This is where the meat dishes go
Though probably not tonight. Duck confit is a week long extravaganza of preparation, cooking in a vat of fat and waiting.
Today’s step is: salt and pepper the crap out of the legs. The French for this is “genereusement” ( the are some accents in there, but this iPhone don’t make it easy ). Then let it snug overnight.
Oh but what a wait. I heart duck confit.
Burgers tonight. From lovely “88.”. She was a good cow. A fat cow that delivered yum-ness to our customers. I think we’re improving.
And MoJo Potatoes. Which are really potato wedges. Which are really MoJoes. I’m not even sure if it is MoJo’s or MoJoes. I don’t even care, but if you want to JoJo your MoJoes, you need special ‘erbs and spices.
And some duck fat.
I’m not a packaged food fan, but our friend Paul moved house from Paris to America and left behind some lovin’ chicken rub.
So I gave ‘er a go. Any packaged food that begins with “brown sugar” is sure to be a success with most humans.
But really, there’s no harm in sugar, turmeric, garlic powder and ( insert favorite pet spice here ).
And it was yummy.
Our second grassfed beef offering has come and all gone. We had a quick taste and the taste was of beef. That beefy beef you remember when beef was bred and raised as beef.
All the good stuff has gone to our beef-loving customers. As farmers, we are left with some tasty “farmer cuts” that include a few perks.
As I ebullition my pot-au-feu, I feel a wave of beef recipes coming on. There are so many heart and toe warming dishes to get us through the cold winter months that will blow in soon … Oh so soon.
Every time I go to the butcher, I find myself staring at “the brain.” The sign says, “melon farcie,” but what does that MEAN? Yes, it looks like a melon as well as a brain. Is their melon or brain involved in the making of this farcie? So I bought one. M. Butcher said it was lamb with sausage-like stuff in the middle. I’m not sure if it’s lamb sausage or pork. If I ever get around to making my own melon farcie, I will use lamb sausage. He said to cook it at 160C for about an hour and a half
… so I did
… and it was delicious!
For whatever reason, lamb is a bit ‘spense here in Southwest France, so I enjoy getting my lamb fix in with a little melon farcie. I’m a cattle farmer ( in training. it’s my husband who does the real deal ). I have plenty of room for lamb and sheep … it’s very tempting. I think I’ll take it one species at a time for the moment.
Pork studded with garlic and chilled butter spears.
Who takes the time to slot holes in your pork roast and shove yum potential right in? Where do these recipes come from? It’s so easy to shove a pork roast in the oven for a couple of low heating hours and fill in the gaps with a sauce and a song.
But I took the time. Then I gave it a right browning. And then I covered it with thyme. The recipe called for rosemary, but my rosemary was killed by those damn free range chickens. So I went to a likeness of my favorite seasoning, Zatar. This is a wonderful mix of Lebanese magic and thyme that I learned from my friend Bassam. I absolutely love Zatar and I think I need to make Zatar ice cream just to show how much I care.
Cover that lovin’ with some thin bacon. If you can find bacon without sugar, then you will love yourself even more ( if that’s possible ).
This will be cooked slowly for an hour and a half. I have peppers and leeks. Hopefully there’s something there if I add garlic, onions and a splash of celery.
The best part about processing foie gras is all the gras that shows up to the party. I Love cooking with foie gras gras. Animal fat has so many good things, it’s a shame it’s been sufficiently dissed in recent years.
I’ll use this gras in many dishes. Morning eggs, veg sauté, special sauce and so much more. I’ve even tried it in my rye bread without issue.
The recipe said, “expensive Sauternes, port and muscat grapes.”. I did cassis, floc, dash of white cote de Gascogne and blueberries ( and strawberries savauge, with a little fruit rouge ).
This is how we do it Gascony. It all worked. Foie gras likes it sweet and a bit salty. However you choose to achieve that is your own dang bidness.
Cheese from left to right:
Pyrenees Mountain cheese, vache. From some dude named Alain. Lovely!
Grassfed Jersey cow cheese. Great for melting. Okay for nibbling.
Young, fresh Jersey cheese. Really nice. I can see its future on salads.
Sounds good to me. I hope they taste good.
It feels so good to prepare grassfed beef and stick it in a pot after a quick brown then pop it in the oven for some hot lovin. I know this beef is tasty. I know where it came from. This is the way food should be.
Have you hugged your local farmer today?
Girl On Grill Action 