The Cooking Thread

[LooseAtTheZoo]

Huge sale for canned Victorina tomatoes at my local grocery. What can I make in large quantities with this and store away?

[canexplain]

I have about $20 of smoked Salmon that is sealed but in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I wonder how I can save it. I was thinking dried Salmon but I really don't have the right drying thing. Has anyone ever made like fried Salmon chips? cr****

[sonnyboy11]

I've never made salmon chips with smoked salmon. Usually I like smoked salmon with scrambled eggs. If you have a lot of it, you might try expanding on that type of usage and make a frittata. Here's a basic recipe for one to give you an idea

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Smoked-...ta/Detail.aspx

Another thought would be to put some on a pizza crust with red pesto as your base sauce. I did that before and it came out really well.

[sonnyboy11]

Huge sale for canned Victorina tomatoes at my local grocery. What can I make in large quantities with this and store away?

You can use whole, canned tomatoes to make Chili Colorado. I've done that then frozen some and thawed later. It'll keep that way but tomato based sauces with meat added that you freeze tend to separate after a while.

[Shaxspear]

GL with it! Do you have a smoker to make it into pastrami? As a condo dweller, I get no such luxury.

I do indeed. Did you make your own pickeling spice?

[sonnyboy11]

I do indeed. Did you make your own pickeling spice?

I did, but it started with a base mix. Combo of coriander cloves, whole allspice, dried arbol chiles, bay leaves, pepper corns. I went with a real basic recipe for the brine. Just plenty of salt and heavily iced water along with the spices in a non-reactive container. And of course the key ingredient of pink (Prague) salt. Edit- also, I used an injector and chose about 7-8 sites on the brisket to inject brine.

Important to keep the entire brisket submerged in the brine while pickling. I used a heavy plate to hold it down. Turned it every other day. 8 days total, as previously mentioned.

For cooking I used a slow cooker. I completely submerged the brisket in water and spices. Cooked it on high for 1.25 hours. Then 45 minutes on low for each remaining lbs of beef. YMMV

[canexplain]

Well I ended up deep frying the Salmon I thought I might have to toss. It came out pretty good. The fried salmon ended up sort of like Salmon flavored bacon. They say every thing is better with bacon ") I am thinking it would be great as crumples on a salad. cr****

[TomAz]

speaking of bacon I made some choucroute this weekend that I am craving right now.

[canexplain]

speaking of bacon I made some choucroute this weekend that I am craving right now.

I had to look that up. So you made it from scratch and it took a couple of days or quick way? Did you make homemade sauerkraut or use canned? cr****

[TomAz]

I used jarred (actually imported from Germany) and I made it in about 3 hours. so yeah not the huge production but good enough.

[Shaxspear]

I did, but it started with a base mix. Combo of coriander cloves, whole allspice, dried arbol chiles, bay leaves, pepper corns. I went with a real basic recipe for the brine. Just plenty of salt and heavily iced water along with the spices in a non-reactive container. And of course the key ingredient of pink (Prague) salt. Edit- also, I used an injector and chose about 7-8 sites on the brisket to inject brine.

Important to keep the entire brisket submerged in the brine while pickling. I used a heavy plate to hold it down. Turned it every other day. 8 days total, as previously mentioned.

Nice! I didn't think to inject some brine into the meat. My mix is the same as yours except I also added crushed cinnamon sticks, dill seed, mustard seed, celery seed, thyme, ginger, cloves, mace and cardamom seeds. It's on day 8 right now and I plan to pull it out of the brine tomorrow, coat it in a rub and let it sit in the fridge for a day or two and then smoke it. I'll probably keep a chunk to make some corned beef has as well.

[sonnyboy11]

Nice! I didn't think to inject some brine into the meat. My mix is the same as yours except I also added crushed cinnamon sticks, dill seed, mustard seed, celery seed, thyme, ginger, cloves, mace and cardamom seeds. It's on day 8 right now and I plan to pull it out of the brine tomorrow, coat it in a rub and let it sit in the fridge for a day or two and then smoke it. I'll probably keep a chunk to make some corned beef has as well.

Sounds sweet! Make sure and post some pics please. I am getting ready to do another one and would like to know anything you came across that worked well.

The hash idea is a great one. I actually did that with the piece of corned beef I had to freeze. Used some fingerling potatoes chopped up with green onions. It's a good way to go with any part you might have to freeze and use later. The flavor of the meat was still there but it had toughened up a fair amount. And it was nowhere near as good as the initial one I did right out of the pickling spice. But it did work well for hash.

[Shaxspear]

I ended up leaving it in the brine for a total of 12 days. Took it out and cut off a chunk to make a traditional corned beef dinner.



Simmered it in water water for an hour to desalinate it. Changed the water and simmered for another hour with some pepper and pickling spices to add more flavor. Changed the water again and then simmered it with carrots, potatos and some savoy cabbage. Made a tasty sour cream based horseradish sauce to go with it.

I also made a delicious, yet easy, french onion soup as an appetizer. I had some left over puff pastry so I kind of did it backwards.



As for the rest of the brisket, I soaked it in water over night to remove some of the salt and then rubbed it down with a mix of coriander, pepper, paprika, brown sugar, onion powder and garlic powder. Threw it back in the fridge for a couple of days and it's on hour 3 of 10 in the smoker right now.

[HowToDisappear]

Oh wow. That all looks beautiful. Loved corned beef --- you and sonnyboy may have inspired me to try curing my own, too.


I've been wanting to get a traditional dutch oven (with legs and rimmed lid) for cooking on an open fire. So I've been having a lot of fun looking at recipes and youtubes because some of these videos are hilarious. This last one I watched was a beef stew recipe from an old aborigine woman who cooks at cattle stations. It calls for 2-3 kilos of beef or 'roo (she says very straight-faced, "if ya haven't got enny beef handy, just go out an' shoot yourself a 'roo.").

Basically, though, it seems like you throw anything in the pot and cook it with twice as many coals on top as the bottom for an hour and a half, rotating the pot and lid 90 degrees in opposite directions every once in a while, and, boom, you're done.

[mountmccabe]

We used to do Thanksgiving dinners at Roosevelt Lake (then later Bartlett Lake) in dutch ovens in firepits. There'd be a turkey or two, a ham and a ton of potatoes, carrots, etc and they'd cook 6 to 8 hours and be fantastic.

[HowToDisappear]

Ooh, that sounds like a wonderful holiday meal. The HOA won't allow outdoor cooking except with propane, but there's no reason I can't experiment with recipes and cooking times by using it in my fireplace. Hmm.

[Shaxspear]

I still have to cool it overnight and then steam it tomorrow, but I had to try a couple of bites. Just a tiny bit salty but maybe when it's steamed it will knock that down a bit, otherwise I'll have to adjust the recipe a tiny bit. Next time I do this I'll also leave a bit more of the fat cap on, but all in all I would call it a major success since I haven't done anything like this before. Tomorrow afternoon I should be knee deep in reuben sandwiches.

[stinkbutt]

squash soup topped with popcorn is pretty rad

[sonnyboy11]

I still have to cool it overnight and then steam it tomorrow, but I had to try a couple of bites. Just a tiny bit salty but maybe when it's steamed it will knock that down a bit, otherwise I'll have to adjust the recipe a tiny bit. Next time I do this I'll also leave a bit more of the fat cap on, but all in all I would call it a major success since I haven't done anything like this before. Tomorrow afternoon I should be knee deep in reuben sandwiches.

Awesome work here, Shaxspear. That boiled dinner in your previous post looks fantastic too!

Would you say your brisket came with a fairly thick fat cap on it? I didn't trim almost any off the one I did but when I checked it initially, there didn't seem much need.

[Shaxspear]

It didn't have much of a fat cap on it, but I still ended up trimming to a little more than I should have. I think 1/8 of an inch would be the magic number for smoking it.

[sonnyboy11]

TY!

So here's what I got going. I went to Figueroa Market a short while ago. Picked up a 1.5 lbs (!) grass fed brisket. I was surprised they had them so small but it is truly a beautiful cut. Besides being curious about how grass fed corned beef will taste, it definitely made for a leaner cut of meat. I trimmed just a bit of the fat off, but it already was at about 1/4 inch. Figured that was close enough.

More importantly, it'll be just enough for 2-3 people when it's ready, with no leftovers. I used the exact same pickling recipe as first time around and injected. I cut ingredients by about 2/3rds to accommodate the size. Should be ready by this time next weekend!

[Shaxspear]

Just to clarify... 1/8th of the fat cap would be good for smoking/bbq. I took off as much of the fat cap as possible for the chunk I used for straight up corned beef.

[suprefan]

food porn time

Handmade raviolis in process.






Final product. With garlic bread








Dessert. My take on Mille Feulle (a napolean) filling is cream, marscapone with vanilla beans mixed in. (the black dots)




Breakfast

Waffle with strawberries and leftover cream from the dessert above.

[Courtney]

You forgot my invitation.

[canexplain]

Yummy lobster spring rolls for brunch.....cr****

[canexplain]

So my daughter (Cinnamon) made the best damn spring rolls.......... Geez...cr****

[amyzzz]

Your daughter's name is Cinnamon? That's terrific.

[suprefan]

from the weekend


Potato skins



Apple Pie in progress




Breakfast tacos (egg, chorizo and cheese)





French toast with caramelized apples and vanilla creme (same used from the ones above)

[sonnyboy11]

Looking good with those potato skins. Gives me a mind to make my own tomorrow.

[TomAz]

Your daughter's name is Cinnamon? That's terrific.

That's Ensign Cinnamon to you and me, amy.