Carnage du Jour - 04 June 2016

Tenderloin - but this time it wasn't pork, it was beef.

I had bought a whole beef tenderloin some time ago and cut it into two two-pound-ish roasts, cooking one and freezing the other.

Well, as I said, that was some time ago and it was time to cook the remaining, now-thawed portion.

Since my trusty Better Homes & Gardens cookbook told me that tenderloin should be roasted at a higher temperature than most cuts (it might have been 425 rather than 350?), I thought I'd do it on my (also trusty) Weber grill.

The fire was doing its thing, getting ready in the chimney starter, so I pulled out the roast and gave it a liberal rubbing of kosher salt, dried thyme, and dry mustard. At the same time I was lightly marinating some fresh Michigan asparagus in a mixture of balsamic vinaigrette and green goddess dressings, as well as preparing some cheese-stuffed mushroom caps for the grill.
Simply grilling it for something on the order of 25 minutes (turning it every 5 or 10, eventually checking with my instant read thermometer for an internal 140) with the other items joining after a few minutes was all it took.

I have to admit that this was one of the most successful beef tenderloins I've ever done, and the sides were so good as to evince the comment from Heidi that she didn't know which of the three items was her favourite.

Delicious and highly recommended.

R.I.P. Del Schneider

The bulk of this post is a repost of a classic from this blog, but done in honor and remembrance of my late father-in-law, Del Schneider.
There are too many great stories to share in this brief post, and too many to forget, but let this serve as a quick memorial to the man who not only gave me his daughter's hand in marriage, but also taught me how to cook bratwurst properly.
Dad you will be missed, remembered, and celebrated.
I love you.

How to Cook Bratwurst

As promised, I'm going to expose the secrets to perfect brats. First, though, let me take you, if I may, on a journey - a journey back to how I first learned the basics of this highly-favoured endeavour.

Perhaps you already know that my wife and her family hail originally from Wisconsin. Moving from Sheboygan, Wisconsin - sausage capital of the US - to the Detroit area meant some significant lifestyle changes, not least of which was the basic lack of what they had come to know and love as bratwurst. What to do?
Well, my ever-resourceful then-future father-in-law found a way to have real Sheboygan brats flown into Detroit, and massive quantities were received each year to the delight of all and sundry.

When the time came for me to ask him for his daughter's hand, I had already been introduced to the glories of properly-prepared bratwurst. He and I sat down in the living room, where I told him that I had an important question for him. "I was wondering," I asked, "where you get the brats?" The cool thing is, he told me the whole story about getting them flown in via a perhaps-then-illegal interstate meat transaction. With that out of the way, I told him that I wanted to marry his daughter, and he averred that he thought that was a good idea.

Sadly, the Sheboygan Sausage Company of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin is no more, but the recipe was (supposedly) purchased by the Johnsonville company, and that is now the brat of choice.

(An interesting side note here: we did find what we considered to be vastly superior brats on a trip through Sheboygan at the Miesfeld's Triangle Market - several times State Champions, in fact - but the cost of shipping so far outweighed the cost of the sausage that it will remain a "when we pass through we're buying a bunch" kind of thing. But I digress.)

It was at a family reunion here in town that I learned at the elbow of my father-in-law just how it was done. (Note the past tense there, it actually gets better!) The brats must be boiled a bit in a mix of beer and water before going on the grill. This lets them release some of their fat before hitting the fire, the which can be an exciting event.
A squirt bottle of water was the tool of the day for keeping down the flare-ups that did arise, although the beer held in the other hand would do quite nicely as well. Care should be taken to avoid stirring up too many ashes - they can stick to the brats and make for a grittier-than-desirable experience (and yes, that does mean that charcoal is the preferred heat source).
There you have the basics of brat grilling. Condiments and bunnage are best left to the individual's taste, but mustard, onions, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut make up my starting point.

Now to reveal the secret to my enhanced bratwurst cooking process.
Into the pot of beer and water (I generally use Molson Canadian) I add an onion cut into wedges, and a healthy dose of nutmeg. These additions add just the right notes to the already-delicious flavour of the brats, and the kitchen smells glorious all the while too.

Now please, go and enjoy your bratwurst, but enjoy them responsibly.

R.I.P. Merle Haggard

Sad to note the passing of a truly great singer, songwriter, and musician.

Merle had some great hits, but most of what he wrote and performed should have been even more popular than it was.

Perhaps the angels with their Silver Wings can help to Sing Him Back Home to where the Good Times Ain't Over For Good.

Go spin a few Haggard tunes and have a beer (to celebrate National Beer Day on top of it). I think Hag would approve.

Pescage du Jour - 17 February 2016

What's so special about a Blue Plate Special?

That, of course, depends upon the specifics. In this instance we're considering that revered combination of salmon patties and spaghetti, and that actually can be something special.

When I got home from work, Heidi informed me of the selection for that evening's meal - my only task was to create the patties. After opening a brace of cans of salmon, finding the panko (it was right in front of me, of course, that's why it took so long to find it), getting the horseradish sauce, lime juice, and so forth, it was only a matter of minutes to create a tasty blend of meat, flavours, and binder which was ready to become nice crispy patties.

The spaghetti went into the pasta pot, the sauce had already been created and was heating nicely on the back burner, and so it was time to fry those patties. (Perhaps sauté is more correct, but since I was going for crispy, I think it really was fry.)

Once the pasta was done and drained, the patties were removed from the warm oven where they had rested after being taken from the skillet. Noodles and sauce went down first, then a couple patties, then another splash of sauce and a dusting of shredded cheese (a blend of parmesan, romano, and asiago) and we were good to go.

Oh, and so was the meal - tasty as always, and all thanks to Heidi's announcing her craving.

Delicious and highly recommended.
Cheers.

Carnage du Jour - 15 October 15

As you no doubt already know, bratwurst is a staple and a treat chez nous.

Well, leftover brats are a joy - grab a bun and heat them and enjoy, slice them into a cream sauce over pasta and enjoy, add to a quiche or omelette and enjoy, grab one cold from the fridge and enjoy, the list is endless, and each entry ends with "and enjoy."

We had several (purposely) leftover brats in the fridge and somehow the idea of a bratwurst pizza (or bratzza, if you will - or even if you won't) came to both of us, so in the spirit of serendipity, kismet, and/or Providence, that was the next project.


Not being a baker / doughmaker, I chose to purchase a very nice-looking whole wheat pizza crust at the market, but from then on it was all us:
Brats sliced to replace (much thinner) pepperoni, shredded Amish Swiss cheese to replace the mozz (isn't there a better way to shred cheese than those deadly box graters?!), a sauce of leftover alfredo jazzed up with some Gulden's brown mustard, and sauerkraut to replace any and all vegetable toppings.




You no doubt wonder how it turned out, but given the size of the pizza and the near-total lack of leftovers, we have no doubt that this is  an application which will be repeated here at Cleveland.


Delicious, desirable, and most definitely highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 09 October 2015

Surf and Turf - a classic.
Yes, but even classics can use a twist now and again, right? Of course right.

So ...
How about some beautiful wild-caught salmon from Alaska and a couple gorgeous lamb chops? We've got surf and turf there for sure.

"Ah, but with what else?" I hear you ask.
How about bow-tie pasta, lightly dressed with some alfredo sauce, and green peas (my favourite colour for peas)? Oh, and a bit of chipotle bearnaise sauce to go on anything and everything?

If you said "yes" to that, then you answered wisely. This was a delicious meal.

The salmon was dusted with Old Bay and a bit of corn meal, then sautéed on the flesh side first, finishing on the skin side. That happened as the pasta and peas were finishing, as were the lamb chops which got a simple seasoning of salt and pepper, then under the broiler with some red wine in the pan beneath to stop any flare-ups and to impart a bit if extra flavour.

Oh my, everything went together like lines in a Bach chorale - as each flavour expressed itself, it created a suspension  - a space for the next flavour to fill and make itself known.

I had intended to grate a bit of orange zest over the lamb and salmon, but I forgot, and I think it was just as well that I did. That would have been fine, but there really was no need for any more notes (too many notes!) in this savoury composition.

Delicious and highly recommended.

Pastage du Jour - 18 September 2015

When camping in Canada, one wants to eat some classic Canadian cuisine, eh?
What could be more Canadian than poutine? How about Kraft Dinner? (Yes, just as was celebrated by the Bare Naked Ladies, Kraft Dinner.)

Ah, but cooking at a campsite in bear country brings with it some extra considerations. How to clean up? How to dispose of any leftovers? Et cetera?
So, disposable foil baking pans to the rescue!

We brought some nicely salted water to a boil in a 9" foil baking pan over one burner of our handy Coleman propane stove, then added a tad of oil to prevent sticking (never mind what Alton Brown has said on this topic. He's wrong.) and into the water went the noodles.

Once they noodles were cooked through (it took a bit more stirring to make sure they all cooked pretty evenly under these circumstances), we drained the pasta into the lake (where the ducks seemed to think the slightly-flavoured water was quite interesting), and added 4T of butter, the cheese sauce packet, a little bit of milk, and a few tablespoons of herbed goat cheese to make the cheese sauce cheesier and creamier.

With the addition of some leftover pulled pork, this was a spectacular meal eaten in a beautiful setting with a spectacular view.

Delicious.