3541

Good! I was worried we couldn’t be pals anymore :(

3542

You and your weird aversion to dark meat.

Sorry Armando! I couldn’t let that just sit there. :)

My weird brain immediately called forth this, upon reading that phrase:

-xtien

3543

I am amused like a child at Armando discussing awkwardly large breasts. Hee.

3544

I’m more or less here for your amusement at this point! Well, you and @ChristienMurawski.

Well that was peaceful and pleasant. Hooray!

Sorry for my weird aversion to dark meat, y’all. I’m glad the Coalition of Right-Thinking Cooks hasn’t banned me from Everything Else. . . yet, at least.

3545

Not a fan of dark meat either. It’s a texture thing. I’ll eat and enjoy bourbon chicken from a local restaurant, but they cook it correctly. Otherwise, nah.

3546

Same boat on dark meat. If it’s cooked in some way that gets around that, I’m fine with it, but otherwise, noooo thanks.

3547

What is it about the texture that you guys don’t like? I’m not sure exactly what the textural difference is, other than it generally being juicier.

3548

It (seems to me like it) is a little less “fibrous,” though that probably sounds appealing. The meat always seems to have this unctuous, slick, almost gelatinous quality to it. It’s chewier, or at least tends to contain enough fat that that’s chewy. For whatever reason, even boneless cuts of dark meat seem to hew closer to the bones when cut, so it tends to contain more unpleasant gristle than I find in breast meat.

But really, it’s that almost wriggly, smooth, fatty texture that can almost feel like it pops in the mouth–a burst of hot, oily, gamey flavor–that bugs me the absolute most.

It’s similar to why my favorite cut of steak’s a nice, well-trimmed filet mignon–so many other cuts seem to contain a big, rubbery slab of fat interlinked with one or more sides of the meat. Nevermind stuff like a ribeye, with awful, gristle-encrusted bone right in the center of the thing I’m trying to eat.

I also tend to cook the ever-loving hell out of my bacon, for what it’s worth.

3549

I hope you folks know I’m just messing with @ArmandoPenblade when I poke fun at his aversion to the dark meat. I’m sure he does.

I think I discussed this upthread, but my son feels the same way. He’s generally not into meat anyway–I think it’s a texture thing, as @RichVR mentions–but when I can get him to eat some chicken he prefers the way I cook chicken breasts. I really can’t abide the freezer nuggets.

Sidebar: of late he is against eating fish. Not because he doesn’t like the taste of it, which he does not and never has, but because he really loves fish. I mean he loves learning about them, making lists of his favorites, drawing them, and is considering becoming a marine biologist.

We were out to eat the other day at one of my favorite diners and I was considering getting the fish and chips. He furrowed his brow and said, “Please don’t, Dad.”

I laughed. He did not.

“Are you being serious with me right now?”

“Yes. Please don’t get the fish.”

He was so earnest. He’s eleven and it’s interesting to me when he gets serious about something. I didn’t know quite how to handle this. There was plenty on the menu I wanted to eat, so I just chose something else in the end, but I wonder if that was the right decision. I wasn’t worried about a meltdown or anything. I just thought I could respect his very sincere request without any harm. But again, I wonder if that was the right decision. Just because he has a certain stand on something doesn’t mean he can demand I change my eating habits. At the same time, when I’m out with vegetarians who are important to me I tend not to order things with meat. Partly out of respect, but also partly because I like sharing food when I go out to eat.

Anyway, I’m not going to stop eating fish, but I do find this an interesting conundrum.

Back to meat…

I’ve always preferred the gamier meats. Wait. That sounds weird. What I mean is that I still remember the first time I ever had venison. And definitely the first time I ever had elk roast (a friend at school wanted to trade the elk roast sandwich his mom had packed for his lunch for my PB&J and I was all over that…even now, so many decades later, I remember the flavor). I think the marinated lamb chops my ex-mother-in-law prepared and my ex-father-in-law grilled might be my favoritest meat I have ever eaten. That’s probably why I prefer the flavor of dark meat, and always have.

The kids have trouble with it because of some of what Armando says above. Especially the unwelcome bits of cartilage that can show up when you cut it into small pieces for dinner too hurriedly. I have no problem with gnawing on that stuff, but I get why some folks do.

-xtien

3550

Ha! I’m so glad you brought this up.

I totally got made fun of the other day for my thoughts on this. I was at my son’s soccer practice, sitting with a couple of other dads. One of them talked about a really fancy steakhouse he’d just been to, and I asked what he had. We started talking about steaks. I mentioned that my favorite cut was the New York strip.

One of the dudes was aghast. “The rib-eye is the best! All that marbling! Are you out of your mind?”

I just shrugged. “Every time I’ve been in a restaurant and not ordered the New York strip because somebody suggested the rib-eye, I’ve wished I ordered the strip.” This is true. I was in a super expensive steakhouse once and my friend insisted we get the very special Wagyu beef . This is one of those places where the waiter brings the raw cuts of meat to the table for you to point at. I so wanted the New York strip, but I went with what my friend suggested we do.

It was okay. But they served our steaks with about ten different dipping sauces. Uh. Guess what. If I’d ordered the strip I wouldn’t need a single dipping sauce. Jerks.

Anyway, at the soccer practice the belligerent dad decided he was going to google this immediately to shame me. “Siri, what is the best cut of meat.”

Nothing definitive.

“Look. I just like to cook the New York strip most. It never disappoints me.”

He held up his hand.

“Siri, what’s the worst cut of meat?”

Siri announced to all that according to chefs the worst cut of meat was the strip, or New York strip. The other two dads immediately high-fived each other and much hilarity ensued at my expense.

Epilogue: Every time these two have tried to relate this story to women in order to poke fun at me, the women have without fail looked confused and just shaken their heads. “I don’t get why that’s funny.” So it is sweet to watch them totally deflate since nobody else gets the joke.

-xtien

3551

I dunno, Christien. I think you have a well-earned reputation as Qt3’s Biggest Bully! I sure do wish you wouldn’t give me swirlies all the time in the P&R bathrooms :(

:-D

When initially reading the story itself, I immediately felt, “Man, what a kind, fatherly thing to do!” The complicating factor of not being required to acquiesce to his new beliefs never even occurred to me. Parenting seems hard. Glad people much more talented than me are the ones tasked with it :)

I daresay we might very well like none of the same things about meat, man ;). But that’s the beauty of food, right?! I love that you have so many wonderful memories associated with it, at the very least. Even if my own memories of venison, etc., at my grandparents’ house in rural Louisiana are distinctly less cheerful.

And man, even NY Strip’s still generally got too much fat on it for my tastes, to give you an image of how strong my distaste for that texture is (and hacking it off is always an absolutely bear). That said, if a place doesn’t serve filets, or especially if I can’t afford one (which is always), NY Strip’s generally my go-to second. I’m not particularly sure if there’s a traditional “steak” cut I can even really manage to eat aside from those two (particularly in steak-format. I’ve thinly sliced some skirt steak for sandwiches before, of course!).

3552

Which is fascinating. As a parent of a much younger child I have no idea how I would handle that. What is the correct answer? You can really justify either course of action, I suppose, as each reinforces a different lesson. Get the fish anyway, and reinforce to him that you can’t simply impose your wishes on others, decline and show that even though you may not share an opinion it is worthwhile to respect their opinions and occasionally modify your actions out of respect.

Either case, done properly, can be the correct choice, and either one done poorly can be wrong.

That said I do appreciate your taste in meat. As mentioned on the podcast, I grew up in a hunting family. So I’ve had deer, pheasant, duck, geese, and many others frequently. Still do even, though not so much the venison in recent years. One favorite is shredded pheasant done in an Italian beef style. Cooked in a crock pot in juices with bay leaves, italian seasonings, lemon, and chicken broth. Shred and put on rolls with mozzarella cheese. Sublime.

Though, like @ArmandoPenblade I do favor white meat. Probably 60% of my meat cooking is chicken, with pork a not so close second. Beef makes <10% of my cooking. I also have no issue with meals that lack meat.

3553

I have only ever regretted the times I’ve gone away from my One True Steakhouse Rule:

Get the filet. Petite if there’s a choice. Get it medium rare.

That’s it. Never, ever steered me wrong. I ordered steak au poivre once at a friend/co-worker’s urging (amusingly enough, at a dinner with Nobuo Uematsu, so that was cool) and man, never mind all that.

Strip is good though too, I’ll buy that if I’m picking up something to prepare myself.

Also, not liking dark meat is weird. Dark meat chicken is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, if I may borrow a phrase.

In actual cooking news, my wife got a freakin’ platter of like five pounds of various bits of rotisserie chicken at Costco for $5 - I dunno if it was at the end of the day and they were just clearing out the day’s inventory or what - that she immediately deboned and froze. Pulled it out a week later to make a super-simple chicken soup (saute some onion/garlic/carrots in olive oil/salt/pepper, then dump in the chicken and some stock and broth, simmer for a couple hours, add noodles at the end) and it was incredible.

Mmmm, chicken noodle soup. So great.

3554

Forget the food, I want to hear more about dinner with Nobuo! I don’t go for video game music much, but frequently listen to his Black Mages albums.

One of the things we like to do is get the rotisserie chickens and make soup as well. Get a meal or two out of the meat, then boil the bones to make stock, picking off the bits of meat to add to the soup. A $5-6 chicken can go 3-4 meals this way (with add ons).

Speaking of soup, I made one of my specialties for the first time this fall/ winter. Got the first batch of butternut squash, and made my sweet and savory butternut squash soup. Caramelized onions, roast chicken, squash, seasonings*, in a chicken broth and cream cheese stock. Add a little brown sugar and oh so good.

*paprika, tarragon, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper all to taste. I… never measure my seasonings. My cooking is measured by ‘that seems right’

3555

Oh damn, that sounds amazing. I love squash soup, but I haven’t had one like you described.

Uematsu was very polite. I honestly don’t remember all that much other than that; it was a long time ago and I was pretty starstruck.

3556

It’s pretty easy, if a bit time consuming. Heat oven to 425. Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds, and place in roasting pan with 1/4" of water. Stick in oven and cook until soft (about 1 hour)

While that is cooking, in a soup pot, dice an onion and caramelize in 1/4 cup of butter. Set aside. Dice chicken and cook until done. Set aside.

Add 3 cups of water, 4 bouillion cubes (or equivalent), and 1 8oz pack of cream cheese. Scoop roasted squash into pot. Mash until creamy. Add back onions and chicken. Add paprika, tarragon and/ or rosemary (optional), oregano, thyme, salt, pepper. Slowly add in brown sugar while simmering, for a good sized squash somewhere between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup, depending on desired taste. Once seasoned to liking, simmer for 15 minutes.

Fin.

I would give you measures on stuff, but I have none. I literally sprinkle until I feel it’s right. Usually until there is an even dusting on the top layer of cooking pot. I typically add slowly, and in multiple stages, to reach desired taste. A little extra tarragon here, some paprika there.

3557

Thanks for sharing! I’ll try to get ambitious and cook that up sometime, it certainly sounds right up our alley.

3558

The soup does sound amazing.

I love a good NY strip, but can totally understand why some wouldn’t. I generally prefer a strip to a ribeye. Next time somebody goes to one of those fancy places with the wagyu beef, see if they have a zabuton (literally “cushion” or “pillow”). It is a super tender cut like a filet, but with more flavor.

@ChristienMurawski I think you did the right thing, showing that you respect him and take what he says seriously. Maybe you can reach a compromise where certain fish are ok. I think it’s really important to encourage their interests and intellectual curiosities and it would be tough to continue do that (and have him appreciate it or take your encouragement to heart) if you had gone against his wishes when it obviously meant a lot to him.

3559

@ArmandoPenblade your food always looks so damn good. I don’t know how I’d stay anything close to relatively healthy eating it though, as I’d probably eat ~2x of whatever your serving size is. I’d easily find some way to stuff a few of those chicken sandwiches in.

This weekend I made some fairly tame but tasty stuff. For my father in law who’s somewhat picky and conservative (both in the meat and potatoes way, and he’s not voting this year, because he FINALLY finds trump disgusting, but he can’t stomach the other choices…) we made him chicken teriyaki with chicken thighs that were bone in / skin on. We also made baked sweet potato fries, and roasted asparagus with miso butter and a poached egg.

Last night I made a very simple hot honey shrimp with a side of Chinese spinach and forbidden rice. Very simple, very clean and healthy.

Recipes:
Teriyaki Thighs
Sweet potato fries
Asparagus with poached egg and miso butter

Chinese spinach was trimmed/washed, sauteed in a wok, then I added this sauce with a bit of cornstarch mixed in so it would thicken.
Hot Honey Shrimp

I tend to heavily modify these recipes, but they are good starting points. If there’s one thing I’d do differently, it would be to use as much of the spinach as possible - I left a few stems on to see how they’d taste when cooked, and they were pretty damn good. (pic from http://www.seriouseats.com)

3560

Speaking of steak. I don’t eat it often, but when I do it’s bacon wrapped filet mignon. Med rare. No gristle for me. Hmmm, I’m detecting a pattern here.