What's for Dinner?

[Ajmassa]

Worked late, and the girls are out for the night so I'm indulging a little. When people speak of "best cheesesteak" do not get caught up in the Pats and Genos hype. Steves Prince of Steaks is less crowded and is always amazing--I say the best. This is American witout. I am a loyal subject to the Prince! hopefully this second attempt is not upside down.

 

[ceeaton]

Worked late, and the girls are out for the night so I'm indulging a little. When people speak of "best cheesesteak" do not get caught up in the Pats and Genos hype. Steves Prince of Steaks is less crowded and is always amazing--I say the best. This is American without. I am a loyal subject to the Prince hopefully this second attempt is not upside down.

Fries look pretty good too! Is there some gravy on the fries??

 

[sour_grapes]

Tweaked PM's!

Oh, did you sub out the yeast on the crust for BM45?

 

[sour_grapes]

When people speak of "best cheesesteak" do not get caught up in the Pats and Genos hype.

I agree with you there, but in a slightly different way. No argument that The Prince offers mighty fine fare. But my argument is that nearly every local mom and pop pizza shop delivers a better-than-decent cheesesteak. Not that I have never had a bad steak, but the differences are generally pretty small. So when people travel to Philly and ask me where they should get their steak, I tell 'em to just take a chance on whatever local shop they come across.

Fries look pretty good too! Is there some gravy on the fries??

I'm thinking that is some whiz.

 

[ceeaton]

I'm thinking that is some whiz.

Never considered that, but upon applying some thought, you are probably correct. I went to Dickinson in Carlisle PA, and we had the Hamilton (aka. the Milt (letters blew off the building during Hurricane Agnes in 1972)), and the standard order was a Hotchee-burger special with 1/2 fries and 1/2 rings with gravy on the fries ( https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaur...nWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7&autoplay= ). So I naturally thought of gravy, not whiz. My bad.

 

[sour_grapes]

(aka. the Milt (letters blew off the building during Hurricane Agnes in 1972)

We were on a family vacation when Agnes blew through, so I didn't get to see it. We came home to lots of downed limbs and damaged trees. We had a plum tree in the backyard, and that blew only 1/2 over, so it remained growing at a 45 degree angle. We were very simian and arboreal in those days, but the slant made climbing that particular tree VERY easy!

 

[Ajmassa]

I agree with you there, but in a slightly different way. No argument that The Prince offers mighty fine fare. But my argument is that nearly every local mom and pop pizza shop delivers a better-than-decent cheesesteak. Not that I have never had a bad steak, but the differences are generally pretty small. So when people travel to Philly and ask me where they should get their steak, I tell 'em to just take a chance on whatever local shop they come across.



I'm thinking that is some whiz.

The guilt just hit me like a ton of bricks as I woke up on the couch with empty cheesesteak wrappers discarded on the table. Having a flashback to my early 20's.
Yep, that was whiz on the fries Craig. Steves is like the Soup Nazi. Cash only. 2 separate ordering windows: cheesesteak only, and then everything else. And just 2 options for cheese. Whiz or American. And they are very particular about ordering properly. Whiz wit, American witout etc.. Open till 3 am!
Pizza shop steaks are usually on point I agree. And about half the price too. Very rare to get a subpar steak here.

 

[sour_grapes]

2 separate ordering windows: cheesesteak only, and then everything else. And just 2 options for cheese. Whiz or American. And they are very particular about ordering properly. Whiz wit, American witout etc..

For years in my early 20's, I carried a Clark DeLeon article in my wallet that explained the proper ordering protocol ("cheese wit," "Steak witout," etc.) He described taking an out-of-town friend to Pat's, and the friend asked "What 'wit'?" In Clark's telling, the counter person turned to the other workers and said "We got another one, fellas." Then all the workers went up to the window and yelled at the guy "Wit onions, stooopid!" Then they went back to work.

 

[ibglowin]

Ohhh Myyy.......... LOL

So found this at Costco yesterday. "Prime" Whole Briskett for $3.99lb. Not sure what truck it fell out the back of...... "Choice" Brisket is $5.99lb at the local Smith's (Kroger). Tossed into the freezer for another weekend. This will be an all day affair on the Pit Boss with a 5:00AM start, maybe even earlier.

 

[ceeaton]

Ohhh Myyy.......... LOL

So found this at Costco yesterday. "Prime" Whole Briskett for $3.99lb. Not sure what truck it fell out the back of...... "Choice" Brisket is $5.99lb at the local Smith's (Kroger). Tossed into the freezer for another weekend. This will be an all day affair on the Pit Boss with a 5:00AM start, maybe even earlier.

That's large enough you could take a small hunk of it and make some basturma (pastrami). I'm thinking of making some if I can find the right cut of meat. Briskett is used in mom-n-pop delicatessens, bottom round in grocery deli sections. Just need to rub and let it marinate in it's juices for 3-5 days. I've done 7 days and it is heavenly. Smoke cook on low all day, yum. I just don't have a meat slicer anymore, so gotta use a knife (hard on my hands with arthritis starting up).

 

[Boatboy24]

I don't know how Costco sells those Prime briskets for so little, but they are ubiquitous.

 

[ibglowin]

Tonight was a cold Summer Salad night. Picked up some nice claw crab meat on our Costco run yesterday. Just a simple salad of iceberg lettuce, fresh tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and the crab meat with a ho-made dressing of mayo, chili ketchup, horseradish sauce and fresh black pepper. Went down well with a nice Domaine de Bendel French Rose'

 

[sour_grapes]

DW and I had a couple of lovely single ladies over, and I made a BBQ feast. I did an all-day chuck roast (with foil in the middle of the day) with simple seasonings. I made charred corn on the cob, served with a large dollop of an aioli made with charred corn, charred scallions, ho-made mayonnaise, roasted guajillo and chipotle peppers (roughly following this recipe). A guest brought small eggplants, so they went on the grill with olive oil. Also, a green salad with ho-made thyme/lemon/EVOO dressing. I also took the beef juices from the foil and threw together a BBQ sauce (juices, cider vinegar, garlic, ketchup, sugar, soy, hot sauce, some dry rub...). One of the guests brought a lovely sourdough bread from a local farmers' market. Yum!

The chuck turned out a little dry, at least on the less-marbled muscles, but altogether quite nice.

 

[Boatboy24]

Freezer/pantry diving tonight (again). Found some BSB's and will season them up "Italian Style" with some dried oregano and basil, S&P, garlic and onion powder and parsley. A quick grill on the Genesis. Will toss some Penne with EVOO, Parm, S&P and lemon zest. I'll find some kind of veg in the fridge, I'm sure.

Dreaming about Mike's crab salad though.

 

[ibglowin]

That was a fantastic summer salad and so simple to make. We have enough Crab left over that we are going to have Brown-Butter Crab Roll's with the rest of it sometime later this week!

Dreaming about Mike's crab salad though.....

 

[ibglowin]

This I gotta see!

Found some BSB's and will season them up "Italian Style"......

 

[sour_grapes]

Thank goodness I am not the only one who was confused by "BSB."

For the curious, I think he meant "boneless, skinless (chicken) breasts."

 

[sour_grapes]

I had a hankering for salmon, hopefully steak style, and luckily my grocery store complied. So I grilled a mixture of wax beans and green beans (EVOO, fennel, and coriander), and some Yukon gold 'taters (seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning). The salmon was marinated in soy and lime, then cooked hard on a really hot grill for 90 sec/side. I served it with some left-over ho-made aioli with guajillo chili peppers and charred scallions. Washed down with my Pinot Gris/Viognier 50/50 blend.

 

[Boatboy24]

That's a nice looking plate, Paul.

 

[ceeaton]

Starting the weekend smoking project. Bought a small flat of brisket at BJs this afternoon. Went to mix up the pastrami rub and noticed I didn't have any coriander or whole black pepper, so headed to the local Weis (closest store) to pick those up. Trimmed the underside of the brisket so I didn't have any fat more than 1/8" thick (per the Weber Virtual Bullet site). The rub recipe is from Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible - Sauces, Rubs and Marinates book (page 29 for those who own it, if you don't it is well worth it, can still get it on Amazon, I think). On Saturday late morning I'll wash 'er up and soak it twice in some water (to remove extra salt), then smoke cook it at 225*F until an internal temperature of 165*F is reached, then wrap and rest it in a cooler for a few hours. I've done this in the past (a really long time ago) and served hot sandwiches at a party I was invited too, went over well but beer consumption spiked because of the saltiness of the Pastrami, so I hope the added soak may help this issue out. Only doing ~ 2lbs since it's been a while and I want to make sure my method is worth a larger cut of meat.

I'll update with more images on Saturday when I get the smoker going and the beer flowing.