The Cooking Thread
-
Recipe a friend of mine learned in Uzbekistan:
- Soak chickpeas in water overnight.
- cut carrots into matchsticks
- chop walnuts (not too fine, or they will stick and burn)
- rinse some sultanas with boiling water
Fry each ingredient (except the sultanas) separately, mix everything together with basmati rice (best cooked in a rice cooker) and season with salt, a bit of sugar, fresh ground black pepper, cumin and some lemon/lime juice. Add chillies if you like it spicy.
-
Tonight for dinner at the @Polygeekery compound: Beer can chicken with baked potatoes prepared on the pellet grill.
Chicken has been liberally (no relation to liberating people) seasoned with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, paprika, rosemary and thyme after being rubbed with olive oil. In the "beer can" there is Sauvignon Blanc, rosemary, thyme, garlic and sage.
Potatoes are tossed in olive oil then seasoned with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and Chinese Five-Spice. The Chinese Five Spice seems to work really well with baked potatoes for some reason. So does Herbes de Provence, if you are in the mood. Or Chipotle Chili Powder if you want something spicier.
Will probably serve with boxed mac and cheese for the almost 5 year old. He is a proletariat. His taste buds have yet to mature to appreciate good food. :)
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Will probably serve with boxed mac and cheese for the almost 5 year old. He is a proletariat.
The Mac and Cheese class shall rise and overcome the Bourgeoisie beer-can-with- -you-damn-dirty-traitor class!
Okay, maybe using paprika for the rub gets you a pass this time...
-
@MathNerdCNU Class traitor is the catchphrase not traitor class.
-
-
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Wife had never had eggplant
I ate an eggplant pizza yesterday. I wanted to take a photo and post here, but I forgot.
It was delicious though.
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Tonight for dinner at the @Polygeekery compound: Beer can chicken
-
Tonight for dinner at the @Polygeekery compound: Oxtail RagΓΉ served over polenta with a side Caesar salad with homemade dressing and fresh tomatoes from the garden.
-
@Polygeekery That sounds interesting. Certainly makes the grilled chicken thighs we just had look lower class, damn good though they were. lol
-
@Erufael said in The Cooking Thread:
That sounds interesting.
It should be. We will see. I have yet to have a Chef John recipe fail me.
@Erufael said in The Cooking Thread:
Certainly makes the grilled chicken thighs we just had look lower class
Who cares? Today for lunch I had a peanut butter sandwich and some Chef Boyardee. I just felt like classing shit up tonight. And besides, who cares as long as you are cooking?
@Erufael said in The Cooking Thread:
damn good though they were. lol
Exactly. That is all that matters. :)
-
My
waifu@cloak15 made shrimp fried rice with bell peppers. It was delicious!
-
@Erufael said in The Cooking Thread:
Certainly makes the grilled chicken thighs we just had look lower class
If you want the really good food from any culture, eat like the poor people do. Class has fuck-all to do with good food. Arguably my favorite Italian dish is Spaghetti Puttanesca. Which, literally translated is "Whore's spaghetti". I am guessing it was not a dish invented by the upper crust of Italian society.
Of course....Berlusconi may have proved me wrong?
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
 [Λsilvjo berluΛskoΛni] ( listen);
Great job, iframely...
-
@Polygeekery Very good points.
I felt it would be remiss of me to not post pictures, so here they are while cooking:
Dry brine/rub overnight, char the skin, then 30 minutes off the coals. Threw a chunk of maple wood on the coals as well.
-
@Erufael said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery Very good points.
I felt it would be remiss of me to not post pictures, so here they are while cooking:
Dry brine/rub overnight, char the skin, then 30 minutes off the coals. Threw a chunk of maple wood on the coals as well.Looks really good. Skin on chicken is not easy to do on the grill. Looks like you nailed the right amount of maillard reaction before the chicken gets charred and less tasty. High heat to get the coloring and flavor, then off the heat to finish cooking through. Nicely done.
As you cook on a Weber, if you are looking for something to do with all of the charcoal that remains, I used to find some firm fruit like pineapple or peaches to put on the grill for dessert. A little sprinkling of chili powder (even better if it is a single species powder like Ancho or Chipotle chili powder) and a drizzle of honey can make a great little finish to the meal that is still healthy.
Of course, it can be made less healthy with a scoop of ice cream...
If you want to go higher class, butter some thick slices of pound cake and grill them a minute or so on each side and serve them with clotted cream and strawberries macerated in red wine and honey with a touch of black pepper. Five minutes total prep time and it seems
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/2374204263/x85jf26vq4ne44qkemnn.png
I love grilling season. If we were not planning on moving soon, I would build an outdoor kitchen.
-
@Polygeekery Mmmm that sounds really good. Thanks!
We try to make grilling season last as long as we possibly can. Lol
-
Stealing the Pound cake for a BBQ on Saturday.
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Arguably my favorite Italian dish is Spaghetti Puttanesca. Which, literally translated is "Whore's spaghetti". I am guessing it was not a dish invented by the upper crust of Italian society.
That's brilliant. I can't speak a word of Italian and I always thought it sounded rather grand as a name :)
-
@Weng said in The Cooking Thread:
Stealing the Pound cake for a BBQ on Saturday.
It works amazingly well. Lightly buttered and then grilled it takes on some of the same flavor notes as roasted marshmallows.
-
@Cursorkeys said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Arguably my favorite Italian dish is Spaghetti Puttanesca. Which, literally translated is "Whore's spaghetti". I am guessing it was not a dish invented by the upper crust of Italian society.
That's brilliant. I can't speak a word of Italian and I always thought it sounded rather grand as a name :)
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
spaghetti in the style of a prostitute
Paging @Lorne-Kates...
-
I just got a new weber natural gas grill. Haven't tested it out yet. Any recommendations? Going to invite in-laws labor day weekend and hoping to impress.
-
Very easy, no extensive prep, and it comes out amazing every time I have made it.
If you cannot find Annatto powder, you can substitute a mix of paprika and turmeric and get a similar color and flavor.
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I love grilling season. If we were not planning on moving soon, I would build an outdoor kitchen.
What is this grilling season that you speak of?
I have many a time grilled in knee deep snow.
-
@Dragoon I don't know if I have ever been that bold, but I have grilled in winter. But, also, winter time seems more conducive to stews and soups, etc.
Also, my old grill leaked air like a sieve. It really underperformed when it was cold outside which made me lose enthusiasm for cooking in the cold. Now that I have the Akorn and the pellet grill, I may try grilling in the wintertime more.
-
@Polygeekery
Yeah, I am abnormal when it comes to cold weather. I wear shorts all year.I do a lot of crockpot work in the winter, but sometimes you just want something grilled. Sometimes there is a blizzard going on when that urge hits. Who am I to deny my urges :)
-
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
Yeah, I am abnormal when it comes to cold weather. I wear shorts all year.
I may not go so far as to wear shorts, but I certainly am abnormal when it comes to cold. I rarely if ever wear a coat, and if I do it is usually getting close to single digit temperatures. Even with a ton of snow on the ground I am unlikely to be in anything heavier than a fleece.
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
I do a lot of crockpot work in the winter
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
but sometimes you just want something grilled.
I believe I mentioned upthread, but I vacuum pack and freeze several grilled or smoked meats and then use them for short notice meals, etc. Mostly pulled pork, but occasionally if chicken thighs are on sale really cheap I might grill up a bunch and freeze the excess. You can toss the entire bag in a pot of boiling water and ten minutes later it is all heated through. When you cut open the bag it smells like the day you grilled it.
Frozen pulled pork also makes great tacos, nachos, burritos, etc., in addition to BBQ sandwiches.
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
Sometimes there is a blizzard going on when that urge hits. Who am I to deny my urges
A broiler is basically an upside down grill. Also, I have a really high output cooktop and a couple of cast iron grill pans that work pretty well for that in the wintertime. Heat them up rocket hot over high heat, brown and mark the surface and then finish in the oven if it is a thicker cut of meat. Not the same charcoal flavor, but it works a treat for winter cooking.
-
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
I wear shorts all year.
Though lately my body's hardiness has deteriorated significantly...
-
@Tsaukpaetra said in The Cooking Thread:
Though lately my body's hardiness has deteriorated significantly...
.... i read that as your body's hardness had XXX significantly.....
damn this hyperactive giggity engine!
-
@accalia said in The Cooking Thread:
body's hardness had XXX significantly
I wish.
Right now I'm struggling to maintain muscle and joint integrity. Forget exercising! I just want to be able to walk without fainting!
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
With my old charcoal smoker, I would have been babysitting it the entire time and
not gotten near as much stuff done.have the perfect excuse to just sit there enjoying a beer The pellet grill makes it too easy I have to do shit around the house now.FTFY ;)
-
@TimeBandit said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
With my old charcoal smoker, I would have been babysitting it the entire time and
not gotten near as much stuff done.have the perfect excuse to just sit there enjoying a beer The pellet grill makes it too easy I have to do shit around the house now.FTFY ;)
You're not wrong, but also the crappy part of being an adult and owning a home is that you cannot always fuck off and babysit a smoker for 6-12 hours. ;)
Beyond that, what I used to do fairly frequently was fire it up in the evening, and it could usually go for a few hours on its own so I would sleep. I had a remote thermometer that you could set alarms on upper and lower bounds. Alarm go off, wake up, go add more charcoal. Lather, rinse, repeat.
After cooking a few times on the pellet grill, it would not even bother me to fire it up and leave the house for a while if I needed to. With my old charcoal smoker, I never would have considered such a thing.
Besides, I can still sit on the porch and drink myself in to an alcoholic coma if I want to. I will just have perfectly cooked food when I come to. :)
-
@Polygeekery Sweet. The only thing I'm not sure on is whether to macerate the strawberries in good wine or shitty wine.
-
@Weng When choosing a cooking wine, I will not cook with anything I would not drink. You don't have to go super expensive though. Our go-to wine here is ~$8/bottle and would be fine.
But, on that same note, when cooking we tend to keep around bottles of wine that may have been open too long and become oxidized. That flavor will absolutely cook away (not so sure about strawberries, as that would all be cold).
Here is my favorite recipe for macerated strawberries:
-
@Dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
What is this grilling season that you speak of?I have many a time grilled in knee deep snow.
My neighbors seem to think I'm crazy because I keep a shovel beside my BBQ.
Fake edit : No, it's not me on the picture.
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I may not go so far as to wear shorts, but I certainly am abnormal when it comes to cold. I rarely if ever wear a coat, and if I do it is usually getting close to single digit temperatures. Even with a ton of snow on the ground I am unlikely to be in anything heavier than a fleece.
I was that way until I got pneumonia. Since then I've been really sensitive to cold, though I'm getting better about it.
Now, back to cooking:
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Tonight for dinner at the @Polygeekery compound: Beer can chicken with baked potatoes prepared on the pellet grill.
Chicken has been liberally (no relation to liberating people) seasoned with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, paprika, rosemary and thyme after being rubbed with olive oil. In the "beer can" there is Sauvignon Blanc, rosemary, thyme, garlic and sage.
Potatoes are tossed in olive oil then seasoned with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and Chinese Five-Spice. The Chinese Five Spice seems to work really well with baked potatoes for some reason. So does Herbes de Provence, if you are in the mood. Or Chipotle Chili Powder if you want something spicier.
Will probably serve with boxed mac and cheese for the almost 5 year old. He is a proletariat. His taste buds have yet to mature to appreciate good food. :)
I'm going to try making that on my gas grill this weekend. Do you have any more details on the recipe? What temperature, how long, etc?
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Food Wishes Video Recipes: Perfect Polenta β Dedicated to Some Fun Girl
Wow, that's a strange way to make polenta.
I usually just boil some water, slowly pour in the yellow stuff until it starts bubbling, and stir it on high heat for a few minutes. Eat it with cheese afterwards. Quick and simple.
Didn't know there was this much nuance to it.
-
@Polygeekery
Camembert. Put it on the grill in the wooden package. Eat with bread and honey.
-
@dangeRuss said in The Cooking Thread:
Do you have any more details on the recipe?
No real recipe, just think about what works well with chicken. I posted what I did. The only thing I really left out is that I put the rosemary and thyme in the cavity and not on the skin. Also, make sure you season the cavity pretty liberally.
I don't really work off of quantities or measurements unless I am baking. I just season things and if I have a recipe I do not usually do a whole lot of measuring for most things. Just, "Yeah, that looks like 1/2 cup".
As for the rest of it, I used to make beer can chicken by just taking my pocket knife and hacking the top out of a can on the inside of the rim, filling it full of liquid and herbs and then sticking it up the cavity of the chicken, then sitting that upright on the grill. That works well most of the time. Occasionally though, the chicken will fall over and while it does not ruin the meal, it definitely does not do it any favors and can put out most of your charcoal.
I suggest going to your local hardware store and looking in the grill section. Most of them have holders for the can that adds stability. If you want to go all out, get a holder like I have. Super stable, and it has its own stainless steel reusable "can" that locks on to the platter.
That is the closest I could find on Amazon to what I have. That one is probably better. But I picked mine up on an end of season sale at a local store in the clearance section. For grilling stuff that you want, but don't need, that is a great way to pick such things up.
@dangeRuss said in The Cooking Thread:
What temperature, how long, etc?
This round, I set the pellet grill to smoke for ~45 minutes, then cranked the heat to 400F for 1.5-2 hours, IIRC. The smoke did fuck-all. I would say for most whole chickens, 400F of indirect heat for 1.5 hours would probably do it. You are going to need indirect heat for cooking. In my case, the pellet grill is nothing but indirect heat. You are on a gas grill, so if it is big enough you can fire up the outside burners and leave the middle off and cook your chicken in the middle. Careful though, as depending on the design of the grill you might still get a ton of infrared heat. Be careful that does not overcook the skin before it has a chance to cook through. This is more of a roasted chicken recipe.
As for how long, 1.5 hours as a guess. But until it is done.
-
@cartman82 said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Food Wishes Video Recipes: Perfect Polenta β Dedicated to Some Fun Girl
Wow, that's a strange way to make polenta.
I usually just boil some water, slowly pour in the yellow stuff until it starts bubbling, and stir it on high heat for a few minutes. Eat it with cheese afterwards. Quick and simple.
Didn't know there was this much nuance to it.
I am going to take a WAG that you are making instant polenta?
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I am going to take a WAG that you are making instant polenta?
I don't know. What's the difference?
-
For a split second I thought I was in the covering thread ...
-
@cartman82 said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I am going to take a WAG that you are making instant polenta?
I don't know. What's the difference?
That's a yes.
-
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
That's a yes.
Not necessarily. I mean, the basic idea of the dish is simply putting coarse corn meal in water.
-
@asdf Yeah, but I don't know if you could cook anything but instant polenta over high heat for a few minutes and end up with something edible. Seems as though you would end up with something that was scorched, and not cooked fully through.
-
@Polygeekery Ordinary maize meal, like most other cereal meals, has to have it's starch content gelatinized in order to make it digestible by humans. This means cooking it in water that is at least 140Β° F (50Β° C) for at least 10 minutes, with the actual cooking time depending on the grain and the coarseness of the grind. Polenta, for example, is usually ground much finer than Southern-US style corn grits, though not as fine as masa harina (which is a flour used in making corn tortillas and corn chips) and so is usually much faster to cook than grits.
'Instant' oatmeal, polenta, grits, or farina, have been processed to ensure that the meal is gelatinized by first cutting the kernels very finely, and then rolling them with the steam-heated mill rollers.
-
Just had Lamb Kleftiko (this recipe) and it was awesome. Right now, I think I need to sleep for a while to help digestionβ¦
-
Status: The 14yo is crumbling and cooking 20 lbs of hamburger. I told her I expected it to take 2 hours. She didn't believe me. 36 minutes in she's done with the first package.
Told ya.
-
So I was looking for a "simple" dish, can't say I was disappointed:
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-authentic-spaghetti-alla-carbonara-recipes-from-the-kitchn-170893