The Cooking Thread
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Fair enough, you have a good base to make nachos than.
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This could just as easily go in the cultural appropriation thread, but on the menu tonight we have: carne asada, spanish rice, refried beans and....most importantly, fresh-made margaritas. I got out the good citrus juicer and we have nearly a quart of freshly squeezed lime juice along with Cointreau and Costco's Silver Tequila.
I am going to regret all of this in the morning, but it will be a good night tonight.
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Oh! Also Elotes. How did I forget that? It is one of the best parts.
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@boomzilla your onebox doesn't, at least on android.
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@pleegwat Just read the whole dang thing, it's worth it.
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@jbert It is not substantially different than Chef John's recipe, and the one I have used for years.
I do add a small splash of Agave Nectar though. Overall it is a good recipe.
My preference is Kirkland Silver Tequila and Cointreau. I don't sweat the ratios as much as @boomzilla's link though.
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@jbert said in The Cooking Thread:
@pleegwat Just read the whole dang thing, it's worth it.
Drinking seems like way too much work. I'll stay sober, thank you very much.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Drinking seems like way too much work.
That is just a reflection of your poor work ethic.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Drinking seems like way too much work.
That is just a reflection of your poor work ethic.
Having a work ethic would take effort. And, as I tell my students, I'm allergic to that.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
@jbert said in The Cooking Thread:
@pleegwat Just read the whole dang thing, it's worth it.
Drinking seems like way too much work. I'll stay sober, thank you very much.
Oh, I would never make a margarita like that. Store bought mix and some cheap tequila would work just fine for me. I was just amazed at the guy's dedication to margaritas.
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I have made three batches of Carne Asada now and I think I have come up with a very good recipe that is as close as I have had to what I have eaten in Mexico. It is not too difficult either.
First things first, you are going to need to go to a Mexican grocery store. You are going to need to get skirt steak or flank steak that has been cut in the Mexican style. The more Mexican the grocery the better. Look for some place that has "Carniceria" in the name. If you go in and ask someone a question and they respond with "No habla ingles" you are on the right track. Go to the meat counter and ask for "skirt steak". Get 2-3 lbs, you are going to want leftovers. While you are there pick up some cilantro. They will have it for cheap. The grocery I go to has cilantro for $0.25/bunch and it is really fresh. Also pick up some limes and some other citrus. Your choice, but you are going to want about 1.5 cups of fresh squeezed juice where ~1/2 cup is lime juice.
OK, so you have 1/2 cup of lime juice and 1 cup of other citrus juice. You will also need:
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chipotle chili powder (You can get that at the Mexican grocery also)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 bunch of cilantro, stems and all
~1/2 cup of good quality olive oilPut everything but the olive oil in a blender and puree it. Rough chop the cilantro first or else it will wad up in the blender and be a pain. Once everything is fairly well blended drizzle in the olive oil to emulsify it. Reserve ~1 cup of marinade to put the meat in after grilling (one of my favorite techniques, it makes for juicy and flavorful grilled meat). Cut your skirt steak in to largish portions, it will shrink up a lot more than you think on the grill. Put it in a gallon Ziplock freezer bag and add the rest of the marinade, squeeze out most of the air and massage the marinade in well. Put the bag in a bowl (in case it leaks) and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day when you are ready for dinner remove the marinaded meat to the counter to let it warm up a bit. Heat a charcoal grill to the "rocket hot" stage, brush down the grate and oil it well. Dump the marinaded meat in to the bowl, grab some tongs and make sure everything is ready for dinner because it will only take a few minutes on the grill. Have a clean bowl on standby next to the grill with your reserved marinade ready. I usually microwave the marinade for a bit to get it warmed up.
Once you are ready put the meat on the grill and close the lid. Do not drain any marinade. Straight from marinade to grill. Some will drip down and flare up. This is OK. 2-3 minutes per side and it should be done. Give it the poke test to check doneness. It is cut too thin for a meat thermometer to be useful. You are looking for good browning and a little bit of char. When it is done remove it to the clean bowl and pour over the reserved marinade and let it rest for a few minutes. Serve immediately. You can slice it to make tacos and such but I prefer it with just some tortillas on the side and with rice and beans. The leftovers are what I slice up for tacos.
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@polygeekery I read this as:
I have made three batches of Carne Asda now
The leftovers are what I slice up for Tescos.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Go to the meat counter and ask for "skirt steak".
Which, if they don't speak English, is falda. (It's probably carne de falda or something like that, I dunno, but I know falda is skirt and that applies to cuts of meat as well.)
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@heterodox said in The Cooking Thread:
Which, if they don't speak English, is falda. (It's probably carne de falda or something like that, I dunno, but I know falda is skirt and that applies to cuts of meat as well.)
On that note, if you want to buy the smoked paprika at the carniceria you will want to ask for "Pimenton". Same thing, cooler name.
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@polygeekery for @Karla's benefit, what should you ask for for the cilantro?
I know it's cilantro. I just wanted the excuse to mention her.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
with rice and beans
Beans:
1 lb dried black beans, soaked overnight
4 slices bacon
2 onions, medium chop
1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded, medium chop
~1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 quart chicken stock
2-3 bay leaves
1/4-1/2 teaspoon chipotle crushed red pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice from 1-2 limesDrain beans a place in a Crock Pot and add the quart of chicken broth. Dice up the bacon and put it in a cold skillet and turn to medium heat. Render out the fat and cook bacon until just barely crisp. Add your veggies sprinkle with a heavy pinch of kosher salt and sweat them until softened. Add garlic and oregano to skillet and cook for about another minute. Add mixture to Crock Pot and turn to high heat. Chop cilantro stems fairly fine (1/8-1/4") and add to Crock Pot with bay leaves. Reserve cilantro leaves for end of cooking. Cook on high for 4ish hours or low for 8ish hours. When beans are tender and done chop cilantro leaves and mix in to beans along with juice from 1-2 limes. Correct seasoning (salt and pepper).
Rice:
Spanish Rice is basically a pilaf. Once I figured that out the recipe kind of fell in line.
2 cups long grain rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1-2 jalapenos seeded and finely chopped
chicken broth
~1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bunch cilantro
1-2 limes
1/4-1/3 cup olive oilPreheat oven to 350F.
Put tomatoes and onions in blender and puree. (depending on how much you like cilantro you can add the cilantro stems to the mix) Add enough chicken broth to mixture to get 4 cups.
Add oil to dutch oven or oven-safe skillet with lid. I use one of these:
Heat oil over medium to medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Add rice and saute until lightly browned. Add garlic and jalapenos and a heavy pinch of salt. Cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Add tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add oregano and cook for a few seconds. Add tomato-onion-chicken broth mixture and bring to a boil while scraping bottom of pan to deglaze. Put in oven and cook for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. When done remove from oven and leave it to sit for 5-10 minutes with the lid on then fluff with fork while stirring in chopped cilantro leaves and lime juice to taste.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
@polygeekery for @Karla's benefit, what should you ask for for the cilantro?
I know it's cilantro. I just wanted the excuse to mention her.
You too!
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@polygeekery We'll be trying this one ourselves on Thursday, it sounds delicious!
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@erufael let me know how it turns out. Are you going to try the full meal? Rice and beans and all?
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@polygeekery Will do! We're doing the asada and the rice.
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@erufael @Polygeekery
Made them tonight instead due to weather. 5/5! Everything was excellent. We used flat iron steak instead of skirt or flank, due to availability (and price). Probably a little thicker than recommended, but it still worked just fine. Served them with sliced up avocado, and it was perfect.
Excuse the weird angle on the meat pic, I really didn't think the angle through when I took it.
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@erufael glad you liked it. How long was it in the marinade? Did you let it rest in reserved marinade?
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@polygeekery Hm when was the meat put in the marinade.... uhh... 8-9pm last night. So that's.. 18 hours? Something like that. They didn't rest in the reserved marinade as we weren't sure just how hot that would make them. In hindsight, that would have been better. It was kept on the table to put over the meat for whoever (everyone) wanted some, though.
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@erufael try putting grilled meat in reserved marinade when you pull it. It is amazing. Remind me tomorrow and I can post the recipe for perfect grilled pork chops.
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@polygeekery Yeah, definitely going to be doing that in the future! And perfect grilled pork chops... You have my interest, good sir. :D
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@erufael My grilled pork chop recipe is a variation on al Alton Brown recipe.
Where I differentiate is that I sterilize the brine after and rest the pork chops in it. I pull the pork chops 1/2 hour before the grill is good and hot and let them rest on the counter and put the brine in a sauce pan and bring them to a boil to sterilize. Put the lid on it and let it sit on the stove. Good and hot and sterile. When you pull the pork chops pour the hot brine over them and let them rest for 5-10 minutes.
What you should get are pork chops that are perfectly seasoned and will absolutely glisten with moisture when you cut in to them. No more dry pork chops.
Just make sure you buy good, thick, pork chops. Thin ones just won't work. I think his recommendation for no more than 2 hours is a bit conservative, but don't go more than 4ish hours. Else you will end up making ham.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Drinking seems like way too much work.
It really isn't. Normal people just pick up a six-pack, take it home, and drink it.
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@antiquarian said in The Cooking Thread:
@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Drinking seems like way too much work.
It really isn't. Normal people just pick up a six-pack, take it home, and drink it.
Fucking slackers.
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@timebandit that is what I would call a good start.
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@timebandit Ah, it was Costco time again...
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Who knew you could do this?
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@boomzilla have you read that article?
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@polygeekery I didn't want to spoil it. I assumed from the twitter handle it was really about restaurants offering "$x bowls" on their menus.
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Just had a nice chicken stew. It was basically ordinary chicken stew (trimmed chicken thighs, some oil, onion, garlic, tin of tomatoes, bacon, etc.) but five minutes before the end we threw a bit of 'Nduja in, which added a great rich taste and plenty of spice. We've still got plenty of 'Nduja in the freezer too, so we'll be using more of it in the future. :face_savouring_delicious_food:
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@dkf said in The Cooking Thread:
five minutes before the end we threw a bit of 'Nduja in
'Nduja is made using meat from the head (minus the jowls, which are used for guanciale), trimmings from various meat cuts, some clean skin, fatback, and roasted hot red peppers which give 'nduja its characteristic fiery taste.
I am going to have to find me some of that.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I am going to have to find me some of that.
It totally cooks to tiny pieces in those 5 minutes, spreading extra tastiness throughout the pot.
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@dkf kinda like chorizo?
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@dkf said in The Cooking Thread:
five minutes before the end we threw a bit of 'Nduja in
'Nduja is made using meat from the head (minus the jowls, which are used for guanciale), trimmings from various meat cuts, some clean skin, fatback, and roasted hot red peppers which give 'nduja its characteristic fiery taste.
I am going to have to find me some of that.
I'm a bit turned off by the description "spreadable pork".
I'm sure it tastes delicious, though...
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
kinda like chorizo?
That works fine in sandwiches (or at least that's mostly what we buy it for). 'Nduja doesn't have as much structural integrity (and is quite a bit spicier) and that's fine as it is meant to cook apart in a stew.
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Chicken cutlets! with tonkatsu sauce!
Came out much better than my previous attempts, mostly due to better breading technique and more aggressive frying.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Chicken cutlets! with tonkatsu sauce!
Came out much better than my previous attempts, mostly due to better breading technique and more aggressive frying.
Most people get frying wrong by not using enough heat/high enough temperature. Invest in a decent instant read thermometer and infrared thermometer. Then, realize that infrared thermometers don't work that great with shiny stuff and learn to use black bodies to compensate. :)
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
I'm a bit turned off by the description "spreadable pork".
Speak for yourself. That's what hooked me.
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Friend had a cookout today.
I made Ye Olde Yucatan Pork (which has been mentioned here several times). Marinated 20 hours. Orgasmic.
Also made a Waldorf salad to the following recipe:
- 2 cups plain greek yogurt
- Juice of an entire lemon
- 6 apples (3 granny smith, 3 fuji) skin on
- 3 cups of grapes (half red half green)
- 1.75 cups of walnuts
- Honey to taste.
- You're technically supposed to serve this on a bed of lettuce but FUCK LETTUCE.
Suggest halving that recipe to serve any sane number of people.
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@weng said in The Cooking Thread:
Ye Olde Yucatan Pork (which has been mentioned here several times)
The one I shared?