gkainz said:
Geez, the only thing I understood out of that whole list was
..."Shrimp"...
..."Crackers"...
and ..."Filet"... and not a clue what grilled black and blue means.
and I thought I had a tough choice when standing in front of my freezer ...
Venison, elk or buffalo?
Black and blue: Black on the outside, blue on the inside. To prepare, take a very, very hot charcoal fire, and put a cast iron pan just above the hottest part of the coals. Let me put it this way: You shouldn't be able to move your hand over the fire without going ow.
Get the pan hot. Drop in 2 t of butter (which will pretty much vaporize), and drop your steak in. Cook until the butter is gone and a crust has formed on the meat, flip, repeat, serve. You know how really good tuna, when grilled, is nearly raw on the inside (dark red) and there is a band of grey, cooked meat around it? That is what black and blue steak looks like.
A slightly poor example:
Hand cut means we just bought the entire filet section of the tenderloin (remember, the tenderloin has three sections, the torrenedos (sp?), the filet, and the chateaubriand) and cut them into 18oz monstrosities, called crown cuts.
Haricot verts are just green beans, slightly blanched.
Shropshire Blue is the most amazing British cheese. It is the intersection of blue (Stilton style) with cheddar, a deep yellow that boasts a rich, nutty and sharp cheese interlaced with the intense, powerful yet rounded blue of a good Stilton. Note, it isn't a cheddar.
Pugliasi pecorino is a sheeps-milk cheese that is from Puglia, the heel of the boot shaped penninsula that is Italy. Amazing stuff, very strong with a near sour tone that is backed off by super rich creaminess and intense black pepper flavor. (no black pepper inside). Terrible picture:
Coppa and Sopresatta are cured Italian meats. Knock your socks off, I'm a big fan of good coppa. Coppa is extremely fatty so it is sliced razor thin and served near warm, with a rich fatty delicious pork flavor blooming as it heats in your mouth. Sopresatta is very similar to most salames, closest to the Genoa that is most prevelent in the US (but, frankly, is nothing like the real deal. If you want good salame, try the Milanese, holy jiminy christmas!)
Choco Lebeniz are spanish butter cookies coated in dark chocolate, my brother brought some back for me from Spain and it has been love ever since. I do know of a chocolatier that does a shortbread dipped in a 65% dark chocolate, very nice, but not the same IMO.
Partagas P, well, that is heaven:
Cheers,
-Andrew