Food Thread - Obsidian Gormand's Edition

[Gromnir]

2 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Sounds like something my wife would love, especially if you replace the Greek yogurt with the thickest sour cream you can find and then top that with some dill

gołąbki/cabbage rolls is kinda ubiquitous eastern european with all kinda small variations depending on region and the babushka from whom one learned the recipe, but is near universal delicious in spite o' simplicity.  

gonna admit we never use canned stewed tomatoes. have never made cabbage roll soup, but soup is not terribly hard and is having fundamental steps. if we were gonna make a cabbage roll soup, sans the rolls, we would likely do something similar to lc but replace the stewed tomatoes (though is a personal thing as we can't recall the last time we used stewed tomatoes) with whole tomatoes we hand crush to an extreme degree (in a non metallic bowl) or perhaps take a stick blender to the tomatoes and puree, add a bunch o' marjoram, black pepper and cooked rice to ingredients she already mentions. maybe add a bit o' stock. probable avoid the jalapeno. finish with the aforementioned sour cream and dill your significant other prefers. since is a soup, am gonna go more heavy on tomatoes and more stingy on rice and meat.

anticipated steps:

in a dutch oven sweat the onions in olive oil and/or butter then add garlic, salt and spices and cook for a minute. add in the cabbage and dehydrate to desired amount. meat(s), tomatoes, rice and stock goes in the pot, bring to near boil and then reduce to simmer and cook for thirty minutes to an hour.  would also recommend adding a whole carrot, quartered. fish the carrot out at end o' cooking. is natural sugars in the carrot which is gonna cut the acidity o' the tomatoes w/o altering the flavour o' the soup. can always stick blender the soup if you want it smoother than what you got. serve with the sour cream and dill. 

am suspecting your wife and in-laws would enjoy the result, or perhaps they would wonder why you were too lazy to make cabbage rolls and as such the experiment would be an utter fail.

if you are genuine curious, we could trial and error a bit and come up with a cabbage roll soup recipe with specific ingredients, quantities and steps... give us a month as am just finished with our easter feast for visiting family and am kinda cooked out and also lacking refrigerator space as is filled with leftovers. 

HA! Good Fun!

[majestic]

Speaking of cabbage, that made me go dig in my pictures:

Eh, also... hungry now. Great.

[Gromnir]

we almost never went to costco save for gasoline pre pandemic, but we bought a whole lotta fuel as we had a noteworthy daily commute, so the membership were worth it. with retirement and the pandemic, our fuel consumption dropped dramatic. however, during the worst spikes o' the pandemic we frequented costco with a certain amount o' regularity as our neighbors for whom we did shop always wanted costco specific groceries and supplies. not a complete loss as we discovered kirkland brand extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar is excellent. am understanding costco prize for select brands o' booze is also excellent, but as we don't partake, that is less o' a draw. 

regardless, on a whim we bought a spice rack which claimed to provide free refills for five years... cost us $29.50. we assumed the quality would be dreck, but given how much spice/herbs we go through, for thirty bucks the gamble were negligible. 

there is negatives. refills is not complete free as there is a delivery charge which means it only makes sense to order refills in batches o' 4, 10, 20, 35, etc. for all intents and purposes, if am ordering 4, is a buy one and get three free deal. not a fan o' their garlic powder. terrible. also, takes 'bout five days to receive a shipment, so if you need tomorrow, is not gonna work. once we did receive oregeno when we had in fact ordered cayenne pepper, but a replacement were sent immediate after we made an email complaint. 

as one might expect, weight o' refills varies considerable depending on the herb/spice, but the refills appear designed to fill the 3oz (fluid) spice jars which come with the rack... save for bay leaves. am gonna admit am impressed with their bay leaves, but is no way the leaves they send via refills is fitting in a 3oz jar; would have nothing but leaf fragments, and indeed, in the original spice rack we got a jar full o' useless bay leaf scraps which were promptly replaced but only after we took a picture to prove the condition matched our complaint. annoyed. 

general quality exceeds mccormick or even morton & bassett, save for the aforementioned garlic powder which am wondering if it were nothing but cellulose filler. ordinarily when we use cayenne pepper in a recipe, we double the amount described. am not doubling cayenne with the orii stuff. sinus clearing, but in a good way. few complaints so far.

our order history says am averaging four refills a month, so am spending $6.25 on "free" refills monthly. even so, it feels like a decent deal but only 'cause we use so much spice. 

am mentioning if anybody happens to see the spice rack go on sale at costco and they is curious.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Keyrock]

On 4/20/2022 at 7:32 PM, Gromnir said:

gołąbki/cabbage rolls is kinda ubiquitous eastern european with all kinda small variations depending on region and the babushka from whom one learned the recipe, but is near universal delicious in spite o' simplicity.  

50/50 ground beef and pork. You can use different meats and it will be fine, but nothing beats beef/pork IMHO. Use plenty of rice, it help the meat to not clump up into hard balls if there's plenty of rice mixed in. Only partially cook the rice before hand, it will cook more in the oven. Salt, pepper, and paprika to season the meat mixture. I usually use crushed tomatoes from a can and season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and parsley. The key is to use lots of sauce, drown the gołąbki when you cook 'em in the oven.

That's the recipe my mom passed down to me, except she usually uses tomato sauce rather than crushed tomatoes. I can't say my gołąbki are better than mom's but I think they're just as good.

Nobody can touch my mom's cheesecake, though, not even expensive restaurants. I've purposely not had her teach me because if I could make it myself I would weigh 400 lbs in no time.

[ShadySands]

I'm coming out. I love Miracle Whip and I don't care who knows it. I have to live my truth.

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by ShadySands

[Gromnir]

34 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I'm coming out. I love Miracle Whip and I don't care who knows it. I have to live my truth.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

On 4/22/2022 at 4:45 PM, Keyrock said:

50/50 ground beef and pork.

is the way our grandma did it.

however, am gonna note how when we were in poland, the locals used pork, and only pork, and they minced. mince pork shoulder is gonna tend to be on high fat end o' the spectrum. by comparison pork tenderloin is too lean. in our experience pork loin is a good option if you wanna try the mince route. use a food processor makes kinda ez to get mince.

aside, while we suspect few is genuine curious, we noticed our orii link were useless as the jerks won't show you the shipping costs unless you have an account and are signed-in.

No. of Refills Ordered    S & H Fees
1 - 4    $6.25
5 - 10    $11.00
11 - 20    $18.50
21 - 30    $23.00
31 -  45    $33.00
46 - 60    $43.00
61 - 75    $53.00

final @ShadySands am gonna admit one o' our grandmothers used miracle whip frequent, and she were a far better cook than Gromnir is or is ever likely to be. she used miracle whip for those midwestern slaws and salads (e.g. cole slaw and potato salad) which tend to be a bit on the sweet side compared to variations found in other parts o' the US. ain't mere nostalgia neither nostalgia coloring our recollection as grandma were kinda a legend in our family as a peerless sorceress in the kitchen. am s'posing if the "heavy" attribute o' mayo bothers you, then miracle whip is a good substitute.

...

am nevertheless more likely to thrust a fork into our eyeball than use miracle whip. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Gfted1]

I recently started adding honey to my morning fruit smoothies and its delicious. Im a little disappointed that I didnt think of it earlier.

[ShadySands]

4 hours ago, Gromnir said:

is the way our grandma did it.

I think my MiL goes half and half as well.

My mom used Miracle Whip often, way more often than mayo and she was regarded as the best cook in the family and my family is humongous. She's the reason I'm a decent cook, just by watching her work. I swear that in school my teachers would think up assignments where we had to bring food in just so they could eat whatever my mom made.

Strongly considering getting that spice rack too

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I've been experimenting with healthier breakfast stuff and whoever came up with unflavored unsweetened nut "yogurt substitute" really screwed up.

[Keyrock]

On 4/23/2022 at 2:03 AM, ShadySands said:

I'm coming out. I love Miracle Whip and I don't care who knows it. I have to live my truth.

 

I always figured somebody had to buy it since they keep selling it, now I know who. Then again, I unironically wear Hawaiian shirts as part of my regular wardrobe, so I'm in no position to criticize anyone else's taste. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Braised short ribs and mashed potatoes. The meat was fantastic, but I think I need to cook the sauce down instead of just straining it. On the bright side, I now have a sizeable amount of beefy red wine liquid that can be used later this week in something.

[ShadySands]

Made my wife a version of eggs Benedict. Poached eggs took longer than I expected to get perfect since I haven't done them in a while but hollandaise sauce was excellent and I actually made in the blender this time around. For the meat I've been using chopped Serrano ham since I had it that way in Costa Rica once and fell in love with it.

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, ShadySands said:

Made my wife a version of eggs Benedict. Poached eggs took longer than I expected to get perfect since I haven't done them in a while but hollandaise sauce was excellent and I actually made in the blender this time around. For the meat I've been using chopped Serrano ham since I had it that way in Costa Rica once and fell in love with it.

we poach eggs frequent in part thanks to the bag hack. makes easier particular if am doing many at one time. for large numbers, we use different colored twist ties on the bags so we know the order in which our eggs went in the pot. 

we should learn a blender approach for hollandaise, but the reason we don't learn is literal 'cause we enjoy hollandaise too much. we got a glass bowl which works ideal as a jerry-rigged double boiler over one o' our sauce pans and we has become quite adept at hollandaise, but is nevertheless a bit more time consuming and finicky than the fool-proof blender methods we has seen recommended. problem is we would likely have hollandaise on something at least once a week if were ez to make in our blender.

am recollecting shady is not a personal fan o' eggs, so is nice you did the eggs benedict for the missus. 

HA! Good Fun!

[ShadySands]

This was my first time using the blender for hollandaise and can highly recommend it.

I went a little overboard and made bacon wrapped filet mignon topped with a bone marrow and black garlic butter. Served with mashed potatoes and a red wine gravy. I got bored.

[Gfted1]

Ive never tried bone marrow or black garlic but it sounds delicious. Im a garlic fiend.

[LadyCrimson]

I've decided my gut doesn't like too much cabbage. A little is fine but constant large amounts, not so much.  Bloat/gas city.  >.>
SEARCH: *simple, common, easy to get, not "exotic for the US" ingredients, quick, inexpensive to moderate pricing, meals* 

..."1 pound of potatoes"
..."1 box of pasta"
..."lots of rice or flour, bread, etc"
..."baked beans/kidney beans" (don't like starchy beans/legumes, or most starchy root vegies either)

...remember I can't eat lots of carbs or high insulin index foods (which is/can be quite different from high glycemic index). Excessive protein in a single meal isn't great either re: insulin. So while a little in a soup is fine I can't have, say, corn/beans etc be a big staple filler etc.

...any suggestions for meal fillers so I don't feel like I'm eating nothing but thin soup and salad all the time?  I mean it was fine for a year or so but ... >.>
So far it's mostly broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant and certain small squashes (moderate quantities), spinach....with a little meat ... EDIT: green string beans are acceptable but not my fave - those don't bloat me like a balloon at least. Anything else?

Edited May 14, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[Keyrock]

I had steamed pork buns with spinach, they were delicious, on account of being pork buns.

I should retire from trucking and become a pork bun street vendor. I'm not sure how viable that would be financially but I would be enriching people's lives by giving them pork buns.

[Gfted1]

I had to look up pork buns, but having done so, I would like to invest in your street cart.

[Gromnir]

On 5/14/2022 at 10:52 AM, Keyrock said:

I had steamed pork buns with spinach, they were delicious, on account of being pork buns.

I should retire from trucking and become a pork bun street vendor. I'm not sure how viable that would be financially but I would be enriching people's lives by giving them pork buns.

gave up on the no/low carb effort? am nevertheless applauding the prospective career change, but only if you get the filling-to-dough ratio better than the average pork bun vendor.

aside: recent have been using powdered gelatin with some frequency.

https://smile.amazon.com/Knox-Unflavored-Gelatin-1-lb/dp/B001UOW7D8/ref=sr_1_5?c=ts&keywords=Gelatins&qid=1653493096&s=grocery&sr=1-5&ts_id=6492316011

we ordinarily have at least a gallon o' homemade beef and chicken stock in the freezer, with liquid amounts in the fridge, but pre/during/post easter we did a whole lotta large group prep and we somehow managed to run out our stock and we have not replenished our reserves... so, am using better than bullion for a bit, which is actual a solid substitute for reals. whatever flavours am missing by using better than bullion we may always perk up with appropriate seasoning, but the one thing even the best store bought stocks tend to be short o' is the the gelatin. the powdered and unflavoured gelatin, in small quantities, ain't so much added by us as a thickening agent but rather to provide depth. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

23 hours ago, Gromnir said:

am nevertheless applauding the prospective career change, but only if you get the filling-to-dough ratio better than the average pork bun vendor.

Yes, a typical pork bun does have too much dough and not enough filling, likely stemming ftom the fact that the dough is significantly cheaper than the filling. This does provide me a niche to slide into in the market; a double niche, in fact. First of all, the pork bun market is far from saturated in my neck of the woods. The majority of food trucks in the area serve either Mexican food, no doubt because of Charlotte's sizeable Mexican population, standard American fast food (hot dogs, burgers, etc.), southern comfort food, and mediocre barbecue (central Texas dry rub has ruined all other BBQ for me). The pork bun market is already underserved and on top of that I could further differentiate myself by offering pork buns with less dough and more filling. I will, of course, have to charge more per bun, but once people get their hands on a significantly more meaty bun () I belive they will happily pay the premium. Also, I could exploit the lower carb angle. While a pork bun with less dough is far from a low carb food, it is nevertheless lower carb than a run of the mill pork bun. I could revolutionize the pork bun industry and become the next Harland Sanders. 

[LadyCrimson]

Hmm...has anyone tried this/something very similar? It's egg, cream cheese, parm. and moz. cheese. So not zero carb but pretty low carb which would be fine.  Maybe I could try with less eggs.  I've tried cauliflower crusts and while not terrible as a sort of toast for butter, I didn't like it as pizza.

Guess I'll try it next week some time (no time this weekend) and report back. 

 

[Keyrock]

Nathan's hot dogs were on sale at a steep discout at my local Food Lion so I bought 2 packages of bun length. For maximum authenticity I decided to make dirty water dogs. I don't usually cook hot dogs this way, but maybe I should do so more often. Anyway, I am topping them 2 ways:

1) Sauerkraut 

2) Tomato, pickle, and onion

Both delicious.

[Gromnir]

in the past we has used 5 gal food storage buckets to make sauerkraut during the late fall and winter months when garage temps made such feasible. work well enough. however, this previous winter we tried something new... well, new for us.

we used a couple .9 gal containers 'cause once the kraut were fermented, the containers were o' a size which would fit in our fridge w/o taking too much space. with two containers we coulda' kinda rotate 'em into the fridge as it took 'bout two weeks to hit optimal kraut stage in the garage... plan ahead on when we would be out o' kraut.

HA! Good Fun!

ps last year we spoke o' how we save extra watermelon by freezing it as puree and we turn the rind into pickles and/or deep fry. figured as watermelon season is fast approaching, we would mention how we most frequent use the puree, other than in a fizzy beverage.

gazpacho.

serious.

ingredients:

3C  watermelon puree. (alternative, use 4C cubed and seeded fresh watermelon)

2C cherry tomatoes 

1 1⁄2 C cucumber, cubed, peeled, seeded

1⁄2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

¼C red onion, diced

2T lemon juice

1t garlic, minced

1⁄2 C extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

directions:

add first seven ingredients to a food processor or blender and puree. (edit: let rest a bit after the puree stage as you are avoiding cooking and chances are your fluid is already getting a bit warm.) with blender/food processor on lowish/medium-lowish, drizzle in olive oil slow to your puree. add salt and pepper to taste. chill overnight in the fridge. ez.

...

hadn't thought 'bout garnish. cilantro? maybe some kinda olive? 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited May 27, 2022 by Gromnir

[Keyrock]

I have been refining the cooking process of my Philly cheesesteaks to get the meat, mushroom, pepper, and onion filling to turn into essentially a goo, like @Gromnirwrote about. I have finally achieved this: