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[Applesauce]

ha, i have that same problem with the stone size, applesauce! i kind of just want to get two big pieces of quarry tile and put them on the bottom of my oven, so the whole thing is just a big cooking surface. haven't gotten around to it yet though.

Someone recommended lining the bottom oven rack with firebricks to me, haven't tried it yet though. I imagine it would work as long as there aren't any gaps in between them.

 

[beelzebozo]

made some multigrain bagels this morning

 

[valparaiso]

So, the other day me and a couple of friends had some wine and food (apologies in advance for wall of pics).

that is absolutely out of this world and you, sir, are awesome.

 

[ChryZ]

Since we're posting baked goods, poppy seed rolls:

 

[OnkelC]

Keen, awesome culinary debauchery, I highly respect that!

The other end of the culinary spectrum tonight at ours:

in case anybody is wondering, it's Dill.

 

[Keen]

Thanks, the whole wine thing is starting to become a serious obsession. My wallet cries :'(

 

[Kadey]

A little late.

I've made special dumplings, steak (enough to feed 20+ people), sticky rice, cajun crab (picture is not of finished dish) and Jello for Xmas.

Pictures are out of wack since I only had time to take them here and there. All are unique. Sticky rice is a staple Asian thing. You can eat it with like everything. The jello has a very exotic taste to it. It has two layers. The bottom has some sort of eggnog-ish taste.

The thing in the bowl is for literal English translation called sweet water. It's basically flour mixed in with coconut extract and a bunch of other goodies. Ala Asian fruit which the name escapes my mind at the moment.

Also had chilly sauce for the steak.

 

[CrystalGemini]

Whoa what's that at the center of the plate in the bowl? Looks coconut-y. :9

 

[elrechazado]

More stuff I made today...similar stuff with minor modifications. Nothing too exciting.

Jeera Rice. This one I added dried dehydrated brown onions in at the last five minutes:

[IG]http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/gregbuczek/P1030441-1.jpg[/IMG]

Another Chicken Tikka Masala. I doubled the spices (literally two scoops of everything, since I don't measure but usually do one scoop of most spices), left out the silly food coloring, doubled the yogurt to make more gravy and used red onions in an attempt for more color:

[IG]http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/gregbuczek/P1030444-1.jpg[/IMG]

Another spin at Eggplant Tomato curry. Doubled the ground peanuts, added ground cashew and sprinkled some extra raw sesame on top:

[IG]http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/gregbuczek/P1030445-1.jpg[/IMG]

Any recipes or guidelines? I'd love to learn some indian food, and yours looks amazing.

 

[xelios]

I love couscous. I have recipes for most things, but realized I have very few involving couscous. Anyone have anything good?

Spoiler

sorry if it's already been mentioned, if so just point me to the post

 

[VelvetMouth]

I love couscous. I have recipes for most things, but realized I have very few involving couscous. Anyone have anything good?

Spoiler

sorry if it's already been mentioned, if so just point me to the post

I brown some finely chopped shallot or onion and carrot and some herbs then add chicken stock and once that's boiling I add my couscous turn of the heat, let it sit for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.

I also make lamb kebabs to go with it. You use cheap lamb shoulder chops, cut up in chunks with spices like cumin and smoked paprika. Mince up the lamb, add some finely minced onion and form these long sausage like kebabs over a metal skewer. Throw them on the bbq for a while until they're nicely browned up and serve with couscous or flatbread with home made hummus and tzatziki and marinated cucumber and tomato salad.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Gyro Pizza Update: If you've somehow, as I have, not yet eaten some Muenster cheese----DO SO! Worked out fantastically tonight, especially in the 2nd round theme where I tried "Chaos under the Surface" for the first time. Quick melt, lends to nice mess perhaps with some grease, OM NOM NOM.

Shot in dark Lebanese question, ATL/Athens, GA GAF in particular perhaps:

Is there/what is a "third sauce" you'd perhaps find in a nice gryro wrap ala the old Cedar Tree Lebanese place that closed down a ways back? Tzatziki and Tahini I know of roughly and I don't think are what I remember---this was a "red sauce" along with likely both of those and lettuce/tomato with a consistency not far removed from the likes of BBQ/Marinara/Salad Dressing...no seeds or such to it. The only time I ever tasted it was my first and only trip to Cedar Tree years ago where I ordered a large beef/lamb gyro to try blind...then 45 seconds or so later....ordered another.

 

[CrystalGemini]

Went to the Fungus Fair in Santa Cruz, CA with the boyfriend today. It was AWESOME. Got some oyster mushroom fritters and some sort of pork and mushroom stew that reminded me of OnkelC's recipe. IS IT YET ANOTHER SIGN?!

Thai Three Mushroom Soup (they ran out of bowls):

Random fungus pics for fun:

Always been a huge fan of oyster mushrooms but those fritters were definitely awesome. Have to try that sometime.

 

[projectkuro]

Wow, just everything on this page is pretty amazing looking.

Just want to say this thread (and OnkelC) is one of the reasons I decided to apply to culinary school and I start on Monday! Hopefully I'll get some good pics in here!

 

[WanderingWind]

Thought I'd throw my hat into the culinary ring.

[/IMG]

It's a herb and panko crusted lamb, with porcini and siracha Israeli cous cous.

Wow, just everything on this page is pretty amazing looking.

Just want to say this thread (and OnkelC) is one of the reasons I decided to apply to culinary school and I start on Monday! Hopefully I'll get some good pics in here!

What school?

 

[OnkelC]

Beelzebozo, nice cake! Next step should be the bottomless cheesecake I posted somewhere earlier!:lol

CrystalGemini, just try the recipe, it's dead simple and delish.

Kadey, drool.

Wandering Wind, welcome to IronGAF. Did you prepare and shoot it? Recipe would be great.

Wow, just everything on this page is pretty amazing looking.

Just want to say this thread (and OnkelC) is one of the reasons I decided to apply to culinary school and I start on Monday! Hopefully I'll get some good pics in here!

Best of luck! Please keep us posted of your culinary progress.

Edit:
ElectricThunder, would be nice to see some pics next time around. The red sauce could be something along the lines of Ajvar or Sriracha:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajvar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce

 

[MThanded]

Finally got my carbon steel wok. 12.60 for such an amazing piece of cookware. Bought it from a local asian market/restaurant supply place.

Unseasoned

Seasoned

First Dish

 

[WanderingWind]

Wandering Wind, welcome to IronGAF. Did you prepare and shoot it? Recipe would be great.

Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah, that's all my own recipes, plating, photography etc. Everything on the plate was made from scratch, including the panko.

Herb crust - Panko, fresh sage, thyme and chives. Parsley could add a little extra green, and if I was prepping it for a restaurant, I'd add some. As I was cooking for my personal taste, I didn't add it. Blended them together in a processor with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Lamb - Just a rack of lamb, picked it up that morning. Seared in cast iron with olive oil, then rolled in panko. Finished in oven at 350. Mid-rare

Cous-Cous - I love Israeli cous-cous! Toasted in a pan with, yes, olive oil, and threw in porcini and shittake mushrooms. Add liquid of your choice, stock, bouillon or white wine. Simmer on low heat for around 10 minutes. Add S&P. I added some siracha (I can't spell that damn stuff. ROOSTER SAUCE!) and some ground coriander.

Not pictured, I made a Bailey's and Lavender chocolate bread pudding. It was eaten before I could snap a pic...

 

[MidnightRider]

Been meaning to post this for a while now........

It's def not that healthy but it's great for snack food with a lot of people around.

What you will need
2 Cups of Pecans (halved)
Hot sauce
Soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
butter

What you will need

Mix ALL of it together in a bowl
2 tablespoons of Hot sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons of butter
TAKE NOTE THIS CAN BE CHANGED TO YOUR LIKING
add pecans after the butter has melted and MIX WELL

Spread them out
then bake at 425 for 20-30 mins stirring frequently

then enjoy

 

[projectkuro]

What school?

Pearson School of Culinary Arts in Montreal. It's one of the two English schools here in town and I suppose the better of the two. There's a much better school, but the instruction is in French only so I decided to pass on that.

 

[WanderingWind]

Pearson School of Culinary Arts in Montreal. It's one of the two English schools here in town and I suppose the better of the two. There's a much better school, but the instruction is in French only so I decided to pass on that.

Well, I wish you luck. I'm a culinary school grad myself. Hope you have a good time, man.

PS. The French are the best cooks in the world, hands down. They also know it, unfortunately, so their chefs are arrogant on a level unheard of...:lol

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Seasoned

NICE! How long did it take you to get it that seasoned?

You should see mine, its all black after years of use but its so great it'd be hard to replace it and start over!

 

[Yes Boss!]

[/IMG]

Whoa!

 

[WanderingWind]

Whoa!

Thanks!

 

[Yes Boss!]

Any recipes or guidelines? I'd love to learn some indian food, and yours looks amazing.

No guidelines, sadly. As I'm just an amateur cook who cruises the internet for recipe ideas and techniques. Within a few weeks of cooking you kinda learn which spices need to be fried and which need to be boiled and the few basic steps. I tend to combine multiple recipes from various strangers and rinse and repeat till I find out what works for me.

Cooking-wise, I just finished my work weekend and was enjoying some beers and did not want to cook so I made an open-faced pastrami sandwich. Bread was sweet brioche and the cheese was gruyere.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Thought I'd throw my hat into the culinary ring.

[/IMG]

It's a herb and panko crusted lamb, with porcini and siracha Israeli cous cous.
?

Wow you made the lamb the exact way I did (I used panko also) but your presentation is way nicer! THough the pieces are oddly shaped, it looks like those lamb racks were Frenched too much.

What ratio of stock/liquid to cous cous did you use to get it puff up that big?

I've only made it once and mine came out very small (I used 1.5 cups of liquid to 1 cup of cous cous)

 

[WanderingWind]

Wow you made the lamb the exact way I did (I used panko also) but your presentation is way nicer! THough the pieces are oddly shaped, it looks like those lamb racks were Frenched too much.

What ratio of stock/liquid to cous cous did you use to get it puff up that big?

I've only made it once and mine came out very small (I used 1.5 cups of liquid to 1 cup of cous cous)

Thanks!

The pieces weren't frenched too much, but I lacked a cleaver to take off the ends bones. In a restaurant, I'd figure a way to do that, but at home...eh. Also, with using the very end piece, in most cases you'd serve the small end (the end where the chain is largest) with two bones. Again, at home, I didn't care so much.

Are you using Israeli cous-cous or regular cous-cous? Israeli is a bigger piece by nature. I used stock to flavor...didn't measure with anything else.

 

[Shinjitsu]

Made a real simple kongnamul guk (soybean sprout soup) for lunch.

Crappy cellphone pic, sorry.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Thanks!

The pieces weren't frenched too much, but I lacked a cleaver to take off the ends bones. In a restaurant, I'd figure a way to do that, but at home...eh. Also, with using the very end piece, in most cases you'd serve the small end (the end where the chain is largest) with two bones. Again, at home, I didn't care so much.

Are you using Israeli cous-cous or regular cous-cous? Israeli is a bigger piece by nature. I used stock to flavor...didn't measure with anything else.

I must have used regular, in fact I didn't know there were different kinds since I assumed it was just some sort of flour/grain.

Is Israeli cous cous labeled differently or is it just called that?

 

[WanderingWind]

I must have used regular, in fact I didn't know there were different kinds since I assumed it was just some sort of flour/grain.

Is Israeli cous cous labeled differently or is it just called that?

It's labeled different, and looks like tiny pearls. It can be used in all the same applications though.

 

[bovo]

It's been ages since I posted in this thread, but got a new camera so have taken quite a few pictures recently which I can bore you all with..

First though, I uploaded these pictures about 6 months ago and never got round to posting them:

Chicken Kebabs


Halloumi kebabs



Newer pictures - Roast Beef from New Year's Day:



Roast potatoes with rosemary:



Served with other stuff - the thing at the back is meant to be a yorkshire pudding, but tried making it with egg replacer and it didn't really rise (at all) - still tasted ok though...

 

[MThanded]

NICE! How long did it take you to get it that seasoned?

You should see mine, its all black after years of use but its so great it'd be hard to replace it and start over!

That was after only doing the paper towel oil rubbing method and cooking half an onion(did not eat it, was just to aid in the seasoning).

 

[AndyD]

That was after only doing the paper towel oil rubbing method and cooking half an onion(did not eat it, was just to aid in the seasoning).

What trick? I also have a wok, but I dont think I ever seasoned it properly.

And is there a brewers and bakers thread or is it all in here?

Here's a few of mine:

A french bread boule:

A fruit tart made by my wife:

A turkey spinach "quiche" of sorts:

I will post some of my beers and other breads as well later.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

What trick? I also have a wok, but I dont think I ever seasoned it properly.
.

There are a bunch of different ways, my mother uses chicken fat, skin, or just a really fatty thigh and cooks it in the pan and smears its all around.

 

[Al-ibn Kermit]

Sine Qua Non...
Ornellaia 04 to drink.

I've been told by some wine snobs to stay far away from those actually. It seems like they're the type that try to sell the bottles simply by adding a zero to the price tag.

 

[Nex Superne]

I've been told by some wine snobs to stay far away from those actually. It seems like they're the type that try to sell the bottles simply by adding a zero to the price tag.

Sine Qua Non's release price from the winery isn't absurdly high; the prices get ridiculous on the secondary market as opportunists flip their allocations with a 400% markup.

 

[Al-ibn Kermit]

Sine Qua Non's release price from the winery isn't absurdly high; the prices get ridiculous on the secondary market as opportunists flip their allocations with a 400% markup.

Wow, I always thought knew that there had to be "middle men" that sit on the wine for a while but I didn't know they got profits like that for just essentially storing it.

 

[Nex Superne]

Wow, I always thought knew that there had to be "middle men" that sit on the wine for a while but I didn't know they got profits like that for just essentially storing it.

I didn't mean retailers, I was talking about the people who are on Sine Qua Non's mailing list and then sell their annual allocation online at hugely inflated prices. That's the only way most people can get SQN as even high-end wine shops and retailers generally won't have it. Check online, you'll see nearly all the SQN wines available are sold on various online auction sites.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Sine Qua Non's release price from the winery isn't absurdly high; the prices get ridiculous on the secondary market as opportunists flip their allocations with a 400% markup.

Doesn't it sell on hype and exclusiveness, that's what I heard for the kind of wine it is the price is seriously over inflated because the winery has a small production capacity.

 

[Nex Superne]

EDIT: Double post, ignore this one.

 

[Nex Superne]

Doesn't it sell on hype and exclusiveness, that's what I heard for the kind of wine it is the price is seriously over inflated because the winery has a small production capacity.

Absolutely, SQN is one of the US's premier producers of Rhône blends (Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre and Roussane/Viognier mostly) and other eclectic wines and they are hyped through the roof. Like most top producers, their annual production is tiny and can't come close to satisfying the demand. The only other wineries in the US that have that kind of reputation would be Screaming Eagle (Cabernet Sauvignon), Harlan (Cabernet as well), Marcassin (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and their ilk. No doubt they are all hyper-exclusive "cult" wineries. Worth the insanely high prices? No, unless you're a rich wine collector looking for trophy bottles, a very high end restaurant like the French Laundry, or simply a guy lucky enough to find them on some amazing sale. But people love buying them for their stature and prestige (and to be fair, these wines usually are excellent).

 

[Aquavelvaman]

I really want to be a high end cook but I'm pretty much starting from zero.

Here's my first attempt at homemade bread:

Tasted good.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I really want to be a high end cook but I'm pretty much starting from zero.

Here's my first attempt at homemade bread:
http://i46.tinypic.com/wit2z8.jpg[IMG]
Tasted good.[/QUOTE]

Same here, I've only got experience working in the front but I try to learn as much as possible. If you are located in SoCal we should get together some time for culinary experiments.

You bread looks pretty good, I'm still intimidated by baking due to my lack of an oven growing up thus my experience with dough is limited to eating them.

 

[CrystalGemini]

OMG I had bone marrow today. One of my all time favorite foods ever. :drool

Now I make cake.

 

[ChryZ]

Made Oyakodon last night. Onion slices and chicken bits braised in sweetened bonito stock, topped with runny eggs, served on rice in a bowl. Really one of my favorite go-to dishes when cooking weekdays. It's usually prep'd and done when the rice is done, less than 30 minutes. Not much of a looker but always delicious.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Made Oyakodon last night. Onion slices and chicken bits braised in sweetened bonito stock, topped with runny eggs, served on rice in a bowl. Really one of my favorite go-to dishes when cooking weekdays. It's usually prep'd and done when the rice is done, less than 30 minutes. Not much of a looker but always delicious.

Great pictures!

How do you get that gooey texture for the eggs though? I've never got it right when I try to make it.

Do you half cook the eggs and then let them finish on the bowl or something?

 

[TheExodu5]

I wish I had more experience cooking. Some of this stuff looks delicious.

 

[ChryZ]

Great pictures!

How do you get that gooey texture for the eggs though? I've never got it right when I try to make it.

Do you half cook the eggs and then let them finish on the bowl or something?

The piping hot stock will do the steamy job, just beat the eggs a little, add them to the pan, turn off the heat, cover the pan for 10-20 seconds and serve immediately. I learned this from the Japanese cooking show Dotch. Tendon versus Oyakodon :lol

 

[Keen]

I've been told by some wine snobs to stay far away from those actually. It seems like they're the type that try to sell the bottles simply by adding a zero to the price tag.

Don't know about that, Manfred (owner and winemaker of SQN) has maintained pretty reasonable prices considering the amount of praise he receives from Parker, and the miniscule production. Sure, his wines are not for everyone, and these types of wines will always divide people (also see recent vintages of Pavie). But I've never heard of anyone accusing Manfred of price-gouging just to sell wines. If you read the numerous threads about SQN on eBob, pretty much everyone who's on the mailing list says that that is the last one that they will drop off.

FWIW I've always had great experiences with the SQN wines I've been fortunate enough to drink. For me, they definately live up to the hype. I agree that they are very expensive, and not something you buy a lot of (unless you are on the list) even if you can find any. Still, the price, list and aftermarket, of SQN is nowhere near that of Screaming Eagle and Harlan.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Im making a packet self saucing chocolate pudding, best dessert EVER!