What are you cooking today?

Yeah. Never eat less-than-fully-cooked poultry, that's for sure. You'll have to teach me about the shellfish - it would be very altruistic of you.  No hurry, though; I almost never eat it.

If you're worried about whole or otherwise bone-in chicken, digital meat thermometers are widely available and affordable now.

The best pork loin I've ever eaten was skewered on a wrought-iron squirrel spit over a very small, very smoky camp fire. Lotsa people back home in the mountains cook over wood fires from Spring until the snow flies, and sometimes even after. I can never plan that far in advance. Gimme gas every day and twice on Sunday. Won't taste as good, but who the hell has the time?

What I'm cooking today

I've talked before about making jambalaya with riced cauliflower. Today I'm going to experiment with technique. If I was making it with real rice, I wouldn't add the chicken or shrimp until near the end. That way, they both get cooked gently, the chicken stays tender, and the shrimp don't get rubbery. They're not as fussy as clam strips or squid, but seafood is too dear this far inland to mess around.

Anyway, since this will be essentially protein sauteéd with vegetables, I thought I'd try using the wok. That way I won't have to deal with a cumbersome Dutch oven. I'm going to velvet the chicken similar to how I do for stir-fry: a little cornstarch, a little baking soda, and in this case a little stock instead of soy sauce. I thought about Worchestershire, since that will be going in the pot too, but it has vinegar in it, so it'll react. The alkaline soda is just caustic enough to keep the meat tender despite the high cook temp, and the cornstarch makes for a more impressive and crunchy Maillard reaction when it's seared*. Andouille, of course, will be going in with the aromatics (the "holy trinity" or Creole mirapoix: onion, celery and bell pepper). I imagine I'll have to cook off the chicken, remove, clean the wok, and do the same with the shrimp before I can start building the dish, but that only represents one extra step from how I do Asian-style stir-fries, so no big.

Wish me luck!



*If you're going to try this, don't let it marinate for more than about ten minutes. About 1/2 tsp starch and 1 tsp soda per 12 oz of diced breast. Ignore all of this if using thighs.

I've heard that the chemical structure of nicotine, being alkaline, is similar to that of opiates, caffeine and capsicum, explaining why us chiliheads gots to have the hot sauce and build up a tolerance, almost immunity, still seeking that endorphin rush.

As for "organic is safe" I used to laugh, back in the experimental days, when people would argue that certain recreational drugs can't hurt you because they are natural. Curare is natural--so there. And like Hondo said, it's pure marketing, mainly because there are no meaningful standards to "organic" even though there are rules. Same goes for "all natural".

A current fad is touting one's wine as "organic." Almost all wine is already "organic" with the exception of those with a little added sulfites, which helps the wine's stability and therefore keeps it more wholesome--especially the whites. But sulfites are a naturally occurring chemical found in the fermentation process anyway.

Some of these people are laughing at their customers behind their backs too. I toured an organic maple syrup manufacturer back home a few years ago and the owner literally said that he thought organic was silly, but the profit margin was broad enough to make the switch. Complained that it was a major PITA, but still worth it finacially. 

When I used to help with hospitality for small fests there were an inordinate amount of second-stage acts (and they were always second-stage)  that "needed" to know if the food was organic. We were instructed to always say yes. I didn't feel bad about lying, because we weren't. Everything except salt that went into their mouths started as a carbon-based life form. It don't get any more organic without dead, liquified dinosaurs.

--

BTW folks, it worked like a charm. Tell me you wouldn't eat this.



So deLISHous!

Or just embrace them. I have not had any stomach bugs or food related illness since my time in the Peace Corps, now 20 years ago. Build resistance rather than sanitizing yourself into a delicate flower.

I guess that you could substitute almond milk for regular milk, yes?

Corn starch also thickens dishes without having to come to a boil like flour.

All of this gravy talk reminds me of a funny story.

My friend and his now wife were cooking breakfast for his kids a few years ago. They hadn't been together long, she is a city girl from somewhere up around worf.

He had placed the bacon pan w/drippings to the side to make gravy. She comes in and nearly dumped the grease in the trash before he stopped her.

"I was gonna use that for gravy"

"The grease?!"

"Of course, what else would we use?"

She reached into her pantry (it was her apt) pulled out a pack of gravy mix.

"I'm not eating any grease gravy!"

They have been married for quite a few years now. She is very successful and The breadwinner and he stays home, takes care of the kids and the gravy.

There are so many ways to eat well and healthy--you have to know your seasonings and processes. For example, a small amount of butter added late can have more flavor than a pound added early. Tons of substitutes and replacements are now readily available that were rare or exotic back in the day--like mushrooms for meat.

French provincial (peasant) has always been a top style and it's simple and cheap, and generally healthy, but they knew how to add the right seasoning to go from diner fare to fine dining.

of course, what's "healthy" is too long an unresolvable debate even for this forum in February.

Whoa, no...last time I smoked paprika...still don't feel quite right.

A few buddies and I made meat extravaganza recently. Sorry, it wasn't today as the post suggests. Forgot to post. So here it is. Duck Confit, Lamb chops w/pesto, Quail, and miso glazed short ribs. Not too shabby...