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Food Thread: Two Degrees Of Separation

I am a big fan of thick cuts of meat, and a good pork chop, cut thick from the interesting end of the loin is a delicious way to indulge that!

Ignoring the frenched bones, which is a crime against nature and should be banned from polite society, that chop looks good!

I Sous Vide thick chops for about four hours at 137 degrees with Rosemary, Thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Then chill them to firm them up, coat them in a Dijon mustard and honey glaze, and grill for a few minutes until they are crisp and toasty.

But there are certain revanchist elements here at Chez Dildo that seek to return to the bad old days of overdone pork, because at 137 degrees the dark meat on a chop looks like it is rare. It isn't, but nobody listens to me!

Anyway, I have bumped the temperature up a few degrees to 139, and while there is definitely a difference, I am unsure which is better.

The moral of the story is that change isn't necessarily a bad thing, even with solid recipes that have worked for a long time!

Just keep your filthy syrup off my French Toast...

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I have no idea who gave me an electric pepper grinder. I have no idea why anyone would think it is a good idea. But serendipitously I was given some absolutely spectacular Cambodian black pepper, and I thought, "What the hell!"

It takes four batteries, is illuminated, doesn't grind very fast, and is loud. But I am a cheap bastard and didn't toss it, and now I have a use for it!

How many of you have cooking and food gifts just laying around? No real purpose for them, but it seems disrespectful to toss them...

By the way, I didn't have any idea that there was such a difference in quality in pepper. The supermarket pre-ground stuff is crap, but even the whole pepper doesn't stand a chance against this Cambodian stuff. It's even better than the peppercorns I get from my spice supplier.

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Yes, I am a wine snob (or at least I used to be), and I have fancy glasses for various kinds of wine. I also have nice beer glasses, but I changed my mind at the last second and didn't feel like swapping an everyday wine glass for an everyday pint glass.

And you know what? The beer tasted great! Laziness has its advantages!

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In last week's Food Thread, commenter "Kathy" mentioned "Never the Same" Wagyu Meatballs from a joint in Waltham Massachusetts, which is a city just outside of Baahston.

There are about three million meatball recipes, but this one looks to be right at the top. And what a clever idea! The place, called Moody's Deli, uses their extra deli meat in addition to some Wagyu beef to make them, and that obviously adds all sorts of interesting flavors. But wait...there's more! They use a great looking wood fired oven to give the meatballs a kiss of smoke. That's cheating, and I am jealous. Here's a video, which unfortunately is embedded in Facebook. Sorry. Moody's Meatballs

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Here is another installment in the never-ending series on "Don't Tart Up Simple Food!"

It's a dip. Made from Velveeta and canned chilies. That's it. Nothing complicated, although if you really want to be snooty and highfalutin, you could add sausage.

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Just send me oysters. Lots of oysters, and I will provide special dispensation for those without taste who insist upon maple syrup with their French Toast. And pork rib roasts from the front end of the pig where all the good and fatty meat lives, 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 the rest of you are off the hook with maple syrup and French Toast: I'm still watching you! And I am watching you perverts who shake Manhattans and keeping a list for the Burning Times.