Late in my chili, Thanksgiving

1- I'm behind in my chili making. I know. I have plans to rectify that this weekend. My plans to serve chili this last week to a captive audience at work fell through because my roofer had an opening Tuesday. This leads to-

2- Nobody hates Satsumas. My father-in-law gave us a large box-full of the citrus last weekend. I ate a good few before Tuesday when I gave most of the rest to the roofing crew. A goodwill gesture. They disappeared within minutes. I'm looking forward to more when we visit next month. If you've never eaten one you're missing out. Satsumas, or Mikans, are incredibly easy to peel by hand and to me they taste like tangerine lifesavers- except better and like real citrus. I could eat a bushel without stopping. We also ended up with ten grapefruits. Those also usually turn out really well. I have yet to try one, so we'll see.

3. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I'm not going to cook much at all this year, so my comments on T-day will have to be limited to tastings. The last 2 years I've used a Weber Grill recipe for BBQ turkey. The bird is brined first and I believe that step makes all the difference. Using the BBQ and some smoke from apple wood makes for an incredible flavor. It takes some time but it is well worth the effort.

I did once suggest to my parents that we try a Turducken or Tur-duck-hen. My folks used to catch a lot of flack from the family traditionalists who had nothing better to do than to critique the way everything was prepared and served. The idea was to throw the lot of them off guard. They wouldn't have a clue what it was supposed to taste like, how to cook it, how to serve it, or even how to properly eat it. Screw 'em. It worked to a degree. The item came stuffed with an awful green onion stuffing and the turducken came out dry. To my credit- no one gripped in the usual ways. My folks were spared from the needling that some of our stuffier kin would have heaped upon them.

Fried Turkey is something I'd like to try to make. I've had it a few times since moving to Louisiana and it has always been great. I'm really turned off by the Cajun Injector- think really large gauge syringe and horrible flavored marinade the color of burnt umber. From what I've heard the trick is to stab the Turkey like you're trying to kill Freddie Kruger- a thousand times over. Eeeww. No thanks. Please just season the fowl well and fry. The skin is really great. The investment in a decent burner and stand also serve well for boiling seafood- shrimp, crabs, and crawfish. Just a few months longer until crawfish season starts again.

Hopefully I'll have another post on chili this weekend or early next week.

Two-fer: Pork instead of Venison and Salmon

I didn't cook Tuesday night. During my commute home Sonya called and had the suggestion that I drop by Whole Foods to pick up two of their fabulous sandwiches. Going to Whole Foods is not something you ask me to do without thinking about the checking account. I'll drop in expecting to spend twenty bucks on a few items and come out having dropped a hundred on a few more (yes the qualifiers used previously were on purpose- you've all been there and done that at that store especially). I got the sandwiches and while I thought about the traffic and the impending rain outside, I thought about spending a little more time in this slice of supermarket heaven. So I picked up some reasonably priced fruit, a bag of recycled hardwood lump charcoal, two flavors of Izze (gawd that is great stuff), two knobs of cheese I knew Sonya would like, the sandwiches, a side of grilled asparagus salad, a gallon of milk, a pound and a half of salmon fillet, and the same of ground lamb.

Wednesday I was home at a decent hour so there was time to grill. No beer, but I had the bug and would have to make do. I had a pork tenderloin in the fridge that I needed to use and decided to knock the salmon out for tomorrow night or the weekend as well.

Pork Tenderloin-
The tenderloin I'd tried last week with some success. I prepared the pork in a pan instead of on the grill and used the goodies left over in the pan along with some of the resting juices to make a sauce. The recipe called for blueberries and I had frozen raspberries. I ran with it. I was surprised earlier that night to find that the locally owned market down the road had shallots, so that worked out well. The sauce turned out with pronounced garlic and shallot flavor- not too good, but I can see the potential even with raspberries. This time around I did not fool with the sauce. Same basic recipe, with many more juniper berries ( either they are old, having sat on Target's shelf too long- I got them severely discounted, or our juniper is much more delicate flavor than I expected), dried thyme instead of fresh, and fresh rosemary. Grilled it over high heat on all sides to sear and brown the meat, then tossed it on the side to cook through. I picked up the recipe from Jamie Oliver's show on Food Network several weekends ago.

Salmon-
Pretty simple. Salt, pepper, olive oil to coat, sliced citrus (about 10mm thick). Grill on high heat, then move off to medium for the remainder. All I did was slop the seasoning on, then the olive oil, and wallpapered the fillet with sliced grapefruit. I've used orange with great results before. Can't go too wrong there. That now sits in ice box for later. Sure, the skin/scales burnt to a crisp, but I gave that to the dogs for their help.

While grilling my old college roommate Dan H. and I had a great time catching up. It seems that the apple of his eye is learning to walk five steps at a time.