Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Making pozole rojo today using the chicken stock that I made from the two smoked chicken carcasses I had around.

Some finely diced onion, diced avocado, finely chopped cabbage, finely chopped cilantro, finely chopped radish, and dried epazote (you rub it in your hands to add it to the pozole and it is an acquired taste) for toppings.

And margaritas.

 

Beating the chit out of the UT men's basketball team last night was an unexpected pleasure.

 

Making an Asian mustard greens soup tonight with ground pork and the usual things (soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, scallions, salt and pepper) and Sichuan peppercorns.

Sichuan peppercorns are not really peppercorns. They are the seed husks of prickly ash shrubs. While you might think that being called peppercorns that they might be quite spicy hot they are only a tiny bit spicy hot. The thing that they do is to numb your mouth in a way that I find pleasant, but others might not.

It is a very curious ingredient to use.

 

It will work, but might not have as much punch as you would like.

 

Grilling pork shoulder steaks tonight. Rubbed with ground coriander, Coleman's dry mustard, garlic powder, light brown sugar, and freshly ground black pepper. It will be plated as thinly sliced pieces on a schmeer of a sauce consisting of prepared horseradish, Dijon mustard, coarse whole grain mustard, and honey.

I will grill at medium high indirect heat instead of a low and slow method like you would for pulling. I will pull it off when it reaches an internal temperature in the 140 to 150 F range. Cooking low and slow would result in something without the texture of a steak.

Also sautéing mustard greens with garlic and lemon juice. And a rice pilaf.

Earlier in the day I made pickled red onion for when I use leftover pulled pork from last weekend to make pulled pork tacos with fresh pineapple and datil peppers. I think that would be a good thing for Sunday.

I also made a batch of dirty rice because my 25 year old son that still lives at home loves it and he "grazes" a lot out of the fridge.

 

While making the mustard greens I was tasting it and something was missing. I wasn't following any recipe because all the ones that I saw online were not what I wanted. The most delicious sounding ones were all Asian and would be great, but not for tonight, and the "traditional Southern" ones would end up with something prepared for people that gum their food.

I usually use mustard greens in Asian cuisines.

And then the "Aha" moment. Just a little crushed red pepper did the trick.

Dee-lish and almost done.

 

Been there and done that and it is always hard to deal with.

After my first two dogs that were my dogs about the same time passed everyone asked if I was getting another.

I said "No. My next dog will just appear."

That dog was a Humane Society rescue American foxhound from when my oldest son was volunteering there. I had no say in getting this dog into our house. I was wary of having a hunting breed dog as a house pet.

Beau was a great dog and of course he was my dog because I was the person that bonded with him and did the everyday things that he needed.

Then Beau got really sick, but he didn't complain. But I knew that he was in severe pain and we had to put him down.

Again folks asked if I was looking for another dog and again I said "No. My next dog will just appear."

Then about one year ago a longtime friend of my youngest son said that he had a dog that he "inherited" and could not give her what she needed. My wife said that we would take her.

So now I have a new dog and she is an Aussie Mini shepherd named Rosie.

 

Going to have dinner (socially distanced, of course) with some friends where they will grill pizza. I made Thai sesame noodles.

 

I make my own sometimes.

Tonight I am making pulled pork tacos with datil peppers and pickled red onion.

 

Tonight I will grill pork chops and also grill apples and onion with sage in a cast iron skillet. Just need to add some olive oil and chicken broth to the skillet.

And saw somebody that skewered his pork chops so that they were vertical (bone down) on the grill. No grill marks and no need to flip. Sounds interesting.

Also making some rice.

Trying out B&B lump charcoal because I was out and it was at Lowes and I did not want to drive all the way to Home Depot.