Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Growing stuff and on topic. I scored some seeds for Thai eggplant from the mother of a Thai friend. She told me that her mother's plant in Gainesville dies back every winter but comes back even stronger the next year and is about eight feet tall now. I will try to germinate the seeds in the late winter.

Thai eggplant is harvested before ripe and still green. It is used a lot in Thai curries in Thailand, but hard to find in the US. Most Thai restaurants use bamboo shoots instead, but not the same.

And I also rode my bike to work at UF and when in grad school. When I first got to Gainesville in 1982 I was constantly yelled at to get off the road.

 

I have got a weird pork shoulder that I am smoking. Some of it is already over 200 F and some is still around 175 F. If it was only a little at 175 F I would pull and wrap, but it seems to me like a bit too much is not up to temp. So I might pull when that bit gets to around 185 F and hope that during the rest that the other parts continue the cooking/melting of collagen.

I knew this was going to be different because it was a very compact pork shoulder for that weight so getting heat to the middle was going to be harder. Usually my larger pork shoulder cuts are kind of long and have a lot of surface area, but this one was closer to a cube.

And if I don't quite get it done with everything over 200/205 F I can always chop that last bit instead of pulling it keeping the majority of the meat spot on.

 

Getting close to 12 hours on a slightly less than 9 pound pork shoulder and it isn't quite done. Getting close, though.

 

Ida is projected to be a Cat 4 before landfall. Yikes!

The outflow from the top of the storm has wrung all of the moister out so you might get nice weather being on the east of the storm.

 

I also use apple wood for butts. Sometimes I use cherry.

Just a little bit was too intact to not pull and that will be chopped. Lots of leftover pork, slaw, and collards for tonight.

 

Tonight is up in the air. Maybe tacos. Maybe brats.

 

It is tacos, but not soft tacos with pulled pork like you might get in Mexico. Hard shell tacos with ground turkey. Not real tacos in my opinion.

Taco Bell has ruined Mexican food for a lot of people. They want it cheap.

Real Mexican food is awesome and labor intensive. You really should have to pay for it or put a lot of love and care into it yourself. Making posole rojo takes a long time, but it is so good. Making mole from scratch takes a lot of effort. Veracruz style fish is awesome. None of these things do you get at Taco Bell or even most Mexican establishments.

 

I have learned to cook dishes from many cuisines: Italian, Spanish, Thai, Korean and even French for a few examples.

But I have to say that my favorite is true Mexican.

In my youth I spent some time in Mexico and when I was a bit older I spent time in Austin and ate at Fonda San Miguel. That is what would be a Michelin 3 star Mexican place if they did that for Mexican food. Later I spent time in New Mexico eating at very good places in Santa Fe, but the best place I ate at there just a few years ago was suggested to me because the locals ate there and said it was awesome. It was not truly Mexican, but New Mexican. A totally different style. But they used the local chilies and the local green chilies are the bomb.

If you want the greatest chilies you need to go to Chimayo. Not for heat, but for taste.

I kid you not.

 

I have a big pantry that is between my dining room and my kitchen and goes under my staircase to the second floor. The ceiling is 8 feet although the rest of the house has 10 foot ceilings. It is lower to accommodate the landing on the staircase.

Most of my shelves are about a foot apart. Two are about 14" apart. Two are very far apart mostly for storing tall kitchen items. The distance from the floor to the bottom shelf is about two feet.

Under the part that is under the staircase we have stacked chimney tiles and a bit of recycled bowling alley as the top. Lots of storage.