What did I cook this weekend.....

I'll add, that the nice thing about cooking Indian food, is it seems that once you are in to it and have accumulated all the spices and added ingredients like tamarind, all you ever need from the grocery to do a meal are the meat and vegetables! (Oh, and milk, if your going to make paneer for a dish).

 

I'm starting Beer Braised Irish Stew. What could be more appropriate?!! (Except that awesome corned beef that became the awesomer pastrami)

 

Irish Stew ready to move to the oven and slow cook for a couple of hours. This is tomorrow's St. Patrick's day party cause nobody could come tonight. Will serve with and on top of Colcannon!
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In a decidedly un-Irish mood today, I made my version of a beef kung pao, with leftover Porterhouse steak.

 

You had me at colcannon. One of my favorite things.

 

Yeah. The Colcannon is hard to beat. Especially when you put it in a bowl, make a big divot in the middle, and fill it with Beer Braised Irish Stew!!

 

Irish stew is ready. Into the fridge until reheat tomorrow. Taste is amazing!
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No pics....sorry...

Homebrewed English mild braised sausages finished on the grill, mashed red potatoes, and onion gravy (red onions, butter, olive oil, beef stock, homemade Amarone red wine, dijon mustard, worchestershire, garlic, salt & pepper).

Oh, and year old homebrewed barleywines.

 

Just put a 1/2 sheet pan of Banana-Chocolate Chip Bars in the oven...had to use up a few ripe bananas and didn't want to do the same old banana bread (although it's good!). Using a recipe from Mario Batali. If it's good, I'll follow up with a photo ;o)

Here's the recipe: http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/banana-brownie-bars-mario-batali

Update (added photo) ...turned out to be very tasty! Pretty light/fluffy for a "bar", though. A denser, more brownie-like texture would be nice, but this batch won't be thrown out! BTW, they are great with a Troeg's Nugget Nectar...both disappeared in a flash!

 

I bought a corned beef a few days ago. I found it passingly interesting that there were plenty of these around the store. I planned to smoke it for pastrami.

Also picked up a nice cabbage to make sauerkraut (and steamed cabbage) from.

It wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I realized it was St. Paddy's day. Duh... I now think I'm going to do a corned beef and cabbage dinner. Maybe smoke half the thing cause nobody else in my house likes pastrami and I always make too much.

 

send it to me. i'll eat it.

 

Not sure if it will keep in the mail... Maybe if I package in a vacuum bag?

How do you cook a corned beef for St. Paddy's day anyway? Boiled? Roasted? Slow Cooker?

 

We usually do it in the slow cooker with kraut & taters.

 

All day in the crock pot for me. Add a cup or two of water. Add the veggies (any combination of carrots, cabbage, celery, potatoes) a few hours before serving. Nom nom.

 

Crock pot or dutch oven with zero water.

 

I have never made one without doing the boil method. No issues with it being too salty when you cook with reduced/no water? Do you soak/rinse first?

And yeah, I admit that I do the store bought ones, I have yet to start curing my own meats.

 

I haven't had any salty issues yet however i'm a touch of a saltaholic. Big bold flavors is my preference in meat. (looking around now for a slab of meat)

 

I find pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted, cured meats...

 

I don't soak/rinse when slow-cooking a corned beef. But it is necessary if it's prepared any other way, including smoking (pastrami), or it will be a salt bomb. I soak in water in fridge for 8 hrs.

 

I cut up an onion into fat slices, put those in the bottom of my pressure cooker. Open the spice packet that usually comes with the corned beef and sprinkle over the onions. Rinse the meat well in cool water, place atop the onions, pour in two 12 oz. homebrewed beers (stout this time), put on the top and set the digital timer on the PC to 75 minutes on high.

Let drop pressure naturally, remove meat, add some red potatoes and onions that have been peeled but don't remove the root end, quarter them through the root end (keeps the onion together pretty well this way) and turn the pressure on High for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on size of potatoes. Quick-release pressure when done. I do the baby carrots separately in the MW with some butter and a squeeze of honey, and I make coleslaw 'cuz I'm just not that wild about steamed cabbage.

Alternatively, if I think about it far enough ahead, I do the corned beef in the sous vide all day at 185*.

 

Hey, that's a pretty great idea. I didn't think about using the pressure cooker for corned beef. I was going to put a chuck roast in the crock pot this weekend, but I think I'll try out the pressure cooker instead.

 

I got a pressure cooker AND a sous vide machine...

 

Well there ya go then - you're SET!

 

My sous vide machine looks suspiciously like an electric HLT keggle

 

Mine looks a lot like a 7 qt crockpot and an stc 1000.

 

Mine

 

Mine closely resembles an 8 quart roaster oven and a DorkFoods controller!

 

I'm going to have to give sous vide a try pretty soon, as much as I have seen out it here.

This is the beer braised Irish Stew that I cooked on St Patty's day and served last night to my family (wife missed the picture, :smack:.

 

I didn't get the pressure cooker out or the sous vide set up last night, so I put the corned beef in the crock pot.

I'm betting it will still be good...

 

You'd have just got a picture of the back of her head anyway, if that head of the table chair was hers .

 

Slow cooked that corned beef brisket. I had to run some errands last night, so I did not get a serving, but I did taste it, and it's fall apart tender and taste great.

It may be a little saltier than I would prefer, but probably fine to eat with potatoes and cabbage. I rinsed under the faucet before putting in crock pot with 1 cup of water.

 

Good ole' fried chicken last night...like Mom makes it. ( Not often anymore, though, sadly.) The one big difference was that I brined mine for 24 hours. Oldest daughter said it was some of the best she's ever had. No white meat, since SWMBO went vegetarian. Leg quarters were 49¢/lb.

 

Dang THAT is on my next cooking project list! My wife wanted to learn how to make fried chicken like her ex boyfriend's mom used to make. She got the recipe, but it didn't turn out right.

Actually, I think it was baked at some point, not just fried.

 

I hadn't made fried chicken in awhile. It can be a little tricky to pan-fry. Temperature regulation can be tough...too low and it gets greasy; too high and it either burns or doesn't cook though. Honestly, I had a couple thighs that started burning and I finished them in the oven with my dressing. After that, I just had to keep adjusting. Legs were no problem.

I seasoned the dredging flour with pepper, garlic and paprika...no salt, because the chicken was brined. Dredged, let sit for awhile and dredged again...worked well.

 

Didn't get around to making chicken gravy, but I should have! Dressing would have been much better!

 

Damn that looks good! I made some fried chicken strips last night that turned out pretty well. No flour but used crushed up saltines instead. May try a mix of flour and saltines next time but I was certainly impressed with the saltines.

 

I fry my chicken to get it close to the color I want, then into a 400F oven to finish cooking through. I saw this done at the local KFC once. Chicken comes out golden & juicy. If I make it in my cast iron skillet, I leave some of the oil & drippins' in the pan & make a rue that get's a nice brown color. Then add chicken stock to make the gravy. Whisk with sea salt & pepper, maybe some poultry seasoning.

 

I use Paula Deen's recipe ,and fry in a dutch oven.The hot sauce really flavors it without adding much heat.It's a great recipe.

 

I just got a cast iron dutch oven for Christmas. Wanna use it over the coals/wood in my pit for beans, etc.

 

Not busting balls, I just honestly don't understand what that means.