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Tried my hand at faux-smoking some pork belly I had in the freezer....came out awesome. Basically rubbed the pork belly with brown sugar, fivespice, salt and pepper, got my contraption smoking, put it on the grill (the whole contraption).

Made some simple risotto with some leftover carrots (and of course homemade chicken stock)The pork belly was so tender, rather than slice it up, I just pulled it apart (it basically fell apart) and threw it in the risotto.

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My Weekend:
Friday - Feast of San Gennaro
Saturday - 70th Surprise Birthday for my Aunt
Sunday - Sunday Roast

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The only better place to scope "interesting" people than the Jersey shore, is the San Gennaro festival in NYC's little Italy. After gearing up (which means, having a Manhattan, before GOING to Manhattan)...we took the bus in.


Since our guests were arriving.....later....we opted to walk around, and found a little wine bar that just opened (or changed owners)..it was certainly nothing special and while the new manager was nice, it was only him tending to the albeit not big, but big enough to have someone else helping, place. Has potential for a nice hole in the wall wine bar. The finger sandwich wasn't too bad.
Here is the place http://www.barveloce.com/locations.html we stopped at the Tiny SoHo location. No pics...sorry.

We ate at.....wait for it...De Gennaro's. Now, Little Italy has some GREAT Italian-American food, however, when you are crowded with THOUSANDS of people, while it's still good, it's best to play it safe with a kitchen who is understaffed and cranking out way to many dishes. I had....wait for it.....Spaghetti and Meatballs and a cheap Italian Chianti. Played it safe I did, definitely "comfort" food.
Some pics..




John and Melissa.


Sunday we had a Surprise party for my Grandmothers Sisters 70th birtday. ~30 people at Ria Mar in South River...I haven't uploaded pictures yet, but got to see my Aunt from Germany and my Uncle from Florida (actually great and and great uncle). Perhaps I'll update this post later with some pictures after I get "family approval" to post pictures.

Sunday, Cooked a Sunday Roast, with Yorkshire Pudding, Smashed Potatoes. I ended up making two "roasts"...don't ask, but I'll be eating Roast Beef for a week. (which is good, because Rib Roasts are a little expensive)



The "paste rub"


just add a little red wine and Worcestershire to it..

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got a great new chef's knife....I love it. BIG different from my 8" Wusthoff Classic.




While at whole foods, I got what I think are going to be the last good batch of Jersey Heirloom tomatoes.....so I had to pick some up with some Buffala Mozzarella.


Then made some Saffron Risotto, and butter, vanilla poached lobster.


used my chicken stock that I made!






paired it with


so Laurie....how was it?

Mmmmmmmmmm good!

The combination of homemade stock, and saffron, made for a great creamy risotto, with just some great flavor. I'm getting good at making risotto. The lobster she said was cooked perfectly, but didn't taste that fresh, which I can understand as they were bought frozen from the local fish monger. Next time, I'll try the butter poaching with shrimp.

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Guys/Girls. I. Need. Podcasts. period. All the ones I've "sampled" on iTunes are either not updated frequently enough, or are frankly, absolutely horrible.

The only ones I listen to now:
SmodCast - Kevin Smith's podcast
Restaurant Guys Radio - Used to be on a local AM Station. Food Talk, Restaurant talk
Free Culinary School - Good too, but not updated enough for me. 

I'm interested in Food & Wine, Motorcycles, Photography for the most part. Like longer "shows" too. Not into the 5 minute podcasts. I love music, but actually prefer talk radio in the car most of the time, especially to and from work. At work, I like a mix of talk and music. I'm just not getting enough "good material" to listen to as far as podcasts go. Help me out. If I can find a few that are updated even on a weekly basis at say a 30 minute show, I'd be happy. Suggestions? P.S. I hate monotone NPR most of the time.

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Spent all day Saturday making stock...

Click the read more for way too many pictures and the full post...gear up, it's going to be a long post, dial-up not friendly, get with 2008.

So, fall is upon us and since Laurie and I love soups so much, we figured we'd spend a day making stock and freezing it. Some of our favorite soups are French Onion, Tomato Basil, Pasta Fagioli...and we make a great turkey chili. Not to mention, risotto with boxed stock is a little too salty. Well, we are all ready for fall.

First, I have to say, it pays to have an Asian grocery near you. I picked up some "good" stock parts for pretty cheap. Things you just "don't find" at the regular grocer.

Let's start with the beef stock since that's what's going to take the longest. I followed the recipe from the CIA bootcamp cookbook, and some advice from Boar D. Laze. My only real change was adding the mirepoix after the first hour, not just putting it in for the last.









rinsed all the meat, and put in a pre-heated (at 425) canola oil coated roasting pan. For 15 minutes, then 325 for about 40 minutes...




in the mean time, I took out my dutch oven and browned the mirepoix in some canola oil, then added some tomato paste and browned(rusted)






Also stopped for a lunch break somewhere in there...Laurie made a good capicola (hot), salami and ham sandwich for me.


I turned the meat/bones a couple of times in that 40 minutes....now it's done.


put it in a pot with cold water, and bring it to a lllooww simmer slowly (takes longer than you'd expect) skimming off the fat.


In the meantime, I did my chicken stock.

Again, thank god for the Hong Kong Supermarket...1$ each for chicken carcases (with necks) and some chicken feet. rinsed well.







and in a pot of cold water...brought to a boil slowly, while skimming the top. At the advice of Boar D. Laze, I did not add the mirepoix and sachet of herb to the pot until after the first 45 minutes or so.


also, since chicken stock is much easier to make, I opted to make more beef stock (i have 2 big stock pots, one bigger than the other)



after a while I added the mirepoix to both and let them low simmer....for the chicken about 4-5 and the beef 8-9


in the mean time I made some braised pork belly not worth really blogging about but I'll post a picture or two. I stole the recipe from Jean-Georges Asian cookbook.






back on the ranch....the chicken stock was done first...ice bath and a pot in the sink, and strained into the pot. You need to cool it down as quick as possible.
then I put i the fridge overnight....

about 10pm, the beef stock was also done...


sweet. In the fridge you go, and tomorrow you get jarred!

So after a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs...I pulled the stock from the fridge expecting lots of fat. On the chicken, not so much. Probably due to my constant skimming.







Yielded ~5 quarts. I'll tell you how much I spent total a little later.

The beef stock had a nice layer of fat...






and the money shot!


Yielded ~9 quarts of beef stock.

Made some room in the freezer and now I'm "stocked" up. Total cost was around 35$...and I yielded roughly 14 quarts...which turns into 2.50 quart which is what you can expect to pay at the store, but...it's home made. I didn't do it to save money. I also bought stock material that was a little expensive that I probably could have saved in the freezer from leftovers from previous dishes(chicken carcasses, beef bones, etc)...but I never do.

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