[Sca-cooks] Dinner Tonight (was Re:New to list)

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Nick Sasso:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <Bronwynmgn at aol.com>
>>  Pork chops braised (I guess; cooked in the oven with liquid in the
>bottom of
>>  the dish) in Italian dressing; Stove Top stuffing; steamed fresh
>broccoli.
>>  And a couple of leftover Christmas cookies for dessert.  I don't know
>what it
>>  is about my mom's Christmas cookies.  We made these before Christmas
>(some of
>>  them the weekend after Thanksgiving) and they are not stale.
>>  Brangwayna
>
>Country Fried Cubed Steak, chunky mashed gold variety potatoes, steamed
>white rice (we got a split crowd over rice and spuds), sawmill gravy,
>steamed broccoli.  We have a couple we do weekly dinner with, and about
>every other week we make this childhood favorite. . . three of us always
>chose this as our 'birthday dinner'.  For those not familiar, cubed
>steak is a piece of fairly thing cut meat, maybe quarter inch to three
>eights inch thick, that is run through this machine that . . . ummm . .
>. perforates or semi 'chews' the meat to tenderize it.  The resulting
>steak has the same general shape as the before, is unlike anything I've
>ever seem, but holds a breading and fries up in the artery clogging
>tradition that is Southern Cooking.  Think of wrapping concertina/razor
>wire around you rolling pin and rolling it over a piece of beefsteak.
>
>Breading is AP flour, milk, AP flour/Wondra mix.  The Wondra, a malted
>barley flour product, in the mix gives a crispier crust.  Gravy is made
>in the pan drippings, or find, using AP flour, condensed milk and 2%
>milk.  The flour is copiously peppered and suitably salted.  Done right,
>this is a thickened piece of heaven for the rice and potatoes (see
>bechamel technique).  We eat, then watch the weekly episode of "24" . .
>. major hardship when it gets preempted, let me tell you.

Maybe it's the alignment of the planets or something. Having just
looked out at the snow, and in the freezer, am also thinking in terms
of a floured, oven-smothered steak-y thing. Mine will be chuck (round
is traditional but I never saw the point; it seems to waver between
tough and dry, unless you lard it), floured, browned, and slowly
braised in its own juice and that of the copious quantities of
sauteed onion and shredded black mushrooms added to the pan. Will add
a little beef stock as cooking progresses, but not enough to really
braise it in a lot of liquid.

Am considering plain sauteed snow-pea shoots with good EV olive oil,
garlic and coarse salt, possibly a Waldorf salad, or a shredded
carrot salad, or another of my childhood early-60's comfort foods.
Probably there'll be buttered egg noodles, or smashed potatoes, but I
won't decide until I get home...

Adamantius