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Food Thread: Leeks And Bacon: Copyright CBD 2023

If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek!

-- William Shakespeare, Henry V

Leeks are tasty. Leek soup is marvelous, crispy leeks as a garnish are great, and something I had forgotten (but was reminded by Pete Bog); roasted leeks are delicious, especially when cooked with copious quantities of chicken fat and drippings!

And for whatever reason they are fairly pricey, which makes no sense to me because they are easy to grow. My parents grew them in their garden, and they just sort of...grew. No work required.

But my local produce place has tons of them for a reasonable price, and I have been playing around with them recently.

Pro-tip: leeks sauteed in butter until they are tender are up there with bacon as a universal garnish.

Wait! Bacon AND leeks!

I am a culinary genius!

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Ahhh...Bidenflation...what can't it f*ck up!

I occasionally make an easy dinner of roasted (or sauteed) Gulf shrimp on a bed of cannellini beans that I tart up with stuff (and then cook down into a lovely, smooth consistency). Yes, I am lazy, but it is delicious, and takes about five minutes to prepare.

I have discovered that like many of their products, Goya canned beans are the best around. They used to be $1/can on sale, and they were often on sale.

But that was the "Before" times, when ORANGE MAN BAD was president, and inflation was tame. Now? $2.29/can.

I will happily criticize Donald Trump's responsibility for our current inflation...he clearly was not a fiscal conservative. But the current regime owns the lion's share of responsibility, because they have simply ignored even the lip service that most administrations pay to spending control.

I would consider beans a staple, and other staples have skyrocketed too. Flour? Up 50%, as is sugar. Hell...even arugula is out of control!

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I mentioned a "Five Minute Bread" recipe recently, and I tried it a couple of times. Eh...it substitutes high hydration for kneading and gluten development. I guess the assumption is that all that water will create tons of steam, which will replace the bulk created during a rise.

But it doesn't work all that well, and as you can see in the photograph, high hydration dough is a bitch to work with. And by "bitch," I mean almost impossible.

And to make matters worse, they tell me that the dough will continue to develop flavor for two weeks! Yeah...maybe, but it also loses whatever structural integrity it once had, so while the bread was tasty, it was a gloppy, impossible mess to work. But that's okay...I learned something new!

Never fight a land war in Asia.

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From commenter "San Franpsycho," who was in the neighborhood and went to eat at this restaurant. That's called "putting your money where your mouth is!"

The placemats were a "Greece ❤️ Israel" design. Four big plate glass windows completely covered.

Portrait of a Mensch: Peter Tsadilas, Owner of the Golden Dolphin Diner (Huntington, NY)

The Golden Dolphin Diner
365 W Main St
Huntington, NY 11743
(631) 351-9680

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From commenter: "TonyPete."

I don't know why exactly but this pic struck me as the most Horde like food image that I've seen in a long time. Perhaps you can use it.

Ps - it was delicious! (Sausage and scrapple)

Childish? Sophomoric? And yes, I laughed!
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Speaking of leeks, I looked for a recipe for a leek/tomato relish, and this turned up. I played fast and loose with the recipe, but there is no reason why it won't work very nicely as written.

Halibut with Roasted Leeks and Tomatoes

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The oyster imperative remains in effect, and send pork rib roasts with the pork belly attached, carrots that don't taste like stalky chalk (and speaking of vegetables; were all of our snap peas stolen by space aliens?), garlic...lots of garlic! (and basil! My basil did not do well this year!), well-marbled hanger steaks and elk chops 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: so why don't you put maple syrup on your steaks and chops and chicken?

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.