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Cookin on Fire

 

The day got off to a bit of a dull start with the absence of Kim Hill but the replacement dude was adequate if unmemorable. I have an abject fear of them giving Jesse Mulligan the gig one day, I have always maintained that Kim could give him her B grade questions and it would lift his game, mind you I am quite partial to his musical taste and enthusiasm for conservation. I got the water blaster out and finished what I started last weekend on the drive and also gave the deck some love, it is amazing what needs a clean one you give it one little squirt with that waterblaster! Breakfast was bacon and guacamole buns at half time.

 1 avocado

1 clove garlic

¼ wildfire chilli

¼ onion

Juice of half a lime

Salt & pepper

Bacon

Buns

Put your bacon in the oven to cook, finely dice the garlic, chilli and onion, mix with avocado pulp, season with salt and pepper and add the lime. Fire your buns in the oven to warm and assemble, great with Panhead.

 I listen to Truly Made for a bit they are a pretty good Palmerston North outfit with a notable drummer who’s name escapes me but he also played for Dirtbox Charlie. Then Music 101 dealt up a Lorde interview which was interesting, followed by a 50 year celebration of the Flying Nun label who  have signed some of NZ best acts including my most recent favourite Reb Fountain. This was all the backdrop to stove cleaning, as you will know cleaning is not my gig but there is something quite satisfying about scraping all the soot from the bottom of the coal range every few weeks, this was followed by a cursory floor sweep. There are two types of floor sweep at my place. Cursory means sweep the obvious dirt, woodchip, dust, ash, dog hair, food and fluff off the floor occasionally, the full monty where you move the furniture and all that milarky, is a minimum of bi monthly and it is not time.

 I also got some chops from my mate Linc I figured if they were as half as good as the steak I was in luck. Normally when I get chops I just cook them and eat them no pissing around with veg and the like, then you can eat more of them. But I had a think…….it might not be the go for the blog, add salt, cook, eat…….a bit brief. So off to the fridge, there was an almost past it punnet of mushrooms in there and I opted for kumara to round the menu out. With the sun and the deck shining it was clearly a Webber day, I fired that beauty up, looking resplendent after  workover with the waterblaster. I had some dried rosemary stalks I had saved from the bush’s haircut, just the job. Oh by the way the rider is there is no recipe, just a story, in order for something to be a recipe it has to be balanced and look good in the photo, not achieved. But the flavour profile of both the mushrooms and chops was next level so pay attention! 

In the middle of all this Mark Rogers played both Tom Waits and C.W. Stoneking on National Babylon, fucking gold! I know, I know, I know, do yourself a favour and look them both up. I don’t know what it is about hearing something you like on the radio, it seems so much better that walking over to the stereo and putting that shit on yourself.


Hopefully this photo montage will add value to my process. That chimney is the business for lighting the coals, once they were all white I tipped them into one side of the Webber, I had heated up the cast iron plate on the coal range and mixed the kumara sticks with oil and salt. I put the plate over the coals, banged the lid on and went off to do the dishes, misguided, I should have paid more attention, as you can see my kumara chips got a little dark, I will be better next time. Anyway I got them out of the way and put the rosemary stalks directly on the coals and then put the salted and oiled chops away from the coals, back on with the lid. Meanwhile I pan fried the mushrooms with oil and garlic and then added a splash of my special ingredient, Masala, kind of like port and the key ingredient in Zabaglione, officially the best dessert ever, but also good with chicken and mushrooms it seems.

Back to the Webber, there was marvelous rosemary flavoured smoke billowing
from the vent I should have closed, I put the chops over the coals, closed the vent and put the lid back on for about 7 minutes, while I drank more Panhead then I turned them over and left for another 5. I added ½ a teaspoon of honey, salt and a splash of cream to the mushrooms and then the lime juice just before I served them. So the chops were perfect, I have no truck with that rare chop shit, you need to get that fat crisp and that does not align with rare, these were a tiny bit red in the middle and tasted of smoke and rosemary, just as I had planned for once. The mushrooms were nearly better, creamy and umami from the Masala with a sweet sour edge, as for the kumara I needn’t have bothered.

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