Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

This is an emulsified sausage without any fillers or added liquid.
Test sausage cooked in oven on low heat until internal temperature was 150F.
Goes great with yellow mustard or hot Sriracha sauce.

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[worth1]

Last but not least the brisket point ready for the brine cure solution for corned beef.
Getting my money's worth out of that brisket.

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[pepperhead212]

Today, I cooked a dish in the Instant Pot I did a while back, based on a recipe in the Milk Street cookbook Fast and Slow - Black Beans With Bacon And Tequila - but made some changes this time. First, I added a sprig of fresh epazote, from the hydroponics, since epazote goes well with black beans. And, in addition to the canned chipotles, I put that small spoonful of salsa negra - something from one of Rick Bayless's cookbooks, using 4 oz moritas, fried, along with garlic cloves, and ground into a paste, then cooked down to a very thick paste. Adds more flavor and heat than canned chipotles, though I didn't add much, to the 4 chipotles. I also soaked the beans - not called for, but I wanted to soak it in the baking soda, which I did for 5 hours. I reduced the water by only a cup, out of 5, but it was still a little too wet, so I put a quarter cup of red lentils, to simmer for 20 minutes at the end, to thicken. I started by cooking 6 oz diced bacon on sauté, and cut up all the other things while that was cooking. When almost crisp, I pulled the pot out, and put it on the stove, and took the bacon out with a strainer, and put it on a PT on a plate. The onion went into the pot, which I put back in the base, and continued in sauté, about 5 minutes, until very browned, then added the garlic and cumin, cooked 30 sec, then added the chipotles, tequila, and salsa negra, and cooked 3 minutes. Then I added a quart of chicken broth, the rinsed and drained beans, a sprig of epazote, 3/4 tsp salt, and a scant 1/4 tsp MSG (had to refill that!). Stirred to mix, brought to a boil, hit Cancel, then set on "Beans", 35 min, then covered, and let it cook, then let the pressure release naturally. I hit Cancel, then checked the beans - they were just about right, but a little thin, so that's when I added that ¼c red lentils, and cooked 20 minutes, with about a tb of pilocillo, 3 tb lemon juice (no lime juice on hand), stirring frequently to dissolve it. That thickened it up some, and the beans were just about where they should be (they were a little old, so needed more time). I added a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and stirred in that generous quarter cup of cilantro. Turned out even better than the first time I made it, with more heat, from that small bit of salsa negra.
Epazote, from the hydro, ready to go into the black beans, in the Instant Pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The bacon, ready to move to a PT to drain, and use the fat to cook the onions and other ingredients for the black beans. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Sort of a messy mise en place, for the black beans with tequila, bacon, and chipotle. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Onions browned about 6 minutes, before adding garlic and cumin, followed by the chipotle, with some salsa negra. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Hydroponics grown cilantro, large and super dark. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Heating a couple of corn tortillas, to have with the black beans. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Black Beans, Bacon, and Tequila, with some red lentils added at the end, to thicken some. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Hash Brown Casserole/Ingredients (top right riced Cauliflower, bottom right diced Onion, far right Smashed Spuds-missing Private Selection 5 Salt and 5 Pepper https://www.kroger.com/p/private-select ... 1111004534)

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Preliminary in FAVE discontinued Chantal 60 43 8.5 qt/8 liter Enamelware Casserole dish:

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Layer of Shredded Cheese:

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Topped w/ Smashed Spuds & diced Green Onions:

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Sprinkled Red Pepper Flakes & Paprika:

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Welcome to Delicious!:

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The Gotch

[worth1]

I had 11 ounces of ground brisket in a bag I thawed out and made 4 sliders.
Nothing fancy.
I made them with toasted slider buns and made the meat patties to order as I ate them.

[Sue_CT]

Made freezer soup, lol. Remainder of homemade chicken stock, some preseasoned ground turkey that was supposed to be for turkey burgers, onions, carrots and celery, and small elbow macaroni that had been in the coupbard for who knows how long, lol. It’s pretty good.

[pepperhead212]

After eating the last two tortillas I had (thought I had more in the freezer, but I had eaten them all!), I trimmed a bunch of the overgrown epazote in my hydroponics, and took it up to the Mexican shop in town - the owner loves getting that stuff! I got 3 large cans or chipotles (just opened my last of those), two large bags of corn tortillas, maybe 2½" thick, and something I always check to see if he has in the freezer - some tortillas, made with nixtamal, not masa flour, which has an incredible flavor. He doesn't always have it, but I get it, when it's there. Only 2 bags of them, only a little over an inch, but worth the extra price. I'll use some with these beans I have left, and the rest I'll Foosaver, and freeze them.

Here's one of the bags of corn tortillas, made with nixtamal.
The tortillas made with fresh nixtamal, not masa harina. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Sue_CT]

Nixtamal flour worked better for me than the corn.

[worth1]

I'm totally confused on what you are talking about.

[worth1]

Nixtamal is the dried corn/maiz kernels after being treated with lime wood ash or lye.
That's hominy.
Masa de maiz is the fresh nixtamal ground up.
Masa means dough in Spanish.
Either fine or not so fine for tortillas or tamales.
Masa harnia is the fresh masa dried out and turned into a flour.
Corn in of it's self was used to describe any grain not just corn.
Corn flour in the UK is what we call corn starch.
That one had me flabbergasted watching a guy from the UK make sausage and he said corn flour.

Corned beef comes from the size of the salt grains used to make it being the size of corn kernels aka rock salt more or less.

[karstopography]

Untreated corn, corn that didn’t get the calcium or potassium hydroxide, the wood ash treatment, nixtamalation, created vampires in Europe!

https://thenewgastronome.com/polenta-va ... onization/

I’ve been sort of wanting to do the process myself with some homemade hydroxide made from fireplace ashes. Seems messy, though.

[karstopography]

I don’t see a tortilla count on that package. Here, corn tortillas are generally sold by count, packs of 10, 20, 30, etc. El Milagro is sold in Texas. I believe they even have at least one tortilla factory here. I generally get the HEB store brand for corn tortillas, either white or yellow corn. We generally use corn tortillas for fish tacos and the wife makes migas with them. I love chilaquiles, but it isn’t something we make very often.

The packs also come in different sizes as far as diameter goes. Small ones for street tacos, there’s sort of a mid sized type and a larger one.

[pepperhead212]

I've done the nixtamalization, but with a powder I got from a Mexican shop, long ago. I think it's calcium oxide, not hydroxide. The only thing I've made with it is pozole - never tried to grind it, to make tortillas.

At the shop in town, they have 2 brands of regular tortillas, and one brand of very thick tortillas - over 1/8" - which I grabbed by accident, one time. Not sure what they do with those, but I used most in things I grind tortillas in, to thicken them. No larger diameter tortillas are sold here, but they do sell packages about 6" thick! Never have numbers of tortillas, just weight - that one usually has around a dozen, but this time it was 13.

[karstopography]

I've done the nixtamalization, but with a powder I got from a Mexican shop, long ago. I think it's calcium oxide, not hydroxide. The only thing I've made with it is pozole - never tried to grind it, to make tortillas.

Probably infinitely less messy than using wood ash hydroxide. It probably isn’t all that messy using wood ash derived potassium hydroxide, I’m just lazy.

https://www.themeateater.com/wild-and-w ... alize-corn

Recipe for nixtamalization using Ca(OH)2 powder and another using hydroxide derived from hardwood ashes.

These two very different processes have to yield a different flavor profile I guessing.

[karstopography]

https://eccentricculinary.substack.com/ ... and-nature

Evidently, wood ash nixtamalized corn has a different flavor than calcium hydroxide nixtamalized corn.

[worth1]

My mom and dad used to make it in huge kettles outside over a wood fire.
Then the hominy was canned in jars.
We also made lye soap.
Not out of some get back to the old way thing but that's the way we did it.
She also grated the soap to use in the washing machine.
I remember our first washing machine was an old wringer type.
I have used wood ash to make nixtamal and is actually not as bad as you would think.
You soak the ashes with water to draw out the alkali and then let the ashes settle over night then pour off the clear water.
Do the same with calcium hydroxide.

[worth1]

Roasted brisket point and boiled Yukon Gold potatoes with butter and Hill Country Fare chili powder all over everything for the salt.
2nd day.

[Sue_CT]

I was confused, Worth, lol. Too many different kinds of flour. I tried Nixta Masa and regular yellow corn Masa, and I liked the Nixta Masa better. Both are corn based.

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[pepperhead212]

@Sue_CT That one on the left is the more coarse masa, and is usually used for tamales, and is a good one to use in cornbread in place of regular cornmeal, to give it texture, along with that good flavor. The "instant" masa is the one usually used for tortillas, but I can see using the coarse one, for the texture.

[Sue_CT]

Thank you!