Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

@karstopography
Yeah the foil trays are over the top expensive these days.

[worth1]

Mexican shrimp cocktail.
2 pounds of boiled shrimp.
Small shot of ketchup.
V8 style juice.
Lime juice.
Valentina hot sauce.
White onion.
Avocado.
Cilantro.
Cayenne powder.
Olive oil.
Off to the refrigerator to get ice cold.
It's more like a cold seafood soup than what people think of shrimp cocktail in the US.

IMG_20230812_130046940.jpg

[Danny]

Maybe check Amazon for the aluminum pans in bulk. I get some there at a good price.

If you go ahead and cook/smoke the excess fat, cut it up and freeze it in chunks for use to enrich stews of all sorts. I love to add about a 2 by 2 by 2 diced up chunk to my chicken broth after straining and let it simmer- it doesn't taste it of beef or a strong smoky flavor but just makes the broth richer and with a great mouth feel. Adds depth to a roux as well.

[karstopography]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

Refreshing Summer appetizer, prosciutto and pecos cantaloupe. My son had not had this delicious treat, he’s now a true believer.

[karstopography]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

FullSizeRender.jpeg

Brisket came out great. Flat on the right, point in the middle. Adjika rub lent a unique nuttiness to the bark that got great reviews. Bark is very dark, but the fire never exceeded 230°F.

Sides were corn cut off the cob cooked in butter, plus jalapeño, guajillo peppers and cream cheese along with the cole slaw.

[pepperhead212]

I made a curry today, and started with some white chickpeas, and some barley, cooked in the Instant Pot. While that was cooking, I cut up all the vegetables, and blended up about 12 oz of tomatoes. When it was cooked, I removed it to a metal bowl, then sautéed the onions a few minutes in some oil, followed by the garlic and ginger, then added the tomatoes. Plus, I added some of the pav bhanji masala that I make, and let that cook down until very thick, then added the chickpeas and barley back in, along with the okra (and some mushrooms, I forgot about), and cooked that down about 10 minutes, then added the cut up long beans and eggplant. Cooked those about 15 minutes, then added the tarka - mustard seed, cumin seed, dried chilis, curry leaves, and asafoetida, cooked in oil in that order. I thought I photographed the bowl I served, but I must have forgotten it!

Curry, with the tarka on top, ready to stir in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

Refreshing Summer appetizer, prosciutto and pecos cantaloupe. My son had not had this delicious treat, he’s now a true believer.

Hats off and well done.

I've done stuff like this before and people think I'm out of my mind.
It just shows how uninformed they are about food from other countries and how to eat it.

The salty nutty taste of the ham and the sweetness of the fruit goes hand in hand.
But not just any ham it has to be the thinly sliced raw cured dried aged hams and salamis.
Americans seem to go towards giant thick slices of cooked wet city ham and salami.
They can't wrap their minds around paying such a price per pound for the good stuff.
Simply because many don't know how to eat it, thinking instead of big slabs of ham.
How my hillbilly butt figured it out I have no idea.
Experimenting I guess.

[worth1]

FullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpeg
Brisket came out great. Flat on the right, point in the middle. Adjika rub lent a unique nuttiness to the bark that got great reviews. Bark is very dark, but the fire never exceeded 230°F.

Sides were corn cut off the cob cooked in butter, plus jalapeño, guajillo peppers and cream cheese along with the cole slaw.

The rub isn't that far off from the concoctions I come up with.
I'll have to look for some of the special ingredients and I think my store might have it.
Not a big fan of smoke either and feel it should be in the background not in your face.

[worth1]

The Mexican shrimp cocktail (Coctel de Camarones estilo Mexicano).
Cocktail of the shrimp in the style of Mexico more or less translation.
Your just as likely to see camarones signs on the side of the road for sale as you would shrimp in my area.
Traditionally it is consumed with saltine crackers and that's what I had with mine.
I didn't go overboard with any spices either and figured less was more.

[karstopography]

@worth1 Goode Company Seafood on Kirby Dr. in Houston has always had the gold standard of this Mexican style shrimp cocktail as far as I’m concerned. Jimmy Goode, R.I.P., mom’s family were all from Tampico, Mexico and they spent a lot of time there. Jimmy Goode grew up in Freeport, TX and went to the now defunct Catholic school there with my good friend’s dad and uncles. In the restaurant on the walls are various old photos of Texas Gulf Coast and Mexican Gulf Coast fishing scenes with Goode and some of the photos are of my friend’s relatives. Jimmy Goode had an advertising career in Manhattan, but missed home cooking so he’d get together with friends on the weekends and cook the homemade food he grew up with. From that experience and a longing to return home, his many decades long successful restaurant business in Houston sprung forth.

I get a craving for that Goode Company seafood cocktail every so often and have even tried to replicate it, but the restaurant version has always been better than my own efforts.

[worth1]

@karstopography
I forgot all about Goode Company until just now.
I wish more authentic Mexican food was around here instead of the usual stuff they have authentic or not.
I keep telling people there's more to Mexican food than a stinking taco or enchilada.
Mexicans eat fried chicken and a form of chicken fried steak or schnitzel as well.
It's called milanesa.
I've brought up some of these more high end dishes to fellow Texas Mexicans and they don't have a clue and have never heard of them.
It's sort of like been slowly filtered out of their cooking and eating style.
Much like many that have German ancestry don't have a clue what sauerbraten schnitzel or kartoffelpuffers are.

[worth1]

I don't often buy avocados and when I do I get ones that are on the hard side.
A day or so before ready to eat.
I got 4, two for yesterday and two to add for today.
They all came out perfect.
Once they go into the acidic tomato lime environment you won't have to worry about them turning dark on you.
The store bought guacamole dip has so much citric acid in it for self life you can't taste the avocado.
I decided to add a little garlic powder cumin salt and black pepper to the cocktail as well.

IMG_20230813_095044446.jpg

[maxjohnson]

Nothing special, except I use Italian 00 flour and not overdo the sauce this time, so it's more balanced.

PXL_20230813_043234876.jpg

[Vanman]

That looks real good.

[worth1]

I had some cooked chicken thighs that needed attending to.
I decided to fuse Mexican shrimp cocktail with a Chinese like chicken with rice concoction.
I heated up the thighs in a bag in hot water deboned and are marinating in.
The skin was crisped up in a skillet for a crunchy topping.
Oyster sauce.
Dark soy sauce.
Hoisin sauce.
Garlic ginger paste.
Sugar.
Five spice powder.
Sriracha sauce.
The thighs were originally cooked with a Mexican flare.
Steamed long grain rice.

They'll get flash cooked in a skillet.
The marinade added and thickened.

IMG_20230813_135858049.jpg

[Danny]

Tacos and enchiladas are popular at restaurants as they are cost effective and quick.

Milanesa is so common around here, Walmart carries the thin sliced meat for it, LOL. Prosciutto is also common up here in my little back water and not too expensive through Aldi's, and they beat Walmarts' price on that. And the remarks about the German ancestry people not knowing the dishes that are common to their countries of origin, well, again, in this area, very untrue. In this area, a lot of differing nationalities settled and plus we have that big training base as well.

Guess this area is luckier than your area that way.

[worth1]

I just hit upon an unbelievable recipe for meat.
Pork tenderloin I bought for I think $1.95 a pound.
3.35 total.
Pork tenderloin isn't pork loin.
It's the same place a beef tenderloin comes from inside the rib cage up next to the spine.
The coveted Chateaubriand from the beef tenderloin is the most expensive cut of beef you can buy coming from the thickest part of the tenderloin.
Obviously pork is a lot cheaper.
But enough explanations of the area this cut comes from.
First just like the beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin it is very low in fat and absolutely can't be over cooked.
If you're not willing to eat this cut medium rare or less forget it and move on.
It's seconds between right and over done tasteless and dry.

Now as many of you know I love Black pepper salt and cumin.
So I decided to coat a test piece with coarse black pepper cumin seeds and kosher salt.
Hot skillet for a flash cook.
Then some HEB brand chili powder and powdered cumin dusted all over.
Very spicy and something you might find in the Mediterranean region.
Obviously not kosher due to it being pork.
This was a test piece so the real deal will have regular Fiesta brand chili powder or something to replace the HEB brand.
Maybe some garlic powder as well after cooking.
Stay tuned because I have chores to do before I cook this.
Darn that test piece was good.

[worth1]

Last nights pork tenderloin cooked to perfection.
Succulent and tender.
I put it in the freezer for a bit before I seared the outside so it wouldn't over cook.

IMG_20230816_205421194_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230816_205032342_HDR.jpg

[worth1]

Like all good "Gumbo" it's better to let sit overnight in the refrigerator for today.
Added a couple of spices like turmeric chipotle powder and garam masala because it's my gumbo.
Also added the rest of my whole frozen okra pods because I like whole okra pods and it's my gumbo.
It's just heating up slowly not coming to a boil.
I had what was left in a 20 pound sack of basmati rice I needed to cook, 'A little over 1 cup.
Twice the water and put on burner just above low for 20 minutes after it almost came to a boil but not boil and turned burner off.
Amazingly it didn't boil over but lifted the little lid off after cooling.
It's cooked and cooling off for at least 15 minutes before I take the cover off.

Lastly I took the other pork tenderloin and put it in a Zipper freezer bag with some insta cure #1 salt and a heavy dose of freshly ground black pepper.
It should be ready by tomorrow because it so small.
Whatever the case it won't spoil.

The Rice.

IMG_20230819_100952692_HDR.jpg

[worth1]

Gumbo for brunch.

IMG_20230819_101758726_HDR.jpg