Pot! That should do the trick! and there was the recipe telling me a total of two hours from start to finish, so here we go.

I will admit, the flavor was quite good, but oddly the meat, while tender, seemed dry. I somewhat puzzling outcome - dry, tender, flavorful meat. At least it didn't take long, thanks to the pressure! or the enhanced pressure!

Live and learn, I suppose. I may have to get another one and drop it in the crockpot instead.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

The Wearing of the Orange - 17 March 2021 - Plague Journal Day 370

Micah 6:8
Numbers 21:4-9   Acts 28:1-6
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is St. Patrick's Day - the day for the wearing of the Orange. Have an orange beer tonight!

In parallel, it's also Corned Beef and Cabbage Day (who knew that was a day?), and we'll be participating in that celebration tonight. I'm not clear on how corned beef - a staple of the deli scene - became part of an Irish celebration. Perhaps the Irish in New York and Boston stopped at the deli after their celebration for a sandwich to clear their heads. That's as likely as any other story we're going to hear.

For example, there's the charming tale that St. Patrick used the pickling brine from making a corned beef as part of his snake chasing arsenal. I'm thinking that's probably apocryphal, but it could be as true as any other part of that story.

At any rate, enjoy yourself responsibly. Try not to get any green dye on yourself (where it will show), nor any orange dye for that matter.

Sláinte!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Carnage du Jour - 09 February 2014

It all started with a text from my flavour consultant, Christian.

"Could you make a Reuben meatloaf?"

That was quickly followed by another.

"Thinking corned beef for the meat, and rye bread instead of the oatmeal or maybe with it. Put swiss cheese on the top to finish it at the end of cooking and sauerkraut."

I replied that I thought that was a great idea, to which he replied that he agreed, and he really wanted to eat it.
Well, that initial "could you make?" query meant that the gauntlet oven mitt had been thrown down, and the challenge was now accepted.

Off to the market to get a corned beef brisket, having first borrowed an electric meat grinder. (No, the market wouldn't grind it for me until closing time, as the flavoured meat would mess up the grinder until it was fully cleaned; I asked to be sure.)
My rye bread was actually a multi-grain bread as it turned out, so along with four toasted and deconstructed slices, I added a fair amount of caraway seeds to the blender, turning out a nice couple cups of very rye-smelling bread crumbs.
I estimated the point matching 2 pounds of very chilled meat (reserving the last 1.4 for later cooking and sandwiching), and cubed it to fit in the grinder.
It was harder to grind than I anticipated, but it definitely smelled great, and came out in just the right consistency for loaf-age.

I slightly modified my normal recipe; bread crumbs never touch my loaf, I'm an oatmeal kind of guy, but there were still two eggs, a cup of tomato product (plain diced tomatoes), and salt and pepper. The mixture was much wetter than expected, so I added about half a cup of oatmeal to finish the texture.

Next I formed the bottom half (2/3) of the loaf, hollowing out the middle, which was then filled with a mixture of Jarlsberg cheese and sauerkraut. The remaining 1/3 of the meat was then placed on top and the edges sealed. Now it was down to the baking.

About 45-50 minutes at 350F was all it took, and I must have done a good job of sealing the loaf, as there was very little juice in the baking sheet - but what there was was delicious.

We let the loaf rest a bit before cutting into it, and we were far from disappointed. This was without a doubt one of the best meatloaves I've ever made.

Highly recommended, and definitely to be repeated.