Good Times & Good Food

Thank you brother for inspiring me to cook creole/cajun! It’s in my brain now! Lol.

 

I wanted to take a few pics to post in this thread for it was a wild frenzy getting all the sides done in time. I only have a photo of the aftermath... in the photo, I'm going in for the back oysters and the turkey butt for myself.

I did a wet brine and then roasted it. Once it got temp, I took it out and let it cool down a bit then preheated the oven to 500 to blast it in order to get color on the bird. Came out perfect. Everyone loved the turkey! 2nd time I made turkey

 

The last thing I cooked was for NYE and I made BBQ bacon wrapped jumbo
Shrimp. I had left over bacon and I tried the cooking bacon in a skillet with a little water and it came out so crispy! I put bbq sauce over the bacon too and they became bbq bacon chips

Prep work:


Final product:

 

I haven’t been cooking much lately but tonight I made a deconstructed “California Roll” called a SUSHI BAKE with salmon. It’s kind of a crazy idea- it’s basically a salmon California roll casserole

A mixture of shredded imitation crab meet (1 cup), 2 baked salmon filets (cooked to just barely one) broken up (reserving a 1/4 as topping), a block or cream cheese and 2 tbsp sriracha all mixed together.

Pour mixture over sushi rice in a casserole dish. Bake at 450 for 10-15 mins. You take roasted seaweed paper and make tacos. I used the salmon and baked it in the oven to crisp it up like bacon and then used it as a topping. Add some avocado and you’ll have the best ever california roll.

 

Tonight I used a recipe from Ethan Becker (Becker Knives) family cookbook, JOY OF COOKING, to make Linguine and Clams.

I wanted to use fresh little neck clams but my local market ran out! Good thing, the recipe had a canned clam variation.

Ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil
Onions (I used shallots)
Garlic
Chili flakes
Dried oregano
(Added fresh Italian parsley, lemon zest and juice)
White wine
Salt and pepper





I mixed in the pasta too rough and it broke into little short strands. I need to be more careful next time. I also shouldn’t saved some pasta water for the sauce




Next time I might add an anchovy to the sauce and definitely make sure I had fresh live clams.

 

For tonight’s dinner, I worked in tandem with my girlfriend and we took our taste buds to the far East, to Japan.

She made a Japanese curry. From what I understand, curry originated in India and made its way throughout Asia. I’ve always liked Thai curry growing up and then I enjoyed indian and Japanese curry. They’re all very different.

My job was the deep fried pork lion, encrusted with panko bread crumbs. I fried up 6 of them so I experimented with different seasonings. The pork all had salt and pepper, but for some I added chicken powder or garlic powder.

I used flour, egg, and panko for the crust. Fried up in peanut oil.

I made a quick Japanese coleslaw. We made Japanese short grain rice to soak up all the curry goodness. Some pickled radish as a palate cleanser

 

Weeks ago, Bushman5 very kindly included me in one of his fun challenges. He encouraged me to make Carne Guisada a Mexican dish, sort of like a beef stew but thicker that you can serve on flour tortillas, with rice, or alone as a stew.

I’ve never cooked anything Mexican or Tex-Mex before so I was a little intimidated. Over the weeks, probably closer to 2 months, I’ve been looking at recipe after recipe.

First I had to select a good chuck roast with good marbling. The best one happened to be on the smaller size but that’s fine, it’s usually just for my gf and I. Then I had to get Mexican oregano and cumin or “comino” in Spanish. I’ve never used either of the two, so I was eager to taste it first before cooking with it.



before:


After:


For the oil, I decided to use the beat oil on the world bacon fat!!!!



In most Carne Guisada recipes, they lightly browned the meat but I wanted to get some serious Maillard Reaction going and build a nice fond. I used the method of searing the whole roast all
At once instead of cutting it up, in order to limit the amount of water that would be expelled and counteracting the caramelization I was going for. But I’m sure if I had a high powered stove like some of you guys, I could’ve cooked off water easily and quickly. I let it rest a bit and then I cut it up.





It’s all about the spices! I mixed it up a bit. The spices I used were: cumin, Mexican oregano, paprika, ancho chili powder, salt and pepper. I used minced garlic, but I’m thinking garlic powder would probably be better. There’s also onion and bell pepper in there with a tomato.



So most of the comments I read from the recipe blogs, had a lot of comments about how it was supposed to be like a gravy and thick not loose and soupy. I went a little overboard because my potatoes broke down and made it thicker than I had wanted. Potatoes were optional but my gf loves them so I added them.



For sides we had corn salsa and Mexican rice and we ate the Carne Guisada as tacos. The corn salsa was really easy- a can of corn, half a red onion, a jalapeño, cilantro, and 1 lime.

 

Hiking and bouldering a haunted canyon- and plant identification

My cousin is deploying to the Middle East next week so I planned a series of outings for him before he heads off.

I took him to a place called Black Star Canyon falls. More than a hundred years ago massacre of indigenous people happened here. Supposedly it’s haunted and witchcraft and satanic animal sacrifices occur. Locals have chased hikers and shot warning shots at hikers who tread too close to their property lines. Many years ago a school bus that lost control and fell into a deep ditch and has been left there abandoned. Bus photo (not mine)

this canyon has a lot of oak trees and with it lots of poison oak. I spent time helping my group identify poison oak, more on that in a bit.







We did a lot of Bouldering which is fine by him because he’s an avid rock climber



Me monkeying around



boulders and more boulders:


the end of the canyon where the massacre occurred




I used my Stanley adventure to make hot tea for the group. The two plastic cups in there and the main cup makes 3 drinking vessels. Very convenient for sharing.



relaxing a bit before heading back out




Plant identification: poison oak
“Leaves of three leave it be”. The middle leaf grows out a bit longer and the two side leaves grow out opposite each other. The edges are rounded over.

poison oak leaves look a bit like oak tree leaves, they’re always around each other. It’s interesting how that happens. Nature is tricky. It loves to hide behind boulders that you have to climb over and as soon as you’re on the other side, you’ve made contact.


the leaves vary through out the canyon. Different sizes, different colors (green, orange, red and purple), and sometimes it looks smooth or bumpy, matte or shiny.





Look at this nasty and ragged example:



Here it’s hiding in a crack waiting for unexpecting hiker:



It can crawl up trees like poison ivy


Look at these stems/branches that are encroaching on the trail. They look harmless but there’s more urushiol in the stems than in the leaves. They tend to poke you and get the poison deeper. In the winter all the leaves fall off making it impossible to identify. Because of this, I always take a cold shower after hikes. Hot water opens your pores and allows the poison in deeper. I carry some dawn dish washing soap in case I make contact on the trail.

 

You explore that cave?

 

Yes I did, it’s shallow. Pretty neat place