Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Bad Recipe

I like beef short ribs.  Tastey stuff, but I've never found a good recipe to keep them moist the next day.  So I tried one online for the slow cooker.  It sounded interesting.  Onions, brown sugar, ketchup, red wine vinegar...  And make a gravy after.

OMG, it was horrible!  I have certainly made stuff that I wouldn't serve to friends and eaten it myself just not to be wasteful, but THIS took some work to make palatable.  I had to remove the short ribs from the godawful concoction, rinse it all clean, and then remake a standard beef stew (potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato and add the ribs back in.  It is "OK".

Who makes these recipes and who on Earth rates them 5 stars of 5?  OK, tastes differ, but this had conflicting tastes only an orc could love... 


Friday, September 25, 2015

Busy Day Doing Boring Stuff

Not all days can be exciting.  Today was errand day... 

First, I needed some supplies.  And for cheap brand-name supplies, I go to Wal-Mart.  And when I shop at Wal-Mart, I go at mid-morning on a weekday.  So off I went at 10 am...  Some visits are better than others; I barely found half the stuff I was looking for.

So I went home, dropped off the few items, had a quick lunch, fed the Mews their 2nd meal, and went grocery-shopping.  I went to a store I usually don't shop at because the last time, they had the best peaches I have had in years and I was considering changing store loyalty.  The last visit was a fluke!  So I went to my regular store.  The produce was a bit better.

That doesn't mean "great".  I don't know why grocery stores put out peaches and plums etc that are hard as rocks, golden delicious apples and pineapples that are green, melons that you could pound nails with, and strawberries that are nearly white.  I guess most people don't know what "ripe" is for most fruits and just put up with it.  No wonder most people don't eat enough fruits; unripe fruit isn't worth eating.   Fortunately, I've grown enough stuff to know the difference, so I buy was is "tolerably" ripe, enjoy the truly ripe, and ignore the rest.

Sorry, I'm really gripey because the quality seems to be getting worse.  I love fresh fruits and veggies and wish I had the space, sun, and time to grow all my own.  But its not like I'm ever going to grow oranges and pineapples here in Maryland!

Fortunately, the veggies are easier.  Most can be eaten at any stage of growth (there is no such thing as "unripe" broccoli or mushrooms, for example).  That's why I try to grow crops that DO need ripening, like tomatoes and corn.

So I did my produce shopping and then went to Nick's (meat, deli, liquor).  I love that place.  They custom-cut meat and have great prices, discount liquor, and a great deli counter.  And they special-order my favorite inexpensive (under-appreciated) zinfandel wine.  I'll give an example:  They had Filet Mignon on sale at $10.69 per pound.  That sounds expensive, but it is all meat.  I end up with 7 small steaks at $4 each.  Doesn't a Filet Mignon steak at $4 sound good to you?  And large fresh-frozen shrimp (deveined) 2 lbs for $10. 

Beat THAT at any restaurant...  Well, it DOES help that I like to cook, and after 45 years I do it tolerably well.  I'm never going to be on any TV cooking show, but I haven't complained about my cooking lately.  When you start out adult life broke and doubling up on Hamburger Helper, a $4 Filet Mignon steak is pretty darn good.  Surrounded by sides of homegrown tomatoes, cucumber, and mesclun lettuce salad, corn on the cob, and italian flat beans...

Tonight's dinner was actually stir-fried red and green peppers, onion, celery, potato cubes, and pork I smoked on the offset grill.  And the same salad and grilled pineapple slices.

So today turned out to be the first non-yardwork day in 2 weeks.  I needed the day off.  The front yard grass is up and growing, the backyard grass is down and moistened for germination, and everything else can wait til tomorrow.

It was a good day!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Busy After Thanksgiving?

I mentioned going grocery shopping previously, as that was about the least busy day of the year.  I used to eagerly volunteer to work the day after because the commute was so easy.  It was worth driving to and from work just for the pleasure of driving on nearly empty roads (and it always scored me major points in the office for "giving up" such a valued "off" day).

The regular commercial grocery store was indeed nearly deserted!

But I also shop at a strange local market.  Its a butcher counter, a serious deli counter, a huge beer/wine/liqour room, and a small assortment of fresh produce at great prices.

I love the butcher counter.  They have small packages of meats like any other place does, but they have whole big chunks of meats too.  You want an entire filet mignon?  They will trim it professionally and custom-cut it into steaks.  Same with del monico, NY strip, or pork.  They wold butterfly chicken breasts if I wanted one.  And they have a dozen kinds of sausages.  Its the only local place I can get a beef brisket or a whole pork butt.

The deli section is immense.  I don't buy porcciutto often (and apparently can't spell it either LOL!), but they have 3 kinds!  They sell several kinds of fresh turkeys and the line is out the door the few days before Thanksgiving Day.

I discovered Pomegranate liquor there too.  Now I make what I call a "Cavebear Sling".  Ice, 1 oz gin, 1 oz pomegranate liquor, 2 oz pomegranate juice, fill sling glass with ginger ale...

But I told you all that to tell you this...

The day after Thanksgiving is NOT a slack day there!  They have their own Black Friday sales.  They sell whole slabs of beef (whole, not cut).  Delmonico for $2.88 per pound (just for example), and all meat is on supersale!  People were in a frenzy.  I despaired of getting just some regular meat for a few days of cooking (while my turkey thawed out.

But, you know how they used to say "get to know your butcher"?  It works.  The number I pulled was 12 down the line, but I have been comoaring gardening notes with her for 3 years.  She saw me and asked what my number was.   When I told her, she looked around and said "what do you need?"  Fortunately, I just wanted a couple meals until the turkey thawed, so it was 2 chicken thighs and 2 hot italian sausages.  But there was also some unindentified "pork roast" on supersale.  I asked, but she didn't know exactly what cut it was either.  I took one because it looked like it was good for stir-fries.

And I'm experienced at the place.  Get the butcher number and go get a deli number at the same time.  The deli turns over customers faster.  My deli meat order was ready before the butcher order was.

If that last part doesn't make sense to you, you haven't shopped around here.  Nick's of Clinton (existing only in Waldorf these days) is an unusual place.  But I bet some NY folks are familiar with the idea.  Other places too, but I only know this kind of place otherwise from visiting a friend in NYC.

The chicken was dinner tonite, the italian sausage will be dinner tomorrow, there will be a good pork strir-fry Sunday, and I will cook the turkey (I hope) on Monday.

Oh I STILL forgot why I mentioned all this!  The people in the store filled shopping carts up COMPLETELY with MEAT!  I've never seen that before in my life!  Complete racks of "wholes" of several cuts of steaks, 10s of pounds of hamburger, 6 whole chickens.  I can't even describe it all!

When things calm down the next time I shop there, I will ask them about it.

I WISH I had my camera with me...

Looking Up

 While I was outside with The Mews, I laid back and looked up.  I thought the tree branches and the clouds were kind of nice. Nothing import...