the return of nocturnal culinary experiments

Its called the Freedom Waffle. Basically a french toast waffle. Its fuckin awesome.

The first set toasting. We put rum in the batter. Later ones had blueberries/chocolate chips.


Plated up with bacon and vanilla ice cream.


Kyle dips his bacon into some Kraken.


And the bite.


We had some extra so we brought them over to RUPD for the dispatchers.

Challenge Entry: The Cucone

Meet the cucone.

Based on the bacone.


Here's me holding it.

Here's that guy with his.


The bacone is a cone make of cooked bacon filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, country gravy, and topped with a biscuit. The cucone is a cone made of peeled cucumber, filled with poached egg whites, goat cheese, and topped with a piece of smoked salmon.

I'd say this guy speaks entirely for himself, but... Boo-Yah!!!

The "Sushi Taco"

My recent breakfast that Meredith has affectionately dubbed the sushi taco. The inspiration for this was the CwD episode on onigiri. I've been wanting to make those for a while but I'm too impatient to let the rice cool so I just dump the pot of rice on the nori. I had at one point not even cut the nori and just folded it over. The result was just tacoish enough to earn an alias.

I drop a piece of nori across the plate and start up the rice. Sushi rice. As it begins to boil down i throw in some chopped onions and dried wakame. The wakame expands in the remaining water. Once its just about ready I crack an egg over the top of the rice and cover the lid. It steam cooks the egg just over the rice. Perfection. Last night I covered the nori with a layer of rice (which in all fairness could have been cooked just a bit longer), then a layer of tunamayo, then rice topping with bonito sesame and more nori, then more sushi rice and finally the steamed egg. I then cover it in tonkatsu sauce. I love tonkatsu sauce. It gives a fruity kick to whatever I'm eating. For a while I was on oyster sauce but this is my new current fave.

Being that I cooked this at 3am lat night there wasn't enough light so the picture isnt great. Here's one with a flash. EDIT: PICTURE COLOR CORRECTED BY SISTER.
I doubled the recipe and made one for Blake too. We chowed down while watching Starship Troopers. Excellent movie. Excellent breakfast/dinner.

This is a picture of the other one. I wasn't sure which one looked better. You be the judge. EDIT: THIS PICTURE ALSO COLOR CORRECTED BY SISTER.

THE SOUP

Anyone who knows Meredith and me know our obsession with THE SOUP. The story goes back years. Ever since we both started coming to Rutgers, we've always had dinners together to celebrate stuff. Anything we can find we celebrate. The first was the fact that we were both there. We chose to go to Noodle Gourmet. Excellent place. I think most of my greatest college take-out memories are tied to Noodle Gourmet. Eat there. The first time we went I got a giant noodle soup. I'm not sure if any of you have ever had their noodle soup but that fucker is cheap and giant.

After that we spent a few years with Edo as our hangout before we eventually started celebrating at Saporo. That was a big leap for us and also the first encounter with THE SOUP. I can't remember what we were celebrating but we were there and decided to get the Nabeyaki Udon and some rolls. We could absolutely not finish that soup. Its not quite as big as the Noodle Gourmet soup and nowhere near as cheap, but the taste is infinitely better. Its like comparing a Kia and a Porshe. We've been hooked ever since. Any time we can we go sit and wait for that glorious pot to get set down between us where we delicately divy up the treasures burried within and setting atop those wonderful noodles and that flavorful broth.

Years later when I finally balled up the plate, this was the goal. Ever since we've been attempting to find others like it through our own cooking and through little eateries in the area. It's been a staple of my dutch oven cooking and my almost daily breakfast/dinner. Something about soup with an egg cracked into it is just the perfect breakfast/dinner combo I need to complete my day with the sunrise. Meredith has been getting on me forever to finally post one so last night with my extra time off work i finally decided to do so.

This was a quick one. I used a granulated bonito for the dashi with a little extra soy sauce and sesame oil. Once that was going I threw in two frozen dumplings and the miso. From there I added udon, seaweed, chicken, and dumped in a raw egg to poach in the soup. Thats always been my favorite part. Just before it was ready i threw in some kimchi. I've had it sitting around and I don't have many ideas so it went in. Just enough to sweat some of the flavor into the broth. I gotta tell you, its wonderful.

This kimchi will haunt me till the day I die. Or that day I move out and decide to not take it with me.

cukes

This post is about cucumbers, but also about sandwiches. I am temporarily living back at home for a few months. Drag, right? Wrong. I opened the fridge this morning to make myself a lunch sandwich. WHOA. There was so much great stuff in there, I didn't know where to start. (Of course, food is not the only reason that living at home is not a drag!)

Beginning with spelt bread, I layered on avocado, basil, olive tapenade, cheeses, carrots...the possibilities could go on. BUT. The crowning sandwich element was the cucumbers. My mom prepares a healthy flavored water that involves soaking various ingredients overnight in the fridge. The bonus byproduct of this process is the leftover cucumbers which were hanging out and mingling for hours with lemon, mint, and ginger.

The most refreshing thing you will ever eat EVER. I was advised as well that they are not only dynamite in a sandwich, but also make a really sweet salad.

Take 1: Grilled Baskets

Usually I attempt a recipe a number of times before finally having the courage to post it but in this case I wasn't following a recipe. I have meant to try making Egg in a Basket for years but never really got around to it except for one horrible failure 2 years ago in which i almost set the Scarlet Pub on fire. I saw a picture of it on the internet the other day and just had to do it. The recipe there had been a variation in which cheese is put on the outsides of one egg basket. I had been contemplating this for a while, thinking about putting grilled cheese around one egg basket and other things. Deciding that would be too much bread, I chose to use two egg baskets as the bread of a grilled cheese. Being myself I chose to add ham to the grilled cheese. So there you have it. Grilled cheese with ham consisting of Egg in a Basket bread. Grilled Baskets.

PS- This will hopefully be my last egg post for a few days. I think that would be the healthiest choice.