Baked coho with a horseradish/dill sauce and garlic parmesan smash taters. Snickerdoodle (or three) for dessert. I'm stuffed.

Bacon cheese smash burgers on the flat top. Aaannd some left over fries and onion rings from the weekend, my wife kinda over cooked them in the new air fryer

Seared black cod in a beurre blanc sauce with a side of pesto fettuccine. A slice of sourdough to sop up that wonderful sauce.

Just bought me an all beef two pound bologna chub that I plan to devour. This isn't your usual Oscar Mayer bologna made from turkey feet and chicken lips this is bologna the way it was meant to be. I'll be smoking it, slicing off sandwich sized slices then throwing the slices on the flattop to get caramelized. Then put on some bistro bread with dijon mustard and pickles! Stay tuned!

Pork Butt and Pit Beans
I also made pickled onions for the first time.

Yesterday I made crispy beef tacos with homemade Mexican Rice. I was so hungry I didn’t even think about taking a picture.

Today was just a grilled hamburger, but a very tasty hamburger!

^^ crinkle cut fries, I don't know why they bother to cut them any other way. Looks like a tasty California burger!

So, I didn’t just make this, but a few weeks ago our new little butcher shop had the oddest looking pretty thick bone-in pork chops that were really “marbled” throughout. Couldn’t figure out where nice fat pork came from. They are brined and injected with beef tallow and they were fabulous just sauteed in a skillet (we’re in a burn-ban, so no grilling for now) I bought some tallow and an injector to try this. Any of you do this? What do you do? I’m also thinking fresh-rendered pork lard from the carniceria would be good for this. Also doing pork loin for smoking.

SN, we make similar meals on similar days. Odd.

My burger:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
SN, we make similar meals on similar days. Odd.

My burger:

Yeah but your pictures are so much prettier than mine!!!

My wife had some type of stomach bug so today I made a nice healthy Caldo de Pollo or Mexican chicken soup. It has a lot of good vegetables and tastes great. I made it with boneless skinless chicken thighs but when I went to cut up the cooked meat I found one to have a bone in it so I had to give the bone and some meat to one of my birds as she absolutely loves the meat and to eat the marrow out of bones.

Chayote? Never see it before my fiancee introduced me to it.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Chayote? Never see it before my fiancee introduced me to it.

Yes, sir. It is a squash but hard as a rock until cooked like a potato.

Wife has a bunch of basil growing in the yard so she made a little shark coochie board.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Wife has a bunch of basil growing in the yard so she made a little shark coochie board.

Looks great and is a healthy snack. I am actually going to make a sort of one for the Texas Longhorns football game tonight. I just don’t have any sliced meat. I will do cheese, crackers, and pickled okra from my garden.

This is my first year pickling okra from my garden and so far that is what I have done with all I have picked this year. I love it! Just opened another jar today. Normally I would bake it or do fried okra but this year is all pickling.

Means more coming from you SN!

May I ask, is there a specific reason the okra isn’t filled? Is that the one you opened already I assume?

I wanna start perfecting my canning and using my canner more. Especially with my wife and neighbor growing all sorts of tomatoes and veggies during the growing months up here.

Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.

And please tell me you eat the whole thing pickled and don’t throw away the stem portion! Did you do any spicy?

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Means more coming from you SN!

May I ask, is there a specific reason the okra isn’t filled? Is that the one you opened already I assume?

I wanna start perfecting my canning and using my canner more. Especially with my wife and neighbor growing all sorts of tomatoes and veggies during the growing months up here.

Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.

And please tell me you eat the whole thing pickled and don’t throw away the stem portion! Did you do any spicy?

Yes, this is one we opened today and my wife and I had already eaten several before this picture. It was fully stuffed previously. I eat every bit of it and will even eat them raw. I haven’t done it, but I hear you can even cook and eat the leaves of the plant. I normally add two Serrano peppers per quart jar sliced in half lengthwise as I like it spicy and cutting the pepper like that doesn’t make it too spicy. I eat the pickled pepper and LOVE eating the pickled whole garlic cloves in the jar as well. A lot of my plants died due to many factors when I first planted so I am not getting as much okra as I planned. I am not getting enough to can several jars in a hot water bath to store in the pantry so I am having to pickle 1-2 jars at a time using the refrigerator pickling method. They still are great, but just don’t have the same shelf life and must stay refrigerated. My mom can’t handle any spice level AT ALL so the two most recent jars I did I did not add the Serrano peppers, which is why you don’t see them in this jar. I delivered my mom her jar today when I went to see her and bring her the soup I made the other day.

Last weekend I planted bush green bean seeds in the spots the other okra plants did not make it in and as of today, they have all sprouted so I hope to have green beans in the fall.

Here was my little snack tray tonight:

Stormin Normin, I always admire your cooking, pictures and ambition. Your kitchen skills are light years ahead of mine. Many years ago, I worked with a man who grew and pickled Hungarian Wax Peppers.I think that is what he called them.He just put them in a jar with vinegar. He did not cook them or do anything other than put them in the jar and pour vinegar on them and put the lid on the jar. At least that is what I remember. He used to bring jars to work and give them out. I don't think they had to be refrigerated. It has been over thirty years since this happened. Does that sound like it would work with okra? I like okra, but have never eaten it any way but cooked. Thanks for any advice, Ironworker.

quote:

Originally posted by Ironworker:
Stormin Normin, I always admire your cooking, pictures and ambition. Your kitchen skills are light years ahead of mine. Many years ago, I worked with a man who grew and pickled Hungarian Wax Peppers.I think that is what he called them.He just put them in a jar with vinegar. He did not cook them or do anything other than put them in the jar and pour vinegar on them and put the lid on the jar. At least that is what I remember. He used to bring jars to work and give them out. I don't think they had to be refrigerated. It has been over thirty years since this happened. Does that sound like it would work with okra? I like okra, but have never eaten it any way but cooked. Thanks for any advice, Ironworker.

I appreciate the kind comments. I love to cook. I have never done it that way, but who knows it might have worked. I would not do it that way.

To be able to store a canned vegetable at room temperature in a pantry until opened for use, they must be hot water or pressure canned. I have only ever done hot water canning. Once opened, they must be refrigerated. With hot water canning, you boil the jars, new lids, and rings in water in a large pot covering them. This will be the same pot you will can in and you are sterilizing everything. You also boil a 50/50 mixture of water and 5% vinegar and pickling salt; I use white vinegar. Then you pull a jar out of the water add the washed fresh okra and whatever else you want like, dill, mustard seed, black peppercorns, garlic cloves, hot peppers, etc. Pour in your 50/50 water vinegar mix into each jar leaving a half inch of headspace. Put a hot lid and ring on jar and tighten. Repeat to all jars and then put all jars into the hot water bath of boiling water for 15 minutes and remove. The jars will seal after a while as you hear popping sounds as they sit on the counter. Now they can sit in the pantry for a year.

The other method is what I am doing right now, which is refrigerator pickling. You wash the jars and new lids, boil the 50/50 water vinegar and pickling salt mix. Put all the okra and whatever other seasoning you want, pour in the boiling 50/50 water and vinegar mixture leaving half inch headspace, put on lid and ring, and let sit on the counter for about an hour and then put in the refrigerator. Wait at least 5 days for them to pickle before eating them. They must be kept in the fridge and are good for about two months but my jars can’t make it a week before I eat them all.

In either method, I add 1/4 tsp of calcium chloride (pickle crisp) to a quart jar before adding the liquid or 1/8 tsp to a pint jar. The calcium chloride is what helps keep them crunchy.