Happy New Year to Each of You

I’m excited to begin the second year of these “What’s Happening” newsletters. I get to talk about food and wine. Plus I’ve shared recipes, class talk, along with restaurant experiences. Even my hospital stay food. Sorry no wine. It sure is fun to write without newspaper word limits and share as many photos as I want. 2023 was lots of fun.

By now most of you know my weekly column appears in the Auburn Villager. I am so excited to be able to share with the community in this vibrant way. It is different content from the newsletter. Please look for me in The Auburn Villager. Read both of them. I know that many of you are already reading. I hear about it regularly. Thank you. Note all the links you see in this newsletter are active. Click and away you go.

Aimee and I wish you the best 2024 possible. We hope you have been able to keep any resolves at least these almost three weeks now. Never forget we have so much to be thankful for. BTW – we sure hope this year doesn’t offer certain paper shortages like 2020 did. Maybe all of us ought to stash a few rolls aside just in case.

Thanks to our friends Kay and Fred Yeager for a truly unique Christmas ornament to remind us of our recent past.

I am publishing the January newsletter now rather than last week. My fall has been difficult. Almost a month in hospital that I told you about in The Villager with more details in this issue. Even with therapy, I still cannot stand and therefore can’t walk either. I am making progress, but it sure is slow. I sure will be happy when I can spend time out of my chair and wheelchair.

Once again Happy New Year. We celebrated King’s Day with a cake from Haydel’s Bakery. Mardi Gras will be soon. There’s always a party coming.

Frozen Dinners

I’m always keeping alert as to some new items in the frozen foods section. Marketers try to lure us in for new things. Sometimes it’s existing dishes with new names. Or the great moniker – “new and improved.”

Our local megamarts, Kroger and Publix, have weekly ads with all sorts of specials set to lure us in. New items and price reductions and combinations. Wright’s Market has a simpler approach on a more manageable scale.

Two dinners from Boston Market caught my eye. With my inability to stand for a while, I look for a few things that might make it easier for Aimee to be the main chef.

Beef Pot Roast and Chicken Parmesan seemed to be likely targets. Both used the term “home style meals.” That should be the right way.

The pot roast dinner included beef, gravy, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. It weighed in at 15 ounces with 20 grams of protein. Plus the picture on the package seemed yummy. Wow it had promise.         

The other dinner included breaded white meat chicken and spaghetti with marinara sauce. That one was 13 ounces with 21 grams of protein. The picture showed a huge piece of chicken with pasta, sauce, and a touch of cheese plus a basil leaf.

It appeared both these dinners were close to dinner for two. A salad would definitely take care of it. Of course, that’s “senior “portion and not “growing boy” or “hungry man” size.

I must tell you that they were quite disappointing. So little flavor. Poor texture. We needed both of them to make dinner for two. These are options to avoid for us. Sure do seem better than they are.

Marie Calendar offerings are often quite good. I look at them as being upscale. We have had various ones that have been ok. The newest foray is something called “duos.”

Two dishes in one package is how I perceived it. Sort of like dinner or at least lunch for two. Well not exactly. Here’s the deal.

One dinner said creamy pesto chicken for one and four-cheese ravioli for the other. 14 ounces with 32 grams of protein. Wow. Home run numbers.

The other dinner was meatball marinara – 4 meatballs in sauce over penne pasta plus fettuccini with chicken and broccoli. It says, “chicken breast and broccoli tossed in a creamy alfredo sauce on freshly made pasta.” That one sure sounds like two independent dishes to me. Again 14 ounces with 27 grams of protein.

No doubt these dinners are more interesting than the first two. More flavor and sometimes better texture. It certainly seems that the ravioli is a side dish for the pesto chicken. But it’s not. Neither one really works alone for me. But Marie states these are two main courses.

In the other package there are two pasta dishes with meat. This time it’s clear, duo is two mains. Other combinations show this is the case.

It’s strange that one chicken was better than the other. The alfredo sauce was watery. Marinara was much better. The pastas were variable.

As good an idea that duo is, they are not real winners. Quality in both Boston Market and Marie Calendar is barely average. The duos looked much better than the dishes from Boston Market. But they were merely regular portions of a main course and needed more food from another source to complete a meal. The package doesn’t make that totally clear.

None of these got a full thumbs up from us. Even as a BOGO.

Meatloaf – “I Don’t Get No Respect”

In my column for the Auburn Villager recently, I wrote about meatloaf. I talked about it getting so little respect. It’s just this thing that we make with ground meat and bake it. Lots of sweet ketchup goes on top and that’s it. Sometimes there’s onion and peppers inside. They are chunky and fall out when sliced.

There’s no reason meatloaf has to be that way. It doesn’t have to be complicated to be good.

Famous chefs talk about meatloaf positively. Julia Child liked it. She devoted a section to it in her book “the Way to Cook.” James Beard gave us several versions of meatloaf in his great “American” cookbook. Jacques Pepin talks about meatloaf and French paté. It’s the terrine that’s really a well-seasoned meatloaf.

Popular food personality Alton Brown waxes on about meatloaf. Many fine cooks sauté any veggies, like onions and peppers, before adding them to their meatloaf mix. Chef Brown puts his in the food processor and whizzes them until very fine. That way no precooking is necessary. BTW he adds carrots to his for sweetness and red pepper for color. Don’t forget the onions.

In my column I talked about what’s known as a panade (puh-nahd). Here’s what I wrote: “Let’s stop and look at making a panade. The basic ratio is ¼ cup starch mixed with ¼ cup liquid for a pound of ground meat. The starch may be bread, breadcrumbs, crackers, cooked rice or cooked potatoes. Milk, cream, yogurt, buttermilk, stock or even water may be the liquids. Let the starch sit in the liquid for a bit. Then mix until a paste forms. That’s it.

This is what you ought to use instead of just breadcrumbs. This simple concoction is the key to making your meatloaf juicy, flavorful, and supremely tender. It’s a little trouble but it’s sure worth it.

Here’s a hint. If you go the just breadcrumbs road, add them after any eggs or liquid. They will hold up better and not form clumps that don’t mix in.

As to meat, there’s more than just ground beef. In fact the standard ground beef blend of 73/27 is too fatty. It leaves lots of liquid around the meatloaf itself. Even if you don’t use a pan to bake your meatloaf, there’s lots of fat running from the loaf. Some of your seasoning likely goes out with it

Ground chuck is a blend using just 20% fat. Blends using less fat than that tend to be dry and dense.

Julia Child added ground turkey to her meatloaf. My friend Collin Donnelly adds ground veal to his. The old Buckhead Diner in Atlanta had a great veal meatloaf.

My friend Shana Howard of Shana’s Place in Shorter is a big fan of brisket with some pork fat. Anthony Cleaves, owner of My Local Butcher (formerly The Steak Factory) here in Opelika, says the most popular blend he sells uses brisket and jalapeno sausage.  

My buddy Tod Bottcher, chef of Yum Yum’s in Auburn, sneaks mushrooms and sweet onions in his.

How about me? I like a blend of ground chuck and ground pork. 50/50. It has enough fat for tenderness. The pork adds richness and flavor. Kroger sells a blend like this already made up in 2-pound packs. Makes tasty burgers, too.

Meatloaf tends to have a family recipe or method. It’s the way a family member or even a friend makes or made it. It’s a tradition and there’s no other that’s as good. At least to you.

Aimee and I made a meatloaf that’s destined to be a family favorite at our house. We took all the fixings for an etouffee. No shrimp or crawfish! Not lots of stock. All of everything else. Also that beef and pork blend I really like. We used panko but a panade would be even better. It baked the same 50 min or so at 350. Refer back to 2023 to see my etouffee recipe.

Food experience writer Stacey Wallace of the Opelika Observer says her aunt Betty’s meatloaf is her favorite. Tender and juicy. Stacey sent me copies of the 2 cards showing the ingredients and method. That recipe calls for “wet bread.” That’s Aunt Betty’s panade.

Some of us are lucky. We can like several versions of the same dish. We might have a preferred version but others are fine too. It’s that way for me with meatloaf. It’s easy for me to enjoy several versions. I’m ready for a new one any day as well.

It is great that one of our neighbors is a devoted meatloaf fan. I can practice all I want and have a willing “victim” next door.

BTW – there’s no better sandwich than one made from extra meatloaf. Slice the meatloaf or it will fall out of the sandwich. Mayo and Dijon to dress the bread. Room temperature and warm slightly. Don’t miss the chance to have one.

When we made meatloaf at Jimmy’s, my friend Trey Dorsey and I always made sure there was enough for each of us to have a comforting meatloaf sandwich.

Here’s a simple recipe for a basic meatloaf – ranch style. I used a packet of ranch dressing seasoning to provide some zip to this version. Feel free to use a packet of Italian dressing seasoning instead. For that matter, add your own favorites instead. Just keep the rest of this simple approach.

Meatloaf – Ranch Style                      

1 cup                  Onion, finely chopped

1 TBS                  Butter

1 pound              Ground chuck

1 pound              Ground pork

3/4 cup               Breadcrumbs

3/4 cup               Milk

2 large                Eggs, beaten

2 TBS                  Ketchup – sub BBQ sauce

1 pack                 Ranch dressing mix

2 tsp                   Kosher salt         

1 tsp                   Black pepper

1/2 cup              Ketchup – sub BBQ sauce

1 TBS                 Brown sugar

1 TBS                 Worcestershire

In a skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter and sauté onions until soft and cooked through – 8 to 10 minutes. Do not brown. Lower the heat if necessary. Set the onions aside to cool.

While the onions are cooking, mix the breadcrumbs with the milk. Allow milk to be absorbed and a paste to form. That’s your panade.

In a small mixing bowl combine the eggs and ketchup. Stir in the ranch mix, salt, and pepper.

Place the ground meats in a large mixing bowl. Lightly blend together with your fingers. Add the cooked onions and blend in. Continue with bread mix. Once done, add in the eggs and seasonings. Mix everything together but take care not to overwork. The result can lead to a tough texture.

Using a loaf pan or pans, lightly grease the interior or coat with pan spray. Place the meat mix in the pan. Fill to no more than 80%. Tap to release any trapped air.

Place pan(s) on a sheet pan and bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush on the topping; then bake for another 20 – 30 minutes or until cooked through – 155˚ to 160˚internal. Allow to sit for a few minutes before removing the loaf from the pan. Slice for service.

Alternatively remove the meatloaf mix from the pan(s) and place directly on the sheet pan before baking. This will allow more surfaces to be exposed to the direct dry heat of the oven.

Recent Wines

This December was a different holiday month for us. I spent lots of my time recovering from most of November in hospital. Not recommended – by the way. What I want to highlight are three older wines we enjoyed. Really interesting. Two of them are still made and available. The other one has changed styles.

We also had another bottle of 3 wines from prior newsletters. When I can, I like to buy 3 bottles of a wine. The first for within a week. The next for within a month. The third to enjoy at a later date. If it’s a real winner, get some more now – if available. I buy most of our wines online and have them shipped to our local ABC store. Often there is no more.

Champagne is certainly appropriate for any celebration. We enjoyed another of the Louis Chalvon we had last month. Yes, I bought 3 bottles. We also opened bottles Crossbow Pinot Noir and Pitchoune Chardonnay. It sure is nice to have another visit of a pleasant experience.

Before we leave Champagne, let me tell you about a great surprise. My friend and cooking class student, Wayne Burnette, sent me a note about dropping by to see me. What a treat. I hadn’t seen him since early last year. He showed up in style. He had a bottle of well-chilled Veuve Clicquot. An excellent real Champagne with that catchy yellow label. The brut is one of my favorites of “affordable” bubbles. It’s the house’s signature Champagne.  My recently departed friend Jerrell Askew really loved this one.

Feel free to take Wayne’s lead. Drop by with bubbles any time!

In looking for a special Christmas wine for a friend, Aimee found 4 bottles of a forgotten wine. Glen Ellen Cabernet Sauvignon. Made 40 years ago when this wine was made in a fine fashion.

Back in December of 1986, I bought a case of 1984 Glen Ellen and later, a case of 1986 in 1988. I had 4 bottles of the ’84 left. We gave one away at Christmas. We have had 2 of them. Quite good and very clean and clear. These proved to be a very good find. The last bottle came on my birthday on the 22^nd. In case you are wondering, I’ll be 87 in ten years.

The current version of Glen Ellen is not age worthy. A respectful everyday wine but no more than that. The old house is worthy of the attention of anyone wanting to see one from the 1980’s.

On Christmas Day, we had a beautiful wine. A bottle of Beaulieu Tapestry. This is a Bordeaux-style red blend that’s cabernet driven. There’s plenty of merlot plus spice from cabernet franc.

Our niece Meredith and her husband sent us a box of food goodies from Cajun Grocer. As they say, “New Orleans food delivered to your door.” So good Creole dishes too. This arrived when I got out of hospital.

One dish was a boned duck with cornbread stuffing. All we had to do was butter the skin and put the duck in the oven for a little over 2 hours. That was it. The result was a beautiful skin, tender meat and a luscious stuffing hot all the way through. We made a blackberry sauce with the pan drippings. Fresh green peas was a fine side.

The 1994 Tapestry was absolutely perfect. Its rich flavors were just right. A special moment. At less than $50, this is an excellent special wine. Current vintage is available.

Another really good wine was 1994 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon. We have had other vintages of this one too. It had a deep color with no browning. Full fruit in the mouth. Mostly all cabernet gives full body to this wine.

Current vintages of Mount Veeder are made a little softer and more approachable young. 2021 is available now at around $70.

There are times when a special wine is exactly what is called for. Good ones are available and won’t break the bank. 

Two New Wraps

Fast food gets a bad rap. Mostly well deserved. High calories. Lots of sugar and additives. Fried. The list goes on.

Wait a minute. Fast food exists mostly because we ask for it. We are the ones at the drive-up windows asking for a sack of nothing good. For the most part the restaurants are giving us what we want.

In the past month we took a close look at 2 new offerings available locally. One from Marco’s and the other coming from KFC. Both are heavily promoted.

Pizzoli is what Marco’s is featuring. Seems like a good idea. It’s what restaurants crave. Another dish made from things it already has. It’s a pizza wrap of sorts.

I’m a fan of the calzone. It’s a folded pizza. Then there’s stromboli. Sort of a rolled up pizza. The pizzoli is basically a combination of these two. It’s a filled roll. A wrap using pizza dough.

Marco’s offers pizzoli with pepperoni, sausage & pepperoni, buffalo chicken and chicken, bacon & ranch. We’ve had them all even though the chicken ones don’t seem to fit the Italian pizza store model. In fact we had a tasting group.

The favorite is the sausage and pepperoni combination. Seems like a pizza. Plus Marco’s Italian sausage resembles the real thing. With just pepperoni the roll is good but rather tight.

The chicken and bacon pizzoli was surprisingly good. Not Italian or like a traditional pizza. One taster ranked it the best by far. It falls apart a little. In fact it’s a sandwich made with pizza chicken bits and bacon crumble. Plus ranch of course. I’d sure have one again. In fact I did. Buffalo chicken was the bottom of the list for our tasters. Every one of them.

Downside is that every pizzoli we’ve had – 10 of them – the bottom was burned to some degree. One so much we threw it out. I messaged Marco’s about it. Seemed not to care. No “I’m sorry.” I was requested to contact the store.

At the intro price of $6 the value is OK. The real price of $7 begins to diminish the value concept. A whole pizza isn’t much more.

We had an Italian sub sandwich on my birthday. It’s a favorite of ours. No birthday greeting from Marco’s BTW. It was very poorly made. Got onions we asked to not be included. Missing ingredients – not just one. Tomatoes plus. Our hot sandwich was cold. I messaged Marco’s and requested to be contacted. Hasn’t happened in five days. I think I’ll try again. Maybe their “I’m sorry” button is still missing.

There’s another new wrap out there. This time from KFC. In fact they are called wraps. The promo states “wraps are back.” They are offered individually – $3, in pairs – $5, and as part of a combo meal. That one sports lots of food. Two wraps, fries, and a beverage. Locally that’s $8.49.

The wrap is a flour tortilla as is. Not warmed even though the description says it is. Not in the 8 we have had. It’s folded around and at the bottom to contain the filling. Each wrap contains a large chicken tender plus additions. The classic – seem strange that something new can be a classic – has a tender with KFC mayo and 2 pickle slices.   

There are 4 more versions. One says honey BBQ, another mac & cheese, then a spicy mac & cheese plus another billed as spicy slaw. We’ve tried all of them and some with my Wednesday lunch companion Fred.

All of us found that the bottom fourth of the wraps was best tossed away. It held everything together but was just “bread.” That’s certainly OK.

The classic is quite good. Good pickle flavor and holds together the best of the group. The tender is quite ample in all that we have had.

The other variations are different in sauce and topping. The chicken and tortilla are the same.

The newest honey BBQ didn’t work as much. Most of the sauce ran to the bottom and was not on the chicken. Like a construction problem.

Mac and cheese was more difficult to eat. It was dry and tumbled out of the open end. The spicy version appears to have spicy mayo with the mac. There’s also shredded cheese inside.

The most successful was the spicy slaw version. Good flavor with both a pickle and a jalapeno slice. Downside is that it is really wet – the slaw. If the person making the wrap would let the slaw drain, the problem would be greatly diminished.

What happened was that Fred decided he didn’t like the taste because the wrapped leaked and fell apart. I had the same problem one time – not the other. Fred went for the classic because it was easier to eat. I picked the slaw version. Most interesting without doubt.

Bottom line is that the KFC wrap is a winner. Good flavor and value. Marco’s not as much. Price is up and the quality marginal.  

February Classes

Yes, it’s time to get back to classes. We will take a look at the dishes we were going to address in November. We will center around three dishes and the sauces resulting from their preparation. We will look carefully at the refinement of the sauces. There are appetizers served with a basic salsa. Then we will make 2 more versions of the salsa as it becomes more complex.

We will prepare two main courses and use the same process with their three different sauces each. There will be a shellfish medley featuring shrimp and scallops followed by coq au vin blanc – chicken cooked in white wine.

The class dates are Sunday February 18th at 2:00, Monday February 19th at 1:30, Thursday February 22nd at 6:00, Sunday February 25th at 2:00, Monday February 26th at 1:30, and Thursday February 29th at 6:00. Other class times will be added in March as needed. I look forward to being with you even from a wheelchair this time around.

Until Next Time

I certainly hope you have enjoyed this edition of my online newsletter – What’s Happening. As you have seen, I can talk about lots more than is possible in a newspaper. Even the Villager. Plus I’ve included some of my personal feelings and experiences.

Next month we’ll be back to exploring more restaurants and goodies available in our local stores.

Our February classes already have a few takers. Don’t miss your seat. Make your plans now. Even though I still can’t stand at this point, I’m hard at my PT to be back on my feet as soon as I can safely do so. It’s taking much longer than I thought it would.

I appreciate your prayers for my recovery. Also your notes and good eats you brought to me. Online foods too. Even a dinner. Sure has been great especially when you live in a chair like I do. I hope to sleep in our bed again soon.

I encourage you to let me know about anything you want me to explore in this newsletter. Also, please share this newsletter with others.

They can go to inthekitchenwithchefjim.com and register there.

Thank you very much. Remember “Keep Cooking – Keep Exploring.”