Thursday, December 01, 2011

yesterday's lunch

Yesterday, I got adventuresome and did something I don't normally do, thanks to my work (and bowel) schedule: I ate a small lunch. Behold:



That's a pretty tiny bowl, slightly larger than the palm of my hand, and I've managed to cram most of the elements of the Thanksgiving meal into it: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and cranberry sauce (I added the sauce after microwaving the rest).

The cool thing about yesterday's meal is that it was the sort of repast that could have been eaten with a fork, spoon, or even a pair of chopsticks. True-- the peas would have had to be mixed with the mashed potatoes had I taken the chopsticks option.

My only regret is the lack of a decent gravy. Because I had bought skinless turkey breast tenderloins, I didn't have the drippings of an entire roasted turkey to work with. That was sad. Otherwise, the meal tasted great.


_

7 comments:

hahnak said...

this is the leftovers? they look so delicious! make your own gravy WITHOUT drippings or even proper stock!

cook roux: melt 3 tbsp butter in a small pan over medium heat. whisk in 3 tbsp flour and mix well. cook, stirring continuously until the roux is the color of coffee with milk. and yes, for some reason, im convinced you already know how to make a roux, kevin.

very slowly add a (14 to 16 oz) can of beef broth to the roux. it will be pasty in the beginning, but keep stirring and soon it will look like the gravy that it is. season. tada.

yes, not as tasty as gravy made from drippins but its BETTER THAN NO GRAVY, wouldnt you agree?

Charles said...

It's a Thanksgiving bibimbap!

Kevin Kim said...

Hahna,

alas, it's troux:
I've yet to doux
any sort of roux

...but I've seen Alton Brown talk about them in his gumbo episode from long ago.

Charles,

I was indeed going for a Korean-style presentation. Good call.

Charles said...

You've never done a roux? Three of the mother sauces require roux! Mon Dieu!

A tip for when you lose your roux virginity: the darker the roux the less thickening power it has.

Kevin Kim said...

Charles,

I thought about appending the "thickening power" comment to my previous response, since that's something that Brown has talked about (in that same gumbo episode, actually, as he moves through a roux color chart).

It also occurs to me, since you're talking mother sauces, that I have, in fact, done Béchamel several times, but it's never felt like roux-making. Maybe I've been over-focused on gravy as opposed to Béchamel, when in fact they both share the same point de départ.

So-- I guess I lied to Hahna. But the lie is in poetry form, so I'll let it stand, even though I'm left feeling... rouxful.

I now I have to Google whether there are any trendy restaurants with the name "You'll Roux the Day."

hahnak said...

charles, have you ever seen/read _the sauciers apprentice_? just curious

Charles said...

Indeed. Roux is such a culinary standard that I couldn't imagine you would have never made one.

The "thickening power" phrase suddenly made me think of the Wonder Twins. Remember how one of them used to take the shape of a bucket of water (and the other an eagle) when they wanted to travel somewhere. Setting aside the fact that this makes very little sense, wouldn't it have been awesome if he had instead taken the form of a saucepan of roux?