Father, wannabe pirate, slinger of small pointy sticks.
Kind of a celebratory dinner, in a relatively short period of time I’ve been asked to speak at 2 conferences in May. One of which is absolutely huge and lets me travel back home to Wisconsin on someone else’s dime.
The ol’ backstrap in a pig-quilt. Always a crowd pleaser.
So, I guess not technically cook today, but I just pulled this little guy after a 40 day time out in the drying chamber.
I’m gonna grind some of the pellicle into venison, and hopefully pull off some pretty special smash burgers.
Chunked up boneless leg o’ lamb pounded with garlic/oregano mashed together into a paste, seared, removed, chicken stock added to deglaze, lamb returned for a brief bath until the median of rare temp is hit. Pulled again and kept under a foil tent while more stock, butter, and some lemon juice is added to the liquid and boiled hard to reduce to a nice sauce consistency. Lamb is plated, topped with feta, sauce drizzled over.
Also, bacon, onion, ranch powder, BBQ rub of choice, reserved bacon grease and halved/quartered brussels in a cast iron at 250 on the pellet smoker for 45ish or however long it takes to get tender. Then remove, crank grill to 450, stir well, return once temp is hit and let the tops brown and crisp up for 10 minutes or so.
Rice is only added to soak up more of the delicious sauce or all the booze you decide to enjoy throughout dinner.
Chicken roll ups. Breasts pounded flat, layer of prosciutto and provolone, roll up and secure with skewers. Then into a dish with a vodka sauce/rosemary/olive oil/white wine (Riesling this time)/red pepper flakes concoction. Top with cubed butter and Parmesan.
Remember to remove the skewers before serving on top of a bed of rice.
So good.
Another eldest princess birthday, another BBQ dinner request worthy of a 45 year old named Doug who’s way, WAY too into the company softball league.
She demanded pork belly burnt ends, and smoked garlic/bacon/ranch brussels sprouts again and I feel like I did WAY better this year. Unbelievable. Delicious.
She turned 8, not exactly standard b-day request amongst her peers.
She decided to pair it with a nice, crisp west coast style IPA, as is per Doug-protocol.
Finally pulled the trigger again and gave some venison sticks a shot. Spoiler alert: flying solo with a manual 5# stuffer (12.5# batch) and 10mm tube makes for a late night. Started after the girls went to bed and didn’t get them on the RecTec until 1am. THEN seeing that the 590 doesn’t have nearly the amount of space you need forces you to get creative with some cookie racks. Christmas treats may be suspiciously meaty next year.
Big sadness when I pulled them off and the stuff wedged too close to the side was definitely overcooked, black and useless so there was a depressing amount of loss. The remaining stuff is tasty though. Far and away better than my first attempt.
(Willie’s, hi-temp pepperjack, sure gel, ECA)
Also, got the 20 mixer when I ordered the seasonings. Should be fine, but I’ll have to watch that fill-in weld on the blade so I don’t serve anyone some metal in product. Also on the first spin the knob that spins the handle on snapped in half. Didn’t delay mixing but I’ll have to grab a wrench to get the handle off.
Overall, I’m exhausted, and happy with the stuff that survived.
Do I spoil my little girls? Yes. Yes I do.
One breakfast bagel sammich and one breakfast burrito. Because, of course, why would they want the same f’n thing?! (Meat was de-cased Johnsonville brats from back home when my in-laws came out to visit).
Unintended benefit to making the sticks…wifey made me a Bloody using them. Pretty cool.
(As an aside, Briney Mary from the Pittsburgh Pickle Co is the absolute best mix I’ve had.)
Bob Stehlik 
That’s the hope!
Or “21 with 19 years of experience.”
I know I’ve been absent for a while. Hospital has been absolutely bonkers. Lots of OT, lots of call so honestly I haven’t put a whole lot of effort into meals lately.
Except for last night. Wifey turned 40 (shhh, I’m not allowed to say that).
Finally broke into the 40+ day dry-aged ribeye. Absolutely unbelievable and now I get why they are lauded the way they are.
Oh, and some bacon-wrapped scallops for garnish.
HerbcoFood Duuuude, that looks incredible.
calldoctoday I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. I’m curious what all goes into the roof and if it would work for my purposes. That would be pretty great.
bocephus Once you get to the tops, it gets pretty flexible…so in theory I could use the base for structural pieces and the tops for arching support?
(I know I’m way out in left field here, but seeing as how, by definition, you boys and girls are a DIY crowd I figured I’d throw it out there. )
TL, DR: Parents have an invasive bamboo patch that I’m looking to utilize to build a couple of archery target stands/enclosures to sit outside year-round. Looking for tips.
My folks recently moved out to PA to a nice place about 20 minutes away to be closer to the grandbabies. On their 8ish acres there’s a sizable bunch (patch…grove…stand…forest, whatever) of bamboo. Zero idea on the species, maybe 20-25’ high, largest diameter appears to be around 3-4ish inches.
During the height of COVID, when I wasn’t at the hospital, we obviously didn’t do much and I was in the backyard a lot with girls shooting our bows. Let me tell you how old it gets dragging a Matrix and one of those Bulldog bag targets about 40yards out from under the cover of the girls’ play set. Anyway, I had a grand idea to set up a covered stand for them in the far corner where I put them. Well, availability and price of any construction materials during the time gave me the excuse to not even give it a go.
My parents move to the new place from Wisconsin and I see this bamboo and I start getting ideas again. Basically I have heard that it’s extremely difficult to kill this stuff and it regrows crazy fast. My dad is on board, and while he likes the bamboo forest, taking down a hundred of them wouldn’t even make a dent.
So! With all that being said, has anyone harvested and crafted anything out of bamboo? It doesn’t have to be pretty, and honestly probably doesn’t even have to have crazy longevity. I just want it to support the 50 or whatever pounds a Bulldog and/or Matrix target is to keep it out of the mud (yard has serious drainage issues), and keep the sun and rain off them. Like a little bowhunting tiki hut. I’ll work on the rum bar later.
Thanks for coming to my wandering monologue. 
Chicken roll ups. Breasts pounded flat, layer of prosciutto and provolone, roll up and secure with skewers. Then into a dish with a vodka sauce/rosemary/olive oil/white wine (Riesling this time)/red pepper flakes concoction. Top with cubed butter and Parmesan.
Remember to remove the skewers before serving on top of a bed of rice.
So good.
wdaly Thanks! Good luck with everything, whatever it may be. Tremendous therapy advancements across the board nowadays.
bocephus Stays on WAY better. I would get so frustrated when it would spiral off when I pulled it off the grates.
kyle Originally from Waukesha, but I’ll be hitting up Madison/Verona in May.
