lunch time (trying out my new camera)

I was given a digital camera for a christmas present this year. i figure i better try it out. luckily for me we had plenty of rib roast left over from christmas dinner. i also had a loaf of wheat bread left over from christmas eve. since the bread is a little old i figure i should do a hot roast beef sandwich.

the bread is a little stale, it's two days old, so i slice it and toast it.

this is the leftovers from christmas dinner.

i slice the meat thin and also slice a good pile of cheddar cheese

i heated the pan and allowed butter to melt then added the meat and the cheese at the same time.

i then covered it and waited for the cheese to melt, i did it this way to avoid over cooking the beef.

the meat still has some color to it and is hot and covered with melted cheese


all it needs is a little horseradish mustard


there you have it, a hot roast beef sandwich. pretty fuckin good use of leftovers.

the best breakfast sandwich i've ever had

last night we had ham for dinner, my first thought was a loaf of rye for ham and swiss sandwiches. that would've been good, damn good in fact. then i stopped, said "fuck that" and decided what i wanted; a goddamn ham, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel. generally i'm a bacon, egg, and cheese guy; but i'd rather really good ham than pretty good bacon. another thing i wanted was a really good bagel, i could have easily bought everything bagels; but i wanted a particularly good bagel and have been on a bread making tear lately. so naturally i found a recipe on the internet and got to work.
the bagel recipe:
(http://hubpages.com/hub/Homemade_bagel_recipe_Make_great_nadrolled_water_bagels__its_as_easy_as_baking_a_loaf_of_bread)

here's the dough prior to boiling

here are a few post boiling

i wanted everything bagels, so i dipped the bagels in a seed and spice mix; poppy seed, sesame seed, onion powder, garlic powder, dry oregano, dry basil, and black pepper

here are a few post baking. i allowed them to cook and then toasted them with american cheese for the final sandwich.

i fried four eggs, four sandwiches, with the yolks broken so the sandwich isn't too messy

i sliced the ham thin and fried it.

i put the egg and ham on the cheesy bagel and it's dinner time, although the best time to eat this would be the morning after a night of blackout drinking. everything about the sandwich is awesome, it's like the dunkin' donuts breakfast sandwich but many times better.

headin back to the border

another friday brings another day of fending for myself for dinner. like usual that means various braised meats served up on a sandwich of one form or another. the ingredient that caught me eye was the rack of beef ribs i picked up to make stock for onion soup. i decided to say fuck it to that plan and do what i do best, spicy shredded meat. i pulled the ribs from the downstairs freezer and found bacon, chorizo, and a couple pork chops in the fridge's freezer.


my first step was to sear the ribs, i chose to do this in the oven, above are the ribs after like a half hour in the oven.


next up i seared the pork chops in my dutch oven

i then added the bacon, chorizo, and onion. after sauteing i added a can of tomato sauce, a can of white beans, homemade chili paste, spices, and white wine.

i put the ribs in the pot, cover it, and put in the oven at 350 for about 3-4 hours.

the meat fell apart into beautiful carnitas style meat.

here's one of the corn tortillas i made

i put a pile of meat on the tortilla. for toppings i made a chili lime lettuce slaw, i marinaded iceberg lettuce in lime juice, sriracha sauce, and honey. i also have avocado, tomato, and cilantro


for my first time making corn tortilla i'd say i did a very good job. fucking great taco.

inspiration

over the past week or so i've been making my own baguettes to go with the food i've been making. every time i find myself thinking "this would make a great sub roll." last night i was discussing this with joe mellen and i came to the conclusion that the next time my mom leaves out boneless chicken i'm making chicken parmesean subs from scratch. luckily for me, my mom left out boneless chicken breasts this morning. as a man of my word i got to work making the best fucking chicken parm sub i've ever had.

of course i chose to start on the bread, the bread makes the sandwich


this is the dough right before going in the oven. after mixing, kneading, resting, forming, and resting again. bake at 425 for about 15 minutes on a baking stone with steam in the oven, i place a pan in the over and dump water into it right before closing the oven.

here are the rolls fresh out of the oven.

while the bread was resting i started the tomato sauce

the sauce is onion, garlic, celery, herbs, canned tomatoes, white wine, and chicken stock. i cooked it for about 4 hours.

the last step was making the chicken. i breaded it with flour, egg, and bread crumbs; standard breading procedure.

these are the cutlets after being shallow fried.

with all the elements made the final step is the construction of the sandwich.

i sliced the bread and placed a layer of slice mozzarella in the bread.

slices of chicken cutlet are next.

that gets topped with a healthy layer of marinara sauce.

a sprinkle of parmesean cheese and the sandwich is ready for the oven

look at that tray of deliciousity.

here are the sandwiches post baking, cheese melted and the bread crisped up beautifully.

like usual the camera doesn't do the final product justice. this is without a doubt the best chicken parm sandwich i've ever had. the bread is delicious and crispy, the mozzarella oozes out of the sandwich when you bite it, and the flavor of the sauce blends it all together into a grand clusterfuck of deliciousness.

a worthwhile effort

a little more than two weeks ago i started the slow process of making a reuben from scratch. i corned my own brisket, fermented cabbage into sauerkraut, and worked on making my own rye bread. the weeks of waiting are finally over and today i finally get my homemade reuben.



like i've said before, the bread makes the sandwich. that's why i've done a few batches in preparation for today. it's a good hearty rye bread

here is the brisket following 2 weeks of brining and four hours of boiling. the flavor is great, much better than store bought corned beef.

this is the results of my first attempt at room temperature brining. the sauerkraut turned out delicious.

i kept the pot that boiled the meat in hot so i could steam the sandwich filling and melt the cheese.


it worked really well, the cheese is perfectly melted


the final sandwich, it's sloppy, real sloppy. it's also the best damned reuben i've ever had.
this was the star of the show, but i have another trick up my sleeve. this next sandwich seemed logical with the ingredients at hand.

I decided to make my version of a spike's junkyard dogs classic, the reuben dog. this was my hangover cure when spike's was still open on thayer street in providence, although i haven't had one in almost a year.

i treated the dog the same way as the brisket, kraut on the bottom and a dog wrapped in swiss cheese

i didn't have a proper bun, but i had white bread. so i put the dog on the bread and topped with my homemade thousand island dressing. once again, so sloppy but so good. this experiment was totally worth the couple weeks of waiting

a day in the kitchen pt. 3

luckily for me i was able to get the ingredients for salsa. tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime juice.

the longer the salsa sits the better, this didn't get a chance to sit but it's still delicious

after a few hours the meat was falling apart. i shredded the meat and skimmed off the fat. to finish it i added cilantro, a little chili sauce, and some more cumin.

on the tortilla i put a layer of white rice, a layer of bean, meat, chili sauce, salsa, lettuce, cilantro, and cheddar cheese; i overfilled it a bit.

i managed to get it rolled but i ended up with it all over me; it was all worth it. that is a damn good burrito