The cooking thread
I didn't see a food discussion thread here so many we could have one.
I'll share with you one of my favoured recipe. Cider candied chorizo.
Chorizos are a kind of iberian sausage with spices in them. Usually they are dried up, but that's not the ones you need here, you need fresh ones, like well sausages in their most common form.
You get like 2 of these per serving, you need a whole bottle of cider per frying pan (at least). You empty the bottle in the pan (because yeah) and let the chorizo cook in them slowly (very slowly). They must be full covered at first.
Because the cooking takes a lot of time (like 4 to 5 hours) you're not in a rush. Don't turn the first at max obviously, quite afar, you need to be delicate. Open all windows too because it's going to smell like a brewery in your place. Am not kidding, you'll get all drunks in the block under a dire charm with that. One in a while go turn the chorizo, the more they drink the cider the faster they get candied and that's where it'll get tricky, you'll have to turn them more and more often as the cider gets gone. If you don't, a bitter and unpleasant caramel will form and it's not quite tasty.
Once all the cider is gone they should be ready, if the chorizo's don't feel cooked enough to you taste you can cook them a little more, they'll keep their chorizo and cider taste.
There you go, complete with white beans, potatoes or anything similar and you're set.
Oh and again. DON'T FORGET THE WINDOWS. You don't want people to get drunk just breathing.
I'll share with you one of my favoured recipe. Cider candied chorizo.
Chorizos are a kind of iberian sausage with spices in them. Usually they are dried up, but that's not the ones you need here, you need fresh ones, like well sausages in their most common form.
You get like 2 of these per serving, you need a whole bottle of cider per frying pan (at least). You empty the bottle in the pan (because yeah) and let the chorizo cook in them slowly (very slowly). They must be full covered at first.
Because the cooking takes a lot of time (like 4 to 5 hours) you're not in a rush. Don't turn the first at max obviously, quite afar, you need to be delicate. Open all windows too because it's going to smell like a brewery in your place. Am not kidding, you'll get all drunks in the block under a dire charm with that. One in a while go turn the chorizo, the more they drink the cider the faster they get candied and that's where it'll get tricky, you'll have to turn them more and more often as the cider gets gone. If you don't, a bitter and unpleasant caramel will form and it's not quite tasty.
Once all the cider is gone they should be ready, if the chorizo's don't feel cooked enough to you taste you can cook them a little more, they'll keep their chorizo and cider taste.
There you go, complete with white beans, potatoes or anything similar and you're set.
Oh and again. DON'T FORGET THE WINDOWS. You don't want people to get drunk just breathing.
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Comments
Keeping some stock around can be great for soups or rice pilafs.
But Runnyrunny999 is better than me at explaining these things:
Nuff said.
5lbs of potatoes sliced thin.
One diced onion.
4 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
1 cups of bread crumbs
3 cups of half and half
2 cups of diced bacon
salt and pepper to taste.
Put the potatoes in a casserole dish. Fry up the diced bacon, just to the point it's really releasing it's grease and add the onions. Cook them until they're just becoming translucent. Add the half and half and 3 cups of cheese (reserve 1 cup of cheese for later). Once it's all melted into an even consistency, add some salt and black pepper, then pour it into the dish with the potatoes.
Bake at 375F for 45-1 hour uncovered. Once the potatoes are tender, take a mixture of the reserved cheese and bread crumbs and sprinkle it over the top and turn the oven to broil. You need to watch this really carefully, it should only take like 2-5 minutes to get a perfect crust on the top, but on broil it's easy to burn it, too.
The dish won't be super bacony tasting, but the fat from it will just set off the flavor from the cream and cheese. Last xmas I had a good laugh when I saw my friend with plateful of nothing but scalloped potatoes. Bacon is also the secret ingredient to my scallop chowder.
I've got a big cooking day planned tomorrow, so I'll take some pics of what I'm making later on.
https://chefsavvy.com/mini-cheesecake-cupcakes/
The one thing is, it didn't leave enough topping, and I wanted it a bit more syrupy. I added about 1 cup of water with a couple table spoons of corn start, to thicken it up.
I took my stock and made gumbo today, too. This is definitely one of those stove top recipes where I just throw everything into the pot and keep adding paprika, chili powder and salt until it tastes right.
I started by simmering up some of the leftover chicken stock with some diced tomatoes. I added some diced up chicken breasts, then fried up and sliced some andouille sausage and threw it in. After that had simmered for about 45 minutes, I added some sliced okra. After another 45 minutes, I threw in some bell peppers and onions. During the last 45 minutes I added the shrimp. If you do things in phases, it insures things like the shrimp don't get over done.
Served over white rice with corn bread.
Open the oysters, remove the juice
Pour some corn flour on the oysters once they are dry
Beat eggs with soy sauce, green onions, coriander, some salt and pepper
Eat your frying pan with some oil and some garlic, cook the oysters but not too much
Not put the eggs in the pan and try to mix the oysters evenly in the eggs
Enjoy
You'll need
1 cup rice
2 cups of chicken stock
2ish table spoons of olive oil
1 diced onion
2-4 diced cloves of garlic
1 cup of diced tomatoes (I guess about a 12oz can of canned tomatoes would be about right)
1 diced Red Bell Pepper
1 table spoon of Chili Powder
2 table spoons of Paprika
2 table spoons of fresh oregano or 1 table spoon of dried oregano
Start off by putting the stock in a pot so it can come up to a boil while you fry up the rice. Yup, you fry the rice first in olive oil, it'll give it a nice nutty flavor. In a pan, pour in a decent amount of olive oil, probably around 2-ish table spoons, so there's a good amount in the pan. Add the rice and stir occasionally. Just when you see it starting to brown, add in the diced onions and garlic. When onions become semi-translucent (they'll cook fast, that oily rice holds a lot of heat), dump the rice into the simmering chicken stock. Add the bell pepper, tomatoes, oregano, chili powder, paprika and oregano and stir it together. Cover and bring back to a simmer, then reduce the heat to between low and medium (enough to maintain a simmer on your stove). Stir occasionally. It should be ready between 20-30 minutes. When it's done, let the rice rest around 20 minutes before serving it.
You can serve it as a side by itself, with black beans or pico de gallo over it, or in a burrito mission style.
Summer, mesquite smoked brisket. I brined the briskets for 2-3 days and let them dry all morning and gave them a nice black pepper crusting, then smoked them with mesquite for 2-3 hours. After that I wrapped them up in butcher paper with some apple cider vinegar and let them slowly roast all day long. Served with barbecue sauce, buns optional.
Thanksgiving, hickory smoked turkey. I swear, I didn't burn it, it just absorbed so much smoke it was black. Like the brisket I brined it for 2-3 days, let it dry, and cold smoked it for like 2-3 hours Thanksgiving morning. Then I brought the turkeys in and baked them like I normally would with a wild rice stuffing, so I could harvest the drippings for gravy. The gravy was amazingly smokey. I saved a few jars of stock in the freezer for making rice stuffing next year.
Xmas, Kurabuta Ham. I posted this awhile ago for what I did for xmas. In all fairness, most of this is down to the quality of the cut of meat. I did cut little X's all over the outsides of the hams, and stuck whole cloves into them, then basted it in honey and bourbon.
I am forced to make these every Friendsgiving.
Grab a potato.
lightly coat with olive oil and crushed rosemary and wrap it in tin foil.
Bake for an hour at 400.
Cut one piece of bacon into small pieces. Fry until all the pieces are crispy. Remove grease (dab dry) and place bacon bits to the side.
When the potato is done, cut in half and scoop out flesh with a spoon into a bowl. Add a tablespoon of butter and mash. Add bacon, cheddar cheese (shredded about 2 tablespoons worth), tablespoon of chives and about a half teaspoon of garlic powder. Stir all the contents together then put back into the potato skin. Covering the opening with more tinfoil
Bake again for about 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove tinfoil and serve.
Serves 2.
for a 9 inch crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup veg shortening, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water or ice cold orange juice
I've never done it with OJ but just use ice water. FYI when a recipe calls for ice water, what you should do is put a bunch of ice cubs in a glass with some water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then pour some of the water into a measuring cup for what you need.
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball.
Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
You should use a pastry cutter to work the dough. It's the best thing to keep chunks of butter and shortening intact. What makes pie crust and other pastries flaky, buttery and airy is those pockets of butter and shortening. The butter/shortening melt and leave an empty pocket surrounded by really flavorful dough.
For short bake pies, like a lemon meringue, you should pre-bake the crust by itself at 350F for like 15 minutes. Something longer like pumpkin, sweet potato or a pot pie you can just throw the filling into it, since it'll bake long enough.
If you've got 12" pie pans like me, just add 50% to everything. That works well for the pie filling recipes, too. You'll probably need to add at least 20% or so to the bake time.
*Edit. Forgot a couple of tricks. Melt some butter and liberally baste the pie pan with it, then shove it in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before you put the crust into the pan. That let's the butter stick to the sides, so the crust won't stick there. Also, cut a few slits into the bottom of the crust before you pour in the filling. I'll cut like 10 slits into a 12" pie crust. This prevents bubbles from forming under the crust, and nobody wants that.
I can't believe over 3/4 of that thing disappeared and I only had 4 people over. For scale it's next a 12 pack of soda. Happy Birthday 'Murika.