Oven Fry Poutine with New York Cheese Curds

I saw a selection of Yancey's Fancy(Corfu, NY) cheese curds at the local P-Chop's last night while I was stocking up on goodies for when the wife and daughter get sprung from the hospital. I love cheese curds (kudos on the Upstate New York shout out in the first sentence of the Wiki), I usually buy the Heluva Good brand curds at Stewart's along with some crackers or bread for a quick lunch. These particular cheese curds came in a few flavors (buffalo, garlic, etc...), I chose horseradish. They sounded pretty tasty to me.



The curds looked pretty good, some large and some small. The flavor and texture were decent with a mild horseradish heat.



As I said before, I mainly consume cheese curds raw as a snack. However, the true test of a good curd is how it melts. I decided to whip up a quick batch of pseudo-poutine. Poutine is the classic Canadian version of gravy cheese fries comprised of pommes frites, curd, and gravy. I prefer the New York/New Jersey diner "disco fries" which are french fries, mozzarella, and cheap brown gravy. Not having a deep fryer handy I made some oven fries out of a random sweet potato and standard russet that I had in the crisper. I threw a few curds on top of the fries and topped with some piping hot gravy. This is what it looked like seconds after the gravy pour.



Now, the beauty of curds is the ease with which they melt. This next picture is after about a minute or two, with no heat save that from the fries and the gravy.



See how deliciously the curds have melted? Digging in, I found the Yancey's Fancey cheese to be superbly velvety, the perfect texture for poutine. I especially liked how the horseradish cheese paired with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. These cheese curds get two thumbs up from me, I thoroughly enjoyed this little dish of carbs and fat.

Bacon Posts Aggregated

Since it seems that the whole bacon thing has made the venerable rag (NY Times), I thought I would do a little retrospective and look back at some of the bacon experiments that I have chronicled on this blog. I like to think of myself as something of a pioneer, perhaps I played some small part in pushing the fat drenched pestilence of the Bacon meme onto the interwebz at large. Enjoy.

1. Bacon Wrapped E.L. Fudge. Yup, I Went There.
2. Bacon Rice Krispies Treats
3. Bacon Wrapped Bacon Spam Cracker Sandwiches
4. White Castle and Bacon Breakfast Bake
5. Bacon Spam? Oh, hell yes.
6. British Style Back Bacon, an American Review.
7. Bacon Sausages. Thats Right, Sausages. Made Out Of...
8. The Ultimate Bacon Snack: Bacon Wrapped Pork Belly...
9. Mr. Dave's Sausages Made-O'- Bacon Project. The Go...
10. The Ulitmate Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich: Bac...
11. Candied Bacon Brioche Sticky Buns with Pecans and ...
12. Bacon Vodka Experimentation and Recipes

Joy, Joy! The Canned Cheese and Butter I Ordered Has Arrived.

Not much time for blogging today as I am cut loose from the Gulag due to my wife having labor induced a little later. I have a spare minute and I had to share with everyone the contents of the lovely package I just received on this snowy morn. I ordered 4 cans of Red Feather Brand canned cheese and 1 can of butter. I can't find a website for Red Feather, but it is a New Zealand brand and their products are widely available on the internet. I am kind of a pseudo-survival nut, so anything shelf stable piques my interest. The thought of having grilled cheese ingredients when the zombie apocalypse arrives makes me happy. Anyways, I have to think of something to make with the cheese and butter to test the quality. Any ideas?

My First Attempt at a "lolz" Picture. Very Topical.

Get it? The peanut butter recall? Salmonella? Anyone? Anyone?... Screw you, I still think its witty.

Cherry Lambic Glazed Smoked Pork Shoulder Butt

I was doing a little shopping at the local P-Chops yesterday when I stumbled upon this porky little gem next to all of the ham.



It is a Daisy Rose brand Smoked Boneless Pork Shoulder Butt (a little over 2 pounds). I don't believe I have seen this particular product before, so I decided to give it a go. It looked to me like the same process used to make smoked ham was applied to some pork shoulder. As pork shoulder is a deliciously fatty cut of pig this seemed a promising concept.



Unwrapped, the smoked shoulder was kind of an ugly little bastard. I decided to prepare it by boiling first, and then glazing and finishing in the oven. I covered the pork with some cool water and simmered it for a little over an hour until the internal temperature was 140 (as per instructions on the wrapping).



While this was going I made a simple little glaze of Ommegang Brewery's (read more about the odyssey I took to that particular brewery here) Three Philosopher's (a cherry lambic blended with Belgian Ale) and demerrera sugar.



I simply reduced about a 1/2 cup of the ale with a handful of sugar until syrupy. When the ham was done I scored the top, spooned on the glaze, and packed on some more of the sugar. This went into the oven for about a half of an hour during which I spooned more glaze on a couple of times.



The pork came out of the oven looking and smelling pretty good. I let it cool off for a while and then cut off a few slices.



As expected, there was a lot more visible fat in the pork shoulder then you would see in lean ham. Upon popping a nice hunk into my mouth I found there to be an intense pork flavor with much less smoke than I expected. It was very succulent, almost melting, with less of the harsh salinity that you get in a lot of inexpensive hams. The sweet, cherry glaze gave the pork an almost char siu kind of feel. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with the purchase. My wife had what may be her final pregnancy craving for roast turkey last night, so I cooked her up a small standing breast. I am looking forward to a lunch of sliced turkey, pork shoulder, and dijon mustard on a whole wheat role. I definitely recommend giving the smoked pork shoulder a try if you see it around. It is a nice change of pace.

Got the Onesie, Still Waitin' on the Baby.

The "Tickle Baby, Receive Bacon" onesie that I created the other day has arrived. I am suitably impressed with the results. Now all that I need is the tiny one to fill it. My wife got a birth weight estimate of 9.5 lbs the other day! I always knew that I would issue fourth mighty young ones. I hope my daughter comes out chubby and pink as Virginia ham.

Bacon Wrapped E.L. Fudge. Yup, I Went There.

I had one random slice of bacon and some double stuffed Keebler EL Fudges lying around, I think you can pretty much predict what happened.

Yup, "Elwood" (EL fudges have elf's names on them if you don't know)got wrapped in bacon. Am I becoming a parody of myself here with the whole bacon wrapped thing?



Into the oven we went Mr. Elwood the cookie at 350 for about 20 minutes.



When I took it out it appeared that there was some chocolatey filling seepage. I let the elf cool so things had a chance to firm up a little. I then sliced it on the bias to get a look at the insides.



Verdict: Upon biting into the bacon/cookie you are hit with an immediate pork flavor on the front end which morphs into a salty/chocolate flavor as you continue to chew. A little disconcerting at the incept but we finish with a fairly pleasant flavor. Not bad, not bad.

Return of the Neba! Capital Region Rejoice!

Any regular reader will be aware of my frequent nostalgia fits regarding the foods and restaurants of my Albany childhood. So when I heard that the Neba was back (via Steve Barnes and Cathy Woodruff of the Times Union) I was almost overcome. Does anyone remember Mike's Neba? To the best of my childhood memories it was over on Central and Colvin in front of where the Hannaford's is now. I am presently a Guilderland resident, but I grew up on the mean streets of downtown Albany and my parents worked off Central Ave. I remember uncountable trips to Mike's Neba where my parents would have lunch and I would get Slushies. In fact, I must have been Slushie mad as a child because these trips to Mike's are among the pantheon of those few disconnected, warm and fuzzy, especially treasured, earliest clear memories of culinary bliss. Except for the penny candy store that used to be on Ontario and Washington (anyone remember that?), I can't think of a place that made my 6 year old heart happier.

I don't remember too much about the actual Neba sandwich (I think this would have been too much for my finicky child's palate) so I was excited when I heard about Mr. Subb bringing them back. I never knew this, but Mr. Subb is run by the original owners of Mike's Neba. So this isn't just some corporate attempt to capitalize in the soft spots in our Upstate hearts, it is an actual recreation of the original sandwich. I had to run over to the Western Ave. location and grab a couple last night. They were reasonable at 3.99$. Here is one of the sandwiches-



The components of the Neba are fairly simple. Sesame bun, jus cooked roast beef slices, and Tiger sauce. No cheese thank you very much. Here is the opened sandwich revealing the Tiger sauce-



The Tiger sauce is a lightly tangy concoction described as a mayonnaise/horseradish mixture. I like it, it is only mildly spicy and I would have liked to have seen a bit more horseradish, but it had a nice sweet flavor. I am a spicy kind of guy so I forgive them for the mildness of the sauce. In the next picture you can kind of see that some of the roast beef is still pink, not the unpleasant gray of an Arby's beef n' cheese (didn't I hear the rumor that Neba stood for NEver Buy Arby's?)-



I watched them prepare the sandwich and I enjoyed watching them fish the beef out of the pot with a slotted spoon which was then pressed with a second spoon to remove excess juice. This results in a sandwich that is moist and succulent but not over soggy. I really enjoyed the Neba sandwich. There was a healthy amount of beef, the sauce was good, and the bun held up nicely. I am glad the Neba is back, I give it two thumbs up. In fact, I might have to have another for lunch. Hooray for local food traditions (see here for the unique Capital Region hotdog style), does anyone remember any others that are worthy of discussion? Please share.

**Update

I found a link to this picture in a link from Steve Barne's blog. Supposedly, It is the Central and Colvin location. Not quite how I remember it, it might be before my time.

The Onesie I Just Made for my Soon to Be Daughter

It looks like Mr. Dave will be the proud father of a lvl. 1 female human within the next fortnight, so I thought that the young lass needed to come into the world and immediately be indoctrinated into her fathers strange sense of humor. Via my wife's sister I was introduced to the Make A Onesie website and tonight I decided to craft the above garment. I did a little tinkering with the old "Push Button, Receive Bacon" graphic that has been floating around the internet. If you can't read it the onesie says, "Tickle Baby, Receive Bacon." This made me giggle for several minutes and I am now absolutely filled with glee to know that my creation is actually on its way to my house. It combines two of my favorite topics, bacon and poo humor.

Bacon/Stilton Toad in the Hole

So my friend K8 of Of Monkeys and Cupcakes fame is having a little brunch soiree this fine, frigid Saturday afternoon. I was kind of perplexed as to what to make last night, I was plum worn out and my inspiration level was very low. I decided to go back to my doctrine of, "throw bacon in it and people and people will eat it." I am a huge Yorkshire pudding fan from way back, so I decided to throw a couple extras into the old Toad in the Hole recipe.

As I have so many times before, I began with bacon.



Notice that I am cooking the bacon in the dish that I will later be pouring the Yorkshire pudding batter into. This serves the twofold purpose of bringing a nice amount of bacon grease into the party and providing the heated cooking vessel required for a properly risen final pudding. This particular bacon is for a second dish that I may or may not post about depending on whether or not people think that it is good.

Next I moved on to the sausage component of the dish, and what is better than sausage? Bacon wrapped sausage.



Don't they look like some sort of larvae? These chubby little guys went into the oven until the bacon was crisp and the sausage was cooked through. I placed the sausage in the baking dish with the bacon drippings (sweet, oily, excretion of the gods).



Next I prepared the Yorkshire pudding batter. I make this by feeling as have generations of English housewives at innumerable Sunday roast dinners. There are many recipes, but I usually use about 3 cups flour, 3 cups milk, 4 eggs plus one yolk, salt, and about 1/3-1/2 cup drippings whisked together in my standing mixer. This makes an enormous batch. I poured the batter over the lovely sausages and let them float to random positions, I like the random look in my dishes.



This went into the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes before I introduced the cheese. I am using Stilton here.



If you don't know what Stilton is I probably don't want to talk to you (kidding, kidding). The "traditional king of cheeses" is an English product which you might imagine as an excellent cheddar mixed with a delicious bleu. This, of course, is a gross simplification as Stilton is a complex and delicious animal. It is also pricey, this small wedge cost 9 dollars. I am thinking about writing to Pres. Obama about reducing the exorbitant cheese tariffs(have you heard about the 300% on roquefort?). I crumbled this on top of the almost half way done Toad in the Hole so that it would not sink to the bottom of the batter. The dish continued cooking at 425 for a cumulative total of 35 minutes and came out beautifully browned and delicious looking.



The verdict is still out on this one as it is presently warming in my oven in preparation for bringing it over to K8's house. Unfortunately, I had to cook this last night. I have had yet another rough week and I knew I would not have the energy to cook this morning. Usually, Yorkshire pudding or Toad in the Hole should be eaten immediately out of the oven, but I think this will still be enjoyable.

Porterhouse with Bleu Cheese

As requested by Humungus I decided to post about what I did with the porterhouse steak I picked up at Greulich's as detailed in my last post.

I follow a couple rituals when I am home cooking a steak. I don't know if what I do actually produces a tastier steak, but I am a creature of habit. Upon taking a steak out of the fridge I dry it with a towel and immediately sprinkle it with some coarse Kosher salt and cracked pepper.



The steak then sits uncovered on top of my fridge (read: away from my monster felines. You should see what they did to a nice roast of beef I bought the other week!) until it warms to room temperature. At this point the salt will have drawn out some fluids necessitating a second pat down with a towel. Next, I lightly re-season and sear on the stove top over high heat in olive oil.

Next comes the Danish Bleu cheese-



I crumbled and sliced about 1/3 of a pound of the cheese onto the top of the steak.



Then all goes into the broiler for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned and the steak is on the rare side of medium rare. Remember that you are, in essence, cooking two cuts of steak when you are cooking a porterhouse. There is the fillet section and the strip section. I tend to cater towards the fillet (which cooks a little quicker) resulting in a very rare strip. This is OK with me, I love bloody rare meat.



For the plate I put down some slices of the strip portion, the fillet piece, and a hunk of raw bleu cheese for S and Gs (shits and giggles). On top of the fillet, I placed the "cheese crispies" i.e. the cheese that drooled off the top of the steak and got brown and crispy in the olive oil at the bottom of the pan. Side dishes you say? Who needs side dishes when you have meat and cheese! Sometimes you need to enjoy the unsullied joys of protein and dairy without any starch or greenery.

Greulich's Market - Guilderland, NY

I have been doing a lot of strenuous exercise lately and my whole body is pretty much a massive ball of torn muscle fiber. I believe that this is the reason why I awoke this morning craving bloody red meat. Either my body is craving protein to repair itself or I am turning werewolf (the moon was full last night, no?).

I am always loathe to purchase meat from a supermarket, so I decided to make a trip down the road to Greulich's Market in my hometown of Guilderland. Greulich's is pretty much an institution among the somewhat stodgy folk of Guilderland and I am a frequent customer. The real draw for me is the solid butcher, although there is a fairly good selection of groceries, baked goods, and produce. In fact, you probably could safely do most of your weekly shopping at Greulich's. I especially love the giant cow sculpture adorning the market's roof. The story about how one day someone stole the cow and subjected it to unknown high jinx is the stuff of Guilderland lore and legend.

Upon entering you are greeted by a poster delivering an obvious jab directed at super market butchery-



On your way to the butcher counter you will pass the quaint and folksy selection of baked goods that the market offers, I recommend the black and white cookies-



It appears that the good folks at Greulich's have linked up with some spice distributor and are now peddling their own "house" brand of herbs and spices. This makes me raise an eyebrow, Greulich's should stick to what they are good at (namely, meat) and resist the urge to slap their venerable name on some cut rate spices to be sold at inflated prices. Here is one of these travesties, displayed in front of the lovely wifes 9 months pregnant belly-



Notice that these are imitation bacon bits. I think I heard the small voice of my soon to be born daughter from within the wife's belly saying something like, "Fake Bacon? What is that shit?" Fake bacon in a venerable house of meats is never excusable.

In the back of the store you are presented with the spacious and sparkling clean display of butcher's delights in Greulich's lengthy cold case. I was only able to capture a mere section of it in the following picture. Behold the meaty beauty-



I am a weirdo and get a kick out of old timey industrial design and this lovely 40s/50s Viking display fridge is tantamount to high art in my opinion.



Something I always found interesting about Greulich's is the meat plans they offer.



These are family plans that each involve various selections of pork, beef, and chicken packaged, portioned, and made ready for pickup on a weekly basis. This is a great idea for those who have large and ravenous families along with the time and thrifty nature to plan their meals in advance. If you break these plans down by what you get, they are also a pretty darn good deal. Much cheaper than what you would pay item by item at the local Hannaford's or P-Chops.

I was craving a steak so I chose a lovely 1 pound plus porterhouse at something like 6.99 a pound. Even though this steak would probably have sated my beefy desires, I decided to pick up some of Greulich's sandwich steaks. Me and my wife are big fans of these, they are pretty much like fresh steakums. The wife, being a good Italian lass, enjoys a good potato and pepper sandwich. Once in a while the addition of some fried sandwich steaks pleases her. I like them with some fried onion on white bread.

There are few things as pleasing to the eye as fresh meat, wrapped lovingly in butcher's paper, and fastened with masking tape.



Here are the sandwich steaks-



This is the lovely porterhouse-



I purchased a wedge of Danish Bleu to broil to a goodly brown on top of the steak and I think I will be having quite the nice meal this snowy evening. I really encourage any readers who are Capital Region locals and have a spare minute to go give this place a try. I think you will find it charming as I do, in fact, today I was grinning ear to ear when I overheard an old gentlemen (red/black checkered flannel, jeans, suspenders, tractor hat) ordering a pound of Tobin's First Prize bologna (the poor old codger probably didn't even know that our own Tobin's was bought out some time ago by the John Morrell meat conglomerate) and fully pronouncing the g in bologna, as in "bo-log-na."