Cooking

[Mike Soaper]

Sounds great Mike, you should make yourself a wood fired pizza oven, 60 seconds to cook a pizza to perfection.

I’m too lazy for that so I have a pizza oven that goes over a gas BBQ, 3 minutes to perfection

Attachment 514354Attachment 514357
Pizza made from homemade dough is fantastic

Regards, Rod

Looks most excellent Rod!! makes me want one now, but I need to wait until Friday for family pizza night.

3 minutes to cook sounds great particularly when I've got 4-5 14" pizzas to cook. There have been times I've pondered getting a grill pizza oven like yours but I've got a charcoal grill that would take some time getting hot, but I still toy with the deal of getting one.

fwiw I'll add diastatic malted barley to the dough to help brown the crust and feed the yeast, about 1/4 teaspoon to 1lb flour, I suspect the barley in the beer does the same thing.

malted barley.jpg


Seems this is the only pizza photo I can find, made me think of the old anti drug ad with a egg " This is you brain (egg), this is your brain on drugs (frying egg)".

Well, I had pizza dough on my mind.

pizzaonthebrain.jpg

[Thomas McCurnin]

Like Jim, I am the cook for the family.

I know what I like to eat from favorite meals at restaurants. I then hit the Internet and my collection of cook books and try to replicate the recipe, and it usually takes 4-5 attempts.

I had a fun project a few years ago, buying old recipe boxes off eBay and trying many of the recipes.

[jack duren]

Made the chocolate turtle. I’ll get a little better with portions next try. I’ll put a price to make them later..

[Earl McLain]

Got a great deal on some fresh ground turkey patties last week. Put the first batch on the grill with Lawry's season salt the day we got them--okay. Did the last 4 yesterday at lunch--fog & drizzle outside so grilling didn't buzz me. Pan fried them after sprinkling garlic salt & crusted with some "Italian Style" bread crumbs we had in the pantry. Best turkey i've ever had!!

[Alan Lightstone]

SWMBO does most of the cooking, and she's outstanding at it. I clearly had no time for that when working absurd hours in the hospital. I do all the outdoor grilling now. I really miss the pellet smoker from our last house. Made amazing food.

I do lots of Sous Vide these days. Pretty impossible to mess up anything with it. Steak is always perfectly cooked, fish sometimes. Even did kangaroo and elk.

Lamb chops and duck breasts are particular favorites, and my wife nails them every time. Just perfectly cooked.

One dish I do make sous vide is Chilean lomito sandwiches. Pork tenderloin (or Boston Butt) slow cooked via sous vide on a brioche bun with good guacamole, mayo, onions, and lettuce. Truly amazing.

We do the big Thanksgiving thing with family, but now buy pre-cooked heritage turkeys from Whole Foods. So much simpler than cooking the big bird, and much tastier.

And still a sucker for Nathan's Coney Island hot dogs with cole slaw on Martin's potato buns. Brings back so many memories from childhood living close to the 2nd Nathans that was ever built.

I could go on and on. Really making me hungry.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Yea, it's a game changer for an even cook and works equally well in the oven as on the grill. Easy to do with a proper set of kitchen shears, too.

My wife and I discussed spatchcocking and I ordered a special set of shears for doing it. I have used them and they work well. I don't know that she has used them yet.

[Jim Becker]

Like Jim, I am the cook for the family.

I know what I like to eat from favorite meals at restaurants. I then hit the Internet and my collection of cook books and try to replicate the recipe, and it usually takes 4-5 attempts.

I had a fun project a few years ago, buying old recipe boxes off eBay and trying many of the recipes.

You will get to the point that you can not have to rely on recipes and start to understand intrinsically how to "get there" from the basic ingredients. One of the best things I ever did was read the book, Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. While I occasionally glance at a published recipe for inspiration, I am comfortable "winging" it from there most of the time. There's also value in having variations on things that you and your family enjoy so the question, "What can I do to change this up a little" is always valid to ask and answer.

[Pat Germain]

My daughter gave me a copy of "The Food Lab" by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. Good golly, it's HUGE and packed with great information. I'm a big fan of poached eggs and his method is a game-changer. It's now out on multiple YouTube videos, but cracking the eggs into a strainer to drain off excess water works really well. If you have access to very fresh eggs, this probably isn't necessary. Here in the suburbs, it can be hard to find very fresh eggs.

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cook...s%2C121&sr=8-1

[Mike Soaper]

Here's a follow up photo showing how adding malted barley can help the crust brown.

Bacon and white corn cooked on a pizza screen on the lower rack near the electric heating elements.

I don't think the photo does the pizza justice, but i hope it gives some sense of the browning.

pizzatopand bottom.jpg

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I’m looking for a chicken recipe for soup. Bought a whole chicken, but lost the recipe off YouTube..

If I have time will try and make butter steak and potatoes

Jack, we make chicken soup every Friday.
Here's our recipe:
2 (one package) of Chicken backs
3 carrots peeled and chopped into ~ 3 to 4" lengths
One cooking onion, peeled, cut into quarters

In a 14 liter pressure cooker, add about one tablespoon of salt, a pinch of pepper, and one tablespoon of consume or chicken powdered soup base. We use "Osem" brand, because we're kosher.

Fill with water, put it on the stove and bring to a boil, then put the pressure cap on and turn the heat down so the cap just rocks, for about 20 minutes; turn off the stove, and when it's not pressurized any more, remove the cap and it's about ready.

Some of my friends use a whole chicken but we find it's too fatty so it should be done the day before and the fat skimmed off before reheating and serving.
Also, some prefer the broth only and strain off the veggies, but we like them.
Lot's of variations on the theme.

[Brian Runau]

I do most of the cooking. Love stir fry. Velveting makes all cuts of meat very tender. Brian

[Jim Koepke]

Aaron, your chicken soup made me think of something I do with rice. I will either add a couple chicken bullion cubes into the water or cook it in chicken broth/stock.

Makes for a great tasting rice.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

I do most of the cooking. Love stir fry. Velveting makes all cuts of meat very tender. Brian

Had to look up "velveting."

It sounds like a different yet similar technique described in a cooking book I recently purchased:

Salt Fat Acid Heat.jpg

It suggest salting or brining many proteins as much as a day or two before cooking.

jtk

[Brian Runau]

Had to look up "velveting."

It sounds like a different yet similar technique described in a cooking book I recently purchased:

Salt Fat Acid Heat.jpg

It suggest salting or brining many proteins as much as a day or two before cooking.

jtk

Jim: You can use any combination you like. Base is 1 tbls each per lb of meat of rice wine vinegar, corn starch, soy sauce, sesame oil, egg white. I like to add fish sauce 1/2 per lb & oyster sauce 1/2 per lb. You can add ginger, garlic etc...This makes chicken melt in your mouth in say 4 hours. I use it on pork or top sirloin overnight. I cut meat into thin strips and dump it in a tupperware cover and mix the sauce and then marinate. Thanks. Brian

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/velveting-meat