August 2007 Archives

Meathenge is honored to have the very famous musician, artist & all around fun person, Amelia Ray step in for a little recipe action today. I haven't seen her in quite a while, but it looks as though she's doing just fine. And I have to say this recipe is pretty fricken cool. Just when you thought you'd had chicken every possible way, something like this rolls along. Let's sit back and see what's she's gots.

Lemon Chicken (Ivory Coast Recipe)

Someone left an entire chicken in my freezer a couple of weeks ago. I don't have an oven, so I searched around for a recipe for cooking a chicken in a pot on the stove. I found a dusty old Italian recipe book, and there, to my delight, was a lovely recipe for lemon chicken!

Whether you grill, smoke or do mostly oven roasted goodness, your cutting board always has some form of delectable juices laying about in the trough around the edges. This is where you'll find lovers of the medium dredging their kill through for extra flavors and textures. It's prized highly and never lasts long.

Well, at a local gathering on Saturday this nectar of the gods went faster than normal. You see, Cameron of Married ... with Dinner was in attendance. I'd never met the guy, or his wife Anita. They're the kind of people that within about one half of a conversation you realize they're no slouches in whatever they do. These people know tons of junk and are keen as a razor's edge. But why was Cameron pouring the meat juices in to a small drinking class, actually 2 glasses?

He disappeared, 1 in each hand. When he returned, a shot of vodka had been added to the slurry. And by slurry I mean, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, goat and andouille. Cameron handed one to me and drank his down. A sip first, then mine followed. Man, it was surely a good meaty, then spiky booze hit, then fatty meat, then booze. It was crazy, it was like gravy, but a booze drink. I dearly loved both the flavors and mixtures and how it finished.

Thank you Cameron, thank you very much.

xo, Biggles

Well, that was a lot tastier than I thought it was going to be. Okay, so people have been putting fruit with pork since pork began. But you see, I don't have a sweet tooth, I have a meat tooth. So Fruit & Pork have never crossed my path, until last night.

Can you see the dragon?

It was a few weeks ago when Steve of CajunGrocer.com emailed me and asked if Meathenge would like a turducken. I'm thinkin', "A turducken for 'review'? A review copy of a turducken? Sheet yeah I do!"

I have a book and a water filtration system in the wings for a review, but this bird wasn't going to wait. It was thawing and needed attention and I'm just the caring soul who's ready and willing. And speaking of willing, let's talk a moment about shilling. Yup, that's right. I know many of us non-professional writers/bloggers are pretty cagey when it comes to accepting free stuff. Let's see what the dictionary has to say about it.

1. To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).
2. To lure (a person) into a swindle.

This my good people, is not what I'm up to. Let's move on, shall we?

25 minutes ago these fine specimens were connected to Mother Earth. Are you ready? Are you all set up for this coming Fall?

These are all volunteer pumpkins, we paid for nothing but water and my effort. Neat, eh?

xo

Along with a little vegetable garden some citrus and a fair amount of weeds, I planted a sunflower garden. Here we find a nice happy at about 8:25pm tonight. It was handheld, 800 iso, auto everything with a 70-300mm zoom all the way out. Jacked the levels a tad, then hit the contrast even less. I wish you could see the original. The bokeh was fricken amazing with the light on the right.

xo, Biggles

Here we find a most excellent sirloin of beef roast. The sign said it was grass fed & had a range to roam around in or on. Let the little dear come to room temp first. Wash, dry, install the extra virgin. Fleur de sel straight from Paris. Laura gifted it to me a while back and have been using it sparingly. Anyone know where she went? I hope all is well. Okay, so we have the oil, salt, fresh rosemary & creamy white pepper corns from my good friend Rob over at Salt Traders. He's got some seriously badass product over there for sure. Carefully lay 3 bacon rosettes on top, I had to use a toothpick to hold in place. The bacon is some of Fatted Calf's finest and has a nice firm texture, hence the toothpicks.

Introduce your work of art in to a cast iron pan with a trivet below. This goes in a preheated 375 degree oven, on the bottom rack until about 130 degrees internal temp (kinda on the juicy rare side). Check temp at 40 minutes, just to see. Pull, let rest for about 10 minutes, slice as thin or thick as you wish. Mines is about 1/4", dredge each slice in juices that flow from hunk. Serve with pride!

Oh, and since I only used 3 slices, I decided to cook up the rest to a medium rare.

Serve as Hors D'oeuvres, people will love you.

Ya know, the roast tasted like really good, mild beef. Not all grassy, must have been finished with a little corn, eh. Thank you! Not bad for a little Wednesday meal, eh?

xo, Biggles

I stumbled across this a month ago, maybe. I figured I'd watch it a while to see if it was active and going to be around a bit. So far, we're good. At this exact moment, not much is going on. But the view changes and it's a pretty interractive site. They're asking for help to name the chicks, neat. And apparently the chickies have laid 187 eggs so far this year!

I think it's pretty cool. I have it rolling by while I do other things, such as working.

hencam.co.uk

Biggles

Well, first off I want to thank Dagny for bringing this restaurant to our attention. While its location scares me to an absolute shivery death, the food is most certainly worth the adventure. I had my doubts until the chips & salsa slid ever so carefully on to the table with the red & green. What followed gave my spine carnitas pimples for the next 35 minutes. Yeah, even if we didn't order carnitas, I knew it was lurking out there to excite.

Note: The following may contain adult content and/or adult language, be advised. Be very advised.

I've grown up with your family of products and remember the thrill as far back as about 1971. Since my bedroom was somewhat below ground, moisture and mold were always a problem. Not with your aerosol fueled disinfectant, it was all good in a matter of seconds.

As I aged, it helped to calm the smoky goodness of the reefer. But that was short lived, just made me hungry and paranoid. I've got enough of both, naturally. I spent time talking to and learning from other people who enjoyed the cleaners. It wasn't long before I had a good supply of the best my local grocery could offer, I had it all.