What Have You Cooked Recently?

[Mandy Stroyer]

I got a craving for cinnamon buns after an episode of good eats, I may have to do some research and give that a shot. I want to see if I can do GF ones.

I made some of those recently too using this recipe. They turn out pretty good for being gluten free but definitely taste like it and they dry out once cooled. I'd be interested to see how it would work out with the bread flour mix though since that'd be easier than buying three different flours.

 

[teriyakiburns]

For the record, pea soup was a qualified success. I prepped the pork wrong (it was pork shoulder, so I should have just browned it instead of par-boiling, which you have to do with gammon or a ham), so it ended up needing a more salt. I also forgot the spinach, so it's not as green as I wold have liked, but that's just life. Eating the last of it today. Yum.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

I made a pie. The crust is flaky as it should be. If you ever have the time, a crust of butter and flour is far superior to the vegetable oil premade ones they sell.

 

[Zeftax]

My crust dough always gets too warm while kneading and it never comes out as flaky as I'd like, is there a good way of making it - without a food processor - that would keep the butter unmelted?

 

[Szfynks]

Lucky man.

Thank You. I'll let him know.
Leftover vegetable tajine bento.

 

[ObeseScreamingBlackMan]

In the interest of using up meat that's been in my freezer for long enough, I made a huge ol batch of chicken fajitas last week and ate them as meal prepped lunches before work all week. I love chikky fajitas so this was not a hardship. Did the seasoned veg in the pan and the marinated chicken on the charcoal Weber outside.

This week it'll be a meatloaf, I think.

 

[soft breathing]

Made a huge batch of lasagna as meal prep for next week. I fucking love lasagna, now I can eat it every day.

Who says meal prep has to be 100% healthy?

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

Made a huge batch of lasagna as meal prep for next week. I fucking love lasagna, now I can eat it every day.

Who says meal prep has to be 100% healthy?

How do you reheat it?

Microwave? Oven? Air fryer?

Add sauce when eating it as leftovers?

I love lasagna too, but I've definitely petrified the top layers and corners of the flat noodles before when re-serving.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I've started to realize more ways to try to efficiently run this household. Again, I used to cook a lot more, wasn't necessarily good at it or efficient in a home economics sense, and then I let my life fall apart; even as I got things together emotionally and in terms of working and what not I still kept eating fast food slop pretty much every day.

One thing I've found is that it's good to eat a lot of baked potatoes. When I say "baked" I mean microwaved, because there's no reason to ever bake one, nothing is gained that's worth that extra hassle. The reason is that it uses up potatoes (one of those pain-in-the-ass, lasts a while but you still hate having it sit there getting older ingredients) and acts as an alternative, along with pickles, to potato chips. Like a lot of lardasses there are foods (this is considered more or less a fact in credible dieting) that I simply cannot keep around or I will go through it quickly. A baked potato is healthier, does require some amount of effort. Is it as enjoyable as chips? Well, yes and no. It's less immediately gratifying and frankly tasty, but the chip doesn't really leave you feeling like you accomplished anything or have been improved in any way.

Nuking a potato in the microwave and having that with a sandwich is, like eating my ice cream out of cones, getting me better results. I cannot see any reason not to make potato salads this way, either. Fuck the pot and the water. What purpose does it serve? You could nuke a potato, chop it up, and just slather it in whatever that particular salad calls for.

I'm still aggravated with milk spoiling on me faster than I use it.

I have to try a Skyline copycat recipe; Skyline chili is horrifically overpriced even if you can get it in the Deep South.

 

[Troonos]

Skyline copycat recipe; Skyline chili is horrifically overpriced even if you can get it in the Deep South.

The canned version isn't even good. It's so watery and bland. Here's a Skyline copycat recipe for the spice mix I invented from years of trial and error:

4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
1 tbsp dried minced onions
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I prefer a chunkier chili with more varied meat, so I use ground beef, rare sliced steak (added late in the simmer so it doesn't cook any further), and thin sliced and browned links of chorizo in mine, so it tastes like Skyline but is more hearty and thick.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

Nuking a potato in the microwave and having that with a sandwich is, like eating my ice cream out of cones, getting me better results.

Nothing wrong with a nuked potato. Definitely better overall than potato chips.

The concern I would have is that two slices of bread for a sandwich PLUS a whole nuked potato is still a lot of carbs in a sitting without much nutritional value.

Do you eat the nuked potato skin?

That would at least up the vitamin and fiber content.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

The canned version isn't even good. It's so watery and bland. Here's a Skyline copycat recipe for the spice mix I invented from years of trial and error:

4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
1 tbsp dried minced onions
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I prefer a chunkier chili with more varied meat, so I use ground beef, rare sliced steak (added late in the simmer so it doesn't cook any further), and thin sliced and browned links of chorizo in mine, so it tastes like Skyline but is more hearty and thick.

Is basically all I have to do just to boil it all together the same as I would browned ground chuck and "taco seasoning" to make tacos? That my objective, at the end of the day, is to basically make taco meat and call it Skyline?

Nothing wrong with a nuked potato. Definitely better overall than potato chips.

The concern I would have is that two slices of bread for a sandwich PLUS a whole nuked potato is still a lot of carbs in a sitting without much nutritional value.

I suppose it would be more potato compared to chips.

Do you eat the nuked potato skin?

Probably not? Maybe? It depends on if I'm hollowing out a potato or if I chopped it up. I eat skins in mashed potatoes.

 

[Troonos]

Is basically all I have to do just to boil it all together the same as I would browned ground chuck and "taco seasoning" to make tacos? That my objective, at the end of the day, is to basically make taco meat and call it Skyline?

I don't know how much effort you want to exert.

Dice onions and slice jalapenos, then cook them together slowly in a pan with oil and salt until the onion is translucent and light brown.

Dry brine (sprinkle salt on both sides, let sit on plate) the steak for an hour, then cook to rare/medium rare on a pan. Let rest then set aside.

Take the unfrozen chorizo links and freeze them for 10-15 minutes so they're more firm and easier to slice. Slice them into 1/4-1/2" thick discs and fry them in a pan until they're nice and browned. Set aside.

Brown the ground beef and drain off most of the grease/water. Add the chili mix and a can of whole peeled tomatoes. When the mix well-incorporated, add enough water to cover the meat and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the liquid is reduced and thickened.

Slice the steak thin, then add it and the chorizo to the pot and let them heat in the liquid for a few minutes, then serve.

Not sure why you're asking about tacos. I have a different homemade recipe for taco mix.

 

[Soup ‘n’ Salad]

For breakfast today I made a sandwich with a sourdough english muffin, scrambled egg with bacon bits and mashed avocado. Yummers

 

[PositiveMonk]

I'd be interested to see how it would work out with the bread flour mix though since that'd be easier than buying three different flours.

I've ended up giving up on the GF cinnamon roll idea as my friend isn't interested and I'd rather not get stuck eating the leftovers. That said, how would I go about replacing the flours with a bread flour mix? My immediate thought is to determine the total mass of all the flours + xanthan gum combined and use that much bread flour. However I imagine as an experienced GF chef you probably feel different flours offer different textures/flavors/baking properties and simply replacing the total mass wouldn't make sense?

5 g whole/rough psyllium husk
160 g tapioca starch (Does this count as apart of the flour mixture?)
135 g millet flour
25 g sorghum flour
5 g xanthan gum
Would this translate to 330g of GF bread flour?

Reading through more of the recipe I'm seeing that the psyllium husk is used to make a gel? It looks like it's used to make the dough more elastic. Not sure if that's considered part of the flour or something that should be added with GF bread flour.

Tax: Slow roasted cherry tomatoes and fettuccini with garlic and oil.

 

[Stan]

I made a clam chowder two nights back using fresh clams. I've done it before many times with canned or frozen, but fresh had a better flavor and texture. I did use too much steaming water and it made the soup a little too thin for chowder (should be a thick stew.) So when I do it again I'll use less water to steam the clams and use less bacon (I think it's overly salty and tends to overshadow the dish so it just tastes like bacon soup.)

Spoiler: recipe

Clam Chowder (WIP)
2-3 tbsp. butter
1 slice of American bacon chopped into small bits
2-3 ribs celery, chopped as small as you can
1 small onion, chopped same as celery
2-3 tbsp. flour
2-3 oz. wine, sherry, or brandy (sub water if you have none of these)
12-16 cherrystone clams, live
1 russet potato, peeled, cubed, and covered w water in a bowl (this stops sliced potatoes from turning brown)
~3/4 pint of half and half or light cream
salt pepper and nutmeg to taste

Equipment:
1. large saucepan (big enough to hold the finished chowder)
2. pot for boiling clams w/ tight fitting lid
3. whisk

Steps:
1. wash your clams in cold water removing all sand and dirt, and purge them of silt if needed (mine didn't.) Discard any clams that don't close tightly when handled. Set up a steaming pot big enough to hold all your clams and add ~1-2" of water to the pot. Clams can sit right in the steaming water or they can be placed on a steaming rack. Put the lid on and pre-heat your steamer.
2. melt the butter over low heat and add bacon bits to a large saucepan (big enough to hold all ingredients). Cook until fat is beginning to melt, then add celery and onion. Saute over medium for 4 minutes or until the bacon and onion mix are cooked but translucent.
3. Add the flour and whisk on the hot pan until all is combined. Cook for 2-3 mins or until the roux loses its raw flour taste and begins to smell a bit like pie crust.
4. Add the sherry/wine/brandy and stir to deglaze, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan clean. Move your saucepan off the heat for a couple mins. and turn your attention to the clams.
5. Once the water in your steaming pot is boiling, add all the clams and cover tightly. (the water doesn't need to cover the clams. You only need a little to produce steam.) Steam clams for ~10 mins or until they just open up.
6. Retrieve clams from steam pot, reserving the steaming liquid. Strain the water used to boil clams and add it to the chowder pot. Remove clams from the shell and chop the clam meat into bite-size pieces. Discard any clams that didn't open during the cooking process.
7. Add potatoes to the chowder pot and simmer for 12 mins or until potato pieces are soft.
8. Add clams and half and half to the chowder, simmer until hot.
9. Serve with oyster crackers. Alternatively, chowder can be made a day ahead and reheated.

 

[Mandy Stroyer]

That said, how would I go about replacing the flours with a bread flour mix? My immediate thought is to determine the total mass of all the flours + xanthan gum combined and use that much bread flour. However I imagine as an experienced GF chef you probably feel different flours offer different textures/flavors/baking properties and simply replacing the total mass wouldn't make sense?

I looked through recipes from loopy whisk and king arthur to see if there would be any major differences other than mass and there are a few. Each loopy whisk recipe uses a different ratio of flours so unfortunately it looks like the premade bread flour won't work as a 1:1 substitute for those recipes. For example, the cinnamon rolls use more tapioca flour (high starch) than millet (low starch) but the ciabatta rolls use more millet flour than tapioca which makes sense given the desired texture and flavor for each. However, king arthur does have recipes designed specifically for the use of their bread flour mix.

Reading through more of the recipe I'm seeing that the psyllium husk is used to make a gel? It looks like it's used to make the dough more elastic. Not sure if that's considered part of the flour or something that should be added with GF bread flour.

Yes, the psyllium is absolutely vital to the elasticity and has no substitute. It is separate since each recipe also uses a different amount of psyllium husk (and water/milk to gel it). So something that needs to be more pliable like tortillas uses twice the amount of psyllium than something like a dinner roll. The bread mix doesn't account for that since it only has x amount of psyllium husk in the package, which is expected since it's used for bread and not much else. It looks like the recipes by king arthur are designed around the amount of psyllium and starch in the mix considering nearly all recipes use less liquid but slightly more fat than loopy whisk even when accounting for the different amount of flour/s.

TLDR: the bread mix has lower starch and psyllium husk content and can't be used as a 1:1 sub for loopy whisk recipes.

 

[Stardust_Ziggy]

I’m making a simple stew tonight. It’s just beef, carrots, potatoes, onions and some McCormick’s spice mix. I just use baby carrots, I’m not sure if that’s cheating. And I like red potatoes for this.

 

[Bassomatic]

Skipped breakfast because last night made midnight hash browns and eggs

Even midnight snack can be breakfast!

 

[souschef]

I made paella today (not my photo)