To Serve Man - It's a Cookbook!

[Vol]

Got a bag of clams from the fella who gets us work at the beach town. I have no idea what kind they were, since I've only ever bought littlenecks, but these were about 2-3 times the size.

Ended up throwing them on a charcoal grill after soaking in salt water over night, only had 2 gritty ones, presumably at the bottom of the pan they were in. I know there's some sort of special grate dealie to avoid that, but I have clams so rarely it'd be silly to get one.

Wasn't sure what to do with the sauce tho. I was thinking of some sort of slapdick white wine butter sauce. Having absolutely no idea how to make one, "throw stuff into a pot with water, then reduce it down," but I was strongly countermanded by my father's girlfriend, who insisted that a melted stick of butter with some seasoning tossed in would be better. So we went with that, which was tasty enough. But I've had some amazing white wine sauces with clams at restaurants, and dammit, I need to learn how to make one!

[SciFlyBoy]

What's everyone's ideal sandwich? I know we have quite a sampling around the world here, so what do you choose to bite into?

There's so many here in the US. There's one I like called the Cuban and they have this special split roll they stuff with different types of pork and flatten it in a press. It's gooey, hot, juicy and crispy. I also like the Ruben on marbled rye. For me it's two slices of bread, meat and cheese with something crunchy.

[Vol]

Speaking of Reubens! While on the cruise, after one of the 2 excursions, mother, brother, and I decided to get lunch together at the """Irish""" pub on the boat. It was not Irish in the least, but hey. Lunch rush, everyone's getting back aboard, and the staff all speak fluent, but not particularly good, English. Special of the day was a Reuben, and my mother decides to order one. Except, as she attempts to explain to the Filipino waiter over several awkward moments, she wants a Reuben, "Not on rye bread, but on white bread. And only mayonnaise on it. And the corned beef needs to be cold." Which is not a Reuben, that's a corned beef sandwich with mayo. But he eventually understands her and takes my brother's and I's order too (fettuccini carbonara).

Thirty minutes later, after we finish our appetizers, she starts getting antsy. Angry that her lunch isn't here yet, though virtually no one before or after us has gotten it either, because its a lunch rush! She ends up storming off. Few minutes later, food arrives, and hers is exactly what she wanted. I can't eat mayo, so my brother has to make an effort because we can't let a custom order go to waste, and we both conclude that they probably didn't even have white bread at this place, so they must've sent a runner to find some. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Had a great sandwich yesterday, called a "Heart Attack." Taylor ham, sausage, bacon, cheese, and egg, on a heavy roll. Awful for you, but tasted good! Normally I'll get a cheesesteak or a meatball parm if offered, veal parm if they have it. Grilled cheese (with tomato soup) is never bad, PB&J (less sugary ideally), a good turkey/ham on cheese. Not a big sandwich guy tho, mostly because the best ones require vinegar!

[SciFlyBoy]

"""Irish"""

Ha! That's great.

I'm not a fan of red sauce on my cheesesteak. I find some places do it, some don't. What's your consensus on cheese steak etiquette?

[Vol]

I'm not familiar with cheesesteak etiquette, actually. Do tell!

Though I had another one today, heh. I don't care for deli sammiches, but my father does, so when we got some lunch money from our first client of the day, ended up going to Jersey Mike's (sub place). Was ridiculously expensive, $37 for 2 big sandwiches, but mine was actually quite good. Fresh bread, decent steak shavings, with a strong melted provolone. One of the better ones I've had.

[Vol]

Hm. Was making ribs and leftover baked beans, so I figured I'd make home fries for once, instead of using the frozen crap. Couldn't figure out how to cut the potatoes to get that shape and size right away. Ended up cutting the tips off, so it could stand flat, then cutting it nearly through in a grid pattern was about right. Must be a tool that does that in an instance, like an apple corer.

Came out delicious, no industrial mystery chemicals, soft and fluffy in the center. But didn't crisp much at all. I heard you should "blanche" them for a few minutes when the oil is just starting to heat, then cook properly at full heat. Tried, didn't seem to help. Would like to stop using friggin' vegetable oil though, as I do fry a lot. Beef tallow or olive oil are what I hear are best, and naturally expensive for the luxury.

[SciFlyBoy]

Hm. Was making ribs and leftover baked beans, so I figured I'd make home fries for once, instead of using the frozen crap. Couldn't figure out how to cut the potatoes to get that shape and size right away. Ended up cutting the tips off, so it could stand flat, then cutting it nearly through in a grid pattern was about right. Must be a tool that does that in an instance, like an apple corer.

Came out delicious, no industrial mystery chemicals, soft and fluffy in the center. But didn't crisp much at all. I heard you should "blanche" them for a few minutes when the oil is just starting to heat, then cook properly at full heat. Tried, didn't seem to help. Would like to stop using friggin' vegetable oil though, as I do fry a lot. Beef tallow or olive oil are what I hear are best, and naturally expensive for the luxury.

Olive oil, if you deep fry, can't be the extra virgin type. It's too expensive and tastes too overpowering. I don't deep fry too much, so any cheap mild oil is what I'd use.

For the fries I hear that cooking them low first, then hitting them high will get you the soft center and crispy outside. So one option is to fry them at 325 then take them out and hit them at 375-400? I'd toss them in oil and bake them using the same method, cook them low to cook them then hit them high to crisp them.

Russets are the best for fries, you used them?

[Vol]

I didn't think you could deep fry with olive oil, 'cause the smoke point is sub-400. The last time we had a family Christmas dinner, my uncle seared scallops, but he used olive oil so there was...a lot of smoke, and a fire alarm always going off. Tasty tho!

Hm. Fry low, let sit, fry high. I'll have to figure out exact timing on that...

Tried my hand at some rib eyes, since my dad dropped off 2 from his CostCo trip. Making steak here is always an issue, since my grandmother prefers well done, and I prefer med-rare. Now, the instructions I looked up said, "preheat 5 minutes, cook on high heat, 5 minutes each side, rest for 5, for a 1.5" thick steak."

This was incorrect. Though I also discovered the hot zones on this little grill in the process. But mine was slightly burnt, but the insides were rare to blue. Edible, but needed a few more minutes at a lower temperature. Saved half for tomorrow, so I'll just bake it for a bit. My grandmother's came out better, got that nice cross-hatched grill lines on it, medium-rare to rare. Seems like my grill just runs hotter than most, so I need to downshift everything.

[SciFlyBoy]

Yeah, it's good to know where the hot spots are. Just plain regular olive oil, not extra virgin, has a smoke point around 470. Searing in Ex olive oil is fine. I do a lot of roasting with olive oil, but it's mostly a coat of it to get a nice crisp as opposed to using the oil to cook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOlJ18p7bt0

[Vol]

I made porkchops, starting to get the hang of this little grill. Came out pretty darn good, slightly overcooked because they had bones and I didn't trust they were cooked through so fast, but they were. But I did a 2 hour marinade in olive oil, soy sauce, a scoop of sugar, teaspoon of pepper, and few shakes of garlic. Wanted to go much heavier on the spices, but not cooking for my benefit right now. Actually came out much tastier than usual, just going by the first recipe I found that wasn't on a site with awful formatting and long tangents. Surprised I didn't get a blast of salt from the soy sauce on pork tho.

[SciFlyBoy]

That's excellent! So cool, man. And how much time did it take, from putting it on grill to cutting into it on your plate?

[Vol]

The recipe said 10 minutes over medium, which was actually correct. However, I've always cooked porkchops in a pan, and because the heat isn't as contained, the meat around the bone is always raw at that point. So I left it on more towards 15+. Slightly tough, but at least now I know. Got a big pack of boneless chops and chicken breast, jug of soy juice and minced garlic, at CostCo yesterday anyway, so I can fiddle with the marinade and cook times easier now.

Oh, and I let mine rest for about 5 minutes off the heat. Made burgers last night, much better than in a pan, but what a mess the drippings made. The grate I'm keeping clean by scrubbing when it's still hot, but there's a metal plate atop the heat source that gets filthy and I'm not sure the best way to handle that, since I can't cover it in foil without potentially blocking the flame.