What's cooking? part 4

I'm salivating at the mere thought of mustard greens and pepper sauce.

I say this every year, but mustard >>>>>>>>>>>>> turnip/collard.

mustard greens are a dream!

that sounds amazingly delicious.

Cold weather means it's LET'S MAKE BEEF STOCK day.

same lesson; different chile

lesson not quite so harsh today

Pumpkin soup with cumin and coriander seeds and crumbled up dried chillies. Very very nice.

for dinner:
rice with chorizo, peas, corn, seasonings
grilled chicken thighs seasoned with chile pulla and guajillo, garlic, salt, sazon goya
arugula salad with pico de gallo
tons of leftovers for lunch tomorrow

for dessert:
monkey bread (for us)
banana bread (for students when they take their midterms tomorrow)

i made a MESS of the kitchen, but had a delicious malbec in return
can't wait for the baked goods to be done

just made a chicken/veggie tikka masala
also made a cucumber salad to take to work for the week

i've not been very creative lately. too busy :( miss pnw produce!!

don't feel bad, just keep cookin

i used yogurt instead of coconut milk and it was going really well, then separated.
everything is separating on me lately!
i am really having terrible luck with anything dairy sauce related!

Roasted a chicken last night and made a fantastic pan of cornbread with whipped honey butter. Apple crisp for dessert (made from our backyard apples!) w/ sour cream sweetened with a little brown sugar. Today, I picked and peeled about 3 pecks of apples and am attempting to make apple butter in my slow cooker. Smells so good right now.

Bought a duck, made some fresh curry paste with a mortar and pestle, simmered the duck in curry paste, coconut milk and veggies. Mm.

wishing i had just used coconut milk instead of yogurt! (i have it on hand! was just trying to use the yogurt up!)

I've never brought yogurt to a boil and had a happy ending.

sigh :(

the recipe actually said to use yogurt rather than coconut milk.
my friend used to make a lovely yogurt curry. maybe she did not heat as much....

let's face it: it's cookin season
still a little hot here with the oven on, but i can't help it
i just want to eat something that doesn't come directly from the fridge

yeah, my living room thermostat said i got the temp up to 83 with my simmering, but it doesn't feel that hot. i think it reads high?

I turned some bacon fat, mushrooms, onions, garlic, flour, milk+water, seasonings and 1.5 cups of grated pecorino into a really nice pasta sauce last night.

tell me about your cucumber salad, tza

I bought real true guanciale at Salumi in Seattle on Friday and made carbonara with it tonight - it's a thousand times better than with bacon. Had that with sauteed rapini with chiles and garlic.

I went with a Crock Tease recp for chicken w mushrooms and onions, and according to the mushroom eater here, it was great!

Question: what does the internal temp REALLY have to be for a chicken breast? My meat therm says like 165 but dinner only got to around 140 and was well cooked, even dry. Do I have salmonella now?

I've never in a million years touched internal temp (and a lot of recommendations seem to stem from fear - so you end up with v dry meat). Go by weight and oven temperature (actually, I don't even go by weight for chicken, but by squinting and judging the size, although I generally am cooking for the same number of people).

Also, just stick a skewer in under the leg - if the juices run clear, its ready.

this website - http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/how-to-roast-a-chicken-butterflied-tips.html

says that for chicken breast 'Despite government warnings to cook chicken to an unthinkable 165°F, in reality, above 150°F or so, muscle fibers are almost completely collapsed.'

tell me about your cucumber salad, tza

― just1n3, Monday, October 11, 2010 10:40 PM

very simple. israeli cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, basil, oregano, red wine vinegar, oo, a few mixed greek olives, and a sprinkle of feta.

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.