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What did I cook this weekend.....

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Yea, mine was a little salty, but not too much. I followed instructions in Ruhlman's Charcuterie. He was very high on confit. Did you brine overnight, then rinse the salt off before bagging and cooking?

Dry brine overnight, then thoroughly rinsed, and patted dry.
 
Try this: break down a whole duck, set aside the breasts and thighs and fat/skin. Also, get some chicken thighs or breasts, pork steaks, whatever. Separately vac pack each piece of meat individually with some of the duck fat/skin. Sous vide overnight at 180F. Let sit in fridge for 6 months.

Confit! Take my word for it, those delectables will melt in your mouth with an explosion of flavor. You can just buy duck fat on Amazon too. But the duck might have all that you need.


I've admittedly never done souse vide but I think I understand the theory. 180*F seems like a pretty high temp for the process. ????

Later you bust them out and quick sauté or serve cold?
 
I just popped a shank-half ham into the oven, and have a nice butternut squash that will go in after about an hour of the ham's start time.

Easy peasy and delicious and lots of ham sammiches and ham 'n eggs to follow, plus a lovely ham bone for beans or soup or whatever!

I just can't pass those things up at .99/lb.
 
Meatball poutine! My heart hurts.....

IMG_20170104_175613.jpg
 
Trying out my new cast iron skillet. Wife wants Quesadillas. Wish me luck. I've never made them before.

Do I use butter, or no? How much?
 
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We have plenty of pulled pork leftovers that need to be eaten up. Maybe I'll do pork instead. Just need to decide what goes with it. Already has some Carolina sauce in it.
 
I take the easy way and give the outside of each tortilla a very light spray with olive oil (the stuff in the poof can works just fine) and then throw it in the pan, put the cheese and whatever else on half the tortilla, fold the unfilled half over, and cook til the cheese is melty/oozy and everything is hot and lightly browned. Use a medium heat so it gives the cheese a chance to get gooey before the tortilla gets too brown.
 
I consider myself a quesadilla zen master.

I always use a thick bottomed 12" non-stick pan on medium heat. For standard soft taco sized quesadillas i melt about 1/2 T of butter in the pan and once it starts to melt, kill the heat. I then let it continue to melt. When it's about 90% melted i take one of the tortillas, throw it down in the pan, and spin it around in a circle. I take it out, put it melted butter side up on the counter or cutting board, and repeat with the second one.

I then put down a layer of cheese, followed by meat, followed by more cheese and finally the top tortilla. I blast the heat until it starts to sizzle, then i dial it back to medium. I cook it until well browned, then flip and repeat. The second side takes about 1/3 the time as the first.

When fried correctly, a flour tortilla takes on a fluffy, flakey and crunchy texture. If you use too much butter it doesn't brown right and the excess won't even absorb, which makes it greasy and it won't crispy either.

Garnish with lettuce, full octane sour cream, guac and salsa.

Should look something like this when done.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1483751890.009514.jpg
 
Used donught hole maker for second time to make chocolate doughnut holes. They were really really good. Dunked in chocolate frosting to finish.
 
I have six big meaty lamb shanks in the oven, slow roasting in homebrewed brown ale and a splash of red wine, with plenty of onion, garlic, carrot chunks, baby Bella mushrooms, rosemary, Greek oregano, freshly ground pepper, drizzle of Greek olive oil. Startin' to smell pretty good in here! I browned off the flour-shaken shanks in some bacon fat first, then browned up the onion, carrot, and mushrooms. The browned shanks went into my large roasting pan (because the oval Le Creuset I started out with was NOT gonna hold all that stuff after all, LOL!) and poured all the goodies over the top, added another ale and the last cup of red wine left in the bottle, covered tightly with heavy-duty foil, popped into a 400* oven for an hour, now just turned it down to 325* and will roast til they're falling-off-the-bone tender. Plan is to have a big fat artichoke and either polenta or some quinoa with. Will try to remember to get a picture when it's plated!
 
I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!!!!

I consider myself a quesadilla zen master.

I always use a thick bottomed 12" non-stick pan on medium heat. For standard soft taco sized quesadillas i melt about 1/2 T of butter in the pan and once it starts to melt, kill the heat. I then let it continue to melt. When it's about 90% melted i take one of the tortillas, throw it down in the pan, and spin it around in a circle. I take it out, put it melted butter side up on the counter or cutting board, and repeat with the second one.

I then put down a layer of cheese, followed by meat, followed by more cheese and finally the top tortilla. I blast the heat until it starts to sizzle, then i dial it back to medium. I cook it until well browned, then flip and repeat. The second side takes about 1/3 the time as the first.

When fried correctly, a flour tortilla takes on a fluffy, flakey and crunchy texture. If you use too much butter it doesn't brown right and the excess won't even absorb, which makes it greasy and it won't crispy either.

Garnish with lettuce, full octane sour cream, guac and salsa.

Should look something like this when done.
View attachment 383502
 
Made some cream of mushroom soup and had the mother in law ask me exactly how i made it.
 
Well, confit, but we've already had that convo.

Try rubbing that steak with coffee and cumin and salt and pepper. Tons. Cover it till you can't see the meat anymore. Man, that's some eating there.

To me it's not a seasoning issue.. i have a house custom seasoning i use on a lot of my meat that i think is great. The flavor of it came through really well on this.

But the lack of browning flavors and rendered fat is hard to overcome.

I believe you on the confit. I did chicken quarters and with minimal attention made something that i shamelessly picked up the plate and licked clean. I also made chicken salad with 150F chicken breasts and it was the best i've ever made, and it had everything to do with the chicken. I'm just struggling on fatty red meat.
 

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