What's for Dinner?

Sunday gravy (ground beef, sausage, pork ribs, garlic, onions, peppers, ground tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves, fresh basil, s/p) with Rigatoni and grana padano in the Airbnb here in Medellin. She said she wanted pasta so that's my go-to.

The entire city is very calm and quiet today. We ubered to the Carulla (think Colombian Fresh Fields) and the neighborhoods are gorgeous and green. About 30 years ago this city began to do heavy planting of trees and tropical fauna everywhere and it greatly reduced the carbon footprint, as well as made the city absolutely gorgeous.

It is 67 degrees now and overcast, looks like rain is coming. 🥰

I'm just not feeling the popcorn coating. In Michigan I ordered fish and chips made with walleye coated in Corn Flakes. We were in Battle Creek after all, seriously. I just didn't like it and I like walleye and like fish and chips. The coating is all I can think of.

Ashburn Dave said:

Peel and eat shrimp along with some hushpuppies.

View attachment 15206

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I've never tried to make hush puppies. In fact, up until this moment, I never thought about making hush puppies.

If I could live on hush puppies, however I would.

That whole setup looks absolutely delicious.

Ashburn Dave said:

Peel and eat shrimp along with some hushpuppies.

Click to expand...

Voice_of_Reason said:

That whole setup looks absolutely delicious.

Click to expand...

So, you guys like shrimp ? I'll share a recipe I've guarded a long time.
I used to cook this for Art from ES, years ago when I'd go watch Redskins games at his house.
Art raved about this for years, after experiencing it. So I figured it's worth sharing.

It's actually 2 recipes in 1. The dipping sauce is the clincher.
In fact, when our resident Chef RedWolf tries this Mother sauce, he'll say "This is the Mother of all Mother Sauces !"
I call this :

Clobber Cowboys Coconut Shrimp

Dipping Sauce

¼ cup plain nonfat yogurt
½ cup coconut milk (from a can)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Breading

¼ cup flour
1 large egg – beaten
1 cup coconut flakes
½ cup plain bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
And...
Oil for frying Shrimp

1- Peel shrimp and leave the tail on. De-vein and
butterfly the shrimp. Cover and store in refrigerator.
2- In a mixing bowl, combine the 9 sauce ingredients.
Cover and store in the refrigerator. NOTE : This step
can be done one day in advance.
3- Begin breading by placing flour on a plate. Beat
egg in a small bowl. On another plate, combine the
bread crumbs, coconut, salt, and white pepper.
4- Dust the shrimp in the flour. Shake off excess
flour and dip in the beaten egg. Roll in the
bread/coconut mixture to coat completely. Do this for
all the shrimp.
5- In a pan, place approximately ½” of oil and heat
until medium heat.
6- Carefully place the shrimp in the hot oil and cook
for approximately 1 minute on each side, or until
golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Place
on a pan with clean paper towels and hold in a warm
oven. Repeat this procedure for all the shrimp.
7- Dip the Coconut Shrimp into the chilled sauce and
enjoy !

Mickalino said:

So, you guys like shrimp ? I'll share a recipe I've guarded a long time.
I used to cook this for Art from ES, years ago when I'd go watch Redskins games at his house.
Art raved about this for years, after experiencing it. So I figured it's worth sharing.

It's actually 2 recipes in 1. The dipping sauce is the clincher.
In fact, when our resident Chef RedWolf tries this Mother sauce, he'll say "This is the Mother of all Mother Sauces !"
I call this :

Clobber Cowboys Coconut Shrimp

Dipping Sauce

¼ cup plain nonfat yogurt
½ cup coconut milk (from a can)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Breading

¼ cup flour
1 large egg – beaten
1 cup coconut flakes
½ cup plain bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
And...
Oil for frying Shrimp

1- Peel shrimp and leave the tail on. De-vein and
butterfly the shrimp. Cover and store in refrigerator.
2- In a mixing bowl, combine the 9 sauce ingredients.
Cover and store in the refrigerator. NOTE : This step
can be done one day in advance.
3- Begin breading by placing flour on a plate. Beat
egg in a small bowl. On another plate, combine the
bread crumbs, coconut, salt, and white pepper.
4- Dust the shrimp in the flour. Shake off excess
flour and dip in the beaten egg. Roll in the
bread/coconut mixture to coat completely. Do this for
all the shrimp.
5- In a pan, place approximately ½” of oil and heat
until medium heat.
6- Carefully place the shrimp in the hot oil and cook
for approximately 1 minute on each side, or until
golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Place
on a pan with clean paper towels and hold in a warm
oven. Repeat this procedure for all the shrimp.
7- Dip the Coconut Shrimp into the chilled sauce and
enjoy !

Click to expand...

No popcorn? WTF?

Mickalino said:

So, you guys like shrimp ? I'll share a recipe I've guarded a long time.
I used to cook this for Art from ES, years ago when I'd go watch Redskins games at his house.
Art raved about this for years, after experiencing it. So I figured it's worth sharing.

It's actually 2 recipes in 1. The dipping sauce is the clincher.
In fact, when our resident Chef RedWolf tries this Mother sauce, he'll say "This is the Mother of all Mother Sauces !"
I call this :

Clobber Cowboys Coconut Shrimp

Dipping Sauce

¼ cup plain nonfat yogurt
½ cup coconut milk (from a can)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Breading

¼ cup flour
1 large egg – beaten
1 cup coconut flakes
½ cup plain bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
And...
Oil for frying Shrimp

1- Peel shrimp and leave the tail on. De-vein and
butterfly the shrimp. Cover and store in refrigerator.
2- In a mixing bowl, combine the 9 sauce ingredients.
Cover and store in the refrigerator. NOTE : This step
can be done one day in advance.
3- Begin breading by placing flour on a plate. Beat
egg in a small bowl. On another plate, combine the
bread crumbs, coconut, salt, and white pepper.
4- Dust the shrimp in the flour. Shake off excess
flour and dip in the beaten egg. Roll in the
bread/coconut mixture to coat completely. Do this for
all the shrimp.
5- In a pan, place approximately ½” of oil and heat
until medium heat.
6- Carefully place the shrimp in the hot oil and cook
for approximately 1 minute on each side, or until
golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Place
on a pan with clean paper towels and hold in a warm
oven. Repeat this procedure for all the shrimp.
7- Dip the Coconut Shrimp into the chilled sauce and
enjoy !

Click to expand...

That sounds delish and also very managable to make.

Do you have a preferred hush puppy recipe? There are a million on line, I just realized after somehow not realizing for 30 years I could make them myself. But any that you like better than others?

There used to be this seafood restaurant down in Chapel Hill, NC, who served hush puppies instead of pre-dinner bread. I would go there every time I could when I was traveling to Raleigh for work...

Chris said:

No popcorn? WTF?

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Ironic, isn't it.
But an even greater irony is that there is zero popcorn in any of the recipes, actually named Popcorn Shrimp

Voice_of_Reason said:

That sounds delish and also very managable to make.

Do you have a preferred hush puppy recipe? There are a million on line, I just realized after somehow not realizing for 30 years I could make them myself. But any that you like better than others?

There used to be this seafood restaurant down in Chapel Hill, NC, who served hush puppies instead of pre-dinner bread. I would go there every time I could when I was traveling to Raleigh for work...

Click to expand...

Thanks.
I have always believed that Chesapeake Seafood House in the DMV area had the best hush puppies I ever had...among other things.
It was so sad when they closed them all down.

But the cool thing is, I worked there for a little while and got some intel on their hush puppies recipe.
They made their hush puppies from scratch, not from some frozen bag that just got shipped and thrown off a truck.
But on one hand, I found out all the ingredients. On the other hand - not the measurements.
I need to dig those up where I wrote it down, and experiment with measurements. Then I can share.

Mickalino said:

Ironic, isn't it.
But an even greater irony is that there is zero popcorn in any of the recipes, actually named Popcorn Shrimp

Click to expand...

It only gets worse.
Chicken-Fried Steak has no chicken in it.
And Grape Nuts cereal has no grapes. And no nuts.

That's like when I watched Popeye's cartoons, and he'd pop a can of spinach, and suddenly grow huge muscles, and then beat the crap out of that huge bully.
I never had it before that time, so I would then earnestly beg...beg my mom to buy spinach for my dinner.
Finally, after hearing this a hundred times, she went and bought spinach out of a can, and I tried it at dinner.

Everybody in the family looked at me, and asked "So how do you like it ?"
On the inside I felt like I would throw up. And with a fake smile that I forced on top of an overwhelming grimace, I said "ugh....it's.....uhhhh....good"

I can't be the only one tho

Mickalino said:

It only gets worse.
Chicken-Fried Steak has no chicken in it.
And Grape Nuts cereal has no grapes. And no nuts.

Click to expand...

Chicken fried steak was one of my most “what in the actual fuck is this and I love it” moments.

I had gone down to vis it a friend in Radford and his mom cooked CFS. And I was told we were having and I didn’t understand, but nobody explained it to the dumb northerner.

When she brought it out, I was like, “I’m so confused.” And then they all laughed at me. Then I ate it and I fell in love. With the CFS. Not my friend.

I love fresh spinach sauteed with a little bit of butter salt pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Voice_of_Reason said:

Chicken fried steak was one of my most “what in the actual fuck is this and I love it” moments.

I had gone down to vis it a friend in Radford and his mom cooked CFS. And I was told we were having and I didn’t understand, but nobody explained it to the dumb northerner.

When she brought it out, I was like, “I’m so confused.” And then they all laughed at me. Then I ate it and I fell in love. With the CFS. Not my friend.

Click to expand...

What makes the chicken fried steak so good is how it's prepared. No - it doesn't have chicken in it - but they throw the steak out into the chicken yard and let the chickens peck on it for several days to tenderize it. That's why it's got that pebbled appearance to it - it's the hours and hours of hens pecking on it that makes it so tender.

Chicken-Fried Steak sounds like something you'd get at the State Fair, right before you grab a Funnel Cake, and Cotton Candy.
And I can easily imagine in my head, those hens pecking at the meat, behind the food truck, in a fenced-in area at the Fair.

I was pretty sure Boone was joking.
But at the same time, I wouldn't put anything past hard-core Southerners.

I mean Nate Bargatze tells of his childhood experiences at the Fair, where their entertainment was Donkeys jumping off (actually nudged off) the high dive,
into a pool...and paying 10 bucks to box an Oranguatan.

"Step right up, and grab your hen-pecked meat right now !"
Meanwhile, the rest of us have been doing steak all wrong

RedWolf said:

I love fresh spinach sauteed with a little bit of butter salt pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Click to expand...

Nutmeg huh? That's a new one on me

No, chicken fried steak does not contain chicken; the name refers to the cooking method, not the meat itself.​

Chicken fried steak is traditionally made from beef, most commonly cube steak, which is a tenderized cut of beef such as top round or top sirloin kitchprep.com+1. The term "chicken fried" comes from the way the steak is breaded and fried similarly to fried chicken, giving it a crispy exterior and tender interior

Mickalino said:

Chicken-Fried Steak sounds like something you'd get at the State Fair, right before you grab a Funnel Cake, and Cotton Candy.
And I can easily imagine in my head, those hens pecking at the meat, behind the food truck, in a fenced-in area at the Fair.

I was pretty sure Boone was joking.
But at the same time, I wouldn't put anything past hard-core Southerners.

I mean Nate Bargatze tells of his childhood experiences at the Fair, where their entertainment was Donkeys jumping off (actually nudged off) the high dive,
into a pool...and paying 10 bucks to box an Oranguatan.

"Step right up, and grab your hen-pecked meat right now !"
Meanwhile, the rest of us have been doing steak all wrong

Click to expand...

Funnel cake? Amateur. You have to get your CFS then go straight for the Fried Butter!

Yes, at the Texas State Fair, they sell Fried Butter. Right next to the Fried Oreos.

And that to me answered all questions about why we have a health problem in this country.

And no, I didn't try the fried butter. I have had fried oreos. I've only had one I liked. Most of the time the cookie turns to mush. The one I had which was great, they managed to get the batter on there, flash fry it fast enough that the batter cooked but the cookies stayed solid. That was good. But I think hard to do because most of the time it's just a greasy mess.