More Food Verbiage

I’ve had a busy few weeks. Had to head up to Toronto for about three weeks to take care of a family emergency. Did a lot of shopping and lugged a lot of stuff back to El Salvador. Had a pretty good time up there, was able to spend a lot of time with family, got out a few times with friends, and finally got to see my friend Jeff’s new house with his incredibly nice kitchen. Hand painted customs cabinets (including on the fridge and Miele dishwasher doors), six burner dual gas Viking range, and an island that includes a sink/garberator, large wine fridge, built in microwave, and a big warming drawer!

Jeff and the wonder-kitchen

It was my first time in the new kitchen in Owen Sound so I was happy to cook three meals over the weekend. On Friday, we did Korean food with 8 bottles of Soju and 2 bottles of the 100 year wine. I picked up some kimchee, Chrysanthemum leaves, pickled cucumbers and garlic greens, fresh perilla leaves from Korea (!), and bulgogi beef for a nice table top cooking session. Chilli paste, fresh serranos, big chunks of garlic, and grilled meat wrapped up in lettuce with some funky greens. I recall the meal being very delicious and it ended with cigars, whiskey and chocolate on the porch but I don’t recall very much more than that although there were rumours that we got really, really drunk. Mind you, I think that we only drank maybe 6 bottles of Korean booze (or maybe 8) … and a bottle of wine and the whiskey. The Andong Soju was really amazing – clean and fresh like very good vodka.

Andong Soju with unidentified pink bunny

Next day, I made that delicious simple tofu, green onion and beef soup that Mom used to whip up in about 10 minutes. My friends were amazed at how tasty and simple it was so I think that they have added that recipe to their repertoire.

Medium rare grilled lamb with roast veggies

That night, we decided to make a big meal and ended up with a nice deboned leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, garlic and fresh Rosemary and grilled on the Weber and served on a bed of grilled veggies.

Bacon wrapped to keep warm

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... and served on a bed of roast potatoes and grilled savoy

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We also, inexplicably, decided to do a roast steamer leg of pork covered in bacon and served over roast potatoes and savoy cabbage with a red wine jus gravy with parsley. What rocket surgeon came up with that menu? There were only 8 of us for dinner. Washed down with maybe 6 bottles of wine … ugh, wheel me to bed.

Good Canadian Pub Food

Other notably meals … convalescing family member at home where I cooked a nice mac and cheese au gratin with a very old white cheddar, giant BLT’s, chicken souvlaki with a Greek salad, and chicken and dumplings. Went out one night to my local Firkin pub and our table ordered 4 of the specials – prime beef ribs, charred on the grill and slathered with a sweet bbq sauce that comes, I kid you not, with a side of chicken wings and fries. Washed down with 5 pints of beer, yum.

Fixin's for Sukiyaki

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Elliot, myself and Mom after dinner

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Mom came back from Korea and China and we had some nice meals. I got to pick the last meal I had in Toronto so asked for Sukiyaki. Mom made it with beef, tofu, spinach, green onions, spinach, baby bok choi, and shitakes ... delish, and healthy too.

After all this food, it was nice to get back home. The rainy season has started and it will be overcast and rainy until October – although not all the time. It was sunny when I woke up this morning so as long as I get to see the sun every few days, I’ll be happy.

So getting back into the cooking and eating cycle here. Went to Minh’s Cuisine restaurant to celebrate my friend Pierre’s birthday. We ordered a few very tasty appetizers and Minh sent us a couple of nice freebie plates. For my main, I had a curry shrimp dish and it was delish and made even better by some pickled garlic and Habanero chillis. I foolishly ate a whole one including all the seeds and pith … and while it was awesome eating it, my stomach was upset all night. But that s**t is good for you and should keep most gastrointestinal maladies away.

The gift that keeps on giving ... pickled Habaneros and garlic from Minh

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Then on the weekend, Keller was in the mood to smoke so he found a couple of local pork shoulders (none of that potentially scary Hillshire Farms factory pork from Pricesmart). He dusted up a rub and threw it on the smoker along with a beercan chicken and some brined salmon. Salmon was well smoked and awesome and came off first. Then we had to battle our friend who likes to eat his meat very rare. I was trying to explain that that may be okay for an expensive cut of meat but for something cheap, fatty and gristly, it would need 8 to 10 hours at 225 degrees. But nooo, he took it off at 3 hours and then at 5 hours … still not properly cooked. I acquiesced and said that he could cook one shoulder any way he wanted but I was going to do the other one … but he snuck the second one off when I wasn’t looking (possibly between my beers number 6 and 7). So I had to restart the firebox and left it on for another 3 hours … which I think took us to 11:00 pm. When it was done, it was awesome – soft and falling off the bone in chunks. Unfortunately, none of us were hungry anymore! But it made for good tacos later.

Sorry but I forgot my camera so no good food pictures! Just these weird ones that Keller took with his Blackberry. The second one is me with one of the smoked shoulders.

What we are most excited about now, foodwise, is making pastrami and Montreal Smoked Meat. I brought the pickling spices and the saltpeter from Canada and I just have to find some nice briskets. I have two recipes – one calling for a 10 day brine and the other for 21 days … don’t know if I can wait that long. We are planning on having a big deli dinner with dill pickles, potato chips, and pastrami sandwiches slathered in hot mustard that are so thick, you’ll have problems taking a bite out of it.

Organized a group of 12 of us to go to the Mercado Antiguo Cuscutlan tomorrow for some comida tipica ... and I promise to take photos and do a proper blog on the great local dishes and seafood.