Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking Wonder what the poor folks are eatin' tonight?

My menu is for Saturday night. Eight people. I've already started prepping and cooking though.

Chicken with mushroom risotto, and baby peas. Peach cobbler for dessert.

The diet went out the window last night for a saturday night special.

Thick cut Strip steak, home made oven chips (fries to you foreigners), caramelised onions, garlic and oregano pan gravy, and a side salad with balsamic* vinegarette.

Mrs Schlack and I went out for dinner last week, paid twice as much for a meal half as good.

*Dont use the cheapo stuff. I usually buy good quality olive oil and baslamic about once a month. its far more expensive, but well worth it.

When I cook at home, I try to use locally grown organic fresh produce and herbs. The meat I get, is raised organically without hormones and free range. It does cost a bit more, but like schlack says, it's worth it!

They're only fries if you fry them. I guess they can still be chips if you bake them though...@u@

The osso buco came out perfect. I've been working on this recipe for a while and it's good to finally get it perfected.
I'm looking forward to doing lamb fore shanks like this.

So how thick is your veal shank? Most of the photos I see online show something like a standard pork chop, but the only time I ever ordered osso buco in a restaurant it was about four inches of bone with all the attached meat presented with the bone oriented as if the calf was standing!

That was at a German butcher's restaurant that buys 4H and Future Farmer livestock and does their own processing. They tend to do their presentations in ways sometimes a bit unsettling to Americans! Mighty tasty, though.

Osso Bucco. Literally "Hole in the Bone" shouldn't really be much more than an inch thick. The idea is to melt the marrow from the bone during the braising. I used Beef Shanks, 1 inch thick. But I also tossed in a few oxtails and short ribs to study the effects of the braising method on several different cuts of meat.
Braised brisket will be rolling up on the menu one day too.

Veal is the only meat I refuse to eat.
Veal is made from fattened male dairy calves. If I could get veal that was humanely treated I would eat it in a heartbeat.

Tonight was my ever popular pepperoni pizza!

Bought a breadmaker to to the heavy lifting regarding the kneading.

Tomorrow night is a simple spanish omlette.

eggs, potato, onion and a little leftover chorizo.

Speaking of braising, im planning some braised steaks over the next week or so - any recipie hints? Was thinking of a simple liquid of onion, beef stock, oregano and a little flour for thickening.

Not sure what cut of beef yet - Ill have that discussion with the butcher.

One of the biggest changes I just made was covering the pan with parchment paper before sealing it tightly with foil. It seems weird but it makes a big difference.

Here's Fabio's Ossobucco recipe...

My favorite braising liquid is from Tom Valenti's Lambshanks.
You can get away with some fairly cheap fatty cuts of beef for braising. The beef shanks were incredible. Oxtails and Short ribs probably a little to fatty for Mrs. Schlack. I think Brisket is next in line for my braising pan.

Fabio used deli paper, not parchment. That's why it's a soggy mess when he takes the foil off.