Cooking With The Noes

4 November 2018

This week we had Kentucky Hot Brown sandwiches for Sunday Dinner.

It’s been several years since we made these. Aldi’s had a decent price on turkey breasts, so the meal suggested itself, even though it’s not Derby weekend. It was a nasty rainy day here in the Chicago Southland, which prompted us to cook inside for a change. The turkey was done after about an hour and a half in the Nesco roaster at 325 °F. I used white Cheddar in the sauce this time, and I think that was an improvement. We roasted some mini peppers in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. Claudia made Green Goddess dressing for a mixed greens salad, and also baked a Jewish Apple Cake with fresh whipped cream for dessert.

Wine was a delicious Evangelos Bagias Zinfandel from Lodi. I also snuck in a couple of Jim Beam Old Fashioneds, because Kentucky.

If you’re a fan of food history, here’s the story of the Hot Brown, from the hotel that gave the sandwich its name. They have a pretty decent recipe too, of course. 🙂

Sunday Dinner – 7 October 2018

Every now and then I get a craving for corn relish. It doesn’t happen often, but it happened last weekend. I looked around the condiments, pickles and salsas in three different grocery stores and wasn’t able to find any. So I decided to make it myself.

It wasn’t that difficult. The canning jar that I used was big enough for a double batch, so when it was safely in the fridge, it occurred to me that we could have it for a side dish at this week’s Sunday Dinner. Then the question became what to do for a main.

Pork burgers came to mind, and my memory went wandering back to the first time I ever ate them as a child. I can still vividly remember the smell of the charcoal, and that first amazing umami bomb bite. It’s my first memory of charcoal grilled food, and I remember it being the most delicious thing I had ever tasted at the time.

The way I remembered it, my brother-in-law, Berwyn, had grilled them, and he had used a special seasoning from the Illinois Pork Producers Association. This was fifty years or so ago, though, so I wasn’t sure. After researching online to no avail, I fired off an email to my sister, which began “This may sound crazy…”

Turns out that the memory was correct, and that their family still uses the spice to this day. Vicki was able to give me an Amazon link, and even went so far as to contact the Pork Producers to find out if it was the same spice recipe as the one made in the 1960s. They said that it is. It’s made by the folks from Custom Culinary in Oswego, Illinois.

So I was all set to relive the taste this weekend, except that the shipment of the seasoning wouldn’t arrive in time.

I improvised, after looking at the ingredients label, with a mix of onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, dry mustard and MSG. I also seasoned the burgers with salt and pepper. They turned out great. Mrs. Noe said “I like these better than hamburgers.”

I also made potatoes with vinegar and salt, which was a hit.

Claudia made a terrific salad, as usual, and she and our daughter, Caroline, made apple crisp for dessert.

Wine was a Columbia Valley Riesling from Aldi’s that was really quite nice.

I still have some of the Custom Culinary seasoning on the way, and am looking forward to trying that before long.

And we’re counting down two more weeks until Aunt Pat joins us at table again. 🙂

30 September 2018

We attended a performance of our local theater company this afternoon, so we wanted to prepare a crockpot meal for Sunday Dinner.

Louisiana Red Beans and Rice is one of our favorites, and couldn’t be simpler. I gently sautéed some Cajun Trinity (onions, bell peppers and celery), adding some minced garlic towards the end, then added it to a crock pot with red beans, Worcestershire Sauce, black pepper, a couple of bay leaves, some dried parsley, Tabasco Sauce and liquid smoke.

This turned out delicious, as always. Claudia made a lovely banana cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. In keeping with the Louisiana theme, I had a Sazerac cocktail before dinner, and we opened the last bottle of one of my favorite French wines (a Côtes Catalanes) to drink with the meal.