Did Lesson 1, Mojo Criollo yesterday. Pleased at how it turned out.

bw77 wrote:Did Lesson 1, Mojo Criollo yesterday. Pleased at how it turned out.

Is this the Wiviott five-step program to learn how to smoke bbq?

If not, what? Curious minds want to know!

Regards,
Cathy2

Yes, Low and Slow. Perfect time to work through it.

bw77 wrote:Yes, Low and Slow. Perfect time to work through it.

I'm glad you are doing it from beginning to end.

I know people who picked the classes they wanted, but you don't get the feel for the device by doing this.

I was a beta tester before there was ever a book. I was not allowed a new lesson until I proved I had done the last one. I had one of the earlier WSM, which was an expensive doorstop on my patio. I found the class put me into a higher level user in no time. Someone, I don't remember who, said by following the five-step, you achieved five years experience you would otherwise do by trial-and-error. That alone makes taking the five-step a worthy use of time.

Good luck!

Regards,
Cathy2

Thanks. Years ago I had a small Hasty Bake, which was a very nice piece of equipment. I managed to nullify that advantage by using soaked wood chips.

Somehow, a square omelet with cheese inside it didn't seem adequate, so I put it between 2 slices of bread, added some ham and some more (chive cream) cheese and gave it the 'grilled cheese' treatment . . .


Cheese Omelet, Ham and More Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

Okay, that should do it.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Okay, that should do it.

Not sure if its a testament to your culinary prowess or expertise with a camera but I want to eat everything you picture. Get in my Belly.

Probably more culinary but the tip-top photos don't hurt.

Y'awl are doing such wonderful projects, but I decided to try something simple, but that I'd never done in all my 65yrs in the kitchen: bake bread. So I did Kenji's new, improved, no-knead in a Dutch Oven.

It is absolutely everything I've ever wanted in an everyday bread & butter & toast bread! Great crust, great crumb, wonderful texture and flavour! Yikes, who knew? I'll be doing this regularly. Wow, I am so knocked out! Just exultant, to be honest! There is no good bread within striking distance of me here in far upstate NY... except now there is!! Yay-hoo!

I've got to say, Kenji has added some important basic elements to my regular repertoire: hard- and soft-boiled eggs; scrambled eggs; reverse-sear steak; mayo; biscuits... and now bread. Wow.

Geo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWbl3Sr2y1Y

Geo wrote:Y'awl are doing such wonderful projects, but I decided to try something simple, but that I'd never done in all my 65yrs in the kitchen: bake bread. So I did Kenji's new, improved, no-knead in a Dutch Oven.

Totally awesome, Geo! The crumb looks really good.

=R=

It was Ronnie, it was! Sooo chewey! Damn!

Geo

Next door neighbors and Charles the Dog came over for a socially distanced patio meal featuring delicious natural casing Joseph's hot dogs, my never going to be famous Giardiniera/Mustard, grilled asparagus/jalapeno and Lexington Red Slaw. A good time was had by all, Charles the Dog in particular.





Joseph's hot dogs, count me a Fan!

HI,

I will use the stick blender in a plastic deli quart container to mix things up. I would be reluctant to use a glass container, because it might break while you are grasping it to keep it from moving. Just the pressure of your hands might do it. Your hands are soooo pretty, you really don't want all those cuts and stitches.

***

For a cookbook club meeting, I made oat pancakes. Filled a plastic quart deli container with two eggs, 80 grams of oats and 240 grams Greek yogurt, then use a stick blender. I made these roughly smooth with tiny bits of oat still visible.

I preheated the griddle, though I think the better pancakes were made toward the end when the griddle was hotter. No leavening, no salt, no sugar, these really were oat flat breads. It made about 12 4-inch pancakes.


They were better than I thought they may be, though not the best pancake of my life. Certainly good in the 'change things up and try something new' department. Of course, once enough butter and maple syrup are added an a old shoe will taste wonderful, too. (I know, faint praise.)

I knew this would not be enough for dinner. So I made sure we had dessert of the infamous Duncan Hines German Chocolate Cake purchased for $1. I had never read the package until after I began heating up the oven. There were three pan choices: two eight-inch rounds, one 9x9 square and 13x9. I made the 9x9, because I was not willing to make frosting and it was possible to finish it quickly.

The German Chocolate Cake mix had two components: cake batter and a mixture of pecans, coconut and who-knows-what that is rehydrated with water and butter. Once the cake batter is poured in the pan, then dollops of the pecan-coconut mixture are plopped onto the batter. You then take a knife to swirl the pecan-coconut mixture to distribute, then bake for 42 minutes or so.

We ate this cake over two days with hand whipped cream the first time, some snacking in between and with chocolate ripple ice cream at the end. For a box cake, we really liked it as well as the crunchy texture. We did not miss the frosting, which might have been overkill for a casual dessert.


I thought shelter-in-place was finally coming to an end, but now there are whole new set of reasons to stay home. I was really looking forward to going out and about again.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I will use the stick blender in a plastic deli quart container to mix things up. I would be reluctant to use a glass container, because it might break while you are grasping it to keep it from moving. Just the pressure of your hands might do it. Your hands are soooo pretty, you really don't want all those cuts and stitches.

OMG Me? Pretty Hands? Me? Blushing and hoping beyond hope you are talking to me!

On the pictured container front, that's not glass but one of a set of two plastic or plastic like lidded containers sized to fit my Bamix immersion blender head. ---> Link

Purchased 100% due to the Serious Eats Two-Minute Mayo where its outlined that the blending jar should be just barely wider than the blender head to achieve proper vortex for emulsification.

This is not necessary with the Giardiniera/Mustard but I used the smaller blending jar out of habit. Plus it has a lid and I did not think we would use all made at one sitting.

This is a delicious combo, equal parts Giardiniera/Mustard, little olive oil if too thick. Can be blended smooth or chunky, I prefer somewhere in-between. Terrific on hot dogs, Italian/polish sausage, hot links, deli and burgers. Mix with mayo for turkey sandwiches etc.

C2, good looking cake!

Note: I learned my lesson about applying pressure to glass decades ago using a juice glass to cut out biscuits.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Somehow, a square omelet with cheese inside it didn't seem adequate, so I put it between 2 slices of bread, added some ham and some more (chive cream) cheese and gave it the 'grilled cheese' treatment . . .


Cheese Omelet, Ham and More Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

Okay, that should do it.

=R=

Lazy man's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5ssI8VVHQ

G Wiv wrote:Note: I learned my lesson about applying pressure to glass decades ago using a juice glass to cut out biscuits.

You made me feel better with your explanation about it was a clear plastic bottle for your stick blender. It was a really fine quality plastic, too.

Thanks about the cake!

Regards,
Cathy2

Man, some of Geo's bread, the mustard giardiniera, and a 1/2 inch thick piece of bologna fried up would be some good eating.

Another fairly routine Tuesday night corona-era dinner . . .


Grilled Chicken Thighs
Was trying out a couple of rubs from outside sources. The bulk of these thighs are seasoned with a rub from a restaurant we like in Charleston, SC -- 82 Queen. Three of the thighs (back row, top of frame) have a honey-mustard rub that was sent to me by a friend. The 82 Queen was as tasty as I remember it, maybe a tad salty. The honey mustard was exactly what you'd expect. Not my thing but my son really enjoyed it. But my friend also sent me some awesome homemade schug and pargiyot, so I'm not complaining!


Italian Sausage & Shishito Peppers
Better to cook the aging sausage tonight and eat (most of) it as leftovers than to freeze it. Shishitos were also on their way out, so it was use 'em or lose 'em.


Italian Sausage & Shishito Peppers
Yes, I trained my sausage to leap over the peppers. Do not try this at home.


On The Plate
With leftover Beans & Mushrooms and leftover Spanakopita

=R=

Hi,

Last week for Culinary Historians, we hosted Raghavan Iyer talking about potatoes. This guy really loves his potatoes. He is capable of eating five pounds over a day or two. It's great to continue our meetings, though one element of sharing food related to the meeting is missing.

A volunteer and I coordinate the food served, so we joked about what to make as if we had any need. We both decided the potato and leek pie would have been suitable for a meeting.

Sunday's cooler weather allowed me to make the potato and leek pie. I did use a smaller pie pan than suggested, which allowed me to fill two pie tins instead of one. The first pie was served for dinner on Sunday shortly after leaving the oven:


This was served with a salad of mixed greens with a French dressing.


The second pie was kept in the refrigerator until today. About an hour before dinner, it was removed to bring up its temperature.

I will admit this recipe called for a pound of leeks, though I had half the amount and supplemented with onions cut into one-inch slivers. There were several choices for cheese. I went with cheddar mixed in and more to scatter on top.

It occurred to me later this could have been made as a galette.

Iyer's recipe called for a Jalapeno sauce to serve with it. I did not make it, because jalapeno anything is not something my family and I enjoy. Nor did it seem to really need it, so no sauce was prepared.

This was a good two-for-one effort for our small family. Just a little bit left for Dad's breakfast.

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi,

Stopped by Fresh Farms in Wheeling, I was hoping they might have rostiljska kobasica. They did not, so instead I bought their lamb sausage.

Today I slipped the sausage from their skins, I added some fresh mint, garlic and minced onion. In a frying pan with onions cooking, I rolled the lamb into one-inch balls to cook. Once finished, I moved the lamb and onions to a serving dish. I removed most of the fat, then added minced canned red peppers, some water and Balsamic vinegar. This was reduced by half to make a sauce for the lamb meatballs.

The lamb meatballs were served with bread and a cucumber salad dressed with garlic, mint, dill, yogurt, salt and pepper.


For dessert was a coconut cream pie:


See that circle of emptiness on the cake, well all I can say this dessert was dog approved. Thankfully the cat is not aware of this, because he likes whipped cream, too.


Apparently the dog was very, very quiet on the drive over. He was very, very busy tasting, thinking and inspecting this dessert over and over again.

Regards,
Cathy2

Took another stab at Mapo Tofu tonight and had some great results . . .


Mapo Tofu w/$2.00 Pork

The Fuchsia Dunlop recipe is great but . . . it really benefits from some tweaking. I upped the garlic, the chili paste and the fermented black beans. Cut the sugar in half. Used homemade chicken stock (because I had some). I also added a couple tablespoons of homemade, 'G Wiv-recipe' chili oil, all of which brought the dish up to a level I'd not achieved before.

Not sure when I'll make it again but I feel like I need to take notes and/or make it more frequently to maintain the quality of the dish. I have no muscle memory for this one (yet). It's been a nice coronatime dish because other than the leeks, I tend to have most of the other ingredients on hand most of the time.

=R=

The change I make to her recipe is to fry the tofu chunks until they are golden on many sides. I know this totally changes the character of the dish, but we really like the tofu better this way.

I'm not sure which chili paste you are using, but I highly recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Pixian-Sichuan-X ... 203&sr=8-7

When I receive it, I put it into a quart mason jar and it keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

lougord99 wrote:The change I make to her recipe is to fry the tofu chunks until they are golden on many sides. I know this totally changes the character of the dish, but we really like the tofu better this way.

I'm not sure which chili paste you are using, but I highly recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Pixian-Sichuan-X ... 203&sr=8-7

When I receive it, I put it into a quart mason jar and it keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

Thanks for the tips, Lou. I've been working my way through a pouch of this bean paste, which seems to no longer be available. I'll give yours a shot next time I need to re-up.

As for frying the tofu, that sounds delicious, though, as you note, doing so would change the dish in a way that might not scratch the mapo tofu itch for me. Speaking of tofu tweaks, I made one I neglected to note above. Rather than cut up and soak the tofu in warm salt water before cooking the dish, I actually cut it up and let it drain just a bit before adding it in. In my mind, this accomplishes two things: reduces the wateriness of the tofu (and the finished dish) and allows it to absorb more of the cooking liquids, both of which really improve the dish. As long as I'm adding a cup of stock to the dish, I don't need extra, flavorless liquid in there and the dish is already plenty salty enough.

=R=

lougord99 wrote:I'm not sure which chili paste you are using, but I highly recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Pixian-Sichuan-X ... 203&sr=8-7

When I receive it, I put it into a quart mason jar and it keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

I've been putting it in the freezer: there's other stuff and little enough water that it stays pretty soft, and I can pinch off what I need for a dish with no problem.

Been getting inspiration from some of my favorite youtubers lately. In a recent video, Joshua Weissman prompted me to take a stab a muffalettas by baking my own bread and making my own olive salad. Having had the genuine article many times, I drew upon some things I learned when I lived in NOLA. JW's bread (the one on the left in the image below) was a bit of a bust but I did have an old stand-by recipe that worked out just fine . . .


Muffaletta Loaves
A very nice structure and rise. It's hard to tell from the pic but the loaf on the left never really proved or rose correctly. The second proof took about double what it should have and even after it seemed to turn out ok, it did not bake well. It was more a like sesame-seeded discus than a muffaletta loaf.


Ham & Takeda NAS Honesuki 160mm
House-made ham from Zier's in Wilmette, which is really great. It was nice to have the left-handed honesuki as I was working my way around the bone.


Olive Salad Layer
No. I don't believe sherry vinegar is the right call here. Neither is fresh oregano. Happily, I used red wine vinegar and dried oregano from our (last year's) garden. The rest of JW's recipe was solid, with castelvetranos, standard canned black olives and dried-cured black olives (for which I used 50% kalamatas and 50% nicoise). The resulting olive salad -- which also included some hot giardiniera from The Original Nottoli & Son on Belmont -- was delicious.


Muffaletta Sandwich
Have a wedge! Actually, it'll be better after it sits for a while. Sandwich consists of the aforementioned ham from Zier's, home-baked bread, homemade olive salad, plus emmantal swiss cheese, provolone picante, mortadella and genoa salami.


Muffaletta Sandwich & Tojiro ITK Bread Knife 270mm
The tojiro is a very fine tool for bread and sandwiches. It's the best bread knife I've ever used, and it made sharing this sandwich with the boyo very easy.

=R=

Hi,

Lovely sandwich!

I have only made Muffalettas a few times. I do recall pressing the sandwich for an extended period of time. Did you do this?

DIY olive salad is a great way to go.

Regards,
CAthy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Lovely sandwich!

I have only made Muffalettas a few times. I do recall pressing the sandwich for an extended period of time. Did you do this?

DIY olive salad is a great way to go.

Thanks. It did hit the spot and this was my first time doing it with home-baked bread. Because of the Bread #1 Debacle, there was no time to press the sandwich before we ate it for dinner. But the leftover 62.5% of it is currently divided up, wrapped and being pressed under two cutting boards, so it should make for a nice lunch tomorrow.

I was telling Julie that I couldn't recall ever having a muffaletta that hadn't been made hours in advance. I never had one made to order at Central Grocery or any of the smaller spots where I used to get them. Typically, they'd make the muffalettas a few times throughout the day and let them rest, which really improves them.

On my last trip to NOLA, I bought one at Central Grocery, let it sit in my hotel room for a couple of days, brought it home with me, let it sit for a few more days at home and eventually ate it about a week after it was made . . . all without refrigeration. The paper in which it was wrapped was nearly translucent from oil by then. The sandwich was exquisite.

=R=

G Wiv wrote:looked a train wreck, tasted good.

Third time in a few weeks and my maki rolling still appear as a drunk chimpanzee was at the helm. Once again fall-apart-ugly but tasty. I was tempted to roll a Deesher jalapeno, cream cheese and Sriracha mayo but did not want Doug showing up at my house with an empty bottle of wine clubbing me about the head like an ice flow bound baby seal.






Nori, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Nori, count me a Fan!

Looks delicious to me, Maki Man!

Since I'm now supporting a dessert habit, I find myself baking more than ever. Earlier today, while I prepped a few things for dinner, I made another batch of cookies . . .


Oatmeal Rum-Raisin & Pecan Cookies

Clearly, I still need a little work with the portioning.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Clearly, I still need a little work with the portioning.

Yes, I agree.

Its uncharacteristically selfish of you to only make a single serving batch.

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Clearly, I still need a little work with the portioning.

Yes, I agree.

Its uncharacteristically selfish of you to only make a single serving batch.

Hehe . . . maybe Julie will let me have that little one.

=R=