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IronGAF Cookoff (hosted by OnkelC)

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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
So, have been lurking the thread for a long time, taking the odd tip here and there.

Time to share my efforts in trying to level up my cooking skills over the last couple of years, and more recently having focused on baking. A few pics of more recent creations (which hopefully show up being linked straight from Facebook)

All of those look fantastic. Bravo!
 

Pepto

Banned
Made some amazing Tom kha gai:

DSC_4109.jpg
 

Kal

Member
Just got a stand mixer and some baking equipment - I've never baked before and I'm so excited!!! What should I start with GAF? A loaf of bread? A cake? An apple pie? Are there any baking sites I should look at?
 
Rl8VM.jpg


Yep, dinner.

Cheese: Chaill Red Wine Cheddar Well it looks about how you'd imagine given the name and tastes/performs exactly to tune----an OK melting cheddar with a ton of red wine in it. My streak of enjoyable booze cheeses remains unbroken.

Crumble: Cape Cod Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper Worked well with it, the pepper in particular had a bite to it in a subtle, yet effective, way.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Made pan-seared pickerel fillet and improvised a lemon/butter/dill sauce for it. Second attempt at making a pan sauce and it went pretty well! Pickerel is probably my favorite fish to eat. It was my first time eating the skin on the pickerel, and certainly won't be the last...I don't know why I ever bothered filleting the pickerel off the skin before...it's delicious.

I dredged the pickerel in flour + salt + pepper. I pan-seared the pickerel about 5 minutes on the skin side, and 2 minutes on the other side. Put it on a plate and got ready to make the pan sauce. Poured some white wine and deglazed the pan, added fresh lemon juice, cream, and dill (sadly, I only had the bottled stuff). Let it thicken and then added a bit of cold butter to it to finish it off.

Had it with roasted red peppers. Was my first time roasting vegetables, and it turned out well...just stuck them in a dish in the oven with some salt and olive oil. Red peppers probably aren't the best fish accompaniment, but I had nothing else, so...

Next time I do the fish, I'll salt it ahead of time so that it can absorb some of the salt prior to cooking. I'll also buy fresh dill...the bottled stuff really doesn't taste like much in the sauce. Pretty disappointing compared to the rosemary sauce I made earlier this week with fresh rosemary.
 
I wanna cook beef pot roast in my slow cooker but a lot of the recipes i've found look kinda meh and i really like experimenting with food.

so any of you guys have interesting beef pot roast recipes to share?

I love cooking pot roast and try tons of diff recipes. The best one I have tried was Paula deans it has cream of mushroom in it and added a nice taste to the dish.
 
Hello Cook-GAF. I'm a huge lurker of this thread and have been inspired by many of the postings in here. I have a request though.
Does anyone have a good recipe for Cuban Corn?
 
Bought this:

Made this:

Inna bowl:

So tender you can cut it with chopsticks.

Easily the best $20 I ever spent

Nice! We own all of Dunlap's China books including the new Every Grain of Rice. I think my favorite is probably Every Grain of Rice because it's more home-style cooking. Definitely get that if you enjoy Land of Plenty even though some recipes are really similar.
 

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
Made breakfast in bed today - American style fluffy blueberry pancake stack with maple syrup, blueberries, and blueberry flavoured whipped cream.



The blueberry cream turned out pretty good. I just mixed the spare blueberry juice I had from defrosting berries for this and the muffins from a couple of days ago which I saved into the cream before whipping it. Probably 3 or 4 parts cream to 1 part juice. Threw in some Splenda to sweeten it up a little too. Quite an intense, but smooth and slightly sweet blueberry flavour.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I've got the book and really like what I've tried out of it, which recipe is that?
That is Red Braised Beef with White Radish (Hong Shao Niu Rou) although I didn't put any radish in mine. If you have access to whole pork belly slabs, however, I highly recommend Red Braised Pork (Hong Shao Rou), which is very much the superior dish.
 
That is Red Braised Beef with White Radish (Hong Shao Niu Rou) although I didn't put any radish in mine. If you have access to whole pork belly slabs, however, I highly recommend Raid Braised Pork (Hong Shao Rou), which is very much the superior dish.

Oh no! You *must* put in radish. It gives such a great flavor to the whole dish, and soaks up the meaty flavor of the beef and sauce. I love the radish pieces in dishes like these. More than the meat even. You can also add radish AND carrot if you're feeling adventurous.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I wasn't planning to make the beef version (wanted to do the pork version but no pork belly), I only switched at the last second because Dunlop pointed to a Red Braised recipe that uses short ribs (which is what I bought).
 

ShinAmano

Member
beef brisket done with cream of mushroom soup and onions is one of the greatest things ever.

That does sound tasty...andthing else besides adding it all to a crock pot?

Also I promise I will get a couple of pictures of my cooks from the weekedn and the 4th up soon. (Bunch of sausages and a Boston Butt)
 

Zyzyxxz

Member
Gah I was too busy to take pics of my 4th of July bbq but at least my cousin got one.

I borrowed a skewer grill and made some yakitori and burgers on this:
7509166794_4eb13b4ff0_c.jpg


I'm thinking about trying to make tonkotsu ramen - has anyone tried the serious eats recipe?

Any tips for making the broth?

What about ramen? Attempt to make my own?

Tried it, burned it a little bit. Was somewhat disappointed.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I got a small 1lb beef brisket piece...what should I do with it?

Ended up searing it on both sides, then putting it in the over at 250F over a bed of chopped onions and carrots with a bit of beer. Turned out pretty damned well.

I might try making a dry rub for it next time. What would be good for that?
 
3e2OO.jpg


A much needed nice meal.

Cheese: Karoun Nablusi First cheese ever that deals in part with carraway seeds, but I'm OK with this. Browns in place on the quick side not unlike toasting a marshmallow, smells nice, none too oily, and has a pleasant chewy/springy sort of consistency as far as texture goes while not gripping the sauce in the slightest.

Crumble: Simple 7 Spicy Chili Pepper Hummus Chips So damn good and oddly shaped into sort of little mini half ovals not unlike footballs. Smoky/spicy and as with the Bruschetta I could easily slip up and probably devour an entire bag at once before I'd even realized what transpired.
 
That's some nice color.

Recipe?

This is the marinade for 2 lbs of boneless chicken breast.

1 cup yogurt
1 cup chopped coriander
4 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (or 2 ginger paste + 2 garlic paste)
2 teaspoons ground pepper
3 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 tablespoons garam masala
0.5 teaspoon red food colouring (I understand people use saffron for the colour but I couldn't find any so went ahead and used food colouring.)

Mix all of that and taste it to make sure you are OK with the flavour. Add in cubed chicken and marinate overnight.

For cooking, soak wooden skewers in water for 20-30 mins and then put the marinated chicken pieces on them. Pre-heat oven to 400F and place the skewers on the grill directly. (Place a large pan on the lower rack to catch anything that falls). My oven is a bit weird, so I had to cook it for 16 minutes (I rotated the skewers at the half-way point). If you know your oven thermostat/temperature setting is accurate, I would suggest 12 minutes of cooking and then check if they are done.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
This is the marinade for 2 lbs of boneless chicken breast.

1 cup yogurt
1 cup chopped coriander
4 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (or 2 ginger paste + 2 garlic paste)
2 teaspoons ground pepper
2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 tablespoons garam masala
0.5 teaspoon red food colouring (I understand people use saffron for the colour but I couldn't find any so went ahead and used food colouring.)

Mix all of that and taste it to make sure you are OK with the flavour. Add in cubed chicken and marinate overnight.

For cooking, soak wooden skewers in water for 20-30 mins and then put. Pre-heat oven to 400F and place the skewers on the grill directly. (Place a large pan on the lower rack to catch anything that falls). My oven is a bit weird, so I had to cook it for 16 minutes (I rotated the skeweres at the half-way point). If you know your oven is more accurate, I would suggest 12 minutes of cooking and then check if they are done.

This sounds great for chicken breasts for my weeknight meals, think I could leave chicken in the marinade all week?
 
This sounds great for chicken breasts for my weeknight meals, think I could leave chicken in the marinade all week?

Am not sure because I never freeze my marinating chicken. Might the chicken get mushy?

(Also, I had gotten a couple of measurements wrong in my initial post, have corrected them now).
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
So close, yet so far.
Shui Zhu Niu Rou aka Beef Boiled in Fiery Sauce. My latest attempt is a lot closer to the one I grew up with but still a ways off, namely, the color of the beef is wrong (and so is the shape, which I think is caused by the slices being too thick), and it's not nearly spicy enough. The heat level I can fix just by adding more dried chili, but I am at a loss, however, as to fixing the color. It should be a nice dark caramel brown instead of the boring grey-brown of boiled meat.

What it should look like:

Also what's with the price of flank steak? $10/lb at Wegmans, ridiculous.
 
This is the marinade for 2 lbs of boneless chicken breast.

1 cup yogurt
1 cup chopped coriander
4 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (or 2 ginger paste + 2 garlic paste)
2 teaspoons ground pepper
3 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 tablespoons garam masala
0.5 teaspoon red food colouring (I understand people use saffron for the colour but I couldn't find any so went ahead and used food colouring.)

Mix all of that and taste it to make sure you are OK with the flavour. Add in cubed chicken and marinate overnight.

For cooking, soak wooden skewers in water for 20-30 mins and then put the marinated chicken pieces on them. Pre-heat oven to 400F and place the skewers on the grill directly. (Place a large pan on the lower rack to catch anything that falls). My oven is a bit weird, so I had to cook it for 16 minutes (I rotated the skewers at the half-way point). If you know your oven thermostat/temperature setting is accurate, I would suggest 12 minutes of cooking and then check if they are done.

Apart from food coloring pretty similar to my recipe except I use Kashmiri Chili Powder instead of Cayenne. Going to try Cayenne next time

Did not know about putting the skewers directly on oven, I use a kabob apparatus, going to try the direct method next time.

Do you poke holes in your kitchen to help it get more marinade flavor?
 

luoapp

Member
So close, yet so far.

Shui Zhu Niu Rou aka Beef Boiled in Fiery Sauce. My latest attempt is a lot closer to the one I grew up with but still a ways off, namely, the color of the beef is wrong (and so is the shape, which I think is caused by the slices being too thick), and it's not nearly spicy enough. The heat level I can fix just by adding more dried chili, but I am at a loss, however, as to fixing the color. It should be a nice dark caramel brown instead of the boring grey-brown of boiled meat.

What it should look like:


Also what's with the price of flank steak? $10/lb at Wegmans, ridiculous.

I guess I can share some secrets of Shui Zhu. You need two things to make it work.

1. The beef: if you can find a Korean supermarket nearby ( we have an H-mart here), go there and buy "marinated sliced rib eye ". Usually cost you about 4.99~5.99/lb, much better than anything you can get from any American supermarket or Chinese supermarket.

2. The secret ingredient for that particular color: that's spicy "Doubanjiang" - fermented soybean paste mixed with spices and hot pepper. It's too much work to make your own. I will just go to a Chinese supermarket to buy a Shui Zhu Niu Rou pouch, which contains all most everything.

So basically, if you can't find these two things, really not worth trying, IMHO.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Oh I use Dou Ba Jiang, but I'll try marinating the beef beforehand since I don't have access to a korean grocers.
 

luoapp

Member
Oh I use Dou Ba Jiang, but I'll try marinating the beef beforehand since I don't have access to a korean grocers.

Are you using the "Pi Xian" Dou Ban Jiang? That's the one a real Chuan Cai cook uses. Another trick to make the beef tender: mix it with some starch before put into the broth.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Are you using the "Pi Xian" Dou Ban Jiang? That's the one a real Chuan Cai cook uses. Another trick to make the beef tender: mix it with some starch before put into the broth.
No, I use Lee Kum Lee (I know, I know) because that's all I could find (my means of transportation are limited and therefore so are my grocery options). I assume you're referring to this?
I'll ask my parents to pick up a bottle the next time they go to an Asian grocer's and send it to me.

I also do the starch thing although I think this time I added too much starch, I'm not used to the sauce being gravy like.

Do you happen to know what kind of marinade that korean beef uses? If it's a typical galbi marinade I think I can duplicate it.
 
^--- Not bad for a first try with shui zhu niu rou! Whenever I've had it at restaurants it was SUPER oily, so maybe you need to add a crap-ton more oil when you're also stir frying the dou ban jiang. They might as well call it you zhu niu rou (oil cooked instead of water-cooked.)
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Possibly! I try to cut back on oil when I cook for myself but I do remember there being at least half a centimeter of vivid red oil when I eat it at restaurants.
 

Zyzyxxz

Member
Oh I use Dou Ba Jiang, but I'll try marinating the beef beforehand since I don't have access to a korean grocers.

Do you have access to any Asian grocer? Even Chinese, Japanese, and probably Vietnamese will have thinly sliced ribeye beef that will be far better than flank.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I do, but I haven't been there before. It's a really long walk from the bus stop and in this weather...

I may try tomorrow but it's not something I'm looking forward to.

Why ribeye exactly? I thought shui zhu niu rou is usually made with lean meat?
 

Zyzyxxz

Member
I do, but I haven't been there before. It's a really long walk from the bus stop and in this weather...

I may try tomorrow but it's not something I'm looking forward to.

Why ribeye exactly? I thought shui zhu niu rou is usually made with lean meat?

Well doesn't matter what cut but you need thinly sliced meat because unless you have access to a high power burner and can wok it the right way it won't cook fast enough to get a good maillard reaction so thinner beef is what you need.

Normally Asian markets may have ultra thin sliced ribeye, chuck, or eye of round.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I see. Later today I'll visit the Asian grocer's near me and see what I can get.

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
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