What did I cook this weekend.....

Let me guess... both come frozen from the food service company and they just need a few mins in the deep fryer???

 

Good looking out! I think I am more interested in a used ebay smithy than a new 20 dollar skillet. Im done f..ing around. I want a good skillet. Not going to get one of these but I am on the hunt. I bet on craigslist I can find something nice. This humpback whale of a skillet of mine is going bye bye.

 

That is so funny! My biggest beef (ha! food pun) which is in agreement with your post, was when Bennigan's was bought and those cats who bought it thought they knew better with their "Let's bring everything in frozen and save on labor cost" plan.
But to answer your question, no. In the beginning, all of the food may as well have been prepared in your kitchen after a trip to the grocerer. Those are the recipes I'm speaking of.
Fried food is heaven when done properly--correct grease temperature ensures the food cooks quickly but doesn't get saturated with oil.
Bennigan's used to have a couple soups, potato and a broccoli cheese, that were not too shabby. People would come to the restaurant just to get a bowl. Those loser cats switched to frozen and destroyed their customer base.
On the bright side, I have the recipes since I stole a recipe book ages ago.
My favorite is the Alfredo sauce--deadly, in that it's nothing but cheese, butter and heavy whipping cream, but delicious.

 

I somehow cracked my 14 or 16" skillet so I'm on the lookout for a big, steel skillet.

 

In my drunkin' donut ramblings, I've said before that this food thread is "way more better" than most of the other places here. I still think that.
If you thought I might have had more than one beer while reading, you wouldn't be wrong.

Anyone else ever check to see if they got outta hand on this website after a multiple-beer night?
I'm at three times and counting.

 

Cats? Are you a jazz man? Only other people who I know that use that term are jazz musicians. Sry for the ot.

 

No, I'm not really a jazz fan. I appreciate the skill though. The jazz fan in my family is my wife.

I did a job on a documentary here in Detroit where Gretchen Valade (Cahartt) was keeping the Detroit Jazz Festival from sinking. I believe she ended up creating a trust as the permanent solution. In any case, I learned a whole lot about the Jazz Festival, Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe and some famous, modern jazz musicians.

I used "cats" in place of "stupid, know-it-all, greedy jerks who don't care if they run a sound business model into the ground as long as they come out making money in the short term" because I didn't want to start a new subject within a post.

I own and love cats, so no offense to any cats reading this.

 

I didn't cook anything Friday night. We treated ourselves to Sushi at Sushi Mako.

 

Leftover chuck roast over mashed rutabaga and potato, with broccoli. I alway like to cook the rutabaga before Thanksgiving day and some wouldn't fit in the container.

 

I've always wanted to get a boatload of sashimi! We always end up ordering sushi rolls and sashimi separately. Maybe someday with a big group. And that fish looks absolutely top notch!

 

Scalloped taters and ham. Dusted with fresh ground Aleppo and black pepper. Ham was all the left over edges from the small end of a country ham. . Used Cabot's Alpine White Cheddar. It was on sale for $2.50 a 6oz block. Man is it tasty well browned. Kinda got a Swiss, cheddar and Parm thing going on with it.

 

Wife started to decorate for Christmas so I made holiday kettle corn.





It’s extremely addictive. I’d suggest not ever making it.

 

No sous vide then sear, no cast iron sear & bake....

Sometimes I just like to use a simple hot grill for NY strips.

 

What do you use for color?

 

I told the kids I put ground up elves in the popcorn, but it’s really just food coloring.

1/3 C popcorn kernels
4T sugar
4T neutral oil
1/2t popcorn salt plus a little extra when it comes out
6-8 drops food coloring

 

Just a pot full of homemade vegetable beef soup, with potatoes, mushrooms and lima beans with the standard base of sauteed onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Seasoning was bay leaves (2), tbsp salt and tumeric (for color lol) and a half tsp cumin. Also 12ozs of beef broth.

Once done I will add some hotsauce (homemade) to mine as my wife and daughter won't appreciate the added heat.

 

Now that cracked me up!

 

Pork belly with a sticky sweet sauce, quite yummy and at only 1hr 20min in the Instapot = win

 

Recipe please?

 

1/2cup broth (chicken or beef)
1/4cup wine/sherry/(beer?)
a dash or two of liquid smoke
salt, pepper, and paprika
garlic cloves in broth
fat side up
1hr20min on high, pressure cook

That'll cook the pork belly, but you will still need to sear it (bake at a high temp or cast iron ... I cast iron, seems more economically efficient.

The sticky sauce I made, I just winged it, but it has beef broth, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, wor. sauce, and cayenne - cooked down to a thick syrup.

After I seared the belly I tossed it in the sauce and let it sit to thicken up (not shown) and sprinkled some chunkier salt on top. That's pretty much it.

EDIT: I used to always sous vide my pork belly, but this method works very well (couldn't tell the difference) and much faster!! I've also smoked pork belly, and I would still go back to the InstaPot.

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try soon.

 

Enjoy

 

Bottom round, brown gravy, rutabaga/potato mash, steamed veggies.

 

The last of beef tenderloin I got from local grocery for 7.89lb, came as full loin this one must have been at the end as the grain was funny but still tender. Sprinkled on top is the darkened garlic onion crusties (sure I am not the only one its kinda like the crispy browned cheese that over flows delish)they appear darker in photo than are, and left over tators and peas.

 

Not on the hook for anything but rolls and pies. I am going to make a pumpkin pie, key lime, cherry and french silk. Wish me luck, hope i dont need it. Put enough quality olive oil on some basic rolls and they turn out pretty good. Going graham cracker crust with french silk. Thoughts? Seems a lot do that. Skillet, bye bye. Should use it camping but overly heavy and dont want to have to use 3/4 c oil to coat the bottom. Cant wait to search out a good one or just get a lodge, no?

Forgot, made some yardbird marinade in the mortar. Lime zest, onion, garlic, vinegar, evoo, salt n peppa (push it real good) and lime juice. Let it sit overnight in airtight bag. Nice smell. Swmbo said it was best chicken ever. Me not so much. Wonder if I make enough marinade. Some of these recipes call for so much oil and product. Anybmarinade tips out there? I will say the mortar does seem to impart a unique and enjoyable flavor.

 

It's prep time. This way I'm able to have everything ready for the oven tomorrow. I just make sure to get those dishes to room temperature so they won't crack in the oven.
It's only ten people so pretty easy.

More importantly:

I have a heavy-duty, 60Q SS pot coming in the mail today. I'm looking forward to that the most. I could fry the turkey in one of two, existing pots but somehow I've got that new one coming. I think my wife didn't like the look of the 10-gallon stock pot because of some minor pitting. Not sure why the slightly smaller one missed the cut. Anyway, next thing I knew, she was on-line, getting advice from me on which would be best.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Look up hong shao rou or dong po rou for the pork belly sauce. They are similar to each other but not quite. Should work very well in a Insta-Pot.

To get pork belly ready i put it in a pan skin side down to sear it. Then add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil for 10 min. Remove the pork belly and allow it to cool if you want to slice it into pieces.

Doing this removes any hair that might be left. Plus it removes a little of the fat and funky skum. Its a pretty common way in many Asian countries to prep it. Usually just boiled for 10min starting with cold water or water with a little rice wine.

 

Thank you; I was toying with the idea of adding soy, BUT I wanted to add fresh salt on top of the pork belly after saucing. I didn't want it then to become too salty, but maybe I'll make a few variations of sauces and see what I like the most.

I am confused about your boil instructions...what cooking method are you referring to and at what stage would you boil it? I simply InstaPot then sear or sous vide then sear. I don't see where in the process I would boil it by itself though.

 

Ugh, 3 pies down and rolls, will update later. Lot more work than seems to make 4 different pies

 

We went out to dinner as a family last year, and we are going to do that again this year. It's so much nicer, and it allows the wife and I to do our own thing after which is also a win

 

Ham and beans. Finally the country ham is gone. I used a type of bean used in Peru. We call them canary beans. They call them mayocoba or Peruano beans. They are delicious mashed and refried too. Added some baby carrot and more celery near the end. Cooked just long enough they had a little crunch left.


Little bit of zip of fresh crushed mild powder.

 

Before you do anything with the pork belly just put it in a pan with cold water. I only get mine with skin on btw. Bring the water to a boil for 10min. Remove the pork belly and let it cool if you need to cut into smaller pieces. You will see all kinds of foam/scum come to the top of the water. This is what you want to remove.

You dump the water and clean the pan if reusing the pan. This is the first step in making "red cooked pork" aka hong shao rou. Some people slice it up first but its easier to cut into cubes after its boiled imo.

 

I just bought a two pound bag of Peruanos - would you share your recipe? It looks really good!

A Mexican restaurant we liked back in CA used those Peruanos to make their refried beans. Boy were they good.

 

2.5 cups of diced country ham lightly browned...sorry saving the bone for later use.
5 cups (after soaking over night) canary beans
1 onion
3 stalks of celery
12 baby carrots
2 cups water and a quart of low sodium chicken stock

Heaping tbs minced garlic
1 tsp cumin
2 Bay leaves
Fresh thyme...just picked it actually.
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp aji panca powder or hot paprika (optional)
Coarse Aleppo flakes for a tiny bit of color and flavor (optional)

Make a sofrito first from the onion, 2 celery stalks, garlic, cumin, pepper and thyme.

Toss all the rest of the stuff in the pot except the carrots and 1 stalk of celery. I like some slightly crunchy veggies in my soups so i add them later.
Bring to a soft boil for a few minutes and reduce to a simmer.

Remove about 1/3-1/2 cup of the cooked beans. Let them cool and blitz them in the Nutribullet. Keep them in reserve for a thickener if needed. Bring it up to a soft boil for a couple minutes when you add the mashed beans. It will thicken a little

DONT SALT it until it cooked for an hour or more. Mine needed a little. Total cook time was around 2.5 hours on a simmer.

 

Thank you @Evilgrin - sounds dee-lish and looks that way too!

 

A work in progress - 2 hours in. Smells good! TURDUCKEN!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

 

The whole nine yards.

 

Pie! ..and rolls. 4 types of pies and 3 types of rolls. Srsly more work than it sounded. No pie weights for my crust (tried mason jars) and fork didnt cut it to knock down bubbling. The french silk was stupid good and the key lime was a hit. I didnt taste the cherry and the pumpin was good. Made rolls with butter, lean dough and gluten free. Used ice cream scoop and round cake pan for gluten free. I think the ice cream scoop will be my go to for rolls.

 

Well THAT was awesome. Next time I'm gonna buy the turducken roll, it's just the breasts of each bird wrapped together with the stuffing. I'm not a big fan of the legs/thighs/wings but I wanted it to LOOK like a "real" turkey - and it did!

The photo of the inside isn't very clear, but there were definitely layers of the meat and stuffing. YUM.