The Cooking Thread

[Courtney]

To be fair, I don't really eat cereal at all. Except for steel cut oats, hot with various toppings.

[TomAz]

I prefer my oats cut with a zinc-copper oxide admixture.

[mountmccabe]

I am planning on using the slow cooker to make NC-style pulled pork but I am not sure there will be anything left.

Yesterday I made a NC-style barbecue sauce and today I left six pounds of trimmed and dry rubbed pork shoulder in the slow cooker for about eight hours with a few pineapple slices, some of that sauce, vegetable stock, and enough water to cover it. Ya know it's done when the chunks can't support their own weight, which is probably my favorite part. Other than, well, getting to eat it.



I love my slow cooker, so much.

[Courtney]

That looks delicious.

[lehorne]

Tonight:

Greek Salad (tomato, red onion, cucumber, green pepper, feta cheese, olive oil)
Pasta (spaghetti, heavy garlic, butter, parmesan cheese, tomato, basil)
Pinot Grigio

[insbordnat]

Yesterday I made a NC-style barbecue sauce and today I left six pounds of trimmed and dry rubbed pork shoulder in the slow cooker for about eight hours with a few pineapple slices, some of that sauce, vegetable stock, and enough water to cover it. Ya know it's done when the chunks can't support their own weight, which is probably my favorite part. Other than, well, getting to eat it.



I love my slow cooker, so much.

It looks very good - out of curiosity, why do you use a dry rub if you're going to immerse it in liquid to cook?

[TomAz]

Maybe insubordnat or another pro can explain to me what the hell happened to me last night.

I was making a nice little salmon recipe ( http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/g...tercress-salad ) for the first time last night. recipe calls for a reduced balsamic sauce. "In a small saucepan, boil 1/2 cup of the balsamic vinegar until reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 5 minutes. Let the reduction cool, then stir in 1 tablespoon of the canola oil."

So I boil the balsamic down, pour it into a little bowl, let it cool, go to mix in the canola oil.. and what I have is like the consistency of taffy. There is no sauce. I have made balsamic candy.

what the hell did i do wrong?

btw the recipe was fine without the sauce though I think I surely missed the most compelling part.

[insbordnat]

Maybe insubordnat or another pro can explain to me what the hell happened to me last night.

I was making a nice little salmon recipe ( http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/g...tercress-salad ) for the first time last night. recipe calls for a reduced balsamic sauce. "In a small saucepan, boil 1/2 cup of the balsamic vinegar until reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 5 minutes. Let the reduction cool, then stir in 1 tablespoon of the canola oil."

So I boil the balsamic down, pour it into a little bowl, let it cool, go to mix in the canola oil.. and what I have is like the consistency of taffy. There is no sauce. I have made balsamic candy.

what the hell did i do wrong?

btw the recipe was fine without the sauce though I think I surely missed the most compelling part.

I'm thinking it was the extent that you reduced the balsamic.

The reduction was supposed to turn into a glaze, but instead you overcaramelized it due to the sugar content. You say taffy maybe half joking, but in essence that's exactly what happened. When you make candy, you take sugar water and boil it to remove the water content while the temperature increases. As the temperature increases, the mixture when cooled will have different consistencies, such as: soft ball, firm ball, hard ball, "soft crack", "hard crack", etc. If you removed enough water, the mixture can heat to above boiling, which is when you get into the soft ball/firm ball stage (which, coincidentally, is the stage for taffy).

Because the sugar content in balsamic is high (relatively speaking), it wouldn't be that hard to achieve this stage if you overcooked/overreduced the mixture. Just keep an eye on it and be gentler with your temps. The difference in time between glaze and something inedible isn't that long.

EDIT: Or you can just cheat and buy balsamic glaze. But that's no fun.

[zircona1]

I need to get a slow cooker. I'll bet I can get one at Goodwill or somewhere for cheap.

[mountmccabe]

It looks very good - out of curiosity, why do you use a dry rub if you're going to immerse it in liquid to cook?

Cause I had already started before I began to think about that at all.

So in the future it would make sense to marinade the meat beforehand and/or just add the spices directly to the pot, right?

[disgustipated]

Yeah, Tom. Five minutes for a half a cup of liquid is way too long. . Especially something high in sugars. I usually bring the liquid to a rapid boil then lower the temp to a very low simmer for a minute or two max. I bet your reduction would have been perfect if you would have removed from heat right after it began to boil.

[Hannahrain]

Do y'all think there's anything to be lost (other than an increase in tofu sponginess) in freezing homemade hot and sour soup? I'm halfway through a batch right now and it's definitely more than I'm going to eat.

[insbordnat]

Not really Hannah. The only thing that may get funky is the viscosity of the soup. If you can, I'd recommend not adding corn starch to the portion you freeze and when you use that frozen portion then you thicken. Starches (unless "modified", i.e. "modified food starch") can have bizarre properties when heated too much, double heated, possibly frozen, etc. Once they break down they are useless and rethickening will yield a less than desirable product.

[Hannahrain]

I already thickened it, but I used arrowroot starch. Oh well. I'll give it a shot anyway.

[insbordnat]

Cause I had already started before I began to think about that at all.

So in the future it would make sense to marinade the meat beforehand and/or just add the spices directly to the pot, right?

Yeah, and I'm not sure if marinating would really do a whole lot. If I were to put a shoulder in a slow cooker, I'd rub it down with salt and pepper, add to a hot pan and brown on all sides, then put it in the slow cooker with about liquid 1/2 way up. The liquid would be your broth, but I'd generously season the broth before hand, add (along with other goodies if you want) and cover and let braise. The meat should be about 190F when you pull it out. It shouldn't break down so much that it gets "stringy", because at that point the meat is dry, rather than soft and moist. If you have a bone-in shoulder, the bone will wiggle free when it's ready and should come out pretty easily.

[insbordnat]

I already thickened it, but I used arrowroot starch. Oh well. I'll give it a shot anyway.

If I'm not mistaken, arrowroot has a better resistance to freezing, so actually you should be pretty good to freeze away.

[locachica73]

Browning meat before putting it into the slow cooker is such a great tip. I never use to do that but now I do and it definitely makes a difference.

[Hannahrain]

Thanks insbordnat, that's definitely good to hear. I usually use it instead of cornstarch since I don't like it too thick and I find it a bit easier to use arrowroot incrementally until I get the consistency I want.

[mountmccabe]

If I were to put a shoulder in a slow cooker, I'd rub it down with salt and pepper, add to a hot pan and brown on all sides, then put it in the slow cooker with about liquid 1/2 way up. The liquid would be your broth, but I'd generously season the broth before hand, add (along with other goodies if you want) and cover and let braise. The meat should be about 190F when you pull it out. It shouldn't break down so much that it gets "stringy", because at that point the meat is dry, rather than soft and moist. If you have a bone-in shoulder, the bone will wiggle free when it's ready and should come out pretty easily.

I think I will try it that way next time, it will be interesting to see how it comes out. We are definitely planning to do this again soon; it was fantastic.

And it was not stringy this time; I actually pulled it out earlier than I had figured because it had started to fall apart. But that is a good thing to look out for and I even have a meat thermometer I could use next time.

Thanks for the ideas!

[Miroir Noir]

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict.

[Sleepingrock]

If I ever get to it, I want to do a Indian Poutine, inspired by the Masala Fries I had at coachella.

Homemade french fries, cold oil method from The Stonesoup, topped with a Butter Paneer Masala, with the Paneer being in smaller, bite size pieces.

[ThatGirl]

If I ever get to it, I want to do a Indian Poutine, inspired by the Masala Fries I had at coachella.

Homemade french fries, cold oil method from The Stonesoup, topped with a Butter Paneer Masala, with the Paneer being in smaller, bite size pieces.

God bless you.

[Shaxspear]

Browning meat before putting it into the slow cooker is such a great tip. I never use to do that but now I do and it definitely makes a difference.

I always do this and I make a bbq sauce using the brown bits and drippings in the pan I used to brown the meat.

[Hannahrain]

This isn't remotely glamorous or gourmet, but it's delicious, easy, inexpensive and it makes great leftover sandwiches, so I'm putting my great-grandma's time-honored meatloaf recipe here. I made it last night and definitely do not regret it.

1 3/4 lbs ground chuck
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 slices white bread, soaked in water and shredded
Salt and pepper
Ketchup

Mix thoroughly, adding a splash of water. Cover, bake at 350 for 45 mins. Pour canned tomato sauce over the top and cook uncovered for another 30.

I'm slowly working my way through her recipes and will post here when something's particularly good. I think next up is either cream cheese coconut rugelach or holishkes, both of which are family classics. I also have a brisket recipe that I understand is not to be reckoned with if anybody's ever looking for one.

[insbordnat]

Bubbe's brisket? I'll share mine if you share yours.

[mountmccabe]

cream cheese coconut rugelach

Would eat all of the time.

[algunz]

I debated whether I should put this in the books thread or here. I chose here.


I highly recommend the book by Gabrielle Hamilton titled Blood, Bones, & Butter.

It's quite enjoyable.

[fatbastard]

I seen the announcement for that book today.

Taco Tuesday in about 15 minutes.

[Hannahrain]

I seen the announcement for that book today.

I don't understand how this occurs within the greater context of your perfectly able discourse.

Bubbe's brisket? I'll share mine if you share yours.

Would eat all of the time.

Sorry, missed these earlier. I'll get the recipes to you guys soon.

[fatbastard]

Goddammit Hanna. You and Gunz know I meant the James Beard award.