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[Cosmic Bus]

right... but im not making the burger right now.

i just wanna try something fun/wacky, is that so bad?

Hey now, I'm just trying to offer up some perspective here.

I'm of the mindset that if you're prioritizing being lazy and/or cutting corners, then stay the hell out of the kitchen and let someone else cook.

For the sake of your theoretical hamburger, though, you can do eggs on the grill by making a little double layer tin foil "pan" and spray it with some Pam or whatever -- THIS WILL TAKE AS LONG AS WASHING A PAN, MIND YOU. Use indirect heat.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Hey now, I'm just trying to offer up some perspective here.

I'm of the mindset that if you're prioritizing being lazy and/or cutting corners, then stay the hell out of the kitchen and let someone else cook.

For the sake of your theoretical hamburger, though, you can do eggs on the grill by making a little double layer tin foil "pan" and spray it with some Pam or whatever -- THIS WILL TAKE AS LONG AS WASHING A PAN, MIND YOU. Use indirect heat.

Well there is civilian cooking and professional cooking, can't fault the civies for being lazy.

 

[Esch]

yeah i figured a makeshift pan with foil might do the trick

thx cosmic bus

 

[Haly]

Buy one of those 3 inch pans, perfect size for a single egg and all you have to do just just once over with a sponge. Maybe not even that if you eschew the oil.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Terrible nigh irongaf. Was making a delicious looking asparagus and pasta dinner and I burned myself on the skillet causing the pasta to get over cooked in the pot. All around disaster. But dinner last night was good!

Why are your toes next to the plate? lol

 

[Gila]

Anyone try and make their own version of ramen?

 

[joe2187]

Well the restaurant I've been working at for the past 2 months has finally opened this week and the reviews seem to be very positive so far, this is good for a recent opening...we've had some fumbles with front of house but everything so far has went better than expected.

Here are some of the dishes we serve. (photos taken off or sites that reviewed us, I'm never able to take pictures when I'm working)

Arancini - Lobster rissotto balls filled with mozzerella and lobster, breaded and fried, pickled fennel and lemon aioli

Bistecca - Wood grilled Wagyu steak, crispy honey onions, a "salsa verde" (more of a pesto really) and a BBQ suace made solely from oven roasted porcini mushrooms

Veggie Lasagna - All the vegetables are wood grilled, all the pasta is made fresh by hand daily and we make goats milk ricotta in house every day as well

Polipo - Wood grilled baby octopus served on top of a potato torta (it's fancy looking hash brown) and sweet tomato oil

Barbiatole - Roasted (smoked) baby beets, Saba (sort of like a fancy grape juice) grilled treviso and our house made ricotta

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Well the restaurant I've been working at for the past 2 months has finally opened this week and the reviews seem to be very positive so far, this is good for a recent opening...we've had some fumbles with front of house but everything so far has went better than expected.

Everything looks great! What city are you in? I'd love to check it out if its local.

 

[nakedsushi]

Anyone try and make their own version of ramen?

Do you mean the broth only, or broth and soup? I've made my own noodle soup including broth from scratch and hand-made noodles. It's not as hard as you'd think, but I made a vegetarian broth, so maybe a pork broth is harder.

Some new work photos:

our house burger, I keeps it simple California style with guacamole, cheddar, bacon, and mizuna for that Asian influence sandwiched inside a King Hawaiians bun.

Yum looks great! You're making my attempt at being pescatarian very difficult.

Hey gaf... Just moved into a new house with an awesome kitchen and wanna do it right with good cookware. Do any of you amazing home cooks have recommendations for what's a good pan set? Or is it better to buy every pot and pan separately? Willing to spend up to around $500. Also same question for knives... up to $250 for a set of good knives. We can move the budget up a bit if you think there is value in it.

Say NO to sets! It's such a lazyman's waste of money.

Pots and pans:
You don't really need one of those 16+ piece pot and pan set. All you really need is:

- 9qt pot & lid (for boiling pasta water and stocks)
- 4qt regular pot & lid (for normal soups and sauces)
- a decent skillet (cast iron works great -- all your pan-fry needs)
- and maybe if you do a lot of stews and braises, a enameled cast iron dutch oven.

If you cook a lot of chinese food, a nice carbon steel wok would be nice too, but based on your kitchen setup (no crazy exhaust fan over the stove) I'm guessing you won't be cooking a lot of Chinese food.

Knives:

Also Say NO to sets! They're mostly crappy anyway. What you need to get started:

- a decent 8-9" chef's knife. This is your workhorse. You should get this in store so you can test out the grip and weight. Sur la Table has decent knives and sometimes they go on sale. I'd recommend the Shin brands.

- 2 paring knives for cutting fruit and smaller knife work.

- a vegetable peeler (I like the vertical double-edged ones from Chinese markets. Sharp as heck and you can use both sides. But also pretty dangerous if you're not good with a knife.)

- a serrated knife for bread (or tomatoes if your chef knife is crappy and dull)

I'd spend the most on the chef's knife because it's the knife you'll be using most of the time. Get cheap pairing and serrated knives because you'll be tossing them in a year or two anyway since they're hard to sharpen and easier to replace than sharpen.

Veggie Lasagna - All the vegetables are wood grilled, all the pasta is made fresh by hand daily and we make goats milk ricotta in house every day as well

Looks great! I love a good lasagna that isn't drowning in red sauce.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Yum looks great! You're making my attempt at being pescatarian very difficult.
.

You're pescatarian now? Well I can't do seafood until business picks up and we make some money so we can redo the interior to make it more of a gastropub format for the earlier hours. I really want to work with small and sustainable fish like mackerel when the time comes.

 

[thespot84]

You're pescatarian now? Well I can't do seafood until business picks up and we make some money so we can redo the interior to make it more of a gastropub format for the earlier hours. I really want to work with small and sustainable fish like mackerel when the time comes.

check out sardines as well. Very sustainable and not too fishy

 

[Datwheezy]

Some new work photos:

our house burger, I keeps it simple California style with guacamole, cheddar, bacon, and mizuna for that Asian influence sandwiched inside a King Hawaiians bun.

Twice fried wings in a chili honey sauce

Kurobuta wiener corn dogs.

Good god. I'll be stopping by for sure during August when I am in town.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Good god. I'll be stopping by for sure during August when I am in town.

Coolio, hope to see you!

check out sardines as well. Very sustainable and not too fishy

Yup definitely want to work with sardines but didn't bother to mention them.

 

[LandawgDew]

I'm a brand new member and I just found this thread. Looking forward to trying some of the things that have been posted in the past and maybe I will even post some pictures of the things that I make as well.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Veggie Lasagna - All the vegetables are wood grilled, all the pasta is made fresh by hand daily and we make goats milk ricotta in house every day as well

This looks so good.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Sunday night supper, decided to cook some fish and try a recipe from the Uchi cookbook:

cured and marinated mackerel:

First coat the flesh side in salt and rinse after 30 minutes.

Cover with konbu (dried kelp) and rice vinegar:

Peel off the outer skin (I didn't know it had an outer skin until I read the book)

Score it lightly, not too deep and sear it skin side down:

Unfortunately no finished product pics but you get the gist.

For lunch today decided to test out ground American wagyu beef was a bit disappointed, the 27% fat beef you can get from Walmart is better. It was topped with a slice of cheddar cheese, fried egg, and packaged (I may cook for a living but I get lazy too!) keema curry sauce with some onions.

 

[thespot84]

For lunch today decided to test out ground American wagyu beef was a bit disappointed, the 27% fat beef you can get from Walmart is better. It was topped with a slice of cheddar cheese, fried egg, and packaged (I may cook for a living but I get lazy too!) keema curry sauce with some onions.

Given that wagyu's value comes from its marbling, and that ground beef is marbled to a specification, ground wagyu never really made any sense to me...

Also, for the fish, do you find mackerel fishy? I'm only judging based off of mackerel I've had in sushi, it seemed much fishier than everything else.

 

[nakedsushi]

Sunday night supper, decided to cook some fish and try a recipe from the Uchi cookbook:

cured and marinated mackerel:

First coat the flesh side in salt and rinse after 30 minutes.

Yum, I love mackerel and all sorts of oily fish. Mitsuwa carries pre-marinated mackerel in these vacuum sealed sleeves and it is delicious!

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Given that wagyu's value comes from its marbling, and that ground beef is marbled to a specification, ground wagyu never really made any sense to me...

Also, for the fish, do you find mackerel fishy? I'm only judging based off of mackerel I've had in sushi, it seemed much fishier than everything else.

Yeah but I couldn't resist since it was only $8/lb and I wanted to work with it. It truly is a waste of American wagyu beef. Well live and learn.

As for mackerel yup it is fishy but I don't mind because I am Asian. It's an acquired taste though and one worth acquiring because it's just so good when broiled/grilled properly.

 

[joe2187]

Everything looks great! What city are you in? I'd love to check it out if its local.

We are located in Southern California, Pasadena http://trattorianeapolis.com/

This looks so good.

I'm surprised, this is one of the most simple dishes to make and it's pretty popular so far.

 

[TheExodu5]

Get a few cast iron pans. Better than any other cookware.

I'm partial to De Buyer (carbon steel) vs. cast iron, personally. I prefer the shape and the look of the pan, aesthetically. Otherwise, it's pretty much identical to cast iron.

Just letting you know the option is out there.

 

[nakedsushi]

We are located in Southern California, Pasadena http://trattorianeapolis.com/
I'm surprised, this is one of the most simple dishes to make and it's pretty popular so far.

Oh funny! I was just about to go there this weekend but got scared off by opening-weekend crowds. I'm looking forward to another great place in Pasadena. The place was such a culinary wasteland.

Question about your menu: what's vegan there? I'm assuming the pizzas without cheese and and meat are pretty vegan? Probably not pasta b/c of egg...but what else?


Made a quick dinner tonight:

Pasta with pesto and zucchini and purslane. The zucchinis were from my garden. For some reason I never want to cook zucchini even though it always ends up tasting good cooked. This was my first time cooking purslane, so I just sauteed it up with zukes and garlic and olive oil. Came out great!

 

[Keen]

Making Bacon jam now, gonna be intersting to see whether it's edible at all! Done in 45

 

[Mario]

Dinner from a couple of nights ago - filet steak with béarnaise sauce and sweet roasted beetroot

The steak looks a lot rarer than it was (was a perfect medium rare) as I pumped up the red a little in the photo to bring out the colour of the beetroot a little more (got to get handier with Photoshop masking tools).

 

[Like the hat?]

cast iron is great for getting hot and staying hot. great for searing meat because it holds in the heat so well

 

[GoodMorning]

Some stuff from work (I did not prepare any of this, I'm just a mere kitchen assistant in the process of learning some things from a very very talented man)
Black Drum

Dessert we've been doing lately

 

[Yes Boss!]

Have not ccoked in about two years but this week I'm in San Francisco and Orange County so I'm cooking a bit.

Brother got a crazy $1000 vacuum sealer so I made pickled carrots in about 5 minutes...pretty crazy tech. Guess he is using it for sous-vide cooking:

Also, made Nutty Bar ice cream. Chock-full of awesome crumbled Nutty Bar:

And tonight made carnitas. Boiled then broiled in its own reduced citrus-fat cooking sauce. Also, beans and rice:

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Damn those Carnitas look amazing

Damn

 

[TheExodu5]

Carnitas look delicious.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

And tonight made carnitas. Boiled then broiled in its own reduced citrus-fat cooking sauce. Also, beans and rice:

Looks great. Recipe?

 

[Yes Boss!]

Looks great. Recipe?

No real recipe. This is how I do it:

Take lean liberally salted pork shoulder (with a little fat on it) and fry it up in grapeseed oil till browned all around.

Remove pork and reserve.

Pour a few cups of water in pan and bring to a boil to get all the flavor that was stuck.

Then put the meat back it and add chopped orange, lime, onion, red pepper a smidge of vinegar, a cinnamon stick, red pepper, some guajillo chilis, a couple of bay leaves. Add more water to cover just to the top of the pork.

Bring to boil on the stove-top then put in the oven covered at 350 degrees for about three hours.

Remove from oven, and remove pork to a tray.

Strain all the liquid through a chinese hat.

Return liquid to the pan, add a scoop or two of brown sugar or jaggery and rapidly reduce the entire volume till it becomes a dark-brown viscous glaze.

Pour the glaze over the reserved meat to coat all sides.

Place the meat under the broiler and blast it till it gets nice and crispy, flip the meat and blast it again.

Serve it with cilantro, red onion, tomatillo sauce on heated corn tortillas!

 

[RatskyWatsky]

No real recipe. This is how I do it:

Take lean liberally salted pork shoulder (with a little fat on it) and fry it up in grapeseed oil till browned all around.

Remove pork and reserve.

Pour a few cups of water in pan and bring to a boil to get all the flavor that was stuck.

Then put the meat back it and add chopped orange, lime, onion, red pepper a smidge of vinegar, a cinnamon stick, red pepper, some guajillo chilis, a couple of bay leaves. Add more water to cover just to the top of the pork.

Bring to boil on the stove-top then put in the oven covered at 350 degrees for about three hours.

Remove from oven, and remove pork to a tray.

Strain all the liquid through a chinese hat.

Return liquid to the pan, add a scoop or two of brown sugar or jaggery and rapidly reduce the entire volume till it becomes a dark-brown viscous glaze.

Pour the glaze over the reserved meat to coat all sides.

Place the meat under the broiler and blast it till it gets nice and crispy, flip the meat and blast it again.

Serve it with cilantro, red onion, tomatillo sauce on heated corn tortillas!

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Stinkles]

No real recipe. This is how I do it:

Take lean liberally salted pork shoulder (with a little fat on it) and fry it up in grapeseed oil till browned all around.

Remove pork and reserve.

Pour a few cups of water in pan and bring to a boil to get all the flavor that was stuck.

Then put the meat back it and add chopped orange, lime, onion, red pepper a smidge of vinegar, a cinnamon stick, red pepper, some guajillo chilis, a couple of bay leaves. Add more water to cover just to the top of the pork.

Bring to boil on the stove-top then put in the oven covered at 350 degrees for about three hours.

Remove from oven, and remove pork to a tray.

Strain all the liquid through a chinese hat.

Return liquid to the pan, add a scoop or two of brown sugar or jaggery and rapidly reduce the entire volume till it becomes a dark-brown viscous glaze.

Pour the glaze over the reserved meat to coat all sides.

Place the meat under the broiler and blast it till it gets nice and crispy, flip the meat and blast it again.

Serve it with cilantro, red onion, tomatillo sauce on heated corn tortillas!

This is still a recipe, by any definition, but I know what you mean, this is how I cook, I have a rough idea and I tinker with it, based on how I feel and what's fresh, or in the house. I just got my chili recipe published in a cookbook, and the truth is it is really a snapshot combination of a multitude of variations.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

And tonight made carnitas. Boiled then broiled in its own reduced citrus-fat cooking sauce. Also, beans and rice:

omg

 

[Yes Boss!]

This is still a recipe, by any definition, but I know what you mean, this is how I cook, I have a rough idea and I tinker with it, based on how I feel and what's fresh, or in the house. I just got my chili recipe published in a cookbook, and the truth is it is really a snapshot combination of a multitude of variations.

Yeah, know what you mean.

In this case there is a bunch of latitude. I started with 7 pounds of pork and just added enough stuff to get it all working. Sometimes I put oregano and other spices or even a can of hot mexican tomato sauce. Ultimately it works no matter what you use since it is just going to be fat-glazed and broiled meat at the end. Spice it how you like, but the citrus is paramount.

A good way to get a healthier and tasty carnitas without deep-frying the meat in lard. I did that last week and added a bottle of mexican coke into the lard at the end. Definitely a different product but not as healthy:

 

[joe2187]

Oh funny! I was just about to go there this weekend but got scared off by opening-weekend crowds. I'm looking forward to another great place in Pasadena. The place was such a culinary wasteland.

Question about your menu: what's vegan there? I'm assuming the pizzas without cheese and and meat are pretty vegan? Probably not pasta b/c of egg...but what else?

Well, we dont really specialize in Vegan food, and most of all are dishes are made with more than a few animal product components, HOWEVER 3 of our chefs work at the REAL FOOD DAILY that just opened up prior to us just across the street and they specialize in nothing but fresh vegan food, I would def reccomend it.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

I'm surprised, this is one of the most simple dishes to make and it's pretty popular so far.

It almost looks like you've layered the lasagna post-cooking of all the components.

 

[joe2187]

We make it post service, then cut up the serving sizes and wrap each piece in wax paper and store it in the walk in and we cook to order, if there is any leftover after service, it's breakfast for me or the rest the next morning, we make it fresh daily.

 

[nakedsushi]

Well, we dont really specialize in Vegan food, and most of all are dishes are made with more than a few animal product components, HOWEVER 3 of our chefs work at the REAL FOOD DAILY that just opened up prior to us just across the street and they specialize in nothing but fresh vegan food, I would def reccomend it.

Ah that's a shame. I wanted to take my husband there but he doesn't eat animal products. I am not a fan of Real Food Daily at all. I've been to the SaMo and Hollywood ones and they're just kinda blah. And they've gotten so expensive now even after cutting the portion sizes down. Haven't gone to the Pasadena one, but my husband likes it.

Not cooked, but had pan fried pork dumplings for lunch (for research!) today at a Chinese restaurant near my house. Was very, very good and juicy. I love the home-made wrapper too because the extra juicy filling definitely needed a solid wrapper to balance it out.

 

[Talon]

Dumpling wrappers are easy to make but time consuming. I remember my grandma and mom would rope me in around New Years every year to make dumplings, and it took just as long to make the wrappers as it did to fill them in.

I've had few ill effects buying the wrappers from stores.

 

[beelzebozo]

been really into making FALAFEL lately, but need some advice w/r/t moisture of sandwich.

the falafel itself is great, but obviously not way moist by its very nature (not super dry or anything, just not gushing); this, obviously, puts the sandwich at risk of being a little dessicated. i put in fresh cucumber, sliced grape tomato, red onion, some edamame hummus i spread on the inside of the pita, and topped it with some kalamata olives. also ended up dabbing a bit of greek yogurt on top.

still, with this it was not quite saucy enough. any advice on how to bump up the sauciness?

i'm thinking i might take something crunchy like red cabbage and make a quick slaw with the greek yogurt, then disperse that through the sandwich in order to make sure the whole thing is nice and juicy; alternately, i've considered taking the fried falafel and rolling them in something saucy, but am afraid this may rob me of the delicious exterior crust. i guess i could just throw together a tzatziki and plop that in the pita, but i worry about distribution.

does anybody make falafel? are you familiar? what do you do, typically?

 

[SquiddyCracker]

been really into making FALAFEL lately, but need some advice w/r/t moisture of sandwich.

the falafel itself is great, but obviously not way moist by its very nature (not super dry or anything, just not gushing); this, obviously, puts the sandwich at risk of being a little dessicated. i put in fresh cucumber, sliced grape tomato, red onion, some edamame hummus i spread on the inside of the pita, and topped it with some kalamata olives. also ended up dabbing a bit of greek yogurt on top.

still, with this it was not quite saucy enough. any advice on how to bump up the sauciness?

i'm thinking i might take something crunchy like red cabbage and make a quick slaw with the greek yogurt, then disperse that through the sandwich in order to make sure the whole thing is nice and juicy; alternately, i've considered taking the fried falafel and rolling them in something saucy, but am afraid this may rob me of the delicious exterior crust. i guess i could just throw together a tzatziki and plop that in the pita, but i worry about distribution.

does anybody make falafel? are you familiar? what do you do, typically?

I love falafels with a chili-tomato salsa, which I just throw onto the falafel before packing it with tomatoes, pickled vegetables, chilis, and some tzatziki.
If you're worried about the tzatziki getting all over the place you could make it with really thick yoghurt (10% fat), to make it a lot sturdier while still retaining that extra "juicy"-factor.

 

[TheExodu5]

been really into making FALAFEL lately, but need some advice w/r/t moisture of sandwich.

the falafel itself is great, but obviously not way moist by its very nature (not super dry or anything, just not gushing); this, obviously, puts the sandwich at risk of being a little dessicated. i put in fresh cucumber, sliced grape tomato, red onion, some edamame hummus i spread on the inside of the pita, and topped it with some kalamata olives. also ended up dabbing a bit of greek yogurt on top.

still, with this it was not quite saucy enough. any advice on how to bump up the sauciness?

i'm thinking i might take something crunchy like red cabbage and make a quick slaw with the greek yogurt, then disperse that through the sandwich in order to make sure the whole thing is nice and juicy; alternately, i've considered taking the fried falafel and rolling them in something saucy, but am afraid this may rob me of the delicious exterior crust. i guess i could just throw together a tzatziki and plop that in the pita, but i worry about distribution.

does anybody make falafel? are you familiar? what do you do, typically?

In Ottawa, Lebanese shawarma joints normally put sesame sauce on falafel.

Could be something like this:
http://mideastfood.about.com/od/dipsandsauces/r/tahinisauce.htm

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Dumpling wrappers are easy to make but time consuming. I remember my grandma and mom would rope me in around New Years every year to make dumplings, and it took just as long to make the wrappers as it did to fill them in.

I've had few ill effects buying the wrappers from stores.

It's one of those things that is better to buy than make yourself such as puff pastry.

 

[Haly]

Dumpling filling is total nostalgia fodder.

Good times.

 

[Corto]

Oven roasted cod with baba ghanoush covered toast and tomato salad with parsley. Yam yam

I didn't have tahini so i cheated with freshly roasted pine nuts paste instead of sesame seeds with the baba ghanoush. Gave it a really nice strong nutty flavor.

 

[nakedsushi]

Oven roasted cod with baba ghanoush covered toast and tomato salad with parsley. Yam yam

I didn't have tahini so i cheated with freshly roasted pine nuts paste instead of sesame seeds with the baba ghanoush. Gave it a really nice strong nutty flavor.

Looks great. That fish looks delicious. I've never successfully made baba ghanoush. I always end up eating the eggplant straight after roasting =( I can't resist!

 

[Corto]

Looks great. That fish looks delicious. I've never successfully made baba ghanoush. I always end up eating the eggplant straight after roasting =( I can't resist!

I had to bit my lip. hehehehe But I now have baba for a few days, which is nice.

 

[beelzebozo]

made a cast iron pizza tonight with roasted pineapple, banana pepper, mozz, romano, fresh red sauce, thyme and basil. did a parmesan ring around the crust by the cast iron pan to get the dark edges, which is something i stole from pequod's in chicago. i'm not sure how aesthetically pleasing this is or if it captures the majesty of the pie, but it was delicious enough that i felt compelled to share.

also recently had a little july 4th pizza party, where i made these

apologies to anyone who finds it unpleasant to zoom that close in on my big ol' dumb face

 

[nakedsushi]

made a cast iron pizza tonight with roasted pineapple, banana pepper, mozz, romano, fresh red sauce, thyme and basil. did a parmesan ring around the crust by the cast iron pan to get the dark edges, which is something i stole from pequod's in chicago. i'm not sure how aesthetically pleasing this is or if it captures the majesty of the pie, but it was delicious enough that i felt compelled to share.


also recently had a little july 4th pizza party, where i made these


apologies to anyone who finds it unpleasant to zoom that close in on my big ol' dumb face

Great looking pizzas. Do you shape the dough in the cast iron pan, kind of like Chicago deep dish? I always have a problem with pizza dough not fitting into my pan when I try to do cast iron pan pizza.