What's for dinner? - Page 69

Lazy Orang · #**817** July 2nd, 2014, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crixus33

In my opinion that seems crueler and possibly more wasteful. Now instead of quickly snapping its neck, a rooster now has to fight suffering pecking and slashing from beaks and talons. I'm not sure how often the rooster's are used for meat, but I'm pretty sure you could not use the rooster for meat after it was mutilated by another rooster.

Just my

Hmmm... thinking about it, I think I'll give you that one - though it is what would naturally happen and gives each one at least a fighting chance, and something of a life until the fight, so I'm not quite sure. I still think the best solution is aborting the eggs, and I'll get to the financing of that when I have time.

Dad_Scaper · #**818** July 2nd, 2014, 04:33 PM

Guys, please take the Planet of the Chickens conversation somewhere else, if you must have it. Start a thread. Perhaps you can beat it to death there, which is a manner of death that may work effectively on chickens, as well.

I grilled trout, eggplant, and zucchini last night. I saw somewhere a long time ago that you should treat eggplants with salt before grilling. Sprinkle liberally, wipe off accumulated juices, sprinkle again. So I did it.

Then I mixed them with a safflower / olive oil blend and the sliced zucchinis, and let them sit a while. Grilled over low/medium heat for 15 or so minutes, outstanding. And the grilled trout was, of course, outstanding as well. Good enough to serve to the in-laws, which was fortunate, because I had promised them dinner.

Lazy Orang · #**819** July 2nd, 2014, 04:46 PM

Well, it started in this thread, so making a new one will just be confusing, and I for one only have one more post to make (still not this one as I don't have time) before chucking it, so it won't clutter this thread up much more - that just seems more efficient to me.

On a different note, anyone tried houmous as a base sauce for a pasta meal? I had something along those lines for tea this evening - strange as it sounds, it's really nice and has become something of a regular at my house. Don't ask me how it's done - my Mum and older brother do the cooking.

ollie · #**820** July 3rd, 2014, 05:50 PM

As far as OP intent goes, the rooster conversation is well-suited to what I hoped for. But on the other hand, I don't believe that the person who makes the OP should have any more influence than anyone else on the content of a thread.

Anyone have exciting July 4th food plans/traditions? Of the two invitations we had, one involved roasting a 100lb pig on a spit, starting at 3am (not that guests are expected at that time) and one with unknown food. Unfortunately, non-food considerations mean that we're going to the latter (fortunately, we'll get to reconnect with some friends we haven't seen for a while).

Tonight: spinach and cheese tortellini and crispy kale chips.

G1shark · #**821** July 4th, 2014, 02:25 AM

Dinner Last Night

Dinner 2 Nights ago

ollie · #**822** August 3rd, 2014, 02:17 PM

Tonight, a food I've never eaten before: emu.

We have some ground emu from a new(ish) farm about ten miles away. It looks very lean, so I'm lobbying to add in some of the copious amounts of animal fats lurking in the fridge and make burgers.

Anyone had it? I had ostrich a long time ago and it didn't leave any strong lasting memories.

Edit: we've added a fat pork sausage to the mix and made burgers from it.

Rich10 · #**823** August 4th, 2014, 03:12 PM

Over the weekend, I grilled striped bass fillets and bone-in shell steaks. Both came out great.

I've made ostrich burgers and didn't add any additional fat. I was careful that I didn't overcook it and they didn't dry out. This was a couple of years ago, but I remember that they were pretty good. About a month ago, I made turkey burgers, overcooked them, and they were pretty bad. The key to making burgers that have a low fat content is to make sure that you don't overcook them.

How did your burgers turn out?

ollie · #**824** August 5th, 2014, 02:52 PM

The burgers were... fine. Nothing notable really. I don't think burgers are a good choice for lean meat---I'd much rather have a smaller-but-fattier one. If we do get any more ground emu I suspect it'll show up in a curry or something where it's easier to get the best from leaner cuts.

In-laws are visiting at the moment and we also have a lot of people to cook for on friday so we broke out the 12lb prime rib roast from the freezer (see earlier in the thread for the not-very-interesting story of why we have some big lumps of local grass-fed beef in the freezer: short version is that it was cheap, too good a deal to pass up). Three ribs tonight (plus leftovers for a day or two) and then the remaining four and a pork loin roast for Friday's event. A meat-heavy week.

Dad_Scaper · #**825** August 5th, 2014, 02:59 PM

I had emu a long time ago. I don't recall anything magic about it.

Burgers with lean meat have to be thin, and cooked fast at high heat. I would also brush the rolls with a little olive oil and toast them on the grill, and consider serving with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato. As you would with roast beef. Not ketchup, which adds sweet but not fat.

I made grilled chicken sandwiches earlier this summer for my in-laws where I treated the chicken breast that way. Smashed it flat with a heavy pan, grilled, toasted the big, heavy rolls with olive oil, and assembled the MLT myself at the grill before serving. I figured if I let them make their own sandwiches, they'd put ketchup on it instead of mayo.

They liked it so much they asked me to make them again for my father-in-law's birthday. That's how I would make the emu-burger, which wouldn't taste like chicken but is similarly lean.

ollie · #**826** August 5th, 2014, 05:12 PM

This is probably the sort of statement that'll get me barred from the thread, but I can't stand ketchup or mayo. I'm not really into condiments in general.

Condiment issues aside, that sounds really good DS. We did toast the buns (brioche ones---am I winning the most pretentious meal posted so far in the thread with emu burgers on brioche?) and I went with some cheese and garlicky mushrooms on mine.

So yeah, good meal, and had it been ground turkey we would have been very happy, I think. The emu suffered only because of the expectation of novelty (and the price, which wasn't outrageous but was a shade more than the ground beef of similar quality).

dok · #**827** August 5th, 2014, 05:50 PM

As D_S alludes, high heat on thin burgers is one effective strategy with lean meat. Another, which ollie used, is to goose the meat up with extra fat - you can combine with sausage as ollie did, or let the ground meat soak up some oil before you make the burgers. My favorite additives to ground meat are soy sauce, molasses, and a raw egg.

One of the big things I've changed in my protein preparation in the last 6 months or so is that I've pretty much eliminated acid from my marinades. When I marinate something, I generally just use oil, salt, and whatever flavors I'm trying to add. (Garlic, being soluble in oil, takes very well to this approach.) The updated understanding of how marination works says that adding acid just cooks the outside edge of the meat and doesn't really penetrate to the center.

caps · #**828** August 5th, 2014, 06:06 PM

Which are the acidic things normally used in marination?