What's cooking? part 4

Making sourdough starter for the first time. Science is p cool

oh yea i need to make some sourdough. i was inspired to try an all-rye flour sourdough after reading about it in sandor ellix katz' wild fermentation but it sat in my pantry for too long and i didn't store it properly and some moths got into it. need to restart.

but it sat in my pantry for too long and i didn't store it properly

lol meaning the rye flour, i never got around to actually starting the sourdough!

with cold weather coming i am eager to start making sour porridges again. i was doing a steel-cut oats sour porridge past few winters and it is very tasty. much creamier and richer than any regular steel-cut oats porridge.

my sister-in-law made these yeasted waffles last year on a trip to VT at my wife's folks cabin/house. we let the batter sit at room temperature and took from the pot each day for breakfast, and by the fourth day the waffles were deliciously sour. we put some whole milk yogurt and some VT maple syrup on top and they were just incredible.

man, what's up with your crazy perfect life?!
i have never even heard of sour porridge

yeasted waffles are the BEST!!! I swear by Marion Cunningham's recipe.

xp i never heard about it either until i got katz' book, but it is super easy to make! you basically just let any kind of grain - oats, millet, cracked wheat, a mix if you want - soak in water for at least 12-24 hours and then cook it the same way you would oatmeal (on the stove, in a slow cooker, whatever). soaking at room temperature for a while will allow it to ferment and the sour-tasting cultures to proliferate. optimal taste for me is maybe 2 or 3 days in winter but it will vary on the temperature of the room. after a while it smells terrible and then it's done. in summer or in a warm house it will ferment much faster.

fall inspired kale salad ruled today: roasted kabocha chunks, roasted, sliced shiitakes, sliced bosc pears, toasted chopped hazlenuts, baby kael, balsamic/agave vinaigrette and smoked salt judiciously sprinkled on top
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152375457127890&set=p.10152375457127890&type=1

all that constant heat, vapor, and temperature change is gonna burn out all your shit.

my cheap grocery store spices get all caked up to shit just from the steam they get when i'm dumping them into what i'm cooking : /

ooh i might try sour porridge

i made some tortilla soup in the crockpot and man is it good
the recipe i use calls for 1 chile but i went crazy and put in 2
the difference is amazing! so much richer and more delicious.

I keep reading "chile" as "child"

it's just how it's spelled! it's a chile pulla (which i realize is lol but also accurate and i'm not sure what else to call it)

la lechera what is your tortilla soup recipe. i love tortilla soup

one of my favorite dishes to make is posole which is pretty similar -- a very rich brick red broth, corn flavor, fun garnishes. i've made it with a green broth too that relies on a pumpkin seed mole for its base

which chiles are pullas? are they the small and round ones?

no they're large and dark -- http://www.mtysanmiguel.com/english/images/chiles/images/chiles_03.gif

i'll have to type it up later -- send me a msg and i'll email it to you!

Had an idea, but will have no chance to try it for a couple of weeks -- a chocolate cake that subs Coco Lopez for some or all of the sugar.

You could totally use my kitchen for this experiment. I made ice cream from pure Coco Lopez once and it was amazing.

I bet it was! I think coconut is in my top 3 favorite flavors. This would be a stealth German chocolate cake, totally spring it on the unsuspecting.

I've been going bonkers with macaroons. The most recent ones had pine elixir and lavender sugar on top. Delicious IMO.

ysi?

lavender sugar i understand but how does one make a pine elixir? sounds incredible.

a friend of mine makes large batches of pine salt fairly often, surprised pine flavors aren't more common tbh

It's in a jar, a honey-like consistency. VG brand I think?! It's like $3.79.

I've put it on fruit, yogurt, granola, oatmeal

decent price! i'll have to keep an eye out for that

i was experimenting for a while with topping macaroons with a dollop of pineapple curd, with tasty results

Pineapple curd! That is a must-try.

I had a huge plate of buttered spinach with feta just now and it was heavenly.

spaghetti with roasted vegetables (cauliflower, romanesco, celery root), pancetta, lemon zest, thyme

Bought the TJ kalamata and used it on roasted beets and winter squash. Tasty!

I made cornbread for the first time, it came out super moist and tasty, but I didn't oil the pan well enough so I spent a very long time scraping my cast iron skillet. I was mistaken in thinking the seasoning would be enough.

Oops.

I made mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, chocolate cake, and gougères for thanksgiving.

And chicken stock for myself.

all I made was a cheesecake this year...not enough time off for baking :(

I made nothing for thanksgiving and ate papa John's pizza instead :/

I made asparagus bc someone else claimed the brussels sprouts and then they weren't as good as mine would have been, and someone made sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes so there was no starch I could eat/nothing to put gravy on. Quite unsatisfactory.

milo, I also made cornbread for the first time and had the same problem!

no starch D:
orbit i feel yr pain

i made gumbo (again)

I made a turkey breast in a slow cooker (Jeff gave me a sweet slow cooker for my birthday) like so - http://dinnersdonepa.blogspot.com/2011/11/slow-cooker-turkey.html, semi-homemade dressing, roasted brussels sprouts, and macaroni and cheese the "modernist way" starting with a base of Metropolitan Flywheel lager like so - http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/silky-smooth-macaroni-and-cheese/.

Pretty good dinner, and wasn't too much trouble since I made most of it ahead of time and then just threw it all in the oven. But really all of that was so I could do this with the leftovers - http://instagram.com/p/v9u8MaQB0y/

Niiiiiiiice

whoa

Pasta carbonara, er...primavera. Thingy. Yum.

damn so i spent a LOT of time cooking on thanksgiving doing the traditional foods, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc. we're vegetarian so i made a whole pot of vegetable stock that i used to make the stuffing and gravy. i would say it came out really really good, the stock was rich, complex, and flavorful so it supported everything really well. we've been doing this for a while and this was probably one of the best years in terms of how everything came out. we also made a pumpkin pie that was dynamite.

but all in all i am realizing that, fuck, i don't really like the traditional thanksgiving meal? it's not that interesting? i felt really bored with it this year despite feeling like things came out objectively well. my family who eats meat ate the vegetarian stuffing and talked about how good it was, which is rare because they usually just prefer the standard turkey stuffing. i'm just kind of feeling like next year i need to do something different. i wasn't into it. it's a lot of work and the food just didn't come out that interesting, i spent a lot of time but didn't feel creative.

i think i needed more vegetables. brussel sprouts or something. we had green beans but they were just okay. thanksgiving is such a heavy starchy bready meal, cranberry sauce isn't enough to lift the palette amidst all that heaviness. i need something more stimulating.

what are some interesting things you guys cooked for thanksgiving?

tbh i've never liked trad t-giving food
it always reminded me of cafeteria food at worst and just kinda good bland food at best -- not worth the trouble for me personally
i made gumbo and it was fantastic
i think people should spend the time and energy (and money) to make whatever they want to eat and celebrate the giving of thanks however they please

yeah i'm not a huge fan. i enjoy stuffing, but that's about it.

I got a reminder of how bready it all is this year, for sure.

I think there are variations one can try but tbh if it's not your thing why bother? Personally I've never liked stuffing OR cranberry sauce, I'm only there for the turkey, potatoes, gravy, and the apple pie.

This year my fave thing tho was someone else's turkey juices, so much flavor bc of the way she brined and roasted it, poured over spicy garlic sauteed spinach, on top of rice. Each of the individual dishes was so well done they were perfect together.

Aside from the turkey, which I can take or leave, except for the all important stock/broth/juice/gravy, I love traditional Thanksgiving food. The breadier the better. Growing up the standard spread was turkey, dressing (oyster and plain), DUMPLINGS!, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, gravy, rolls, and probably some vegetables but I that's not what I'm there for so they don't stand out.

I do remember standing in line for one particular Thanksgiving at my step-paternal grandmother's house with an in-law who appraised the food and remarked in awe, "Everything is so... blonde..."

Anyway, when it's just me cooking I don't often do the whole turkey feast thing since it's a lot of work. I've made fancy lasagnas in years past that were really good. There was a really good recipe on ATK for homemade saag paneer that I might try the next year we have friends over. In short, LL OTM - give thanks for the tasty food if your choosing!

standing in line

In case that sounds weird, that side of the family is LOLhueg (my parents have been hosting since my grandmother died. This year they had 23 people, which my mother said was too quiet) and we always had did buffet-style holiday dinners that required a few minutes of standing in line and waiting your turn.