Pavo con Mole Poblano and Brunswick Stew

Just two recipes this week. We're all still suffering from turkey-coma!

Brunswick Stew

On our way back from Savannah a couple weeks ago, we stopped a few miles north of the GA/FL border, at a very nice rest stop. There, of all surprising things, we found a monument to the origin of Brunswick Stew.

Brunswick Stew is a southern classic with so many origin myths and apocryphal stories surrounding it, a foodie could do a PhD thesis on the subject. 

Some say it was invented in Virginia, others Georgia. Lots of arguments about the kinds of vegetables and meats to be used... the list goes on, and every area has its favorites. 

 Chances are that Brunswick Stew, and is relative Kentucky Burgoo, are both derived from Whatchagot Hunter's Stew -- made with whatever the hunter could bag and his wife could find in the (limited) pantry or ripe in the field. A few commonalities can be ascertained between all of the versions:

• Brunswick Stew is THICK, not watery. Thick stews are made by simmering low and slow. In pioneer days it might be kept simmering from daylight till dark, or even ovdr night.
• More than one kind of meat is the normal state of affairs. Usually pork and chicken today; although wild game is still considered de rigeur in some places -- squirrel, rabbit, boar, deer, turkey, woodchuck, quail, etc.

Here's a decent modernized recipe for Brunswick Stew that I've used in the past. It's rich and smokey and goes a long way. This gallon will serve at least a dozen folks, especially if you serve corn pone, cornmeal muffins, or cornbread alongside. Buy your meats in bulk from your local BBQ joint.

3 Tbsp Butter and/or Canola Oil

1/2 cup diced Onion

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

28 oz can Fire Roasted Whole Tomatoes, low sodium

15 oz can Tomato Sauce, low sodium

1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce, pick your favorite style and brand

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

3/4 lb Smoked Chicken Breast, pulled or diced large

3/4 lb Smoked Pulled Pork

16 oz frozen Yellow Corn

16 oz frozen Lima Beans

16 oz frozen Okra

16 oz Chicken Stock, low sodium

Salt, Pepper and Hot Sauce to taste

In a large, heavy bottom pot heat oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook for a minute or three until the onion starts to get translucent. Add the cayenne and the whole tomatoes. Using a wood spoon, etc. break up the tomatoes and remove any hard bits.

Add the tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and Worcestershire, and stir to combine.  When the mixture comes to a boil, add the meats, vegetables and stock and simmer for about thirty minutes, covered. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Continue cooking for at least another thirty minutes, uncovered, to allow the stew to thicken. 

 

Pavo con Mole Poblano

What's not to love, this recipe has both chiles and chocolate.   The perfect post-Thanksgiving left-over turkey makeover!   I probably adapted this recipe from my culinary hero Rick Bayless of the PBS show Mexico One Plate At A Time, but it's been so long I don't remember.   Mole Poblano also goes well with chicken, shrimp and lots of other things.   Check out the Wikipedia entry on Mole Poblano for some insight to the fascinating history of this dish...

This is not a simple recipe but if you love Mexican, this is authentico haute cuisine! Well, each step is simple but there are several steps. The recipe makes about 4 cups of mole. IF you have any leftover sauce, it can be frozen...

4 Mulato Chiles*

4 Pasilla Chiles*

3 Ancho Chiles*

1/2 cup plus Vegetable Oil or Lard

5 Tomatillos, husked and cooked until soft

3 whole Cloves

10 whole Black Peppercorns

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

1/2 Tbsp seeds from the chiles, toasted

1/4 tsp Anise seeds, toasted (or 1/2 a star anise)

1/4 tsp Coriander seeds, toasted

2 cloves Garlic, roasted

1/4 cup Raisins

10 whole Almonds, blanched

1/4 cup Pepitas (hulled, roasted pumpkin seeds)

2 corn Tortillas, torn into pieces

2 stale Croissants, cut into 1-inch slices

3 cups Chicken broth as needed

1 ounce Mexican Chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup Sesame seeds, toasted, for garnish

*Mulato, pasilla, and ancho chiles are dried chiles, not fresh. If you can't find those specific varieties, use what dried chiles you can find.

Clean the chiles by removing stems, veins, and seeds; reserve 1 tablespoon of seeds. Heat 1/2 cup of the oil in a heavy skillet until it shimmers. Fry the chiles until crisp, about 10 to 15 seconds, turning once; make sure they do not burn. Reserve the oil. Drain chiles on paper towels. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with hot water, and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain the chiles, reserving the soaking water.

Puree the chiles in a blender with enough of the soaking water to make a smooth paste, scraping down the blender as necessary. Reheat the oil over medium heat and add the chile puree (be careful -- it will splatter). Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove the paper skin from the tomatillos and chop them, then puree in a blender. In a coffee or spice grinder, grind the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, and 1 Tbsp sesame seeds. Add the ground mixture and the garlic to the pureed tomatillos and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Heat 6 tablespoons of oil in a heavy frying pan. Fry each of the following ingredients and then remove with a slotted spoon:

the raisins until they puff up;

the almonds to a golden brown;

the pumpkin seeds until they pop.

If necessary, add enough oil to make 4 tablespoons and fry the tortilla pieces and bread slices until golden brown, about 15 seconds per side.

Add the fried ingredients to the tomatillo puree and blend, then slowly add 1 cup or more of chicken broth, to make a smooth sauce.  In a deep heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the chile puree, the tomatillo puree, and the Mexican chocolate. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

Add the remaining chicken broth and cook over low heat for an additional 45 minutes, stirring often enough to prevent the mixture from burning on the bottom. Ladle over warmed turkey slices, garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Kilted Quiche, Kitchen Brick, Picnic Pie and Stuffed Pears

Lots of recipes this week to make up for a couple of exciting (to me) but recipe-poor (for you) weeks.

For new readers who would like to know how The Kilted Cook does Thanksgiving, look up my post called Thanksgiving My Way from 2014 -- Red Cooked Turkey, Cranberry Mold, Sage Stuffing, and more recipes.

This year I'm making the Cranberry Mold, the Red Cooked Turkey, and providing a spiral sliced, served-cold, pre-cooked Smoked Ham. We're not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but are going elsewhere.

The Kilted Quiche

We hosted a small luncheon party for some friends yesterday. After some deliberation I chose to make a Quiche, a Florida Salad, and Stuffed Pears for dessert.

1 frozen rolled Pie Crust

1-1/2 cups Half and Half

4 eggs, beaten

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp White Pepper

1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg, ground

8 oz Mozarella, grated

2 oz Queso Blanco cheese, cubed

8 oz sliced Baby Bella mushrooms

1 Leek, sliced into rounds

4 Green Onions, chopped

1/2 cup frozen Green Peas

1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper, diced

Preheat the oven to 350F.

After rolling out the crust and putting it in a 10" tart pan, dock the dough with a fork, then blind-bake the crust for about 20 minutes until it starts to get nicely colored. Remove from the oven.

While the crust is baking, combine the eggs, spices, and half & half.

Layer the fillings in the pre-baked crust. Pour the egg mixture overall, then top with the cheeses. Return to oven and bake 30-40 minutes until the egg mixture is set and nicely browned.

Baked Stuffed Pears

These pears are baked rather than poached on the stovetop. Use a firm pear like a Bosc, that can stand the cooking without falling apart.

Peel the pears, slice the bottom flat so they'll stand up, and take off about an inch at the top. Hollow each pear about 3/4 of the way down. I used my apple corer first, to remove the seed core, then opened the hole up a bit with the small end of a melon baller.

for the filling:

1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Water

1 shot Triple Sec

1/4 cup Golden Raisins

1/4 cup Pomegranate infused Craisinstm

1 Tbsp Sliced Almonds, chopped

Fill each core hole to the top with the filling. Place pears in a baking dish and add about 1/4" of water. Bake at 350 until fork tender, about 30 minutes. Makes 5 servings.

Florida Salad with Sour Orange Vinaigrette

Pretty simple salad, really, but the addition of citrus in the salad as well as the vinaigrette gives it that Floribeño flair.

for the salad, toss together:

1 head Red Leaf Lettuce, chopped

2 Oranges, peeled, segmented and chopped

1/2 cup sliced mini Carrots

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced

2 Green Onions, chopped

1/4 cup toasted Sunflower Seeds

1/4 cup unsalted Raw Peanuts

1 Tomato, chopped

for the vinaigrette:

3 parts EVOO

1 part Sour Orange Juice

1 part Rice Wine Vinegar

Whisk the viniaigrette ingredients together. Then I put it in a tall bottle, put on the top, and shake like a mad man to really combine the oil and other liquids. Replace the top with a pour spout (see below) and it's ready to serve.

Vegetarian Picnic Pie

This is my interpretation of the vegetarian "picnic pie" which was created in the finale of this year's The Great British Bake Off program (IMHO the best cooking 'contest program on TV). 

The crust was really strange to work with -- rather crumbly. Maybe it was the whole wheat flour I added. Maybe I didn't knead it enough, but the warning was not to overwork it... Next time I'll use all AP flour and work it more before rolling.

It may not be very pretty, but it sure was tasty. We shared it with our vegetarian friends for a UF Football Saturday night.

These British-style savory pies are "freestanding" -- taken out of their pans and stored on bakery shelves. So the dough has to be much thicker/tougher than your average American flaky tart/pie crust. Also, the liquid content of the filling has to be seriously reduced to prevent softening the crust from the inside. This is a Short Crust dough, and makes enough to fill and cover an approximately 9x5x3 loaf pan.

for the crust:

16oz Flour -- I used 3/4 white AP and 1/4 Whole Wheat

8oz Crisco tm -- (for a meat pie I would use half Crisco and half Lard)

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

for the filling:

1 Eggplant, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes

4 oz Couscous (small pearl, not the large pearl Israeli kind)

1 small can Tomato Paste

1 Onion, diced large

1 Rutabaga, peeled and diced into 1/2 cubes

12 oz Mushrooms, sliced

6 oz Queso Blanco or other "frying" cheese that does not melt readily

Herbs and spices to taste, to flavor each layer -- I used Everglades tm among others

Prep all the veggies (you can certainly use different ones than I chose), season them well, and then roast on a rack in a 400F oven for 30-40 minutes to remove a lot of moisture. Each vegetable must be enough quantity to make a layer in your loaf pan, and cumulatively fill it.

While that's going on, put the couscous in a bowl, cover with water, and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I used half a package of Near Easttm brand couscous and added the included spice packet to the mix. Once the couscous has swollen, combine it with 2/3 of the can of tomato paste for additional flavor.

Make the crust. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Cut the Crisco into the flour with a pastry cutter or bare hands, until you get a fine-gritty texture. Then add 3-4 ounces of cold water and knead in the bowl to bring the dough together. Roll the dough out about 1/4" thick on floured surface. Place a wide strip of parchment paper down the length of the pan, extending above both ends. This will help release the pie from the pan after it's baked. Use about 2/3 of the dough to make the pie crust, carefully transferring it to the pan. Smooth the crust into the corners and up the sides, removing any cracks. Level the crust with the top.

Layer in the filling. Start with a layer of the couscous. This will help absorb any moisture that cooks out of the other fillings. Add each layer in turn, pressing it down firmly and working it into the corners.

Roll out the remaining dough into a top crust and add it to the pie, sealing the edges. Cut or poke steam-release holes in the top. Bake in a 400F oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Slice into 1" slices, and serve cold or warmed, with or without a savory sauce or gravy. I served it at room temperature, with a splash of Lizano, the ubiquitous Costa Rican sauce which reminds me of a cross between Worchestershire Sauce and A-1 Steak sauce. 

 

Kitchen Brick

Alton Brown, one of my culinary heroes, has for many years had a 'thing' about multi-tasker kitchen tools -- tools that do more than one thing, not one-trick-wonder gadgets. My Kitchen Brick ranks right up there with a 6" wide bladed knife and wine bottle pour spouts as one of the great multi-taskers of all time.

Go down to Bricks-R-Us or your favorite Big Box building supply and buy one, or maybe two plain red bricks. They aren't called 'bricks' anymore, they're called 'pavers' and you'll find them in the Garden secion, not Building Materials... go figure!! If you've got a spare brick in your garden or front path, clean up one of those and save 45 cents. If you get a second brick, have someone show you how to break that brick clean in half -- a Half Kitchen Brick is useful too.

Wrap the brick(s) in several layers of heavy-duty tinfoil. Renew the cover as necessary.

Hold the brick in your hand. If you have small hands, use the Half Brick. Comfortable, isn't it? The perfect size and weight and shape for so many kitchen tasks.

Two half bricks, or a brick and a cutting board become a culinary "rock and a hard place" for tasks like flattening chicken breasts for Chicken Milanese, or tenderizing beef. Spatchcocking that game hen or small chicken. Crushing garlic (a head at a time!). Hammering apart that lump of frozen-together icecubes in the freezer. Serious pie weights for blind baking. Crushing hard seeds like cardamon, cumin and allspice. Cracking hard shelled nuts. Grinding Kosher salt into Popcorn salt. How many more ways to use a Kitchen Brick can you find?

 

The Kitchen Brick Multi-tasker

My 6" Chicago Cutlery Steak Knife Multi-tasker

 These pour spouts fit a variety of wine bottle sizes

and are great for dispensing oils, salad dressings, booze and more.

On The Road (Food) Again...

 My sincere apologies for the wacky line and paragraph spacing which follows.  Sometimes I really dislike Blogger.  I have the post looking all nice in the Compose view, and this is the kind of garbage which it spits out, seemingly at random.

It's been a hectic, but fun, couple of weeks. The day after I returned from the World Food Championships, Sally and I turned around and went to Gainesville to attend the UF Homecoming. We stayed at what we call The River House, in the boondocks outside of a wide spot in the road called Fort White, about an hour west and a bit north from Gainesville. The house is right on the Santa Fe River, just a couple hundred yards above where it is joined by the Itchetucknee River. It is owned by friends-of-friends, and this is the 4th year we've used the place as our base. 

        Saturday was the UF Homecoming, which we painfully won. It was 90F and no shade, although clouds did hide the sun for a few minutes here and there. After the game we went to our favorite sushi house, a place called Chop Stix there in Ganesville, and enjoyed a quiet and air conditioned meal.

        Sunday morning we had planned on what has become our traditional kayak trip on the Itchetucknee, so we had breakfast (mushroom omelet, bagels and chef-made orange-lime marmalade) and were on the river by 10AM. The sky was overcast, the temperature a comfortably cool 73F, and we had the river practically to ourselves. We were picked up a bit after noon, went home, showered and changed, and went for a late lunch at a great place in High Springs called The Great Outdoors. The restaurant is a tastefully themed log cabin (unlike a similar restaurant here in Fort Myers), with some beautiful art and large scale photographs by local artists.  

      I don't remember what Sally had, but I had a dish I've seen more and more frequently on menus, but never tried -- a Fried Fish Reuben.

      For those who don't know, it's basically  a breaded, fried fish sandwich topped with cole slaw and cheese, served on some form of rye bread.  In this case the fish was lightly battered Haddock, a wonderful Atlantic deep water white fish.

      Not bad as a concept, but I kept wanting to say "Where's the sauerkraut? 

      A Reuben, to me, just isn't a Reuben, without a healthy helping of that brine-pickled cabbage.  Restaurants which serve a Fish Reuben, would do well to at least offer sauerkraut on the side.

      Heading back to the car, it started to rain. It rained all afternoon, most of the night, and was still raining when we packed up and left on the next stage of our trip:

Savannah

It rained virtually all the way to Savannah, GA, about 3 hours north-ish of Gainesville. Neither of us had been there, although we knew folks who had. The only thing I knew about the place was that there was an important and highly successful nuclear reclamation site outside of town, and that Paul Deen had started her food empire there. We found a great AirBnB property to stay at near the historic Old Town, and spent two days taking in the sights which dated back to the early 1700s. If you go, we recommend the Oglethorpe Tour Trolley. We ate out, of course, and here are the places we went. One thing we noticed was the wealth of restaurants offering farm-to-table menus and other locally sourced produce and protein.

Lady and Sons

I just had to visit Paula Deen's signature restaurant, and gift shop. The Lady is a self-made gazillionaire through cooking. WTG Paula! However, unless you've never tasted Southern style cooking before, I recommend you order off the menu. Now, I've had Southern cooking, and the buffet was tasty (everything goes better with bacon and butter right?) but typically "southern bland" to this spice-loving foodie.  To me, the best offering was the ribs simmered in BBQ sauce.

 My mid-western kinfolk would feel right at home bellying up to this buffet!

Sally had Paula's Crabcake plate from the menu which was well and properly seasoned, prepared and presented. 

 

Lump crab cake served with tri-colored veggie couscous and sauteed asparagus. 

Garnished with pico de gallo, fried collard greens and lemon dill sauce.

We made a reservation for noon, and the 3-story restaurant was only 3/4 full. But I'll bet that reservation is really necessary during "season".
 

The [anything but] Ordinary Pub

This was a great find as my bracket comment in the title implies, suggested by our AirBnB hosts. The Ordinary Pub is below street level, and features an eclectic menu and a personable Chef who visited our table. As a starter, Sally and I shared the

Fried Green Tomato Caprese Salad

With beautifully breaded green tomato slices, fried golden brown and topped with mozzarella and a balsamic reduction; served on a bed of assorted locally grown greens.

      Sally had the

Salmon Gastro Plate

Which features pan-seared maple-glazed salmon and caramelized onions on a bed of mashed potatoes, with a splash of balsamic reduction. Perfectly seasoned and presented.

      While I had the

Shrimp Tacos

Which came with an interesting fruity drizzle sauce and assorted greens, and a side of the finest-cut cole slaw I've ever seen. The chef uses a box grater to get the fine shreds of cabbage, jicama, carrot and radish, then makes his own tasty dressing.

The Green Truck Neighborhood Pub

Our second night's dinner we visited this pub/burger bar and beer drinker's heaven which is locally famous for its organic farm-to-table fare, and house-made pickles. They serve a wide menu of vegetarian and vegan dishes.

      Sally had the third-pound

Veggie Burger

billed as 'the best damn veggie burger in the world', made from their own blend of organic ingredients, and served with all the trimmings you could want.

      I settled on the

Green Truck Classic

with a 1/3 pound grass-fed all-natural patty (top quality meat here, folks!) with my simple favorite ingredients -- lettuce, tomato and mayo. I did add some of their house-made pickles -- not real sweet, not as tart as a dill pickle. Like the burger they're 'just right'.

      Both burgers came with Green Truck signature French fries, thin but not shoestring cut potatoes lightly seasoned with something I couldn't distinguish.

 Vegetarian or Carnivore, that's a beautiful and tasty burger!

Even though The Green Truck has an extensive exotic beer menu including some for $36 (for a wine-bottle sized container), Sally and I chose a Georgia Ginger Beer, made in Atlanta -- another 'just right' choice that was very ginger-flavorful but not as sharp as most of the Caribbean-made ginger beers. I'm gonna make my own ginger beer one of these days, and tell you just how easy it is.

St. Augustine

To break up the trip home (neither of us appreciates 6 or 8 hours of driving anymore) we decided to over-night in St. Augustine at another AirBnB property. At our host's recommendation we went for dinner to a place called:
 

Mango Mango's

out on Anastasia Island, which serves "Caribbean cuisine".

      We started with an order of

Yuca Fries

which came with an almost too sweet mango crema dipping sauce. Instead, I preferred the beautifully crispy and creamy fries dipped in the house Key Lime Jerk spice blend, which I may have to order from them, as I got stupid and didn't buy a bottle when we were there.

      For dinner I had

Aroz con Pollo

with black beans and fried plantains, which was plated to resemble an island volcano. The chicken had a nice 'jerk' seasoning, the Aroz was nicely flavored as well, and the plaintains served as dessert.

Sally had the

      Avocado Mango Salad

as a Chef Salad, with a nice filet of mahi-mahi and a flavorful house dressing.

Great value and good prices.

The Blue Hen

Before leaving town we stopped at this eclectic breakfast and lunch joint also recommended by our host.  
     I had a dish they called

Zada Jane's Stack

With no explanation of who Zada Jane is/was or why this was her stack, I devoured the sweet/salty yam homefries, and the scallion-topped sausage and cheese fritatta. The biscuit and flavored butter were virtual icing on the cake.

      while Sally feasted on

Pumpkin Pancakes

Which could have been too heavy on the pumpkin and not nice for breakfast. These, on the other hand were some of the best 'cakes of any flavor I've tasted in a long time. Just the right amount of pumpkin!

      These folks don't just throw down a dollop of pancake batter or a couple of whipped eggs and let them randomly spread across the griddle. Both dishes were cooked in rings, which gave them a much more elegant than usual presentation.

       ALL OF THE RESTAURANTS mentioned above have websites. Please check them out online, especially if you are planning to visit those cities.

Next Week:   I pretend to be a Great British Bake Off baker, and more silliness in Sally's kitchen!

2nd Place in First Annual Food Blogger Challenge!!

Yep! I'm "in the money" as they say -- I won $250 and a nice trophy from sponsor Saucy Mamatm for my preparation of fabulous Kansas City Steak Co. Filet Mignons.    Thanks "Mom"!  Thanks KC Steak Co!!

We had 90 minutes to make the best steak we could.  Well over half of the bloggers weren't cooks/chefs, but they love food and write about it in many ways.  A few of us had done at least one competition cooking.    We were given lessons in grilling a steak, and some did do that; but most, I believe, used some combination of stove top and oven.

Filet Floribeño con Escabeche

That's what I called my recipe. 

I wanted to create something with a Florida/tropical flair that would celebrate Florida's beef heritage and Spanish/Cuban cooking influences. I decided to make a sort of Cuban-style Mojo marinade and surround my entry with Escabeche.

The Saucy Mama sauce that I wanted to use -- Lime Chipotle Marinade -- wasn't part of our selection. So I had to "adapt and improvise" as they say. 

 I was allowed to use their Poblano Ranch Dressing, so I snatched a bottle right away. 

Combining about half the bottle of dressing with the juice of two limes and half a tangerine, I had a good amount of spicy/citrus/garlicky marinade for the three filets we were given. That's one filet for the presentation plate, one to cut up for the judges tastings, and one "just in case".  I put all three steaks and the marinade in a quart size zip-top bag, and squeezed out all the air as I ran the zipper closed.  Elapsed time abut 5 minutes.  I planned to marinate the steaks for at least 45 minutes, which would still give me lots of time to finish things.

I wanted to dress those beautiful 6 oz filets with Escabeche -- a sort of Cuban style Pico de Gallo. So I sliced several multicolored 'mini bell peppers' into rings, diced up half a red onion, added a dozen or so pimento-stuffed green olives, half a tangerine peeled and sectioned, and chopped some cilantro. Putting all that in a bowl, I added a couple tablespoons of leftover marinade to dress the 'salad'.  Then I put the escabeche in the fridge to chill while I got ready to cook the steaks.

I used a technique called Reverse Sear. Lots of steak-aholics sear thick steaks first, and then finish them in a relatively hot oven, say 400F, to reach the desired doneness -- usually rare or medium rare. 

Instead, I cooked the steaks at a measly 275F for about 20-25 minutes on rack over a pan, until the internal temperature of the meat reached 95F. Then I removed the steaks from the oven and wiped the tops and bottoms dry -- you want a dry surface to get a good sear -- but I left the marinade on the sides to help the overall flavor. 

While I wiped the steaks, a large skillet was pre-heating to HI on the stove top, and when drops of water danced a second or so before evaporating, I seared each side of the steaks for 2-3 minutes until I got just the color I wanted. This brought the internal temperature up to about 135F, which is perfect for a 1-1/2" thick steak to be cooked medium-rare.

My presentation steak and my judges' steak were both the same 1-1/2" thick, but my #3 was only about an inch thick. That one turned out more medium than medium-rare, but there was still a nice layer of red-pink meat in the middle. It didn't go to waste, and made a pretty tasty 'first lunch' for me, and samples to my neighboring cooks.

Once the steaks were cooked, I plated the presentation piece and surrounded it about half way with the escabeche. 

 Mouth-watering, isn't it!

Whatever "garnish" we used was not eaten as part of the judging, but did have to be edible, and certainly counted as points towards the overall score. On each judges' portion plate I placed the elements of the escabeche. Here's my "turn-in"platter, just before I walked it up to the judges' table.  You can see I got perfect medium-rare color in the middle and beautiful graduation of color from seared brown to red.

Well it's Thursday night and we're off tomorrow mid-day to go to Gainesville and take in the UF Homecoming on Saturday. We're staying at "the river house" which belongs to friends-of-friends. The stilt house is on the banks of the Santa Fe River, just a couple hundred yards where the Itchetucknee River joins it on their way to the Gulf. We're planning a kayak float through Itchetucknee State Park on Sunday morning, and then Monday we're going up to Savannah for a couple days before returning home next Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to post something for you from Savannah on Monday evening, but don't hold your breath!