Food Thread - Obsidian Gormand's Edition

[ShadySands]

Vienna sausage with some hot sauce, my wife said it was gross but I was loving every bite.

PS I showed my wife that gazpacho recipe and she really wants to make it

Edited June 5, 2022 by ShadySands

[Gromnir]

23 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

 

PS I showed my wife that gazpacho recipe and she really wants to make it

consider experimenting with the acids and the heat to achieve your desired optimal taste. replace the lemon juice with lime or a vinegar o' your choice (red wine, sherry, whatever) though vinegar may call for a smaller quantity. change the red bell pepper to something with a bit more bite. serrano is a good option even if it ain't red and the additional heat will add a different dimension to the dish.

the cherry tomatoes may seem like an odd choice, but we highly recommend trying 'em for this recipe. cherry tomatoes have high water content, are sweet and tend to be more flavorful than most fresh tomato varieties. 

have fun with it.

HA! Good Fun!

[BruceVC]

Weekend time is....English Breakfast time 

Today Im  cooking chicken-livers  and garlic and then eggs, friend banana and toast

I also made a killer blue cheese sauce for steak this week. I used a good quality shop bought blue cheese sauce but added friend onions and garlic. Absolutely delicious with steak 

 

[Maedhros]

Was home alone yesterday. Made pan fried chicken breast (@ 60 celsius, with lots and lots of butter and garlic), ramson that I picked in a nearby forest, celeriac puree and a red wine sauce. Paired with a beautiful red from my favorite aussie winemaker - By Farr. Wish I made more!

Edited June 12, 2022 by Maedhros

[Gromnir]

had a discussion earlier 'bout cookware. the following link represents a fantastic deal:

https://www.costco.com/tramontina-4-quart-covered-enameled-cast-iron-braiser.product.100805469.html

is a functional porcelain coated cast iron skillet with a tight fit lid. near vertical sides provide more cooking area relative to volume and this particular cookware is gonna compare extreme favorable to le creuset.

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

Smashed burgers, dirty water dogs, and boiled peanuts. No apple pie, but other than that, that's pretty dang American.

[ShadySands]

Grilled wings, corn, sausage, and peppers. Followed that up with a watermelon, not grilled.

For my wings I've started using Nando's because the citrus in it really elevates the flavor over most hot sauces. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by ShadySands

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Carnitas and some margaritas. It was delicious and now I'm drunk, I don't give a ****.

[Gromnir]

for hot sauce am gonna admit we near always start with frank's, and then add flavours, fat and heat. frank's is aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt and garlic powder. that is the complete ingredient list for frank's. is nothing we do not recognize or cannot pronounce in frank's and is how we would start any cayenne based hot sauce anyways. am finding frank's is a great foundation and we need only add lime or lemon, paprika or rosemary or whatever to get where we want it.

got a couple o' tri-tip we effective brined and already roasted and need only finish off on the grill as am using reverse sear. reverse sear approach means we were able to cook yesterday and need only grill for a brief time for the guests. will also grill corn 'cause these folks have literal the best corn we has ever purchased... anywhere. also am making one pan fried chicken... chicken has been sitting in our seasoned buttermilk since first thing this am as we like a six-hour plus brine. 

got potato salad (meh), baked beans, mac n' cheese, and cole slaw all prepared in advance save the mac n' cheese. mac n' cheese will come outta the oven right before guests arrive.

also have watermelon, lotta local fresh strawberries and watermelon gazpacho, although the local watermelon ain't being harvested yet so is probable from a far distant land.

we bought an apple pie. *shrug* is a culinary character flaw, but we don't like making pie.

HA! Good Fun!

ps we do have enough ground beef (is short rib we put in the food processor) for those who wish burgers, but we prefer to cook the perfect burger in a cast iron pan in the oven so we get that ideal crusty coating only possible with a pan. nevertheless, if somebody really wants grilled, we will oblige.

pps a couple days past we made a big pot o' our good red beans, so while is not as if we prepared for the 4th, we will offer to guests.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Gromnir

[Keyrock]

My dad is in Poland attending to some business and he has been sending me pictures of some of the delicious looking food and beer he is consuming. This inspired me to make the half hour (each way) drive to the Polish deli in Pineville. 

Szynka myśliwska (hunter ham, double smoked), boczek cygański (gypsy bacon, super duper heavily smoked), ser podlaski (a popular variety of Polish yellow cheese, I don't have a better description) with horseradish, tomato, white onion, and ogórki małosolne (Polish pickles, małosolne translates to low salt) on rye bread. Plus, the obligatory Polish lager to make it a proper lunch.

I have kabanosy drying:

It's going to take all my willpower to give them the 4 or 5 days necessary to reach peak deliciousness and not devour them early.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Keyrock

[rjshae]

[Gromnir]

blt season is almost 'pon us in our location. shelf stable tomatoes is a bit tasteless compared to the good stuff, so if you can find a decent farmer's market am gonna highly recommend trying such a source. 

am not offering for the recipe but rather the process. mentioned a few pages back how simple is mayo, but am nevertheless confident many people has never made mayo.

our personal recipe is not gonna match anything you see on the internet, which is a good thing as am making to match our taste, however, we got a couple recommendations using the video ingredients and quantities as a baseline.

1) you do not need a full cup of oil

is nothing wrong with a full cup, but we typical go with 3⁄4 C or even a smidge less. am preferring our mayo to be on the lighter side. if you want something which tastes closer to most store bought brands, use vegetable oil. grapeseed is an ideal choice but our most frequent choices is avocado or vegetable oil. even so, you willget full and stable emulsion even with 3⁄4 C o' oil.

2) do not use extra virgin olive oil

an immersion blender is the wrong tool if you want to use extra virgin olive oil 'cause it is gonna make the mayo bitter. if you serious wanna do immersion and use olive oil, make sure is extra light olive oil.

3) consider adding a full teaspoon of salt

salt makes most food taste better right up until you hit point where is too salty.

4) one full egg as 'posed to 2 egg yolks works perfectly fine

5) garlic addition gets you closer to aioli and may be overpowering

would recommend not trying to make with garlic your first few attempts especial if you are hoping to get something close-but-better than best foods/hellmans or duke's. 

6) sugar is not our jam, but...

particular if you prefer miracle whip, add a half teaspoon or more o' sugar. if you want like dukes, then skip sugar but use vegetable oil, and go 50/50 white distilled vinegar/cider vinegar and add a bit o' paprika. 

7) room temp ingredients 

you don't wanna try and emulsify with cold egg, water, mustard, whatever to room temp oil. take your egg and whatnot outta the fridge +20 minutes before prep.

...

for reference, when having a blt, we make mayo with the following ingredients:

1 large egg 
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar + typical 1-2 teaspoons of cider vinegar, but am admitted fluid as to how tangy we want the mayo
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup vegetable oil 

we then let cool in the fridge after you got your emulsion as it will firm up a smidge.

downside is you got a fair amount o' mayo with this and if you make a single sandwich, your remaining homemade mayo is gonna last no more than a week. 

HA! Good Fun!

ps we mentioned tomatoes at the start o' the post. the one variety o' tomatoes which ain't been bred for shelf stability is cherry tomatoes. cherry tomatoes is not a great option for blt, though not terrible. regardless, if you don't mind a bit o' extra sweetness in your recipes and you want more tomato flavour, consider replacing whatever tomato you ordinarily use with a similar volume o' cherry tomatoes. grow your own or find good farm tomatoes is also viable options.

 

[Keyrock]

Blood sausage. I'm salivating just thinking about it. Pan fried with sauteed onions...

I had a long 12 1/2 hour work day on Friday, so I'm rewarding myself this weekend with the good stuff.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Keyrock

[Gromnir]

15 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

 

Blood sausage. I'm salivating just thinking about it. Pan fried with sauteed onions...

I had a long 12 1/2 hour work day on Friday, so I'm rewarding myself this weekend with the good stuff.

https://polishfooddirect.com/ is our second favorite source for sausage.

highly recommend these guys

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Gromnir said:

https://polishfooddirect.com/ is our second favorite source for sausage.

highly recommend these guys

HA! Good Fun!

Do they make pasztet? It's a pate, essentially liverwurst, but the best liverwurst you can imagine. This is the best I've been able to get here in Cackalacky:

There are several varieties, but this is my favorite for how delicate and smooth the flavor is. Not quite as good as the best I could get in New Britain, CT, but still quite good and it's better than the stuff I could get at the supermarket by several country miles.

 

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

Do they make pasztet? It's a pate, essentially liverwurst, but the best liverwurst you can imagine. This is the best I've been able to get here in Cackalacky:

 

There are several varieties, but this is my favorite for how delicate and smooth the flavor is. Not quite as good as the best I could get in New Britain, CT, but still quite good and it's better than the stuff I could get at the supermarket by several country miles.

 

no idea if they have the french style stuff. pasztet z kaczki is what we gravitate to, but we don't get it from tarnowski's... not bacik either though as we make our own. many delis which carry polish foods is gonna have bacik brand, but pasztet z kaczki is not particular hard to make at home and we like our duck.

(edit) curious, we recall never seeing bacik brand goods in pittsburgh. if we had to name the three big(er) US cities which is most polish, w/o checking a search engine, we would immediate guess chicago, pittsburgh and buffalo. we recall a distinct absence o' bacik in pittsburgh.  

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Gromnir

[Gromnir]

had a couple three-inch thick rib-eye pork chops in a bag with (bread and butter) pickle brine and 'cause we got too busy to cook, it were +2 days before we got 'em outta the fridge. thought they would taste kinda funky, but the pork turned out better than anticipated.  as is our habit these days with any thick cut o' meat, we did reverse sear; effective roasted in the oven for almost 40 minutes at 250F and then threw the chops on the grill to finish. since the grill were hot, we cooked a couple peaches. also had sauteed spinach which mighta' been arguable healthy if we hadn't used so much butter. 

regardless, am nevertheless shocked by how delicious were the pork as we expected cloying sweet or overpowering pickle flavour.

HA! Good Fun! 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Gromnir

[Keyrock]

I tried my hand at making pyzy. They came out ugly as sin, but they taste good, so not bad for a first attempt:

The ingredients were potatoes, half of them boiled and mashed and the other half raw and grated, eggs, and potato flour. I mixed it all up and boiled the balls I formed until they floated to the surface. Bacon and green onions for topping.

[Gromnir]

'ccording to the us census, luzerne county in pennsylvania is the only county in the US where polish is the most common reported ancestry. is quite possible after a visit to plymouth, kingston or nanticoke, @Keyrockwould never wanna leave. 

HA! Good Fun!

[BruceVC]

I bought some Ox liver today, I am going to cook it for dinner tonight with mash potato 

I always  cook all  liver the same way. I fry it on low heat  with onion and butter, its going to be delicious 

[Bartimaeus]

I have discovered that seedless jam is apparently vile. I had not previously known this due to only ever having had jam with the seeds in it, and I certainly did not expect the difference to be so stark. It is an error that will never be repeated.

[Gromnir]

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I have discovered that seedless jam is apparently vile. I had not previously known this due to only ever having had jam with the seeds in it, and I certainly did not expect the difference to be so stark. It is an error that will never be repeated.

what fruit? am assuming is a non factor for stuff such as cherry, apricot and even grape jams... and 'course orange marmalade, which am s'posing is technical jam. converse, never woulda occurred to us to try and remove the seeds from something such as blueberries. 

raspberry, blackberry and strawberry is perhaps targets for seedless, but am admitting have never seen such and now that am forewarned we will avoid.

unrelated, am serious considering downsizing our place, which would mean needing staring kitchen anew. the problem we got is the property we own which makes the most sense is having a downdraft cooktop and the current cabinets would allow for only a 30" wide cooktop replacement. if we wanna do gas or induction we would likely need one o' those telescoping downdraft risers, but the countertop is also only 24" deep, so is an extreme tight fit. 

there is a nice wolf 30" induction cooktop we had considered, but am gonna need serious professional consultation 'cause is no way am doing this our self. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Malcador]

58 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I have discovered that seedless jam is apparently vile. I had not previously known this due to only ever having had jam with the seeds in it, and I certainly did not expect the difference to be so stark. It is an error that will never be repeated.

You've obviously never had guava jam.

[Bartimaeus]

8 hours ago, Gromnir said:

what fruit? am assuming is a non factor for stuff such as cherry, apricot and even grape jams... and 'course orange marmalade, which am s'posing is technical jam. converse, never woulda occurred to us to try and remove the seeds from something such as blueberries. 

raspberry, blackberry and strawberry is perhaps targets for seedless, but am admitting have never seen such and now that am forewarned we will avoid.

unrelated, am serious considering downsizing our place, which would mean needing staring kitchen anew. the problem we got is the property we own which makes the most sense is having a downdraft cooktop and the current cabinets would allow for only a 30" wide cooktop replacement. if we wanna do gas or induction we would likely need one o' those telescoping downdraft risers, but the countertop is also only 24" deep, so is an extreme tight fit. 

there is a nice wolf 30" induction cooktop we had considered, but am gonna need serious professional consultation 'cause is no way am doing this our self. 

8 hours ago, Malcador said:

You've obviously never had guava jam.

Yeah, I should probably clarify my previous statement: I've only ever had jams with seeds in it when it's a type of jam that normally has seeds. Raspberry was the jam in question, and it kind of messed up its taste, but really messed up its texture - I'm the type to heavily mix anything of this nature before using (because I think texture consistency is possibly even more important than flavor to a degree), but even with that said, it became grossly goopy and difficult to spread, and whatever I tried to put it on it would just slide right off because of said goopiness. Perhaps it's an issue specific to raspberry (or other types of normally seed-packed jams), because I've definitely had specialty jams made out of fruits that don't have seeds and not had an issue before. Regardless, if there's a seedless option for a jam, I am certain to avoid it from now on.

Good luck figuring out the cooktop. Major re-arrangements of that nature always take some getting used to in addition to figuring out exactly where and how everything should be...

[majestic]

When we make jam, which is pretty much every year simply because we have a lot more fresh fruit and berries than we can eat, we just puree everything, then cook it with only a 1:2 ratio of fruit puree to sugar. The result is a very smooth jam that is easily spread on whatever you want it, with an incredible aroma and taste and a lot less cloying sweetness than the store-bought stuff. I just googled pictures of seedless raspberry jam, and that stuff looks like jelly good. Ugh. No thanks.

It also most certainly doesn't get goopy, like, at all. There's just not enough added sugar in it. Well, maybe after a couple of years, but a little stirring will fix that.

Needless to say, I also don't want chunks of fruit in my jam. That's just not my, uhm, jam. I know people who like that sort of stuff, but there's no accounting for taste, or something.