What's on your plate today?

[smellysell]

I had 6 hrs of online flight training to do today, but I managed to get some cooking done around the schedule.

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This started off as avocado toast but ended up more like an open-faced avocado BLT with a poached egg.

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After class, I fired up the smoker and did a few racks of ribs. I tried a new recipe and was pretty happy with the results.

Those baby backs? They look REAL meaty!

 

[Pugman1943]

Nihon, you sure know how to make a guy cry. What kind of bird are you training the folks on?

 

[Nihon_Ni]

Those baby backs? They look REAL meaty!

Yessir! My wife went to the grocery store and was looking through the ribs and found some labeled as "Extra Meaty." I'm not sure if she really like ribs of if she's compensating...

 

[Nihon_Ni]

Nihon, you sure know how to make a guy cry. What kind of bird are you training the folks on?

I volunteer with the Commemorative Air Force, and we operate a trio of WWII birds: L-5, BT-13 and TBM Avenger.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

For St. Paddy's Day the wife made corned beef and cabbage in the Instantpot. Last night, I repurposed those ingredients into a Ruben Eggs Benedict. I whipped up some Thousand Island dressing (which was way too easy) and mixed it into the traditional Hollandaise sauce to give the dish the customary flavor notes of a Ruben. I thought it was good; the wife thought it was one of the best things I've ever made. It kinda felt like cheating, since she did all the hard work and all I did was make a quick sauce and poach some eggs. I served it with my signature 2 min steamed asparagus seasoned with Japanese sea salt, but drizzled a bit of the Thousand Island Hollandaise sauce across it to tie everything together. That combo was pretty tasty!

 

[The Black Cloud]

I love the idea of eggs benedict, but I've kinda decided to stay away from them. I tried making them once and juggling all the components to have them ready to assemble at the same time was a headache. And for eating them, it's always damn near impossible to get a bite of everything all at once. Usually the english muffin is hard to cut through and the rest of the toppings fall off.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

Yeah, I get that. I found that cheap muffins are really hard to cut. Adding a generous amount of butter helps, but I've found a better grade of English muffins that taste better and are much easier to cut. Eggs Benny is my favorite breakfast food, and it's the thing I normally order when we go out for breakfast or brunch. Cooking them at home is definitely a case of practice makes better.

I have a recipe for 1 min Hollandaise sauce that's (almost) foolproof, but occasionally I'll still make it the old fashioned way with a double boiler. I've done it enough, and often enough, to get the timing down so that my results are pretty reliable. Prep and consistency are the key: I boil the same amount of water with a splash of white vinegar in the same pot to a good rolling boil, I have four eggs cracked into four small bowls standing by, stick of butter is melted and hot in a small saucepan, an egg yolk(s) separated for the sauce with water and acid of choice, protein and other components to be cooked are either hot or a pan is hot and ready for them, any other ingredient is ready, and plates are laid out -- all of this before I start cooking. Once the eggs hit the water, it's a race against the clock, so you have to have all this done in advance. Then I take a sip of coffee and look around to make sure I'm ready.

If I'm making Hollandaise the regular way I start with that -- I cook it in a mixing bowl on top of the pot with boiling water for the eggs. Once it's done I just set it somewhere to keep warm. The sauce will last for 15 min or so, and will thicken a bit as it stands, so making it a little ahead of time is best.

Now, it's off to the races: The longest item to cook is the muffin, so those go into the toaster first. I give them a little head start, then I put the eggs in the water and set the timer for 3 mins. I don't use the vortex method, I just let them rest. I start with water at a rolling boil, but I let it just simmer after the eggs are in. It's important to get enough energy in the water so the cold eggs don't have a big change in temp. If I'm cooking asparagus, which I often do with Eggs Benny, those go in the microwave for 2 mins next. (I wet several sheets of paper towles, spread out the sticks and roll them up like a jelly roll. 2 mins for 2 servings yields perfect al dente.) Add protein to the hot pan (if required). Make 1 min Hollandaise sauce (Put 2-3 egg yolks, water and acid into a cup that's just big enough cup and mix it up with a stick blender until smooth, then slowly drizzle in the hot (has to be hot) stick of butter. The egg yolk cooks in the residual heat and by the time all the butter is in the sauce is emulsified and the yolks are perfectly cooked.) 3 min timer goes off, eggs come out to drain on a plate. Call the wife to come eat. Muffins pop up, get transferred to a plate with plenty of butter (that's to make sure you can cut through them easily). Protein and any other fixings are next. Place an egg with the smooth side up on each one. Season the asparagus and add it to the plate, spoon a dollop (or more) of sauce to each egg and asparagus. Serve and enjoy!

There's a certain satisfaction in pulling this all off. It's really not hard, it just takes a little practice to get the timing down.

 

[CMontoya79]

Cheat meal Saturdays. 1/2 lb burger, American, Cheddar, Bacon, Brioche bun, butter lettuce, red onion, burger “spread”, tomato, diced green chiles, Fries, IPA beer.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

Continuing with my egg theme, I’m calling this Steak and Potatoes Eggs Benedict. I got inspired by a set of Kinishes I found at the local supermarket, and began to conceptualize this dish that would substitute them for English muffins. I sous vied strip steaks on Friday that were way too big, so we had plenty of leftovers, so I warmed up some steak to 129° and sliced it to top the Kinish. I roasted some Brussel sprouts to accompany the meat and potatoes, and the mixture of Brussels and Hollandaise was serendipity. I normally follow some sort of recipe, but this dish was all me.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

The study of eggs continues in the Nihon kitchen. I attempted to make a Baked Eggs Benedict with mixed results. The concept was to bake everything: biscuit, candied bacon, and a sunny-side-up egg. I separated the eggs and whipped the whites and baked them partially, then added the yolk and returned them to the oven for a few more minutes. Unfortunately, the Hollandaise sauce broke and turned into micro scrambled eggs swimming in a stick of butter. It was still a fun experiment and fun to eat.

 

[tone-ny]

Well a first for me, two bone prime rib. I usually do a 7-9 rib roast for holidays. Unfortunately cooking for two is the norm now. Menu consisted of prime rib, baked garlic mashed potatoes, oven roasted brussell sprouts and popovers. Hope everyone enjoyed their dinner as well.

 

[The Black Cloud]

A lot of cooking yesterday. Breakfast was eggs and roasted red potatoes with leftover bacon on the side. Then later in the day I made a batch of spaghetti in meat sauce for my GF. I added sauteed mushrooms and shallots to the tomato sauce, which needed some added TLC. For myself I roasted some yams with leftover pineapple, roasted some brussell sprouts, and baked some stuffed fish roulades that I got at the market. Everything turned out pretty damn well.

 

[{tpc}]

Enjoyed our dinner though it was your basic ham and some green bean casserole. Came out great none the less..kudos to my wife for preparing it.

 

[Thoughts]

Was conflicted about posting this or not but we have been doing a lot of rib-eye lately (trying to follow a more non processed diet) and I could use the steroids (lol). Found a local butcher to avoid Walmart and food stores during the pandemic. This is a flattened (1.25 inch after I was done) 2 inch cut 32-36 oz steak me and the wife split after cooking on griddle top with bacon grease and butter. Seasoned with dales, olive oil, onion powder, garlic, and a little soy sauce for 2 days.
I know there’s nothing comparing the size but my hand would cover up 1/3 of the steak. We split it down the middle

edit: updated pic I didn’t know my wife took

 

[The Black Cloud]

Looks delicious. May I ask why you had it marinating for 2 days? How did the flavors turn out?

 

[bfreebern]

All a ribeye really needs, is salt/pepper.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

You had me at bacon grease!

Looks great!!

 

[Thoughts]

Looks delicious. May I ask why you had it marinating for 2 days? How did the flavors turn out?

So I had 4 of them we went through in two weeks. Huge steaks so I tried to flatten them from 2 inch to 1.5 inch. The first I didn't marinate, just salt. It was good, nothing to write home about but definitely realized these were much better than the walmart brand I had been getting. Bacon grease/bacon was from the butcher as well. Very smoky and delicious, not over salty.

The second I came up with the marinade and let it set for about 4 hours. It was declicioius, the main body of it was so thick though the only areas you got the flavor were the fatty/tender meat ring around the outside of the main body.

Third we tried one day in it, was better. I was like, fuck it, lets see what two days does. Man it was delicious. THe outer fat/tender ring area soaked up all of the flavor and was dripping. The inner area was was awesome as well. It soaked up enough flavor without taking away from the meat flavor in the center. I'm not a person that likes a lot of salt and even though the marinade had a good bit of it in there, it was not salty at all.

I may see about getting 1 inch rib-eyes from the butcher next time, those will probably won't need so much time to marinate. I will probably shoot for a 8-24 hour time frame on those.

Another comparison to the size of the steaks. We don't need sides with these steaks. Me and my wife get full from just the steak itself, although I do like cooking a yeast roll every so often to soak up the leftover juices.

 

[Not A Nice Person]

Well I certainly can't compete with Nihon Ni on eggs but I found myself with a bunch extra on account of standing in one too many grocery store queues so even though I don't think I've made these since my teens I gave it a go. Didn't turn out too badly, but I think I would've preferred Dijon & a touch of horseradish to the Zatarain's Creole Mustard I had on hand.



~Boar

 

[thinde]

Well I certainly can't compete with Nihon Ni on eggs but I found myself with a bunch extra on account of standing in one too many grocery store queues so even though I don't think I've made these since my teens I gave it a go. Didn't turn out too badly, but I think I would've preferred Dijon & a touch of horseradish to the Zatarain's Creole Mustard I had on hand.

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~Boar

Lov‘s me some deviled eggs and those look good! We’re thinking later this week we cook up a quiche with our overflow of eggs.