Favorite food/recipes

[rumsfald]

step 1) don't buy frozen fish

step 2) peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice on an angle into long, thin slices (think garlic chips)

step 3) with a slim, small knife, cut small holes into the fish flesh, angling down and against the grain. The goal is to insert the garlic slices into these pockets.

step 4) season with good salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, squeezed citrus (lemon, lime, orange, fielder's choice), and chiffon of herb (fresh basil, parsely, cilantro, thyme, oregano, whatever, pick one)

step 5) broil fish till done. shouldn't take too long.

This garlic-insertion method also works well on the grill, and so-so on the stove (for fish). It also works well with good cuts of beef or pork (cooked any method - for larger beef cuts that will cook longer I sometimes cut bigger holes and insert whole garlic cloves).

[copulatingduck]

step 1) don't buy frozen fish

step 2) peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice on an angle into long, thin slices (think garlic chips)

step 3) with a slim, small knife, cut small holes into the fish flesh, angling down and against the grain. The goal is to insert the garlic slices into these pockets.

step 4) season with good salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, squeezed citrus (lemon, lime, orange, fielder's choice), and chiffon of herb (fresh basil, parsely, cilantro, thyme, oregano, whatever, pick one)

step 5) broil fish till done. shouldn't take too long.

This garlic-insertion method also works well on the grill, and so-so on the stove (for fish). It also works well with good cuts of beef or pork (cooked any method - for larger beef cuts that will cook longer I sometimes cut bigger holes and insert whole garlic cloves).

I do this with pork tenderloins and can confirm it's fucking delicious

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=85.msg242279#msg242279 date=1333413742]
step 1) don't buy frozen fish

step 2) peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice on an angle into long, thin slices (think garlic chips)

step 3) with a slim, small knife, cut small holes into the fish flesh, angling down and against the grain. The goal is to insert the garlic slices into these pockets.

step 4) season with good salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, squeezed citrus (lemon, lime, orange, fielder's choice), and chiffon of herb (fresh basil, parsely, cilantro, thyme, oregano, whatever, pick one)

step 5) broil fish till done. shouldn't take too long.

This garlic-insertion method also works well on the grill, and so-so on the stove (for fish). It also works well with good cuts of beef or pork (cooked any method - for larger beef cuts that will cook longer I sometimes cut bigger holes and insert whole garlic cloves).

I do this with pork tenderloins and can confirm it's fucking delicious
[/quote]
What kind of fish does everyone recommend buying here? I'm more into mahi mahi and tilapia.

[matter11]

[quote author=Duck link=topic=85.msg242397#msg242397 date=1333559741]
[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=85.msg242279#msg242279 date=1333413742]
step 1) don't buy frozen fish

step 2) peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice on an angle into long, thin slices (think garlic chips)

step 3) with a slim, small knife, cut small holes into the fish flesh, angling down and against the grain. The goal is to insert the garlic slices into these pockets.

step 4) season with good salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, squeezed citrus (lemon, lime, orange, fielder's choice), and chiffon of herb (fresh basil, parsely, cilantro, thyme, oregano, whatever, pick one)

step 5) broil fish till done. shouldn't take too long.

This garlic-insertion method also works well on the grill, and so-so on the stove (for fish). It also works well with good cuts of beef or pork (cooked any method - for larger beef cuts that will cook longer I sometimes cut bigger holes and insert whole garlic cloves).

I do this with pork tenderloins and can confirm it's fucking delicious
[/quote]
What kind of fish does everyone recommend buying here? I'm more into mahi mahi and tilapia.
[/quote]
none if you're in arizona :/

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=Karth link=topic=85.msg242400#msg242400 date=1333561992]
[quote author=Duck link=topic=85.msg242397#msg242397 date=1333559741]
[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=85.msg242279#msg242279 date=1333413742]
step 1) don't buy frozen fish

step 2) peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice on an angle into long, thin slices (think garlic chips)

step 3) with a slim, small knife, cut small holes into the fish flesh, angling down and against the grain. The goal is to insert the garlic slices into these pockets.

step 4) season with good salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, squeezed citrus (lemon, lime, orange, fielder's choice), and chiffon of herb (fresh basil, parsely, cilantro, thyme, oregano, whatever, pick one)

step 5) broil fish till done. shouldn't take too long.

This garlic-insertion method also works well on the grill, and so-so on the stove (for fish). It also works well with good cuts of beef or pork (cooked any method - for larger beef cuts that will cook longer I sometimes cut bigger holes and insert whole garlic cloves).

I do this with pork tenderloins and can confirm it's fucking delicious
[/quote]
What kind of fish does everyone recommend buying here? I'm more into mahi mahi and tilapia.
[/quote]
none if you're in arizona :/
[/quote]

[rumsfald]

What kind of fish does everyone recommend buying here? I'm more into mahi mahi and tilapia.

The best fish is fresh fish.

There's only a few types of fish that I personally don't much care for, like the darker oilcans (bluefish, marlin, etc).

By far the most important thing is to get fresh fish. If you aren't sure that you're getting fresh fish, don't chance it. If you don't know how to tell if fish is fresh, google it. ton's of guides out there. If it smells, it is bad.

I never go shopping looking for any one type of fish. I might be in the mood for tuna or halibut or watever, but I see what looks fresh and if in doubt ask the fishmonger.

I will go out of my way to find a good fishmonger. I rarely trust the fish sold in supermarkets.

Not over or under-cooking is also important, but not really hard if you practice a bit (for most fish, as soon as it starts flaking off with a fork you are done).

If you like tilapia you will like sea bass (patagonian toothfish, yall!), fluke, flounder, sole, red snapper, bronzini, striped bass

[matter11]

If you like tilapia you will like sea bass (patagonian toothfish, yall!), fluke, flounder, sole, red snapper, bronzini, striped bass

and any cod, trout, croaker

[rumsfald]

[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=85.msg242483#msg242483 date=1333661801]
If you like tilapia you will like sea bass (patagonian toothfish, yall!), fluke, flounder, sole, red snapper, bronzini, striped bass

and any cod, trout, croaker
[/quote]

I'll grant you cod (though that's usually prepared differently than tilapia. cod is best baked, like haddock (not JOEL!) which I also didn't mention), but I consciously avoided trout. While trout can be just as delicious (mmm, pan-fried), my experience is that dealing with the bones is a bit much for amateurs, and a turn-off for them.

also not mentioned is the wonder that is fried whiting, which most caucasians don't try because they are racist. fine. more for me.

[ZargonX]

[quote author=matter11 link=topic=85.msg242484#msg242484 date=1333662117]
[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=85.msg242483#msg242483 date=1333661801]
If you like tilapia you will like sea bass (patagonian toothfish, yall!), fluke, flounder, sole, red snapper, bronzini, striped bass

and any cod, trout, croaker
[/quote]

. cod is best baked, like haddock (not JOEL!) which I also didn't mention),
[/quote]

I dunno, I suspect I might be best baked.

[Dtrain323i]

Somewhat related. I started a small herb garden. Right now it's just Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Chives, and Rosemary.

[Luinbariel]

You just reminded me. I forgot to buy more chives. The little plant that came with the house is so sad and I can't really get it out of that spot...

My perennial oregano is nice and spicy, and I just bought some nice perennial creeping thyme of some sort. OM nom. And somehow my green onions survived the winter? But HeK may have accidentally killed my strawberries...

[HeK]

But HeK may have accidentally killed my strawberries...

O'Doyle 2-4-D Rules!

[matter11]

pink lady apples are the best variety of apples.

[rumsfald]

This is a quality review

My brother was in afghanistan for a while, before the war began churning its legs and standing in place.  We did not talk about it.  I thought of Hemingway when he wrote "In the spring the war was still there, but we did not go to it anymore".  This is how I would have felt in my gentle surrender of disregard.  I cannot tell you how my brother felt as he did not feel the need to tell me.

I decided to take him to the Helmand for dinner, mostly because the brother of the president of Afghanistan owns the restaurant.  I told him this as we were seated and before we ordered and he gave me a sallow look.  The waiter asked us if we wanted to drink anything and we chose wines at random.  There is very little meaning to the small choices in our lives when the larger ones are so cutting and so fresh.

The appetizers we ordered came after our bread.  My brother broke a piece of bread apart and told me that it was authentic.  He talked about eating with his translator, a man of dark complexion like a shadow against a hill.  He told me the translator could get him movies on DVD before they came out in theatres - that he watched pornography on his cell phone like a free American man, and that he was a bastard.  The Afghanis, he said, are all bastards.  As he spoke the appetizers arrived - large, handmade raviolis filled with minced lamb and covered in a sauce that appeared to be yogurt and dill, with a touch of grated cucumber. 

My brother ate his appetizer, looked at his plate, and relented.  Afghanis, he told me, are not all bastards.  Just the ones that deal with the army.  I had nothing to say, so we drank our wine in silence as polite conversation echoed around us.  We ordered more wine and it came and we drank it and we ordered again.

The entrees arrived, delicious meatballs, kofta in a sweetly turned sauce, and more raviolis(I had ordered them for my main dish).  We ate more and he took one of my raviolis because he is a bastard, and then there was the quiet silence of digestion, and gustation.  He said to me that the afghanis, as a matter of fact, were pretty damn swell.  I nodded and ate one of his meatballs and thought to myself that this is a good reason for lambs to die - slaughter in tomato sauce is at least delicious.

We did not order dessert.  We did order coffee, made in the afghani style(or the turkish style, as one waiter said, serving a table next to us).  The coffee was thick and tasted of cardamom and sugar.  My brother said it was an excellent coffee, and that the food was excellent, and that in retrospect, the afghani people were excellent, truly excellent people.  Even the bastards.

There are meals, and then there are meals that we remember for reasons most likely never understood.  There are restaurants, and then there are restaurants that we love for reasons we will never forget.  It is not impossible that the two are related; though it is not impossible that they are unrelated as well.  It is not in us to ponder these things - at least not after eating at a restaurant like the Helmand.

from here

[VeraLapsa]

This is a quality review

My brother was in afghanistan for a while, before the war began churning its legs and standing in place.  We did not talk about it.  I thought of Hemingway when he wrote "In the spring the war was still there, but we did not go to it anymore".  This is how I would have felt in my gentle surrender of disregard.  I cannot tell you how my brother felt as he did not feel the need to tell me.

I decided to take him to the Helmand for dinner, mostly because the brother of the president of Afghanistan owns the restaurant.  I told him this as we were seated and before we ordered and he gave me a sallow look.  The waiter asked us if we wanted to drink anything and we chose wines at random.  There is very little meaning to the small choices in our lives when the larger ones are so cutting and so fresh.

The appetizers we ordered came after our bread.  My brother broke a piece of bread apart and told me that it was authentic.  He talked about eating with his translator, a man of dark complexion like a shadow against a hill.  He told me the translator could get him movies on DVD before they came out in theatres - that he watched pornography on his cell phone like a free American man, and that he was a bastard.  The Afghanis, he said, are all bastards.  As he spoke the appetizers arrived - large, handmade raviolis filled with minced lamb and covered in a sauce that appeared to be yogurt and dill, with a touch of grated cucumber. 

My brother ate his appetizer, looked at his plate, and relented.  Afghanis, he told me, are not all bastards.  Just the ones that deal with the army.  I had nothing to say, so we drank our wine in silence as polite conversation echoed around us.  We ordered more wine and it came and we drank it and we ordered again.

The entrees arrived, delicious meatballs, kofta in a sweetly turned sauce, and more raviolis(I had ordered them for my main dish).  We ate more and he took one of my raviolis because he is a bastard, and then there was the quiet silence of digestion, and gustation.  He said to me that the afghanis, as a matter of fact, were pretty damn swell.  I nodded and ate one of his meatballs and thought to myself that this is a good reason for lambs to die - slaughter in tomato sauce is at least delicious.

We did not order dessert.  We did order coffee, made in the afghani style(or the turkish style, as one waiter said, serving a table next to us).  The coffee was thick and tasted of cardamom and sugar.  My brother said it was an excellent coffee, and that the food was excellent, and that in retrospect, the afghani people were excellent, truly excellent people.  Even the bastards.

There are meals, and then there are meals that we remember for reasons most likely never understood.  There are restaurants, and then there are restaurants that we love for reasons we will never forget.  It is not impossible that the two are related; though it is not impossible that they are unrelated as well.  It is not in us to ponder these things - at least not after eating at a restaurant like the Helmand.

from here

As a person who tries to not be raciest to any culture, I really like reading good things on cultures that a lot of people think are the scum of the Earth. There is nothing wrong with Muslim culture, every religion has it's extremest and I'd consider Christian extremest worse then any other religion. Heck the whole Dark Ages was Christian extremism. I'm proud to be an atheist and try to keep a skeptical view of the world.

[HeK]

Luin and I tried making our own smoked salmon last week. It turned out amazing.

8 hour cure with a 1:1 kosher salt and brown surgar dry mix, with added black pepper.
Smoked for 45 minutes at 300F (too hot as I understand, still working on temp control) on charcoal and hickory.




This weekend I am attempting to better seal our grill, using high-temp silicon. Making your own gasket is much harder. I'll have to peel off my failed attempt and try again using Nomex felt.
Also going to start work on a PID-based blower motor, see if I can get the grill to stoak it's self.

Also, I don't think I like mesquite.

[k0ala]

I don't care for the cussed mesquite trees, 99 percent of the time.
I grew up with the damn things. They're scraggly, they offer no shade, they turn an axe or chainsaw blade, and they spread anywhere there are cattle because the fruit is kind of like a tamarind, it drips sticky sap all over cars and roads but it gets gobbled up by cows.
The only way to uproot them is with a bulldozer, so often you will find them demarcating fence lines on ranchland due to not wanting to bulldoze the fence.
And at the end of that, you have a giant pile of the sorriest excuse for timber you could ever imagine.  There is nothing to do with it but burn it.
Some people learned to make it taste good.
Barbecue brisket is a quest for perfection, and in some cases, a religion.

I miss it, a lot, but there's a BBQ place called Armadillo Willy's out here that does it passably well. I order it to go... because if I sit down in there, I just complain about how the tin signs on the wall are fake.

[Didzo]

Also, I don't think I like mesquite.

Give cedar a shot.

[Dtrain323i]

Luin and I tried making our own smoked salmon last week. It turned out amazing.

8 hour cure with a 1:1 kosher salt and brown surgar dry mix, with added black pepper.
Smoked for 45 minutes at 300F (too hot as I understand, still working on temp control) on charcoal and hickory.




This weekend I am attempting to better seal our grill, using high-temp silicon. Making your own gasket is much harder. I'll have to peel off my failed attempt and try again using Nomex felt.
Also going to start work on a PID-based blower motor, see if I can get the grill to stoak it's self.

Also, I don't think I like mesquite.

Try Hickory for salmon

[Luinbariel]

We did use Hickory for the salmon.

The Mesquite was for something else, I'm guessing.