Whatcha Cooking today?

[Sue_CT]

Problem is, I live alone and a recipe for 10 torillas I will never eat all at once to eat them fresh. I was thinking about trying to cut her recipe in half to start. I don't want to eat just two and throw the rest out so that I can keep eating them fresh. The water being important makes sense, the creation of steam must be what makes it puff.

[worth1]

You'll mess up at least 10 tortillas.
You can just freeze the dough for later use.

[worth1]

Got the duck scored and it's packed with kosher salt and white sugar.
Also poked a thousand holes in the skin with my sausage poker.
Equal parts sugar and salt.
Sugar does as good a job of sucking out moisture as salt does.
It's hygroscopic as well.

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[pepperhead212]

You never have to throw corn tortillas out! They refrigerate well, and freeze well, but if you are freezing them, don't cook them as long, and when you thaw them, you can finish them - basically what I do with the tortillas I buy in the market. The tortillas in the package last as long as I leave them in the fridge. They also last a long time in the freezer, when vacuum packed - I got some at the very beginning of the pandemic, before stores were closing up, and a few are still there!

By the way, in one of Diana Kennedy's first books, her method for cooking the tortillas, when pressing them out, was using two pans, one over a low heat, the other over a medium high heat. After laying the tortilla in the low heat pan, after just a few sec, the tortilla will float around , you turn it into the other pan, and after close to a minute, there will be a few little dark patches, then flip it over in the same pan, and many will puff up immediately; if not, and you want them puffed up, you do what they describe as "tickling the tortilla" - just take your fingers and quickly touch the center of the tortilla, like you're sort of picking something off of it, and it will usually puff up. Since a friend and I used to make these on a regular basis (before they opened that tortilla factory in Avondale), we would team up, and I would cook, using all 6 burners on the stove, one low heat pan, since that didn't take long, and the rest higher heat, and he would press them out for me, as fast as I could cook them!

You can make as few as you want, if you don't want to refrigerate or freeze any, and you just want a few tacos. 1 c masa harina + 1/3 c water makes 8 tortillas about 5" in diameter. After a while you will get to know the moisture - you can roll it out in your hands, with little sticking, but when you press out the tortillas, if the edge is sort of jagged, it's too dry, and you'll need just a small amount of water added.

[worth1]

I have a cast iron griddle that fits perfectly on my stove over the front and back burner.
Since cast iron is a poor conductor of energy like heat and electricity the two ends over the burners with be different temperatures on the hot spots.
It won't work with thick aluminum because it's a good conductor and heats more evenly regardless of what the experts say.
And the reason I cook many things on my thick aluminum skillets like eggs.

[Sue_CT]

So if I use a large cast iron griddle I could heat one burner to low heat and one to medium heat. Lots of expirimenting to do. I will probably try the large non stick pan like Villa Cocina does first. I have never had a fresh tortilla much one that has puffed and one that didn't, so I don't really know how important that it.

[worth1]

@Sue_CT
I think I would follow her to a T starting out.

I had some leftover cheese if there can be such a thing.
Leftover heavy cream.
Some gold potatoes.
What to do?
Potatoes Au Gratin.
It only took one big gold potato layered with Jack cheese.
Cut potato with the mandolin.
The cheese was shredded and some corn starch black pepper and nutmeg mixed in.
The corn starch will help keep the cheese from separating.
Plus it's easier to work with and won't stick together.
Once the layered stack was made I poured in a goodly amount of heavy cream.
Dusted with hot Spanish smoked paprika.
Covered in wrap and put in the refrigerator for tomorrow.
An old family favorite from when I was a kid.

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[worth1]

This is what a whataburger should look like.
Whataburger is a fast food place in Texas.
Made this last night and forgot to post it.
Two quarter pound ground chuck patties then rolled out really thin twice the the size of the bun.
Cheese tomato dill relish onion mayonnaise black pepper.
Been trying to duplicate fast food for years and its impossible.

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[Julianna]

This is what a whataburger should look like.
Whataburger is a fast food place in Texas.
Made this last night and forgot to post it.
Two quarter pound ground chuck patties then rolled out really thin twice the the size of the bun.
Cheese tomato dill relish onion mayonnaise black pepper.
Been trying to duplicate fast food for years and its impossible.
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Whatachicken is my favorite fast food sandwich!

[worth1]

Had another one today but single 8 ounce patty with Jack cheese mayonnaise and my homemade whole grain black mustard.
Plus the usual fixings.
I'm hamburgered out for awhile.

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[Sue_CT]

You lost me at mustard, not a fan, lol, but the rest looks awesome!

[worth1]

You lost me at mustard, not a fan, lol, but the rest looks awesome!

You didn't know?
Homemade corn tortillas taste like mustard.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

An iced split of Mailly Grand Cru and six (6) beef tenderloin filets grilled to medium rare (IMO) perfection were provided for the lovely and long suffering Mrs. Gotch, and her adoring husband; Happy New Year, all!

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The Gotch

[worth1]

Over stuffed dry sugar & salt brined duck with my homemade mushroom pecan cornbread stuffing.
All I cared to look for to bake it in was an insulated baking pan I lined with foil.
Easy cleanup.

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[worth1]

Yesterday I reduced almost 2 cups of red wine down to about 1/2 cup and added white sugar and made a thick syrup.
This reduction took all day just on warm to it didn't simmer but steamed.
This is going to be the glaze for the duck at the very end.
Its tart and sweet.

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[bower]

I ruined my gravy with that dry brined turkey - too much salt! Oops and some of the meat was over salty as well. I hadn't thought of sugar but it could be a save @worth1 . Will definitely be approaching the dry brine with caution next time.
Anway I salvaged and chopped up the less salty parts - anything deeper than an inch was much better - and also the dressing in the bird cavity was fine, while the stuff in the pan was salted right up. Kept the good bits for making turnovers but by golly no gravy. So the filling is loose bits instead of something you can spread with a spoon. I just baked up the first three before I commit to the rest, on concern they may just be too dry. They seem okay after all, reasonably moist and tasty not too salt either. Still thinking whether I should add something else. Jelly might be interesting, I may try a few of those.

[worth1]

I ruined my gravy with that dry brined turkey - too much salt! Oops and some of the meat was over salty as well. I hadn't thought of sugar but it could be a save @worth1 . Will definitely be approaching the dry brine with caution next time.
Anway I salvaged and chopped up the less salty parts - anything deeper than an inch was much better - and also the dressing in the bird cavity was fine, while the stuff in the pan was salted right up. Kept the good bits for making turnovers but by golly no gravy. So the filling is loose bits instead of something you can spread with a spoon. I just baked up the first three before I commit to the rest, on concern they may just be too dry. They seem okay after all, reasonably moist and tasty not too salt either. Still thinking whether I should add something else. Jelly might be interesting, I may try a few of those.

I've ruined a couple of steaks doing just exactly what they said to do by salting and let sitting overnight.
Obviously my tolerance for salt is much less than many peoples.
I hope my duck isn't too salty but I doubt it will be.

[worth1]

Made some stuffed celery and deviled eggs with regular yellow mustard my homemade whole grain mustard mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika on top.
The eggs were older so the the shells slipped right off.
Put a soffritto mix in the bottom of the duck roasting pan with Italian seasoning blend and some water.
Didn't want to use anything acidic like wine with the aluminum foil.

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[bower]

I do like salt, compared to people like my folks who went on 'salt reduced' diets. I just salt things as much as I like. The funny thing is, the day after eating a plate of that super salty turkey and gravy, everything tasted too salt. The sprinkle on my fried eggs in the morning tasted really salty although it was the same as always. This makes me wonder how adaptive my taste for salt is, if it was so quickly telling me not to add any more for a bit.

I chopped up and froze separately the parts of turkey including the skin that were too salt to eat. I thought I might find a way to use that, maybe cooked in rice without salt or something. Totally wing it idea, I don't know but I hate to throw it out.

[Sue_CT]

Might be good in soup with low salt broth or stock too, Bower.