Had it with the Food Channel...

[Daisy and Delilah]

I can't get the commercial to load but I'll keep trying. It sounds pretty gross. Not sure if I want to see it.

I don't know why but I never get to see Top Chef much. I watched it a few nights ago and I enjoyed it. I've noticed that these chefs on tv are on all the shows. Some of them at least. I saw a blond lady on Top Chef that was also on Chopped last season.

I have a picture of CA, in my own mind, of all residents out on their patios, grilling around the clock. There is just not that much grilling going on in Florida, as far as I can tell. Not in my neighborhood anyway. Usually, if they're grilling, it smells like the cheapest meat you can buy. I think it's too hot to go out and cook. It's just unbearable. People are stuck inside the house or shopping in the cold AC.

Richard, for years, all the restaurants here have served tilapia. It's real common here. I love it. I buy it all the time and cook it too. It's really delicious. Grouper was a big staple here but it got so expensive, many restaurants went to other fish like tilapia.

I also love mahi mahi but I haven't had any lately. I agree--$15 a pound for fish is ridiculous.

Tomorrow nights NFNS looks like alot of the contestants are in tears. I think someone is in tears every week so far. I would love to see Jamika win. I think she's delightful. I read somewhere that Debbie is probably going to get it. Let's face it, Giada likes her so she must have something going for her. I think she might be the first person Giada has ever liked.

What does everyone else think?

[RICHARD]

I have a picture of CA, in my own mind, of all residents out on their patios, grilling around the clock. There is just not that much grilling going on in Florida, as far as I can tell. Not in my neighborhood anyway. Usually, if they're grilling, it smells like the cheapest meat you can buy. I think it's too hot to go out and cook. It's just unbearable. People are stuck inside the house or shopping in the cold AC.

LOL,
You have to live in a Mexican neighborhood. Out here people find any reason to fire up the grill. The worst possible thing to happen is you walk outside your house in the middle of the week and you smell someone cooking! You can smell the citrus, onion and chile in the air, after I identify what the neighbors are cookling, I head indoors and open up a can of soup:rolleyes.:

Out here, the main meat is marinated skirt steak, it's cheap, not too thick and you can feed an army with a few bucks. You can buy pre marinated meat, a few dozen corn tortillas, Someone will make the salsa, A pot of beans, someone makes rice.

One guy grills the meat and heats tortillas, the meat is tossed onto a butcher block where someone takes a cleaver to it! It gets dumped into a bowl and everyone goes buffet!

Maybe you don't want people partying in your hood.

Sometimes we get parties that go until 2-3 in the A.M.


BTW?

Yeah, it does get way too hot to cook outdoors in the summer.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Sounds like my kind of party. People in Florida aren't nearly as clever. The smell of citrus, chiles, and onion in the air would drive me crazy. I would have to follow my nose to the nearest fiesta.

Skirt steak. Is that the same as flank steak? FN is always featuring something like that. I almost bought some last week but I decided against it. I'll get some when I go shopping.

I was watching a show last night about grilling. They were grilling like maniacs.

The Weber Grill Restaurant is really unique. I didn't catch the location. The kitchen is all Weber charcoal grills. All their food is grilled. I couldn't believe the fire coming up out of those grills. They grill all the desserts too--grilled pineapple and bananas. Those chefs must be burning up through their whole shift. When they go home, they're reeking of smoke. Very interesting. The chef said he tried grilling watermelon but he wouldn't recommend it.
Wasn't there a lady just grilling watermelon on BF's show and loving it?

It was a good show. I think FN was honoring grilling yesterday. Maybe the whole weekend.

And, yes, there was some Romaine lettuce on the grill.

[RICHARD]

Skirt steak. Is that the same as flank steak?

The Weber Grill Restaurant is really unique. I didn't catch the location. The kitchen is all Weber charcoal grills. All their food is grilled. I couldn't believe the fire coming up out of those grills. They grill all the desserts too--grilled pineapple and bananas.

And, yes, there was some Romaine lettuce on the grill.

http://www.ochef.com/66.htm

The Flank versus the Skirt!

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I saw the Weber program...being a typical male I was in awe of the grills. That is something I'd like to have, just to wow the neighbors.


Citrus Marinade?

This in not an exact science-lol, my recipe!
Go slow and add or subtract as you go along and TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!


Orange juice, Lime or lemon juice, About .5 cups of each.

You can use OJ and the lemon, lime or all three. You do get a different flavor
according to what you use and how sweet/sour the citrus is!

1/4 cup vinegar.
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of meat tenderizer, like Sazon.
salt to taste.

Slice a small yellow onion or take about 4-5 whole green onions and a pinch of fresh cilantro. You can also toss in a few orange slices to the mix.

Toss it all in a bowl, toss in the meat, onion and cilantro. Let is sit for a few hours, over night is better? I plastic bag is fine, so is a covered dish.

Get a good fire going and toss it on the grill!

Don't leave the onion in huge chunks, do a julienne cut on it-most of it will fall thru the grill, but it already has flavored the meat, Green onions? Grill them away from the hottest part of the grill. You can eat them whole or chop them up to add to your meat.

The meat cooks up pretty quickly so have all your stuff ready to go.
The basic fixings are chopped onion, fresh cilantro, chopped tomato, lime or lemon slices to squeeze on it - or you can toss together a fast salsa with all the above and a jalapeno. Again, this isn't an exact recipe, so go 'thirds' of the veggies, add some lime juice and a jalapeno-to taste!

If you heat your tortillas on a grill be careful about turning them-and don't heat up too many at a time, either kind get hard if you do not eat them quickly. YOu can take a hand towel, folded in half, and put them there as you go along.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Great information, Richard. You Californians are grilling geniuses.

Do you use the citrus marinade for fish at all? Minus the meat tenderizer?

I never realized how many uses there are for cilantro. Eating it alone is difficult for me. Mixing it with other things, it really tastes great. Especially in salsa and guacamole.

Has anybody seen the new shows. "Best Thing I Ever Ate"? I can't stop wondering how all those chefs have been so many places and just happened to take a camera crew with them to get film for the show. I'm being a little sarcastic, of course. So far, I think I've seen three of them. One was for fried food, BBQ, and food in general.

Did they really go to these places and discover these items themselves or did someone else go and discover the item and FN assigned that particular chef to the bit? Where do I come up with these questions?

Michael Symon's definition of two kinds of people::eople that admit to loving fried food and those that love it but act like they don't.....there is something to that. I know people that tell you that don't eat fried food but it's usually the first thing they pick on a menu. Do they not know that certain foods are actually fried?

I almost lost in when Duff Goldman ordered and ate shrimp heads. Has anyone else heard of this at all? Is it popular in the big seafood areas of the country? It was disgusting!!

Giada eating those donuts, holy cow!! I hope she had a cigarette afterward.

[RICHARD]

Great information, Richard. You Californians are grilling geniuses.

Do you use the citrus marinade for fish at all? Minus the meat tenderizer?

I never realized how many uses there are for cilantro. Eating it alone is difficult for me. Mixing it with other things, it really tastes great. Especially in salsa and guacamole.



Giada eating those donuts, holy cow!! I hope she had a cigarette afterward.

OH, Why do you read my mind?

I had the tube on and was in the kitchen cooking. I could hear GD 'making out' with her food. It sounded vile-the moans and groans! Then I thought the same thing......Does she roll over and go to sleep?

I saw part of the "Best Thing", It's all re-creations and probably places they had recommended to them.


Shrimp heads, in different forms aren't uncommon, but they are deadly.

Well, not deadly but.......

If you look at a shrimp head carefully you will see a sharp barbed spike that protrudes from in between their eyes. I was eating dried shrimp and got that spike shoved into my gums. I'll spare you the details but it's cost me dearly!

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I had to laugh, just after I posted the last time, someone fired up a feast next door, you could smell citrus all over!


Fish........I have only done the 'foil fish' packages.

I take foil and place a thin layer of potatoes or lemons down, then the fish/fillets, lemon pepper, top the fish with the lemons or taters and wrap it up.

It you choose to cook a whole fish? A few green onions in the belly will give the fish a nice onion-y flavor, cilantro is also a good stuffer!

Trout is far and away the best fish to cook this way!

The potatoes/lemons keep the fish from sticking to the foil-they are pretty much stuck to the foil, so do not bother to try and salvage them for the meal.

A citrus marinade will 'cook' the fish and make it flake, like a ceviche, I have to admit I never have prepped a fish too much before cooking it.


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I checked the prices on the tilapia I bought. It was 5.98 for about 6 lbs of fish. You get the head and have to dig around for the meat, but it was well worth it. I like the whole fish on the plate. It is a challenge, but food should be fun!

[Daisy and Delilah]

I am seriously hungry for some fish right now!! I can't wait to get to the store for some fish. The foil pack sounds delish. I'm lucky to have a great fish market/restaurant about a mile from here. A little pricey but fantastic.

The entire shrimp head looked dangerous to me. Duff was loving them. He seems like a guy that would eat anything.

Ahhhhh......to walk outside in Florida and smell citrus wafting through the air. I'll be looking for a Mexican family cooking out.

[RICHARD]

i watched the last 40 minutes of the program last night-The groupings and food choices for each set of chefs is pretty predictable.

The 'offal' group had a pretty good grasp of cooking the meats they got.

I was pretty interested in the pig ear and the menudo.

I'll watch again to see who else goes to the final show.

And what's up with the Judge In The Hat?

[Daisy and Delilah]

Cooking all those innards kinda looked weird to start with but the finished dishes didn't look too bad The people seemed to enjoy them.

The judge in the hat is Gael Green(I think). An older lady. She looks so familiar to me for some reason.

I was in St. Augustine yesterday and bought some mahi mahi. I'll try the fish with citrus marinade and potatoes. I can't wait. Probably tomorrow.

Richard, do you cook lamb? I have some chops. I've never bought it before. I've never heard anything but negative comments from people I know. FN talks about it like it's the greatest thing on the planet.
What do you think? What's the best way to cook it?

[RICHARD]

I was in St. Augustine yesterday and bought some mahi mahi. I'll try the fish with citrus marinade and potatoes. I can't wait. Probably tomorrow.

Richard, do you cook lamb? I have some chops. I've never bought it before. I've never heard anything but negative comments from people I know. FN talks about it like it's the greatest thing on the planet.
What do you think? What's the best way to cook it?

I have had lamb, but never cooked it. It's not common in my neck of the woods. I do see it in the more expensive 'hoods.

The last time I ate lamb, it was pan fried. I was surprised because of the denisty of the meat. Nothing bad about it-I was used to the texture of pork chop. A good PC makes you work for a bite. Lamb is a more delicate meat.

I hear that rosemary is a good herb to pair it up with. Otherwise, I have nothing!

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I went out this morning and the store with the parking lot BBQ. It was rolling with chicken. I'll take my camera along next tome and take some pics for you to see!

[Medusa]

do you cook lamb? I have some chops. I've never bought it before. I've never heard anything but negative comments from people I know. FN talks about it like it's the greatest thing on the planet.What do you think? What's the best way to cook it?

I don't like lamb any more but I cooked it years ago and ate it up! I quick pan fried it as I did w/pork chops and sometimes I broiled them. Just added a little rosemary and we were good to go. Now they taste odd to me, musky or something. That isn't the right word but I can't find the right word. Give it a whirl; you may love them. My son still does.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks! I have my rosemary plant ready to go with it when I cook it. Do you marinate with the rosemary or throw it in the pan with the oil, Maybe both? I was told to get mint jelly to go with it but I don't think I would like that.

I got the chops for a good price at my favorite Spanish store and they look good. I'll let you guys know when I cook them.

[Medusa]

Thanks! I have my rosemary plant ready to go with it when I cook it. Do you marinate with the rosemary or throw it in the pan with the oil, Maybe both? I was told to get mint jelly to go with it but I don't think I would like that.

I got the chops for a good price at my favorite Spanish store and they look good. I'll let you guys know when I cook them.

Yes, I forgot to mention the mint jelly. I don't care for that at all, though. As for the rosemary, I kinda rub it into the meat a little, rather hard to do w/rosemary but it always came out pretty good.

[pomtzu]

I love lamb, but unfortunately I'm in the minority in this house. I usually just buy a half leg boneless roast rather than chops, since the chops are so expensive. I don't like mint jelly with it or rosemary. so I just score the top of the roast and stuff fresh sliced onion in the scores, and sprinkle with pepper and roast. Dee-lish!!!!

[RICHARD]

I'd do some olive oil, rosemary, pepper, salt and lemon in a marinade.

POM,

What do you do for sides?