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Most hated meal growing up.

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Sure! It's from the book "Charcuterie: the Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing" by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn (ISBN 978-0-393-05829-1). We made a couple of amendments to suit our taste.

Brine:
4 litres water
450 grams kosher salt
100 grams sugar
25 grams "pink" salt (curing salt with nitrite)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large stick cinnamon
15 g juniper berries
20 grams pickling spice mix (see below)

Approx. 2.25 kilograms meat (brisket, flank, tongue etc.)

Another 20 grams pickling spice for later in the process...

Combine brine ingredients in a large pot that is also big enough to hold the meat easily (but don't put the meat in yet).

Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve salt and sugar. Allow to cool to room temp, then refrigerate the brine overnight.

Next day, add the meat to the chilled brine. Refrigerate (with turning and overhauling) for five days. She often puts the meat in a large freezer bag and pours in the brine. Squeeze out the air before sealing.

Remove meat from brine, rinse under cool running water.

Place meat into pot, cover with water, and add the reserved pickling spice. Bring to a boil (covered) and simmer gently for three hours or until it is fork-tender. If water gets low, add more.

When done, let cool until you can peel the tongue. Serve warm or cold. Makes excellent "French Kiss" sandwiches (because you slip a little tongue in).

Pickling Spice blend, makes about 125 grams:

20 g black peppercorns
20 g mustard seed
20 g coriander seed
12 g hot red pepper flakes
14 g allspice berries
8 g ground mace
2 small cinnamon sticks, broken
24 bay leaves, crumbled
6 g whole cloves
8 g ground ginger

Lightly toast peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a small dry skillet. Pound in mortar to crack them. Toasting the cinnamon a little also makes it easier to break up. Combine cracked spices with the rest, mixing well. Store in a tightly sealed container.

O.H.
Thank you!
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
There is a market near us that has a big sign over the deli section that reads CHARCUTERIE. To me, that means they're looking for an excuse to jack up the price-per-pound on the Genoa salami, Bologna, Swiss cheese, and cole slaw.

If they're doing it right, let 'em. To many cut corners but still want top dollar.
 
The only dish my mother made that I still can't stand is snails in a tomato sauce. You had to be very careful when you extracted the snails so you did not eat the "waste."

I did not like the way my mother cooked liver (too dry) however, I do like the way my wife cooks liver and onions.
 
This brought back a memory from early years. My best friend at the time would frequently stall going home saying his mother was a lousy cook while mine was very good. I was not sure I believed him when he said how bad she was. One afternoon it was getting dark and it started to rain. Steven's mother invited me to stay for dinner. Dinner consisted of her version of Chicken a la King. The only ingredients that stood out in my mind were undercooked chicken, mushrooms, and potatoes in a sauce that had the consistency of wallpaper paste. It was horrible but being a polite boy I said the meal was good. Big mistake because a few months later that was what we had again.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
Who stole the kishka? Sounds like a very old song from Cleve-town, or a suburb that Ghoulardi used to mock ..
Probably from Parma. Too young for Ernie Anderson, but loved Ron Sweed. Wore this shirt yesterday.
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Took me 20 years to try meatloaf again and discover that my mom had been doing it WRONG WRONG WRONG all those years ago!

Cube steak, or at least my moms version of it (slab of gristle pounded into submission with a tenderizing hammer and smothered to death in mushroom sauce) will never cross my lips either.

I got food poisoning (or bad timing stomach virus) after eating an omelet at Disney world of all places as a kid and it took 10 years or more before I could eat eggs with cheese again (totally over it now fortunately).
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
There is a market near us that has a big sign over the deli section that reads CHARCUTERIE. To me, that means they're looking for an excuse to jack up the price-per-pound on the Genoa salami, Bologna, Swiss cheese, and cole slaw.

As long as they still sell the guanciale, lonza, pancetta and filetto cheap!

I'm a cranky old dude and generally do my own charcuterie and salumi (same thing, only more Italianate...). The stuff I can get around here is OK but it doesn't have that "went right to the edge" taste. I was down in Vancouver a few years ago and sniffed out a nice little butcher shop that did some excellent prosciutto. Paper-thin slices, dipped in some nice olive oil, and that lovely taste that comes from a deft hand at letting the fermentation go right up to the brink of "dead."

When I was at the university I occasionally took seats on higher-level committees. There's an internationally-recognized culinary arts program there, and the advanced students prepare the "munchies" for the better committees. Charcuterie plates were a real perk! Much better than oatmeal cookies on a plate next the Keurig machine that most committees got.

One thing I learned early was that if you want people to settle down and have a nice meeting, FEED them. Even just cookies and cruddy "coffee" will make people less likely to be cranky and whiny.

Had a lotta bad meetings since the pandemic. All these hangry rangers!

O.H.
 
Cube steak, or at least my moms version of it (slab of gristle pounded into submission with a tenderizing hammer
Gads . . . I can remember seeing that tenderizing hammer wailing away on the meat. I don't remember what sauce was used on ours, but I do remember mom and dad would do the 'tenderize to oblivion' thing on something else and they said it was Swiss steak. I've always thought the Swiss had much better taste than that.
 
There were two meals in my youth that I couldn't choke down. Lima Beans and creamed asparagus on toast. My mom would not let me leave the table until it was finished. I got creative and was able to hide a few of the beans in the plastic fruit bowl on the table. It was all nasty nasty nasty.

Today, I love asparagus and eat quite a bit of it - grilled, steamed, very tasty. I love peas and all sorts of beans, but Lima beans still taste like carboard to this day.

I can remember being in the kitchen by myself for hours trying to get it down. Wow.
 
Anything with Brinjal and Colocasia (especially it's leaves) just kills my appetite immediately.

I have went without eating for 2 days just because my extended family thought it would be a good time to make me eat the brinjal during a 'Back to Nature' trip.

We are not on good terms since then, good riddance.

In case of Colocasia, I'm allergic to it and even a slight amount of it in any dish (cooked, boiled, fried etc) causes extreme irritation in my throat.
 
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