Food Thread - Those that eat

[Keyrock]

Scooped up some French flour as part of my continuing mission to eat better.

My sister has gluten allergy yet she can eat bread, pasta, pizza, and so on all day with no problems when it's made with flour from outside the US. I have no such allergy, but it's still probably a good idea to cease consuming flour enriched by the fine folks *snicker* at Monsanto.

[Gromnir]

HA! Good Fun!

[ShadySands]

6 hours ago, Keyrock said:

*snicker* at Monsanto

We had leftover pork tacos for lunch and leftover lamb for dinner. 

[Keyrock]

Chicken fajitas

On horribly misshapen home made tortillas. Aesthetics aside, these are some of the best fajitas I've ever had.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Keyrock

[ComradeYellow]

Breakfast:

Take 2 cups of Kefir (plain), mix in a chopped banana, 1 avocado (messy but worth it), one chopped apple, 1/2 cup of walnuts, a handful of crushed shredded wheat, and toss in a small bit of organic kelp powdered seaweed (Go easy on the kelp powder!  The iodine content in that is intense and too much can trigger an autoimmune response where your body attacks your thyroid, which in turn causes hypothyroidism).

Mix it all in a bottle and shake the Hell out of it.

You really want a breakfast morning rush w/o drugs/pharmacautical aid?  I dare you to give this a shot, take an acetyl l carnitine supplement for a bonus.

[Gromnir]

ruined a hollandaise, and not in the typical manner. when finished, the sauce looked creamy and perfect.  unfortunate, we didn't realize we were outta our regular butter choice until we had already separated a couple egg yolks in preparation o' making our sauce. so we used "really good" butter a friend o' ours had gifted us. we did not taste the butter before using 'cause we were already poaching eggs at the time and, well...

saltiest arse butter... evar. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

This is why I always use unsalted butter. Adding salt is easy, subtracting it, not so much 

[Gromnir]

we didn't know if this butter was salted or not as it came wrapped and unlabeled in a kinda rustic looking parchment paper, which is why we added no salt when we did our double boiler routine with the hollandaise. our mistake were not tasting.

am ordinary using unsalted butter, but the reality is you got around 1/4t salt per 8 tablespoons o' salted butter... variation 'tween brands means somewhere 'tween 1.25-1.75% salt, and that means there is extreme few recipes we would be using less salt than the fractional amounts in even the most salty butter. yeah, don't add the same amount o' salt to a dish with salted butter as you would when using unsalted butter, but is pretty tough to oversalt 'cause o' butter... or so we thought. heck, we always under-salt so we may fix at the end o' the process, though for something such as a hollandaise it is a bit more difficult to add salt late. 

we so didn't need to add salt late. am literal never having had butter with so much salt. shoulda' tasted.

even so, as long as you assume ~1/4t salt per 8 tablespoons o' salted butter, you should be safe. should.

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

I made gołąbki.

I've been making gołąbki for decades and I dare say I'm an expert at this point. My gołąbki will take the Pepsi Challenge with any gołąbki out there. 

There's nothing fancy about the recipe I use, it's a simple traditional recipe, but I've learned valuable lessons over the years: 50/50 beef/pork is king. I've tried every combination of beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and lamb imaginable. Don't skimp on the rice, use at least as much volume of rice as meat. Mix the meat and rice very thoroughly (I get right in there with my hands rather than using a utensil). If you skimp on rice or don't mix well enough you will get meat clumps that may get kinda hard. Drown the gołąbki in sauce. I use a tomato sauce some people use a broth. Either way, make sure the gołąbki are swimming in the sauce when in the oven.

Side-note: I should try making stuffed peppers. Weirdly enough, I've never tried. I imagine the process is the same except the meat/rice filling goes into a hollowed out red bell pepper rather than a cabbage leaf.

[Gorth]

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

This is why I always use unsalted butter. Adding salt is easy, subtracting it, not so much 

Eat more Vegemite. Everything tastes less salty afterwards

 

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

I made gołąbki.

Looks like a still from a Ridley Scott 80's movie...

[Gromnir]

ground beef is not a singular thing. is variations and gradients. ground short rib is different than ground sirloin which is different from ground chuck. etc. is all ground beef. you also got general fat-to-lean meat percentages to consider. @majestic will be amused 'cause we had almost the same gołąbki post involving the same people eighteenish months past. nevertheless, am gonna point out our grandma used 50/50 ground chuck (80/20) and ground pork, but much as ground beef is a vague umbrella descriptor, so too is ground pork. in gdańsk we were informed by multiple grandmas that the "right" way to do gołąbki is to mince pork. use pork loin-- no other meat. however, like our grandmother we use 80/20 ground chuck and ground pork loin, but you gotta make sure you got a decent butcher particular for your ground pork, and reason is the same as why you gotta be careful o' overmixing your meat.

if the butcher's equipment is too warm or they is too aggressive with the grinding o' the pork, the fat in the meat is gonna melt as well as there being a tendency to release excessive amounts o' myosin. when making sausage, release o' myosin is a good thing, but for meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki, overmix or brutal butchers is bad and as such the results will too often be gummy and less tender meat, particular if you are braising such as with many meatball recipes but most certain with gołąbki.

aside, a kinda kitchen secret when making meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki is to use science to replicate a former common solution. veal don't bring much flavour to the aforementioned, but it is a frequent ingredient and the reason why you will see veal added to the beef and pork is same as for why pot roast tastes so good. serious. what veal does have in abundance is collagen. the downside to veal is it has less o' the robust meat flavour you want in meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki. the solution, particular for a braised dish such as gołąbki?

gelatin is cooked collagen, so...

add one tablespoon powdered gelatin per 2 pounds o' meat and don't over mix your rice and meat mixture 'cause good cooking is always good science.

HA! Good Fun!

Edited October 11, 2023 by Gromnir

[majestic]

Want me to post the picture I posted the last time the topic came up? Anyway, at least the repeat was not within the same iteration of this thread, it was the last one. You know, unlike that Stephen King discussion between Hurlshot and Xzar_Monty which repeated almost verbatim only like four pages apart.  

Well, we don't make gołąbki, but sarma, which differs insfoar it is made with sauerkraut leaves. Obviously we use our grandmother's recipe with mixed minced meat (beef and pork, as inaccurate as that is, the regional, organic mixed in our local market works really well), and she never braised them in the oven, just in a regular pot, and no shenanigans with smoked meat. Pretty sure @Sarex's family has some variation too. Well, like you said, most people in Eastern Europe do, although nowadays that's more called Central and South Eastern Europe.

Silly former Warsaw Pact nations thinking they're not part of Eastern Europe. They're lucky we don't still just call them the Russians.

Spoiler

Totally serious, obviously!

[Gfted1]

Ive never owned or cooked on a glass flat top. Im intrigued by the induction version.

[Gromnir]

we picked up one o' these not too long ago and it is our current go-to cooking hob/surface.

only downsides is our inability to use a couple pieces o' non-magnetic cookware, and the fact it requires extra counter space which is always a premium in our kitchen. bringing stuff to a boil with the breville happens a fair bit faster than with our sooper powerful gas range, but am not gonna suggest the control freak is worth what we paid. 

if we ever move and need give up our viking stove/oven, then we would prefer an induction cooktop.

edit: one other negative we forgot to mention is the breville has a sensor which turns the unit off if there is no pot or pan on the cooking surface. however, the sensor is weight sensitive and for one o' our lighter 10" stainless steel skillets, the the breville won't activate unless we add weight to the pan. 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited October 13, 2023 by Gromnir

[Gorth]

Breville is a "big name" here in Australia. I think most of my small appliances are that particular brand (because it's what the departments stores seems to all have in stock)

[Gromnir]

5 hours ago, Gorth said:

Breville is a "big name" here in Australia. I think most of my small appliances are that particular brand (because it's what the departments stores seems to all have in stock)

were a few years past, but @Leferd mentioned he got one o' their smart ovens for christmas... and socks? am recalling socks and headphones.... something else too. oh well.

with a breville joule oven air fryer pro and a couple control freaks, we could functional replace our viking if need be. 

am knowing breville also makes hand/stand mixers, blenders, food processors and other gadgets, but am not having heard much about those or other products in the breville catalog.

edit: not that anybody cares, but if you don't need smart features and you want a countertop convection oven, our choice is the following: 

https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/appliances/toaster_ovens/tob-260n1/

is half as expensive as the breville with the same capacity and power. fewer smart features so less stuff to go wrong. the device is simple and am mighty impressed with how it performs, particular at the price point. 

so, we would need maybe change to a cuisinart tob-260n1 toaster oven and two control freaks... throw in a cosori pro iii basket air fryer as well if am trying to replace our viking with appliances, although there is no way to replace the infrared broiler on the viking.

HA! Good Fun!

ps am gonna also mention our rice cooker, 'cause it cost us less than $20 when we bought original, and then three years ago when we needed a replacement 'cause we knocked it off the countertop and broke it...

the purchase set us back $25. the thing is flawless when making white rice or oatmeal. we loathe wild rice and almost never make brown rice, so we can't speak to the appliance's efficacy for those grains/seeds.

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Gromnir

[Sarex]

@majestic Our sarma look like this:

(My mouth started to water when I was looking for pictures I kid you not)

On the topic of induction cooktops I got this one

It has 4 zones that you can combine, but if you want real freedom and have countertop space and money to burn you can get this:

With this one you can put the cooking pot anywhere you want and it will find it and heat it.

The biggest drawback with induction is that you can not remove or shake your pot/pan otherwise it will turn off, but the positives are POWER and really good temperature control that you cannot get with any other type of cooking.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Sarex

[Gromnir]

one o' our aged aunts is coming for a visit and am contractual obligated to make her wasna. the dish is... ambiguous. every family has a different recipe for wasna (which if you know what is pemican, then you kinda know wasna) and to add to the confusion, wasna also applies to any number o' derivative dishes using wasna as the key ingredient. am making a not-stew with wasna and we call it wasna. 

*insert eye roll*

our family makes wasna by combining dried bison or deer meat, dried chokecherries and kidney fat/suet from either bison or deer... but our grandmother also used beef suet. our aunt is gonna bring the wasna so am able to make wasna (stew.) for storage and travel purposes, our family forms little round disks or cakes outta the dried meat mixture. kinda greasy and bland, but the choke cherries, which is a bit like cranberries, has an astringent bite even when dried. when cooking with wasna, we break the wasna disks into caper-sized granules

there is a fair amount o' kidney fat in wasna, so am always shocked at how long the stuff remains viable. chances are high that year-old wasna is still edible. 

we call the wasna stew a stew 'cause is not particular wet, not soupy, but it doesn't require a long braise to release collagen, so "stew" is less than accurate. however, this is a recipe which benefits much from our powdered gelatin. the kidney fat/suet in wasna makes it seem greasy and the last thing we want is those little pools o' fat you see in the pictures o' gołąbki included 'bove. if you think it is tough to keep the fat from ground pork emulsified, am assuring you it is even more difficult with suet.

also, 'cause our older aunt is all 'bout tradition, am s'posed to avoid too much o' the colonial ingredients.

*groan* 

potatoes, wild mushrooms and onion is ok, and we sneak in a bit o' tomato paste (and maybe red wine.) we got a large quantity o' chanterelles gathered this summer, so that will be the primary mushroom. wild thyme is the main herbal, but we throw in other stuff depending on the wasna which is always a bit different. we add a bit o' salt and pepper to the rendering wasna and then the onion goes in and is cooked 'til translucent and just starting to brown. potato starch is almost always superior to corn starch as a thickener, but both corn and potato starch is fails on reheat. once the dish cools, the thickening quality o' those ingredients disappears. so, as with most stews, even faux stews, flour is the ideal addition and the amount needed depends on how much fat were rendered from the wasna. add water, and if our aunt ain't around, we will include a dollop o' better than bullion beef base. 'cause o' the choke cherries, some kinda sugar is advisable, so we include a tiny bit o' maple syrup. all the remaining veggies go in as well as herbals, as well as our gelatin and then we bring to a boil and then simmer for a mere twenty-to-thirty minutes... again, not really a stew, but is thick like a stew, so... 

am always surprised at how good the stew turns out 'cause wasna is not great. serious. is greasy and bland with a bit o' tang from the choke cherries. the benefit o' wasna is it is remains shelf stable w/o refrigeration for at least six months and even longer. again, am having "good" wasna which were at leas a year old. 

anyways, am making wasna, so our house is gonna smell like wasna for days. 

*sigh*

well, as long as it makes our aunt happy, right?

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

Kofta kebabs

[Gromnir]

am aware there is a couple better than bullion proponents who frequent this thread. am also gonna admit we didn't know about the idf info regarding box stock.

HA! Good Fun!

[Gfted1]

The World Has a New Hottest Pepper | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

I like spicy but not painfully hot. Ive never even tried a Carolina Reaper. Theres a chicken wing restaurant I go to that offers a sauce called "suicide" and if you can finish 6 wings you get your picture on the wall. My daughter tried it and couldnt even finish one wing.

[Gromnir]

6 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

The World Has a New Hottest Pepper | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

I like spicy but not painfully hot. Ive never even tried a Carolina Reaper. 

am embarrassed to admit we know there is a pepper with more heat than the carolina reaper. the source o' our knowledge is not scientific, not data driven but rather is based on a a recent episode o' hot ones, hence our embarrassment.

ff to 20:14. pepper X maybe/possibly is higher on the scoville scale. 

am personally not understanding the point o' such heat in a sauce save as part o' a hazing ritual for special forces.

edit: from the previous linked story

"Pure capsaicin has a measurement of 16 million SHU while bell peppers, which contain no spice, measure at 0 SHU. Pepper X measures in at an average of 2.69 million units, per Guiness World Records. In comparison, standard pepper spray averages 1 million SHU, while bear spray is advertised around 3 million SHU. The Carolina Reaper measures about 1.64 million SHU. "

am serious not understanding the motivation to make a hot sauce, meant to be consumed by human beings, that is similar on the scoville scale as bear spray.

HA!  Good Fun!

Edited October 19, 2023 by Gromnir

[Gorth]

I'll have my chicken vindaloo between mild and medium, thank you very much

No, never understood the desire for self inflicted pain either. Not even as some kind of macho or hazing ritual. I love spicy food. I like "hot" food within reason. But I insist on being able to taste the food too, which is hard when your tongue has lost all feeling (and you are constantly hovering around the kitchen roll because your eyes and nose is constantly running, while trying lessen the pain by drinking copious amounts of milk).

[Gromnir]

3 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I'll have my chicken vindaloo between mild and medium, thank you very much

No, never understood the desire for self inflicted pain either. Not even as some kind of macho or hazing ritual. I love spicy food. I like "hot" food within reason. But I insist on being able to taste the food too, which is hard when your tongue has lost all feeling (and you are constantly hovering around the kitchen roll because your eyes and nose is constantly running, while trying lessen the pain by drinking copious amounts of milk).

am agreeing, but am gonna note we might not be the best judge o' such things.  for instance, we heard a good way to keep a dog from engaging in destructive digging is to lay down cayenne pepper where you is trying to discourage your canine's unwanted behaviors. sounded like a good idea, so we sprinkled/poured a fair amount o' cayenne on a patch o' landscaping.

*sigh*

the pepper attracted  all our dogs, and not just the digger.

am frequent giving the pups table scraps which is featuring capsaicin-heavy ingredients, so am guessing the dogs ordinary olfactory reactions had been overwritten a bit with a counter-intuitive pavlovian response to the hot stuff.

...

in retrospect, we shoulda' seen that coming.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[ComradeYellow]

Boy one unintended side effect of my new diet:  very high testosterone levels!  I did not anticipate this 3 months ago when I changed my eating habits, it just happened.  It's a variation of dairy products, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits L-Carnitine and omega 3 supplements, along with dark chocolate and iodine.  Very "ballsy" diet in the long run.

I didn't base my diet plan on any traditional sentiments, that's the European way which is not appealing to me, nor did I base it on any "shop local" sentiments which admittedly is rather popular here in US.  It's purely a "by the numbers" diet,  I wanted to make sure I got all the vitamins and minerals I needed within reason w\o long or complicated cooking processes.  It was perhaps TOO successful, I have lost 40 lbs and now may be dangerously high in testosterone and mental clarity which could lead to unnecessary conflicts if I am not careful.  My blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol levels are spit shining, no c-reactive protein (inflammation) levels to speak of triglyceride levels dropping fast.  Oxidative stress levels are fine however much higher testosterone levels can offset stress relief.  Just like women should try not to be estrogen dominant for various health reasons, too high testosterone levels in men can also be dangerous.

Edited October 21, 2023 by ComradeYellow