Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

Pulled at 150F and it went to 179F and is falling.

20220917_153206.jpg

[worth1]

Next on the agenda is the sauce/gravy.
Started out with onion and garlic carmalizing.
Then two quarts if beef broth and one cup of burgundy.
Add a tablespoon of Knorr beef bullion for the salt and a shot of soy sauce.
Let it slowly reduce down to a little under a quart.
Then turn off heat.

20220917_132403.jpg

20220917_154449.jpg

[pepperhead212]

Don't ask me why this double posts!

[pepperhead212]

@Sue_CT @Tormato
That was the price I paid (actually, 49¢/lb) for countless pounds of pasta, about a year after the pandemic started (and I still had a few lbs from before it started!). The store had a limit on 8 lbs per variety, so I got 6 different varieties, that I like, and I'm still working on some of them. It was one of those things you couldn't go back for several times, as it was on your "card".

The spirals I was out of first, but another place had some good Italian pasta for 69¢/lb a while back, and they had a limit of 12 per variety!
And they have this thing every Monday morning for seniors, between 8 and 9 am, where all food is 20% off! Needless to say, I never buy food there at any other time.

[worth1]

That hit the spot.

20220917_172526.jpg

[Danny]

Pepperhead, both you and Tormato made some good deals there. Dry pasta is always in our pantry even though we can, and do, make fresh as well.
Just so useful.

Worth, the meatloaf looks good.

[karstopography]

F16E3555-1380-4251-BCC6-C75C837F4AED.jpeg

37FAB1D3-830B-4366-A9D1-E65234CE638E.jpeg

DF814C37-E739-499F-9926-BB8E0795D529.jpeg

FA926AFF-8FD7-4F0C-8C41-28F1D3EE27BD.jpeg

247A51E6-FC9E-47CA-A46B-72B1A869EB02.jpeg

Spelt focaccia. Toppings are feta cheese, fresh greek oregano leaves from the garden, cherub tomatoes, and red cayenne pepper flakes I dried. We ate almost the whole loaf. It was so delicious.

Pork chops were great also, but the bread was the star. Will definitely make the bread again.

[pepperhead212]

I had a pound of mushrooms I had to use up, and since it was sort of cool at nights lately, I made a mushroom soup. I used a cup of 3 different lentils, plus a half cup of barley - a favorite combination of mine with mushrooms.

I started out with a mirepoix of minced shallot, carrot, and celery, cooked in some homemade ghee, giving that browned butter flavor. I added a couple of cloves of garlic, minced with some Syrian oregano (intense thyme flavor), and fresh rosemary, then added a few tb of tomato paste, and cooked this about 2 minutes longer. Then I added the water from soaking and cleaning 1/2 oz boletus mushrooms (where most of the dark color is from), and cooked the 2 c water down to about a cup, with the minced boletus. Then I added 5 more cups water, 1/3 c each of toor, chana, and masoor dal, plus 1/2 c pearl barley. I added 2 tb thin soy, and a little more salt, plus a generous amount of black pepper. I mixed it all well, covered to seal it, and set on manual, 20 minutes, then let the pressure release on its own.

While this was cooking, I washed and cut up the mushrooms, then steamed them in a wok (sorry, not a one dish meal) with a couple tb of water, boiled the water off, then sautéed in a couple tsp of oil - an easy method I use a lot now. I also cut up over a cup of long beans, and diced 2 small red potatoes. After the IP released, I added the potatoes, adding a little more salt, and simmered 10 minutes. Then I added all the mushrooms and beans, and simmered about 10 more minutes. Then I stirred in some chopped parsley, and topped a bowl with some Asiago cheese. Fantastic, and a lot leftover!
Toor, chana, and masoor dals, plus a half cup of pearl barley, for the mushroom soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cut up beans, to be added to the soup with the mushrooms. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Mushrooms and beans, added to soup, for a brief simmer by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A generous amount of chopped parsley, at the end. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished soup, with a little Asiago cheese grated on top. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Danny]

Made a lamb curry the other night, still have half a quart left after 4 plus meals. We added barley, potatoes chunked up, onions, carrots and celery, chicken broth and then after all sort of was done, the barley to thicken it and because I like barley a lot. PIC had never recalled having lamb nor curry before, and she liked it. For the curry I just used 2 blocks of the Japanese golden curry mild. Like any stew type dish, even better the next day.

That bread looks so fantastic and great colors! The mushroom soup also looks very good.

[worth1]

@karstopography
The grill marks on the pork chops look fake.
You sure you didn't use a template and carbon powder?

[karstopography]

@worth1 I know right! It’s the Grill Grates, these are something my kiddos got me for my big green egg. They fit on top of the stainless steel grill. I have a cast iron grill also, but that one proves to be a devil to clean. I can get the grill blazing hot to clean off the carbon build up, but that’s not always convenient. The grill grates are way easier to maintain. And they produce beautiful grill marks. I have to turn the food 90° during the cook to get the cross hatched marks.

I believe the interlocking grates are some hard alloy of Anodized AL. Stainless steel grates don’t mark food as well, not being such a great conductor of heat like Aluminum. The underside on the grill grates are flat and with holes cut out to allow some limited direct heat to come through. I seasoned the cooking surface with rubbing a cut onion over the metal as the Mexicans do. Nothing sticks to the grate surface during the cook.

[worth1]

I hear people on YouTube all the time talking about different types of cooking material like cast iron stainless and aluminum.
Then there are the different grades of cast iron to consider because they aren't all the same.
90% of the time they are wrong and don't know what they are talking about.
Saying cast iron is a good conductor of heat.
Did you know aluminum is such a good conductor of energy that you have to set a TIG welder on about the same amperage as you do steel?
Even though it melts at around 1200F.
Cast iron is a poor conductor of energy and in many cases not the best thing to cook with.
Stainless just sucks if it's the wrong kind.

You can't beat my Magnalite aluminum alloy skillets for making eggs and omelets.

[worth1]

This is what happens when you reduce 2 quarts of beef broth a pint of burgundy and a half shot of soy sauce.
Used the stick blender on the onions once everything was reduced.
Added Knorr beef bullion powder and black pepper.
Added corn starch to thicken by mixing cold broth with it.
No artificial color was added.

20220918_081730.jpg

20220918_081741.jpg

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Monday is BLT Brunch Day at The Gotch Compound: From left, The Guido and The Inzhir Rozovyi

thumbnail_IMG_1665.jpg

They slice like warm butter, revealing marvelously rich, deep red innards!

thumbnail_IMG_1666.jpg

Aaaaand just got the shout that they're being served...

The Gotch

[worth1]

An old southern and family favorit.
Green beans cooked with bacon ends and pieces and Yukon gold potatoes.
Leftover meatloaf with ketchup.
Black pepper..
Knorr beef bullion powder for the extra salt.

20220919_184823.jpg

[Tormahto]

@worth1 I know right! It’s the Grill Grates, these are something my kiddos got me for my big green egg. They fit on top of the stainless steel grill. I have a cast iron grill also, but that one proves to be a devil to clean. I can get the grill blazing hot to clean off the carbon build up, but that’s not always convenient. The grill grates are way easier to maintain. And they produce beautiful grill marks. I have to turn the food 90° during the cook to get the cross hatched marks.

I believe the interlocking grates are some hard alloy of Anodized AL. Stainless steel grates don’t mark food as well, not being such a great conductor of heat like Aluminum. The underside on the grill grates are flat and with holes cut out to allow some limited direct heat to come through. I seasoned the cooking surface with rubbing a cut onion over the metal as the Mexicans do. Nothing sticks to the grate surface during the cook.

Grill Grates- One learns something new every day.

And here I thought that you were much more talented than Worth, with your whip. It looked like you could switch between left and right hand with ease.

Depending on the direction of the wind, can you cast a fly with either hand?

[karstopography]

@Tormato Yes, only because I injured my dominant right shoulder. Any attempt to cast the fly rod with the right shoulder resulted in instant knee buckling pain. Faced with abandoning fly fishing or learning to cast from the sinister side, I went over to the dark side. My right shoulder subsequently healed, but the left hand cast remained as a permanent fixture. As it worked out, learning to cast left handed was much quicker and easier than learning to cast right handed. I can’t explain that other than I wasn’t fighting decades of counterproductive baitcasting rod and reel muscle memory. The left side was a blank slate.

I have no preference for which hand I use to cast, I let the wind decide. As it has worked out, many of my most memorable fish have come after making left handed casts.

[worth1]

It's a whole different but very artistic method to pendulum cast a big bait casting rod.
I've lost sinkers that have probably landed 300 yards out if not more.
You could kill someone if the weight broke off in the wrong direction.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

E6817E5C-16B0-4CF7-8AED-9BAEB02539E4.jpeg

Pork chops marinating in EVOO, lemon juice, Lorz Italian garlic, Worcestershire sauce, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Going on the grill later this evening.

I LOVE pork chops. I do stink at cooking them though. We've taken to thinner chops, grilled for a very short amount of time. If you have a Trader Joe's near, they have a fantastic coffee rub seasoning that is the bomb on pork chops!

[JRinPA]

@CrazyAboutOrchids I don't cook much pork (or that other fancy french word, beef ) but for loin chops I cut them about 1-3/4", brine them, rub them, and either grill over charcoal or oven broil.

For charcoal, it is 2-3 minute flips over close hot coals to sear, then backing them off and using an inverted pan to catch the heat and cook them another 8-10 minutes, to temp. Then rest 5 min and serve.

For indoors I use the convection oven to broil, after the same setup, maybe 1-1/2" thick if I'm cutting them fresh just for that.

Thick is better I think, so maybe try that way. The grill method and rub I use is from a cook's illustrated magazine. Seems to be never fail for me. I can PM you the recipe if you want.