I'm sure its like that here. Lots of farms around here. There are a couple of "mobile slaughters" in town with storefronts. I'm in a really small town so if the farms want their stuff slaughtered by someone else, I'm sure these are the businesses they use. This one place I'm reading online does mobile slaughtering, beef, pork, lamb, wild game, custom meat processing (this would apply to me I do believe), and has a retail selection as well. So I might hop over there see if they have pork belly already butchered and wrapped. It doesn't hurt to look at least. Their standard order form for pork looks like this: Spoiler Cuts Choose One: Pork Chops Yes/ No How many per pkg _______ Pork Steak Yes/ No How many per pkg _______ Pork Roast Yes/ No Spare Ribs Yes/ No Country Spare Ribs Yes/ No Smoked Picnic Yes/ No Smoked Ham Yes/ No Roast/Ham Slices or Both Smoked Bacon Yes/ No Ham Hocks Yes/ No Fresh Ham Yes/ No Fresh Side Pork Yes/ No Sausage Choose One: Mild Medium or Spicy I'm assuming those are also the cuts they have for retail. I'm sure they can do what I want but it probably costs more. Doesn't hurt to find out more info.
Ramen Recap: The chashu, ajitama, menma, and miso butter corn were totally worth it, easy, and so delicious. I just made one marinade for the eggs and bamboo shoots (soy sauce, mirin, bonito flakes, a little sugar and water), and who knew that mixing a tablespoon of butter and miso into corn would be so magical? I braised the chashu longer than it told me to, and it was so tender it was just falling apart. Plus the sauce left from braising it is AMAZING (soy sauce, sake, sugar, ginger, green onion). Not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it but it was too tasty not to keep. The broth was... fine? For my time, I think the good frozen ramen with decent flavor packets would have been about as good, and wouldn't have required 10 hours of stove time. Or maybe I needed to commit to even more time to really get that creamy richness that makes tonkatsu so decadent and yummy.
Anyone interested in doing a TiB cook-off or something while we’re all stuck at home? We pick one type of food and cook our own recipe and post pictures. I don’t know. I’m bored out of my mind.
Sure. What's the dish or food? I planned for a grocery pickup next week sometime. Maybe that'll give us time to get participants and ingredients.
I love that suggestion. I love making it, love eating it. Too bad we can't have taste tests in this contest. We could do desserts of some kind too, since a lot of that is presentation.
You should do an Iron Chef style contest, with the secret ingredient being something from the back of your pantry that hasn’t been seen for years.
What about the game where people list what weird food bits they have and we tell them what they can make? That's my favorite kitchen game.
How about just "comfort food"? Pick your poison and share what we all cook for comfort. I know some people find that concept foreign, but for me it's pretty core to being a kid in Canada's winter.
I actually really like that idea, as it gives each of us a chance to be ourselves, and bring what represents us to the table to share. Not really a competition, more of a show-and-tell.
I like this idea. Getting ready to make some beer bread with a coffee cream stout. My first submission should be ready in a few hours.
Actually I can do this one early, as I made it a few days ago. Call it “COVID hash.” Toss whatever is about to expire into a pan with some diced potatoes, little olive oil, cook until everything plays nice together then smother with cheese and hot sauce (not pictured is some ground turkey we added later). This kept us going for a bit. Riding that fine line where my wife and I still have to eat healthy for our exercise programs, but also the kids wanna eat something that doesnt suck. ingredients were basic: A few potatoes, diced Green bell pepper, diced Half a red bell pepper, diced Half an onion, diced Heaping spoonful of garlic Thyme to taste Sea salt and ground pepper Olive oil to coat the pan Ended up adding about half a pound of ground turkey. Then smothered it all with cheddar cheese and hot sauce.
I made a half batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies at 2am because why not? Trying to not eat them all immediately, don't need to gain the covid 19.
I also went the sousvide route. This is a chuck roast. I dry brined it. Sousvided it for 24 hours at 136. Cooled it off and patted it dry. Then seared in cast iron with avocado oil for 30 seconds of both sides. I paid $3 a pound for this. It tastes like a $20 strip. roasts don’t have to be braised into oblivion to be edible.
Creole style gumbo Spoiler Just got everything incorporated together, now it needs to simmer for a few hours before I put it away. It's better the next day, kind of like chili. Served with rice or a dollop of potato salad -- smooth, no lumps.