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Food Thread: One Side Dildo, One Side Only Please

It's rare that cooks of a certain age discover a new technique. That's not bragging, but if one is 29, then one has cooked a lot of meals and read a lot of recipes! But the French cooking term 'unilateral' is a new one for me, and I am damned glad I found it and tried it!

Here's a recipe for one variation of the technique, but it is so simple and obvious that you should try it posthaste!

I used the basic technique of cooking on one side only, but added the additional step of covering the pan so the fish poached gently. I used cod tenderloin, which can be a challenge to poach because it becomes ridiculously delicate very quickly. But this worked! I got a modest amount of color on the presentation side (the pan side), and the fish turned out perfectly cooked.

Of course people like Thomas Keller make it more complicated, but it's a great way to cook fish with relatively gentle heat.

I am writing the recipe I used, which by the way I will modify slightly the next time I make it, but damn, it was delicious and easy and took away most of the complexity of cooking fish...the protein is delicate and it overcooks and dries out quickly, in particular salmon, which is the most popular fish in America, and one that suffers when overcooked.

Well, I guess all food suffers when overcooked, but salmon is particularly unpleasant; dry AND flaky...an unpleasant combination. Anyway, for those of you who cook fish, try this out. It is easy and quick.

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Pay no attention to the inflation behind the curtain!

Anyone notice that butter is climbing, and eggs are back up to stupid levels?

I know this is beating a dead horse (or drooling imbecile), but my possibly forlorn hope is that America isn't accepting of the arrant nonsense oozing out of Washington with regard to inflation. It is so transparently false, and so insulting and condescending that even the apolitical masses must see it!

But I guess since gasoline is back down to only 50% more than during most of Trump's term we should be grateful!

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Commenter "Additional Blond Agent" sent that photograph (and a few more delicious-looking ones) Of his Christmas Beef Wellington!

Here are all the photos of the Tyler Florence Beef Wellington version we did for Christmas. As mentioned, the puff pastry pieces split on one end because I forgot the egg wash at that point. Otherwise, it turned out great. Next time, I think I'll take it to a final temperature of 135 deg. F rather than Tyler's recommendation of 128. We also did the brined green peppercorn sauce with the brandy flambe. Be aware that setting the saute pan back on the (electric) burner will make the flambe flare up. OTOH, if we just let it burn out off the stove as Tyler describes, I think the brandy flavor would have been a bit stiff. And last but not least, he describes using plastic wrap to form this beast. That works beautifully and we let the rolled beef/duxelles/proscuitto set in the fridge for about an hour before we applied the pastry.

All in all, quite a success.

That looks delicious, and the presentation and table are beautiful.

Yes, I am jealous!

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I have stopped linking to "Epicurious" because of their vile pandering to BLM, DEI, and the rest of the woke alphabet. But Weasel sent this video along, and it is informative and refreshingly apolitical. In fact, I would argue that sharp knives are a quintessentially Western idea, and should be rejected by the Alphabet mafia!

Knifemaker Explains The Difference Between Chef's Knives

It's worth a watch if you are a knife geek.

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Goose Pastrami! From a reader who regularly tortures me with delicious-looking foods, but curiously never invites me to dinner! I don't remember what screen name I used for him, so I will call him "Martin."

Those were made for a snack for a day of pheasant hunting, before the main course of grilled venison sausage.

Martin has a tough life.

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Oysters are back on the menu! I had a half dozen delicious Wellfleets last night, and no, they did not clash with the charcuterie. Or what passed for it...some excellent uncured salami, nice peppery sopressata, and a bit of excellent Irish Cheddar.

I have been unlucky with oysters recently, so I stopped buying them from my usual place. Whether they stopped being selective in their purchases, or I was unlucky (improbable...I had three subpar batches) is beside the point. I gave them another chance last night and they came through like champs!

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[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]

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The oyster imperative remains in effect, and send pork rib roasts with the pork belly attached, Broccolini that isn't $6/bunch (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?

But the real culprits are those poor deluded souls who shake their Manhattans.

However, I will give dispensation to those who use maple syrup on Brussels Sprouts! I tried that last week and it worked nicely. I still prefer Agave, but still...

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.