FOOD, man cannot live by whisky alone.

Tonight we had friends over for a Korean BBQ in the back yard. We supplied the grills, sides and the pork belly, and they supplied marinated pork and salad.

My wife and I made up 2 sets of sides (she is more paranoid about Covid than I am sometimes). She relented with the meat, since it had to be cooked anyway.

As you can see the food looked amazing and a good time was had by all.

While the kids went to a part to play before dessert, I gave one of our guests a tour of my bourbon collection. He picked OGD 114. I joined him.

@Nozinan I LOVE Korean BBQ. More than hot pot.

@Nozinan There’s bacon; it has to be good.

Made a venison Wellington with some chunks of NZ red deer back steak from the last animal I harvested. Served with another Red

@Hewie - That looks amazing

With the Longrow Red

@Hewie Nice one. Looks like your pastry and the meat are done perfectly.

@Hewie agree with all the others. Looks like a top dish and nice whisky to go with it too. Get a bit of venison sometimes but never done it as a Wellington. Hope it tastes as good as it looks.

@Hewie, definitely categorized as FOOD PORN. MAGNIFICENT!

Fresh picks from the garden. Looks to be a good start for tonight’s salad.

@paddockjudge nice harvest, those peas wouldn't make it to the house if it was my garden.

@Hewie that Venison Wellington is drool worthy, nice work!

@cricklewood, haha, funny you should mention that......they usually don't.

@paddockjudge I bet those tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes, not like the perfect looking, tasteless, so called hot house, vine ripened crap we get from the supermarkets. I even bought a couple of very pricey “heirloom” tomatoes last week and they were just about as tasteless. It could drive a guy to drink…(expensive single malt Scotch whisky).

@BlueNote, as much as I try to keep my bread consumption low, I've been tempted every day this week by vine ripened tomatoes and have enjoyed a few great toasted tomato sangwidges. Yeah, they are delicious! It's been a good season thus far.

@Hewie Which version of Longrow Red is that?

@MRick That one is the 13 Chilean Cab Sav. I have the 11 NZ Pinot Noir which I prefer (maybe not surprisingly)

@Nozinan hosted an impromptu zoom hangout. I popped in to say hi but left in order to finish assisting in one of the best risotto's I've had the pleasure of eating.

We cooked some pancetta and shallots and then sautéed a whole mess of Chanterelles mushrooms in the fat. This was added to the risotto in the last 1/3 of cooking.

Good picking tonight.

@paddockjudge You’ve done a great job of (inadvertent?) classical conditioning. I have only to read your name to start salivating and experiencing hunger pangs.

@paddockjudge love the monogrammed Glencairns.

@MRick I’m now one of Pavlov’s dogs. Call me Rover. That goddamned meatball sandwich sets me off.

I cooked up some venison shanks all day in the slow cooker to make bbq pulled venison youtu.be/933qZKk0llc

The family demolished them

@BlueNote, the glasses were a gift from my daughter-in-law. She sees my whisky porn on Instagram …and approves.

@cricklewood, a fine looking dish of a classical comfort food. My grandmother cooked risotto using chicken livers and giblets, that was olde school and three-bowls-good … every time. Love that hit of parm!

@Hewie, the best part of the animal for stews and slow cooking. I too would be all over that.

The only way I can compete with that is to fry up double-smoked, rind-on, slab side bacon…. with garden fresh tomatoes … on light rye bread… fresh from the 85 year old local Croatian bakery, third generation operated. I fear there may not be a fourth.

Some amazing looking dishes above!

We've just got back from a week or so down in Lyme Regis on the Jurassic coast. We had bbq most every night but no pics, unfortunately, as doing it around two toddlers demanded 100% attention.

We had steaks with big juicy prawns, lamb chops, sardine fillets, scallops in garlic butter, whole bass, red mullet, gurnard and two sides of salmon. The mullet and salmon came out superbly. Plenty of sausages and the occasional bit of veg like asparagus and corn, and some potatoes wrapped in foil. Does anything beat the taste of any meat cooked over a fire?

First time I'd ever done whole fish like that and they came out really well but I have to say my favourite was the cheap sardine fillets - I guess the oil in them stands up to the heat the best but they were absolutely delicious!

@paddockjudge man my mouth drools at the sound of that. More often than not, less is more. Good artisinal bread like than with a couple of quality ingredients is a match made in heaven. @RianC that sounds like a fantastic time living off the fruits of the sea. Nothing like cooking over fire aye. I've got a cook book here by a NZ chef titled "Stoked". His intro basically says when did we decide that cooking food inside a bag long and slow in a waterbath was the best thing? Nothing beats the experience of cooking food (meat) over a fire and eating it off the bone - and there's nothing wrong with having to chew your food a bit too. I'm sure you enjoyed your holiday down south. Find any fossils?

@RianC sounds like a lovely holiday. Great food and re your other post totally with you on the Mead. Always fancied making some of my own. Must take the plunge..