The steel chef! Next battle: salmon

[SpongeBuell]

So, I have a few friends (tough to believe, eh? ) that I've had over to smoke some meats with. Before, it's always been a friend of mine and I working together, picking random spices, etc. A few days ago, however, we decided to go head-to-head.

A few hours ago, we got done with our first "steel chef" battle, pork loin. We were each given a pork loin to do what we wanted with, then to be smoked as desired. In honor of fall (and it just sounded tasty) I made mine with an apple maple brine (a brine is like a marinade, if you aren't much of a cooker) with a cinnamon rub. For good measure, I then wrapped it up in bacon (which soaked in the same brine for a bit) thoroughly just before cooking.



My friend had his own white wine rosemary balsamic vinaigrette marinade with Italian stuffing inside... everything, including the stuffing, was hand-picked, no recipes or anything.



As soon as the meats were ready, we cut a few slices and gave it to our 3 judges. All 3 enjoyed both of them, and had a very hard time deciding which to choose, switching back and forth. They wrote down their preferences, and all 3 went to (*drumroll*)... me

Of course, the gentleman I went against fought a hard fight, and did a good job still, but it was a good contest.

Next up, salmon. I think I may ditch the smoker this time in favor of something closer to what I had when I was in Alaska for a bit. Something like grilled salmon topped with butter, garlic, lemon, and lemon pepper... served over rice. Any herbs that would go well with this that anyone can think of? I'm a bit illiterate with those, and could use a little help

[thehackerinside]

So, I have a few friends (tough to believe, eh? ) that I've had over to smoke some meats with. Before, it's always been a friend of mine and I working together, picking random spices, etc. A few days ago, however, we decided to go head-to-head.

A few hours ago, we got done with our first "steel chef" battle, pork loin. We were each given a pork loin to do what we wanted with, then to be smoked as desired. In honor of fall (and it just sounded tasty) I made mine with an apple maple brine (a brine is like a marinade, if you aren't much of a cooker) with a cinnamon rub. For good measure, I then wrapped it up in bacon (which soaked in the same brine for a bit) thoroughly just before cooking.



My friend had his own white wine rosemary balsamic vinaigrette marinade with Italian stuffing inside... everything, including the stuffing, was hand-picked, no recipes or anything.



As soon as the meats were ready, we cut a few slices and gave it to our 3 judges. All 3 enjoyed both of them, and had a very hard time deciding which to choose, switching back and forth. They wrote down their preferences, and all 3 went to (*drumroll*)... me

Of course, the gentleman I went against fought a hard fight, and did a good job still, but it was a good contest.

Next up, salmon. I think I may ditch the smoker this time in favor of something closer to what I had when I was in Alaska for a bit. Something like grilled salmon topped with butter, garlic, lemon, and lemon pepper... served over rice. Any herbs that would go well with this that anyone can think of? I'm a bit illiterate with those, and could use a little help

Herbs that go well with with fish would be dill or parsley also hollandaise sauce would taste great and it's really easy to make!

[DK]

For steamed salmon, I advise a sauce of wasabi mustard mixed with mayo. Nice and tangy, even better with sliced pickled ginger as a garnish

[gizmo255]

Borrowed from my previous job, use salmon, preferably sock eye, with skin. Cut slits into skin side (the closer the slits the crispier the skin) of salmon, rub with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Heat skillet, add olive oil when hot, saute skin side down until crispy, season meat side with salt and pepper, flip filet until desired temp of meat is reached. Next take some redskin potatoes, previously boiled until cooked, and add them to a heated skillet with olive oil. Saute for a little bit and then smash them until medium size chunks are left. Add lump crab meat and green scallions to the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Optional but recommended, serve with a drizzling of mango vinagrette on top of the salmon, skin side up. The vinagrette is something like 150 ml of extra virgin olive oil, 150 of extra virgin sesame oil, some rice wine vinegar, a can of mango nectar, chunks of mango and a dash of salt and pepper. Emulsify together. That's a pretty rough account but its pretty much all there. It's been our best seller. Good luck.

[project_failure]

Sponge your bring your beastly cooking equipment to MGC. Eveyone can buy their favorite meats. I'm sure the hotel won't mind if we don't tell them.

[HBN]

I might know what would go well, being a fairly good cook myself. But I'm not saying for one reason (sorry).

In my opinion, be it wrong or otherwise, you asking for help is cheating. You are supposed to do this on the fly. If you win based on any of the above mentioned tips or full recipes, you wont have won with your own skill, or original ideas.

I wish you the best of luck. But I can't do more than that.

[typamc95]

If you have any lime on hand, try Lime salmon cutlets with ground parsley-
oil a pan lightly with butter, lime juice, and ground parsley and cook on the stove, making sure both sides get a even coating of the sauce and then cool in the fridge, followed by reheating in a conventional oven to your liking. a good side would be hominy or, for something more exciting macaroni salad.

[SpongeBuell]

Sponge your bring your beastly cooking equipment to MGC. Eveyone can buy their favorite meats. I'm sure the hotel won't mind if we don't tell them.

Yes sir! I wanted to grill last year, but that would be difficult to lug around in my Oldsmobile (though I suppose a public park would work, they have grills). I think it may be hard to do it at the hotel (indoor is obvious, especially if you watch the thing go, and who knows what there is available for power outside). However, if we can find a park with a power outlet outside, I'm sure we could have a party the day everyone comes, with some barbeque smoking in the meantime.

[SpongeBuell]

For those that are curious, I got done with the salmon contest yesterday. I made salmon over rice with butter (of course ), salt, lemon pepper, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (hey, if it worked for Simon and Garfunkel, why not me? ), garlic (1 clove raw and sliced before cooking, and one cooked and chunked), caramelized onions, and a little Parmesan cheese. I'm kinda surprised I remembered all that

What was really fun was when my mom was amazed at how my rice turned out... we just use a normal pan, no rice makers here, and she has a hard time getting it to turn out right. This was my first time really doing it, and it turned out perfectly. I kinda wish I made it later so it'd be hotter, and keep the salmon hotter, but oh well... still tasted good.

And the results: 19 (I think it was that... too much lemon didn't help hum much
) to 26 (me) to 27... gotta say, I'm happy with how it turned out, considering I really don't know my herbs and spices as well as I'd like.

Oh, and another contest we had last week with just one friend of mine: innovation. I chose an ingredient for a friend of mine, and he chose one for me. We were supposed to come up with some kind of dish with said ingredient that wouldn't normally be thought of. I told him to make something with avacados, and he chose hostess cupcaks for me. He made an avacado cream sauce to go with fried shrimp and 100% from scratch tortilla chips, which was amazing. I had mixed a few cupcakes with some milk and cocoa powder, along with a few other things, and used it as a filling for... crepes. I had never made crepes before, so I was a bit nervous, but it turned out surprisingly well.