Hey jarosh - how did you cook those potatoes? As in - how long and at what temperature? They look really good and I think I can make a knockoff of the seasoning.
it was honestly very straightforward. i mixed the potato cuts with the spices (in this case it was just that special salt mix i mentioned) and quite a bit of olive oil in an oven safe glass dish, preheated the oven to ~220° celsius and put them inside for at least 45 minutes, possibly longer. (i was pretty lazy, usually i spread them out on a sheet pan with some parchment paper or fry them on the stove, but i wanted to try out this zero effort approach just once and it turned out great.) i never set a timer for potatoes btw. depending on what kind of potato you use and how thick the cuts are they can take everything from 40 minutes to an hour.
interesting dish, pro-level presentation and great pic, Brianemone! Thanks for sharing. Since this is a rather uncommon dish, could you please share the recipe/preparation as well?
interesting dish, pro-level presentation and great pic, Brianemone! Thanks for sharing. Since this is a rather uncommon dish, could you please share the recipe/preparation as well?
For the Pork Confit
1/2 kg of Pork Belly
1 Tsp Five Spice
3 Star Anise
Lots of Salt
Oil or Rendered Fat
For the sauce
3 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp Tamarind paste
1 Tbsp Palm sugar - Can use brown
1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 Tbsp Balem Oelek
Salt to taste
Method
Rub salt and five spice into the pork, put star anise with pork and cover. Put in fridge for at least 4 hours. (can be left over night)
Rinse the salt off the pork. Place skin side up in a oven proof dish with enough oil/fat to almost cover it.
Cook @ 130 Celsius for 3 hours.
Remove the pork and let it cool a little, put pork between two plates, press and wrap and put into fridge to cool down completely. (I do this the day before)
Take cold pork and cut into square portions. Cut off the skin at this point, you can fry it and use as a garnish if you wish.
Mix ingredients for sauce and coat pork in this. Put into oven @ 200 Celsius until completely heated through. You can move to the top rack to caramelize the sauce or grill for a minute to achieve this.
Serve with what ever takes your fancy, I did a Salad dressed in a vinaigrette with cashews and a crispy wonton chip
Shout out to all the students out there who can't cook fancy because of the shoestring budget constraints!
Here goes! Easy Semi-Authentic Italian Pasta Sauce! Cooking time: ~45 minutes from prep to mangia-time.
Ingredients:
--2 red bellpeppers
--1 large sweet onion
--3-5 cloves of garlic (sub in garlic powder if you don't have real garlic on hand)
--1 tin (500 mL) crushed tomatoes
--2 tins (1000 mL) spiced tomato puree or paste
--500 mL water
--Olive oil to lubricate pan
Seasoning options are your choice, but I typically use the following:
--Fresh herbs such as basil, rosemary, and oregano (or sub in an Italian spice/herb mix)
--Crushed red chili pepper flakes
--Salt + pepper
Also, add meat if you like, but be prepared to allow the sauce to simmer for longer in order to tenderize the meat and/or release certain flavours. For this particular sauce I chopped up a few slices of hot calabrese salami.
Start by chopping/dicing the vegetables to your liking.
Prepare any meat if you are adding it. Here's my chopped hot calabrese-style salami.
Start by sauteing your onions on medium to high heat. After 3-5 minutes, add your garlic.
After 3-5 minutes of letting the garlic and onions sautee, add the red bell peppers.
After another final 3-5 minutes of sautee action, add your crushed tomatoes.
Turn your element down to a medium setting now. Add the two tins of tomato puree (or paste, whichever you're using.). If you like a runnier sauce, fill one of the tomato tins with water and add it to the pot. Be aware that all of the vegetables in this recipe make the sauce quite thick/chunky as is.
I prefer my sauce to be a little runny, myself. If I wanted creamier sauce, I'd use some dairy.
Add spices and herbs again, if you like!
Turn your element down to a low setting, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Make yourself a Nutella sandwich.
Boil your pasta during the 20 minute simmering stage. That's more than enough time to get al dente noodles.
Plate and serve. There will be a CONSIDERABLE amount of sauce left, so feel free to freeze what you didn't use! You should be able to feed at least 6-8 people with this amount of sauce.
Enjoy! Sauce is a pretty easy thing to start experimenting with, so don't be afraid to add different things. Also: meat tenderized in sauce is amazing, so don't be afraid to double up on the ingredients listed so that you have enough sauce to submerge a whole small chicken in a pot. You'll thank me later!
Does anyone have any experience with cooking Korean food? I've decided to start cooking it since I enjoy eating it so much. I know a lot about it already in terms of dishes and ingredients plus I bought a Korean cookbook. I was just looking for some general tips, like what to do and what not to do when preparing the food.
Does anyone have any experience with cooking Korean food? I've decided to start cooking it since I enjoy eating it so much. I know a lot about it already in terms of dishes and ingredients plus I bought a Korean cookbook. I was just looking for some general tips, like what to do and what not to do when preparing the food.
1lb Calamari Rings
1 egg
1/2 cup of flour
1 tb soy sauce
1 tb cornstarch
2 tb milk
a pinch of adobo seasoning
a pinch of cumin and pepper
Just combine the ingredients til it becomes uniform
This time I didn't use all of the calamari so I put the calamari in small portions in the small bowl, but if you are too use them all, you could just pour the mass over the calamari.
To fry,pour oil enough to be at least a finger above the calamari rings so that way it covers them, try to use a somewhat small pot, that way you don't use that much oil. Also, make sure that the oil is REALLY hot, otherwise the calamari won't fry well. Oh, and don't put that many at the same time, because they might end up uniting.
Please, if you are not that used to frying, use a long fork instead of a regular one.
They are done usually within 2 minutes or so (paper towel sheets to help drain some of the oil)
At home it is usually served with rice and salsa (onion with lemon, salt, and pepper), but at cevicherias (fish restaurants usually located near the beach), it is served with fried yuca and mayonnaise
Mmm, food. Soon as I move out in a few weeks I'll be able to give some of my fiancee's awesome recipes on here. She makes the most wonderfully simple bruschetta pockets that are simple delicious. Oh, and wonderful cake balls. This'll be fun!
Pictures which I took weeks ago, but never got round to showing here.
This seems to be the only meal I ever take pictures of - tofu schnitzel, but I am showing it again as I decided to up the Austrian-ness of the meal by attempting to make a Linzertorte. I haven't eaten it for about 15 years, but my mother used to make it, so I figured between an old recipe and the internet it would be worth trying:
First, Tofu Schnitzel (again, see my previous posts for info if you're not bored of it by now..)
Dough for Linzertorte - can't remember exactly whats in it at the moment - although flour, sugar, butter and ground almonds are a good start - chilled to make it easier to roll:
Rolled out in flan tin, spread with raspberry jam, and separate piece to become lattice top:
Badly formed lattice work for top - I think it was too warm by now, and dough kept breaking:
Finished - turns out lattice was too wide, and they merged a bit - would never have managed to make thinner pieces without breaking it though:
Served:
Think it tasted like it should - will definitely make it again - maybe try to make it a bit neater next time :lol
First time posting here, just wanted to show this because it's the first time I've ever done anything fancier than stir-fry or barbecue. :lol
I forgot to put something in the fridge to defrost again, and I always mess up the defrost setting on my microwave, so I browsed recipes at work today. Looking for something that didn't require meat. Not like I actually had any work. Found a pesto recipe, and decided to try it out.
Now, 90% of the pesto recipes use a food processor. Because I'm on an internship, I don't have a food processor, and I'll be damned if I buy one for a couple months, and I'm not gonna have nearly enough space in my suitcase. The remaining recipes all say that the real, authentic way to make pesto is by hand chopping your ingredients, so I figured it'd work out. WRONG! I was chopping for an hour and fifteen minutes. Now, no doubt, my shitty knife and total scrubness are likely to blame. But...damn that took forever. And I think I'm supposed to chop it finer than I did, but my knife would not have been able to do that.
That's basil, walnuts, romano olive oil (garlic not pictured).
Ziti with Pesto. Now, I mean, it was pretty good. I quite liked it. But if anyone ever tells me that using a food processor for pesto is for scrubs, I'm punching them in the throat. I made enough for two of those plates, and cutting up the basil, romano, garlic and walnuts (instead of pine nuts because there were none at the store) would have been unbearable if I wasn't able to watch TV during it.
-I had some nabe with a friend of mine the other day (in the middle of July no less). I normally by the premade soup base for makng nabe, but as its off season, the supermarket wasnt selling it. So my friend and I decided to forge ahead and make our own base. We used one thingy of katsuo dashi, a dash of kimchee no moto, a little miso, and that was it!
Then we added: maitake, shimeji, tori dango (chicken balls? basically minced chicken mixed with onions and some yuzu kosho and then cooked with the food in the pot), a lot of chinese cabbage, daikon kimchee, tofu, and some shungiku (chrysanthemum greens).
It was really good. The soup gets more concentrated the more you cook. we finished off the broth with some udon cooked in the pot. really tasty.
I also discovered this great resturant between Azabu Juban and Roppongi. Its a resturant that specializes in grilling with wara, the thrush that tatami are made from. Their big main dish is katsuo fish grilled with wara. It's really good. If you open the link youll see examples of the food, and also the chef grilling over the big fire! Really great resturant.
Now, 90% of the pesto recipes use a food processor. Because I'm on an internship, I don't have a food processor, and I'll be damned if I buy one for a couple months, and I'm not gonna have nearly enough space in my suitcase. The remaining recipes all say that the real, authentic way to make pesto is by hand chopping your ingredients, so I figured it'd work out. WRONG! I was chopping for an hour and fifteen minutes. Now, no doubt, my shitty knife and total scrubness are likely to blame. But...damn that took forever. And I think I'm supposed to chop it finer than I did, but my knife would not have been able to do that..
Wow, props for trying to chop by hand! It looks pretty good despite it not being very pesto-like. Pasta with fresh chopped basil + olive oil is simple and delicious nonetheless.
If you don't want to get a food processor, but still want to make basil, see if you can find a mortar and pestle. They're <$20 in Chinese markets near me. It's MUCH faster and easier than trying to chop by hand. Just garlic + salt, a few leaves of basil, pound pound pound, keep adding mroe basil till you're done, and a drizzle of oil. Cheaper than a food processor, works better than chopping with a knife.
great dishes all around, people! thank you all for posting.
Doytch, you could try to use a mortar and pistil for the pesto the next time.
bovo, really fine Linzertorte, the bottom seems a bit thick. Have you tried the technique of blind-baking the dough first? Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind-baking
Noshino, looks great and again wonderful pics!
Brianemone, how come mashed potatoes with the chicken?
For ease of cleaning, I'd go with one made from ceramic or stainless steel. Steer clear of wooden or earthen ones, one clove of garlic crushed in those will "enrich" the next 20 or so uses that follow:lol
PRO TIP: You can get really good ones in several sizes at stores that deal with chemicals. Especially ceramic mortars are frequently used in chemistry.
bovo, really fine Linzertorte, the bottom seems a bit thick. Have you tried the technique of blind-baking the dough first? Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind-baking
I've read an article about culinary school and that is it will open doors for you job wise but you will still start at the bottom without years of relevant experience probably making $10/hr and being a line cook is a tough, long job. I don't want to discourage you but its reality as some have gone in with the romantic ideal of becoming a chef but come out working miserable.
If you got restaurant experience already, want to improve your skills, and know that cooking is what you want to do with your life then I'd say its worth it but you dont need culinary school to become a good chef, it just makes a good chef better.
I've read an article about culinary school and that is it will open doors for you job wise but you will still start at the bottom ... I don't want to discourage you but its reality as some have gone in with the romantic ideal of becoming a chef but come out working miserable.
Oh, believe me, I'm very much aware of this. I wouldn't be going into this with Food Network dreams like someone more deluded might.
It was encouraging to hear from them that around a third of the students are over 30 (as am I) and that alone would put me slightly more at ease, and I'm still not sure if I'd rather do the traditional culinary program or the pastry and baking one. While I don't do a lot of pastries, I do feel like that career path might be more enjoyable for me -- and the fact that it costs almost half what the culinary program does is awfully nice, too.
I've read an article about culinary school and that is it will open doors for you job wise but you will still start at the bottom without years of relevant experience probably making $10/hr and being a line cook is a tough, long job. I don't want to discourage you but its reality as some have gone in with the romantic ideal of becoming a chef but come out working miserable.
If you got restaurant experience already, want to improve your skills, and know that cooking is what you want to do with your life then I'd say its worth it but you dont need culinary school to become a good chef, it just makes a good chef better.
If you are going to a culinary school expecting to learn how to cook there, then you are making a bad decision, you'll be better off taking some cheap cooking classes, have some basics, and then go to culinary school to take better advantage of it.
As for your doubts Cosmic Bus, try to get a part time job at a restaurant, even if its low pay, it will help you decide whether that industry is or isn't for you
If you are going to a culinary school expecting to learn how to cook there, then you are making a bad decision, you'll be better off taking some cheap cooking classes, have some basics, and then go to culinary school to take better advantage of it.
As for your doubts Cosmic Bus, try to get a part time job at a restaurant, even if its low pay, it will help you decide whether that industry is or isn't for you
well thats what I was basically getting at, from what I've read culinary school benefits chefs who want to master their craft rather than chefs who want to start out.
As for your doubts Cosmic Bus, try to get a part time job at a restaurant, even if its low pay, it will help you decide whether that industry is or isn't for you
How is the job education for chefs organized in the USA anyway? Over here, you apply at a restaurant/kitchen/hotel etc. for a 3-year apprenticeship which includes 1-2 days a week at a vocational training school and ends with a state-organized final examination, which, if successfully mastered, grants you the right to call yourself "chef".
Anyone have any links or tips for broiling chicken? (more specifically, assorted chicken pieces like drumsticks and thighs, not whole). The general consensus I've been getting is 6" away from the heating element (so middle rack) and 20 minutes for drumsticks.
How is the job education for chefs organized in the USA anyway? Over here, you apply at a restaurant/kitchen/hotel etc. for a 3-year apprenticeship which includes 1-2 days a week at a vocational training school and ends with a state-organized final examination, which, if successfully mastered, grants you the right to call yourself "chef".
There's no real standard. Most of the programs I've looked at are a ~2 year program that combine theory and practicum. They usually have classes part of the day, and the other part of the day you work in an on site restaraunt(s) (or for some of the more expensive private schools, just make shit with no real intention to sell). The closest thing to a standard is a few major culinary school accreditation organizations that have set proficiencies the school needs to teach, but the schools are still fairly open in how they do so.
I've found that going through the program was more about improving your skills and knowledge than being true job placement, though I'm sure that varies somewhat by school. Graduated about 2 months ago with very little previous professional cooking experience and in my search for a "real" job, that the degree has gotten me looked at by a couple places that required one, but industry experience is still the number 1 factor in hire ability.
The title Chef pretty much just means you fill the Chef position at a place, not any kind of set standards of education, ability, or pay. Though once someone reaches that title somewhere, they tend to then continue to use the title even after theyve moved from the position.
Oh, believe me, I'm very much aware of this. I wouldn't be going into this with Food Network dreams like someone more deluded might.
It was encouraging to hear from them that around a third of the students are over 30 (as am I) and that alone would put me slightly more at ease, and I'm still not sure if I'd rather do the traditional culinary program or the pastry and baking one. While I don't do a lot of pastries, I do feel like that career path might be more enjoyable for me -- and the fact that it costs almost half what the culinary program does is awfully nice, too.
Given your trepidations, I would very, very highly suggest taking a look at community colleges in your area. In my area, we had 2 major community college programs and a program at a private institute. I toured all 3 programs , and found that the 2 community college programs were far more industry oriented and had overall better programs. The institute got to play with more expensive food on a constant basis, but otherwise was the same or inferior in most aspects. In my recent round of interviewing, the general sentiment expressed to me was that the people that went through the community college courses were more likely to be hard workers and thrifty (which seems to be a highly prized trait in the professional kitchen), while those that blew the money on the institute were more likely to be trust fund kids that thought cooking looked awesome on Food Network.
The 2 year program I went through ended up costing about $7,000, while the institute was about $40,000. Given that you are going to come out of school and make 9-15 bucks an hour as a line cook for several years until you (maybe) move up to a decent (40-60k) chef job; dumping a ton of money on education may not be truly worth it.
Also of note, the median age of my class was about 30, with a range of 18 to early 60s. It certainly was not all young kids.
If you haven't read it already, pick up Michael Ruhlman's book, The Making of a Chef. He's a food writer who goes through the CIA as a student and writes about the experiences there. Some parts are boring and very stuffy, old-school French cuisine, but as a whole the book's pretty informative about what goes on there.
And congrats! I've had fantasies of going to a culinary school and cooking for a living, but 1.) I hate following recipes/directions in the kitchen and 2.) I'm too lazy for hard manual labor.
Here's an example of my laziness: I went to the market and bought some pre-made octopus, a few boxes of natto, and a green onion. Then I microwaved some frozen leftover rice and this is what I had for dinner:
Given your trepidations, I would very, very highly suggest taking a look at community colleges in your area. In my area, we had 2 major community college programs and a program at the art institute. I toured all 3 programs , and found that the 2 community college programs were far more industry oriented and had overall better programs. The art institute got to play with more expensive food on a constant basis, but otherwise was the same or inferior in most aspects. In my recent interviewing for a job, the general sentiment expressed to me was that the people that went through the community college courses were more likely to be hard workers and thrifty (which seems to be a highly prized trait in the professional kitchen), while those that blew the money on the art institute were more likely trust fund kids that thought cooking looked awesome on Food Network.
The 2 year program I went through ended up costing about $7,000, while the Art Institute was about $40,000. Given that you are going to come out of school and make 9-15 bucks an hour as a line cook for several years until you (maybe) move up to a decent (40-60k) chef job; dumping a ton of money on education may not be truly worth it.
Also of note, the median age of my class was about 30, with a range of 18 to early 60s. It certainly was not all young kids.
nakedsushi, looks great as always! I'm no friend of natto, though.
vesp said:
(...)In my recent interviewing for a job, the general sentiment expressed to me was that the people that went through the community college courses were more likely to be hard workers and thrifty (which seems to be a highly prized trait in the professional kitchen), (...)
I'm not bitter in the least, and I am not trying to imply that there aren't fantastic private institutes to attend. I am simply saying that, especially if you are not dead certain this is what you want to do for the rest of your life, there are options that can provide similar or even better education as paying the entirety of your first 3 years of professional kitchen work to go to a private school.
edit: That being said I've gone and edited the post to be more vague as it's not my place nor my intent to judge a specific school.
And congrats! I've had fantasies of going to a culinary school and cooking for a living, but 1.) I hate following recipes/directions in the kitchen and 2.) I'm too lazy for hard manual labor.
Me to, actually years ago my mother introduced me to an uncle that worked at a high end restaurant in Peru, he told me I could be recommended and go work as an apprentice (was 13 or so at the time), but then he went on to explain me about recipes and the environment...and it really wasn't for me
If I was to open a restaurant, I wouldn't have a menu, instead I would ask what ingredients they like and what they are allergic to! :lol Unfortunately I don't think that kind of restaurant would stay in business for long ;(
Btw, that dish looks delicious, unfortunately Im not in the mood to go down to the port ._.
Tried my hand at making a small chicken Bami Goreng for lunch today - it's the first time i've ever stir fried anything, and while I probably did fry it all a bit too long it came out ok in the end and tasted pretty nice too
Looks like its coming out real good but I've baked assorted chicken cuts for 30mins (wings, breast, drumsticks) covered and now I'm finishing them off in the broiler with BBQ sauce. Looks like the chicken is going to come out very moist from being covered but have a nice charring on the outside due to the broiling and BBQ sauce. Can't wait to get in on it.
Chicken, sausage and shrimp jambalaya for dinner tonight:
Not a HUGE fan of rice (the jambalaya was good but I could only really stomach one scoop) so I made some basic beef and vegetable soup to make my meal. After one scoop rice just makes me want to hurl. :X Same with bread.