Seared Brussels Sprouts with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce

The idea was to come up with a side dish for Thanksgiving.  But after much soul searching and a brainstorming session based on What do you do with Brussels sprouts? we decided that the world wasn’t crying out for another version of brussels sprouts with bacon.

You’re welcome.

Instead we’re offering Seared Brussels Sprouts with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.  People who do not love Brussels sprouts (me) love these.  

Grilled Lamb Blade Chops with Hot Mint Chutney

Nobody hates lamb blade chops.  People either love them, or they’ve never heard of them.  Viewed from a diner’s perspective, lamb blade chops are to loin chops as  pork ribs are to pork loin.  There’s fat, gristle, a bit of bone, and you need to work a bit more to get the good stuff.  The reward is heaps of flavor.  If you fall into the never-heard-of-’em group, then this week’s Grilled Lamb Blade Chops with Hot Mint Chutney is your opportunity to step-away from the fancy-dress dinner party of loin chops, leave your champagne flute of civilisation on the veranda, and stride across the lawn through the baffled croquet players as you peel off your tuxedo and enter the forest.

Ketchup of the gods

Welcome to the first post in our new blog, The Garum Factory.  You can read all about garum, why we decided to name our blog after it, and what this blog is all about in About this, but for the sake of people in a hurry here’s a quick and dirty explanation.  Garum was the …