Category: Cook

Made jerk chicken marinade. For something so simple, there’s a surprising number of ingredients. A coffee grinder we keep for spices and an immersion blender brought all this together in short order. I froze half for another day.

Made a special trip across the Mississippi to stock up on Spam at Lunds. For some inexplicable reason, the stores where I usually shop don’t carry Spam. We use this fine Minnesotan product to make musubi.

I’m cooking basic baby back ribs this afternoon: rub with fresh garlic and a dry rub, then cook low and slow (225°F). The simple dry rub varies, but I usually include paprika, salt, brown sugar, and black pepper. A dish of water on the lower rack increases the humidity.

Achieved new culinary heights: assembled Spam Musubi, a fusion food popular in Hawaii. Minnesota: Spam (fried). The can makes an excellent musubi mold. Japan: soy sauce and nori. California: sushi rice. Next time we’ll add mirin to the rice to make it stickier.

After a lot of chopping, reduced 8 pounds of onions, carrots, and celery to mirepoix. Most of it goes in the freezer to ease the assembly of future meals.

Paused my walk to admire the display at Coastal Seafoods and select some Petrale sole from the Pacific Coast. Tonight I’ll bake It in parchment.

As I do every year at this time, replaced baking powder, baking soda, and spices that are a year old. Total cost: about $3.