What Have You Cooked Recently?

[TC-P]

Got it of a whale fishing boat.
It tastes like a "wild" meat really, you know... beary deery kinda, with a hint of seafood. Kinda hard to explain. A much more tasty meat than what beef is.
Back in the day you could be unlucky and get meat that tasted awful. Like fish oil. Very rarely happens anymore.
Not very fatty at all. Much much less fatty than beef.

Thank you very much for answering my questions.

 

[HamFan]

I made a cheesecake in the instant pot for the first time. It came out great, but I think next time I will bake the crust (I used the method of just freezing it.)

It was neapolitan- layers of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. I used ground freeze dried strawberies instead of a puree or whatever. And in a flash of inspiration, I used crushed waffle cones for the crust.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Where did you get whale meat? And what does it taste like? And how fatty is it?

Urgh, having worked with cutting that shit... It's lean and very red like horse meat, if you have a competent fish counter or store around they can order it for you. I'm not opposed to eating whale but I'd rather eat crazy grandpas bbq seals.

 

[Banana Hammock]

Made some ribs last night. If you have a few hours and want some good ribs but don't have a grill, you can make them in the oven. Just preheat it to 275, put some rub on them, put them in a tin and cover it with foil, and then stick them in there for 2-4 hours (check after about 2.5, and decide if you want to leave them in a bit longer). If you want sauce on them, slather some on, put them back in the oven (without foil over them, this time), and broil them for a few minutes, to caramelize the sauce.

I've made these a few times, and they're fucking great. Really tender ribs.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I made a very simple pasta. There's a brand of dried egg pasta that I like, the rough texture ones, boiled that while cutting some greens off of spring onions. Butter, garlic, grated some hard cheese, drain it and turn it vigoursly to mix everything in... So simple, so good.

 

[Fat Gay Riker]

Roasting chicken thighs in a "get-ridda-it" marinade eof pineapple juice, garlic, and Cajun seasoning. Will work with my rice pilaf (again, a get-ridda-it with red peppers, yellow onion, and zucchini in chicken base and seasoned with a black garlic seasoning).

Cooking a deconstructed pot roast dinner I'll have to reheat later for friends (because tabletop gaming is a hell of a drug, so the beef will marinade in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and dry wine. Will braise and reheat in said marinade. Potato wedges and a sautéed mirepoix on the side because these fuckers are picky. On the bright side, I've found out that a little xanthan gum in your beef broth makes for a gravy that's A. still tasty and B. Not using a flour or corn binder, so less complaining from women. Will try and get a picture.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

I Love braised pork belly. If you ever get to try red braised pork. Jump at it.
It was Chairman Mao‘s favourite dish and for good reason.

I make this every couple years. The only even slightly tricky bit of it is the reduction at the end but it can't be skipped. It was also probably why Chairman Mao was fat. He had a personal chef with him wherever he went to cook mostly this dish.

Yeah he was a good old Hunan country boy. They say it improves your intellect.
I can’t say it’s worked on me. I love the version with fresh water chestnuts.
I always remove the pork to reduce to a glaze then pour over the sauce over the pork in a fresh heated clay pot.

There's a Chinese place down the way from me that does it well (you have to order it off their special "white man beware" section at the back of the menu). I dunno what fraction of the dish ends up being pure fat, but it's a lot. I kinda wish I could order it in appetizer size, because a full serving is tough for my body to take at this point.

You can't skip doing that or the pork gets overcooked. It's not a very difficult most difficult step though.

A little over a year ago, I bought a "fancy" slow-cooker (Crock-Pot recipes are a massive nostalgic family tradition for me). The model I bought was also an automated pressure cooker (Instant-Pot basically, but Crock-Pot branded), so I've been playing around with that gizmo with some success. I just saw a YouTube video about red braised pork belly (红烧肉) made in a "quick and dirty" way with an Instant-Pot:

For the more experienced red braised pork belly folk here, what is your opinion on this specific recipe? I'm thinking of making Mao's favorite dish for a get-together because it looks good (and for the lolz).

 

[Usb2200a]

A little over a year ago, I bought a "fancy" slow-cooker (Crock-Pot recipes are a massive nostalgic family tradition for me). The model I bought was also an automated pressure cooker (Instant-Pot basically, but Crock-Pot branded), so I've been playing around with that gizmo with some success. I just saw a YouTube video about red braised pork belly (红烧肉) made in a "quick and dirty" way with an Instant-Pot:

For the more experienced red braised pork belly folk here, what is your opinion on this specific recipe? I'm thinking of making Mao's favorite dish for a get-together because it looks good (and for the lolz).

Not a bad recipe. I prefer the belly to be cut into more generous cubes (1.5 - 2 inches). I use Fuchsia Dunlops recipes for a lot of my Regional Chinese cooking.
I think a pressure cooker/instapot thingy produces a better result for these type of
braised dishes.
I like to serve this dish with some sort of stir fried napa cabbage and a chilli vinegar dipping sauce (not authentic but delicious). Let us know how you get on.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

Tried using my (not) Instant-Pot pressure cooker for one-pot 5 minute spaghetti with hot Italian sausage. Turned out amazing and was SUPER easy. No colander or 2+ big pots I have to clean. Now I just need to work on a better red sauce/gravy...

This was my first time using a pressure cooker too. This is the start of a beautiful journey...

 

[Mooger Meng]

Did up a pork loin with rice and a mix of white corn and green beans. Used my rib rub mix (that's slowly turned into something of a catch-all seasoning for myself and my brother's family when I see them) and it turned out pretty damn good for my first shot at cooking one of these: a little dry because I got distracted with stupid game bullshit and left it in the oven a little too long, but the rib gave it a wonderful coating on the edges. I had to cut in in half to fit it in the dutch oven, so there were four end bits instead, and by god I'm looking forward to having the rest of them later.
It was an unreasonable amount of food for a single person. I have about 2/3 of the pork left over, and I plan on using it for the next couple of days at the least. Hell, I saved the leftover oil and juices that rendered out, and I might use that to fry up a slice with some eggs tomorrow.

Made some ribs last night. If you have a few hours and want some good ribs but don't have a grill, you can make them in the oven. Just preheat it to 275, put some rub on them, put them in a tin and cover it with foil, and then stick them in there for 2-4 hours (check after about 2.5, and decide if you want to leave them in a bit longer). If you want sauce on them, slather some on, put them back in the oven (without foil over them, this time), and broil them for a few minutes, to caramelize the sauce.

I've made these a few times, and they're fucking great. Really tender ribs.

Do you use bone-in ribs, by chance? A co-worker got me using country style ribs almost exclusively, and they're fucking phenomenal. You can use the same method as bone-in ribs for them, and it really seems like you get more meat out of them.
I'm not a fan of barbecue sauces, so I slather my ribs in spicy brown mustard then dust them with a generous amount of rub instead. For those who want to be fancy and lazy, you can toss some potatoes in and let them bake with the ribs, get your main and a side cooked in one fell swoop!

 

[Banana Hammock]

Do you use bone-in ribs, by chance? A co-worker got me using country style ribs almost exclusively, and they're fucking phenomenal. You can use the same method as bone-in ribs for them, and it really seems like you get more meat out of them.

I prefer baby back ribs and St. Louis ribs, but country ribs are really good too. Though, even with those, I prefer the bone-in country ribs.

 

[Cheerlead-in-Chief]

Yesterday I helped make vegetable egg rolls to go with our soup for lunch

 

[A-Stump]

Bit of a nippy morning so I made stewed apples. Peel and core however many apples you like, cut into fair sized pieces, throw it into a crockpot on low with maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla extract for a few hours. Childhood comfort food for me.

 

[Olive D. Cox]

Pineapple tarts!
They're a fuckton of work to make properly so they're usually just a holiday thing (CNY). I had been craving them SO BAD for some reason and I had pandan leaves in my freezer so I spent all damn day yesterday making them.

Worth it.

 

[The I Scream Man]

Just burgers honestly, there's a local place that makes patties out of filet and bacon so I tried to ape them using ribeye and bacon, they came out killer and cooked even better

Used my favorite potato buns, ghost pepper mustard, nice ketchup, romaine, fat tomato, onion and fresh jalapeno slices, it was good and came together in like 30 minutes which was the goal since this week sucked at work and I was tired lol

 

[Justanotherguy]

french toast

 

[Banana Hammock]

Something I've been thinking about trying is a "taco burger." Mix some taco mix into a patty, fry/grill it, and put it on a bun with some cheddar and salsa.

I'm not sure how good it would be, though, since I know that mixing salt in with a patty ruins the texture, and I don't know if just putting the taco mix on the outside of the patty would be enough. Anyone here ever try making something like this?

 

[MoffAlbert]

Cooking some sauerkraut and brats for dinner. Got some cheap from the local Aldi, haven't had German night in ages. Might make some homemade potato pancakes or spaetzle, but that depends on how hot it's actually gonna be tomorrow. The weather app I have has been five degrees under on estimates for the last two weeks, and I don't wanna use the gas stove top any longer than I need to.

 

[A-Stump]

Something I've been thinking about trying is a "taco burger." Mix some taco mix into a patty, fry/grill it, and put it on a bun with some cheddar and salsa.

I'm not sure how good it would be, though, since I know that mixing salt in with a patty ruins the texture, and I don't know if just putting the taco mix on the outside of the patty would be enough. Anyone here ever try making something like this?

Taco meat is just an unformed burger so I don't see why it wouldn't work. You could actually just cook up taco meat as normal then add shredded cheese in last moment so it binds together and have a loose meat sandwich.

 

[Banana Hammock]

Taco meat is just an unformed burger so I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Salt dissolves the proteins, causing them to merge together, and there's a lot of sodium in taco mix. It's not an issue with regular tacos, since you're actively breaking the ground beef apart and didn't press it together to begin with, but it's bad for burgers.

You could actually just cook up taco meat as normal then add shredded cheese in last moment so it binds together and have a loose meat sandwich.

This could work, though. Honestly, now that I think about it, I might as well just make a sloppy joe with taco seasoning.