Your Last Meal

[Sean Malone]

I don't know why this popped into my head. Probably because I stopped by my local fishmonger to reserve a couple jumbo lobsters for tomorrow. It's been a tradition of ours for for over a decade that we do surf and turf for Valentines Day. Beautiful filet mignon's and a big ass lobster. It don't get no better. Or does it?

I try not to over do the red meat but I consider myself a true 'steak guy'. I think I know what a good if not great steak is. Filet mignon isn't my favorite cut by a long shot, but once or twice a year it makes a nice side dish.

So, to the point, what would I ask for if I could have any thing as a last meal. Anything at all, prepared to perfection (not by prison cooks).

An inch and a half thick porter house? Maybe a 16oz Delmonico...I do love the ribeyes. A classic perfect New York Strip? Hmm, all tempting.

But I'm just as big a seafood lover...if not more. My sister and her boyfreind went 23 miles out in the Gulf last weekend and caught a bunch of grouper (Florida's lobster) and we stuffed ourselves silly on it that night. Love the grouper.

How about something more 'prepared' like fresh stream rainbow trout stuffed with crab and andouille sausage? Ok, now's we're getting somewhere.

Ah, andouille sausage, now that reminds me of my beloved cajun/creole food. A bowl of perfect crawfish gumbo or crawfish et tu fe. Laissez le bon ton roulet!!
Or better yet the best thing I ever had when I lived in New Orleans was an authentic crawfish boil. The boiled mudbugs, with corn on the cob, potatoes, garlic, onions all boiled in a big pot of cajun seasonings dumped on a table for all to dig into. Man o' man, do I miss that.

But maybe some classic peasant food from the Italian country side? I make the best baked ziti in the family but I take two bites and I'm done. Never been one for pasta.

Maybe a traditional French dish where the sauce is a reduction of $100 worth of seafood and cream. Hmm. Had it all, nothing sticks out.

Or....yes!!! lamb chops with mint jelly!!!! Oh so succulent. One of my top three things.

So much food, so many memories. MMMMMM.

But in the end I can only pick one. Of all my favorites things, too many to talk about here, I always come back to my all time favorite.

No complex sauces, no generations of passed down recipes, no menagerie of culinary curiosities. My choice is just one thing....

A bushel of Chesapeake Blue Crab, steamed and dumped in a big pile in front of me with a small bowl of Old Bay seasoning and another bowl of apple cider vinegar for dipping. Oh, and beer to drink. Yellow and fizzy is fine.


So, talk about your favorites, but only pick one as your last meal.

[oddlycalm]

Yeah, hard choice, and I can think of dozens of worthy candidates, but I'd stick with simple as well. I've got access to all the seafood and quality meat and veggies I want, but my first choice is a tough one because practically nobody raises 2000lb. steers in 2008.

Dinner plate size porterhouse steak 1.5" thick cooked medium rare over a hot mesquite log fire on an iron grill, pinto beans, simple romaine salad with oil and vinegar and crumbled Gorgonzola and nice cold Dos Equis or Bohemia would work fine.

My Kobe beef cheeseburgers with English farmhouse cheddar on an onion roll or Copper River Chinook fillet cooked over alder wood would be close #2's. A pizza from Sally's Apizza in New Haven would also be a fine last meal.

oc

[rabbit]

My last meal before getting the chair?

All-you-can-eat buffet, and







I'd






eat







very






slow







ly...

[Methanolandbrats]

Olive Garden to go :gomer:

[dando]

PEI mussels with garlic and butter sauce to start, with a martini large enough to bath in (and if you have to ask vodka or gin, I poop on you! :)) three olives preferably stuffed with blue cheese. Main course would be prime rib, horseradish smashed taters, and the local steak house's iceberg wedge salad smothered with blue cheese and bacon. Don't skimp on the horseradish, and make sure theres a ramekin of it on the side. I'm not a wine snob, so a glass of a nice merlot or merlot-cab would accompany the meal. 'Desert' would be a good port and cheese.

But I would be just as happy with a nice plate of chicken wings and a tall Shiner Bock. :thumbup:

-Kevin

[cheesewhiz]

Anything on a stick..............:D


Actually, just lock me in a deli until I explode. I fugure thats two birds w/one stone.:cool:

[eiregosod]

John The Baptist's head on a plate

[KLang]

I can't decide, either a thick medium rare porterhouse, or a medium rare Tuna steak, or a couple racks of smoked baby backs. :)

[Ankf00]

Or better yet the best thing I ever had when I lived in New Orleans was an authentic crawfish boil. The boiled mudbugs, with corn on the cob, potatoes, garlic, onions all boiled in a big pot of cajun seasonings dumped on a table for all to dig into. Man o' man, do I miss that.

The first time in my life I won't be able to do this every weekend from feb through april. *sigh*

I'd have to go with mahi or snapper fish tacos w/ chipotle slaw, coctel de camaraones campechano to start and ceviche w/ say spanish mackerel on the side. of course queso fundido, guac, salsa rojo, and pico w/ fresh flour tortillas will be required. crisp tostadas w/ salsa picante and sliced avacado for the ceviche. one of Maudie's Jose's special cheese enchiladas for desert, or the pastor from Curra's, either way. A 6 of Pacifico to wash it down with, please :)

...or just take me to big Floyd Landry's place on I-45, anything on the menu will suffice, espeically the crab stuffed japs and crab stuffed shrimp. or just let me loose w/ $100 cash in Lockhart, TX for all the Lone Star, brisket, spare ribs, jalapeno sausage, mutton, goat, and prime rib, and chops I can devour.

[dando]

The first time in my life I won't be able to do this every weekend from feb through april. *sigh*

I'd have to go with mahi or snapper fish tacos w/ chipotle slaw, coctel de camaraones campechano to start and ceviche w/ say spanish mackerel on the side. of course queso fundido, guac, salsa rojo, and pico w/ fresh flour tortillas will be required. crisp tostadas w/ salsa picante and sliced avacado for the ceviche. one of Maudie's Jose's special cheese enchiladas for desert, or the pastor from Curra's, either way. A 6 of Pacifico to wash it down with, please :)

...or just take me to big Floyd Landry's place on I-45, anything on the menu will suffice, espeically the crab stuffed japs and crab stuffed shrimp. or just let me loose w/ $100 cash in Lockhart, TX for all the Lone Star, brisket, spare ribs, jalapeno sausage, mutton, goat, and prime rib, and chops I can devour.

You KNOW you really want Rudy's or Skyline. :gomer:

-Kevin

[extramundane]

A bushel of Chesapeake Blue Crab, steamed and dumped in a big pile in front of me with a small bowl of Old Bay seasoning and another bowl of apple cider vinegar for dipping. Oh, and beer to drink. Yellow and fizzy is fine.

Love it. One of my closest friends just moved to the UK after 10 years in the Baltimore 'burbs (no, not that Baltimoron). After about 6 weeks, he emailed a request to send over 5 or 6 Costco-sized containers of Old Bay. He said the crab he could get over there was crazy expensive and low quality, but at least with enough Old Bay he could make it somewhat palatable.

That's my biggest complaint about the food supply around here. We're freaking 75 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay and finding a restaurant with a decent fresh crab is next to impossible. :irked:

[cameraman]

We're freaking 75 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay and finding a restaurant with a decent fresh crab is next to impossible. :irked:

There is a reason for that.


Worried about the lack of recovery in blue crab stocks, Virginia officials recommended a series of actions in January aimed at restoring the state's most prized seafood - the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

A yearlong study showed that Virginia and Maryland are stuck at near-historic lows, coupled with low production while fishing pressures mount and environmental conditions deteriorate.

"Clearly, we need to be more aggressive in our approach, and we intend to be," Jack Travelstead, state director of fisheries, told the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Most immediately, the commission wants to vote on a group of proposals that would affect the 2008 crab season, which begins in the spring. The proposed changes include: shortening the crab season by a month; keeping fishermen out of no-harvest zones for more time; requiring a second escape hole in most crab pots in the Bay; and banning a practice in which crabbers designate other people to work for them as "agents."

In the long term, the commission supported a fundamental shift in how it regulates the crab fishery, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Under the concept, the state would allot fishermen a certain number of days they can collect crabs each season. The fishermen could tend to their pots those days, or they could buy, sell or trade their legal time to others.

A similar system has turned the sea scallop industry around, both economically and environmentally, officials said.

[Ankf00]

You KNOW you really want Rudy's or Skyline. :gomer:

-Kevin

Rudy's does carry Dublin Dr. Pepper, and their potato salad ain't too shabby. Skyline not so much.

[extramundane]

There is a reason for that.

I knew about that, actually. The lack of supply here is something else, though; it isn't a recent phenomenon, nor one that's limited to Bay crabs. Scallops, tuna, mussels- damn near everything that I can get 1 hour away (other than oysters, which I can't stand) are hard to find fresh around here.

[Sean Malone]

Love it. One of my closest friends just moved to the UK after 10 years in the Baltimore 'burbs (no, not that Baltimoron). After about 6 weeks, he emailed a request to send over 5 or 6 Costco-sized containers of Old Bay. He said the crab he could get over there was crazy expensive and low quality, but at least with enough Old Bay he could make it somewhat palatable.

That's my biggest complaint about the food supply around here. We're freaking 75 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay and finding a restaurant with a decent fresh crab is next to impossible. :irked:

We've been going down to Capt Billy's, a classic crab shack built on stilts out over the Potomac just north of the 301 bridge, since I was a kid. All you can eat served on brown paper with wooden mallets. Try their hush puppies too. I miss taking the boat down there. Oh, yes, in the past 10 years most of their crabs are shipped in from the Carolinas.

F it, I'm moving back to VA!!!

[Sean O'Gorman]

Crave case of sliders

[dando]

Crave case of sliders

:thumbup:

That was on the list, but I can get them any day.

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

what's an 1/8th go for in ohio these days? :gomer:

[Sean O'Gorman]

Shut up Kumar.

[anait]

Lobster, Alaskan King crab, PEI mussels, scallops, shrimp...I love shellfish, but I'm allergic. Another 'two birds with one stone' scenario, a la cheeswhiz's deli meal. :cool:

[tllips]

I can't decide, either a thick medium rare porterhouse, or a medium rare Tuna steak, or a couple racks of smoked baby backs. :)

I wouldn't be able to decide between these either, except the Tuna would be seared.