What's cooking? part 4

Depending on how the meat is handled and packaged, it can definitely get some odors. If commercially packaged chicken doesn't seem to have a smell, it can be due to bactericide treatment (even something as simple as a salt water rinse/soak, which a lot of commercial chicken is subjected to) or the use of CO2 or N2 to blow the film of the packaging line open (occludes O2, so bacteria don't grow as quickly). So yeah, properly handled fresh meat from the butcher can develop odors and all fresh whole muscle meats should generally be rinsed off and dried before you cut them up any more at home.

i ate chicken breast tonight for the first time in a while and i am having a hard time digesting it. very strange and also kinda :(

So I should have rinsed it off to clear the odd smell maybe. It had sat in a plastic bag in the fridge a day or so. I do try and be ultra careful and also trust my instincts when it comes to bad food.

I made dashi stock for the first time, by straining out dried konbu and bonita flakes from boiled water. It was good, but I'm not sure it was worth the effort. Then made soba soup, with miso, tofu, carrots, shitake and enoki mushrooms, Napa cabbage, and seaweed.

How is coconut rice pudding formed? It sounds amazing.

Ha VP I made dashi for the first time too, same way, last Sunday-ish. "I am boiling a vat of sea goo."

Abbott, this was the basic recipe I used --

* 1 1/2 cups cold unsalted cooked rice
* 3 cups whole milk
* 1/2 cup well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Simmer rice, milk, coconut milk, sugar, and salt, uncovered, in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 40 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Serve warm.

-- except I didn't measure the rice so I think it was a little more than 1.5 cups; I didn't want to use half a can of coconut milk so I put a whole can in a big measuring cup and added (2%) milk until I had 3.5 cups of liquid. Also I thought it needed to be a little sweeter, but it was easy enough to add sugar or honey to individual servings. It was really good.

i once made a crazy rice pudding from available items, which included:

*leftover cooked rice
* vanilla flavored "international creamers" (2)
* milk
*crushed cardamom seeds ( why i had these and not vanilla extract: i was at a vacation house and someone brought the cardamom*)
* crumbled up stale gingerbread cookies
* sugar
*coconut flakes (unsweetened)
* raisins

it was delicious! you couldn't even tell that there was gross "international creamer" in there.

*"brought the cardamom" has to be a euphemism for something. "I thought the party was a real dud, but then [person x] brought the cardamom and we had a blast"

I'm boiling a chicken right now to tear the flesh up for salads, curries, etc. I got this from my mom, buying fryers when they're cheap & just boiling 'em. Makes cooking a lot faster to have this premade chicken sitting around. This time, tho, I'm more stoked on getting stock out of it than the chicken itself!

This time of year always gets me in a stock-making mood.

oh hey that is a good idea

There's a spot in Tupelo that can't keep a tenant more than a year or so -- it's been three different incarnations of barbecue joint, and also a sandwich shop, soul food place (twice), and now it's a carniceria. I need to check it out -- if that craphole town has finally gotten big enough to support an actual butcher, I need to give them my bizniz. Will probably go up in the next day or three and get beef neckbones for stock.

I've got oxtail, beef soup bones, pork neck bones and trotters in the freezer for stock making. It really is that time of year!

You two are inspirational to me btw

I've never made pork stock, but Tep talks about using it fairly often. Sounds too strong!

just turned leftovers into delicious fajitas!

I keep wanting to make beef stock (and eventually demi glace) but I never have the time or inclination. I need freezer space too.

Tonight I brewed beer with some friends and made pizzas with carmelized onions and olives, tomato basil mozzarella, tomato mozzarella potato and spanish chorizo, and arugula prosciutto and goat cheese.

i wish Tep would post again :(

He has a pretty awesome cooking blog now.

A cauldron of beef stock is now simmering.

Abbot I am a big proponent of I think a Jacques Pepin method of cooking a whole chicky (~3 lbs): put chicky, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, couple of whole cloves (secret ingredient!) in dutch oven type pot; cover with H20, bring to simmer and simmer 10 min, then cover, remove from heat, and let sit and gently poach for 40 min. Pull out the bird and remove meat, then chuck the carcass back in, refresh veg, and simmer down for a couple of hours or however long it takes to get tasty stock. Two birds, one stone yadda yadda.

sounds perfect.
<3 pepin.

Any Pepin method of cooking also would probably require you to be drinking at least one glass of wine while doing it.

Any Pepin method of cooking also would probably require you to be drinking at least one glass of wine while doing it.

pot of chili on now. i used a bunch of guajillo and some cayenne and some fire roasted tomatoes with green chilis (canned from tj's)... it's kinda smoky and i think i like it!

Pepperoni rolls!

How do you cook lentils? I cooked them in a recipe last night for an hour, and they were still crunchy.

hmm brown lentils shouldn't take longer than 40 min at most, i think

Good lord, I buy cheap green lentils from the grocery store -- GOYA or the kind with the cute jackrabbit on them -- and they only take like 15 mins to simmer until soft. Actually I sautee them in the oil + aromatics before I add the water/stock, so that they crisp up a little better. And I think that "green" and "brown" lenils are the same, technically?

What kind of lentils are you getting, Mary?

yeah it might be closer to 20 min, i never time it tbh. an hour should turn them to mush.

I think I got the cute jackrabbit brand. My instructions were to cook sausage, remove, add oil, add lentils, water and red wine, bring to boil, then simmer for 40 minutes. But in a skillet. After 40 minutes (sauce has evaporated, but lentils still hard) add kale and sausage and cook for 10 minutes. I couldn't wait any longer to eat, so I put some on a plate and left the rest on low to see if they would get softer. After 20 minutes--still hard lentils. Where did I go wrong? (The directions on the package say to cook for 20 minutes.)

are u sure they aren't pebbles

maybe your heat is too high?

I have had trouble with hard beans in the past, but my lentil experience is limited.

Another favorite JP technique: salmon baked in a v. low oven:

Preparation
Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Oil the platter you will use for cooking and serving the salmon with the canola oil.

Arrange the salmon on the platter and sprinkle it with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Turn the salmon over and sprinkle it with the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes [Q note: this is only for a big ole fillet; I do ~25 minutes for a standard size serving of ~5 oz], until the salmon is barely cooked [Q note: fish will not change color much so it looks kind RAWR but it isn't. I figure it is done when it oozes some white coagulated stuff].

Oh hmm, I guess I always cook mine with the lid on, in a dutch oven or other heavy pot. I'm guessing the lid-off technique is the prob?

Unsplit and bigger lentils can take longer to cook - also salt and acids (like wine) can make them take longer to get tender. But more than an hour seems really extreme - probably the heat was too high.

Oh yes, the thing about the wine -- I might not add that till the end, ditto for vinegar. There's a reason you don't add vinegar to potato salad until AFTER the spuds are cooked through.

I know some kinds of lentils are harder and take longer to cook? I don't have any experience with the French ones/puy lentils/wahtever, but I understand they need more time. But not regular supermarket ones, no.

Yes I too have read salt makes them not soften up. But to be still completely crunchy after a whole hour seems pretty suprising! Lentils do need a fair amount of water tho. Like, several cups/pints of water.

i am making pork chops for the first time! roughly this, but i'm using top loin chop (boneless), and i sauteed the onion in smart balance light instead of butter. also just a little bit of panko because i have no bread/breadcrumbs. and i used dried cranberries instead of raisins. it is making my house smell like cookies.

i will sauté kale and bake some yam to go with.

Whats panko made out of anyway? I just assumed it was a fancy japanese type of breadcrumb.

xpost - man, i haven't had pork chops in years. dried cranberries sounds fantastic.

i've finally made it here because i can't share my evil foods on the nutrition nazi thread! this morning i made one of my top two loaves of no-knead bread ever (i try different flour combinations & rising times a lot), and ate it with plain yogurt for breakfast. then for lunch i used it to make a sandwich with cheese, cranberry sauce, and spinach that was excellent. then for dinner i ate ANOTHER piece of my bread w/hummus and made carrot ginger soup (more cream and less carrot than i prefer, had to add some celery to get the vegetable ratio up, but not worth another trip to the store). all in all a good cooking day but i'm finding it hard to keep up with leftovers lately.

it is a japanese bread crumb... just lighter/flakier and more susceptible to moisture. and made from wheat... but i'm trying to use up what i have.

yeah cranberries >>>>>>> raisins any day for me.
this was delicious. i overcooked the pork a little bc the timing was for a different cut (i did not cook as long as the recipe said to, but it was still a little too long).

and yeah, i need someone to cook for because the package came w/ 3 chops (3?? why not 2?) and now i have 2 more to eat this week and that is a lot of chop and it's frustrating bc i always want to cook something new every day.

Maybe turn the other 2 into a pork/hominy/green chile stew.

no i did them all as described above. i dunno i always do that. maybe i should start saving extra portions for other options!

would they freeze well uncooked maybe?

I usually buy a family pack of boneless porkchops, and separate them into little packets of two each and freeze. They don't take too long to thaw out, and we don't keep them more than a month or two, so I haven't noticed any change in texture. Mostly I pound them for various schnitzels, though.

So I picked a big sack of mustard greens from my parents' garden yesterday, washed and stemmed them this morning and put them on to cook for dinner tonight, and decided to try a Tep-style thing for lunch: mustard stems sauteed with garlic and a bit of onion, finished with red wine vinegar and sriracha, served over/alongside cheddar cheese grits. Verdict: flavor A, texture C-

Making some homemade mac & cheese...it's in the oven right now & I am praying it turns out nom.

I once saw a lemonade stand that said:

"HO-MADE" LEMONADE

and it's so hard for me not to type "ho-made" bcz that is now how I think that word, scare quotes and all. So epically wrong!

I'm going to retro hors d'oeuvre party tonight; what is a good idea to bring that can be served cold or lukewarm?