What Have You Cooked Recently?

[XYZpdq Jr.]

One of my air fryer surprises is that they do cheesecake insanely well. Using a springform pan in one was even better than the usual bain-marie method, but much easier.

seems like smallish cheesecakes would be good around the house
our air fryers are more like, you can sorta stuff a whole chicken in, but that's pushing it

 

[Marvin]

Tonight I made myself a tuna melt.

This recipe.



It's pretty bangin. When I first heard of the concept, it kinda grossed me out. I'm embarrassingly slow to get comfortable with fishy things, even though I'm from a very seafood place.

But one time I had a grilled cheese with crab dip on it and it blew my mind.

Tuna's not as good as crab, but this is still a great sandwich.

I should've put more tuna salad on though. I have enough left for another sandwich, so that'll be lunch tomorrow I suppose. I'll really pile the tuna salad on tomorrow's sandwich.

tonight was second attempt at stovetop popcorn, online bro was telling me of his successes with getting the chemical shit they use at theaters, haven't gotten that yet but first two tries have been pretty good, definitely never bothering with microwave popcorn again

I love stovetop popcorn. I have a whirley pop and it makes it super easy.

I like experimenting with different toppings. Like garlic powder or chili powder.

I do also like the flavacol topping. It makes me nostalgic for a time before they were squiring butter flavored oil in your popcorn that only serves to make everything soggy.

 

[AnOminous]

Tonight I made myself a tuna melt.

It's actually really good. I really suggest Kewpie mayo for the tuna salad part. There is no recipe that calls for mayo that isn't immediately improved by using Kewpie.

 

[Triple Flutz]

Choo chee fish curry one day and massaman curry with lamb the other, I tend to go wild any time I restock my curry paste stash- thankfully everyone's really excited every time I announce I'm making one, so it's not an issue.
Bone-in thick pork chops with a garden salad today.
I'll be making sirloin steak tomorrow for my husband and the kids and serve it with greek salad since I'm, once again, kind of over meat for a while and want to prioritize sides that will function as a balanced meal for me.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

It's actually really good. I really suggest Kewpie mayo for the tuna salad part. There is no recipe that calls for mayo that isn't immediately improved by using Kewpie.

you have to be careful, though, iirc there's Kewpie being made for the USA now with slightly different packaging and apparently the mix is different

 

[NyQuilninja]

you have to be careful, though, iirc there's Kewpie being made for the USA now with slightly different packaging and apparently the mix is different

Yeah I came across this on Amazon it's the Americanized version which means it's made with garbage

 

[AnOminous]

you have to be careful, though, iirc there's Kewpie being made for the USA now with slightly different packaging and apparently the mix is different

Looks like I got lucky this time. That said I'll try to avoid this. If I have to, I'll just make it myself. There are knockoff recipes. I might want to do it with premium EVOO and artisan rice vinegar.

Also it's not cooked yet but I'm doing sous-vide on a cheap bacon-wrapped tenderloin (I want to see if it can improve otherwise cheap meats). One of my favorite things about this is I always feel like the Devil if I'm cooking for others and someone wants, for some evil reason, a well-done steak. I have a rule of not judging people (well okay I do judge them) and just if I'm cooking for them, I will do what they want (while gritting my teeth).

Sous-vide actually makes well-done a good deal less bad. So if someone wants to ruin their steak, okay, but I'll try to ruin it a little less.

Also I wanted to test the extremely cheap-ass vac sealer I got just to see if it even actually works. Apparently it does! I tried the Ziploc water displacement method. It sucks. And on top of that on the second attempt I made, the seal broke and water got into the bag. Fuck that shit. So if this Chinesium product fails, I'll get a better one. There's no point in sous-vide with dumb plastic bags that even if you get as much air out of them as possible, are still buoyant and you need to put weights on them.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Looks like I got lucky this time. That said I'll try to avoid this. If I have to, I'll just make it myself. There are knockoff recipes. I might want to do it with premium EVOO and artisan rice vinegar.

seems like my local asian marts still have the real shit, but when it pops up somewhere weird like a spanish mart it's the usa shit

 

[Stan]

idk if it counts as "cooking", but I got to try caviar for the first time yesterday. I thought it was very very good! IDK if it was $95 for 30g good (that is, for $3.16 per gram I might opt for some other luxury food), but I'd buy it again to make a holiday appetizer plate or as a gift for a seafood-loving person. It probably makes the least financial sense in Boston, because there's so many other options in terms of fancy fish available locally.

I don't feel too much remorse... it's not the worst folly I've ever made. I'm just trying to resist purchasing it again lol. We got a smoked sturgeon spread with the same order, which was very tasty too.

 

[AnOminous]

Okay, the cheap bacon-wrapped tenderloin (one of those circular ones you get in a plastic container from any grocery store). I've usually found these nearly inedible. Even cooked correctly, they're inferior, low-grade cuts in a suspicious shape. This is even the ones that explicitly call themselves "filet mignon." They're just not very good.

Now, I'm not going to say sous-vide turns them into an epic cut of meat, but it does render them edible, chewable, and even tasty.

Today's experiment was basmati rice. One cup water, one cup rice (I rinsed it for a change), butter and salt to taste, 200 degrees (well 198.5 because that's as high as my Chinesium device goes), for just a bit over half an hour. It turns out really well. Also it really enhances the aromatic quality of basmati, so instead of filling the kitchen with the aroma, the rice retains it.

Considering this worked out well, I think one of my next attempts will be some kind of risotto. Every attempt I've ever made with risotto has ended up an absolute disaster because I guess I just don't have the attention span for the incredible level of babysitting involved. Except the ghetto version I call "Marmite risotto" which is exactly what it sounds like.

Tomorrow is Pacific salmon, though.

Two other things I'd like to try sous-vide: creme brulee and cheesecake. I think I'll also be trawling the Guga Foods sous-vide monstrosities.

 

[Asterism]

I'm going to make pan-fried lime jalapeno pepper catfish with steamed broccoli, salad, and homemade refried beans.
I might post pics later.

 

[Asterism]

I made a focaccia, I'm eating some now and would definitely make it again.
View attachment 5938381View attachment 5938380
I'm going to be making meatballs this weekend so I will probably have some of that with it.

I just wanna say this is absolutely gorgeous and now I wanna try making it too. Amazing job, bet it was delicious too

 

[There She Glows]

Got some red pork pozole going in the pressure cooker

 

[OrionBalls]

This is more of a question. I'm making a black garlic soup, and am not sure if it's still any good. Kinda hard to tell when its already soft and black. Does anyone know how to tell? Also, if I die from food poisoning later, it definitely wasn't still good.

 

[Asterism]

I made bacon cheeseburgers on the stovetop, they came out delicious, and so I thought I'd post my recipe here.

Things you'll need:

1. 4 lb of fresh 75/25 ground beef patties (you can also use 80/20 and lightly coat your pan in a tablespoon of vegetable oil before the initial cook.)
2. 2 pans (1 for steaming the burgers in their own juices, and 1 for searing; I used a cast iron pan & griddle for this for the best cook.)
3. A lid that'll fit on your first pan/cast iron pan. It doesn't need to fit perfectly but it needs to be able to contain the evaporation from the meat.

Seasonings in case anyone's curious:

1. I used about 3 teaspoons of fajita seasoning,
2. 1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin,
3. 2 teaspoons of garlic salt,
4. a dash of pepper.

Mix into the patties thoroughly.

I measure by eye, I'm sorry lmao.
Honestly, for your seasonings, just use whatever you have on hand that makes sense. Paprika is a good addition, especially smoked paprika. I lightly seasoned in this case as well, since I wanted the quality of the beef to shine through. If your beef is low quality beef, you'll want to add a bit more seasoning.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Pre-heat your 1st pan. You don't need to add any oil if you use the same type of ground beef as I did. If you have more lean ground beef, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil before the next step.
2. Turn the heat down to medium-low, add your patties, Cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle a little more garlic salt on them. Pre-heat your second pan/griddle. Flip. Repeat on the other side.
3. Turn heat down on low and allow to simmer for 10 more minutes (we like ours thoroughly cooked. they still came out juicy.)
4. Crank up the heat on your griddle, let it heat up evenly, and then put your patties on. Sear on both sides. It should develop a nice crust after a while while being juicy as all hell. You can do this step on low over time if you don't wanna get your house too hot.

We went with flour tortillas and I dressed mine up baconator style. It was delish.

If you try it, lemme know! And enjoy

 

[AnOminous]

Somehow, in a day mostly consisting of bashing F5 on the Rekieta thread to see what is going on with that criminal piece of shit, I managed to chop up and put in sous-vide vac bags a bunch of salmon. Then I pan-seared it to finish and served it over a bed of basmati rice with a delicious teriyaki-ginger sauce.

I didn't really use measurements or anything, so the sauce is dark soy, brown sugar, garlic chili sauce, sesame oil, heated up until the sugar dissolves, then simmered a bit and finished right before the fish with fresh lime juice and chopped green onions. And sesame seeds for the finish. Arguably, I should have only put the sesame oil in at the end but I spaced out.

And salmon is generally 145 degrees for an hour or whatever. I've heard it gets mushy after a while so probably no more than two hours.

I did 90 minutes and was entirely happy with the results.

 

[skekChuck]

I remembered the other day that Pyrex is oven safe, including their meal prep glass containers.

Well, I had a craving for Shepard’s pie.
I ended up making perfectly portioned Shepard’s pies and they are freezer-safe too.
So basically, I can just put one in the oven when I want a single-portion.

Going to try it with chicken pot pie soon.

 

[AnOminous]

I remembered the other day that Pyrex is oven safe, including their meal prep glass containers.

The actual oven-safe PYREX is the stuff in all caps. That's this stuff, which is indestructible borosilicate glass:

Do NOT trust this other shit in the picture below. It is an entirely different trademark and is basically the fake Pyrex they make now. It's soda-lime bullshit. It can literally explode in a microwave. If you ever see this, don't buy it unless you like getting gypped.

 

[Betonhaus]

I remembered the other day that Pyrex is oven safe, including their meal prep glass containers.

Only PYREX (uppercase) is safe. pyrex (lowercase) is cheap garbage and will shatter.

 

[skekChuck]

The actual oven-safe PYREX is the stuff in all caps. That's this stuff, which is indestructible borosilicate glass:

Yes, the meal prep containers I have are the oven-safe ones. I checked with the package to make sure.

So if you have them, it’s a nice way to pack meals for later.