Shrieve me, shrieve me! But not until I've eaten this Mardi Gras pancake. Batter rose overnight with yeast yet has baking powder AND soda, plus eggs for maximum leavening. I even swapped in heavy cream for half the milk. It soaks Quebecois maple syrup and butter like a sponge. One is enough.
#food Pork belly confit seared crispy, on a bed of sauerkraut, mixed-berry agridolce. I'm proud of the sauce: shallots sweat in butter, mixed berries, port wine, sugar, MSG, pepper, cinnamon stick, star anise, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, simmered, strained and reduced. Powerful stuff.
#food PIZZA! Detroit-style w/ red pizza sauce, shaved onions, pepperoni, green olives, soy-braised sliced meatballs, confit pork belly, gouda & parmesan & cheddar cheeses, dried oregano & thyme, onion & garlic powders, MSG, salt, pepper. 80% hydration dough 4-day fridge fermented. Delicious!
#food Oyster-sauce lacquered pan-seared chicken thighs (start in COLD PAN to render crispy skin, then finish in the oven). Rice. Cauliflower gratin, with a sauce of cheese and béchamel (both home-made), crispy top made of buttered, spiced panko and RENDERED CHICKEN SKIN fried to crispy bits.
#food Recombination! Here's a store-bought flour tortilla I shallow fried in home-rendered lard, topped with my home-refried beans, taco sauce, scallions, shredded cheese and my twice-cooked crispy pork belly confit, chopped to bits and crisped in lard AGAIN. Mexican pizza?
#Food Just processed 18+ pounds of pork belly. All the fat I could conceivably remove is now cut into small cubes and is in the big pot slowly being rendered into nice, pure, unseasoned lard. That lard will confit some cube of pork belly I have seasoning overnight in the fridge. Yum!
#food EXPERIMENT! Very similar meatballs to yesterday's classic Cantonese soup, but I cooked them like an Italian grandmother would, to golden+brown+delicious in a dry oven; parsley potatoes, rich brown gravy. Interesting flavors of China in a "meat & taters" context. Darn delicious!
#food Light classic Cantonese soup: pork meatballs (with pickled mustard greens) in a rich chicken broth with white pepper and big chunks of daikon radish, scallions to garnish. Sometimes you don't want rice or noodles or bread, you want cleansing, clear, healthy, easy, delicious but nourishing.
