What did I cook this weekend.....

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Carne en su jugo
PXL_20211110_035345228.jpg
 
This one fits perfectly on a 22" kettle grill, which is how I heat mine:

Learn more: Amazon.com: Garcima 20-Inch Carbon Steel Paella Pan, 50 cm: Home & Kitchen
How many servings would you guess you get out of a 20"? I may need a 20" and a smaller like 14" depending on if it's just my wife and I or if kids and grandkids will be here too!

As an aside, there is a winery here in town that does paella periodically for a crowd and I believe their pan and special gas burner are about 45", and at a street fair thing in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK one time in front of my hotel they had a pan going that was at least 60"!!
 
How many servings would you guess you get out of a 20"? I may need a 20" and a smaller like 14" depending on if it's just my wife and I or if kids and grandkids will be here too!

As an aside, there is a winery here in town that does paella periodically for a crowd and I believe their pan and special gas burner are about 45", and at a street fair thing in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK one time in front of my hotel they had a pan going that was at least 60"!!

We had 6 adults that night and only ate through half of it. One of those adults is my oldest son, and he's a shoveler :( So, I'd say you could serve up to 10.
 
Looks good, Hoppy.
Speaking of curry, I'm really new at it. I was a given a recipe and it's very good. But I was wondering if anyone here would add/subtract from the below:
2 Onion, minced
2T garlic, minced, heaping
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cans tomato sauce (could use canned diced tomatoes)
6T rounded, curry powder
4 cans coconut milk
4T fish sauce
1 lime, juiced
2t sugar
½ t cayenne pepper

Heat oil to sizzling. Add onion. Cook a few minutes then add garlic and a little S&P. Once translucent (six minutes) add the tomato and curry powder. Cook for two minutes. Add milk. Boil and then simmer for twenty minutes. Remove from heat, add fish sauce, lime, sugar and cayenne.
 
Tested a couple variations of air frying cod in my new Cuisinart TOA-60. Dredge in potato starch, dip in a beaten egg and then corn meal/onion powder/black pepper/paprika turned out to be the winner. Ate it with a blend of tartar/yum yum sauce/dash of Linghams and hot sauce mixed together.

About 15min total cook time for fresh not frozen at 350F. Spray each side with organic avocado oil before cooking.
2s8Ywvx.jpg

RdWObiW.jpg
 
The biggest question for me is what kind of curry powder?
Politics aside… Indian Curries 8 Jar Gift Pack
I just get a huge jar of Vadouvan for my all around powder. I like the one myspicesage sells better because it has no salt added but this one on Amazon dont taste salty to me. Works really well for Caribbean curries imo. With or without coconut milk. Im rather partial to with.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FA248EM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This one is good too.
https://www.myspicesage.com/products/vadouvan-curry-spice
Both are really mild so they will need some chile powder added and finish with Raja's Garam Masala. Ive tried several and i really like this one the best.
https://www.amazon.com/Rajah-Garam-Masala-100g-Unit/dp/B00E5XM6WSIngredients: Ground Coriander, Ground Ginger, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Cumin, Ground Black Pepper, Ground Pimento, Ground Cardamom, Ground Clove, Ground Bay, Ground Cassia , Ground Nutmeg
 
You can buy curry pastes too - if you like it spicy, Vindaloo curry paste is really good stuff. My favorite powder is garam masala but even that is subject to a lot of interpretation - some are cumin-heavy, some are cinnamon-heavy, I like one in the middle.

This is the one I usually buy for vindaloo - Patak's makes all kinds of good stuff though, easier than starting from scratch:

7746398F-0FC5-48AC-A85B-F03212B52EFA_4_5005_c.jpeg
 
I'll look around for something that might be a little toned down because, as I said, the flavor is out of this world. I prefer a hot spice up to, but not beyond, where it makes you a little warm and you can tell it's spicy-hot but you don't need to drink liquid to ward off the heat.
My brothers are the opposite. They seem to enjoy the pain from the super-hot spices.
We cooked some deep-red peppers from a friend who's an Asian chef. She said they were hot so I thought charring/sautéing them would alleviate the heat. I basically created tear gas in my kitchen. My wife in I were in a sorry state for an hour--couldn't stop coughing, lips and eyes burning/watering. Oh, what a sight.
 
Last edited:
Every year i suffer a little dehydrating super hot peppers. In a mild curry you only need a few halves of these dried pods to take mild to nearly wild. I dont even grind them up because the dust is brutal. Have to grind outside or wear a respirator mask. So you just drop however many dried halves you want into a milder curry and keep tasting it. Remove them if needed when its hot enough.

I did this with ramen one day. Took a bowl of mild ramen and dropped a piece of a dried scorpion pod in it. That damn bowl was like fire within a minute :D

I give a lot of my extra dried and sometimes fresh pods to my fave Indian restaurant. This is one of the few in town that dont whimp out on the heat to cater to "western tolerance" levels. They have a large Indian community nearby so they make lots of stuff pretty freaking spicy. Their goat curry even lights me up pretty hard. For Indian and Caribbean curries some of these super hots give you just the right flavor too. You get a hint of that "chinense funk" smell.
 
You can buy curry pastes too - if you like it spicy, Vindaloo curry paste is really good stuff.
I have 3-4 Indian markets and a couple International ones that have a great assortment of imported pastes/powders/ect. The brand i get is MTR. I love their sambar powder because it low sodium and it sure aint whimpy.

They make several ready eat items as well as pastes and powders. Their microwave bag masalas i often use as a base. Swad has them too. They are around $2 a bag at my markets. For "instant" i find them to be more than adequate. Just a slight addition here and there makes them quite good..

Try any of the Paneer Ready To Eat. Doctor it up with a little more heat and chicken leftovers. Top with fresh cilantro.
https://shop.mtrfoods.com/
 
If you guys like Thai curry try Mae Ploy paste and Maesri paste. The main difference in them is the Mae Ploy pastes include fish/shrimp paste. Making a Thai red curry that is pretty freaking good could not get much easier. I love the Mae Ploy red and the Panang pastes. Neither is too spicy. If you like milder go with the yellow but i find Panang to be mild enough. The small cans/packets are under a dollar and all you need is some good coconut milk. Choose the protein you want and some veggies. Panang is simple. Its just beef, onion and some bell peppers usually. For yellow i do chicken or pork with potato, onion and carrot.

Good coconut milk will have a layer of fat on the top. Never shake your can of coconut milk. You want the fat on top because you are gunna use some of it to "fry" your paste first. Try to be a bit careful with it when you bring it home from the market too. Keep the same end up.
 
Lazy day. I was craving pulled pork when i went to Costco so i grabbed this. Ive tried it before when the evil sample people had it out for tasting. About $10 for 2lbs IIRC.
uTtViVX.jpg


So i heated it up per instructions. Whipped up some Sweet Baby Rays (2 parts) and Rothchild Farms roasted pineapple habanero sauce (1 part) for the sauce. Topped it with homemade spicy cold pack pickles and jalapeno on a toasted brioche bun.

That hit the spot.
xRiOkiq.jpg
 
pulled pork
Very creative.
Question: how would you rate the meat all by itself as far as tenderness and flavor or whatever?
I've bought a few things from Trader Joe's of high quality cuts but they really weren't as tender as you'd expect.
Edit: I should have been specific and said it was prepared and packaged.
 
Last edited:
I like the flavor. A tad salty for me and could have a little more fat. I dont cook it with the BBQ sauce so i can use it for more than sammies. I just add sauce to the top of the sammie. I think the microwave cooking hurts the tenderness. Steamer would probably make it better.
 
I bought some of that pulled pork at Costco. It was OK but I thought it was a bit "hammy" more than "porky" - just an observation.

As for hot/spicy stuff, I love it but it don't love me back any more! I turned 68 and for the past few years that stuff just repeats something awful on me these days. I have an adjustable bed and can put the head up a bit but sometimes even that doesn't keep the reflux from happening - and reflux with very spicy stuff is no joke at this age! LOL!
 
As for hot/spicy stuff, I love it but it don't love me back any more! I turned 68 and for the past few years that stuff just repeats something awful on me these days. I have an adjustable bed and can put the head up a bit but sometimes even that doesn't keep the reflux from happening - and reflux with very spicy stuff is no joke at this age! LOL!

Don't live with that sort of annoyance. Pepcid complete OTC for the win. Get some sleep.
1637070145636.png
 
I only get reflux if i eat too much of certain foods and lay down. It took years for me to convince me brother to stop eating meals later at night.
 
I stay away from that sort of stuff as much as possible. But thanks for the suggestion! :)

OK, but letting it go can lead to worse conditions. If you really don't want to take antacids, consider eating large lunches and then light dinners, that'll help. And of course, fatty foods and acidic foods (beer/wine) near bed time are going to cause it.
 
Lazy day. I was craving pulled pork when i went to Costco so i grabbed this. Ive tried it before when the evil sample people had it out for tasting. About $10 for 2lbs IIRC.
uTtViVX.jpg


So i heated it up per instructions. Whipped up some Sweet Baby Rays (2 parts) and Rothchild Farms roasted pineapple habanero sauce (1 part) for the sauce. Topped it with homemade spicy cold pack pickles and jalapeno on a toasted brioche bun.

That hit the spot.
xRiOkiq.jpg
That looks like what I had for dinner last night, complete with the pickles and jalapenos! Except I used pulled pork that I vac bagged and froze from last time I smoke one.
 
Very creative.
Question: how would you rate the meat all by itself as far as tenderness and flavor or whatever?
I've bought a few things from Trader Joe's of high quality cuts but they really weren't as tender as you'd expect.
Edit: I should have been specific and said it was prepared and packaged.
I bought this once, it tasted like ham to me, when, was expecting smoky ”uncured” pork.
 
What i ended up doing with the rest of the Kirkland pulled pork was...........Charro Beans and they are delicious.

2 cups of dry pinto beans
1 quart of chicken bone broth (unsalted) and about a cup of water
About a pound of smoked sausage sliced then quartered
Kirkland pulled pork...didnt weigh what i had left but it was less than half
1 medium yellow onion
My own bean seasoning mix which is mostly Kirklands no salt added seasoning blend and my homegrown peppers ground into powder. Love aji panca and Numex suave dried and ground for beans.

Brown the snausage, add the onion to soften in the Instant pot on low saute. Add the rest and cook on the bean setting for 25min. After a natural release set to slow cook low for another 1-2 hours.
 
Back
Top