It is not uncommon to know a dish, to eat a dish, to enjoy a dish and not know it’s name. Or as in the case of many dishes to know a dish by one name that is overloaded - pigs in the blanket - sausage links in a pancake or beef filled cabbage rolls? Barbecue - smoky, slow cooked beef? slow cooked pork or (as was the case in my suburban midwest upbringing) sloppy joes.
Summer is in full swing and the hustle of work and comings and goings of the kids are keeping us hopping. We’ve reclaimed the daughter from camp and are headed into a week away from work.
The bounty of summer is upon us (and has been for some time). That means lots of salad
Summer is in full swing and that means an abundance of ad-hoc salads for our meals. I’m a sucker for a big bowl of mixed veg and some grilled protein topped with the hot, sour, sweet drizzle of a Thai dressing. This salad gets better with time, by the time you get to the bottom of your plate your mouth is alive and seeking more.
Dinner is complete. A sense of a.) accomplishment b.) relief or c:) some mixture of of the two washes over you. The calm is shattered and dread enters the hall - the dread of putting up leftovers. There’s just a bit of fresh corn pudding left - save or not? Four Italian sausages remain - should you package them for kids lunches? Several quarts of homemade chicken and rice soup are staring at you.
I make a regular habit of picking up two pounds of ground chuck whenever I’m in the vicinity of my meat purveyor. Laying down bulgogi burgers on a whim or whipping up a meatloaf are all within reach with beef and some pantry staples. And so it was the other night with my lovely wife on the road and a trying day at work behind me as I faced the task of putting dinner on the table. Meatloaf was my first thought but I could detect some resistance from the kids. Not enough resistance mind you to either a.) make a constructive suggestion about what they would like or heaven forbid b.) offer to transform the ground chuck into the meal of our collective dreams.
My lovely wife and I were approached by my daughter’s school a few months ago about offering up a live auction event wherein the ‘goods’ were dinner at our house with our good friend and long time priest as the featured guest. My memory wants to remember the description as ‘Join food blogger Jeff Schilling and Fr Ed for an epic evening of food with 8 guests’
My clan has been playing with variations on the classic burger for years and a few combinations have made it to the top of the list. The Korean inspired bulgogi burger is a go-to when we are grilling.