Compound Butter 10 Ways
What follows are ten turns on compound butters, both sweet and savory. The process is simple: take a stick of unsalted butter, bring it to room temperature, and, in a freestanding or processor bowl, and whip in the flavorings given. I suggest possible foods onto which a knob of compound butter might be dolloped.
St John’s Sirloin Pork Chops Braised in Milk
Milk, you say? Milk, I say. Some say that leche's lactic acidity does the heavy lifting in the tenderizing department during the braise. Whatever its role, I can't imagine a better braising medium for pork because, unlike broths or juices, the milk breaks itself down, too, into little curds or nuggets that taste something like Sugar Babies.
Chevalo's Marinated Burgers from Charleston Gourmet Burger Company
Chevalo's Marinated Burgers from Charleston Gourmet Burger Company — a tasty, tasty use for our Butcher’s Choice ground beef.
Skewer Me This: Shrimps, not Shrimps
When Marczyk's offers "10/12" count shrimp, now we're talking the oxymoron; these are big shrimps, a dozen max a pound. What to do with them? Skewer 'em on the outdoor grill; they're meat that swims.
Grilled Mexican Street Corn (Elotes)
The classic Mexican street food of grilled corn slathered in a creamy chili-, garlic-, and Cotija-spiked sauce.
Pork Skewers Five Ways
BY BILL ST. JOHN
Butchers or home cooks typically compose pork skewers (or “kebabs” or “kebobs” as they also may be called [although I always have shunned the latter because it’s too much voodoo on my brother, Robert]) from the loin cuts of pork. You might use tenderloin, although as is the case with tenderloin, any pork proposition with it is a gamble: with virtually no fat to guard against overcooking and drying out, “regular” loin cuts such as sirloin call merit to themselves.
Here are five ways to prepare pork kebabs. Grill any of these on very hot coals for 10-15 minutes, turning once or twice, or until the pork pieces are well browned all over but also being careful to not overcook the meat.
Trout Doobies
BY BILL ST. JOHN
When Marczyk Fine Foods customer John Roberts was growing up as a Boy Scout in California, he quickly grew “sick and tired of freeze-dried food.” But on his many camping trips in the Sierra Nevada as a Scout, “we could catch trout” and he quickly developed a recipe for cooking them that he calls “trout doobies.” In an earlier age, these would be called “trout nickel cigars” but this is not that age.
Basic Sear-Roasted Salmon
My friends, Marv and Renée Rockford, prepare salmon this way nearly every Friday night. Needless to say, they get their filets from Marczyk’s; “always,” says Marv. “[Their] salmon is so good and adapts to this recipe so well.”
You’ll need a spatula to slide each filet onto a plate, but from then on, no need for utensils (well, unless you want to carry the morsels to your mouth with something other than your fingers …). I like to squish each bite against the roof of my mouth - they’re that pillowy - and look forward to the (inevitable) day when my yapper is free of teeth and all that I have to chew with is my tongue.
Sauces for Lamb
When it’s about accompaniments to lamb, you may flush a foodie snob from the culinary bush by shooting out the words “mint jelly.” But, I believe, merely in this country. That fits, of course, because America sports the highest quotient of foodie snobs among countries that eat food.
Hunter’s Chicken (Poulet Chasseur)
This is a turn on a traditional “coq au vin” that is of the sort that a hunter would be able to make, utilizing mushrooms from the forest floor.
Grilled Italian Vegetables and Mascarpone Loaf
This recipe is all Bill St. John’s. The guy is a repository of delicious know-how, and this recipe is something special.
