Down Home

I don’t want to cause too many cases of resentful food envy here, but I’m kinda proud of this one.  What we have here is barbecue beef brisket, potato salad, and collard greens.

The brisket was cooked sous vide for 72 hours at 155 degrees F, then spent two hours in the oven to give it a good crust, or “bark” as BBQ aficionados call it.  The result was a very tender, flavorful, quite lean, and attractive protein, of which I scoffed down more than my share.

I’d never actually cooked collards before, but I knew that the most important parts of the recipe aren’t the greens, but the garlic, onions, and smoked pork product that are cooked along with the greens.  (I had hickory-smoked bacon, so that’s what I used, along with the bacon fat.)

The potato salad came out of a container.  (Sorry, it can’t be genius all the time.)

I went to the supermarket to buy some elements of this down-home meal, along with some fruit (plus a couple bottles of scotch, because, y’know, you gotta get through this isolation somehow).  I wore my mask, but I was surprised how many people didn’t, including whole families, and by this I concluded that the epidemic was far from over.

The supermarket put down one-way stickers in all the aisles, and were also enforcing social isolation in the checkout lines.  The result was that the lines for checkout, with everyone six feet or more apart, went far back into the food aisles, which resulted in everyone checking out going the wrong way along the one-way aisles, and crowding the people going the right way.  (I went down the aisle in reverse, with the cart pointed the right way.  Just to confuse everyone, I suppose.)

The supermarket has its heart in the right place, but needs to work on its moves just a little.

On the way home I stopped by the park and did a couple of laps while listening to the audio book of Quillifer the Knight, featuring the excellent Ralph Lister, who ought to be nominated for an MBE or something for his work in audio.  There were very few people, most practicing social isolation by sitting in their pickup trucks.  I think they go sit there just to get out of their homes.

After returning home, I jumped clothes and all into the hot tub, which has been filled with bleach solution.  (No, just kidding.  I just washed my hands a lot.)

Cooking always relaxes me, and eating too much always makes me want to take naps.  Maybe that’s what I’ll do next.