The Cooking Thread

[insbordnat]

Matzo brei is probably the only thing I look forward to. That and my italian mamma's homemade gefilte fish. But let's face it, ashkenazi cooking isn't exactly the pinnacle of awesomeness from a gastronomic point of view. And matzo sucks.

[SlowMotionApocalypse]

I want to make some sort of spicy vegetable soup. I have vegetable broth from Trader Joes and also some barley, and some vegetables but don't know what to do next.

[Hannahrain]

Matzo brei is probably the only thing I look forward to. That and my italian mamma's homemade gefilte fish. But let's face it, ashkenazi cooking isn't exactly the pinnacle of awesomeness from a gastronomic point of view. And matzo sucks.

Sounds like nobody's grandma has ever made you holishkes properly.

I'll be doing soup and macaroons with a friend tomorrow evening but probably nothing else culturally relevant. It's sort of a waste to go all-out with just two of us.

[jackstraw94086]

To this day my grandma's kasha varnishkes is one of my top favorite dishes.

[insbordnat]

Sounds like nobody's grandma has ever made you holishkes properly.

I'll be doing soup and macaroons with a friend tomorrow evening but probably nothing else culturally relevant. It's sort of a waste to go all-out with just two of us.

My mom made holishkes all the time. And I love kasha varnishkes, as well as kugels, knishes, and all the other asshole-soldering foods. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any are bad, and of course they evoke memories of family and holidays and while they deliver on the endorphins and comfort, I can't say I'm blown away by typical jewish fare much anymore. Maybe my jew card has expired, I don't know. Nowadays, I'm gravitating to my brother-in-law's sephardic foods since that's what my sister makes (and no more bubbie to make ashkenazi grub). So shakshouka, bourekas, dag hareef, etc. all provide a different perspective and cut through the good ol' meat/dough/grain of eastern european cuisine.

[Y0UNGBL00D]

simple pastrami sangwhich, but i've started steaming the cheese....

[Jonny Purple]

I can really recommend Humus (u know; chick peas, sesam paste, olive oil, lemon....) + lebanese bread - that should fill u up for the Coachella day (&nite)
...and/or for breakfast wholemeal sandwiches richly spread with cashew butter...whatyathink?

[bmack86]

Tomorrow I'm experimenting again with gumbo. This time there was a store that had okra in town, so I'll be using some in the recipe, and I got fresh creole sausage from the meat market. I'm shooting for a darker roux this time, as last time it was quite good but pretty light.

[Y0UNGBL00D]

I can really recommend Humus (u know; chick peas, sesam paste, olive oil, lemon....) + lebanese bread - that should fill u up for the Coachella day (&nite)
...and/or for breakfast wholemeal sandwiches richly spread with cashew butter...whatyathink?

i think this is more year-round cooking in general, but you're right.

[insbordnat]

Hummus is great for Coachella. High in fiber = regular deuces, which no one can complain about when sweating in a hot portapotty. Easy to make, travels well too. Hell, I should whip up a batch, thanks for the tip.

[bmack86]

With the goal of making a dark roux for gumbo, I cooked my bacon grease/peanut oil mixture for two hours. I only achieved a dark peanut butter color, but the burns on my wrists were sign enough that it was cook time. I hope to turn in a gumbo better than the last one I made, and right now the house smells incredible, even if my right wrist is burned to kingdom come. Damn cajun napalm.

[mountmccabe]

burns on my wrists

Mine is courtesy of my roasting pan. Or, rather, the tall handles of that roasting pan.

[mountmccabe]

Tall handles in the air, let me see 'em

[bmack86]

Still new, not set in, but they're growing.

[Neighborhood Creep]

I ended up making that avocado chicken salad tonight and am pleasantly surprised how good it was. I ended up using it as a cracker spread.

[unit300021]

Tonight I was pan frying some frozen mahi burgers and some oil splatted up when I flipped them and hit me in the face. First time that's ever happened to me.

[TomAz]

Will it leave a scar? cuz that'd be cool if there was a cooking scar that wasn't too big (gross) but big enough (badass).

[TomAz]

cuz you know there's nothing more badass than flipping mahi burgers

[TomAz]

also I hope you thawed those bad boys before you put them in the hot oil, otherwise your burn scar should just spell 'dumbass'.

[unit300021]

No scar, didn't even leave a burn mark. Was just a tiny drop that was really hot for a second then went away. And no I didn't thaw them out, the directions on the box said put 1 tablespoon of oil and put the mahi burgers in the oil while frozen. Maybe that makes me a dumb ass for following directions though because I rarely do that when I cook.

[bmack86]

The gumbo turned out great. The okra is a nice, slimy addition. There's much more flavor than last time.

[sonnyboy11]

That's quite purdy there, bmack. Any beer accompaniment?

[bmack86]

I had a bottle of Mammoth Brewing 395 IPA. Tastes like sage!

[canexplain]

My mom made holishkes all the time. And I love kasha varnishkes, as well as kugels, knishes, and all the other asshole-soldering foods. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any are bad, and of course they evoke memories of family and holidays and while they deliver on the endorphins and comfort, I can't say I'm blown away by typical jewish fare much anymore. Maybe my jew card has expired, I don't know. Nowadays, I'm gravitating to my brother-in-law's sephardic foods since that's what my sister makes (and no more bubbie to make ashkenazi grub). So shakshouka, bourekas, dag hareef, etc. all provide a different perspective and cut through the good ol' meat/dough/grain of eastern european cuisine.

I understood about every 3rd word there. My ignorance for sure although half the words when I quoted them, came up with the red spell check mark haha. BMack, that looks killer. I am not a big okra fan, but there are some dishes it just needs to be in it and it adds that "taste" sometimes you can't quit find. Now fried okra, yummmmmy......

[mountmccabe]

I made chili again. Great for making a large batch, great for freezing/reheating. This time around I basically combined the Turkey with White Bean Colorado-style chili recipe I've made before with The Best Chili Ever from Serious Eats. That recipe is gigantic and a bit of a mess... which is why I just stole a few ideas. I am guessing the most significant changes were using beef for stew (instead of ground turkey), the puree of the toasted and rehydrated chiles and adding Bourbon, apple cider vinegar and soy sauce. The beef was about perfect and this was the richest chili I have ever made, including other beef chilies.

[insbordnat]

I took a knife sharpening class today. Screw paying someone else to do it, and forget electric or other sharpening "systems". 3 waterstones, a strop, and my knives were taking hair off my arm. Highly recommended.

[unit300021]

I made crepes for the first time last night. Basically an excuse for me to make Pancakes for dinner. It's basically the same ingredients as pancakes just different ratios of them. The only difference is the Pancake recipe I use calls for two tsp of Vegetable oil and the crepe recipe used two tbsp of melted butter. I think I'm going to start using the melted butter in regular pancakes because holy shit does it make a difference. I just rolled some turkey in them and made one fruit desert style crepe. Overall pretty good but since it was a spur of the moment idea I really didn't have the ingredients to pull off a more interesting stuffing then just turkey. Next time.

[TomAz]

I took a knife sharpening class today. Screw paying someone else to do it, and forget electric or other sharpening "systems". 3 waterstones, a strop, and my knives were taking hair off my arm. Highly recommended.

I need to do this. I have a couple whetstones and a steel but I can't ever get my knives as sharp as I'd like. Where'd you take the class?

[TomAz]

I made Thomas Keller's recipe for Braised Beef Short Ribs last night. Accompanied by Thomas Keller's recipe for Polenta and Zarela Martinez' recipe for sauteed spinach. It was all wonderful.

http://mondodinner.com/2011/08/brais...thomas-keller/

(note a couple of the pics in that blog show that the cook took a shortcut and didnt' follow the directions to the letter. Deal with it).

I could not find boneless short ribs (I don't think i've ever seen that anywhere) ("boneless ribs" seems like such an oxymoron to me) so I got bone-in ribs and removed the bone.

[canexplain]

Bone in is the English cut. Bone out is also used in Chinese a lot. cr****