Oh my. That looks (and sounds) amazing!French Onion Soup Tarte Tatin, from Serious Eats. I haven't cut into this yet, but the house smells amazing and, except for the one onion wedge that clearly didn't come in contact with the pan, this is a serious looker. Usually a sweet dessert tart made with apples, this tarte tatin recipe is an adaptation which uses the savory ingredients of French Onion Soup, with a buttery pie crust. Carmelized, super-rich onions, boozy with Amotillado and a splash of Asian fish sauce, fill in the blanks between the raw onion wedges, and they're cooked on the stovetop before getting a hefty sprinkle of Gruyere cheese and a dijon mustard-slathered crust. Baked in the oven, it's then cooled a bit and inverted on a rack to cool.
Steven Raichlin just did a smoked planked salmon on the Big Green Egg (with heat diffuser in), and he argued that charring a dry plank imparts more of the cedar flavor into the fish than soaking. It invigorated the oils in the wood. Interesting concept.
He charred the plank on the rack before putting the diffuser in; bet you could do that and then cook with indirect heat, if you could keep the plank far enough away from the heat source. He did quite a large piece on the show, so it was a large plank.
Pan seared. When it's done, brush on a combo of honey, ancho chile powder and lime.
www.epicurious.com
Tonight's attempt:
True Texas Chili
This Texas classic doesn't include beans or tomatoes, only beef, homemade chile paste, and a few flavorings. It's what Texans call a "Bowl o' Red" and tastes intensely of its two main ingredients. Take care to cook the chili at the barest possible simmer to avoid evaporating the sauce before the...
Past experience has taught me that that 1T of salt is a *lot* of salt in the chili paste; I'm going with 1t plus a smidge to start. Using 1.5 oz New Mexico plus about 3/4oz chipotle. I've also found that seeding/steming them while dried is easier than after soaking (as long as they are not too old). There was no chuck at my store, so I went with a shoulder roast instead.
It's on the simmer now.
How was it? I love that kind too. Though, truth be told, I like several different styles of chili, and have some favorite recipes for each kind culled from thirty-five years of making different kinds of chili, depending on my mood:
I wouldn't have sent it back. Sounds delicious.
I tried a version of this recently with Hatch chiles. *Way* too hot, even for me.
