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Our family tradition is to celebrate Thanksgiving with a fine meal. We have a lot to be thankful for, as you will see.
I like to brine and smoke my turkey. The brine consists of {salt, chicken stock, honey, Chardonnay, peppercorns, herbs, oranges, ice}. I put the bird in the brine on Saturday, since it was partially frozen. I used a 25 pound organic bird from Diestel. I stuffed the bird with garlic and yellow onions before smoking.
On Saturday, November 10, I was feeling a little peaked. So I decided to put on my apron and whip up a bodacious meal.
I approach cooking as an engineering exercise. The secret is a good formula and the artful display of passion. A good formula is essentially a good recipe and great ingredients. And a good formula needs passionate delivery. Pay attention to details. Now as to the menu. I had a choice. Go with a previous menu and attempt to perfect it. Or be a man and try something totally new. I decided to perfect a previous menu. Maybe it was because I was wearing an apron.
On Saturday, November 3, the Harrolds (Alyson and Doug) hosted a Burger Bomb Party.
A Burger Bomb is essentially a smallish hamburger patty on a biscuit, with some sauce.
A nice simple concept, thus success is based on the quality of the ingredients. First off, Alyson makes a wonderful sauce for the biscuits, kind of like thousand island dressing only better. The patties themselves were over the top. Kudos to Doug. He is most definitely a grill stud. The patties were all beef, stuffed with cheeses and herbage. The herbage consisted of habanero chills and basil. Awesome combination. The meat was grilled to perfection, just a little pink in the middle.
On Saturday, October 20, we celebrated Richard’s Birthing Day. Here is the menu that he selected:
These steaks were 1.5 inches of manly love. Served with horseradish. These steaks were awesome. I should probably comment on the proper method of cooking steaks. First of all, you must grill them (all Men grill). I prefer propane – charcoal is just too much of a pain. I get a little smoke action going by placing wood chips (hickory) in an aluminum foil packet. Heat the grill to the maximum temperature. Place the steaks on the grill and watch them constantly. Flip them and move as needed to deal with flair ups. Pull the steaks from the main heat when the outside looks done. Turn the grill to low and finish until done (use a meat thermometer). I greatly prefer medium rare.
On Saturday, October 13, we celebrated Desiree’s birthing day. And since it was her day, she got to pick out the menu:
For 2.5 pounds of hamburger, I used 1 pound of bacon. I decided to max out the blue cheese by stuffing the burger with a traditional Stilton and then serving the burger with a double cream blue cheese. The result was most satisfactory.
On Sunday, September 23, we had the great pleasure of attending the Pittsburgh – Oakland football game. The Raiders won 34 – 31 on the last play of the game with a field goal. The Raiders played a very good game. They were balanced and disciplined. They looked much better than the previous two games. To celebrate the win, we all decided to have dinner at one of our favorite local Italian establishments – Il Postal, in Sunnyvale. Evelyn and I have been dining there for a number of years and the menu and service never disappoint.
On Sunday, September 16, we celebrated Matthew Togami’s birthing day. Since Matt is a fine 49er fan, we decided that it was good and proper to consume a manly meal while watching the Detroit Lions travel to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. The Niners played very well and they won (27 – 19), check it out here.
On Saturday, September 1 Evelyn and I had the great pleasure of dining with Debora and Hector Esparza at Stone Brewing in Temecula, California. Temecula is a small little town between Los Angeles and San Diego. Hector is Evelyn’s brother and an avid Dallas Cowboy fan so he requires constant dicipline. But I have to hand it to him, what an awsome dinner establishment.
So here it is, Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. What are you going to do with the left over turkey? I know! Make some real, deal, wake you up, BoneHead Chile! So why do I call it BoneHead Chile? Back when I was playing football, folks would call me BoneHead because I liked to hit people. I was, after all, a linebacker. I guess my friends thought I was a little over the top. And I think the name is appropriate for this Chile. I try to push the boundaries but not go completely overboard. You do not want the heat to completely bury the flavours.
