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Sunday night was steak night at our house, and I decided to go with an old favorite and a new experiment. On the right, Jenn was served as silly-sized black angus ribeye, supposedly from a noted black angus farm, cooked a blissful medium rare. We are big ribeye fans in our house, as we generally agree the ribeye is the most flavorful steak in the steer, with its marbling and tenderness.
Although I rarely cook the cut, I coated a Flintstones-sized porterhouse with chimichurri and grilled it. As always, it re-affirmed my belief that the porterhouse is far from "king of the steaks," largely because as good as the filet can be - as tender and juicy as possible - the strip is never as good as I imagine it could be under other circumstances.
I consider myself pretty particular when it comes to beef, and I believe that short of preparing it over wood smoke on some 1100 degree grill, I don't think the strip can be prepared to taste as good as several other steaks. Like many cuts of sirloin, it really requires marinade or a rub of some sort to bring out any powerful flavor, and with some sort of aid, it's usually not natural steak flavor. In general, if a steak can't be seasoned with just extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper, it's a second class steak in our house. That doesn't mean we won't eat it, it's just second tier. Nonetheless, it was plenty tasty enough to accompany the meal.
Lightly sauteed asparagus, tri-color cous cous, and fresh pretzel bread accompanied the steaks and rounded out a great meal.
Image hosted by Flickr
Comments (0) |
201 view(s)
In my previous foray with chicken fried steak, I found that round cuts, at least, unaltered, made for a poor dish. After consulting some recipes, I found that a much longer tenderizing period could be a solution, or using a "needling device" to create your own cube steak. In opted, for my experiment, to use cube steak purchased from the local supermarket.
A few tips I can share: get the cube steak patty slightly wet, salt and pepper, flour, egg wash, and put it back into the flour. But here's the kicker: use your hands. Be gentle, but pat the mix in. Make sure it's evenly coated. This stuff isn't glue, it will unevenly coat unless you do it properly.
My only objection, I'm afraid, is that my sawmill gravy was a little thin. I made it with leftover oil, flour, chicken broth, and whole milk, but I suspect I used a little too much broth or a little too little flour. Either way, it tasted great, it just was too thin. Nonetheless, the dish was an overwhelming success.
Image hosted by Flickr
Comments (1) |
2354 view(s)
As a many-decade-devotee of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Deluxe, aka "Kraft Dinner," I have always hesitated to make my own Mac n' Cheese. It's hard to top what's already damned close to perfect.
Turns out I was wrong. I modded a few recipes out there and ended up with a damned tasty dish. Jenn and I tore through 4 servings in 2 days, and last night I made another massive batch. 6 dudes ate 10 servings and 2 asked me for the recipe. Creamy mac and cheese, I now know, is overrated. Real baked and mac and cheese is light and cheesy and doesn't leave you feeling like you just ate a brick. I'm still perfecting it, but when I think I have, I will post the recipe.
Mac n Cheese, originally uploaded by firsttubedotcom.
Comments (1) |
2593 view(s)
Tonight was my first shot at making "Country Fried Steak." Normally, I can just kind of imagine a recipe and it comes out good enough, but this one slipped, I admit. So here's my advice if you choose to go for it with Country Fried Steak:
1. Use Cube Steak. If you decide to go with round, use meat tenderizer and give it plenty of time to sit. I used round and tenderized it with a mallet and it was still really tough. It needs to be very soft to almost crumble apart.
2. You will need to coat it in either buttermilk or an egg wash, but if you do use buttermilk, let it sit in the buttermilk for some time. The crust was too weak and broke apart, sadly, while still in the oil.
3. Think about gravy BEFORE making the steak. It's not too hard to put together either a white or brown gravy, but it's very hard to it after the steak is ready... at least, if you want to serve it while the food is still warm.
Overall, I'd rate this a 6/10. It was good enough overall, but it was bad chicken fried steak. Next time, perhaps.
Comments (0) |
2305 view(s)
I consider myself a bit of an amateur chef, as some of you know, and although it's really just a hobby, a year or so ago I started taking pictures of some of my favorite dishes. I have a few things I still need to capture, but many I've preserved for posterity. Either way, I have decided to move all my "food" pictures from Picasa over to Flickr. First off, there's a Slashfood group there, to which I plan to contribute, and secondly, I grow increasingly tired of Picasa Web's ridiculously non-scalable interface. Also, it's a little weird to have so many food pictures intermingled with pictures of my family. So... yeah.
If you're interested, check out my food pics here.
Comments (0) |
1414 view(s)
Not to get all random and off topic, but did you know that carrots aren't all orange? And more importantly, the baby carrots you get at the supermarket are generally so processed and shaved down that they are consistently deemed less flavorful and less "carroty" than real carrots? Check these out:
Comments (0) |
2866 view(s)
This weekend's interesting experiment: make Giner Ale from scratch. It sounds very complex and everyone has asked how to do it. There are directions floating around online, but let me provide some gently tweaked guidelines. Read on for the details.
Complete Story (273 words) |
Comments (0) |
1525 view(s)
Well, if it wasn't clear before, it should be by now that this weblog has once again staled. I wonder how you keep a weblog fresh if it doesn't really have any visitors. I don't know.
So, in other news, Flip 3.0 is coming along at a ridiculous rate. It's actually working right now, believe it or not, and better than I expected.
I moved firsttube.com onto the same server as phatphiles.org, which is pretty neat. Now, it's running a server I have root on, which is pretty sweet, and I can upgrade or alter PHP if the whim strikes me.
Work is coming along well. Surprisingly so, actually. There's so much to do - so much. If they continue to let me, I'll turn that place into something really friggin great. But, man, it has so far to go...
I promise, to the no one that reads this, I intend to write more in it. I guess I've been occupied with Flip and firsttube.com and phatphiles and not had time to sit down to play. But I will. I really will.
...someday.
Comments (0) |
966 view(s)
Tags: Florida
And so it goes, I am now a Florida resident. I am here in 76 degree, cool breeze FL, and now I need a job. I don't have much to say right now, except that Chapter 3 of my life begins now. Chapter 1, "Connecticut" was a good tale, but not nearly as exciting as the following chapters. Chapter 2, "Virginia," ended on an up note. Chapter 3 has some amazing potential. Keep your eyes peeled.
Comments (0) |
611 view(s)
I have used this space, in recent months, as a sounding board for miscellaneous sarcasm and (attmpted)witty observation. It's made me chuckle to look back over it, but it truly hasn't been much a measure of anything other than my general whining about good things. So, for once, I'm going to be a bit sincere. Please don't make fun of me.
My move to Florida is precisely 19 days away at this moment, and I'm at a very interesting point. I am beginning, probably because I am leaving, to realize how much I really like DC. I like the people here, my friends, and the area. As much as the traffic sucks, work can be unfulfilling (and it usually isn't) or frustrating (it usually is), or it doesn't have the "air" that puts my senses at ease, I love it here. Lately, things have just seemed really great - my social life has been active and I'm starting to feel some value in relationships that, although they've been great, have matured at an accelerated pace now that there's a countdown on the casual nature of them. So I'm beginning to second guess myself.
It's all in error, of course, not going to Florida would devastate the rest of my life, always wondering "what if I did go?" I mean, this has been a dream of mine for about 2 years, well before Keith moved there and made it that much easier to pick up and go. Now I am going, and I feel a certain comfort level in going. If I weren't leaving a fairly lucrative position in which I take a certain amount of pride, I probably wouldn't be nearly as nervous as I actually am right now. I do feel, a little, as though I'm leaving an established and successful life for the unknown that might leave me penniless.
On a lighter note, I dream of owning a little 2 or 3 bedroom house on the outskirts of Orlando with a little Schnauzer puppy named "Skippy" tearing about a fenced in back yard. I dream of having a nice girlfriend who helps me work around the house in a very "let's play house" kind of way, and this is probably less related to Florida than a general readiness to settle down with someone worthwhile. Combine that with the relocation, my recentl LASIK surgery which reinvented my style, and you really have a major crossroads in my life. In fact, I really envision a whole new Adam, and as I meet people, I wonder if I will strike them as the same person I have here.
What really gets me is the need to put my roots down. This is fairly new, but then again, signs of it have been cropping up for the last few years. I suppose I'm ready to meet someone and have a long term relationship again. The last two years or so I've been bouncing around dating quite a bit, but not really meeting anyone who I really click with. I suppose you could make the argument for H - she and I get along like peas and carrots and are physically compatible - but I still feel as though we're friends more than anything else. Ah....who knows. The point is, I may actually be ready to start considering things like "Is she Jewish?" Oy. I sound like my mom.
My mp3 collection is getting out of control. I'm well over 20 gigs, and I really need to back this stuff up. That means it's time to spring for a portable hard drive or a laptop.
I'm really enjoying cooking lately. I've made some real whoppers lately. Dipping into Asian cuisine has been enlightening. Also, my pretzel chicken invention in the last two months has been a general success. I am going to publish the recipe on K5 soon, because I want to hear if others like it.
That's about all for now.
Comments (0) |
719 view(s)
>> A Pair of Steaks 2008-05-06 09:31:24
Sunday night was steak night at our house, and I decided to go with an old favorite and a new experiment. On the right, Jenn was served as silly-sized black angus ribeye, supposedly from a noted black angus farm, cooked a blissful medium rare. We are big ribeye fans in our house, as we generally agree the ribeye is the most flavorful steak in the steer, with its marbling and tenderness. Although I rarely cook the cut, I coated a Flintstones-sized porterhouse with chimichurri and grilled it. As always, it re-affirmed my belief that the porterhouse is far from "king of the steaks," largely because as good as the filet can be - as tender and juicy as possible - the strip is never as good as I imagine it could be under other circumstances.
I consider myself pretty particular when it comes to beef, and I believe that short of preparing it over wood smoke on some 1100 degree grill, I don't think the strip can be prepared to taste as good as several other steaks. Like many cuts of sirloin, it really requires marinade or a rub of some sort to bring out any powerful flavor, and with some sort of aid, it's usually not natural steak flavor. In general, if a steak can't be seasoned with just extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper, it's a second class steak in our house. That doesn't mean we won't eat it, it's just second tier. Nonetheless, it was plenty tasty enough to accompany the meal.
Lightly sauteed asparagus, tri-color cous cous, and fresh pretzel bread accompanied the steaks and rounded out a great meal.
Image hosted by Flickr
Comments (0) |
201 view(s)
>> Chicken Fried Steak Redux 2008-03-23 11:14:39
In my previous foray with chicken fried steak, I found that round cuts, at least, unaltered, made for a poor dish. After consulting some recipes, I found that a much longer tenderizing period could be a solution, or using a "needling device" to create your own cube steak. In opted, for my experiment, to use cube steak purchased from the local supermarket. A few tips I can share: get the cube steak patty slightly wet, salt and pepper, flour, egg wash, and put it back into the flour. But here's the kicker: use your hands. Be gentle, but pat the mix in. Make sure it's evenly coated. This stuff isn't glue, it will unevenly coat unless you do it properly.
My only objection, I'm afraid, is that my sawmill gravy was a little thin. I made it with leftover oil, flour, chicken broth, and whole milk, but I suspect I used a little too much broth or a little too little flour. Either way, it tasted great, it just was too thin. Nonetheless, the dish was an overwhelming success.
Image hosted by Flickr
Comments (1) |
2354 view(s)
>> Mac n Cheese From Scratch 2008-03-09 16:04:22
As a many-decade-devotee of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Deluxe, aka "Kraft Dinner," I have always hesitated to make my own Mac n' Cheese. It's hard to top what's already damned close to perfect. Turns out I was wrong. I modded a few recipes out there and ended up with a damned tasty dish. Jenn and I tore through 4 servings in 2 days, and last night I made another massive batch. 6 dudes ate 10 servings and 2 asked me for the recipe. Creamy mac and cheese, I now know, is overrated. Real baked and mac and cheese is light and cheesy and doesn't leave you feeling like you just ate a brick. I'm still perfecting it, but when I think I have, I will post the recipe.
Mac n Cheese, originally uploaded by firsttubedotcom.
Comments (1) |
2593 view(s)
>> Country Fried Steak... sorta 2008-02-25 20:00:06
Tonight was my first shot at making "Country Fried Steak." Normally, I can just kind of imagine a recipe and it comes out good enough, but this one slipped, I admit. So here's my advice if you choose to go for it with Country Fried Steak:1. Use Cube Steak. If you decide to go with round, use meat tenderizer and give it plenty of time to sit. I used round and tenderized it with a mallet and it was still really tough. It needs to be very soft to almost crumble apart.
2. You will need to coat it in either buttermilk or an egg wash, but if you do use buttermilk, let it sit in the buttermilk for some time. The crust was too weak and broke apart, sadly, while still in the oil.
3. Think about gravy BEFORE making the steak. It's not too hard to put together either a white or brown gravy, but it's very hard to it after the steak is ready... at least, if you want to serve it while the food is still warm.
Overall, I'd rate this a 6/10. It was good enough overall, but it was bad chicken fried steak. Next time, perhaps.
Comments (0) |
2305 view(s)
>> Fooooooood 2008-01-20 21:28:33
I consider myself a bit of an amateur chef, as some of you know, and although it's really just a hobby, a year or so ago I started taking pictures of some of my favorite dishes. I have a few things I still need to capture, but many I've preserved for posterity. Either way, I have decided to move all my "food" pictures from Picasa over to Flickr. First off, there's a Slashfood group there, to which I plan to contribute, and secondly, I grow increasingly tired of Picasa Web's ridiculously non-scalable interface. Also, it's a little weird to have so many food pictures intermingled with pictures of my family. So... yeah. If you're interested, check out my food pics here.
Comments (0) |
1414 view(s)
>> Carrots 2007-05-15 08:11:54
Not to get all random and off topic, but did you know that carrots aren't all orange? And more importantly, the baby carrots you get at the supermarket are generally so processed and shaved down that they are consistently deemed less flavorful and less "carroty" than real carrots? Check these out:
Comments (0) |
2866 view(s)
>> Project: Make Ginger Ale 2007-04-30 13:06:45
This weekend's interesting experiment: make Giner Ale from scratch. It sounds very complex and everyone has asked how to do it. There are directions floating around online, but let me provide some gently tweaked guidelines. Read on for the details.
Complete Story (273 words) |
Comments (0) |
1525 view(s)
>> Ah shucks. 2003-07-02 23:03:00
Well, if it wasn't clear before, it should be by now that this weblog has once again staled. I wonder how you keep a weblog fresh if it doesn't really have any visitors. I don't know. So, in other news, Flip 3.0 is coming along at a ridiculous rate. It's actually working right now, believe it or not, and better than I expected.
I moved firsttube.com onto the same server as phatphiles.org, which is pretty neat. Now, it's running a server I have root on, which is pretty sweet, and I can upgrade or alter PHP if the whim strikes me.
Work is coming along well. Surprisingly so, actually. There's so much to do - so much. If they continue to let me, I'll turn that place into something really friggin great. But, man, it has so far to go...
I promise, to the no one that reads this, I intend to write more in it. I guess I've been occupied with Flip and firsttube.com and phatphiles and not had time to sit down to play. But I will. I really will.
...someday.
Comments (0) |
966 view(s)
>> Chapter 3 Begins 2003-03-25 00:35:00
Tags: Florida
And so it goes, I am now a Florida resident. I am here in 76 degree, cool breeze FL, and now I need a job. I don't have much to say right now, except that Chapter 3 of my life begins now. Chapter 1, "Connecticut" was a good tale, but not nearly as exciting as the following chapters. Chapter 2, "Virginia," ended on an up note. Chapter 3 has some amazing potential. Keep your eyes peeled.
Comments (0) |
611 view(s)
>> Update on Life in General 2003-03-02 12:42:00
I have used this space, in recent months, as a sounding board for miscellaneous sarcasm and (attmpted)witty observation. It's made me chuckle to look back over it, but it truly hasn't been much a measure of anything other than my general whining about good things. So, for once, I'm going to be a bit sincere. Please don't make fun of me. My move to Florida is precisely 19 days away at this moment, and I'm at a very interesting point. I am beginning, probably because I am leaving, to realize how much I really like DC. I like the people here, my friends, and the area. As much as the traffic sucks, work can be unfulfilling (and it usually isn't) or frustrating (it usually is), or it doesn't have the "air" that puts my senses at ease, I love it here. Lately, things have just seemed really great - my social life has been active and I'm starting to feel some value in relationships that, although they've been great, have matured at an accelerated pace now that there's a countdown on the casual nature of them. So I'm beginning to second guess myself.
It's all in error, of course, not going to Florida would devastate the rest of my life, always wondering "what if I did go?" I mean, this has been a dream of mine for about 2 years, well before Keith moved there and made it that much easier to pick up and go. Now I am going, and I feel a certain comfort level in going. If I weren't leaving a fairly lucrative position in which I take a certain amount of pride, I probably wouldn't be nearly as nervous as I actually am right now. I do feel, a little, as though I'm leaving an established and successful life for the unknown that might leave me penniless.
On a lighter note, I dream of owning a little 2 or 3 bedroom house on the outskirts of Orlando with a little Schnauzer puppy named "Skippy" tearing about a fenced in back yard. I dream of having a nice girlfriend who helps me work around the house in a very "let's play house" kind of way, and this is probably less related to Florida than a general readiness to settle down with someone worthwhile. Combine that with the relocation, my recentl LASIK surgery which reinvented my style, and you really have a major crossroads in my life. In fact, I really envision a whole new Adam, and as I meet people, I wonder if I will strike them as the same person I have here.
What really gets me is the need to put my roots down. This is fairly new, but then again, signs of it have been cropping up for the last few years. I suppose I'm ready to meet someone and have a long term relationship again. The last two years or so I've been bouncing around dating quite a bit, but not really meeting anyone who I really click with. I suppose you could make the argument for H - she and I get along like peas and carrots and are physically compatible - but I still feel as though we're friends more than anything else. Ah....who knows. The point is, I may actually be ready to start considering things like "Is she Jewish?" Oy. I sound like my mom.
My mp3 collection is getting out of control. I'm well over 20 gigs, and I really need to back this stuff up. That means it's time to spring for a portable hard drive or a laptop.
I'm really enjoying cooking lately. I've made some real whoppers lately. Dipping into Asian cuisine has been enlightening. Also, my pretzel chicken invention in the last two months has been a general success. I am going to publish the recipe on K5 soon, because I want to hear if others like it.
That's about all for now.
Comments (0) |
719 view(s)