Whatcha Cooking today?

[karstopography]

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Two Garden Black Beauty Eggplant and some mystery apples picked yesterday from a tree in Santa Fe, NM. I had permission to pick the apples. These are nice balance of sweet and tart and have crisp bite, but aren’t so rock hard like some of the HoneyCrisp apples can be. More like a golden delicious in texture.

We put a few thin slices of the apples between two slices of sharp cheddar and made grilled cheese sandwiches. My friend turned me on to this and it is a delicious pairing. Tonight, I’m making apple cobbler with the rest.

Eggplant will go into eggplant Parmesan.

[Danny]

Sauteed mushrooms sliced, onions, sweet peppers together, re-used same pan to quick cook a ribeye rare ( 1 feeds both of us) then in the butter leavings and fond, threw about a cup and a half of bean sprouts, stir frying quickly to pick up the flavors. All the above with a nice green salad with a lot more mung bean sprouts on that, homemade ranch dressing.

Dunno why, but really super craving mung bean sprouts lately. Even had them as a snack the other evening with a sprink of salt and ranch to barely dip 'em in. Good thing I grow these as they get a bit pricey in the store.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

If you's know I LUV to roast Spuds, you's know I LUV to grill Sweet Peppers.

These here breathtakingly LUVley Giant Marconi & Roulette Hybrids (the latter replete with the @karstopography creamed cheese stuffing suggestion) are prepped for the grill!

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The Gotch

[karstopography]

Crockpot pot roast. 3# chuck @$2.89/# seasoned, browned, 1 large sliced yellow onion, 5 cut carrots, 5 cloves of minced garlic, 1 cup beef broth, 1/2 cup pinot noir, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, pinch or two of dried herbs like thyme, rosemary, 10 hours on low in the slow cooker. Probably will do a separate side of mashed potatoes, wife doesn’t like the potatoes in with the meat.

Onions and garlic get sautéed a bit in the skillet after the meat got browned. Then wine and beef broth put in to deglaze the browned bits from the pan. All of that gets dumped on the chuck roast.

[worth1]

Last night I made some of the best Salisbury steak onion gravy and mashed potatoes this side of the Pecos.

[Sue_CT]

Can anyone recommend a Chorizo? I have never had it, believe it or not, it is not readily available near me except maybe Johnsonville, and the grocery store didn't even have any of that today. Do you prefer Spanich or Mexican Chorizo? I was thinking of looking on Amazon. If the Johnsonville stuff is good, I will just try another store. I have been learning to make burritos. I have eaten them of course, but not made them myself and never even had a breakfast burrito until I tried making one 2 days ago. But I only had italian sausage to put in, so not traditional might be an understatement, lol. The only ethnic stores near me are Indian so not a help.

[karstopography]

I believe Spanish chorizo is dried and cured like pepperoni and Mexican chorizo is fresh like a breakfast sausage or fresh Italian sausage.

Johnsonville chorizo gets good reviews. I’ve had Mexican chorizo in breakfast tacos, but the tacos were made by someone else.

[Sue_CT]

There are a couple that good reviews on Amazon, but I just realized the 12.99 price is for only 8 ounces. Holy Criminy, that is 26.00/lb for sausage, lol.

[pepperhead212]

If you're making burritos, and that type of thing with chorizo, you will want the Mexican, which is a fresh type - Spanish chorizo is a cured sausage, which is a totally different sausage. The Mexican chorizo has some garlic, and some spices, herbs, and vinegar. I have a 5 lb recipe in my "Blue Book", but at the bottom here is a simplified version, for just a pound of it, if you want to try it. The original recipe called for Hungarian paprika, because pure, mild chile powders were not available back then (in the 70s), but you can probably get some pure chile powder now, or make it yourself! You can use other meats, too, but pork is standard, with a little fat, though I have used turkey a lot, back when it was cheap!

Chorizo - about 1 lb

1 lb pork, a little fat
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp Hungarian paprika, or chiles, of your choice
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp oregano, a little more, if Mexican oregano
large pinch each of cumin and cloves
cayenne to taste (optional)
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tsp apple cider or red wine vinegar

If making this out of diced meat in the food processor, mix all ingredients to coat with the spices, then pulce in FP, to grind the meat to desired texture. Otherwise, just mix all the seasonings with some ground meat.

The sausage looks sort of like hot Italian sausage, but can be very mild, with no cayenne. It doesn't have to be in casings, and is always removed from them, for cooking, so no use stuffing when you make it.

[Sue_CT]

Can I just buy ground pork and mix it up with the spices? Since you mention grinding it and adding fat I assume that is not what you generally use for the pork.

[Sue_CT]

Duplicate post

[pepperhead212]

Can I just buy ground pork and mix it up with the spices? Since you mention grinding it and adding fat I assume that is not what you generally use for the pork.

I forgot to mention you can just mix everything with ground meat. As I noted, I've done this with turkey, many times, or beef, using it ground already.

[Sue_CT]

Sorry you did say, just mix with ground meat, I missed that. Thank you. I have Hungarian and Spanish Paprika, Smoked, Sweet and Hot and not Smoked sweet and hot. I also have dried and frozen and fresh chilis, Ancho, Cascabel, and Arbol dried chilis, and several chili powders, so I should be able to come up with something. Is it supposed to have a smoked flavor or no? Not sure which Paprika to use. Do you let it sit overnight or age in any way or use it as soon as it is mixed? Sorry, probably over thinking this. I will likely get a Johnsonville one if I see one and try that and then consider trying to make my own. It sounds pretty easy, and homemade anything almost always better.

[pepperhead212]

@Sue_CT No, you didn't miss that - I went back and added that, after I saw I forgot to mention it in that initial post! You are not going crazy!

I have been making that initial 5 lb recipe since back sometime in the 70s, and when I wouldn't have anything in the freezer, I'd just do the 1 lb version, and it always worked out well. It is best when rested - the large recipe I would rest the meat with the seasonings coating it overnight, then put it through the grinder. But I have made the fast one and cooked it right away, with no problem.

The paprika was the sweet Hungarian type. Like I said, you could use some ground chile of some sort - ancho, chimayo, or a blend of pure chiles, if you have them. That was back in the days when the paprika was better than most "chili powder" available in stores, assuming you got the good stuff, and not the stuff just used for dusting things, like deviled eggs!

[Sue_CT]

I have the good stuff, lol. I order my Paprika from Penzy Spices or another company online Savory Spice I think it is, as well as dried Ancho Chilis that I toast briefly in a cast iron frying pan then grind up in a blender with other spices and chilis to make my Chili Powder mix that I use for making Chili. So I actually use both when I make my own Chili Powder mix, Chilis and Paprika. I used the Smoked for that. Not sure If Chorizo is supposed to have a smoked flavor or not. But I do have the Sweet Hungarian so I could make fresh pure Ancho Chili Powder from the dried Ancho Chilis or use the Sweet Hungarian.

[pepperhead212]

Yes, you do have some good stuff! You might be able to find a mix of things you like best, once you start experimenting with it. I have made a number of other recipes, but the others just had too much vinegar, sometimes 1/2 c to 2 lbs meat.

This discussion of chorizo made me think of another recipe I made a few times, from The Food and Life Of Oaxaca, a favorite CB of mine, in which the author calls for 10 Anchos, but just one Oaxacan pasilla - a large, smoky chile, so this was the only smoky recipe, though it was slight. It also had a different variety of herbs - thyme, bay leaf, and marjoram - along with a small amount of Mexican oregano. And 1/4 c each cider vinegar and red wine - so less vinegar than some of the others, and the only one I saw with wine. It was the favorite of one cooking friend, but I have a note in the book "Good, but NYT recipe still best".

[worth1]

I like the chorizo aka sausage out of Argentina.
Nothing like the stereotypecle Mexican chorizo.
Its an actual sausage link.
Not a huge fan of Mexican chorizo because I don't like the vinegar in it.
Chorizo is basically another word for sausage and if someone ask me if I liked it my reply would be what kind.
The raw ground up red stuff we see in the store is only one type of the many they have even in Mexico.
For some weird reason this one type has taken over the name out of ignorance.

[karstopography]

Maybe the loose Red Mexican chorizo in the tootsie roll style wrappers we see in the stores here is an acquired taste, one that I haven’t seemed to acquire so far. I’ve had a few breakfast tacos with the mexican red chorizo and it’s always like “darn, I wish this was regular breakfast sausage!” Is it the vinegar that’s putting me off? I never deliberately order anything with the red chorizo because the accidental encounters haven’t been too great.

I’ve had cured hard chorizo and that’s more to my liking, although not a favorite either.

Anyhow, the loose, fresh, often not in casings red Mexican chorizo is very popular here based on the supplies and brands found at the store here.

I think I need someone from Mexico or with Mexican roots that likes the Red chorizo and cooks with it to explain it to me.

[worth1]

@karstopography
Your wish is my command.
This girl knows what she's talking about.
Follow link to YouTube.
She's my favorite Mexican chef.

[worth1]

She doesn't say it but the vinegar acts as a preservative.
It can be replaced with a wine if wanted or not added at all.
But Keep in mind without the acid it'll have a short shelf life.