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Food Thread: A Welcoming Table, Beef With A Good Sauce, And Cornbread!

A beautifully set holiday table is a wonderful thing. It adds a festive feeling, and marks the day and the guests as special. But I am lousy at this sort of stuff. Oh, I like nice wine glasses, and as my wife will attest we have far too many bowls* for our own good (small soup, large soup, main course...duh!). But the finishing touches are beyond me.

I'll put a flower arrangement in the middle of the table and will be insanely proud of myself! I do know how to set the cutlery though! Luckily there are others who are much better than I at this sort of thing, but it is an aesthetic whose execution I simply do not possess, though I certainly appreciate it when I see it.

*I enjoy serving main courses in wide flat bowls. Things like stews and braises lend themselves to that, and it gives me an excuse to put a big spoon at every setting. Because I like eating with spoons...they are so efficient that sometimes I don't even have to pick up the bowl and lick it clean!

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One of significant flaws in our current malaise is the inability to recognize attacks on seemingly trivial and specific things as parts of a concerted effort to destabilize our society. So when a few lunatic vegans start ranting about how meat is evil, most people in America smile and move on. But it is vital that we defend our traditions -- and food is a huge and powerful tradition -- against all comers.

The Chinese have no problem with that, which is one reason why, in spite of their many internal problems, they are such a formidable opponent.

Here is a squishy moderate talking about the vigorous and powerful response to a couple of idiot Chinese actors criticizing their meat-eating culture, and touting vegetarianism as superior.

Chinese actors scolded for promoting 'Anti-China' vegetarianism

Meat is central to Chinese food, and a symbol of financial and cultural success. Attacks on it are seen as attacks on China, and that is simply unacceptable.

Imagine an America that responded in the same way!

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Yes, that is a photo of my kitchen garbage can with a container of expensive avocado oil in it. Depressing though it may be to toss food, if it is oxidized, it gets thrown out! That's one of the things that I am quite sensitive to, and I always taste my oils to make sure that they are still usable.

Luckily I had used most of it before it turned, but short of burning it in a lamp or making bio-diesel, there isn't much else to do with it.

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I made this a week or two ago, mostly because I had most of a half gallon of milk leftover from Thanksgiving, and as most of you know I am a cheap bastard and didn't want to waste it. Chicken in milk is a very easy dish, and even the most difficult and messiest part of the recipe (browning the chicken) can be managed if you use the smallest high-sided pot you have.

It's not perfect, mostly because Oliver chose easy over good. "Speed-peel" the lemon? No. Zest the lemon very carefully, making sure that you don't get any of the bitter pith, and the dish will turn out better. And spend the extra 15 seconds peeling the garlic. That's just silly to omit.

But it is worth a try, and the general technique is interesting.

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Pavés du Mail is a simple but astoundingly delicious dish that can be modified for almost any beef cut. Hell, I'll bet it would be pretty good with pork chops too.

If anyone is looking for an easy meal for Christmas or New Years, this may be it. Not only is it easily scaled from one to a dozen*, it can be made with really expensive tenderloin or much more manageable cuts like sirloin or carefully trimmed chuck or whatever floats your boat.

And the best part? It's flambéed! You can show off to your guests and set off the smoke alarm all at the same time!

Here is the PDF of the recipe.

*I had to cook it for 12 people, on the fly once! I bought some tenderloin roasts which I was going to grill with an herb crust. Easy...right? But the butcher cut them into steaks, so I made this dish, and it was really easy and really good.

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From our erstwhile bartender and good-'ol-boy Bitter Clinger comes a nice looking bowl of pinto beans and a deeply suspicious looking pan of cornbread. Why is it so small?

Actually, it looks pretty good, and I like how tall it is. I have made the mistake of using too wide a baking container and the corn bread dries out just a bit. Is there anything worse than dried cornbread?

He also has a lot of questions that are best answered by The Horde. Ignore the part about his girlfriend, since I think she is a figment of his imagination.

I baked a ham last week and had a leftover ham bone. In the South, that means one thing....a big ol' pot of pinto beans.

Take that ham bone and some dried pintos and put them on to simmer for 4 or 5 hours and you've got yourself something way better than anything in a can.

I served the girlfriend up a bowl with some cornbread and a few slices of onion for lunch along with a few slices of ham and some roasted potatoes. I was shocked when she said "Pinto beans and cornbread. That's like a southern thing, right?" (she was raised above the Mason-Dixon Line).

Made me wonder, is beans n' cornbread just a Southern thing or do they eat that as a meal anywhere else?

Also, what side dishes are acceptable as a meal? I've seen red beans n' rice treated both as a meal and a side dish. Is fried rice an entree? I could see it.

Mac n' cheese, no way. That's a side dish, I don't really care if you serve up some bourgeois version with lobster in it. Somebody says would you like the lobster mac and cheese and I'm like "Sounds great, is that a side dish for the steak?"

I will suggest that Mac&Cheese with pulled pork approaches main course status, although it really is a perfect side dish with fried chicken, so...
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[Hat Tip: Blake]

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Avocados sans thumbprints, beef short ribs that have meat on them (not the stupid little sliver of bone they sneak into the packages), carrots that don't taste like stalky chalk, spare bottles of Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year Old Bourbon, an herb garden that actually produces herbs (but no basil!), well-marbled NY strip steaks and elk backstrap to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

And don't think that you are off the hook with maple syrup and French Toast: I'm watching you...all of you! And I am watching you perverts who shake Manhattans and keeping a list for the Burning Times.