Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

I need to annotate my carnitas recipe. It says that it takes 1.5 to two hours to simmer, but it always takes me about 3.5 hours. I guess they boil and and I actually simmer on low as it should be done.

 

I usually get take-out from there and eat at home.

 

I had about a pound and one half of boneless pork shoulder left over from making carnitas the other night, so I decided to make thinly sliced Korean pork shoulder (pork bulgogi). The pork shoulder was frozen so letting it sit out for a short while made it easy to slice thin. It is marinading now. Having a good Asian market allowed me to get a decent gochujang (fermented red pepper paste, very much different from a Thai red chili paste).

I am going back and forth for cooking it on a hot skillet of grilling it or a fine copper mat. The spacing on my grill is much too wide without the copper mesh mat.

Cook it up, add some rice, and roll into a Napa cabbage leaf and you have something very tasty.

 

I cooked it on a big skillet in the kitchen.

OMG, that was so good!

 

I got some brown turkey figs today so tonight I am making thin pork chops in a fig/cream/shallot/balsamic sauce. A simple salad and garlic mashed potatoes (using russets because I have them instead of my preferred Yukon golds for mashed potatoes).

A little too beige on the plate for spectacular presentation, but it will taste just fine.

The only leftover from last night was a chicken leg left over from the night before. I ate that for lunch today.

 

Making pho tonight. Lots of prep for the base stock. I started three hours ago and still have an hour to go. I like taking my time on this step.

Cooking the vermicelli noodles is really simple but you must get the timing right. The additions to the pho will be steamed baby bok choy, daikon radish, shrimp, sliced scallions, and pickled ginger.

 

I used two bottles of Pat's last Friday grilling about 40 chicken legs for a pool party. We were pool sitting for a friend and invited a few folks over to enjoy teh pool and some cooking.

The bad thing is that it put a serous dent on my supply of Pat's as Publix no longer carries it.

 

The Publix's around here no longer have Pat's on their inventory list.

I have been told that I can make a special order to get it but if I am going to that bother I wonder if I could order it by the case directly.

 

Dodging the rain and keeping it simple: beer can chicken, Caesar salad, mashed potatoes.

I have been on an Asian kick lately. Last night I started some pickled daikon and carrot. Very Vietnamese, but also used all over east Asia. My wife couldn't believe the amount of water I poured out before I sealed it up for the frig, but that is important. Daikon has a huge amount of water in it.

 

I have been binge watching Anthony Burdain's CCN show on Netflix and today watched his episode from Charleston. I have some issues with the show's depiction about fish. They said that grouper, snapper, tuna, and salmon were great, and they are, but where are they getting fresh caught salmon in Charleston? And then they were talking about eating trash fish. One of the "trash" fish they were eating was trigger fish. OMG. Trigger fish is awesome to eat.

They were also talking about eating whiting. Nothing wrong with the flavor, but it is really bony. If somebody preps it, and that requires removing all the bones, and cooks it for me I have no problem with it. It tastes about the same as cod. But it is a lot of work to prep.

Heck, I love smoked mullet and there are very few fish trashier than that.