What'cha Cookin' Tonight II

[civvver]

I thought about trying ettoufet or gumbo but they’re a lot more work. Maybe next time.

 

[onejayhawk]

Gumbo isn't hard if you are willing to settle for ground turkey and frozen okra. Brown the turkey in a little oil. Make a roux from half a cup of flour. Slice up some andouille sausage. Soften peppers, onions, and celery in a bit of oil. Combine all of above plus six cups of water/stock, garlic, two Tbsp of Emeril's mix, 2-3 bay leaves, and some parsley. Simmer for an hour. Easy.

J

 

[Sofista]

So folks, as I'm reading about breakfast around the world, I thought maybe we could compare what we have usually for breakfast at home. I guess this should technically be another thread but c'mon, the resident food lovers are already all here and this could be very quick anyway.

Me, when there's no time my breakfast is a simple glass of whole milk. When I can, though, it's bread (with some corn in it), butter and good apricot jam (70% fruit). I cut the bread in half, put the butter on it and place in the oven at 50° for a couple of minutes. After that the bread is warm, the butter is melty and I only have to spread the jam.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

^great idea sofista

my breakfasts always look like this:

tea: strong black, usually with honey and lemon juice. mild green without any additions. I usually have both.

fresh fruit: grapes, pineapple, mango, tangerines, orange, berries is what I have most often.

raw vegetables: cheery tomatoes topped with my own garlic oil, or a cucumber salad with sichuan chili oil, sesame seed, sugar and rice vinegar

cooked vegetables: zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant or paprika. pan seared with s&p.

two slices of sourdough bread with: high quality butter, scamorza (current fav), goat cream cheese & homemade pickled jalapenos, pecorino, cheddar, basically whatever cheese I feel like having. I have a lot of cheese in my fridge at all times. another thing I genuinely can't live without is a proper ham for breakfast. not bacon, but the good stuff. serrano, prosciutto, black forest smoked ham.. lately I've been getting some protugese ham that is really fantastic. don't really need anything else on my bread.

the rest is totally optional and I only have it on special occasions:

a proper croissant with cream cheese and chives, a creamy scrambled egg, a buttery french omelette, any kind of sweet pasty, pastel de nata being my current favorite, blood orange juice.. really just about anything. one of my favorite breakfasts was hot Pho in viet nam. soup for breakfast is godly.

I made some kumquat jelly recently and it's absolutely delicious. if you can get your hand on that, try it out!

breakfast is a proper ritual for me and can take up to an hour. when I can't have a proper breakfast I just leave it out, feels wrong to me otherwise. I'll pack smth up and eat on the train while reading.

 

[Sofista]

YCJ,

I swear I don't wish to pry into your private life, but... are you a Hohenzollern or something like that?

 

[civvver]

I'm watching calories and breakfast is the easiest meal to cut down on. So it's usually really small, a cup of plain greek yogurt, maybe with berries in it, or a cup of plain oatmeal. Sometimes I have scrambled eggs with hot sauce. On workout days I add in a protein powder shake. If I'm in a real rush I eat some pecans or almonds and cheddar or gouda cheese in the car.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

YCJ,

I swear I don't wish to pry into your private life, but... are you a Hohenzollern or something like that?

every day of my life is like the one episode with the fat guy in Monty Python's "the meaning of life"

I'm watching calories and breakfast is the easiest meal to cut down on. So it's usually really small, a cup of plain greek yogurt, maybe with berries in it, or a cup of plain oatmeal. Sometimes I have scrambled eggs with hot sauce. On workout days I add in a protein powder shake. If I'm in a real rush I eat some pecans or almonds and cheddar or gouda cheese in the car.

scramble and hotsauce! my man!

 

[onejayhawk]

I recall a Doonsbury episode where Mike is trying Cajun hot sauces. When he exclaims how hot it is, his wife suggests starting with a milder one. Mike explains it's the one the Cajuns use on cornflakes.

J

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I have concluded that I make an exceptional hamburger.

 

[civvver]

I have concluded that I make an exceptional hamburger.

Do share your secrets. Everyone has a little trick for cooking burgers. For me, I like to keep it simple, fresh 80/20 meat, lots of coarse salt and black pepper, decent size patty between 5-6 ounces, more than that makes it hard to fit on a regular bun and cook the inside without drying the outside. And then I dimple the middle with my thumb to keep it from puffing up during cooking. That's it and then watch it close so you don't overcook it. I like mine medium, pink in the middle.

What kind of hot sauce on eggs? I have been using siracha lately cus it's so good. Franks is fine but more heat than flavor.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Do share your secrets. Everyone has a little trick for cooking burgers. For me, I like to keep it simple, fresh 80/20 meat, lots of coarse salt and black pepper, decent size patty between 5-6 ounces, more than that makes it hard to fit on a regular bun and cook the inside without drying the outside. And then I dimple the middle with my thumb to keep it from puffing up during cooking. That's it and then watch it close so you don't overcook it. I like mine medium, pink in the middle.

Garlic powder, black pepper, and Dragon Sauce.

My sudden outburst there was because I was really enjoying the "hey, Sunday, special dinner whatever you want" offer to my gf coming back 'hamburgers,' which was waaaaaaay easier than any other options.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I used to make huge burgers, but now I keep it very simple. only thing I put a lot of effort into is the sauce.

burger sauce
equal parts mayo, mustard and ketchup (mine are homemade but store bought is fine)
incredibly finely chopped pickles and zucchini relish
pinch of salt and sugar
wee bit of pickle brine
that's the best burger sauce I've ever tasted

patties I like a little more fatty, like 70/30 or lower depending on what style. short rib and chuck together is king, but too expensive. I form extremely thin patties and crisp them up with exceptional heat. for cheeses I use one slice edam (mild) and one slice cheddar (sharp). seasoning for the patty is usually just s n p.

toppings I'm equally minimalist. always lettuce and pickles, rest is entirely optional. maybe tomato and caramelized onions, but I'm not gonna add more. stacked burgers are just hard to eat and the whole concept of the burger is lost. buns are usually brioche, but I like any kind: "pretzel" buns (we call them lye), kaiser roll, potato bun, sweet potato and honey bun, anything goes.

I've been very into smashburgers lately. best way to do them imo is to have super thin patties, top them off with very, very finely sliced onion rings and then flip and let the meat steam on one side from the onion juices. the interplay of textures with one crispy and one cooked side is neat. I often go with a double patty, too, since they're so thin and the burger has little toppings anyway. I'm having burgs tomorrow so might grace you peeps with a picture!

Do share your secrets. Everyone has a little trick for cooking burgers. For me, I like to keep it simple, fresh 80/20 meat, lots of coarse salt and black pepper, decent size patty between 5-6 ounces, more than that makes it hard to fit on a regular bun and cook the inside without drying the outside. And then I dimple the middle with my thumb to keep it from puffing up during cooking. That's it and then watch it close so you don't overcook it. I like mine medium, pink in the middle.

What kind of hot sauce on eggs? I have been using siracha lately cus it's so good. Franks is fine but more heat than flavor.

imho with eggs you best go with a tangy vinegary sauce, but not "chili water" stuff like tobasco. I personally make a hotsauce based off of aji amarillo or aji limon that's just bomb with eggs. but a conventional habanero sauce would work, too, and takes only a few minutes to actually make.

deseed habaneros
throw then into a blender
add two garlic cloves
some pineapple or pineapple juice
some vinegar
a little bit of salt and sugar
blend
et voila

I call it tropical 'nero. it's one of my best homemade hotsauces yet.

also I recently lacto fermented my own 'racha and it completely blew people's minds. I made it pretty mild and used roasted red bell pepper to "dilute" the chili and garlic critical mass. secret addition: fish sauce.

 

[civvver]

Yeah I like burger toppings pretty minimal as well. I want to taste the meat. I pretty much do cheddar or american cheese, mayo, ketchup and raw onions and that's it. Sometimes I omit ketchup and use sriracha mayo. If I have time I love caramelized onions in place of raw. And blue cheese crumbles are awesome. Probably my ideal burger would be blue cheese crumbles and a ton of caramelized onions with just a tiny splotch of ketchup. At one bar though I had a burger that had a lemon aoli and it was amazing. I would've never thought of putting anything lemon on a burger.

For buns I love white bread buns like brioche. I use like aunt millies stadium buns usually. They're pretty good for a supermarket bun. Must be toasted or grilled though to hold up.

 

[onejayhawk]

I like bolillos for burger buns. Bolillos are the standard Mexican sandwich roll. It's rather like a short, flatish baguette. Indeed they are sometimes referred to as pan Frances, meaning French bread. They are quite common here. Even Walmart carries a decent variety.

 

[civvver]

Red beans and rice. Really good but the jambalaya was a little better. It’s easy to make but has to simmer 3 hours so it takes a while.


https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/241499/chef-johns-red-beans-and-rice/

The jambalaya has more spice and complex flavors. The beans are creamy and delicious and rich, but more one note.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Pork tacos from the files of "Slow Cooking for Simpletons."

Seriously, three pound pork loin and three seven ounce (or five four ounce, or one twenty ounce) cans of diced green chiles in the slow cooker all day. Pull as much as you need with forks and throw it in the frying pan to get a little browned and a little crisped, make tacos.

They were really good, though I'm sort of regretting them now...or at least the last one or two of them that I knew I didn't really need.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

as promised. double patty monster with rose rolls and smoked scamorza. it was delicious, but I still prefer the brioche, single patty and cheedar plus edam combination.

 

[onejayhawk]

We have some damn good photos in this thread. I am not so talented with my phone.

@ycj Do you ever add carrots to your habanero salsa? Last time I did I just nuked them soft and hit them with the blender along with everything else.

BTW Judith makes me use a dedicated stick blender. She complains that hot sauce gets in the seals of the upright.

J

 

[civvver]

Pork tacos from the files of "Slow Cooking for Simpletons."

Seriously, three pound pork loin and three seven ounce (or five four ounce, or one twenty ounce) cans of diced green chiles in the slow cooker all day. Pull as much as you need with forks and throw it in the frying pan to get a little browned and a little crisped, make tacos.

They were really good, though I'm sort of regretting them now...or at least the last one or two of them that I knew I didn't really need.

That's it? Nice. I'll have to try. I've making carnitas before and did the whole gamut of spices like oregano and cumin primarily.

 

[onejayhawk]

I have a slow cooker recipe I have been wanting to try.

Rub
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp olive oil

Large pork butt, 4-5 lbs, 2+ kg
S&P
1 onion, slice
1 jalapeno, deseeded, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 2 oranges

Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper then rub mixture.
Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
Slow Cook on low for 6 hours or until shreddable.
Remove from slow cooker. Let cool slightly then shred using two forks. Reserve
Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet over high heat. Spread pork in the pan, drizzle over some juices. Wait until the juices evaporate and the bottom side is golden brown and crusty.
Turn and just briefly sear the other side - you don't want to make it brown all over because then it's too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
Turn and just briefly sear the other side - you don't want to make it brown all over because then it's too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
Remove pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) - don't crowd the pan.
Just before serving, drizzle over more juices and serve hot, stuffed in tacos (see notes for sides, other serving suggestion and storage/make ahead).
​

It's very simple. The searing is a great way to enhance flavor. I would do it first so this method caught my eye.

J