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Food Thread: Labor Day Edition.
[Wow...That Came Quickly!]

I took a friend shooting* yesterday, and part of the morning's festivities was breakfast afterwards, here at stately Chez Dildo.

Of course bacon featured prominently, and it was particularly good...Neuske's bacon is a fine, fine thing!

Coffee was problematic, because my friend is even more of a coffee snob than I am, and talked constant sh*t as I was making it. He was shocked that I used close-to-boiling water. He claims to use sub 200 degree water for his coffee, which made me reevaluate our friendship.

Anyway, I made an omelet with a different technique. I whisked the eggs, then poured them into a medium-low pan that had been liberally doused with butter (and yes, a splash or three of the bacon fat because I am not a savage), then instead of letting the eggs set I used a spatula and kept breaking up the forming curds for about 45 seconds. The eggs were still extremely liquid, but had begun to take shape. Then I let it sit undisturbed while I sprinkled some goat cheese all over the surface.

Hey...I was winging it! I had seen it in a restaurant but had never tried it myself.

Then when it was mostly cooked I simply folded it onto a plate. It worked wonderfully! I was fearful of an ugly and lumpy looking omelet, but it turned out rather well, and the taste was quite nice. I am not sure about goat cheese because it is so tart, but it certainly was good enough to enjoy.

I under-cooked it by about 15 seconds, but I don't mind runny eggs.

The moral of the story is that there is rarely just one way to make something. Technique will trump a recipe every time!

* CZ TS2 because damn! It's fun to shoot. And an H&K VP9 with a red dot that need zeroing (I'm still on the fence about red dots on pistols). And we ended with a very light-weight AR build I finished last year but didn't do much with. I zeroed the Red dot (I LOVE them on rifles) and tried a couple of different magazine brands.

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Here is a lawyer's take on food safety, and while I guess there is a place for sleazy, ambulance-chasing personal injury attorneys, he is pretending to be some sort of food safety crusader. Never mind that our food is quite safe, and probably the safest in history. It's not perfect, will never be perfect, but most people involved in food production in America try to be conscientious and do a good job. Tarring the entire industry with the failures of a few is typical of the plaintiff's bar, and confuses the real issue.
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That's on the menu for tomorrow, and a simpler, more pleasing side dish is hard to come by. Hell, half the time I forget to put salt or butter on, and it's still delicious!

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Speaking of corn, this is from commenter "TonyPete." It's simple, and has real possibilities.

I made a corn pie for supper tonight. Nope, not a euphemism. Fill a proper pie shell (lard crust of course) with butter, fresh corn stripped from the cob and add a bit of milk, butter, S&P, and you can cut up a few hard boiled eggs into it. Oh, did I mention mo butter? Put a lid on it and bake it hot for 10 minutes and then back off the heat for 25 minutes more. Delicious!

I know it sounds strange, but I decided to get back in touch with my PA German roots. Grammi made it all the time during last summer.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? I think I might give it a try, but maybe tart it up a bit with some cream and eggs to make a custard.
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No...I don't grow that stuff because I can't grow a damned thing. But I do buy it for my minimalist take on Ratatouille. My recipe for Ratatouille got so cumbersome (roasting the vegetables separately) that I stopped making it!

Instead, I just cut up zucchini and squash (or squash and zucchini?) into chunks and salt them to drain a bit of liquid. While that is happening I saute a lot of rough chopped onion in olive oil until it is just browning, then I toss in the vegetables with a ton of olive oil and crank the heat, tossing until the vegetables soften and start browning. Meanwhile I add some dried oregano, thyme, mild chile powder, (I use Ancho, but anything will work) salt and pepper to whatever tomato I have handy. If it is fresh? Great! If it is out of a can? Also great. I use an immersion blender to smooth the tomato...also with a ton of olive oil (see the trend?)

Then dump the tomato into the pan, saute a bit until it thickens, check the salt, and eat! It's easy, tastes great, and leftovers are even better!

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The oyster imperative remains in effect, especially now that we are in the summer months. Yup, I'm not afraid of oysters in the summer! (Except that my usual source was sold out, so I am an oysterless Dildo, and you know how bad that is!) And send 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, garlic...lots of garlic! (but no basil! My basil is not doing well this year!), 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.

And yes, I used to demand fancy bourbon, but let's face it, $1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.