In the Kitchen with DKDetective and InCali: All Things Food, Wine, and Spirits, Etc.

Touche... For those in the southern hemisphere, maybe some form of creamy mushroom ragu? Hearty and comforting enough for cold weather, but light enough to go with a narrower noodle?

 

I've been watching Jacques and Julia at Home on Amazon Prime lately while I cook... And for every recipe, Julia Child seems to think she has to justify the use of cream, butter, and
other lovely things for her American audience. She is always saying things like 'yes, it is rich, but it is okay because you are not going to eat it everyday..."

It is because of party poopers like you! This is you right now in this thread:



Just drink more red wine, man, and then you can join us in the fun!

 

Sorry about the late reply, I've been busy replicating "Yabba Dabba Do" from the French Laundry cookbook tonight:



How "light" are we talking? I typically do at least 4 courses for a dinner party.

 

Well, if we are going to combine forces, we should go over to your place, so I can use your wonderful Thermador. You can host and take all the credit if I get to play around on that thing.

 

"Yabba Dabba Do" as in Fred Flintstone's catchphrase. Keller named the dish as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the classic moment in the opening credits, where the family visits a drive thru and gets Brontosaurus ribs:

Since the French Laundry's menu is a chef's tasting course of several small courses, the full size rib steak in Yabba Dabba Do is huge for French Laundry portions.

 

Hrmmm, if we are talking about a light, fresh summer dinner party:
Canapes - House-Smoked Trout Canapes with Chives and Red Onion Creme Fraiche. Paired with Taittinger Brut Champagne.
Appetizer - The Troisgros' Salmon and Sorel - Escalope of Atlantic Salmon in a Sour Cream and Sorel Sauce. Paired with a Loire Valley Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc.
Main Course - Double Rib Lamb Chops with Cassoulet of Summer Beans and Rosemary. Paired with 2000 Chateau Lanessan, Medoc, Red Bordeaux.
Dessert - Honeysuckle Creme Brulee. Paired with Sauternes.

P.S. @InCali, you would be proud of me tonight. I made tacos on the fly with homemade salsa and red onion sour cream.

 

How about on a TV tray while watching old Frasier reruns? I would have had a cold glass of milk with it (it is actually my normal week night beverage, which is why my Dad called me "Veal Calf" as a kid ), but I had some wine left over from last night and I am on vacation this week so I drank that instead.

We used ground beef for the tacos since we had some in the freezer. I just mixed it up with some olive oil, sherry vinegar, chili powder, cumin, coriander seed, smoked paprika, and garlic with the beef and sauteed it. The "salsa" was just diced tomato, cilantro, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper. I have no idea how real salsa is made, so I just guessed. The red onion sour cream was just sour cream with finely diced red onion and line juice folded in. Gave the flour tortillas a quick kiss on a hot grill pan. Topped it off with some old cheddar. I have no idea if it was remotely authentic, but it turned out excellently.

P.S. I'm not a show off. I'm just immunocomprised, housebound, and spending the majority of my free time cooking and eating because it is comforting and takes my mind off things. I like elaborate meals because cooking them is like lengthy meditation. You have to focus on the task in front of you and therefore clears the mind. Also, I just love the smiles on people's faces when they eat something special. It is something I learned from my Gramma, you go all out for company.

 

Oh, I'm not that creative. As is always the case with food, I was just riffing off old recipes and techniques and at most mashing things together. The red onion sour cream was inspired by the red onion creme fraiche from Thomas Keller's famous Salmon Tartare Cornets. Red onion and sour cream are both common taco toppings so I thought why not combine them?

Similarly, with the salsa, I just kinda combined the elements of a summer tomato salad (oil, acid, and green herbs) and tried to put a "Latin" spin on it by using cilantro and lime juice.

I also used to love crispy corn tortillas, but I can't eat corn anymore, so I thought to grill the tortillas to try and replicate a bit of the crunch.

 

The use of the olive oil was inspired by Argentine chimichurri sauce. It has a lot of similar components, so I thought the oil would a good glue for the salsa. I forgot to mention I did add crushed red pepper flakes to it for some heat. Unfortunately, I have to be careful about jalapenos. As much as I used to love heat, I have to be careful with it due to my Crohn's Disease (the treatment for which is immunosuppressant meds). Thankfully, my disease is well-controlled these days and I can mostly eat what I want within reason, but I still have a phobia about corn and spicy food. This was the first time I have made tacos in years, probably since my diagnosis.

I hope you and yours stay safe as well, my friend. I, at least, have the comfort of Canada having this situation reasonably under control. It must be so hard for your wife and daughter given how it is resurging in California.

 

Good to know and thanks for correcting that! The English-language recipes I've seen have used olive oil and I had assumed that was part of the result of the Italian influence on Argentine cuisine. But it sounds like it was likely a modification by North American chefs, who love their olive oil in everything these days.

I've always loved Argentine cuisine (and wine). It is probably my favourite from the Latin American countries. It just resonates with me as a happy carnivore and beef eater.

Any tips on proper asado de tira? I love beef short ribs, but I can't seem to get them right doing a long slow grill. I might have made a mistake using chuck ribs the last time I tried. Upon further investigation, I understand they are better for braising and have too much connective tissue for the grill. I'll make sure to get plate short ribs next time.

 

I am very carnivorous. My motto is if it swims, walks, or flies, I will try and eat it.

I am big believer in using all parts of the animal. I'm not huge on offal as the focal point of a dish or on its own, but I love using it in sauces or to aid in cooking. I am big on using suet for searing and or wrapping meat in caul fat. I also love using the marrow in a large variety of ways.

Thanks for the advice on selection of the ribs. It is interesting how the thinking on that is currently changing in some cultures. Your Dad's advice accords with a lot of my traditional understanding on picking good beef. However, there are a lot of European chefs now who are actually advocating older animals for better natural marbling and flavour. Yellow fat is also being heralded as a sign of a grass fed animal with more flavour. Magnus Nilsson at Faviken is famous for serving steaks of "retired dairy cow". The meat is a ridiculously deep wine red in colour with strong golden coloured fat:


Similarly, a recent French documentary, Steak (R)evolution, selected steaks from 12-plus year old Galician cattle in Northern Spain as the best in the world, with the best combo of flavour tenderness:


Granted, with these kinds of beef, serious dry aging is a must to break down the connective tissue.