tony b

Yummy looking duck! When I did my Peking Ducks last month, I saved the dripping fat in a pan. Used it to fry potatoes lyonnaise that night and make frites with it the next. Nothing better than potatoes cooked in duck fat!!!

Hi, my name is Tony, and I'm a total food geek! [Collective Response: Hi, Tony!] I have 4 more food books coming next week via Amazon - 2 by Ruhlman, one from Alton, and the latest from Peterson - "Done.: A Cook's Guide to Know When Food is Perfectly Cooked." I need help!

There is always some amount of time between taking the steak off the grill and actually starting to consume it. At least 5 minutes or more - transport inside from the grill, while you get the sides on the plate, bread out of the oven, plate to the table, etc. Also, how long does it take for you to fully consume the meat, you don't eat it in just one bite (I hope!) I just don't go out of my way to "rest" the steak for a specific amount of time anymore. It just sort of takes care of itself. (Caveat, I'm only talking steaks here, not brisket or pork butts.) Here's a counter argument about "lost juices" - besides, they aren't "lost" they're still on surface of the meat or on your plate. And, that's what bread is for - sopping up those yummy bits. Note: they discuss the Blumenthal test that Susan mentioned. And I have watched Otto squash the steaks before. A bit extreme, not exactly what you'd expect if you just slowly cut off bites and ate them, like normal people! www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_resting_meat.html Ever been to a Ruth's Chris, pretty yummy steaks, right? (overpriced, yeah, but still yummy beef!) How does your steak arrive at the table - on a screaming hot slab of metal. Kind of hard to "rest" a steak like that, don't you think? They seem to be doing an OK business for not "resting" their steaks. Point is, don't get too hung up about it; in the overall scheme of how to cook a great steak; there are much more important things to concentrate on. I don't want to start a war over this, I'm just saying!

Have eaten quinoa in restaurants, but never made it at home. Changed my mind last night and instead of making another batch of the fried rice, went with an old standard - brown/wild rice mix from Lundberg Family Farms. Seek them out if your local market carries them. I used to buy from their online store until my local grocer started carry some of their rice blends in the "health food" section of the store. They are my "go to" for Arborio for risotto. Their Black Japonica is a nice brown rice, too.

Just curious as to how much one of those would set you back?

Glad you liked it. I see snow peas in there too; nice addition! Did you do the rice pilaf style? Just curious as to how brown rice worked for that method, as I've never cooked brown rice that way before. I polished off the rest of mine last night with some yummy chicken leg quarters on the KK.

Susan, you are correct. I roast the steak first at about 350F on the main grill - direct until the meat temperature hits about 105F (as I'm shooting for medium rare at the end (130F)). Mesquite or Red Oak chunks are my woods of choice. Pull the main grill and meat off. I usually already have the sear grill in place.Then it's rock on! Open all the vents wide open, let 'er rip to as high as it will go. Then drop the steaks onto the sear grill for 15 seconds, flip, another 15 seconds, flip, another 15 seconds, flip, a final 15 seconds and off they come. I read somewhere (Amazing Ribs??) that turning every 15 seconds gives better results than leaving on for 30 seconds on each side. I also don't subscribe to the "let it rest" technique for 15 minutes. Who wants cold steak? Go read AmazingRibs.com to dispel this myth. Disclaimer - the above times on the sear assume that you have a serious cut of steak - at least an inch thick. If your steak is thinner than that, adjust the times accordingly and you probably only want one sear per side, not two like for the thicker cuts.

Let me know how it comes out.

Cooked the rice first, pilaf style* with chicken stock, so the grains stay separated. Spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool. Since it was just me, I only cooked a half cup of raw rice. I use basmati, but jasmine works equally well. Cooked my omelet first (until just set) and removed from wok - just a beaten egg (1) with a touch of salt and white pepper over medium heat in about a 1/2 TBL of vegetable oil. Added another TBL more oil and increased the heat to high to cook the white onion (about 1/2 cup chopped), garlic (2 cloves halved) and fresh ginger (about a tsp chopped). Once the onion was translucent and ginger fragrant, tossed in the cooked pork (1/2 cup, diced), chopped baby carrots and celery (1/4 cup each). Once the carrots started to soften, tossed in a 1/4 cup of frozen green peas. (Normally, I'd toss in a chopped scallion - green part only - with the green peas, but didn't have any in the fridge.) In went the cooked rice and cooked omelet (diced up). Season with a bit of ground Szechuan peppercorn (a big pinch), a 1/4 tsp sesame oil, and a TBL of light soy sauce. Toss until everything is coated with the soy sauce and the rice is warmed up. Serve it up! * Pilaf style - toss the dry uncooked rice in just enough oil to coat the bottom of your pot until the rice turns opaque white, stir frequently to avoid burning (it's OK if a few grains turn a light brown). Add your liquid (water, stock) in a 2 to 1 ratio. So, for my 1/2 cup uncooked rice, I added a cup of chicken stock. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes (until all the liquid is absorbed). Fluff with a fork.

Easter dinner was a yummy swabian boneless pork roast. Injected/marinated overnight with Butcher's BBQ Injection for pork. Outside rubbed with 3 EYZ BBQ rub. Indirect on the KK with Guru and a smoker pot with peach and hickory chunks. Started out @ 225F for the first hour, but got a bit rushed for dinner, so I cranked it up to 325F - never got there because the meat hit my 145F target first, about an hour later. Guru was around 315F. Wrapped in foil while I made my sides and salad (about 20 minutes). Seriously yummy piggy. Sorry, forgot pics (I know the rules!) Leftovers are great too! Slice of pork roast fried up to crispy the fat, with sunny side up eggs for breakfast. Dinner will be pork fried rice and pork roast in black bean sauce. Update: Just finished dinner. Pork fried rice was some of the best I've ever done. Great balance of flavors. The "twice cooked" pork with black bean sauce was just OK. Tasty, but too oily. Between the extra fat rendering out of the swabian pork, the oil in the chile paste with garlic and the black bean with chile paste, it all added up at the end. That sauce was damned shiny though!!

Nothing wrong with rare in my book! Next time try a "reverse sear" and see if you like the results better.

Thanks for the tip, Dennis. Always looking for new sources. I am a big fan of Penzey's Spices - www.penzeys.com for most of my spices. I like Pendery's for my chili spices - www.penderys.com

New basket arrived yesterday, all nice and shiny. Can't wait to smudge it up!!

Does asparagus w/charred lemons count as "bitter herbs??"

Sorry, Susan, but I'm the last guy you want help from when it comes to what works and what doesn't on this Forum!!! With all the other problems that I've had with this software, uploading pictures hasn't been one of them.

Seriously Cool, Dennis!! Congratulations!!!! I love the Amazing Ribs website, especially for debunking a lot of BBQ "myths" out there!

The link in your post took me right to it? Gremlins???

Susan, have you ever had pork rillettes? Think duck confit, only pork.

While my local HyVee supermarket carries the prosciutto, I usually buy mine at CostCo - bigger packages and cheaper, too! But, the prosciutto is all I can get there, none of the other yummy pork products that La Quercia makes. Need to find a local source that carries more. The online links to Murray's and Zingermann's are a bit pricey, especially when you add on the shipping. Dan, de nada, always glad to turn other Foodies on to something tasty!

Trust me, Susan, it will be every bit as good as the Iberico! These pigs are fed a diet of hydroponically raised barley and milk. Look for the Andrew Zimmern show when he came to Iowa. He went down to visit Carl at Rustic Rooster Farms and see the pigs (and eat them too!) Plus, you get to learn about our other little secret, La Quercia, where they make the yummy Prosciutto Americano here in Norwalk, IA. Here's a link to a snippet of the show - http://shar.es/BMfk5.

Susan, Let me know how you like them. I recommend that you try them the first time with just a little salt and pepper to really appreciate the flavor of the pork without embellishments of other rubs/sauces. My second set of chops and the ribs were both dry rubbed - chops with Dizzy Dust and the ribs with Billy Bones' Competition Rub.

Looks like all they have in the on-line store is the short ribs and chops. I got my rack of baby backs at the local farmers' market. I've had the pork chops - they are just as killer as the ribs!

While there's a lot of downsides to living in Iowa (winters from Hell!), but when you live in a state where the pigs out number the people by like 10 to 1, it's a good thing! Recently been able to procure some pork from Black Swabian hogs. It's a German heritage pig being raised here in Iowa (www.swabianhall.com) and besides being super yummy, they are pretty cute as pigs go (see picture). So, I've now cooked both the pork chops and baby back ribs from these pigs and I can honestly say it's the best pork that I've ever eaten. The fat is actually tastier than the meat!!! So go online, right now!!!! and order you some of this yummy pork. Here's some pics of tonight's baby backs. 4 Hours on the KK @ 225F, indirect w/guru, smoker pot with peach and hickory chunks.

Move to Iowa, Susan (Ha, ha, ha)!

Well, the dinner went very well. Guests liked the duck, but I wasn't super happy with the skin. I did 2 ducks (prepped exactly the same), but one didn't have very crispy skin and the other one was almost too crispy (see pictures). I had attempted the inflating technique to separate the skin from the body before prepping, but wasn't terribly successful. Only got a few small pockets to inflate. I used a metal turkey baster, with an injection needle. I didn't have a bicycle tire pump. Couldn't really generate enough pressure to force the skin to separate with the turkey baster. Ducks were showered with the hot bath of boiling water, rice vinegar and honey, and the cavities smeared with a paste of light and dark soy sauce, sake, Chinese 5 spice powder, ground star anise, ground cinnamon, ground Szechuan peppercorns and white pepper, then air dried on vertical roasters for 24 hrs (+/-) in the fridge. Next, the outsides were painted with a mix of light & dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and honey and left to air dry in the fridge overnight. Then smoked on the KK @ 375F for 90 minutes with a mix of cherry and pecan wood chunks in the smoker pot. Here's some photos.