Food

[Dan R]

I'm home today painting, drinking, making dram and cooking crecy soup, amongst other things.

I could skip the carrot soup, but what kind of drink do you use the dram in?

As for me, made beer can chicken. Some say spatch cock is the same/better. Me? I have cans of beer I'd rather cook with than drink. Either way, it's the rub that defines the meal.

[Henry Krinkle]

I could skip the carrot soup, but what kind of drink do you use the dram in?

As for me, made beer can chicken. Some say spatch cock is the same/better. Me? I have cans of beer I'd rather cook with then drink. Either way, it's the rub that defines the meal.

We make planter's punch the way they make it in the Appleton distillery. We do variations of things like the Jalisco pear or Allsorts and the Lion's tail. Dram is great with anything with pear or pear liqueur and I think it goes well with spicier bourbons and milder ryes. Also, we sometimes just have a bit of it.

I know of friends that use our dram in egg nog.

[Raza]

I had a couple of nice meals lately. I should upload my pics and post them.

[Henry Krinkle]

You should.

[Henry Krinkle]

Linguine con vongole

[Raza]

This was dinner tonight, made by me, of course (except for the rice):


Bison ribeye, cooked rare, sautéed spinach, and black rice.

[Raza]

This was from an impromptu dinner after a hip hop dance show that I went to because my friend is one of the leaders of the dance group (troupe? crew?).

First course was a flask of Clyde Mays bourbon, snuck into the venue because they don't allow alcohol. I drank it out of the program:


Then we hit a restaurant and bar called Twenty Manning Grill. Not pictured is the half dozen, run of the mill, unremarkable James River oysters.

Deviled eggs. They're just hard boiled eggs where the yolks are mixed with mayonnaise, right? I feel like I could make that, these are good.


Steak frites. Cooked rare, again, of course. Pretty good steak, but the fries were excellent. Crispy, tasty, light, airy. Really wonderful fries.

No dessert that night, I was stuffed after the steak.

[geoffbot]

Deviled eggs. They're just hard boiled eggs where the yolks are mixed with mayonnaise, right? I feel like I could make that, these are good.

Correct

I forgot to post my devilled eggs from yesterday. As my hilariously eloquent friend said 'I love eggs that are filled with egg that's just a bit better'

[Dan R]

Relaxing day of sorts. I swore I was going to sleep late today as tomorrow I'll get up for mass. And I did!

On the second Saturday of December, we have a Christmas meal with my ex-work buddies at Travelers. I always try to bring something different, and in the process, make it very difficult. One year was Argentine-style empanadas. Another year was sriracha-covered bacon onion rings. This year, I found a recipe for bacon bites. Real simple. Buy good bacon. Buy those thin bread sticks you get at the fancy restaurants. Buy light brown sugar. Only three ingredients here!

Wrap one bread stick with one strip of bacon and then roll in the light brown sugar. Repeat as necessary to make as many as you want. In my trial run, I made one 12oz package worth, 14.

One degree of difficulty comes from the bread stick. They like to break if you think a bad thought. If you wrap a little tight, they break. If you press them into the sugar, they break. When they cook and the bacon contracts, they break. I made some freaks of nature compared to the picture that was presented to me!

The second degree of difficulty comes from the cooking. You are supposed to lay them flat on a cookie sheet to cook. As the bacon cooks, fat is released and starts to float around the pan. As the bacon cooks, the sugar melts, and floats on the surface to the grease. As with most things like this, the sugar will migrate towards the walls of the pan and then coats the end of the bread sticks. Over time, the sugar caramelizes and then turns dark. Not exactly what was presented in the picture!

I am going to try one more batch, this time cooking them on a grid so that the fat falls through.

How did they taste? Hell, you combine bacon, bread, and sugar! Pretty damned good I would say!



I need a martini now. LoL!

PS -- The picture is what I was told they would look like. I did not submit my picture to avoid embarrassment. During Halloween, I would name my treats as "partially-burned looking broken legs."

[Henry Krinkle]

Risotto con rucola e gamberi