Cooking with Maintankadin

Orgreenic?

After a few google searches, that is indeed the one. Like some of the reviews I read, it wasn't as non-stick as one would be lead to believe at first. It took a few sessions to get "seasoned" properly but it works really well now. At least for all the eggs I make. And I make a lot. I still add some butter or oil to the pan when I cook though, depending on what I'm cooking. Butter just tastes good and lubes the pan up nicely to boot. While any "non stick" will probably work the same, I have no complaints. Worth the 20 bucks? I dunno. A quick search shows other non stick pans that size anywhere from 20 to over 100 dollars. In the end, I didn't pay for it and it works well enough.

Man, this thread's been dead all year. Let's change that. This past weekend was Thanksgiving in the US. With Christmas coming up soon, I thought it might be nice to recap Thanksgiving meals and maybe get some ideas for what to do for Christmas.

A few years ago my folks retired to Henderson, Nevada (just outside Las Vegas). We've been doing Thanksgiving there ever since; they're centrally located to all the siblings (my sisters are in the Bay Area, I'm in Phoenix). My younger sister got married last year, so now we are eleven.

The first year we had Thanksgiving at the new pad -- four years ago -- we had to get creative using my mother's pantry. We're Chinese (mother is an immigrant; sibs are all 1st gen), so her kitchen was stocked with a bunch of Asian staples. Not so much with the traditional American cooking. Trying to MacGuyver a horseradish cream sauce for the Brussels sprouts using wasabi powder worked about as well as you might expect.

Ever since then I've brought my own cooking gear and sourced most of the actual food; proteins especially.

This year's dinner, which I was actually quite pleased with:


Turkey
Two turkey breasts. The night before I rubbed with seasonings (under and over skin), loosely tented with foil, and left in fridge. One using a basic 411 rub (4 parts salt:1 part pepper:1 part garlic powder + 1/2 part onion powder + cayanne to taste (usually ~1/16th part)). The other using a bird rub (it's the 2nd bottle from the right in this photo):

(I have half a dozen different spice rubs I use for various things; I make them in batches and store them like this in my pantry. If you do this, try not to make more than you'll use in three months -- ground pepper loses its efficacy quickly).

In past years I've used Alton Brown's Turkey Brine. I recently read this article on Serious Eats about brining and opted to go this way this year. tl;dr: just rub with a fair amount of salt the night before.

Took the turkey out of the fridge two hours before cooking to give it some time to warm up, but not so long as to be dangerous. Rubbed with melted butter (over and under the skin).

425 degree oven for 30 minutes, then 325 until the meat hits 160. Let rest for minimum 30 minutes before carving. Remove the entire breast from the bone then cut perpendicular to the grain. The resting will keep the juices inside the turkey while cutting against the grain will make the meat fibers shorter, so the turkey will feel very tender.


Sous Vide Flat Iron Steaks
I made a pair of flat iron steaks. One seasoned with Magic Dust (middle spice container), one with the 411. Sous vide at 127 degrees for 30 hours. Thrown into smoking hot pan for thirty seconds a side (dry it off before you put it in the pan so it doesn't spend any time steaming).

Sous vide is a really easy cooking method and it's simple to get great results. Great cooking often boils down to technique, and sous vide is about as braindead simple as it comes.


4-Rib Standing Rib Roast
Crosshatched the fat cap in a diamond pattern. Seasoned very, very generously with the 411, tented with foil and fridge overnight. I like to cut it free from the bone so I can also season the bottom; you can let it sit on the bones, or tie it back on with butcher's twine.

Took out of the fridge at 8am to warm up for a couple hours. 200 degree oven until the middle hits 120. Yank from oven; cranked broiler to high (could have turned oven to max). Let the roast rest for half an hour while the oven heated up; stuck it in until the fat cap crisped. Carry-over heat took it up to 128, which is medium rare.

Let it rest for an hour before carving. A slab of meat this large really could have used some more time tbqh. Next time I'm just going to aim to have the roast done three hours ahead of time.


Cranberry Sauce
I made two different kinds.

- 1 package cranberries, 2 cups Vernor's Ginger Ale (I grew up in Michigan, okay), 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup orange marmalade, juice of 1 orange, zest from same, pinch of salt. Buzz with blender stick to desired consistency after the cranberries pop.

- 1 package cranberries, 1 can Sprite Zero Cranberry, 1/2 cup Splenda, 1/2 cup orange marmalade, pinch of salt. Mash cranberries against side of pot with fork when they burst.

The second sauce was closer to a jam in consistency than the other smooth sauce. It was also a lot more popular, despite being low carb (the marmalade I have is low carb).


Horseradish Cream Brussels Sprouts
This dish has become a tradition after the comedy horribleness of the Wasabi Incident.
Halve Brussels Sprouts. Put on foil-lined sheet pan, toss with oil, salt, pepper. Roast at 425 until nearly done.
Cream sauce: Dice bacon; render down to desired crispiness. Set bacon grease aside. Add cup heavy cream, pinch salt, pepper to taste. Reduce slightly. Toss with sprouts.


Pan Fried Red Potatoes
Red potatoes work better than Idahos for this because of their more-waxy texture. Idahos are also good, but if you use them, add a pinch of baking soda along with the spices.

Diced potatoes, put in nonstick skillet over medium-high head along with a healthy amount of butter (and bacon grease from above!) and the "creole" seasoning (first on left). Add cup of water. Cover. Let the water boil off. When the water's gone, check texture -- if they're a little underdone, add more water and re-cover. If they're fork tender, crank heat to high and pan fry to desired crispiness (toss so it doesn't burn; just be careful).


Garlic Parmesan Mashed Cauliflower
I usually make a Garlic Parm mashed potato, but with the Skillet Potatoes this seemed unnecessary. There's a keto-friendly mashed cauliflower my family's been eating for a while which my wife thinks is better than my potatoes, so we opted to make that instead.

1 cauliflower, rough chopped into inch-sized bits. 1 tablespoon cream cheese, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 tblsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp pepper, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 tsp salt.

Steam the crap out of the cauliflower. If you want to be really adventurous, oven-roast half of it until it's really tender (I'd wait until you were really comfortable with the recipe before trying this). Once the cauliflower is really, really tender, dry it off, return to the pot, and mix everything together, using a potato masher to mash the cauliflower as well. I usually cook off any excess water in the pot I just steamed it in over high heat; sometimes it'll crisp a bit, which just makes it taste better imo. Add more parmesan to taste.


Butter Poached Mushrooms
In the morning I threw a package of Baby Bella Mushrooms (quartered), two sticks of butter, 411 spice, and some tarragon in a crock pot and forgot about them until serving dinner. It would have benefitted from a hit of white wine towards the end.


Gravy
Set aside the turkey drippings and skim off the fat. I ended up with a quarter cup of fat from my turkey breasts. Mix in an equal part of flour over medium-high heat. Whisk until smooth and let cook a bit. The longer you let the roux (1:1 fat:flour) cook, the darker it'll get. I personally don't like to let it get too dark for turkey, but don't want it honey-blonde either. Slowly whisk in two cups of turkey stock (if you've made some from the turkey neck), or chicken stock. Pepper to taste; salt if you need it (be careful as stock and drippings are usually pretty salty). I also added in several tablespoons of those butter poached mushrooms. If the gravy's still too thick add more stock; you'll want it to be slightly thinner than you want it to be on the table: it will start to thicken up as soon as you take it off heat.

My drippings were pre-seasoned from the rubs and spices and stuff that fell into the roasting pan; you may want to add some more seasonings, but I don't like gravy that's so assertive that it takes away from the meat.


Bacon and Blue Cheese Wilted Spinach Salad
Chop bacon, render down. While that's going on mix spinach, blue cheese, sliced red onion, and olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing (we do a quick and dirty 1:1 in a bottle and shake to combine). Remove all but a couple tblsp of the bacon grease, then drizzle salad with bacon and bacon grease; toss to combine.


Pao de Quejio
My brother-in-law loves these. I actually wrote the recipe into the little books they had on the tables at their wedding reception for people to write them messages and advice.

2 eggs, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1 1/3 cup milk, 3 cups tapioca flour, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 2 tsp salt. Blend the crap out of everything. Pour into mini muffin pans, bake at 400 for 17ish minutes.


I also made pumpkin pies, one using a Pillsbury crust, the other using 1 1/2 almond flour + 3 tblsp melted butter, 3 tblsp Splenda, mixed and pressed into 9" pie plate and baked off at 350 for ~12 minutes. People liked the almost crust, but I thought it got in the way of the pie.

I made the sauce Monday night, pumpkin filling, and bread batter Tuesday. Traveled Wednesday and baked the pies that night. Reading back over this I'm somewhat shocked everything was done and on the table at 5:45pm. My mother has only one oven so I had to get clever about scheduling oven time. By all accounts it worked out well.

The photo of the spread is the first quarter of the protein; we got through a little over half of the turkey, roast, and steaks during dinner that night. The rest made for leftovers for the rest of the weekend (as was planned). The potatoes work really well as breakfast potatoes. I also took rib slices and hit them with really high heat for 30 seconds a side for breakfast steaks.

I regret not making more.

Y'all are no fun.

A few months back I got turned on to Vaca Frita, which is beef, cubed, braised, flattened, then fried, seasoned with garlic, lime and cumin.

Lime and cumin is pretty amazing.

This weekend I made a variation using a pork shoulder (which was on sale last week).

Pork shoulder, seasoned with 411 spice (4:1:1:.5:.1 salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne). Rough chopped onion. Cup chicken stock. Put in crock pot for 12+ hours, until fat's rendered and meat pulls apart if you look at it funny,

Pull apart pork. and evacuate to bowl (there'll be a fair amount of liquid left in the crock pot). While doing this, get a nonstick skillet as hot as you can.

Juice and zest a lime or three. Add cumin -- I use a tablespoon of cumin per lime. Stir to combine.

Fry the pork until the thin bits are crispy -- or until the thick bits are crispy too, whatever floats your boat. Will probably need to work in batches, depending on the size of your pork shoulder. Add a tablespoon or two of the lime-cumin dressing, Add more 411 spice to taste.

Serve with tortillas and sour cream. Or with lettuce wraps. Or just eat by the fistful.

Freezes well, too.

Well now I want that in my mouth right this instant. Cooks Illustrated had a version of vaca frita recently but crock pot recipe sounds so much easier.

Why hello there, interesting thread!

That looks like a fantastic meal, Fuzzygeek. Can't wait for the holidays now!
I love the idea of having pre-made spice mix canisters, might adopt that idea.

There's this huge new food place which has opened up recently (okay probably like half a year ago, I just didn't notice), and by food place I mean like a massive hall where they have tons of different stands and little shops that sells different kinds of food. Going to head over with a friend on Wednesday (she hadn't noticed it either!), and see if I can't loot some exciting ingredients.



EDIT: ...on topic video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ldSBpz9bEw
Warning: Traumatising "cooking"-methods ahead.

katraya wrote:Cooks Illustrated had a version of vaca frita recently but crock pot recipe sounds so much easier.

I did get the vacas fritas recipe from Cook's Illustrated -- it's very good, but takes a fair amount of preparation. I've made it several times, as my wife likes it a lot.

The pulled pork version is much, much easier. I'm not sure which I like more, but the pork's a definite contender. It's easier to get the nice crispy finish on the pork.

Era wrote:EDIT: ...on topic video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ldSBpz9bEw
Warning: Traumatising "cooking"-methods ahead.

What in the fuck

fuzzygeek wrote:Pull apart pork. and evacuate to bowl

Sorry to bring this up in a food thread... but I can't be the only one to have read "evacuate the bowel"...

Not sure this counts as cooking, but I've made a home carbonation rig.



Parts list:
* 5 lb CO2 tank: $67.08 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085282UK
* Kegco Dual Gauge Regulator $46.90 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WX772G
* Ball Style Quick Disconnect $8.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008OK9SHO
* "The Carbonater" $12.65 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064OKADS
* Air line jumper $4.89 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002EAJXM

- 5 lb CO2 -- at my local brewery supply joint it's $20 for food grade CO2. You can get it cheaper at paintball supply or welding shops, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea just to save a few bucks.

You can probably get all of this cheaper/used at your local brewery supply joint (if you have one).

Pros:
- Fuckton cheaper than Sodastream + refills. A 60L sodastream cartridge is $15, and does (ostensibly) 60 liters. I can refill this 5# tank for $20 and do around 200 liters.
- I can also vary the PSI for more or less carbonation
- with the right container you can carbonate fruit.

Cons:
- I suspect it's a little trickier to use than a sodastream. I've never actually used one, but given the target demographics I suspect a sodastream is more plug-and-play than this rig.
- The nearest brewery supply shop is a 25 minute drive away. On the plus side, it's along the route my son drives to visit his girlfriend, so when I need to refill I can make him do it.
- May lead to trying carbonated coffee. Don't do this.

If you drink a lot of soda water this is a decent way to go. We used to buy 4-6 2 litre bottles of soda water a week. My wife is big on Mio water enhancers, and we replaced colas in the house with Mio since we went Ketogenic last August.

Highly recommended, especially if you get visibly aroused by having mad scientist shit in the kitchen.

Aside from water, I've carbonated coffee (again, don't do this), iced tea (mixed reviews), home made pink grapefruit juice (surprisingly good. We have a tree in the backyard that is ridiculously fecund). Will probably try vitamin water when I'm cooking lunch.

That's very cool!

fuzzygeek wrote:Cons:
<snip>
- May lead to trying carbonated coffee. Don't do this.

I laughed so hard I startled my dog.

fuzzygeek wrote:- May lead to trying carbonated coffee. Don't do this.

Well, now that you've suggested it...

It's summer for you folks, but winter down here, so I present the following:

Cream of Broccoli Soup with Cheese:

1 head of broccoli
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 pint cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup grated cheese
"some" butter
Mixed herbs
Salt
Pepper

First I set up my steamer, coarse-chop the broccoli and steam for around 12 minutes.
Dice the onion and cook in a pot with butter, season with mixed herbs and pepper, then add garlic.
When onion is translucent, add chicken stock and simmer.
Combine broccoli with onion/stock mixture in a blender with around half of the cream. Pulse a few times, then blend until smooth.
Return mixture to pot and add remainder of cream, and grated cheese.

Cheese often has a bit of salt, so only add salt if required once the cheese is fully incorporated.

This is a really easy recipe and you can be enjoying some serious comfort food in about half an hour.

So a friend of mine has been getting seriously into homebrewing, and he let me use his equipment to try my hand at it, and I made myself an oatmeal stout.




It turned out alright, a lot better than I expected, considering the few mishaps that happened during the brew process. It was a tad thin and under-carbonated, but had a nice, smooth flavor.


The recipe I used: (Given amounts for a 5 gallon batch, we adjusted the numbers to work with a smaller, two gallon batch.)


8 lbs. pale two-row English ale malt
1 lb. crystal malt, 60° Lovibond
18 oz. oatmeal (quick)
0.5 lb. chocolate malt
0.5 lb. roasted barley
1/2 tsp. Irish moss
2 oz. Fuggles hops for boiling (4.2% alpha acid), for 45 min.
1 pack Wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast

That picture rendered bottom first, and my first thought was that I was going to be reading about a horrifying carbonated coffee incident.

Haha, I was actually originally planning on making a coffee stout, but decided against it.

How to cook rice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaU-oA82S2o