Paella

http://picasaweb.google.com/gustadmody/KittichaiAndMomSBirthday/photo#s5038612271753498994

13 pound brisket gone wrong

My bro in-law recently got a smoker! His first try with it was a success… unfortunately our 2nd was not that great. We had a 13 pound brisket…. Long story short, the temperature in the smoker was too much, and it cooked too fast. However, the sausage we smoked came out great!

Glenlivet 15

This bottle of 15 year Glenlivet scotch was aged in a limousine oak cask. Lomousin is a forest in south-central France near the city of Limoges that produces fine oak to be used in barrels. The Limousin oak is prized for its loose grain which imparts a more obvious oak flavor and stronger tannins. They used to be popular for California wine makers, but now are most popular for use in making cognac.
Good stuff, delicate yet full spiciness and great woodiness. Short finish on the palate.

Oyster soup

Oyster soup from the oyster festival a few months ago

Venison

Say hello to 4 Medallions of New York State venison (deer)…. It’s a very simple recipe, as I wanted to taste the meat. I rubbed the meat down with extra virgin olive oil and rock salt, and threw on a hot skillet to sear. Served over a bed of baby spinach and plenty of goat cheese. A Very memorable meal, I love eating game. Quite tasty despite it being a lean meat. The goat cheese really kicked it up a few notches. Great meal!!

Good shot Bob!

Big Guinness

I like my Guinness in large quantities. They said there is about 4,634.3 pints in here.

Slow cooker chipotle chicken

Slow cooker recipes are great… set it and forget it! it’s very hard to screw things up because the low heat just does miracles to meat.
I like using my slow cooker with one main ingredient. Here, I used a can of chipotle peppers with the sauce. Then chicken, a lil water, potatoes, and salt. I ate it all over rice.

Korean BBQ

Mmmmm

Black cod ready to go

Flowered and seasoned some black cod, cooked on a hot skillet till golden and about 90% cooked… removed, made a red sauce, added cod back in and topped with coriander leaves. Came out very tasty… the black cod was very moist and came off in large buttery flakes which I love.

Stuffed manicotti

Crab, ricotta, and parmigiano reggiano stuffed manicotti covered in a béchamel sauce.

Beer can chicken

I love roast beer can chicken… the steam, right-side-up, and high cooking temperature makes for ultra moist meat. YUM!

Half a hen

Final product.

Ready to go!!

I wanted to give a formal presentation, so I actually got each and every plate ready for 9 people before brining them to the table. It was tough, had to work fast before things cooled down.

9 Garlics roasting, 8……

This is the roasted garlic I smothered all over the hens before cooking them. Just cut the tops off and drizzle with some olive oil and roast at 350. I usually cover with foil for the first 30+ minutes so it doesn’t caramelize too tough on the top. Makes for a great spread on toast!!

Stuffing me Cornish Hens

I like Cornish Hens. Pretty much all of their meat is the equivalent of dark meat on a chicken, with a lil extra taste and moister thrown in.
A few weeks ago, there were some birthdays in the family, so I cooked a bunch up… 8 to be exact. Veevie hooked me up wit a mushroom stuffing idea that I used.

Roasted hazelnuts, sautéed 3 kinds of mushrooms with sage and celery. Made bread crumbs, mixed all together with a couple eggs, thyme, and more fresh sage. Then I stuffed the hens and coated with roasted garlic mixed with olive oil. Threw in the oven at 550 degree, and then reduced to 450. I think they took about an hour and 15 minutes.
Then I plated them with sweet potato fried and a balsamic drizzle (thanks for the drizzle idea Veevie!), and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.
Picture final picture coming soon.

Gustad’s Chocolate Chili

Here’s how I made it. Hope the recipe isn’t too bunched together, let me know if you have any questions.

Render bacon, remove and leave fat in pan. Coat chunks of chuck roast in salt, pepper and then a mixture of corn flour and a little bit of cumin and coriander… I had about 3 pounds of meat. Brown them in the fat and set aside. Sauté a bunch of onions in that same pan with some garlic until they begin to brown. During all of that, blacken some pablano peppers and remove the skin and chop. Also chop up some jalapeños. Add all these peppers and bring to heat. Then add tomato paste and your spices.
Cumin should be the main spice, then some coriander, oregano, whole cinnamon stick, and chili and cayenne powder. Mix it all up and bring to heat. Oh, side note… for the cumin and coriander (toast the seeds in a pan before grinding). Now you can add a couple bottles of beer, I did three of Dos Equis to keep the Mexican theme and flavors going. Also some chicken stock. I prefer chicken over beef in this case, so you don’t get a overwhelming beef flavor throughout everything. Coarsely chop up a few tomatoes and add those with the meat that was put aside. SLOWLY bring it to a simmer, and cook a t a very low temp for a minimum of 5 hours. I did 6.5 hours.
The long temperature is needed to bring the flavors out of the spices and peppers, and the meat will turn moist and soft. You can add beans if you feel like, but I like to keep it super meaty. At the last 10 minutes, I added the chocolate. About 4 ounces of 99% dark chocolate from Scharffen Berger. It smoothes everything out and adds a great robust and Mexican flavor. It also mellows out the spices.

Browned meat Mexican style

This one of many chunks of chuck roast that I browned for the chili I made. The largest specks you see are course ground corn flour. Coming up next.... Chili!

other blog

Hey folks, don’t forget I run a non food blog too. It wont make you drool, but it has plenty of entertainment value.
He That Cooks
And please, don’t forget to leave me comments! -Gustad Mody

Post shrimping is up

Shrimp Au Gratin. good stuff.

Pre shrimping it up

Oh boy.... how could i forget the shrimp from this weekends special meal!!! This is the shrimp halfway in the 'cooking' proccess. These shrimps are pretty massive. One whole shrimp would fill up most of my palm.

Final product

Sauce in the making

NY Strip cooked

NY Strip

NY York strips salted, peppered and oiled. They were 4, but i had to cut them up.

Tomatoes, done

Tomatoes, first broiling

Saturday meal plan

I’m going to be cooking up a couple nice dishes this Saturday. Above is my meal plan chicken-scratch.
Appetizer will be Shrimp Au Gratin. I will use extra-jumbo shrimp to be cooked at a high temp in a butter / dry white wine sauce and topped with breadcrumbs. The side dish will be Tomatoes Provencal. Large beefsteak tomatoes will be twice broiled. 2nd time will finish with a breadcrumb and garlic mixture on top. Entrée will be Steak Marchant De Vin, wine merchant steak... Will use some aged New York Strip steaks… sear them on a pan, and then make a mouth watering red wine sauce with the drippings.

Garlic Rush

I’ve been on a huge garlic rush lately. Don’t be confused by the large pan… that is a whole head (heads of garlic are made of about a dozen or more cloves) of chopped garlic. That will make the 4th head of garlic I have in four days.... That’s averaging one whole garlic head a day. I wonder if I can keep this up for the rest of the week!

My Pearl

This is the pearl i found in one of the oysters' i was eating durring the festival. It's about 3 quarters the size of a tic tac.

Sausage congee

This another one of my favorite comfort foods to make... Chinese rice porridge, Congee.