Another Example of Why I am Great

I am to be congratulated for my industry.

Last night I got myself an Oven Stuffer roaster, and I coated it with my own dry rub and stuck it in the fridge. And I made a test pizza for sauce analysis purposes. This morning, I had to drive the damn chicken to Val's house because he forgot to mow the yard yesterday and was pressed for time. Then I came back and made potatoes au gratin, from scratch. I just slapped them in the oven.

I hate to say this, but I may start putting mushrooms in that recipe. I got the au gratin idea from my uncle Jim, who used to make huge vats of the stuff for holiday dinners. And he used mushrooms. Ordinarily, I dont like mushrooms. They look like bits of dead bodies, and they taste like dirt. I don't mean they taste bad. I mean they literally taste like dirt. Go put a handful of dirt in your mouth and see. But every so often, they turn out to be useful. They went pretty good in Jim's potatoes.

Right now, the recipe is really good, but it looks kind of bare. Just potatoes and sauce and a layer of cheese on top. The mushrooms would enhance the flavor somewhat, and they would also add variety.

This dish is a pain in the ass to make, because I brown the potatoes before putting them in the sauce. That's really important. The best thing about potatoes au gratin is the brown parts. I've fixed it so you get some of that tasty burnt flavor and texture throughout the dish. But it means you have to slice the potatoes and then broil them, and you can only do about one and a half potatoes at a time, and you have to turn them and do both sides.

It ought to be pretty good, even though I used too much potatoes. Generally, this is a soupy dish, but I went a little overboard, and I think it's going to be more like a pile of potatoes glued together by sauce. Oh, well. I couldn't help myself. For once, the store had gorgeous russet potatoes the size of my head, and they didn't have those dirt-filled slits where the harvesting machine hits them. I bought four, when three would have been fine.

I have really high hopes for the chicken. The rub was great on ribs. And I injected the chicken with a little bit of JD, honey, and salt.

I hope it ends up in Val's charcoal smoker. He was planning to fire up the fancy gas smoker Tommy bought him, but we haven't mastered that thing yet, and the first time we tried it, the chickens had the texture of old tractor tires.

It ought to be a great day, even though we're headed for 96 degrees with a heat index of 110. I may even break down and have a stogie.

I assume the Dolphins will get their ass whipped again. That's kind of a given. But at least the food will be good.