What Have You Cooked Recently?

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

Made some Salisbury steak. Took less time to cook then it took to find a recipe that wasn't horribly Americanized or required a dizzying amount of specific spices and shit.

I was thinking of Salisbury as Swiss steak.

https://www.mashed.com/293380/the-real-difference-between-swiss-and-salisbury-steak/

Swiss steak is nostalgic because my mom used to make it. I don't think I've ever seen Swiss steak out IRL. And apparently it's not Swiss.

Now I'm unsure if I've ever had Salisbury steak.

Threadtax:

I've had a tub of marscapone in the fridge for a while that I bought out of curiosity but didn't know how to cook with.

Cooked a chicken marsala and linguini recipe last night with white wine sauce and mustard. Realized halfway through cooking that there didn't exist an onion in the house. Made zucchini parmigiana in the air fryer as a vegetable with a huge zucchini the neighbour donated.

The end product turned out well. The marscapone white sauce was creamy and clumpy, but tasty and attractive. The zucchini had some many seeds in the center that I ended up scooping out and throwing out the middle and just eating the rind.

Still had half a tub of marscapone tonight. Made a penne a la vodka sauce with tomatoes on the vine, leftover zucchini and vodka. And linguini instead of penne.

Recipe didn't call for adding the marscapone to the very last minute. Tried to follow @AnOminous 's advice to salt the shit out of the pasta water. Threw in some frozen homemade meatballs from the freezer.

Tonight's dish wasn't as unique or good. It was fine but I felt the marscapone made no difference.

 

[Betonhaus]

I wish there was a website where you could look up a recipe and it would show you the most bare bones generic recipe, then you could drill deeper for ideas to tweak it or customize it.
When I made the Salisbury steak it was a super simple recipe that I added some spices to and was amazing. Now I'm trying to find the same thing for a Shepard's pie, at least to just get the ratios right. I know I need ground beef and onion and mashed potatoes cheese and peas, but whenever I completely wing a recipe it usually goes horribly horribly wrong.

 

[Barry McKockner]

I've been using the hell out of the smoker my dad built me. Been trying different cuts as a smaller alternative to brisket, because smoking brisket just takes for fucking ever. Landed on chuck roast as a brisket alternative I can do on a weekday while working from home because it's so much quicker.

but whenever I completely wing a recipe it usually goes horribly horribly wrong.

I usually am able to wing recipes pretty damn good. As long as I understand the basic foundation, I'm golden.

 

[Troonos]

Made some keto jalapeno queso dip that my wife says is better than restaurant queso.

One block of cream cheese, heated on low until melted.
Add two cups of heavy whipping cream.
Teaspoon of sodium citrate stirred in to prevent protein agglomeration (everyone should buy a bag of this from Amazon; it's cheap and absolutely necessary for any cheese sauce or macaroni and cheese recipe to prevent the cheese from breaking and becoming grainy).
Once the mixture is simmering, add a whole pack of sliced Boar's Head Hatch Chili Jack cheese a couple slices at a time until melted.
1/2 cup of diced jalapenos and 1/4 tsp of my homemade umami habanero powder.
Sprinkle in a little more grated pepper jack cheese and stir until homogenous.

She's not wrong. By far the best queso I've had.

I poured it over some fajita beef, chicken, peppers, and onions.

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

Now I'm trying to find the same thing for a Shepard's pie, at least to just get the ratios right. I know I need ground beef and onion and mashed potatoes cheese and peas, but whenever I completely wing a recipe it usually goes horribly horribly wrong.

This is a much requested dish. It's a framework to tweak at least;

Shephard's Pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Meat Filling:
-Cook below ingredients, browning meat, med heat, 5-7 mins, then drain grease
2 lbs of hamburger (80%meat 20% fat is good)
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp of salt & pepper

-Add & Stir & Simmer for 10 mins:
1 Tablespoon of flour, stirring through, about 1-2 mins, med-hi heat
1 Tablespoon of tomato paste, mix thru, 2-3 mins
1 1/4 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp of Rosemary, Oregano & Thyme (I double this for my taste)
1 tsp of salt & pepper
Stir and simmer on low heat 10 mins

-Add, mix
1 cup each of frozen peas, carrots & corn

place mixture in bottom of 13x9 pan

(I usually break this recipe into 2 meals by using an 8x8 pan and making more potatoes)

Potato Topping:
4-5 cups of mashed potatoes (3-5 med potatoes)
2 Tbls of butter
1/2-1 cup of milk
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp of garlic powder, salt & pepper

1-2 cups of grated cheddar cheese for topping

Cook @ 350 degrees for 30 mins or until cheese is golden brown

 

[Frostnipped Todger]

Just had porterhouse steak with chimichurri, potatoes and greens from the garden.

 

[AnOminous]

Swiss steak is nostalgic because my mom used to make it. I don't think I've ever seen Swiss steak out IRL. And apparently it's not Swiss.

Cube steak is basically the same cut (round) but in a different shape. I usually make Swiss steak just using cube steaks, but you can also ask them to take a thin cut of bottom round and run it through the same machine if you have a butcher who takes orders.

 

[Troonos]

Cube steak is basically the same cut (round) but in a different shape. I usually make Swiss steak just using cube steaks, but you can also ask them to take a thin cut of bottom round and run it through the same machine if you have a butcher who takes orders.

Where'd you get "different shape"? Cube steak is just steak that has been run through a crosscut or cubing machine (or traditionally pounded with a spiked mallet) to make lots of perpendicular cuts into the muscle to create artificial tenderness.

 

[keytar]

I like to make this soup as a tasty but low-effort meal though I usually tweak it a bit depending on what I have in. Today I had beef meatballs instead of pork so I switched the basil out for some dried mixed herbs and threw in some smoked paprika and red wine to deepen the flavour. I also use extra chilli and garlic because they are the best.

 

[Triple Flutz]

Well, it's been a week since I last posted what I've made for dinner, so I'll probably be missing a few meals just from time having passed and being forgetful.

• Brats with homemade sauerkraut, grilled jalapenos, and caramelized onions.
• Pasta with a creamy parmesan and lemon sauce + shrimp.
• White wine osso buco.
• Greek salad with leftover osso buco since there wasn't a huge amount left and there's quite a few of us.
• Spanish-style rice (toasted the rice in roasted red pepper compound butter I made and froze back when butter was like $2 a pound before making it closer to traditional style) and homemade charros beans.
• Tomorrow. roasted duck fat potatoes and ribeyes with more greek salad.
• Saturday, we're visiting friends so whatever they want for us to make because they are newlyweds with shit parents whose least critical offense was to never teach either of them how to cook, so every time we hang out, either I cook something and have the wife, who is also my friend, assist me or my husband grills and has the husband, who is his friend, assist.

I think I'm only drawing a blank on one meal, not too bad.

 

[Overwritten Tapes]

I made a salad for the first time in over a month and they ran out of utensils at work. Used two coffee stir sticks as chopsticks.

 

[AnOminous]

Where'd you get "different shape"? Cube steak is just steak that has been run through a crosscut or cubing machine (or traditionally pounded with a spiked mallet) to make lots of perpendicular cuts into the muscle to create artificial tenderness.

The only time I've seen something actually labeled as "swiss steak" (it is more of a name for the dish than the cut), it's been a single large cut of round. Cube steak is generally really small. It's essentially exactly the same kind of meat though, done with the same machine, and what I usually use.

If you like you can have them run a larger cut by itself through the same machine. There really isn't much point since it basically falls apart during cooking anyway.

And yes, sometimes I just beat the shit out of smaller slices of round, but why bother when you can just get cube steak? Part of the whole point of the dish is to turn a cheap, tough cut of meat into something edible.

 

[cold comfort]

Did some fried rice with onion, ginger, carrot, mushrooms, and kimchi. Added a splash of sesame oil and soy sauce, and some peanuts. Easy-peasy yet delicious.

 

[Triple Flutz]

Saturday, we're visiting friends so whatever they want for us to make because they are newlyweds with shit parents whose least critical offense was to never teach either of them how to cook, so every time we hang out, either I cook something and have the wife, who is also my friend, assist me or my husband grills and has the husband, who is his friend, assist.

Old post got eaten by the rollback, but she wanted me to teach her how to make carbonara but their area started flooding and they didn't want to get stranded since they wanted to visit instead of hosting, so we rescheduled for another week and I made the carbonara just for my husband and kids. I did get a guest-ready house as opposed to an everyday clean house, though, and these sparkling baseboards are going to last me a while.

Made steak and eggs for breakfast since we had that leftover ribeye from the dinner I skipped, and leftover carbonara tonight. I think I'll soon be due for a round of homemade pierogi, I always just set out to spend half the day making 300-400 to last for the entire year and we have friends who are expecting their first child very soon so I'd like to have a frozen meal prepared to accompany the fresh meal I'll make when they invite us over to meet the sweet baby.

 

[HERE YOU GO]

candy corn super scoop and candy corn sugar cookies.

 

[Betonhaus]

Pulled pork turned out really good. Rubbed it in a dry rub with montreal steak spice msg franks hot powder and some other shit put it on a chjopped onion with garlic then poured a cup of bbq sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth then slow cooked it for 8 hours, then shredded it and am slow cooking it on low for another 30 minutes to reduce the liquid.

 

[SIGSEGV]

I just made some remoulade sauce, which is one of the two most important ingredients for the po boys I'm making tomorrow. The other important ingredient is grilled alligator.

 

[Betonhaus]

Used up the rest of the Zucchini to make lemon Zucchini bread.https://www.alattefood.com/lemon-zucchini-bread/
Should be good

 

[Fraiser crane]

i managed to set my air fryer on fire

 

[Betonhaus]

i managed to set my air fryer on fire

thanks for reminding me I need to figure out how to clean mine

(tl;dw coat it in baking soda mixed with water, let it sit 12 hours then scrub off, then use a steam cleaner if you're ocd)