A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Mark Bittman, the Minimalist, of the NYTimes made Hainan chicken. I LOVE Hainan chicken. You can watch his video or read the article.
Image from Wikipedia
I had planned on testing out his recipe, but my brother beat me to it. He said it didn't taste like the Hainan chicken he knew. We both agreed that Bittman's recipe is probably too simple.
But I'm still craving Hainan chicken rice. Does anyone have a good recipe?
BAKING BACON
I posted earlier about my recent food experience in relation to my new church small group. Well, that baked potato dinner that we went to, I brought the bacon. And instead of frying it up in a pan like I normally do, I decided to bake it. I hear that's how the restaurants do it.
Basically, you lay your bacon on a rimmed baking pan and stick it in a 400F oven for 10-15 minutes. I decided to elevate the bacon on a cookie sheet to let the fat drip away from the bacon, but I think that increased my cooking time because the bacon came out a little more limp than I would like.
While looking at drool inducing bacon photos, I happened upon a nice post on how to cook crispy bacon three different ways. I'm drooling. You should go just to see the bacon photos.
I'll be baking bacon again this weekend for a retreat we'll be going too. Hopefully the bacon will be crispier this time around.
DINNERS READY
Dinners Ready is one of those places where you can go and assemble your meals to bring home and cook or freeze for later. It's not cheap, and you have to make a reservation for a time slot at their kitchen. I wanted to try this concept out, but I never did find the time.
Then I Dinners Ready does take-out and delivery. They do all the work and you just take home your meals or have them delivered to your home. I can do that! I can make an online order! I can receive a delivery! So I did.
I ordered 6 meals, and I've cooked and eaten four of them so far. Shrimp carbonara fettuccine, chicken & spinach cannelloni, kalbi pork chops with stir fry vegetables, and Rocky Mountain flat iron steaks with baked beans.
This isn't a cheap option. I got 4-portion meals and they were really like 4 reasonable portions for about $25. And remember you still have to cook the food. I found that they seem to gift you with an overabundance of sauce or side dish while the meat portions are fairly small. But then again you really shouldn't eat all that meat right?
The organization of the food and the ease of cooking were both excellent. The food is divvied into freezer bags, and each meal is contained in one or two gallon sized freezer bags. It was really easy to store, freeze and thaw. The cooking was simple and mostly clear, although I did use some discretion with the amount of sauce used for both the pasta and the stir fry.
The taste was not bad. They make decent home cooked dishes, but I wouldn't rate them as restaurant worthy. Some of the dishes were overly sweet - kalbi pork chops and the stir fry sauce and the baked beans.
Would I buy again? Maybe. It was handy to have a complete pre-planned meal in my freezer, and it was fun to cook and anticipate the meal. But it was also expensive and a crap shoot with taste.
If you're want frozen meals without the preservatives or you're fairly new to cooking, Dinners Ready might be a good match for you.
Thanks for reading my food round-up. Happy eating.
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