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I really don't know what to say.. Part of me is unable to comprehend why I have never had this 'cut' before.

Pulled bison, anyone? PXL_20221204_022347408.jpg
There is no organ flavor. I would believe you if you told me it was beef, chicken, pork, or cat :oops: in the tacos. It was very neutral. Tender and delicious!

The crispy seared bits were rich, but wonderful. Likely a truly acquired taste, where now it is pleasant, but next round appreciated for its subtleties and texture.. Almost like a really thick bacon. Crispy outside, and tender within.

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Salted one side, I would do double next round.

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I treated the tacos as the starch, I thought it would be too rich for a full meal without tacos. I ended up eating three tacos. Its not liver be any means. There are so many ways to bring more to it. Braised in wine, cooked as is with mushroom or any sauce.. I just didn't want to mask the flavour on the first round, there is so much to work with. @Boatboy24 !! You were gonna follow my lead, I believe?

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Honestly, beyond good.
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The dog got the skin. He was also impressed. There is also potential for the broth after simmering. I'll let you know what I decided for that tomorrow.

Charlie is a legend around here. Kind of the company mascot. Everyone loves him. Probably because this is excitement level 8. He is just a dude. You almost have to feel like you have let him down for only sharing something so good.
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definitely a revisit!
 

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Looking like some wet weather on and off for the next week or so. Found a somewhat fire sale flat iron steak (only $7.50/lb vs $14.00/lb), so decided to cook up some beef and broccoli. Have a gluten intolerant son in the house, so also noticed some fresh oysters knocked down to $9 for I think 8 oz. Found a recipe for oyster sauce on the internet, made it and added to the beef dish. Noticed last time I made it when the GF kid was at work that commercial oyster sauce added a lot of flavor to the dish.

Well, found out quickly that ho-made oyster sauce actually tastes like oysters in a good way. Next time I use it (remaining sauce should keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks) I will probably cut the amount in the recipe back by 1/3 at least. I loved the flavor, waiting for the "a bit too much oyster flavor" from the house occupants eating upstairs at the kitchen table.

At my age, oysters in my diet are probably not a bad thing, lol. Plus my son who is visiting for a few weeks from Alaska (Air Force) said it was great. Beef was grilled first before being added and was incredibly tender. Jasmine rice used as normal.

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Yum!

Edit: Haven't heard a too much oyster flavor comment yet, I may have escaped by hitting the max oyster sauce threshold w/o crossing into enemy territory.
 
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I haven't made anything interesting recently, other than pizza last night. Tonight is chicken and biscuits -- boneless thighs browned and simmered, I'll be thickening the broth (white wine + chicken stock) with flour, and we have steamed broccoli.

chicken-n-biscuits.jpg

If the kids were here, I'd double or triple the biscuit batch.
 
If the kids were here, I'd double or triple the biscuit batch.
My youngest daughter would have put those down in a few minutes and asked if there were anymore, lol (fyi, those look really good). She's 15 1/2, almost as tall as I am (within an inch), and though I used to think she was going to turn into a hot dog, I now think a loaf of bread or a pancake is more realistic (thinking more, a baguette, she's pretty thin for her height). She has more of my wife's side genes, a stick of butter and a few slices of bread are considered a meal.
 
Mrs WM81 said "ok" (meaning "meh") when I told her what I was making. Just not excited. She appreciates my cooking and has had a busy day, so having me cook makes her evening easier, but she had been hoping I'd make chicken and dumplings (which I made last week).

Then she took a bite.

And raved about it. Told me to make it again.

Chicken, salt, pepper, white wine, chicken stock, and flour. Served with biscuits (and steamed broccoli). That's it.

On the surface, it doesn't sound that exciting, but sometimes basic food is the most delicious. Having a quiet meal with my spouse of 30+ years doesn't hurt, either. :)
 
Mrs WM81 said "ok" (meaning "meh") when I told her what I was making. Just not excited. She appreciates my cooking and has had a busy day, so having me cook makes her evening easier, but she had been hoping I'd make chicken and dumplings (which I made last week).

Then she took a bite.

And raved about it. Told me to make it again.

Chicken, salt, pepper, white wine, chicken stock, and flour. Served with biscuits (and steamed broccoli). That's it.

On the surface, it doesn't sound that exciting, but sometimes basic food is the most delicious. Having a quiet meal with my spouse of 30+ years doesn't hurt, either. :)
I've posted some extravagant cooks and some real simple things. I'm pretty sure my chicken in mushroom sauce got the most attention of them all.

Comfort food wins every time!
 
I'm not fancy like you folks.
I make sausage because it's such a versatile recipe ingredient, limitless possibilities.
This is one of my favorites - red potato and kielbasa goulash. Simple, quick, very few ingredients.
And this is one of those dishes that truly is even better the next day.

potato sausage.jpg
 
I've posted some extravagant cooks and some real simple things. I'm pretty sure my chicken in mushroom sauce got the most attention of them all.

Comfort food wins every time!
Very true! I make dishes from my childhood -- Pork in the Oven (brown chops with salt & pepper, dredge in flour, put in baking dish, add chicken stock, cover and bake 1 hour), Betty Crocker Microwave Mac-n-Cheese (from the Betty Crocker Yellow Book), and Paprika Chicken (brown chicken with onion, salt & pepper, season with paprika [if you can see the chicken, add more paprika], add water and simmer, remove chicken and stir cooked rice into the drippings [paternal grandmother born in Budapest]).

Sometimes I go gonzo and make complicated dishes, other times not .....
 
That Paprika Chicken sounded so good I had to go find a few recipes to try. My wife isn't in to spicy very much, but I am slowly but surely trying to introduce her to the joys of heat in food.
My mom always used mild paprika, and that's what I have mostly, as my wife doesn't do spicy. My rendition of my mom's recipe is here:

https://food.bkfazekas.com/2015/02/ediths-paprika-chicken/
She made it with a cut-up chicken, whereas I use whatever. This works well as a casserole -- I use boneless thighs. While sauting the onion, I chop the meat into bite-size pieces, and mix it back into the rice. The recipe also works well with lean beef and pork.

My kids LOVE it -- when they visit they're happy I make it. And note -- I wasn't kidding about not seeing the chicken. Add paprika until everything you see is red. Hungarians measure paprika consumption in pounds per year; although my dad was the first generation born in the USA, I obviously inherited whatever gene loves paprika. :)

I also note that this is my rendition -- my mother had few recipes written down. After I graduated from college, a friend lamented that her grandmother died and most of her recipes went into the grave with her. For the next several years when I visited my parents, my mom cooked while I measured and recorded. All her recipes were preserved and distributed within the family. Also, except when baking, my mom rarely measured anything, so the recipes I recorded were what was done that time, so all recipes are an approximation.

A while back I realized I was making the same mistake, so I record most of my recipes so my sons will have them, with the understanding that everything is an approximation. ;)
 
Very true! I make dishes from my childhood -- Pork in the Oven (brown chops with salt & pepper, dredge in flour, put in baking dish, add chicken stock, cover and bake 1 hour), Betty Crocker Microwave Mac-n-Cheese (from the Betty Crocker Yellow Book), and Paprika Chicken (brown chicken with onion, salt & pepper, season with paprika [if you can see the chicken, add more paprika], add water and simmer, remove chicken and stir cooked rice into the drippings [paternal grandmother born in Budapest]).

Sometimes I go gonzo and make complicated dishes, other times not .....
I grew up on Danish cooking. Pan fried meats and deep dark gravies made from the pan drippings. Breaded fried pork chops, Frikadeller (danish pork/veal meatballs), Steak, salsibury steak, pork roast, all served with potatoes, gravy, and various pickles. Pickled beets and cabbage were always in the fridge.

A salad when I was growing up was a head of iceberg lettuce torn in a bowl with at least a cup of grated cheddar, a huge skirt of ranch dressing all stirred together, and topped with tomato wedges.

Steaks were topped with mushrooms and prawns and literally drowned in Bernaise sauce.

Chili had a few cups of cheese per gallon, and chowder was finished with a half a lb of butter.

If you couldn't stand a spoon up in your gravy it was too thin, and if you didn't need to loosen a belt notch or two then then it was a light one. 😄

Winter is actually a very good time for all of these dishes. I expect I will revisit some soon. We were the luckky ones that got the -50 wind chill.

I'll BBQ all year no matter what, or try to. You just don't stand at the BBQ. You go in and out and work on the sides at the same time. Or have a sip of your drink and get distracted in a conversation, which is honestly why my zucchini is rarely lacking color.

Last night was salmon. The interesting thing about -50 is propane starts to gel. It flows slower or stops all together. I didn't quite get the level of colour I am used to, but it was still delicious.PXL_20221207_031617469.jpg
 
That Paprika Chicken sounded so good I had to go find a few recipes to try. My wife isn't in to spicy very much, but I am slowly but surely trying to introduce her to the joys of heat in food.
Most people equate spice with lip and mouth burn. Hot wings and habanero. I'm not a big fan of proving how much I can suffer, but I like heat. Thai chili heat is so much different that I went for lunch with a friend that HATES spice, like onions are pushing it, 😄 we had a red thai chili soup and I warmed him that it was pretty spicy, but he said 'no, it has lots of flavour, but it''s not really spicy.'

It was enough to get that little cough in the back of your throat and a bit of a sweat going, but because his mouth wasn't on fire... not spicy!

Try cooking with these! Birds eye chili's. I have a bag in the freezer, sometimes I chop them up because I want a lot of heat. other times I just bruise them and split them a bit with the back of a knife and simmer a few minutes, have a taste and pull them out whole when it has reached the right level. Great for cooking for beginners. ;)
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I also note that this is my rendition -- my mother had few recipes written down. After I graduated from college, a friend lamented that her grandmother died and most of her recipes went into the grave with her. For the next several years when I visited my parents, my mom cooked while I measured and recorded. All her recipes were preserved and distributed within the family. Also, except when baking, my mom rarely measured anything, so the recipes I recorded were what was done that time, so all recipes are an approximation.

A while back I realized I was making the same mistake, so I record most of my recipes so my sons will have them, with the understanding that everything is an approximation. ;)

I had the same experience, except to my great-grandmother, she raised my Dad. My mom wasn't a very good cook, my great grandmother was an EXCELLANT cook. My mom tried (well before I was born) to write down what gram did, but then she would go back a few days later to double check and things would be different enough, due to who knows why, that my mom got frustrated. My mom was a Home Economics teacher and couldn't understand how it could be that different.

I carry the same feeling as my great grandmother to both cooking and winemaking, a recipe is a nice thing to look at, read over and start with, but I have never made something exactly to the recipe, taste drives everything.
 
When I finally took an interest in my mom's cooking and asked how much of this or that goes in, she often answered "until it looks right." Thanks mom, big help.

I'm "close" to many of her dishes but some will never be the same. Breaded pork chops for example. I found out a couple years ago that today's hogs don't have the same amount of fat as they did when I was a kid. Bred out as a marketing ploy to make pork more "healthy".

I do make one dish better than my mom only because I use a very traditional recipe. My paprikas csirke, paprika chicken. I'm sure your dishes taste great but if it doesn't have lard (or bacon fat) and sour cream and heavy cream and then served over homemade egg dumplings then it's not paprika chicken. Heaven on a plate.
 
I do make one dish better than my mom only because I use a very traditional recipe. My paprikas csirke, paprika chicken. I'm sure your dishes taste great but if it doesn't have lard (or bacon fat) and sour cream and heavy cream and then served over homemade egg dumplings then it's not paprika chicken. Heaven on a plate.
Sorry, I couldn't find an emogi where I'm sticking my tongue out at you! 🤣

We had a bacon separator on the counter when I was a kid.

bacon separator.jpg

The inner screen screened out the chunks. EVERYTHING was cooked in bacon grease. Fortunately or unfortunately, we've all gotten "healthy", so bacon is a rarity, although when I cook bacon I save the grease. I just don't tell my wife ... as a kid we made "oven fries" with potato wedges in bacon grease ... Dang! I need to do that again.

I'm going to add sour cream next time I make paprika chicken. It won't be the same, but I'm ok with that!
 
Not "What" is for dinner, but "WHO" is for dinner! :) I had the pleasure of having @Rice_Guy over for dinner tonight. He was in town on WVA (Wisconsin Vinters' Association) business, and we agreed on a meetup this afternoon. I convinced him to stay for dinner and more winetasting. We enjoyed a sort-of cassoulet that I threw together (basically winging it). It featured a lamb shoulder chop, Italian sausage, hog-jowl bacon, Northern beans, onions, garlic, carrots, etc. Sides were roasted eggplant and sauteed/braised lacinato kale and onions, as well as a green salad. Nice seeing you, Rice!
 
Sorry, I couldn't find an emogi where I'm sticking my tongue out at you! 🤣

We had a bacon separator on the counter when I was a kid.

View attachment 96112

The inner screen screened out the chunks. EVERYTHING was cooked in bacon grease. Fortunately or unfortunately, we've all gotten "healthy", so bacon is a rarity, although when I cook bacon I save the grease. I just don't tell my wife ... as a kid we made "oven fries" with potato wedges in bacon grease ... Dang! I need to do that again.

I'm going to add sour cream next time I make paprika chicken. It won't be the same, but I'm ok with that!
You're funny!
I meant no disrespect, of course. Different recipes, different dishes. Like the proverbial apples and oranges comparison.
I got my recipe from the classic The Cuisine Of Hungary by George Lang. History and wonderful food.

Yes, the bacon separator!
Now I make bacon in the oven. No more straining, clean from the get-go.
I'm more than happy to scoff at "healthy" now if an ingredient will raise the flavor a couple notches.
 

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