Let's Cooking: TNL!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by icarusfall

I may have legitimately created an entirely new technique.

That is a caramelized egg yolk. The center is still gooey.

I have never even heard of such a thing.

Attachment 65892

If it has never been done before, this is kind of a big deal for me.

---

I've read/seen it done somewhere, which I can't place at the moment. Probably el buli, I'll flip thru my 2 books and see.

As for josh's questions, I can't really recommend any knifes since it all depends on what you want to do. Plus I've never really splurged on a super nice knife. I do want me a nice 3 stone knife sharpener, which I can never seem to find around here. I did see this one coolish knife holder that looked like a body once. I'll see if I can dig that up.

Global Santoku.

You need no other knife.

I've been pickling a bone-in turkey breast (which would more accurately be described as a turkey torso) for a week to make corned turkey. I just rinsed it and put it into the pot to simmer for quite a while. My fingers are crossed that it turns out well. I love corned beef, but it's pretty terrible for you with how fatty the brisket is. So I'm really hoping this works well as a homemade alternative.

edit: This was a huge success. My daughter even asked for seconds, which she almost never does. And we didn't even finish half of it, so I'm going to make some hash and sandwiches with the leftovers.

I bought a cast iron dutch oven last week on a whim. I have chili in the oven right now, with bonus flavor from two smoked neckbones. Otherwise everything in it is pretty conventional.

My dad is a machinist. I'm thinking about making a knife now.

http://www.wimp.com/knifemaker/


Opinions on knives?

I use Tamahagane at the moment.

Also:

Beetness Monster was into beet gels before he was made out of them.

Attachment 65998

Wtf is that?

After thinking about it for some time, culminating in my recent viewing of Forks Over Knives, I am going to try out a plant-based diet plan. Anyone have any good links to vegetarian recipes online?

Here's one from my vegan friend. She provided Opaque with a dessert recipe. She also works at a Vegan only restaurant in Philly. Her recipes are awesome.

http://marchecuisine.com/recipes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mzo

After thinking about it for some time, culminating in my recent viewing of Forks Over Knives, I am going to try out a plant-based diet plan. Anyone have any good links to vegetarian recipes online?

---

There is this magazine called Vegetarian Times. I get a lot of ideas from it. Check and see if it is online? How much cooking experience do you have?

Most of the vegetarian recipes I have found online are written by fatties that think eating vegetables deep fried in butter is healthy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by M

Wtf is that?

---

It's beet juice gelled with agar agar so that it's fairly solid. I just cut it out like that and then wrapped a carrot scarf around it and thew a golden beet over its head.

Since it's summer I did a fruit and berry special this weekend at work.

Attachment 66009
Honeydew and melon sorbets with a filo basket filled with strawberry puree marinated berries and lemon thyme along with strawberry mousse.

When I'm at home I fix quick and simple meals most of the time. Here's one of my favorites.
Pizzadilla
Attachment 66010

Last weekend I made Belgian Liege waffles. They were amazing, especially with ice cream on top. This weekend I made homemade spaghetti. Only boiled a small sample so far, going to make a big meal with it tonight. I think it will only be OK. Not knowing anything about pasta dough previously it was a learning experience. I totally fucked up my pasta roller with dough that was too moist at first. Then I had to go back and save the rest by remixing with more flour. I can see there is a feel to the proper consistency, and next time I will be able to do a lot better.

Saffron risotto w/ licorice powder, chx stock gels

Made a gin and tonic sorbet tonight

Did you cook out the alcohol?

of course not! But I couldn't put much in, it's about 3oz in 3 cups total liquid volume. .5 cup simple syrup, 2.5 cups tonic, 3oz gin, 2 juiced limes and lime zest. It's mostly limey. Proof that the internet has everything, I was trying to think of something that would make an interesting and refreshing sorbet, came up with gin and tonic, and googled a recipe.

You can use dry ice to freeze the sorbet while using more alcohol.

strawberry ricotta gelato that came out amazing

My basil plants have done pretty well, but they keep trying to set flower, which usually means that the plants are on their way out. I would like to harvest the leaves all at once and be done with them. What does the TNL braintrust say that I should do with them?

If you harvest them quickly they won't get to flower. Same with cilantro.

Use basil flowers in food. They're good!

Yeah? I've never thought of that. Suggestions plz.

Pasta and salads.

Really, anywhere you'd use basil.

We use flowers all the time.

I used some tonight. Tossed some angel hair pasta with chopped basil, olive oil, fresh garlic, a roasted red pepper, and leftover chopped corned beef. It all worked together surprisingly well.

It doesnt let me upload files so here ya go: http://twitpic.com/a1f9sc

Voted best cheese ever, small farm in Belgium who produces just 16 of em each week, handcrafted and less salty then other blue cheeses thanks to its artisinal production methods and 12 weeks of aging.

Awesome stuff, lately(tis the season) I have been foraging for Dandelions as well, they are at their best this time of year over here.

So what are you cooking?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Advocate

Vegan only restaurant in Philly

---

Hell on earth

Like omg vegetables are so gross amirite?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yoshi

So what are you cooking?

---

Dandelion salad with blue cheese.

Made the base for my honeydew basil ice cream, can't freeze it till tomorrow so i'm not sure how it will come out. Licking the spoon makes it seem promising.

Yoshi, you said in some thread that you were going to start cooking more vegetable dishes. How'd that work out?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fe 26

Yoshi, you said in some thread that you were going to start cooking more vegetable dishes. How'd that work out?

---

It's still in its infancy, but I'm definitely reprogramming my body. Unfortunately, that means when I regress like on Saturday and have Bojangles for lunch and a burger for dinner, I get to ride the porcelain bus.

Do any of the trained chefs have any tips for knife techniques? I am making chili for dinner, and chopping the garlic, pepper, and onion reminded me what a hack I am.

I mean, I do, but it's incredibly hard to think of way to do this in text. There have to be some youtube vids out there.

I was afraid of that. Thanks for the reply.

For garlic and onions, i like racheal rays use of a cheese grater.

Now that's an interesting thought.

I like it because all the juice and stuff go directly into your pot and dont get left on the cutting board. I use one of those four sided graters. Use the ultra fine grate for garlic and the largest grate for the onions. I dont want to bite into a hunk of garlic, but onion is fine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yoshi

It's still in its infancy, but I'm definitely reprogramming my body. Unfortunately, that means when I regress like on Saturday and have Bojangles for lunch and a burger for dinner, I get to ride the porcelain bus.

---

It's a process. I'm going to SF in November and my fiancee asked about In-n-Out Burger and I just have no desire to even go. This would have been heresy 2 years ago.

what do you eat now that is so much better?

fetal spinal cords.

paired with baby carrots. Yum.

Also, In-and-Out burgers are delicious. They're fresh and not the crap McDonald's slings. Diff, if you've never had one before, give 'em a shot.

The only knife you need.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz2GQ-Eomvs

We had an amazing, simple side dish today. Zucchini sliced thin on a mandolin, then cooked down in some oil until tender and slightly browned. Salt that only lightly, because at the same time, cut up some fresh-ass, thick pancetta into cubes and cook them down until they're a little crispy but still has some chew, like BACON should be cooked. That goes into a mixture of 2 egg yolks and some coconut milk, fresh coarse ground black pepper. That gets poured into the zucchini over a low flame so it thickens up, not so the eggs turn into a cooked-eggy mess, and then on top goes fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

FUCKING. DELICIOUS. The coconut milk instead of heavy cream was a crazy good addition. Worked so goddamn well with that zucchini. We are cookin up mean business here.

We made a great coconut curry cod dish earlier this week too.

With that we had pork chops in the cast-iron pan finished in the oven. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. That zucchini could have been a meal by itself though, fuck.

Later on we snacked on avocado and sardines. Killer together, great for a topping on a crostini. Get UNSALTED sardines and salt only lightly, maybe add a splash of citrus.

Current menu:




roasted vegetables - 8
many garnishes and flavors

fruit n cheese - 9
pear, parsnip, thyme, ricotta, cranberry

"chicken soup" - 10
smoked pasta, farm egg, pickled celery, toasted hay

bone marrow - 10
parsley salad, pickled shallot, toast

charcuterie plate - 12
boudain noir, apple, grilled radicchio, hazelnut vin

foie gras - 16
green apple, maple brûlée, speck

--

burger - 12
smoked mayo, cheddar, tomato jam, greens, potato wedge

duck breast - 16
kale, preserved lemon, raisin puree, yam

pumpkin ravioli - 15
vanilla, blood orange, greens

fish selection - 18
lemongrass consomme, sambal

steak - 24
aged butter, brussels sprouts, foie, spiced mustard

--

Aaron Manter - Joey Fazio

What is the advantage to aging butter?

Starts to taste blue cheesy.

The burger sounds awesome, do you have a picture

I'm curious about the charcuterie plate, myself.

Don't have photos yet. We wrote it yesterday and are implementing it over the next week.

I've made the burger a zillion time outside of work though - It's my staple burger. I mix a little worcestershire sauce and grain mustard in with the beef.

The boudain noir is blood sausage that we make casing-less with transglutaminase (meat glue) and form in PVC pipes. Seared apples. Grilled radicchio that we drizzle with hazelnut/champagne vinaigrette while it's on the grill. We're also going to do a chorizo pate w/ goat cheese, crostini, and asparagus.

I'm most excited about the "chicken soup" It's toasted hay broth, with smoked linguini, pickled celery, and an egg 63º - no actual chicken. Grate a little nutmeg on it at the pass.

The pastry chef at Central made this.

Click for full size


And the burgers at Central.
Left: Crab Burger - crabcake: lump crab, pimento, mayo, scallops. Leek tartare, tomato confit, brioche roll.
Right: Hamburger - short rib, chuck, filet mignon; tomato confit, garlic mayo; optional bacon, cheddar, gruyere cheese, american, fried or raw onions.

Click for full size


Lobster Bendidict:
Mini lobster burger - lobster:body, claws, and tail; lumb crab, puree scallops and shrimp(15-30), prosciutto, poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce.

Click for full size

Sugar work mystifies me.

I would love that lobster benedict!

We have a rule at The Owl: No Hollandaise. Ever.

Holy Hell I finally got a stand mixer. Haven't used it yet, but it's this one:

Click for full size


I paid the price of, "We don't use it; get it out of the way."

I love that price.

I think that I would like to paint it red.

is that a Hobart?

I tried to make enchiladas the "right" way tonight but was unsuccessful, so I am hoping someone can help. I dipped the tortillas in the sauce and tried to fry them briefly on each side. However, when they hit the oil, it just splattered all over the place. I would assume I had the oil too hot, but it was only on medium (5), and my stove tends to run a little cooler, because it's an electric piece of shit. Is it as simple as reducing the temperature, or am I missing something?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Advocate

is that a Hobart?

---

Yes, a D300t. The 30-quart size is a bit overwhelming for the scale of home cooking, but I will make it work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yoshi

I tried to make enchiladas the "right" way tonight but was unsuccessful, so I am hoping someone can help. I dipped the tortillas in the sauce and tried to fry them briefly on each side. However, when they hit the oil, it just splattered all over the place. I would assume I had the oil too hot, but it was only on medium (5), and my stove tends to run a little cooler, because it's an electric piece of shit. Is it as simple as reducing the temperature, or am I missing something?

---

I don't know if this is the "right" way, but my family always made them this way:

1. Get your separate ingredients in place (cooked meat, beans, cheese, cilantro, etc.)
2. Turn the stove with a small nonstick skillet onto high, which you will use to heat tortillas.
3. Put a little sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish.
4. Heat up a single tortilla for a few seconds per side to make it pliable.
5. Fill with you ingredients in a straight line, with the stickiest one against the tortilla, and everything else embedded.
6. Roll the enchilada tightly, like a cigar, and place it in the casserole dish.
7. Fill the casserole dish tightly, so there's no room between enchiladas.
8. Cover all of the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and whatever else you want (I like to put diced onion, peppers, cheese, etc. on top so that it gets crispy).

Thanks. That's pretty much what I improvised to as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tones

Yes, a D300t. The 30-quart size is a bit overwhelming for the scale of home cooking, but I will make it work.

---

I have some recipes for YOU!

I'll PM you my email.

----------

Also: Jealous and those things never die. The newer Hobart Mixers? Holy crap they suck.

Used the mixer for the first time! The Hobart sure means business; when the dough was getting mixed together, it shook half of the house. Glasses were falling off the counter in the kitchen.

I made a loaf of white bread using this recipe. I followed it almost to the T, with the lone exception that I did not have a spray bottle, so I just used my fingers to flick water onto the loaf at the specified intervals. Seemed to work well enough.

Here's the turnout:

Click for full size


It was quite a huge loaf. I didn't take a ruler to it, but I would guess that it was at least 18" x 10" x 7". It has an excellent texture; I borrowed my neighbor's pizza stone, and it worked like a charm. I'm a bit of a whore for sesame seeds and extremely crusty crusts, so this was right up my alley. DAT CRUST.

Cooked squid for the first time the other night, did a basic fried calamari thing. The prep is hilariously fun. I had no idea they had a feather-like structure in there, that's awesome! I want to figure out what to do with the fat and the ink, shall do something better than frying.

Here's three squid-feathers!

Attachment 70114

Ew!

The intensity of my love for eating squids matches that of my hatred for looking at or thinking about them.

Handling squid fat/brains/guts/eggs/ink is hilarious. It all kind of yanks out of there at the same time, good for grossing out the roommates.

Kept ripping off the head-fins and giving 'em to the cat, it went over well.

It's fun when you aren't cleaning/prepping 20lbs of it.

Yeah it smells like hell too.

I moved into a 1 bedroom apt in January. One day without thinking I cleaned and cooked some calamari then went away for a couple days. The scraps in the garbage constructed a nazi deathcamp wall of stench that nearly ruined my life upon return. Now I know how to one bedroom.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tones

Holy Hell I finally got a stand mixer. Haven't used it yet, but it's this one:

Click for full size


I paid the price of, "We don't use it; get it out of the way."

---

fuck yeah, a real Hobart. My kitchen aid is one of the old US made ones that was built by Hobart. Everything just feels and sounds better on it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Josh

I love that price.

---

Its the best. Especially on anything that is $50+ on the street

Ye Olde Hobart's are freaking awesome. The new Hobart's not so much.

I found a box of matza ball soup mix in my girlfriend's pantry. There's just something I really like about a brothy soup with bready things floating inside. I added some veggies and smoked paprika to the broth, and also threw in a porterhouse bone that I kept in the freezer.

Anyone have a good recipe for greens and beans?
I made this one yesterday, it turned out pretty good, though I had to simmer for far longer than 10 minutes in order for the kale to soften up.

When I make anything with kale (or any greens, really) I sauté it separately in water with some citrus or the rare splash of rice vinegar until it (quickly) starts to break down. Then I'll add it in, and cook it up (adjusting for time)

Works for me.

I like to do mine up with diced carrots and red peppers, along with whatever vinegar I'm feeling at the moment. Let the onion, carrot, garlic & peppers brown up real nice and then add the kale, water/broth, braise that shit and then a shake of vinegar at the end.

Also pressure cook dried beans because fuck a can.

Throw some celery in that for the Ultimate Trifecta.

I need to start buying celery to have it on hand for regular use.
Maybe I'm just more of a sofrito kinda guy.

Also I just had some severe deja vu right now about posting on TNL about not using celery that often when cooking... i don't even.

Hey, let's jazz things up even more by replacing that celery with fennel! Commonly mislabeled as anise at the market, it has a savory flavor that makes me gay.

It makes everything taste like ouzo.

Well, so does my ejaculate.

I ejaculate tzatziki sauce and shit souvalki.

Sweat olive oil, peel pita chips off of your healing wounds

When I have diarrhea; it's Hoisin.

y'all nasty

Leftovers from last night's dinner were put to good use. Three remaining snow crab clusters were picked over for a nice amount of meat. I used the garlic butter (which i clarified and strained with cheesecloth) to make hollandaise. I mixed the egg whites remaining from making hollandaise with three whole eggs to make chive scrambled eggs. I put the crab (and leftover rosemary bread from my favorite bakery, lightly toasted) to make open faced sandwiches. The result:

Attachment 70796

So much for going to the Greek place tonight.

Any of you ever smoke beef ribs? Just wondering what woods those of you who have like with the beef ribs.

The only beef ribs that come to mind are short ribs. They can be quite delicious but what made them great was being a cheap cut. Like chicken wings demand has driven the price above a better cut of meat so I'd stick with filet mignon which seems to be cheaper at this point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shin Johnpv

Any of you ever smoke beef ribs? Just wondering what woods those of you who have like with the beef ribs.

---

At my old job, we had short ribs on the menu as an app. I think they smoked em with applewood or cherrywood.

Yeah I've done short ribs before, usually korean style, and grill them over a hot grill instead of smoking. I mean beef ribs like a rack of ribs, similar to pork but beef. Low and slow for like 6 - 7 hours.

Found some images online

http://dreadnaught.files.wordpress.c...in-package.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3045/2...3937e53b_o.jpg

http://www.greenbergs.net/images/BeefRibsTrimmed.jpg

Cherry wood sounds like a good suggestion, I think I can get some of that.

I love BBQ ... depends on the sauce. If Vinegar based(Eastern North Carolina) ... you can go cherry, apple, pear, or grape.
Memphis style BBQ sauce go with maple, hickory, mesquite, sassafras, oak, or dabble with cherry and apple. It really REALLY depends on the sauce.

and I mean the dipping sauce. Make sure the dry rub has herbs that mesh well with the smoke chips. <- aka flavor profile melds well.

Also are you going wood chips, dust, or whole wood blocks? Chips are better btw.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hubbitron

The only beef ribs that come to mind are short ribs. They can be quite delicious but what made them great was being a cheap cut. Like chicken wings demand has driven the price above a better cut of meat so I'd stick with filet mignon which seems to be cheaper at this point.

---

Not sure if serious. Both about filet somehow being cheaper than short ribs or in any way being a good choice for smoking.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Advocate

I love BBQ ... depends on the sauce. If Vinegar based(Eastern North Carolina) ... you can go cherry, apple, pear, or grape.
Memphis style BBQ sauce go with maple, hickory, mesquite, sassafras, oak, or dabble with cherry and apple. It really REALLY depends on the sauce.

and I mean the dipping sauce. Make sure the dry rub has herbs that mesh well with the smoke chips. <- aka flavor profile melds well.

Also are you going wood chips, dust, or whole wood blocks? Chips are better btw.

---

Yeah I usually go with a sweeter dry rub, and apple wood when I do pork shoulder, or pork ribs. I figured for beef I wouldn't go as sweet, I guess people still use the same fruit woods. I wish I could get some grape or sassafras wood to use for ribs some time, I haven't seen any around here though. You have any good suggestions for herbs that would go well with hickory smoke?

Fresh oregano, sage.

Just made some chocolate chip and candied bacon cookies.

IDGAF that I'm allergic to chocolate, these things are incredible.

Still haven't done the beef ribs, but I thought I would share this here.

So today was my girlfriend's grandmother's birthday. Since my GF has a race tomorrow morning, they came up to see her run tomorrow. So today I smoked a rack of spareribs and a rack of baby backs (her grandmother's favs) and made some potatoes to go with them. I forgot to take some pictures through out the process so not everything is here but I thought I would share what was.

So to start off this is where I do my BBQing/grilling. We live in an appartment complex, so I've claimed the space to the side of it as my area. I think you can make out the cord from the probe running to my maverick. I smoked in the Weber and used the other grill as my work bench. (I put the images in quotes cause they're pretty big)

Quote:

---

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/9...a9d1c823_o.jpg

---

This is my snake set up in my weber, combination of Stubbs, and Royal Oak all natural briquettes, and some apple wood chunks.

Quote:

---

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2868/9...c8bbd04d_o.jpg

---

I forgot to get a picture of putting on the rub and them during the first few hours, but here's a picture of them foiled up. Those are the potatoes at the top.

Quote:

---

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5346/9...63ff920a_o.jpg

---

Here they are after being unwrapped from the foil. No sauce went on these just straight dry rub, and some liquid while they were in the foil.

Quote:

---

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/9...3efc1c1d_o.jpg

---

Here is the finished product! We don't have a very large table to eat at so space was an issue, so everything went into big bowls. An unconvential way of displaying them but it worked for serving. Hopefully the smoke ring on the spares shows through in the photo they came out awesome. The baby backs were just a tiny bit dry.

First the spares.

Quote:

---

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7379/9...d5696197_o.jpg

---

Then the baby backs

Quote:

---

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2817/9...055113d0_o.jpg

---

and finally the potatoes.

Quote:

---

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2837/9...27aeed9e_o.jpg

---

The spares had my rub on them which is a bit sweeter, and the baby backs had my girlfriend's mom's rub on them, which is quite a bit on the hot side. The potatoes had black pepper, celery salt, garlic powder and olive oil on them. When I foiled them I used regular salted stick butter, maple syrup (only on the spares, and just a touch), and apple juice.

Looks absolutely delicious. We were planning to host some friends last month with spare ribs, but it fell through. I'd like to get a chance to use the grill again before Summer's over.

I like the vertical presentation in a bowl like that.

:tu:

Thanks guys! Yeah it wasn't the usual big platter of ribs you see, but I think the bowls ended up working really well.