What's cooking? part 4

what does the internal temp REALLY have to be for a chicken breast?

The problem with using temp only is that what you really need to be looking at is temp + time. Salmonella is killed at 131 F for 60 min, or at 140 F for 30 min, or at 160 F for 10 min. Compounded by the fact that the internal temp will continue to rise after the meat is removed from the oven. I aim for 20 min/lb at 350 F, checking the internal temp 15 min before the planned end time. If the temp's over 145 F at that point, I take the bird out. If not, I check again in 5 or 10 min. Let it rest for 15 min before carving and it will be easier to cut and juicier. On a free range or pastured bird, the juices may still be slightly pink due to greater myoglobin in the muscles.

real true guanciale at Salumi

So so good. Try making all'amatriciana with it - cut 2-3 1/4" slices in to batons, brown slowly to render, add a can of peeled diced tomatoes to the meat and fat and cook down for 10-15 minutes until the juice thickens.

ohh

I would never think to measure the internal temp of something as basic as a chicken breast! Cook it til it isnt pink!

i do it all the time

There are few food things sadder than an overcooked piece of chicken imo.

a person eating an overcooked piece of chicken

What's overcooking?

just realised i need some guanciale in my life

My oven is ridic underpowered and won't return to temp once I put food into it. Think it might be a low wattage-model problem with a small apartment stove that the landlords never expected to be used for real cooking? May be using the slow cooker for a lot of stuff if I can't get this figured out, but it means I never know exactly what temp the cooking environment is.

Thanks, Jaq, for dropping some kitchen science! Now with two checks, I can determine that the meat has been hot enough for LONG enough that it's good to go without drying out. Also thx to just sayin for the cooking blog link, cos it seems v useful and scientific also. Had already determined that butterflying chix is the genius way, but again, even with that technique the oven isn't helping me out.

If there's any way you can add mass to the oven interior (cast iron pan on the lowest rack?), that can help keep it at temp when you open the door - but probably not possibly in one of those small stoves.

just stick a space heater in there

Whoah I didn't think of that!! It would mean it takes longer to heat up to temp, but that's basically brilliant. I do have a cast iron pan, or could get a stone of some kind too. Would just have to make it small enough to still let air circulate around & over it but that's do-able.

haha xp obv

It's a Saturday, so I am making a vegetarian lasagne, with spinach and parsley involved so there will be green bits to lodge in our teeth. It will be served with a green salad and a cheapie red wine. Good times.

Canned the apple butter today that I made in the slow cooker all week and have a pumpkin cheesecake in the oven now. House smells of warm cinnamon + allspice.

just stick a space heater in there

― guanciale diary (s1ocki), Wednesday, October 13, 2010 9:56 AM

http://www.donuts4dinner.com/2009/12/08/office-smores/

There are few food things sadder than an overcooked piece of chicken imo.

― Jaq, Wednesday, October 13, 2010 4:51 AM (5 days ago)

I nominate undercooked chicken for the sadness sweepstakes.

Undercooked is a helluva lot easier to remedy than overcooked fwiw. I totally overcooked the meat in the chicken paprikash I made yesterday (should have used bone-in thighs w/ skin instead of pieces of boneless/skinless breast) - good flavor but chokingly dry texture. Sad.

what's the difference between veggie stock and veggie broth? can i sub one for the other in any recipe?

I think when you are talking veggie, stock and broth are basically the same and should be no problem to sub.

Carnivorously, broth has less gelatin and a clearer meat flavor because it is made by poaching raw meat/bones/aromatics in water where stock is made with much higher ratio of bones to meat (and both are generally cooked first).

tried a pork/rice noodle stir fry thing w/ lots of thai red chili peppers and lemongrass and ginger, mint garnish. sauce got too salty but mint was a really key and gonna try again changing up the sauce and adding peanuts or something as additional garnish. oh and fresh basil, or as fresh as i can get.

will be awesome when i get it all balanced out and whatever.

The last four meals I've eaten (plus lunch tomorrow) have all had mustard greens or broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic and chiles with some lemon or vinegar after they've cooked for a while. Kind of sad it took me so long to realize how great these are.

Made the cheesy cornbread the oth day, in my skillet! Alto I over-baked it slightly, that's easily remedied next time. Man, quick breads are super fun. May have to hit the Irish soda bread again, I love that sourness.

i wanna make cheesy cornbread!

Warning: it takes less cayenne to have an impact than you might think. Two taps on the side of the jar might not LOOK like a lot, but it was noticeable in taste.

is there a recipe upthread?

No, someone mentioned that it was the Mark Bittman one, so I googled and found it here.

The cheddar cheese and cayenne were additions recommend by someone in another thread! Possibly a thread about cornbread in particular.

oh sweet it's probably on my bittman app!!

which is rad

Almond flour biscuits (more like drop scones) - first foray into gluten-free baking. They are really tasty - interesting texture. Chewier crust than something made from wheat flour, but less mealy than I thought they would be.

oh sweet it's probably on my bittman app!!

which is rad

otm. still need to leverage the shopping list feature

oooh jaq, i would love to see that recipe!

It's pretty simple -
2.5 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tsp lemon juice

Oven at 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, taking out all the lumps. Beat the eggs in a second bowl, then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until very well blended. Drop by 1/4 cup onto the parchment, leaving some room to spread. Bake 15-20 min, until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out relatively clean. Makes 8.

I used coconut oil and subbed maltitol syrup for the agave. Honey would also work, or maple syrup (though you'd want to use a bit less). Or use a tablespoon of granular sugar (brown, white, turbinado, sucanat) and a scant 1/4 cup of water.

made this soup, ended up adding harissa to the finished product because... i dunno, i had no cheese or lemon and i put harissa in everything these days. really satisfying and tasty, i recommend. (thx tehresa!!)

Chicken & white bean zoup yesterday, black bean zoup on the menu for today! Really looking forward to it, for some reason.

glad you liked it! i have been thinking about making some lately!

i picked a giant bag of apples yday

(quebec apples ftw)

what should i make?

thinking maybe:

pork chops & apple sauce
apple crumble

what else?

Do you do any canning/preserving? Apple butter is always good.

i was thinking about pork chops, roasted yams, and roasted brussels sprouts tonight.

maybe i will do the apple/cranberry stuffed chops!

I have been thinking a lot about this apple cake recipe.

i dont really fuck with canning :(

One of my favorite things to do with apples is make sausage-apple-cornbread stuffing and make stuffed, baked winter squash.

o man i am making the fuck out of that apple cake

Made a great cake at the weekend, also gluten-free as it happens, and seemingly impossible to fuck up (it's been great every time I've done it, and my baking is patchy to say the least. It's an Italian Easter cake apparently and is very light, slightly austere and very delicious, excellent for afternoon tea.

150g blanched almonds, whole or flaked
3 eggs, separated
150g caster sugar
60g rice flour
2 oranges
30g soften butter
icing sugar for dusting if you want (I normally don't bother)

160C/gas mark 3 oven. Chope the almonds finely (food processor good for this) until they're crumb-like (ground almonds are too fine incidentally), whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale and creamy. Add the almonds and rice flour. Grate the zest of one orange into the mixture then had the juice of 1 1/2 oranges. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt into stiff peaks, hem hem. Fold into the orange-and-egg mixture. Butter a 20cm round cake tin - butter it heavily, it gives the cake a great crust. Pour in the mixture and bake for 50 mins, should be slightly springy to touch, cool it on a wire rack.

Goes great with tea, as I say, darjeeling or something like that.

jaq – i have made the smitten apple cake (not in a bundt pan). it is pretty awesome!

so i made roast chicken pasrts & apple & fennel

then a dope apple crisp

and still so many leftover apples

apple cake it is!

When I have a bunch of apples, I like to cut them into cubes, put some cinnamon on them, and fry them up for breakfast. For some reason my husband finds this idea abominable.

id buy that for a dollar