We should have a "What are you cooking?" thread. Now we do.

[davent]

Venison steak is nice. Especially wild venison. Some salt and pepper while frying and you're in heaven. Fry some eggs in the pan afterwards to soak up all that greasy flavour.

Although I think that Americans would murder me if they saw me cooking it. The way that my Dad taught me, you cut a slot in the steak to see if the middle is done or not. Raw meat means NOT COOKED means food poisoning.

Eggs are the same way. Soft means not cooked.

Apparently Steak tartare can be a hard thing to come by in New Zealand but fear not Alan. (not my picture)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/110783775/where-to-find-a-great-steak-tartare-in-auckland


dave

[alanp]

I suspect that all the people I work with would look at that, look at the waiter, and ask, "Aren't you going to cook it first?"

One place I worked at, the canteen had a steak night every week. It was always hilarious. People would take their plate, sit down, cut their steak, and immediately take the whole thing back and ask, "Cook this properly!"

[midwayfair]

Went to Philly for my birthday over the weekend, got some fancy (or at least unusual) mushrooms. Had chanterelle pasta on Sunday, been eating pioppino omelets for lunch, and tonight I made lion's mane mushroom "crab" cakes. They were quite good, and super convincing. They miss a tiny bit of the sweetness of real crab, so I think I could have used soy sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, but honestly if you put this on my plate and didn't tell me what it was, I probably wouldn't have thought it *wasn't* a regular crab cake. 10/10 would make again.

[davent]

Never enough time in a day. Twenty minutes for coals to develop, nine minutes to grill, ~five minutes to rest. Last couple times we've done smoked pork ribs it's been salt and pepper on the meat for the smoking then basted with melted butter  for serving. For tonight's grilled pork chop again just salt and pepper but dressed up butter for the finish, garlic, sage and Arbol chilies cooked in the butter while the chop grilled.








Have a good weekend.dave

[davent]

Slowly migrating back into the kitchen, a weekend in Ireland and Italy.

Shrimp pizza with from the garden canned tomatoes, pickled Matchbox & Yellow Biquinho peppers, garlic, two days of dough developing in the fridge and a two stage cook, partially dressed and baked for ~4min then pulled fully dressed and broiled until it looked right.












Guinness Beef Stew







Take care!
dave

[EBK]

For me, happiness is a kettle grill full of apple wood smoke in the winter.


There's chicken in there, slowly gaining flavor.

[midwayfair]

Did fried tofu a couple times lately a different than I usually do. Usually I just pan fry cubes in a little bit of oil on each side until it browns, but I tried a coating with corn starch and semolina flour, which makes a really good crust when deep fried. Used it for some General Tso-fu the first time and liked it there. It also cooks a lot faster than the pan frying method. I wouldn't use it all the time because it is actually a different texture.

[EBK]

I wonder if the tofu would be better with just the cornstarch. 

Now I'm in the mood for tofu.  Haven't had it in seemingly forever, other than as a garnish in miso soup.

[davent]

Really like tofu as an addition to my vegetable stir fries, three nights a week for decades i've cooked vegetable stir fries for my dinner. Tofu is second only to leftover beef as a protein addition, brown it up like Jon does and then flavour it with  Maggi or Braggs, tamari or a light Chinese soy we always have on hand,  add acouple spoons full of Sambal Oelek to give it some heat. Goes over very well with everyone, people are snatching it and eating before it's ever added into the stir fries, lucky to have any left to add into the stir fries.

Have a good year!
dave

[midwayfair]

I wonder if the tofu would be better with just the cornstarch. 

I used to do just corn starch or half corn starch half rice flour. The latter is better than just corn starch, but both kind of get a tiny bit of goopiness in sauce. The semolina really seems to hold its crunch in sauces.

[alanp]

Made a Christmas Pudding for the first time ever, just over a month ago. The recipe I used was from an Irish lady on youtube (Grawnya's Kitchen). It included, as well as a lot of different types of fruit, four tablespoons of whisky, four tablespoons of spiced rum, and half a cup (or more) of stout to mix everything together with.

I steamed it for six hours in the crockpot (didn't have to add any water during the cooking, yay). Once done (and cooled enough to get out of the bowl), the recipe called for pouring more whisky on the outside before wrapping it up for storage.

Turned out really really good. Mum and my Aunty said it compared favourably to Granny's Christmas Puddings My aunty looked, but couldn't find the bag of Granny's sixpences she put in her ones

[EBK]

Homemade pizza tonight. The first one (about halfway cooked at the moment): Spinach, pepperoni, green onions, and anchovies.

[midwayfair]

Impossible chili

[davent]

Overlap... a few beginning last Saturday.

Our first pizzas of the year, i can't remember ever making  a 'pepperoni' pizza, the time had come. The others, one with dried garden tomatoes, chevre & fresh basil, last a white garlic with bocconcini, a tangy old gouda & extra old white cheddar.




Leftover pepperoni, chevre and part jar of tomato chunks need a use - shakshuka, eggs poached made from whatever is deemed appropriate, needs to be used up.



Saturday was the coldest day of winter so far, a good day for this. I grew up eating 'chili con carne' made with ground beef, canned tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder... a concoction deemed as not qualifying as chili it seems by many. This recipe from a guy in Austin is made by the Texas rules, no beans, no tomatoes just a reconstituted mix of dried chili's blended into a paste, cubed blade roast (chuck), onions, garlic, cumin, beef and chicken stock & masa harina. I use tomato paste when i make beef stock so i may not qualify for the club. For the time being any way, ragu type dishes are best served atop polenta, for this one add some grated cheese, diced red onion, cilantro and good to go.




Today according to my sources, a single day record for snow fall. A soup that works as well in the middle of summer as it does for a snow storm. Asian informed chicken noodle. Sesame oil coated chicken breasts broiled , stir fried bok choy, carrots, snow peas & shiitake mushrooms, fresh lo mein noodles, bean sprouts, more sesame oil and a heaping spoonful of Sambel Oelek. edit:Turns out a single day snow fall record for the day, more than double the previous record.



Not so new but my take on Christmas dinner this winter, in place of turkey, butter chicken with all the fixings.



Take care.dave

[midwayfair]

I make sour beef for my mom's birthday every year. I took some pictures of the process a few weeks ago.

My grandmother never browned the beef. But I also used half chuck and half short ribs, which makes this a bit more bougie.




My grandmother also never browned the onions and ginger.



From there you dump all the meat back in and the marinade, which is half vinegar and half water with pickling spice, then at the end put in some dissolved flour to thicken so it basically just looks like stew. And my potato dumplings didn't fall apart this time, which was nice. We were too busy eat to take pictures of the finished product, unfortunately.