Kitchen Mis/Adventures? – Or Where I Attempt to Explain Asian Marinades Whilst Wine-Drunk

Oven-roasted broccoli and Roma tomatoes

 

 

Salmon filet
Asian glaze for both

I’m not quite sure if this salmon turned out overdone or just right.

The charring was limited to the skin and was obviously a result of the

glazing.  That was the point? 

And herein is where I attempt to explain my

marinade, or at least, what my wine-drunk mind imagines the definitions of the ingredients used to make it:

   
Mirin: It’s some kind of sweetened rice wine, perhaps fortified.  Syrupy.

 

   Not to be confused with…
Rice Wine: OK, so this is somehow different from mirin.  It’s definitely a cooking wine, though less sweet and thinner.

Soy Sauce: The ever-present salty swill somehow made from beans, which are occasionally a desert.

Siracha: I’m pretty sure this red “cock sauce” is actually made in Brooklyn and not Thai at all, but oh well.  Best paired with Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich.  Somehow fulfills my naive notion that spiciness = less fat. Don’t tell me if that’s not true.
Lemon: Because you need a little sour in every marinade.
Garlic and Onion Powder: Because sometimes it’s too hard to julienne.
Thai Basil: Which didn’t actually make it into this marinade, though I did chop it.  Or maybe I meant to chop it.  It’s totally growing in the Aerogarden, so I at least get credit for that.  What a better use for Thai basil would there be?  Exactly.
Sesame Oil: Serves the same purpose as olive oil, except it has like 100x the flavor, albeit in a somewhat already cooked way.  Not to be overused.
Olive Oil: Because you can’t overdo the sesame oil.

Salt & Pepper: Not to be confused with Salt-n-Pepa, rappers.

I sautéed the skin side first, as one should, and was disturbed by the blackness upon first flip.  Huzzah wuzzah?!  Not that I’m racist or anything.  When I flipped it once again onto the plate, I was met with this gorgeous and miraculous golden red color.  Success?

Kitchen Mis-Adventures: Venison Burgers

It didn’t start out this way, a “Mis-Adventure,” that is.

Funny Nurse and I had recovered from the holiday break and came into some ground venison.

You know, like when your friend is like, “I have some venison I need to get rid of.”   Happens all the time.  After mulling over

the possibilities for its use, we settled on burgers.  We realized early on that extra fat would be needed, and we somehow came up with cooked bacon.  You’ll notice that the burger photos didn’t make the cut.  I don’t think the issue with the final burgers was necessarily

one single mistake; I think we were just never

going to get the

juiciness we were picturing, at least not without a heaping of ground chuck or something like that.  The made-from-scratch potato chips, on the other hand, were pretty fantastic if a bit limp.  The flavor was there, but the oil temperature was off.  No biggie.  I infused the oil with rosemary and garlic at very low temperature for a few hours beforehand, but Funny Nurse’ expertise was the real asset. 

Kitchen Mis-Adventures

"So you had a bad day."

$20 worth of cheese later...

...food coma.

Kitchen Mis-Adventures

Oy, where do I start? I want to bury this meal in that place where China sends its unwanted baby girls. After receiving some beautiful and free vegetables from Jenny (see previous day's post), I decided to break out the braising pot again and make magic! Yah, it was terr-IBLE. What started off well with some honey and almond glazed bacon starter fat ended with a boring chicken breast drowning in a collard greens watery grave. No amount of butter could rescue this disaster. I went to bed early, ashamed.