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Food Thread: Rice? Lowly Rice? And Corn? Even Lowlier!

Rice is great! And there are all sorts too. There are perfumed rices and short-grained and long-grained rices and all thousands of ways to prepare them. No wonder, it is one of the most valuable food crops in the world (#1 according to the UN). So lots of people eat lots of rice, but I rarely eat it, because my preferred dish is Risotto, and that takes a fair amount of time. And I tend to eat the entire pot and stick my head into the container to lick it clean....

So..why am I thinking about Risotto? Because I had some yesterday for lunch with a dear friend, and now I can't stop thinking about it! And to make matters worse, commenter "Doof" sent me a photo of his dinner last night, and now I have two of my favorite foods on repeat in my head!

Yeah...shrimp and grits, and a particularly delicious-looking version. He has promised to get the recipe and share it with the class, so keep nagging him until he coughs it up.

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One of the ways I have improved my cooking is to buy ingredients without some plan for them. Sure, I'll look ahead and buy stuff for meals I want to make, but if I am wandering through the store and see something interesting or on sale or new, then I will probably toss it into my basket without another thought. Sometimes that bites me in the ass, but sometimes I have to stretch my cooking skills or meld a couple of recipes or techniques...and that is the fun stuff.

It doesn't have to be elegant or complex or expensive. One of our meals last week was chicken thighs with a lemon sauce. But I wanted to make the skin cracklingly crisp, and I have had only limited success with that. So I tried a different technique, and to top it off I make a quick pan sauce with loads of lemons and lemon juice. The whole thing took five minutes of prep and five minutes of active cooking. And about $3 because the thighs were on sale.

Cheap, easy, tasty, and new. I call that a success.

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I find most eating contests to be disgusting, but this guy doesn't take himself seriously and is unfailingly polite. Plus, he's pretty funny. beardmeatsfood is strangely amusing to watch. Nothing much happens other than him eating monstrous amounts of food, but it's oddly pleasing in small doses.
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This is loads of fun, although a bit too long for a quick peek. We try to match Churchill drink for drink... send help

And it's not nonsense. Churchill really did drink that much every day. I think the secret was moderation. never too much at once...just a lovely and consistent amount throughout the day and evening. He did okay, especially between 1940 and 1945, so perhaps his intake should be the norm!

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Is bologna my favorite cold cut? No, but I won't scoff at it. I have had plenty of it, especially on whit bread with a big smear of mayo (Hellman's of course) and sometimes a slice of American cheese. And not that post-modern bullsh*t white stuff. All right-thinking people know that the orange stuff is the only way to go!

Time To Set The Record Straight About These Bologna Myths

Actually...I love ALL cold cuts. I want a big charcuterie platter as my last meal. Well, with a good steak. And some Risotto. A great loaf of sourdough might be nice too. And oysters! I forgot oysters!

[Hat Tip: Weasel]

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Eat whatever foods you like cooked in whatever manner pleases you. Just don't cook a great steak to shoe-leather in front of me or I might cry.

[Hat Tip: Blake]

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[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]

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Flap Meat...whatever the hell that is...just send it, Broccolini that isn't $6/bunch, 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. These are are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

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.