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Food Thread: Canada: What Is It Good For?

I'll be driving back from the frozen north during most of this thread, so please play nicely, and put your damned dishes in the dishwasher...or at least the sink!

The greatest expression of the oyster is raw, on the half shell, maybe with a bit of lemon, or mignonette (minced shallots and vinegar), or if you are a savage, cocktail sauce.

But there are other preparations that are delicious, and one of them is grilled or roasted with yummy stuff piled on top. New Orleans is a good place to go for that, and if you are stickler about that whole food-borne illness thing, roasted is probably the way to go with Gulf oysters, because they live in warmer waters that are more amenable to nasty stuff like Vibrio.

Aesthetically, I think raw cold water oysters are better anyway, so this works out pretty well for me. Which is fine, because as you read this I will be traveling back from America's Hat (thus the abbreviated Food Thread), whose only value as far as I am concerned is its oysters. And Poutine. I guess.

Hopefully I will have gorged myself on nice plump eastern Canada oysters and...um...that's it. Poutine is like Skyline Chili...better written about than eaten. They are both good for late-night meals after too much crap beer and jello shots. So if you are still in your early 20s...go for it!

Addendum: okay...I did have Poutine. It was a passed appetizer at a cocktail party, so I took one for the team! It was actually pretty tasty, but it really is a bit of a mess, no matter how well it is made.

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Are the risks in a typical American's life so trivial that the hysterics among us have to go after odors? ODORS!

Your Smoker Will Kill Us All [And it will be a lovely way to go! (CBD)]

This new exercise in doom speaking comes to us from NOAA, and if it comes from the government, it must be true! Right? According to a new study, the odors from cooking food are creating a danger that has heretofore gone "unrecognized and underappreciated" as a source of urban air pollution. The introduction to the study literally warns that if one can smell it, there is a good chance it is "impacting air quality."

Oh...shut the f*ck up.

We used to die of all sorts of nasty things. Food-borne illness. Starvation. War. Pestilence. Good old marauding tribes. Fires. Mine explosions.

Modern society has done such a good job of minimizing and sometimes eliminating those risks that the pinch-faced scolds of the regulatory/environmental state have nothing better to do than bitch and moan about the delicious aromas of our cooking foods.

As an old friend once said, "These people could f*ck up a wet dream."

[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]

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I have had gin made with seaweed. it was in Scotland, and it was local, and I had it in a dry martini to accompany some delicious Scottish oysters. So I may have been a bit biased, but I do remember enjoying it.

But this combines two things I like...Sous Vide AND drinking! Yippee!

Seaweed Gin Martini

I might have a quibble or two with the technique, and I absolutely have a major quibble with the martini recipe.

First, there is no reason to use a vacuum bag to warm alcohol and seaweed and lemon peel. Just toss it in a Mason jar with a good lid and you are all set. Second...anyone who makes a Three-to-One Martini is a savage, and should stick to silly drinks. A proper Martini -- a Man's Martini -- is Five-to-One. At least.

[Hat Tip: Kathy]

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Why Kielbasa? Well, for Mothers' Day I grilled a bunch of different sausages, in addition to sublime American hot dogs (skin-on of course). And one of them was Kielbasa, which was fantastic. This was not supermarket stuff, which is fine but nothing thrilling. This was from an excellent local place I have raved about before (The Swiss Pork Store in Fair Lawn NJ). Creamy Bean Soup With Kielbasa sounds delicious, especially with great sausage, so I will be trying this as soon as the weather turns brisk in...oh...five months. Somebody remind me to make this dish!
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[Hat Tip: Iris]

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Good butter, and Flap Meat...whatever the hell that is...just send it, Broccolini that isn't $6/bunch, garlic...lots of garlic!, well-marbled hanger steaks and elk chops to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls who shake their Manhattans? These 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 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.