The Mid-Atlantic Foodie and Drank Thread

[yoda]

Figured we can pull some of teh food and drink disco out of the banter thread... and so that we can all learn new foods and drinks.  

@Mrs.J -- what types of cheese do you use for mac and cheese?  I like to use sharp cheddar

[yoda]

1 minute ago, Interstate said:

 

[Mrs.J]

23 minutes ago, yoda said:

Figured we can pull some of teh food and drink disco out of the banter thread... and so that we can all learn new foods and drinks.  

@Mrs.J -- what types of cheese do you use for mac and cheese?  I like to use sharp cheddar

Well I cannot eat it anymore but yes sharp cheddar is good. Also a nice Gruyere or smoked cheddar. I put smoked cheddar in my grits for shrimp and grits and it elevates it to another level! 

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, Mrs.J said:

Well I cannot eat it anymore but yes sharp cheddar is good. Also a nice Gruyere or smoked cheddar. I put smoked cheddar in my grits for shrimp and grits and it elevates it to another level! 

Your cheese suggestions are great ones. My parents always used NY white sharp cheddar in our M&C growing up. Mrs. V tends to use milder cheeses, but I like the ones with more bite.

[MillvilleWx]

This needs to be pinned! I LOVE talking food 

[nj2va]

I made Alison Roman's Braised Short Ribs recipe from NYT Cooking for Easter Sunday.  It was my 2nd time making that recipe and this time was so much better.  The difference is that I made it the day before, which allowed the sauce to rest and it was easier to remove the layer of fat the next day.  Then I heated it back up in the dutch oven for ~90 minutes to allow for a bit more braising.  

Highly recommend her recipe!

Garlic Braised Short Ribs With Red Wine Recipe - NYT Cooking (nytimes.com)

[poolz1]

1 hour ago, nj2va said:

I made Alison Roman's Braised Short Ribs recipe from NYT Cooking for Easter Sunday.  It was my 2nd time making that recipe and this time was so much better.  The difference is that I made it the day before, which allowed the sauce to rest and it was easier to remove the layer of fat the next day.  Then I heated it back up in the dutch oven for ~90 minutes to allow for a bit more braising.  

Highly recommend her recipe!

Garlic Braised Short Ribs With Red Wine Recipe - NYT Cooking (nytimes.com)

I was just staring at some short ribs in our freezer the other day.  I've made them several times over the years but havent been wowed by a recipe yet (could be user error!)  This one looks great...I'll give it shot. Thanks for passing it along.

Great idea for a thread...love to cook. Anything and everything.  Been trying to perfect my pho broth over the winter.  Its delicious and the fam tears it up but I just cant quite get that authentic restaurant quality...missing something.

Here was some homemade roasted garlic hummus and flatbread with all the fixings. Went great with a light, crisp IPA...or 3...

[vastateofmind]

4 hours ago, nj2va said:

I made Alison Roman's Braised Short Ribs recipe from NYT Cooking for Easter Sunday.  It was my 2nd time making that recipe and this time was so much better.  The difference is that I made it the day before, which allowed the sauce to rest and it was easier to remove the layer of fat the next day.  Then I heated it back up in the dutch oven for ~90 minutes to allow for a bit more braising.  

Highly recommend her recipe!

Garlic Braised Short Ribs With Red Wine Recipe - NYT Cooking (nytimes.com)

Dude, PICS! Did you get any?? I find myself now grabbing my cell phone for pics and thinking "Mid Atlantic WX Forum" whenever I crack a beer or marinade something or grill something or cook/bake something or....yeah. Pretty bad..   

[nj2va]

2 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

Dude, PICS! Did you get any?? I find myself now grabbing my cell phone for pics and thinking "Mid Atlantic WX Forum" whenever I crack a beer or marinade something or grill something or cook/bake something or....yeah. Pretty bad..   

I was so damn hungry that I didn’t stop to “smell the flowers” aka get a photo haha.  I’ll remember next time!  

Funny enough - I find myself thinking of this forum when I use the Wegmans basting oil you posted about a while ago.  That stuff is so good and so versatile.  For fellow Wegmans lovers...err shoppers:   https://shop.wegmans.com/product/54842/wegmans-organic-basting-oil

[vastateofmind]

7 hours ago, nj2va said:

I was so damn hungry that I didn’t stop to “smell the flowers” aka get a photo haha.  I’ll remember next time!  

Funny enough - I find myself thinking of this forum when I use the Wegmans basting oil you posted about a while ago.  That stuff is so good and so versatile.  For fellow Wegmans lovers...err shoppers:   https://shop.wegmans.com/product/54842/wegmans-organic-basting-oil

LOL....I used that basting oil just last night to dress up a bag of frozen meatballs for spaghetti! It's really useful for a wide variety of food prep. My aim yesterday was to throw together some quick homemade meatballs from a bit of ground turkey but then the day gets away from me...so once more Wegmans basting oil saved my cheese.   

[MillvilleWx]

I had to fly out to Greenville, SC on Easter for a doctor appointment on Monday. I stopped at a Belgian Restaurant downtown for dinner and had a wonderful meal. Moscow Mules with homemade bitters and in house Ginger Beer, Steak Tartare, and a wonderful Steak Frites with sherry onion gravy on top. I was in heaven!

I’ll have to post more of my food in here. I love sampling new places and trying new things. I also like to cook (But haaate cleaning. Oy)







.

[poolz1]

That's perfection right there, Millville.

One of my favorites when I am slicing up at home is to take a nice slice of marbled ribeye, drizzle a little toasted sesame oil on top and sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Oh baby...simple but that flavor is money. imo, of course...

[vastateofmind]

14 hours ago, wxtrix said:

i guess this is the thread to show our Easter dinner:  smoked beef rib roast, homemade popovers, and roasted asparagus. 

Roast looks amazing! And I've SO been in the mood for asparagus done up like this, been forever since we've had it....just put it on the weekly grocery list. I'm wondering how a few shakes of that new "everything bagel" seasoning we just picked up would taste before roasting...

[vastateofmind]

14 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

thanks! it was delicious. I usually just do a reverse sear in the oven, but it was such a nice day I decided to put it on the grill.

asparagus has such an odd flavor that probably you can do anything to it. the other way i usually cook it is to roast it with a mixture of oil, sriracha, and brown sugar. that mix is also good on Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

WOW -- sriracha/brown sugar must be an amazing combo of tastes. We do roasted Brussels sprouts once weekly, either halved or shredded, one of my favorite sides....I usually toss them in basting oil and some no-salt seasoning and (when my wife's not looking) sometimes I throw on a few shakes of red pepper flakes for a little kick. Gonna try that sriracha combo you just mentioned, though.

[vastateofmind]

So, moving my "drank" selections over to this thread to unclog banter a bit....I'm thinking @CAPE, @North Balti Zen, @Baltimorewx, @nw baltimore wx, @Scraff, et al, might be at least partially interested in this one, based on some of your recent selections. My wife picked this one up weeks ago and it was still lurking in the back of the fridge...Shortcake from Williamsburg, VA-based Aleworks Brewing....a strawberry blonde ale at 7% ABV. On paper, I didn't think that strawberry and hops would mix well together, but honestly it's good. Not much nose to it (not that I always smell my beer), and while I've gotten away from the lighter ales recently, and avoid the "fruity" beers as a rule....I would definitely pick this one up again.

[CAPE]

1 hour ago, wxtrix said:

there is just SO MUCH WRONG with this photo.

 

holy shit.

whyyyy...

[Baltimorewx]

5 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

So, moving my "drank" selections over to this thread to unclog banter a bit....I'm thinking @CAPE, @North Balti Zen, @Baltimorewx, @nw baltimore wx, @Scraff, et al, might be at least partially interested in this one, based on some of your recent selections. My wife picked this one up weeks ago and it was still lurking in the back of the fridge...Shortcake from Williamsburg, VA-based Aleworks Brewing....a strawberry blonde ale at 7% ABV. On paper, I didn't think that strawberry and hops would mix well together, but honestly it's good. Not much nose to it (not that I always smell my beer), and while I've gotten away from the lighter ales recently, and avoid the "fruity" beers as a rule....I would definitely pick this one up again.

I’d try it...how’s the mouthfeel ? I noticed it says creamy so I assume it’s brewed with vanilla or something of that sort. I prefer dark beers but if I try something like this I like it to have more of a thicker/smooth type of feel than light, bitter and acidity. 

[vastateofmind]

57 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

I’d try it...how’s the mouthfeel ? I noticed it says creamy so I assume it’s brewed with vanilla or something of that sort. I prefer dark beers but if I try something like this I like it to have more of a thicker/smooth type of feel than light, bitter and acidity. 

Yep, increasingly I'm with you -- prefer darker beers, stouts, etc. It indicates "creamy," but it doesn't come off that way. Maybe some vanilla in there....really, just hints of strawberry. It's very smooth, far better than I expected!

[Baltimorewx]

3 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

Yep, increasingly I'm with you -- prefer darker beers, stouts, etc. It indicates "creamy," but it doesn't come off that way. Maybe some vanilla in there....really, just hints of strawberry. It's very smooth, far better than I expected!

Gotcha. If you’re ever up closer to the Baltimore area, you should try Black Flag brewery and Crooked Crab. Both are very good with the stout game and they brew a lot of them in the cooler months. 

[nw baltimore wx]

I agree with the Black Flag recommendation. Their beers are pretty good. I like Crooked Crab too, though I wish both had better outdoor locations. Covid has me hooked on living outdoors so I hope it’s a trend that continues even after we come out of this.

[vastateofmind]

33 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

Gotcha. If you’re ever up closer to the Baltimore area, you should try Black Flag brewery and Crooked Crab. Both are very good with the stout game and they brew a lot of them in the cooler months. 

 

9 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I agree with the Black Flag recommendation. Their beers are pretty good. I like Crooked Crab too, though I wish both had better outdoor locations. Covid has me hooked on living outdoors so I hope it’s a trend that continues even after we come out of this.

As I've opined numerous times in recent weeks....you all have access to so many unique beers in the Baltimore region. We should have a brewery meet-up this summer in that general area...SO many good choices.   

[nw baltimore wx]

6 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

As I've opined numerous times in recent weeks....you all have access to so many unique beers in the Baltimore region. We should have a brewery meet-up this summer in that general area...SO many good choices.   

You just reminded me that Nepenthe in Hampden just released a new west coast ipa. I haven’t had it yet, but with all the hazys out there these days, it’s nice to have a west coast choice. Their last one was really good. I’m a little partial to their products because I work there (well, will again as they slowly reopen), but they make good stuff.

[nw baltimore wx]

Man, that looks tasty. I’ll bet it’s out of this world dipped in some seasoned olive oil.

[Rvarookie]

I rather not marinade my steaks, but wife loves this simple  marinade so much and also helps prevent overcooking if you have too many lol. Works great for chicken breast too. Def will have the dogs barking and neighbors coming to say hi

https://www.cookingclassy.com/steak-marinade/

 

[vastateofmind]

13 hours ago, wxtrix said:

the smell of the yeast and the parmesan is wonderful. the seasoned oil would be great. but think about using it as the base of a grilled cheese sandwich...

OMG, THIS. I might even toss a few pepperoni slices into that grilled cheese.   

[nw baltimore wx]

This thread and @wxtrix inspired me to make some homemade pizza dough for tonight (and extra for the week).Trying something different and went with a 1:2 mix of semolina and all-purpose flour. I need to run to the store to get a few things for the sauce and toppings, but my gf is cooking up bacon from Treuth’s butcher shop in Oella that’ll definitely be included.

[vastateofmind]

43 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

This thread and @wxtrix inspired me to make some homemade pizza dough for tonight (and extra for the week).Trying something different and went with a 1:2 mix of semolina and all-purpose flour. I need to run to the store to get a few things for the sauce and toppings, but my gf is cooking up bacon from Treuth’s butcher shop in Oella that’ll definitely be included.

Wowzers, sounds really good...please share finished-product pics if you get a chance!   

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, wxtrix said:

i have the worst worst worst luck with pizza dough. i look forward to your pizza posts.

Same here. I've tried pre-packaged pizza dough from Wegmans on numerous occasions, and once tried making my own dough from scratch. Whether it's prepared or from-scratch, I never seem to get the dough stretched evenly across our oven pizza stone, so it gets too thick around the outer edges (sometimes), and/or way too thin and breaking/soaking through in parts of the middle. It's very frustrating...especially because I have numerous pizza topping combos I want to try at home.

[wxdude64]

LOL, I cheated. Pulled a pepperoni Digiornos out of the freezer and doctored it up with more pepperonis, some black olives, peperoncini rings and more mozzarella cheese. About to come out the oven in 2 minutes.

[vastateofmind]

2 minutes ago, wxdude64 said:

LOL, I cheated. Pulled a pepperoni Digiornos out of the freezer and doctored it up with more pepperonis, some black olives, peperoncini rings and more mozzarella cheese. About to come out the oven in 2 minutes.

Ehhh, no judgments here. I'm never above "doctoring" a pre-packaged pizza. Costco carries a cauliflower-crust veggie pizza that's excellent on its own....but I'm never above tossing a few extra spices on (sometimes even a few pepperoni slices!)....