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[OnkelC]

you make me proud, people. so many fine dishes. keep it going, please!

Re: knives, my whoring for Zwilling cutlery is well known

now in the christmas shopping season, a set of knives in the four star range which has all bases covered (except the bread knife) goes for around 200 EUR/USD:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035GWY8M/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Natetan]

Recipe please! I have so many pumpkins lying around my house right now :lol

You could probably make houtou with regular udon noodles and regular miso.

What I do is:

fill a pot about half full of water, and boil pumpkin cut into large pieces (i leave the skin on).

after about 20 min, it should soft enough to break up smoothly into the water. press the chunks up against the side of the pot until thoroughly mixed.

put enough udon for two people into the pot and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

In another pot, preferably wide and shallow, put in cut long onioins, a variety of mushrooms, cabbage pieces of meat/fish of your choice and any other veggies in the pot. do not mix them, rather portion them in areas in the pot, leaving a section for the udon.

Put the udon in the pot, and then pour the pumpkin broth from the other pot into the second pot. Top with some thinly sliced pieces of pumpkin (with skin), and Simmer for 15-20 minutes until everything is thoroughly cooked,

Add about 2tbsp of miso to the pot, and cook for another 5 or so minutes until the miso has cooked and mixed thoroughly.

put the pot on the table, and let everyone take food from the pot into their own bowl.

serves two!

 

[Axion22]

Turkey sliders!

 

[nakedsushi]

You could probably make houtou with regular udon noodles and regular miso.

Great suggestion. I have half a kabocha in the fridge still and it'd be great to make a stew with it.

Although, now that I got a new stove, I just want to stir-fry and crank up the heat all day long. =D

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Great suggestion. I have half a kabocha in the fridge still and it'd be great to make a stew with it.

Although, now that I got a new stove, I just want to stir-fry and crank up the heat all day long. =D

I hate you. :lol

What brand is that? Puts mine to shame.

 

[nakedsushi]

I hate you. :lol

What brand is that? Puts mine to shame.

It's a Capital Culinarian. Literally 2 days off the factory floor. We don't even have grates for it yet because they didn't get it in yet =(

http://www.capital-cooking.com/product.php?pageId=385

 

[D-Pad]

Perfect timing... Had lunch today: A homemade(ish) double down chicken sandwhich (don't ask why, I was being funny) and it tasted pretty good. Bacon, provolone and pepper-jack... but I wasn't impressed by my homemade sauce. So I'm hoping someone here would recommend me a "chicken" sauce I could make at home? Something like Zax-sauce or Chik-fil-a sauce... Chipotle would be good too.

I wanted to take pictures but I didn't have a camera with me... And I was hungry. I looked really cool though, and just like the real thing.

edit -
Ugh I need to start cooking again. My knives went dull, my pans are scratched, my pantry is always empty, I need to refill my spice cabinet... Money's tight so that not happening anytime soon unfortunately. I'm going to the store everyday for dinner as opposed to shopping for the week like I used too... I miss the days I could cook one thing one day and use it the next days as an ingredient in another dish. THAT was fun.

 

[nakedsushi]

I got spontaneously upgraded to a chef's table at Providence a 2 Michelin star restaurant in LA and was SO happy! What an opportunity! Usually people have to reserve months in advance and today, it was just plopped right into my lap when I walked in.

The chef's table here was a small corner by the kitchen facing a glass wall with door that leads right into the kitchen. We could see what they were doing on the prep counters, hear what's going on, and even hear a curse word or two. Great fun =) I definitely liked it better than sitting in the dining room because it's like having your own private dining room but with a view of a commercial kitchen.

Here's a pic of the chef. He seemed very exact and specific with what he let out of the kitchen.

Some highlights of meal:

amuse bouche: screwdriver sphere, raw trout on top of lemon gelee and topped with cream and a gold leaf, and gruyere pastry.

seared scallop on a bed of buckwheat and some butter foam.

(the BF's dish): some crazy dish with thick slices of black truffle

striped bass over cranberry beans, lemon and brown butter sauce and shaved truffles

dessert: banana bread pudding and buckwheat ice cream

I wrote up a lengthy blog about it here: chef's table @ providence

In short, if you're in LA and you have the means, definitely at least once make a reservation at Providence. It's one of my favorite high end restaurants. It's not cheap, but it's worth saving up for. The best part is that if you call in advance, they also do a *wonderful* vegan tasting menu, which not a lot of high-end restaurants do.

 

[slidewinder]

Awesome stuff, nakedsushi. I don't know if I'm drooling more over your new stove or the pictures of that meal.

 

[Natetan]

Great suggestion. I have half a kabocha in the fridge still and it'd be great to make a stew with it.

Fun fact I learned about Kabocha yesterday: The kabocha was introduced to Japan by Portuguese sailors in 1541, who brought it with them from Cambodia. The Portuguese name for the squash, Cambodia abóbora (カンボジャ・アボボ&#12521, was shortened by the Japanese to kabocha

I make soup out of kabocha a lot. works really well

 

[ElectricThunder]

Just some of that Adult Ketchup and basic Gruyere this time around---I'm down to about one local'ish cheese remaining in my area then things get trickier by far. I shall post the mega-list thus far when all has been exhausted.

Otherwise, I suddenly got invited to a private event of some sort for an excellent local deli that I've got on well with and apparently been one of their key and original regulars. Never been to such a thing before, as it is apparently all of us sitting around a giant table while munching on established and new/experimental items while talking business and how to keep the place safely growing versus the usual trend around here of nice eateries closing down. Hell, I haven't been invited to a party of any sort in...years!

Given that the place also sells a range of spices and seasonings, I think the first thing I will lobby for is for some significant portion of them to be options on a customer's order. I mean, yes it is toasted/cold sandwiches and such, but come on---only Oregano, Salt, and Black Pepper as options when there's any number of large portion blends a foot behind ya? :lol

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I got spontaneously upgraded to a chef's table at Providence a 2 Michelin star restaurant in LA and was SO happy! What an opportunity! Usually people have to reserve months in advance and today, it was just plopped right into my lap when I walked in.

The chef's table here was a small corner by the kitchen facing a glass wall with door that leads right into the kitchen. We could see what they were doing on the prep counters, hear what's going on, and even hear a curse word or two. Great fun =) I definitely liked it better than sitting in the dining room because it's like having your own private dining room but with a view of a commercial kitchen.

Here's a pic of the chef. He seemed very exact and specific with what he let out of the kitchen.

So jealous! Providence is on the top of my list of tasting menus to try and their menu is priced very reasonable considering it is seafood centric tasting menu.

 

[nakedsushi]

So jealous! Providence is on the top of my list of tasting menus to try and their menu is priced very reasonable considering it is seafood centric tasting menu.

Yeah! I don't know why it took me so long to finally try it. I think because they're well known for their seafood, I thought they wouldn't be able to do high-end vegan dishes for the BF, but oh how wrong I was!

The first time I tried it, they were having some sort of special where the 5-course tasting menu was only $60 instead of the usual $85 for a whole month! Maybe keep an eye out for that again? Honestly, even though $85 is a lot, I think that's a great deal after seeing how much work goes into each dish.

Their wine markup also seems very reasonable (for a restaurant) and the sommelier (despite his skeevy mustache) really did a great job with steering us toward the right wines for our budget.

 

[ShinAmano]

So I did a 24lb Turkey for my Wife's 30th Birthday Party this past Saturday.

It was tasty...and good practice for Thanksgiving which we will be hosting this year.

Pre-Cook:

About an Hour to go:

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

What on earth is Adult Ketchup? I'm actually afraid to search google for that.

Also, I tried the massively salted steak thing a while back. The steaks were incredibly tender, but they came out a bit too salty. Now, I used Morton's table salt, could that be the problem? I also only let it sit for 30 minutes, not an hour. Was it just that I didn't rinse it well enough, or does this technique just produce a very salty steak?

 

[otake]

I've been making some good stuff lately. I finally made ropa vieja, I improvised some chicken a la milanesse and rice with chorizos. Unfortunately, I took no pictures.

Tonight, I'm making NY strip. It's marinating in beer right now. It will be served with some ñame and asparagus and maybe plantains.

 

[mf.luder]

I was In Ottawa this past weekend for a conference and we were treated to dinner at a place called modern steakhouse lounge. It was nothing super special but the potatoes were the best mashed I've ever had. They were garlic mashed but topped with wasabi.

I cannot wait to reproduce this.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

What on earth is Adult Ketchup? I'm actually afraid to search google for that.

Also, I tried the massively salted steak thing a while back. The steaks were incredibly tender, but they came out a bit too salty. Now, I used Morton's table salt, could that be the problem? I also only let it sit for 30 minutes, not an hour. Was it just that I didn't rinse it well enough, or does this technique just produce a very salty steak?

use kosher salt like Diamond Krystal.

the grandules are much larger thus not so fine. The taste is superior and less concentrated, if you use regular table salt use half to 2/3rds of what you would have used with kosher.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

use kosher salt like Diamond Krystal.

the grandules are much larger thus not so fine. The taste is superior and less concentrated, if you use regular table salt use half to 2/3rds of what you would have used with kosher.

I'll have to invest in some.

So, anyone wanna fill me in on the Adult Ketchup, or do I risk rule 34? :lol

 

[ElectricThunder]

What on earth is Adult Ketchup? I'm actually afraid to search google for that.

Heh, basically it is Ketchup that could not be considered "Mild" by any reasonable person---it has a kick of spices and heat to it while still being distinctly "Ketchup" as opposed to just a hot sauce outright and the like. "Ketchup for GrownUps" is another phrasing somewhere on the bottle I think.

I guess back in the day some adults repelled some poor young kid with it and reckoned they were onto something! :lol

 

[Zyzyxxz]

This year I got Thanksgiving duties!

Right now list of things to prep and make:

spinach artichoke dip w/ chips
stewed collard green, sausage, cornmeal soup
mashed potatoes
cornbread
prime rib roast
brined turkey

maybe some sort of vegetable to be "healthy"

 

[luoapp]

This year I got Thanksgiving duties!

Right now list of things to prep and make:

spinach artichoke dip w/ chips
stewed collard green, sausage, cornmeal soup
mashed potatoes
cornbread
prime rib roast
brined turkey

maybe some sort of vegetable to be "healthy"

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Love your Thanksgiving menu, Zyz. Maybe some roasted brussels sprouts with a mustard vinaigrette for a veggie side dish?

 

[SnakeXs]

stewed collard green, sausage, cornmeal soup

Do tell.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Do tell.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Sopa-de-Fuba-Collard-Greens-Cornmeal-and-Sausage-Soup

 

[UrokeJoe]

Great suggestion. I have half a kabocha in the fridge still and it'd be great to make a stew with it.

Although, now that I got a new stove, I just want to stir-fry and crank up the heat all day long. =D

Envy.

 

[Talon]

I'm pretty excited to see everyone's Thanksgiving spread going forward.

 

[Xelinis]

itsalive.gif

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Change of plans for me, no more prime rib roast. The market only had choice rib roast, bleh for a dollar less now!

Booo!! Only the best for my family

Decided to go with brining and roasting a pork loin with a savory stuffing instead. Pics to come thursday!

 

[tass0]

This thread pisses me off. Where do I learn to cook like this.

I'm tired of eating junk food all the time and getting fat because I can't fucking cook...

 

[ShinAmano]

Decided to go with brining and roasting a pork loin with a savory stuffing instead. Pics to come thursday!

Sounds good...I may need this recipe.

This thread pisses me off. Where do I learn to cook like this.

I'm tired of eating junk food all the time and getting fat because I can't fucking cook...

Read recipes...practice. I am not a pro like some on here, but this will get you 85% of the way.

 

[entremet]

This thread pisses me off. Where do I learn to cook like this.

I'm tired of eating junk food all the time and getting fat because I can't fucking cook...

Start cooking.

There so much learning material out there--FoodTV, PBS, YouTube, Public Libraries for cookbooks and DVDs of cooking shows.

10 years ago I couldn't cut up supermarket rotisserie chicken. Today, I can complete recipes from the French Laundry Cookbook.

Here's how I started:

Start with eggs. They're cheap, so you can practice basic egg cookery--hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled, fried, omelets, poached eggs, and frittatas. Learn them in that order.

Learn techniques not recipes. Learn to sauté, roast, broil, poach, shallow fry, deep fry, pan-roast, braise, etc.

Use recipes as templates. Once you can roast a chicken--you have endless variations--chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, chicken with lime and cilantro, etc.

Go to farmer's market and get advice from farmers on how to prepare your produce. A good butcher and fish monger will do the same for proteins.

Master 5 recipes a year. Make them you own. Improvise. The path to cooking is an endless journey. It is a skill after all. But start and get off the Internet.

 

[BertramCooper]

I forgot to take pictures of them, but my mother and I made some amazing pies for Thanksgiving this year.

I finally convinced her to use lard instead of Crisco in the crust, and goddamn, it made a huge difference. The dough is a bit more challenging to work with, but the results were amazing.

From now on, we're never making pie crusts without lard.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I forgot to take pictures of my thanksigiving feast unfortunately. I was so rushed for time I wanted to make sure the food was hot as it went out and eaten immediately. Overall I think I did well everything was good although the roast pork loin came out a little dry, probably need a longer brining period next time.

 

[Stalfos]

I forgot to take pictures of my thanksigiving feast unfortunately. I was so rushed for time I wanted to make sure the food was hot as it went out and eaten immediately. Overall I think I did well everything was good although the roast pork loin came out a little dry, probably need a longer brining period next time.

Yeah same here, forgot to take pictures. My wife mentioned it after we ate. Everything turned out good with what I made, brined turkey (breast only, bone-in), pan gravy, sausage stuffing/dressing, roasted sweet potatoes, smashed potatoes, orange-cranberry sauce, and green beens (which actually almost got ruined since they started burning as we were finishing up some other dishes). The dish I was happiest with was probably the pan gravy because it was super flavorful from the aromatics of onion, garlic, celery, and carrot as well as the dripping from the herb butter that I basted the turkey with, it was seasoned so well I decided not to add any salt or pepper after bringing it together in a gravy.

 

[Axion22]

I didn't take any pictures either, but I only made a couple more fresh pumpkin pies. You know what those look like

Now, it's time for leftover recipes!

Sam the Cooking Guy is a local tv chef here in San Diego, I catch his show at odd times because I don't have deep cable and he's on the cable company's channel. Anyway, his recipes are very simple, but a little bit off the wall. He uses a lot of shortcuts for ingredients that some of the beginners here might want to take a look at.

I'm using my leftovers to make these recipes tonight:

Mashed Potato Tacos
Turkey Tacos
Baked Stuffing Balls

Because when in doubt, make tacos.

 

[Maiar_m]

Once again, cinnamon rolls

 

[nakedsushi]

Some quick snapshots of our dinner last night.

dinner plate:

Roast chicken, pan roasted brussel sprouts, kale slaw, stuffed squash, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, and cornbread stuffing.

pumpkin pies:

 

[SnakeXs]

Is that Hipstamatic? :lol

 

[nakedsushi]

No, it's instagram

 

[Axion22]

The results:

Tasted great! Especially the stuffing balls. I'm making those again soon.

 

[StoOgE]

so, having some friends over for some cuban pork. The butcher says this is a Boston butt cut, but that just isn't possible. It has skin on the pork shoulder still. Looks like a picnic cut minus the top part of the leg.

Started the 24 hours of brining in a garlic (3 heads!) salt, sugar, orange juice and agave brine, skin side up:

Here is the underside out of the brine, as you can see the OJ is doing it's job and breaking this guy down.. it was hard to keep the bone from coming out of the meat when I picked it up. It will fall off after it's done smoking:

For the next 24 hours it will sit in an orange juice, cumino, agave, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper marinade:

Bonus coverage: some of the marinade that hit my counter.

I'll get some photos of the finished product tomorrow. I've made it before and it is fucking amazing.


Tomorrow I'll have to make the mojo sauce and smoke this sucker for about 6-7 hours.

 

[slidewinder]

Nice. What're you doing the smoking in?

 

[StoOgE]

A giant brick smoker my dad and I built about 15 years ago.

It's big enough to smoke about 200 pounds of meat in :lol

More importantly, it has amazing good smoke control

 

[Axion22]

More leftover turkey?

Baked turkey taquitos!

 

[ElectricThunder]

This time around we've Queso Chihuahua, which melts easily, browns quickly, and doesn't much seem to be a fan of gripping. Finally tossed on some Turmeric and Garam Marsala which turned out to work well for a bit of a different kind of kick.

As was these last couple years, a Thanksgiving meal didn't really happen due to familial strife. However, I DID manage to finally try the wondrous glory that is a Buffalo Frank---probably the greatest "hot-dog" like thing I've ever eaten and with not a bit of an aftertaste. $8 and some change being a good price to boot for a pack of 6 jumbo ones, organic, grassfed, etc.

I'm out of local fare now though...and Sopressata! I'll either have to try one of the ones at Target monday that are dry cased (how do these things work---need to "peel" them before topping while slicing or is it edible?" or I think I saw some thin-sliced Spanish Chorizo at Publix. Maybe there are a few Mexican cheeses left I can grab at ALDI, but unless big changes happen I'm sunk on experimenting further with immediately available stuff.

As I said, here's where The Big Cheese list currently has me at---I still hope to keep pace for the rest of the year but we'll see:

Mozzarella
Swiss
Monterey Jack (so awesome)
Provalone
Romano
Parmesan
Asagio
Jarlsberg (like a Super Swiss)
Smoked Gouda (great, good sandwich, stubborn melt)
Gruyere Cave Aged
Edam Ball Holland
Havarti
Mild Cheddar
Montasio (Good, Swiss-ish)
Whole Milk Mozzarella
Muenster (Fantastic! Good messy)
Brie (good with mold removed)
Fontina (decent all around, messyish)
Farmer's Cheese
Switzerland Emmenthaler (destroy all dark outer parts!)
Parrano (solid, not fast melting)
Mahon
(Greek) Kasseri (stubborn, nicely strong taste)
White Colby (quite nice, good melt, odd curly grip)
Swedish Vasterbotten (also nice, quick melter, fairly oily)
Trappe Bricquebec (very soft, fast melt, quite bubbly)
Raclette (quite awesome, quick melter, general all-star)
5 Counties (Derby, Red Leicester, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Cheddar) Each just good/basic
Murcia al Vino (Soft, white, fragrant, good melt---quite nice!)
Manoyri (Super crumbly, nice taste, doesn't seem to melt Brie-style)
Appenzeller (good melt, kind oily, generally nice)
Manchego (only so-so melt, kinda oily, strange/memorable'ish sweet taste)
Blarney Castle Irish (Spongy, good melt, little oil, all around rather nice)
Bel Paese Plain (Ultra soft, quick melt, one of the finest thus far)
Piave Mezzano (Melts well and is overall nice)
Iberico (Fantastic, strong smell, sweetish)
Dubliner (Slightly sweet, all-around nice)
Smoked Butterkase (Good all around, mild taste, melts well, strong smell prior to melt)
Bergenost (Melts well, tastes good, a bit on the sweet side)
Canaria (Rather oild, good at everything else, no special taste tricks)
Belle Blanche (Yet another good all-around with nothing distinct)
Fontinella (Yet another good one, not oily, good times.)
Etorki (Yet another good one, not oily, good times.)
Fol Epi (Extra good somehow versus most recent, chewy melter)
Saint Paulin (pw?) (Brie-like, rather good, very good grip)
Port Salut (very similar to above, but closer to Brie on the sticky front)
Reggianito (stubborn melter, nice taste, not really distinguishing)
Sargento Artisan Blends: Mexican (Queso Quesadilla, Asadero, Queso Gallego, Manchego, Anejo Enchilado) (just damn good)
Colby Jack (good melt, good taste, etc)
Baby Swiss (Meh, just kinda there in a ok way.)
Sharp Cheddar (Meh, but in a good way.)
Aged Swiss (Meh, but in a good way.)
Gouda ( Excellent as in keeping with it)
Gorgonzola (Very damn weird taste, semi-stubborn melter)
Cabot Seriously Sharp Aged Cheddar (One of the very rather awesome ones in all aspects)
Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar (As excellent as the above Cabot, melts really fast!)
Butterkase (Top quality same as the smoked, really great melt/grip)
Queso Fresco (Awesome, quick semi-melter, soft)
Gruyere (Yep, just good with no surprises)
Queso Chihuahua (Nice stuff, good melt/quick to brown, not a great gripper)

The count could go different ways depending, but I'm comfortable with conservatively now hitting 60 cheeses thus far on my pizza adventure.

I have a rough list of future targets if anybody wants me to post it on here as well. :lol

 

[nakedsushi]

Some better pics of thanksgiving:

 

[otake]

Some better pics of thanksgiving:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5215403526_8862891373.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5214810897_067db341cb.jpg

What wine did you serve?

I didn't do a turkey, I served roast pork, picnic cut with some Hendry Pinot Noir 2006, Napa.


My question to the rest of chefs, I want to make a Standing Rib Roast for xmas evening. I'm cooking for my parents and I will have to use a grill. Care to share your recipes? Wine recommendations are welcome as well...

 

[nakedsushi]

What wine did you serve?

I didn't do a turkey, I served roast pork, picnic cut with some Hendry Pinot Noir 2006, Napa.


My question to the rest of chefs, I want to make a Standing Rib Roast for xmas evening. I'm cooking for my parents and I will have to use a grill. Care to share your recipes? Wine recommendations are welcome as well...

My memory for drinks is bad, but we started off with some sparkling wine and some people moved on to a Copain 2007 white. The red wine shown there was actually never opened that night =(

 

[ElectricThunder]

YES!

Boon of the Farmer's Market, after all these months, FINALLY, we got to take a crack at a nice sized ball of Buffalo Mozzarella.

It was...awesome. So smooth and delicious. Definitely in another league versus the other basic types of mozzarella.

I'll gladly rerun some leftovers on Sat for this bounty.