Tell Us About a Memorable Meal and Cook a Tribute to It

[Jim White]

We all have those memorable meals that keep coming back to mind now and then. It may have been one you cooked when the cooking and the moment just came together. It may be a meal you had out that was just so good many different things can trigger your memory of it.

I thought it might be fun if we could start a thread where we discuss those memorable meals. If you have pictures, great! If you don't, no problem. Just paint a picture with your discussion. But let's have just a little more fun with those memories and cook a meal that is a tribute to that memorable one. If that memorable meal was one you didn't cook, cooking the exact same dishes in the exact same way isn't likely to happen. And even if it's one you cooked, if you are like me, each cook often takes on a life of its own and can never be repeated exactly. But how about cooking something that will bring back those memories anyway? It seems like this could be a way to honor and savor those memories just a bit more if we cook a new meal in tribute to one we loved so much.

I'll kick this off by going back to Valentine's Day of 2017. Lisa and I were in Queenstown, New Zealand, where she was attending a scientific conference. Our hotel room had a beautiful view of a small lake and we wanted a meal delivered to the room so that we could enjoy the terrific view and have a quiet evening away from the big crowd of the conference and the hustle and bustle of a thriving resort town on a holiday evening. I poked around online to see what restaurants in the area delivered and looked at their ratings. One really stood out as making everyone rave about the quality of the food: Pedro's House of Lamb. I just looked, and was very pleased to see that they not only still exist, but now have branched out to having additional locations. The menu is very simple: roasted shoulder of lamb cooked with rosemary and garlic, served with scalloped potatoes. One memorable review was a regular customer who confessed to never being able to make it home with the box when ordering take-out: they normally just dug into it in the parking lot.

Here's the box, a bottle of wine I picked up earlier in the day and the view out the window:



And the food:



The lamb was butter-soft, just like an expertly smoked pork butt. The flavor was simply unreal. It's really impossible to beat the flavor of New Zealand lamb. And the potatoes were to die for, not thin slices but substantial chunks.

We probably talk about that meal a couple of times a year, usually when we think about buying or eating lamb. On a whim this week while buying groceries, I decided to take a look at what cuts of lamb were on hand. I found a beautiful three pound boneless leg of lamb. This was enough to make me think of Pedro's, so I also threw a small bag of Baby Gold potatoes, grown locally here in Central Florida, into the cart.

But how could I pay proper tribute the the Pedro's meal? I knew that trying to recreate their cooking style was impossible. I also knew I was aiming for today for this cook, and I would be at an afternoon baseball game. This had to be a fast and hot cook.

Enter Meathead's Lamb Mechoui recipe. Yeah, I know, a Moroccan spice profile is nothing like Pedro's rosemary and garlic roasted lamb, but many folks here in The Pit rave about the recipe, so it seemed worthy. I followed Meathead's advice to break the leg down into the individual muscles while trimming. I dry brined several hours yesterday:



Then the brined lamb went into the charmoula marinade overnight.

Today, while I got a ripping-hot fire going in the LSG Adjustable, I split the potatoes and parboiled them. Then I hit them with some cooking spray and dusted with the ras el hanout. Then I hit the lamb with the ras el hanout, too, after it came out of the marinade.

The flames were happy to see the lamb and potatoes:



And after flipping:



It all cooked fast:



Although the lamb looks charred, there was no burnt taste at all.



And of course, the plating had to be simple to pay tribute to a take-out meal eaten in a hotel room:



Yes, this was a delicious meal! The harissa paste is incredible. There's a fair amount of lamb left over (we ate leftovers the next day in New Zealand, of course) and I'm starting to think about some lamb tacos to use up more of that harissa pepper paste.

Join in! Have some fun! Cook up a meal in tribute to a memory of yours and tell us all about it.

[Jfrosty27]

The meal that often comes to my mind is from back in 1995 I was in Munich, Germany on a business trip.

To set the scene:
There are about 20 of us. Half Americans, half Germans. We’re at the original Lowenbrau Haufbrau House right down in the city center. Now this is a giant wide open beer hall with long rows of what we call picnic tables lined up across the hall. There’s a band playing German folk music, the waitresses in the Bavarian costumes, and full liters of Lowenbrau all around. A LOT of Lowenbrau.

Anyway, after several of said beers, out comes dinner. They bring out absolutely enormous platters piled high with every cut of roast pork and German sausage you could imagine along with big bowls and platters of what I guess were traditional side dishes. This is all served family style on these huge platters etc so imagine 20 fairly drunk people attacking this fantastic meat feast and washing it all down with liters of some of the best beer I have ever had. The food was fantastic too. Music playing, people talking and laughing loudly, etc. What a time we had. Obviously, I will never forget it.

I doubt I could ever replicate anything like it myself here. But every time I toss a hunk of pork anything on the pit and have a beer in hand (or about to be) I think of this experience.

Cheers!!

[Jim White]

Sounds like a great time. We used to have one of the wonderful glass steins from Haufbrau House but it was the only one of our possessions to fall victim to the Loma Prieta earthquake.

[fzxdoc]

I had a similar experience there at the Lowenbrau Haufbrau Hall. Plus it was Octoberfest. What a great night.

Kathryn

[acorgihouse]

I love this idea. I don't travel hardly anymore, but in my day I hot footed it around the planet pretty regularly. I often think of memorable meals, and look up recipes, but rarely try to truly create them. I can think of 3 right off the top. Doubt I have photos, was before we photographed food so much, but let me think on this a bit. I've been pretty busy this past week, but have a bit of a down week after Wed, and am getting the urge to giant cook.

[Jim White]

Looking forward to the story and the cook.

[hoovarmin]

Great idea!

[Davek8282]

I had purchased 2 racks of lamb at Costco and went down to visit my sister and BIL. My sister and I cooked one of my most memorable meals. We used a herb parmesan crust on the racks, seared them in a cast iron pan and then finished in the oven. Hard to believe how tender and flavourful the lamb was. My absolute favourite lamb meal.

When my daughter was 16 I had to go to Vegas for a conference and took her with me (the joys of being a single parent). On a free night I asked her to choose between 2 of Emiril Lagasse's restaurants in Vegas and she chose Delmonico's. She had the filet and could not choose a sauce so they brought her a sampler with all the sauces. The meal was memorable not just for the food but for the service that came with it. To top it all off they sold cigars and I paid an exorbitant amount for a pair of Fuente Fuente Opus X which were all the rage at the time but were not available in Canada. My buddy that I smoked cigars with took all of 10 minutes to get to my place when I told him what I had brought back. Very nice Cigar.

I could probably come up with a few more memorable meals but enough for now.