Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Cleaning out the frig tonight.

 

Getting take-out Thai tonight.

My cooking game has been off being in covid isolation. Almost over it. My second go round. Worse than the first time but not horrible. Didn't take Paxlovid. My wife got it first and did opt for the Paxlovid.

 

Meatballs should always be a beef/pork mix. I also add some egg, ricotta, bread crumbs and flat leaf parsley.

Adding turkey to the meat mix is OK.

 

Making pork chops with a fig and cream sauce.

 

Making chicken tinga for tacos with pickled red onions and avocado as toppings.

Even though it isn't Mexican I had a hankering for tostones (twice fried green plantains) so I am also making them.

 

Regular Tex-Mex tacos tonight.

 

Figs are in season and bogo at Publix so I made the pork chops with the cream and fig sauce tonight to everyone's delight.

 

Chicago style hot dogs tonight. Using Hebrew National and not Vienna Beef dogs (almost as good) and buns without poppy seeds but everything else is correct. Well, we are drinking First Magnitude Vega as the beer and not an Old Style so that is a minor quibble.

 

Smoking a lot of ribs. Good thing I bought thar rib rack because it is full. Lots of company for the weekend.

 

After a weekend of cooking for ten (pushing my Kamado Joe to the limit with Memphis dry rubbed ribs on Saturday and a huge batch of chicken tinga with pickled red onions and other toppings on Sunday and some cooking for early birds and late birds Friday and Monday) I am now back to myself, my wife, my youngest and my MIL for dinner. Something simple. Clam linguini.

 

They were pretty good. I didn't have time to coat them with honey at the end but every single rib was eaten with no complaints, Not my best ever but way better than they could get locally at any BBQ place.

I would give them a B+ grade. For my visitors they were A+. Cooked just south off fall off the rib. Perfect tooth. Could have had a better bark. Pretty much none except for the ends of some ribs.

One thing that made it hard was that half of the ribs were St Louis cut and half were back ribs. The back ribs take less time to smoke. The back ribs cost more but I don't think they taste better. I pulled the back ribs earlier.

 

Hey.

Smoking ribs for Yankees is easy. The only problem is if they expect KC wet ribs and I don't cook them.

But making the chicken tinga on Sunday was a real test. My Nephew's wife is from Monterrey in Mexico. Now tinga is mostly from Puebla but she has travelled far and wide in Mexico and knows the dish.

I got a huge thumbs up.

And nearly all the pickled red onions for toppings were gone as well.

She thanked me for cooking something from her homeland.

Taco Bell aint it.