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Food Thread: The Maillard Reaction, And Other Glories Of Western Civilization...Like The Reuben!

What to do when one's grill and patio are under a foot of snow? Reverse sear of course! That is a good supermarket NY Strip that I warmed in a 225 degree oven for about an hour, until it reached 110 degrees internal. Then into a ripping hot pan for a minute on each side, and that's it! I tossed some butter in for extra flavor, and while there is nothing wrong with butter, I'm not sure it needed it.

What I like about this technique is that there is almost no margin. The steak goes from crispy exterior to perfectly rare interior in a matter of a millimeter or so. NO gray band of overdone meat.

It's not foolproof...it is tempting to over sear it in the pan, and you will absolutely get an overdone steak. Less is definitely more in this case.

I have a sear station on my grill, and as soon as I shovel out the patio, I will be playing around with it to see whether it is a quicker and better way to get the glory of the Maillard Reaction on steak.

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Lobstering seems like a tough way to make a living. It's not quite as dangerous as going for King Crab in the Bering sea, but it suffers the vagaries of economics of a luxury product that is also highly regulated by malignant retards in government.

Or, maybe it is a way to extend one's life! Maine's 'lobster lady' Virginia Oliver, who worked decades in the lobster industry, dies at 105. That's a long time, and she seems to have made a pretty good life of it.

I was going to snark about the stupidity of the article, but my guess is that Virginia wouldn't have minded it, so why should I

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I see this sort of article many times each week, and the combination of mostly nonsensical biomedical research, even dumber journalists trying to interpret the studies, and the very obvious klickbait makes me carefully avoid most of them. But I really like the premise of
Dark Chocolate Relaxes Blood Vessels and Boosts Mood—How to Maximize Benefits, because obviously the way to maximize the benefits of dark chocolate is to eat dark chocolate, and I am solidly in favor of that.

But I'll let you in on a secret...I would still eat dark chocolate even if it wasn't of some health benefit. In fact, I would eat dark chocolate even if it were bad for me. Because it tastes good!

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a restaurant called "Bishop G. Berkeley's," which served a kick-ass Reuben sandwich. Now, this was a long time ago, and my taste might not have been as attuned to food quality as it is now, so it might just have been a very, very large Reuben sandwich!

But even if that were true, it is a good idea for a sandwich, and with minimal effort one can make a very tasty approximation of a great one. So why bother with this amazingly stupid idea? Delicious Reuben Casserole not only sounds pretty crappy, it is a fair amount of work in comparison to constructing a traditional sandwich.

The real reason I am plaguing you with this silliness is that Misanthropic Humanitarian plagued me with it, and I will not suffer alone!

[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]

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This video was sent to me by a reader, who didn't include his nic, so I will call him "KM." I had seen the title on my YouTube feed, but ignored it because I figured it was nonsense, or an ad, or nonsense AND an ad.

But I watched it carefully and wow...it sure sounds like a great idea. Sadly, I do not have an instant pot, or even an old fashioned pressure cooker (the same thing), so I will have to decide whether I want to invest the $100+ just to see whether this stock is better than my own recipe.

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Sazeracs are great drinks, but only when made carefully by a solid bartender. The recipe is simple, but any deviation is fraught with danger, because the delicate balance between bitters and rye and sugar and absinthe is easily disturbed.

As for recipes? This ain't one! The Sazerac from Garden & Gun, which is usually a solid website, is terrifyingly hip and modern, and it should be discarded as an artifact of our decaying society.

Try this one instead.

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Monkey Heads!
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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!

In case it doesn't send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! 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.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!