Loin chops are ridiculously easy to overcook. I suggest wrapping them in bacon.

I suggest acquiring some kurobuta pork chops, brining them, covering them in panko, and frying that sumvobitch up.

1) Kurobata pork is awesome.
2) We've "leaned" pork so much that it is really easy dry out (overcook.)

A) Cook to med rare - yes leave a little pink. Trichinosis hasn't been around in 50 years.
B) Brining is a great solution and is also a good flavor delivery vehicle.

Dinner from the other night.

Chicken quarters spiced with salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder. The skin was pulled away on half of the chicken, and we put garlic slivers in the meat. We then took a half cooked piece of bacon and put it under the skin. 45 mins in the oven @ 425.

The sides were smashed potatoes spiced with salt pepper and garlic powder. Pinto beans cooked w/ sausage and spiced to hell with salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper, sriracha, onions, and garlic. Red bell pepper cooked in olive oil and garlic.

The meal was really good, but next time I will sub the pintos for another veggie.

My Wife & I celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary. In which she decided to make dinner for us (which was nice!).

Fillet Steak with spinach, beans, carrots, & potato stuffed with bacon sage & anchovies. There was also a homemade green peppercorn sauce to go with it.

Thats worth at least another year

The phrase "stuffed with bacon" is worth another year alone.

haha

that looks so good

Forgiving the lack of an Extreme Meat Closeup, I would say Gib has found himself a keeper!

i'm not a huge fan of potatoes but god damn i want to eat that thing

Just made a great Lemon Rosemarry Roasted Chicken dinner with potatos. Here is the recipe.

Rub whole chicken with sea salt and pepper, let it sit in frig for several hours

Peel and cut potatos into golf ball sized chunks. Boil water and at potatos, one whole garlic clove and a lemon (whole and uncut). Boil 6-7 minutes, then drain and set aside.

Rub the chicken olive oil. Take previously boiled lemon, and stab it several 5-10 times with a knife so juices can escape. Stuff the cooked lemon, garlic cloves, and a handfull of rosemarry into the chicken cavity. Roast in roasting pan - about 375, 20 min per pound, baste with juices ever 15 minutes or so.

With 40 minutes to go on the chicken, take it out of the oven and toss the potatos around in the chicken fat until well coated. Make a hole in the middle and put the chicken back in, finish cooking.

This recipe was EASY, very fast, and the chicken was probably the BEST roasted chicken I ever made.

This would make a great Valentine dinner IMO.

I got to thank everyone for their kind words in regards to our 1st year anniversary, thanks!

Valentines Day I decided to try something very Mediterranean. As we are moving more closer to spring I thought I'd try to combine traditional winter style cooking with something similar to summer style cooking.

I decided to slow roast Pork Belly (with fennel salt rubbed into the skin), & grilled marinated vegetables (including: Eggplant, Capsicum, Artichoke & Zucchini) also some grilled haloumi. Maybe a strange combination, however the cheese & vegetables seemed to mix but I guess using pork as the meat is not as traditional, however we still enjoyed it.



This was accompanied by a bottle of this:



Which I do admit, normally I wouldn't think I'd match pork with red wine, but this wine really cut through the fattiness of the pork & the lingering oil on the marinated veg very well.

what is the best material for pots and pans as far as durability? stainless steel or aluminum? also what is a good brand? I'm looking to spend < 200$ for a maybe 10 pc set

For your price point this looks perfect:

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden...2/product.html

Oh good lord in Heaven jump all over that.

Also, will someone please buy the Stonedine cookware and tell me if it's any good?

Disagree with buying a set.
Different styles work for different use pots.

Stainless steel with copper bottom has worked great for me.

Stainless steel is more durable, and the copper helps with the heat conduction.

Cooks illustrated loved this set and so do I

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontina...re-Set/5716478

Tri ply is def the best as far as pans go

The only other things you might need to add is a nonstick skillet, and if you do a lot of big meals you'll need a 12'' skillet

Hard-anodized aluminum for frying pan imo

Cast iron for most of your pans. Super cheap. Tastiest way to cook meat and vegetables and easy to clean.

I have a nice Calphalon stainless steel skillet and some decent saucepans with really good bases on them, but my favorite is my cast iron pan I got for my birthday last June. I have used it a lot, and each time I am very happy with it. Last night, I used it to roast a chicken. A tiny layer of skin on the bottom stuck, but it was easy to get off. The fond was amazing, and made fantastic gravy.

Cast Iron. Cheap, gets hotter than blazes, easy to care for, and in time, it will be pretty much no-stick.

Sad but true: bump.

Anyway, if you guys aren't using these, you should be:



Sure they'll save you money, but the far greater value is being able to maintain products for cooking in your fridge for a lot longer than you would be able to do otherwise, giving you far more cooking options at any given time.

I thought I'd seen a review that they didn't really work better?

Food storage is big with me. Not like I want to run to the store around here, local prices, selection, and closest 8 miles.

Dude, if these bags do not work for you, I will personally ship you the $10.

These bags literally TRIPLE the fridge life of many things. In my experience, they work best with leafy greens, but they seem to work on all organic plant matter.

NO WAY are they not worth $10.

YMMV, but the Amazon reviews on those are pretty weak ... 73 five stars and 68 1 stars ... avg of 3 over 200 reviews