Which Cooking Are You?

[Arthrimus]

Damnit! Wrong thread. 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Arthrimus

[grawk]

Sous vide pork shoulder and BBQ sauce

[n_maher]

Grilled pizza.

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[n_maher]

New Korean BBQ recipe. Smells delicious, here's to hoping it tastes as good.

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[n_maher]

Done.

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[Grahame]

Bacon wrapped pork loin

[Dusty Chalk]

My mélange -- in the crockpot:  tomato sauce -- 2 jars, one ht trader's caramelized onion and one prego heart healthy -- one small can chopped olives, cumin, 1 chopped poblano pepper, 1 large sweet red pepper (looks like an apple), black beans (I had a partial bag, I used the rest of the bag -- usually I use a can or two of canned organic, no salt added, black beans)...and I think that was it.   No, wait, it wasn't -- I added 18 cloves of garlic -- they were ancient, over a month old, so had lost some of their potency, otherwise I would recommend less garlic.

In the skillet -- meat (1 lb. bison) and onions (1 large sweet onion)

Surprisingly sweet, and very very tasty.

[mikeymad]

for the Sous-Vide ers out there ... How to finish the steak... 

 

 

[MexicanDragon]

Got in the mood for some burgers and fries. After two stores and an hour and a half shopping, I didn't feel like it last night, so amazing lunch it is.

May as well do it right.

Boar's Head yellow cheddar

Boar's Head white cheddar

Halfway through the 6oz (exactly) S-V/125°/cast iron seared burger, I realized I wish I could still eat a ton, because I wanted that spare one i made.

Zoë thought the ~fries were good, but not as good as my mom's. Not bad praise from a teenage girl, especially as she's more of a fry-in-the-oven than a peanut-oil-in-fryer kinda gal.

Xavier loved them and the burger, which is awesome.

For a first time sous-vide cook, I'm super happy with it. The fries wound up being a lot better than the usual frozen fair and weight wise, even the organic is a hair cheaper than the frozen stuff we usually get, and those can be prepped while fryer is warming up.

Great use of 2+ hours today. Now it's nap time.

**BRENT**

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[Voltron]

It seems like you're doing some things wrong if it takes you four hours to shop for and prepare a few burgers and fries, but the results look tasty.

With apologies to the Brisket Fairy @naamanf, I made a mini brisket yesterday with less than stellar results. I found a brisket nubbin to smoke but it was really too small and I didn't start early enough to really match the proper Brisket Fairy method to a TV. The texture didn't achieve greatness and it was too dry in the thicker and less fatty parts.

Anyway, here are the results from last night's dinner. The first shot was just before wrapping in the magic pink paper and the second just after. The wrapped package sat in a cooler for 45 minutes or so until slicing.

[swt61]

Brent, I want to introduce your countertops to a product called caulk. Don't get excited, it's caulk with an "L".

 

 

Al, I bet it'd still make good tacos!

Edited September 10, 2016 by swt61

[Voltron]

Tacos tonight or tomorrow so we'll see!  Actually, doing that post made me go nuke a left-over slice and it was quite tasty even if the bottom half was dry.  

[EdipisReks1]

Soup and pasta. Just about done.

[Dusty Chalk]

Jacob, now that you're back, will you please share with me your instructions for consistent caramelized onions?  I vaguely remember you telling me once, but I think that post got nuked.  Do you use water or not?

Garlic, too, if you do caramelized garlic.

Al, that looked great, I'm sure it was fine.  What rub are you using?  I wouldn't compare yourself to the brisket fairy, that'd be like me comparing my guitar playing to David Gilmour or Al Di Meola. 

Yeah, I just called Naaman the guitar hero of brisket.

 

[Voltron]

Just salt and pepper rub. He is the guitar hero of brisket. \m/

[EdipisReks1]

2 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Jacob, now that you're back, will you please share with me your instructions for consistent caramelized onions?  I vaguely remember you telling me once, but I think that post got nuked.  Do you use water or not?

Garlic, too, if you do caramelized garlic.

Al, that looked great, I'm sure it was fine.  What rub are you using?  I wouldn't compare yourself to the brisket fairy, that'd be like me comparing my guitar playing to David Gilmour or Al Di Meola. 

Yeah, I just called Naaman the guitar hero of brisket.

 

Hey Dusty, I typically just use salt, a bit of oil (whatever is required to keep things moving around when you stir), and low heat and time.  You want to maximize surface area, as that is what allows for a good reduction of moisture, which facilitates expressing sugars in the produce.  You can, and I do this occasionally, add a very small amount of baking soda (maybe a 1/4 teaspoon to two large onions, or four bulbs of garlic, minced, in a pan, well mixed).  This changes the PH of the vegetables, and they will weep liquid more quickly, and they will caramelize much more quickly.  It will taste caramelized, but it won't taste like true slowly caramelized alliums, and you have to make sure to use the bare minimum of baking soda, otherwise it will taste soapy.  Using baking soda is acceptable for situations where you are adding caramelized onions, garlic, leeks, etc, to something else that is strongly flavored, but I'd never do it when making something that is mainly flavored by the caramelization itself.  For instance, you'd never want to change the PH when making a very traditional French onion soup.  For that application, I expect a five pounds of onions and two of shallots (which is the smallest batch of French onion I typically make, as it freezes so well) to take several hours, in a low temp oven.

I never add water, as water is the enemy of caramelization at atmospheric pressure.  I've never done it, but there are pressure cooker methods to caramelize alliums more quickly.  I should try that out, as I'm a big fan of pressure cookers.  Having said that, the picture that is provided does not seem adequately caramelized for French onion soup, in my opinion (I think the presence of a certain required amount of water may prevent caramelization, beyond a certain point, but I'd have to test it, to be sure).  For that application (I do the most traditional version, which has no beef or vegetable stock), you need the deepest flavor possible, and you want to caramelize until you hit a light mahogany color.  Something just about ready to burn, but not quite there.  You get that with low heat, salt, oil, surface area, and occasional stirring.  I hope that helps!

Here is the French onion soup recipe I like the best, if you are interested.  The only change I make is replacing a couple pounds of onions with shallot.

My favorite way of doing garlic is actually really easy.  Heat your oven to 250/300.  Wrap a bulb of garlic in aluminum foil.  Stick the bulb in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.  Take out, once the bulb is very soft, let cool for at least an hour, and then just take the bulb apart and squeeze each clove out of the skin.  Some people like to do it at higher temps for less time, but I think that brings out bitter flavors in the garlic.  45 minutes at 300 should do it just fine.  You don't need to wait, if you squeeze the cloves out while wearing dishwashing gloves.

Edited September 11, 2016 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

4 hours ago, EdipisReks1 said:

Soup and pasta. Just about done.

These were really, really good.  I think you could get away with an immersion blender or regular blender for the soup, but a 1400 watt unit really made for a fantastic texture.

[swt61]

6 hours ago, EdipisReks1 said:

 

Here is the French onion soup recipe I like the best, if you are interested.  The only change I make is replacing a couple pounds of onions with shallot.

 

Gonna have to try that! Never thought about adding shallots, but sounds really good.

8 hours ago, Voltron said:

Just salt and pepper rub. He is the guitar hero of brisket. \m/

WTF? What are the odds?

http://naamansbbq.com/

[Voltron]

Truly remarkable

[MexicanDragon]

On 9/11/2016 at 8:47 AM, swt61 said:

http://naamansbbq.com/

Heh. Blocked at work for being a "malicious site."

**BRENT**

[Hopstretch]

Male-icious, more like.

Hubba hubba.

[ironbut]

I love his website!

Congrats to Naaman and family!

Amazing indeed!

[MexicanDragon]

FYI: Whois shows that site registered in Texas in 2011, and there are awards dating to 2012.

I'm pretty sure it's a different Naaman, somehow.

I mean, if it's him, I'm sure he will rue the day we weren't there for the soft opening.

**BRENT**

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[Grahame]

So Brent, When *did* you get your OnePlus 3, or just edit your sig in TapaTalk

Edited September 13, 2016 by Grahame

[MexicanDragon]

**BRENT**

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