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[hiheat]

Mu Shu Pork

Shrimp and Eggplant with baby Bok Choi

[hiheat]

TIL about cryo-shucking oysters!

[hiheat]

Keto pizzas. Crust by ThinSlim.

Soppresata/onion and Hawaiian.

[hiheat]

Keto Adana (lamb) kebab. Served with oven fried cauliflower and bell pepper salad, with homemade tzatziki. Yummers!

While researching this recipe, i learned that kneading the salted, ground meat actually causes a desired texture change. Exactly the opposite of what you want in burgers (loose, fatty tender meat), by kneading the lamb for about 5 minutes you get a dense chewy kebab. Interesting that the technique is so important here.

[hiheat]

Reblog to let your followers know that they’re safe from jumpscares/screamers/etc from you on April 1st but they are NOT safe from getting boop’d like an idiot amen

[hiheat]

St Patrick's Day meal:

Classic corned beef brisket, braised cabbage, sweet potatoes, whipped turnips, mixed veggies and Irish soda bread.

Reuben sandwiches with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and rye bread the next day!

[hiheat]

Rare repost. I gave not yet verified this information but i wanted to retain it.

you know how all those applesauce packets were recalled for lead?

well. it turns out the cinnamon used in them may have been laced with lead on purpose.

fun times in the united states food industry right now am I right folks

[hiheat]

20 pound USDA Prime Rib roast. Dry rub with black pepper, kosher salt, thyme, garlic and rosemary. Roasted at 300 for 4 hours to 120F internal, left to rest, then crisped at 550F for 5 minutes.

Christmas Eve, 2023

Happy Eating!

[hiheat]

Thanksgiving charcuterie platter.

There's several tricks to these plates,, if you're interested:

1. Variety of ingredients. You don't need a lot of one specific thing, rather you want a wide variety of flavors, textures, and colors. Choose high quality elements, like fresh deli meats rather than prepacked meats and cheeses for best impact.

2. Acidic / fatty balance. Many meats and cheeses by themselves are high in fat and eaten alone will coat the palate. Including acidic / marinated / citrus elements will help cleanse the palate and prevent the fat from being too cloying

3. Layers. Make sure you lay your product down in layers that are easily accessible but also add elevation to the dish. Start with a base layer and build up. Leafy greens,, fresh herbs, or large deli slices all make good base layers. Lay simple geometry (lines, arcs, etc.) to start, saving complexity for the top layers. Using the third dimension makes your end result more exciting and visually appealing.

4. Finishing. Reserve some visual elements for finishing touches. Fresh parsley/dill, roasted peppers, olives,, pepidews, cornichons, honeycomb, capers etc.. all add little pops of color and texture to the top of the dish and will also flavor the elements below.

I hope these tips help!

[hiheat]

Gnocchi Carbonara - made with leftover mashed potatoes!

[hiheat]

Apple Crisp

Followed this recipe but added a bunch of spices to the apples:

Real and fake cinnamon

Cloves

Allspice

Powered ginger

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/12409/apple-crisp-ii/

[hiheat]

DIY Sushi night. Lots of maki. Raw ingredients: salmon, tuna, octopus, uni, flying fish roe, pickled daikon, seaweed salad, and cucumber. Also shrimp and pork dumplings.

[hiheat]

Paneer! I've never tried making it myself.

And a cheese press -- OOoooo! 😲

I hate that i covet single-purpose kitchen gadgets!

if i also had the bread machine going i'd be at maximum kitchen productivity

[hiheat]

Life cycle of an apple pie! Served warm with butter pecan ice cream and caramel sauce.

I used this recipe and was fairly pleased! These were Granny Smith and Empire apples.

I added a few additional spices but other than that,, this was a solid recipe. The crust recipe is linked in the the top of this one.

Happy Eating!

[hiheat]

Damn. #truth

[hiheat]

Heirloom Kitchen, Old Bridge NJ

My wife and I enjoyed an absolutely first class dining experience today at Heirloom Kitchen in Old Bridge, NJ.

Food was good, almost shockingly good. I was taken aback at the subtlety of just about every dish we were served. Atmosphere was clean and quirky, somewhere at the intersection of cottagecore, industrial, and kitch. Service was top notch, attentive and professional, from a brigade that couldn't have been much older than my teenage sons.

The menu was a four course prix fixe, including dessert ($89 pp). Tonight's menu featured three or four choices for each course, so we had (difficult!) choices to make. As usual, we ordered extras: a stuffed bread course (which was amazing, both sweet and savory, with onion jam and a whipped feta spread), as well as two a la carte dishes as an additional course, (which the staff sequenced perfectly, despite our last minute addition).

Our first course was a raw cured snapper served in watermelon lime broth and a chicken liver mousse served on brioche. The snapper was served like ceviche, cured in citrus, but served over a vivid red watermelon broth. The flavor of the lime oil popped with the crisp texture of the fish, and rode nicely over the sweetness of the watermelon.

The toasted brioche was topped with a modest shmear of a velvety chicken liver mousse, which would have been a sensational pairing all by itself. But the bite was taken up several notches with the addition of pickled veg, micro cilantro, and emulsified jalapeno on the plate. The acidic and mildly-spicy pop was so helpful to cut the cloying fattiness that normally comes with chicken liver. Very well balanced and clever to keep the spicy element separate on the plate, allowing the diner to dial in their preferred level of heat.

Course number two consisted of grilled octopus and a baked squash. The octopus dish was a master class in the Maillard reaction: just about every item on the plate was cooked to caramelization, but not a single element had that burnt flavor you get when something is left in the pan a few minutes too long. Eggplant, nuts, capers, potato, and even the za'atar - each cooked to its own smoky sweetness then combined perfectly in a harmony like an exquisite campfire.

The Delicata squash was served in tender cubes over acorn squash rendered as a mousse and had several different textures across the dish. The apple mostarda complimented the squash in both a expected yet surprising way. That familiar homey flavor of simple baked apples with squash and cinnamon took on a much more sophisticated demeanor in this context.

Our third course was a pan-seared fluke and a pork belly deconstructed "tamale". The fish had a great crust and flavor, but could have maybe used one minute less in the pan. But we like our fish under rather than over, so it might have been personal preference. The pepperoni butter was the most surprising element, and one we are going to try to replicate. Each of the other elements - the cassoulet, the sofrito, and the caponata - were executed well enough to stand on their own; in combination, they supported the fluke without overwhelming it.

The pork belly was cooked "birria" style, a slow-cooked stew with meat and spices. This dish was clever and incredibly flavorful, with a generous portion of extremely moist and tender pork belly. The corn portion of the deconstructed tamale was served central to the dish, as a simple rectangle covered in the mole sauce. I enjoyed the texture that the corn and wax beans added to the dish, especially given the silky tamale/mole centerpiece. My only wish was that they had gone with a birria "tatemada" style of cooking, where the pork belly was crisped up after being stewed. I missed the sensation of crispy pork fat in my tamale, and I worry that the large moist fat cap on the pork belly might turn off some patrons. But that's just a tiny tweak, not at all a complaint.

Our bonus course consisted of a pasta dish (Sorpresine), and the duck breast we thought we had to sacrifice in lieu of the pork belly. When our server told us in casual conversation that we could add dishes a la carte, we jumped at the chance to fill in with some of the dishes we had missed. Sorpresine (meaning "little surprises") is sort of an unstuffed version of ravioli. Just folded and cooked, this pasta was served with a sticky-sweet peach agrodolce, tiny tomatoes, and a very moist stracciatella cheese, sister to ricotta. We were so pleased we were able to get this complex yet rustic dish into our menu. It simultaneously felt subtle and lush in my mouth while being reminiscent of Sunday dinners at my grandma's house.

The duck breast was served in a Jamaican style, with a dry jerk rub, a habanero jus sauce, and braised cabbage and squash. The large portion of duck breast was cooked perfectly medium rare, a lovely light warm pink in the center. We cut it into medallions, and smeared each through the spicy jus. While I loved the flavor, I really wanted a more substantial jerk sauce, sticky and clinging to the meat. This dish had such an island inspiration but fell slightly short on the thin jus. The cabbage was tasty but slightly overly-salted to my palate. All of the other flavors were spot on, however, and I wouldn't hesitate to order it again.

Last course was dessert: we had the hush puppies, and the inspired combination of basil mousse/olive oil cake/Parmesan ice cream. I have to admit I wasn't wild about the hush puppies. Served with caramel popcorn and a smear of creme "elote" anglaise, this clearly chef-inspired dessert fell flat for me. I wanted more fresh in-season fruit, instead of the one lonely bit of peach and gooseberry. I wanted more delicious sauce, instead of the tiny smear. The hush puppies and popcorn were fine but their focus should have been reversed, IMO.

The other dessert was a delightful exercise in contradiction and challenging your preconceptions. Basil mousse, parmesan ice cream, olive oil cake, pine nut brittle - this sounds like the ingredients to a nice savory pesto dish, not a dessert. However, here's a chef's dessert that knocked the ball out of the park on so many levels. The olive oil cake was a moist platform for the ice cream and a tart lemon curd. The pine nut brittle paired as expected with the basil ice cream but the surprise was that it works as a sweet dessert as well as in a savory main. This dish was just over-the-top clever in its conception, almost like it was the response to a dare: "Make a pesto dish, but dessert - go!" However the good balance of sweetness and acid from the lemon and texture from the brittle, all melting together and soaking into the tight crumb of the cake was so startling in its "challenge accepted", perfect execution.

Again, service staff was exquisite, more attentive than many restaurants asking twice the price. Busers were on the move continuously but not obtrusive. Runners knew their food preparation and could answer questions thoughtfully. Our server was funny, engaging, offering her own thoughts and opinions while remaining thoroughly professional throughout

Decor was an interesting mix. Edison bulbs, black fixtures and flatware. Seating that matched but also seemed to come from a yard sale. A library of cookbooks and an open kitchen all contributed to the informal, casual feel. I thought the music was at times a bit too loud for easy conversation though. Our server told us the restaurant started life as a cooking school, and in fact still offers cooking and baking classes, as well as a multi-course tasting experience on Sundays.

Please forgive the extensive review here. I feel like this restaurant is quite possibly one of the best in the state. More than being a "hidden gem", this experience was easily a 5-star fine-dining experience, tucked into a little strip mall off Route 9 in Old Bridge. I literally do not know if they're aware of the incredibly high quality of the experience they offer, and the value you get as a patron. But I suggest you bring an adventurous palate and a few friends for dinner at Heirloom Kitchen before they wise up, put linen tablecloths over their neat wooden tables, and double the prices. But even if that happens, you can count on seeing me there (just wearing my jacket and tie).

Happy Eating!

[hiheat]

I did not know this, and it's food related.

This is your annual reminder that activated charcoal in drinks, food, or as a supplement renders most medications ineffective! Don’t let spooky season partying surprise you with an unwanted pregnancy or worse this year!