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Kids do the Cooking

August 28, 2024

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Both grown kids are excellent cooks. This I find personally gratifying. When they cook together double yum happens.

Cooking Up a Fancy New Year 2023

January 10, 2023

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This year we rang in the New Year with delicious food and an intimate two person party.

Nine hour Burgundy Mushrooms are absolutely delicious!  But they do really take nine hours.  Six hours of simmering with a lid on and three more with the lid off.  The new Mauviel christmas pot (my best present by far) was perfect for the job.

We also roasted a chicken and veggies in the new pink pot using one of Romey’s recipes.  Likewise delicious.

This was “first dinner.”  The coup de grace was still to come.

Mr Skaggs paid a visit while the cooking proceeded and we had a couple of Seelbach cocktails (take care of the time warp!).  We’re pretty sure that’s why we accidentally fell asleep before midnight.  LOL.

This was a fancy pants Seelbach iteration with veuve clicquot champagne and blanton’s bourbon.  Absolutely fantastic.

 

 

And then it was time to cook up blinis for the caviar. We went to the “gold plated groceries” store for the fixins.  Crème fraîche for the win.  So delicious.

Incidentally, these were fried to perfection in another new pan.

This special meal called for a vintage bottle of pink veuve clicqot.

We attempted to watch Fight Club (which I had never seen) , but we fell asleep just before the end (and just before midnight).  We blame the Seelbachs.

The leftover champagne and blinis made a great first breakfast of 2023.

Happy New Year to all.

Roast Beef in the Wolf

November 26, 2022

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The Viking gave out after 17 years.  Ridiculously, it took a year to replace.  Something about supply chain this.  Yadda yadda.  So, no more Vikings for me.  Instead, a Wolf.

The difference is night and day.  So much better!

The shiny oven gets broken in with a roast beast.  For recipe details see this entry.

The little one is ready.

Romey does the Julienne.

The beast!

Yorkshire resting.

Yorkshire under the beef.

In the drippings.

Pan gravy with the remaining drippings.

Beef resting

Perfection.

The crowd is restless and the kitchen smells great.

And then some broth from the bones.

 

 

 

Roast Beast and Yorkshire Pudding

November 6, 2016

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Rare roast beef with Yorkshire pudding is one of my very favorite meals of all time. Heck, we’ll even have it for no apparent reason! Happy today day! Here are a few tricks to making a delicious beast.

Yorkshire pudding though incredibly simple ingredients-wise takes a couple of tricks. Trick 1: Start with warm ingredients and beat them to frothy. Cold eggs and milk will not work properly. Once the batter is beaten, refrigerate for at least an hour covered. (This allows the flour to do its gluten thing with the egg.) Remove from the fridge just about when you put the beef in so that there is time for the batter to slowly warm. Trick 2: cook it under the beast.

On the beef front, start with a standing rib roast. Don’t get it tied, rolled, or cut from the bone. The ribs provide lots of flavor.

Season the beast simply with an entire head of garlic, peeled with cloves sometimes cut lengthwise then inserted into the beef with a paring knife and a finger. Liberally apply lots of pepper and some salt.

Pop it in an oven preheated to 550. Immediately turn it down to 350. Plan to cook the beast 17 minutes per pound and no more.

Beef roasting at 350 (about 90 minutes in)

Beef roasting at 350 (about 90 minutes in)

Before adding the Yorkshire batter, turn the oven up to 400 and beat the batter to froth one more time. Remove some of the drippings below the beef to make gravy with (put into cast iron skillet). Add half a stick of butter under the roast to compensate. Then pour the batter around the beef.

The batter will rise if all is well.

Yorkshire on the rise under the beef

Yorkshire on the rise under the beef

Remove the beef on time, and check the temperature. Let the beef rest for 15 minutes.

Finished cooking and now resting. Rest your beef before carving!

Finished cooking and now resting. Rest your beef before carving!

Yorkshire with beast removed. The drippings are ultra delicious.

Yorkshire with beast removed. The drippings are ultra delicious.

Serve to family and friends with a nice Cab.

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Et voilà.

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Wild Boar Rumpus

October 23, 2016

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How to make wild boar ragù.

Start with a superb epicurious recipe. Get some wild boar (shoulder is best but chops will work as well).

Make sure to seriously brown the boar (stew is flavored best that way) in cast iron (with the clarified onion). Deglaze the skillet with the red wine and use all of the crispy carbon bits when you switch pans.

Switch to copper braising pot for a long stew (notice the carmelization).

Heat tomato to a simmer before adding spices and herbs.

Use fresh herbs. The savory smell in the kitchen is now amazing.

Let the fat render. Cooking time should be 4-6 hours simmering with the lid ajar for two hours, and the lid on once most of the liquid is gone.

During the simmering have an Old Fashioned or three. Walk by the Shenandoah with the dogs.

Serve on fresh fettucini with sharp aged asiago grated over.

Eat with friends, wine, cocktails, cheesy scallops to start, some avocado salad. Adjourn to the bar. Let the dogs in. Laugh. Drink.

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