What's cooking? part 4

I need to get some berries. I am in the mood to bake some berry tarts.

I see blackberries glistening ripely everywhere lately! Unfortunately, always along the busiest roadways. But 'tis the season to pick 'em!

I'm always impressed when we on ILCook manage to rustle up a thread long enough to warrant continuing.

I think a blackberry crumble may well be in the offing. Possibly with cream.

Jaq, let's go picking. I know a few spots.

what's cooking? Lxy's Ethiopian Experiment. We found a deli up the street that sells fresh injera and have been going crazy with the spicy beans and weird cottage cheese and collared greens

I've been in France for two weeks - a culinary holiday (as all of mine end up being anyway). Ragout of lamb with flageolet beans, huge piles of mussels, enormous oysters, rabbit in red wine, etc etc. Please don't make me go home!

jergins, when is good for berry-picking? We are bumbershooting on the weekend but I could maybe escape some of it.

I think, if I ever went to France, I would never want to leave.

You guys, I am really tore down about the death of Michael Jackson (beer and whisky writer). This is like when D. Boon died.

Jaq - I lived there for a year and I didn't want to leave either (had to come back for studies). Having seen your posts on here, I think you'd be in heaven there; fantastic quality meats, really great traditional recipes etc etc.

Tonight: tired Friday food - fried chicken with some kind of pasta, probably chilli flakes, basil and a couple of other things. Friday night is my lazy cooking night before I let loose on the weekend. If only I didn't have a job...

I can see myself at customs - "how long are you visiting for?" "oh, until I'm done eating" :)

As part of our beef, we got some giant packages of chuck steak, which I haven't been real sure what to do with. I ground some up last night with some pork fat and made very tasty and juicy hamburgers.

Fresh home-made gnocchi (well, "home-made" by Italian pasta store around corner) with pancetta in cream sauce as main course. I can feel my arteries quivering with dread.

Gnocchi and creamy sauces = made in heaven. Did anyone see Nigella Express last night? She's still cooking in denim jackets (why?) and was a bit too smiley for me, but there were some lovely recipes (including gnocchi and a creamy sauce, which is what reminded me).

Last night - pork burgers and enormous mounds of green veg covered in a sauce made from the meat juices. Matt, all you need to do is have loads of veg with your sauce - it's a well known fact that vegetables absorb the calories in fatty food (I had a friend once who believed me when I said this).

I made Tep's vinegar chicken tonight! It was pretty good, although my flat now fairly reeks of vinegar.

"Did anyone see Nigella Express last night?"

Nope. :-( Missed it.

Just lunched on a fennel, chicken and pea soup with stock from the roast bird we had a couple of days ago. There's still a bit of meat left for butties with piccalili later, too. Chicken really does live to give.

oh i am so jealous of you people!
my new life: taking lunch and dinner with me to work/school as i don't get home til 10 pm most nights. i need to find recipes that make long-keeping, easy-traveling leftovers. i need to start cooking things on the weekend to use all week but at the same time not get sick of eating the same thing all the time. this is difficult.

there has been a lot of pbj and carrots.

Matt, do (did) you make stock from chicken bones after they've been roasted (like, for a roast chicken)? I've never done this, but now that I'm asking, it seems rather obvious--there's definitely still gonna be lots of chicken flavor in those bones right?

Too right.

There's actually more flavour after roasting any sort of bones for stock. Think of it in terms of making soup: you want to get a bit of colour on the veg before it hits the stock so you roast/fry/whatever it first. Same with the bones, more flavour comes out after they've been cooked.

That said, chicken stock is a tricky bugger at times. You're better off saving the bones from a few roasted birds (unless you're one of the lucky sods like me who has a butcher who saves gizzards and pluck)if you're planning on making a good amount. As a general rule of thumb I find that one chicken carcass plus a few bits of veg will make enough stock for soup for two, risotto for four at a push. But no more than that. ILCook may well disagree.

Apologies for slight derail forthcoming.

Deli update for those that are interested: we get our yay or nay from the council on Oct 4th.

By an astonishing cosmic coincidence my wife is due to give birth....on Oct 4th.

Can anyone recommend any meals for extreme stress? Chicken soup is a given.

Apparently I will never make a decent rhubarb pie/crisp/crumble/cobbler.

I'm thinking I might need to cook the rhubarb first for a while before pie-ifying it.

Matt, go for roasted mashed yams w/ loads of butter. Very comforting, just sweet enough, incredibly tasty.

Chris, what's up with the rhubarb then? Does it stay hard and crunchy?

When I want something comforting it tends to be pot roast of some type - no thinking, just brown meat off, add wine/stock and veg/flavours etc etc, leave in oven for indeterminate amount of time. But I've never tried to open a deli and be pregnant at the same time - maybe this requires a whole new level of anti-stress food. Diazepam sandwiches maybe?

So long as they're with pickle, I'm there.

Yes, the rhubarb stayed hard and crunchy, and ended up in this big pool of liquid. I put it in for a further 15 or so minutes and it came out soft and tasty enough, though I had to scoop it out with a slotted spoon. Fortunately this was not for public consumption. It tasted fine but it was not quite what I was hoping for.

Last night - shredded cabbage cooked down with bacon and onions, served with caramelised sausages (because one pork product isn't enough) and boiled potatoes. It was delicious; I ate what was on my plate then went to the kitchen and had second of cabbage and bacon straight out of the pan with a fork. Me greedy.

Pan helpings are the best, though.

Yeah, why is that? I think it's because it feels illicit somehow, like eating a cake before it's cooled or something.

Anyway, tonight - curry curry curry curry curry i.e. a lot of curry (accompanied by about a hundredweight of lime pickle - the king of pickles).

Did anyone see Nigella Express last night?

I saw it last night and almost swore never to watch it again because of those little pre- or post- recorded grunts and moans whenever they show something bubbling on the stove and her... well, just her fucking annoyingness. But then she made a chocolate mousse with marshmallows and she's got me back, for one more episode at least.

Yeah, I used to love her previous shows when she was totally (or at least it seemed) natural. In this series she's like a slutty wooden doll or something - smiling weirdly at the camera non-stop, as if someone's told her everyone'll switch off if she drops it. And so smug! Jeez, you're not the only one who can cook quickly. But I still keep watching - like you say, she has the odd totally yummy moment which makes you want to watch again.

Tonight - chicken karahi. I'm starving already (two hours till I get home to cook).

we watched Nigella on watch again, I think I came to the conclusion that she was whacked off her gourd on goofballs

I'm trying to use up what we have in the house, so it doesn't have to be packed and moved. Last night, a frozen pesto pizza with additional toppings of herbed salami, dollops of homemade pesto, and piles of shredded mystery cheeses.

Tonight, from the depths of the freezer: chicken enchiladas and asparagus risotto (both originally from Trader Joe's, I think). There are 2 bags of some sort of frozen berry in there - maybe I'll make up a crumble for tomorrow's breakfast. Everything else appears to be large hunks of meat (which is what we seem to specialize in). Oh, and 2 largish bags of pork fat for rendering into lard.

I heart Jaq because she makes crumble for breakfast (here it's for puddings only, as far as I'm aware). Are you moving Jaq? I get perverse pleasure from finding inventive ways of using up random ingredients before you move. "Hmm, custard and lamb shoulder, what can I make?"

Porkpie, Nigella's definitely got a kind of wide-eyed vibe about her in this series. Couple that with the weird rictus grin = weird TV.

Tomorrow - Saturday Kitchen with Rick Stein on it (my absolute favourite chef ever). Best excuse for a lazy morning eating poached eggs and watching TV (er, a bit like most Saturdays).

Crumble, it's not just for pudding! Delicious and nutritious! (see also: fruit pies and custard)

We're moving on Monday to a loft space with a great kitchen (that looks like it's never been used). It's very industrial - maple butcher block countertops, diamond plate (like industrial non-skid flooring) bar and cabinets, the cabinets are rolling toolchests, good quality gas stovetop/oven and refrigerator/freezer, well laid out. I'm very very excited about it. I'm giving up a kitchen that is larger, but relatively cumbersome to work in - the refrigerator door can't open far enough to get the produce bins out, the low cabinets aren't good for pots and pans due to weird half-shelves, etc. It does have a lot of counterspace and a big walk-in pantry that will be missed.

I've cooked for Rick Stein. Lovely bloke, liked the food so much he bought me a pint.

(full disclosure, it was only a bowl of chips when he popped into a pub I was KP-ing at as a bairn, nevertheless).

Jaq. I am very envious.

I was thinking about you when we were in there Tuesday, Matt, because the place is set up so it could make a sweet restaurant - you could fit 10 tables for 4 in there easily and have a counter/bar setup too. People would have to walk through the kitchen to get to the toilet though, so that's not so good :)

I know you're busy, but we'll try to stick to this one long enough for you and Mrs. Matt and your little sweetpea to get over here for a visit.

god that sounds like kitchen heaven. i should take a picture of the corner of my living room that is called 'kitchen' but is impossible to cook anything in :(

Cor, that'd be good.

Not just to perv over the kitchen, obviously :)

Perv on this!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/illiterati/1393983951/"; title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1363/1393983951_56ba566003.jpg"; width="500" height="375" alt="Kitchen" /></a>

Well crap. Damn BBCode.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1363/1393983951_56ba566003.jpg

Here's the whole set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/illiterati/sets/72157602039756246/

nice!
jealous!!

phwoar, look at the worktops on that

do people recommend those rolling butcher block/shelving units? there is really nowhere to prep in my kitchen and now that it looks like i'm staying here a while, i'm thinking of getting one.

we have one. it's great, but it apparently was nightmarish to assemble. that's ikea for you though...

oh - re: food at school, al said that within 5-6 blocks of bc on nostrand are a bunch of west indian joints, and if you want to walk further then the famous difara's pizza is about a 15-20 minute hike.

(difara's is on ave j, btw, in the midst of a bunch of israeli places.)

honestly ive been finding really simple things comforting. dal with rice. black beans and rice with a couple fried eggs.

oatmeal in the morning. for almost two years i was cooking omelettes and huevos rancheros and migas and lots of luxurious breakfasts every day. the past few months i've really simplified that meal and it's been nice.

we have been making pizza from scratch though and that's been really fun. the thing that has really kept me interested in cooking is that my two sons are now old enough to help out -- they are still really little but they are old enough that i can involve them and give them some tasks, and they are really engaged and fascinated with the cooking process.

yeah i am straight simple food groups at this point. or i will make a bunch of (protein) and then put it with different things. not interesting enough to type about but still tasty.

Yeah same I made chicken soup a couple of times and ppl liked it but it was always made in a hurry for an event, no leisure. In order to enjoy cooking I need like a whole day to research recipes, shop, potter around, listen to podcasts, etc. Otherwise it's just a job that needs to get done.

indeed
must feed self/partner, must cook foods
rest
repeat
:(

i still feel like i am eating well or whatever, i just don't enjoy it all that much or try to make new things
also there is probably a point where a home cook has the skills/repertoire they need to eat the foods they want to eat and anything beyond that is a legitimate special occasion.

I regularly refuse to feed my partner who I also do not live with so that's different. It just happens that he really LIKES cooking and likes to cook for me, he's just a little more...experimental at it. Soooo sometimes I need to intervene. If we're not together I probably open the fridge, look inside, and then open a bottle of wine for dinner instead.

honestly ive been finding really simple things comforting. dal with rice. black beans and rice with a couple fried eggs.

rice is like my single favorite food, so i can totally relate. just white rice with some soy sauce or a tiny splash of fish sauce is the most comforting food in the world to me. was already planning on doing this tonight
xposts

I just made (and tasted) XO sauce for the first time and it's AMAZING.

there is probably a point where a home cook has the skills/repertoire they need to eat the foods they want to eat and anything beyond that is a legitimate special occasion.

agreed. I spent from about ages 20 to 50 in the phase of collecting skills and recipes, while progressively slowing my pace of collection as time passed. since then I've just picked and chosen whatever sounds good from what I already know well. that's ok, because I am also old enough that I am slowing down in every part of my life.

I had the thought "gingerbread is good; galangalbread will be good." I was right.

i have kind of a silly question

i had a pork shoulder & cut out the bone and about 1 pound of meat (for reasons). So I now have the bone & 1 pound of set aside raw

i was thinking of making some kind of soup but i really don't know what. should i slow roast these first then use for soup? or boil the bone raw then add the meat to the stock idk idk

Get some hominy and green chilies (Anaheim) and make posole with the meat, imo.

I always roast stock bones before simmering.

I had both in mind with a pork loin, except I bought black beans bc you don't get hominy here afaik

Veg - I slow roasted the loin which is basically the same as the shoulder but w/o the bone. I had stock from a poached chook so used that with ramen noodles, as the original idea was to slow roast the loin then use it for ramen. If you had things like ginger, garlic, mirin, rice vinegar or sake, and scallions/spring onions, plus some carrots, shallots etc then I'd go with ramen. I think I'd only boil with a hock for pea and ham soup but that's just me. If you can make pork stock then you can tailor the broth for either ramen or posole, just depends what you have and/or can obtain readily. Chicken stock works well with pork based soups and stews ime.

about to eat my first attempt from the Pok Pok book:

http://unfussyepicure.com/2014/06/tangy-thai-salad-with-canned-tuna-its-delicious.html

update: delicious. I used 1/3 of the chili peppers (I live in a spice wimp household) and tripled the cherry tomatoes, totally perfect.

i've made that recipe before! and yep its yum

or should i say 'yam'

OTM

this is legit the best damn thing I have made in many months, I cannot recommend it enough (also it's vegetarian!!). I made it w some sous vide filet mignon and daaaaaaaamn

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017946-baked-cheesy-pasta-with-wild-mushrooms

looks like a good hearty winter dish

it is 13 degrees today and snowing, i want that

it is SO RICH and SO GOOD and SO EASY

copied for later

every year is the year i say i want to make tamales and i never do. i want to make them this year though

im eating a pork tamale right now from my favorite mexican restaurant and it is really good, i could eat these for breakfast man they are delicious

reviews so far:

sous vide ribeye: fn exquisite
sous vide tenderloin: fn exquisite
sous vide chicken breast: extremely good but quite different from other preparations. it was juicy and soft to the point of being almost something else entirely. v great tho.
sous vide pork chop: tasted like a well-made pork chop but did not taste like something i couldn't get from other cooking methods. next time I will lower temperature and get a better cut.

also, I made these potatoes today and they were the best i've had: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/12/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-recipe.html

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/assets_c/2016/12/20161201-crispy-roast-potatoes-29-thumb-1500xauto-435281.jpg

also made these last week and i think they were the best brownies i've ever made: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018161-salted-caramel-brownies

My husband got me this book for Christmas: http://www.eatthelove.com/2016/12/marbled-swirled-layered-everywhere/

It looks amazing but feel like I need a whole weekend free to make anything plus I can't decide where to start!

PS Stevie those potatoes are what Britishers traditionally eat every Sunday and can be found in most pubs' Sunday roasts- you can see why I was fairly distraught not to find them everywhere when I lived in the US!

that recipe looks dope tho, i've been meaning to try it for a few weeks. making good roast potatoes is an art.

I have made tat potato recipe recently and it was very very good

normally kenji's recipes look amazing but i'm like "hmm not sure i want to spend 36 hours plus five days waiting to make one fried chicken sandwich

in related news i found the best recipes of 2016 featurs by the serious eats authors had some good stuff - get them here: http://www.seriouseats.com/features

i mean part of the reason these are good is that serious eats is so bad at collating and organising its recipes, no worthwhile search, a horrible navigation page etc.

the book is good for that

that potatoe recipe is v similar to the Zuni Cafe cookbook recipe, which changed my potato life forever

protip: if the potatoes are done but you need to hold them, 275 degree oven is yr friend. theywill hold beautifully for ages that way, and get v nice & crispy

yukons forever <3

I should be cooling/eating latkes but instead I am sipping ginger ale. Thanks for the gastroenteritis, 2016!

:(

haven't baked in forever and my mom didn't make any cookies this year so i felt i needed to. i made these https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/chocolate-chip-cookies/
if nothing else this is a note to myself that 18 minutes at 300 will only make melty puddles. try 22 minutes at 325. mixing cold butter is a pain in the ass. i'd soften it, make the dough, then refrigerate the dough for a bit. good cookies though.

Ahhh those simmered and then roasted potatoes feel so fidly but I'm sure turn out great as opposed to my simple chunked up russets in a hot oven that always end up cardboard on the outside. Damn it.

This milk-free potatoes au gratin has been my favorite lately, but it needs a hotter cooking temp than indicated--more like 450 than 375. Otherwise they'll never be done.

Err http://www.theroastedroot.net/herbed-coconut-milk-potatoes-au-gratin/ sorry

i'm making carnitas in the crock pot and salsa rice and i realized both of these foods involve rick bayless products or recipes and i made this face 😞

mr veg is adapting his bbq "pit pot roast" to crockpot - smoking the meat first then finishing it in the crock yuuuuuum

Rick Bayless is just so goddamn creepy.

I was gonna cook something tonight but instead we have decided to go out and tackle a 32 oz steak.

steak sounds so good

he is but i love mexican everyday :(
torn

this thread is a decade old. does anyone feel strongly that i should not start a new one?

bring it on i say

I'll be making pad thai this evening. I do not worry whether it is authentic, because there are probably hundreds of minor variations. And at least I have nam plah and ba oelek, so I can kid myself it's just like my mom would make, if she were thai.

9016 messages and counting. A new one might be OK.

here u go what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027
mod please lock?