We did a side by side of pressure cooker, sous vide and boiled wings and the sous vide came in last. It was some years back and I believe they were all acceptable quality but the sous vide was noticeably less tender. They weren’t tough by any means but it was consistent when we’ve done skin in sous vide- the collagen does break down but not as much as with pressure cooking or boiling even for a long cook time in the water bath.
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Thought I’d make a choucroute garnie for NFL playoffs. Hadn’t done it before and was inspired by the giant jar of Kreugermann’s kraut that had been in my fridge for something in the neighborhood of a year. I looked at a lot of different recipes and grabbed some ideas from Serious Eats and NYT but mostly stuck with the Pepin recipe.
Gathered my odds and ends throughout the week. Got some separated back ribs, a big Hillshire Farms link, some of those tasty duck sausages from Epicurus and found some fancy Olympia Provisions hot dogs. Wanted a hock but could only find a pre-packaged cured shank at WF that removed any pretensions of this being an economical peasant-type dish.
Boiled the sausages in wine and water with generous amounts of juniper berries, clove and bay leaf. I didn’t have cheesecloth so ended up straining the sauerkraut in a big steamer by pushing down (hard) with a lid. This was after I’d rinsed it once per most recipes. In the end, I think i went overboard as the dish didn’t have enough sauerkraut flavor and I ended up adding kraut juice directly back in at the end to get it balanced.
Browned the shank and the ribs in some bacon fat, which I then drained to add in some saved duck fat to cook down the onions. Put together a bouquet garni with tons of juniper berries, bay leafs, clove and pepper. Some recipes said to cook most of the meats and onions for a while in the oven before adding the kraut. I skipped that tricky step and added everything in except the sausages and potatoes on the stovetop before throwing it in the oven covered at 275 for maybe around 2-3 hours. . After that I took off the lid, added the sausage, bacon and potato in and cooked on 325 for another half hour or so.
Served it with some different mustards, horseradish cream sauce and gherkins. I’ve recently been on a kick of First Street (smart and final brand) mustards - they’re actually very good. Had to both cook with and drink an Austrian Gemischter Satz because my otherwise redoubtable wine shop had nothing Alsatian in stock. It was fine. Between my over squeezing and it’s age I think it might have been better with a fresher, less molested sauerkraut but definitely a good dish to feed an army on a cold winter’s night.
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Eating healthy -ish
Cobb like i guess.
Iceberg, radish tops, radishes - bacon hazelnut vinaigrette
Topped with: harissa marinated Kyoto carrots, peeled tomatoes, bleu de Auvergne. Mandarin argumato marinated fennel & Bacon
Ranch & hard cooked egg that I forgot to add for the pic!
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Our basic ass 40 min prep Chinese new year meal just for our nuclear family.
H-mart didn’t have any whole fish that looked good for steaming so I bought wild halibut fillets instead, turned out to be pretty damn good fish.
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Basic or not both dishes look pretty damn good.
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I’m linking this on the bean thread! 
Thanks for the reminder - I keep forgetting to try my hand at Ful! Maybe because I never have any fava beans lol.
Thanks!
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I think choucroute garni is economical only if you live in Alsace, and even then maybe only before WWII.
Drain the sauerkraut and taste it before rinsing. It can be pretty mild. In Alsace it’s typically fresh and very mild-tasting.
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Recently picked up the Gabriel Kreuther cookbook ‘The Spirit of Alsace’ It’s split between Home cooking and Chefy stuff. Can’t wait to start cooking from it.
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Being a dyed-in-the-wool Southerner, that looks fantastic. I just found this recipe of Kenji’s which I haven’t fixed yet.
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I had to double check the post because I can’t believe I didn’t write that sentence…
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I love Alsatian food! I will check it out.
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Nettle season again - what with all the rain they are going crazy in the backyard - so I made pasta. As the nettle pasta is so delicious on it’s own I wanted a quiet sauce to complement it. The original Fettucicne Alfredo is perfect, The Original Fettuccine Alfredo | Saveur.
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Not the “Hokkaidough” that @hanboooli talked about with Schellz but think I made my best Detroit/Jets square pizza imation yet.
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I want to move into your house lol
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Took advantage of Dungeness crab season with some Vietnamese curry crab. At 6.99 lb, prob best $25 meal ever.
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No doubt.
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Doing a lot of Soups & dishes with Squash. It’s that time of year…
Harvest Soup
With goat cheese croutons…
Drizzled w/olive oil & roasted butternut squash, delicata squash, carrots, apple, leek, onion & garlic, added sage brown butter, skosh maple syrup, chicken stock & cooked for 50-60 minutes (low & slow) then puréed, strained & added skosh cider vinegar, salt & cayenne and heated another 10 minutes. The long cooking seems excessive but gives the soup deep flavor. Topped w/crème fraiche, drizzle of pumpkin oil, chives, pepitas.
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Had it been “previously frozen”? We find that all too often but did find a 1.5#er recently that hadn’t been. We just have them with butter and sourdough.
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