The food and drink forum blog thread.

[tossom]

Specifics please.  What was off about it?

It tasted foul (pun intended) once cooked, guessing the meat had not been kept at the required temperature in the fridge of the shop.  Have had some hotter weather here recently and the fridge display unit of the shop in question is probably older than I am...   

Wife made a chorizo soup instead, so evening was saved.

[mortlock]

Not feeling very inspired recently.  Although last night I did make a pretty killer chorizo stew with potatoes and zucchini.  Made extra rich with some carnitas cooking liquid from a couple weeks ago.  gonna start a chicken stock with feet here in a minute.  That's always soothing.  Got a couple friends coming over tonight and I really don;t feel like doing it up so I'm just gonna make some snacky stuff and serve some cheese.  fuck it.  the weather probably has something to do with it.  it was so nice a couple weeks ago and now it's raining like an inch a day.

id like to see your version of a garbage plate..

[JemDooM]

Jem, can you get this stuff in ol' blitey?

Iv never seen it RAGER, what would I use it on?

[RAGER]

It's a seafood boil seasoning mainly but lately I've been doing somethiing completely different with it.  I take half cup of Greek yogurt and half cup of good mayo, 1 tsp of Old Bay, snipped fresh chives, 1 clove of minced garlic, and some fresh lemon juice and mix together for a veggie dip.  it's awesome.

[RAGER]

So now that I'm back on a somewhat set schedule I'm gonna have less time to do extravagant things except on my days off.  Today is my day off but I'm working on a side job so there's that.  Tomorrow I'll probably be finishing up said job or drinking to celebrate my immediately profitable return to the working world. 

[JemDooM]

That dip sounds like the mega noms!

[MadJohnShaft]

It's odd how many bits of Ameircana, like Old Bay, are not around the world.  



I got an awesome outdoor remote meat thermometer. -  I think I was doing my smoker too cold - it's sitting at a perfect 225 with a lot more coals going than I normally use.  Duel display too.





I got a ham cut of pork instead of the shoulder - just to try something new. The guy at the farmers market assured me this will be great. Preparing like pulled pork, will go in the oven at hour four.






Raining outside too, while I relax in style - it's amazing it swings up and down about 50 degrees without touching it - must just be wind, rain, and fuel mixing up.





I had to put it in the oven after 3 hours of smoking - I went out and about and came back and it had made it to 212 in the oven in 2 hours, crazy.  Held it another three hours at 185-195 or so, turned out great.

[RAGER]

My buddies have one of these.  Like $1500.  Thing is amazing

[peoplething]

i've noticed the environmental temp on slow and low barbeque has a huge impact on how hot the rig can get; even more-so than fuel. In the last couple years I've barbecued about once a month and have only been able to get a pork shoulder to an internal temp of 195 once and it was 97 degrees that day.

I've since adapted my style to about a 4-5 hour smoke and then finish in the oven at 200 for another 4 hours or so.

that initial jump to 212 once in the oven may have been the fat melting (fat melts at 195). some sources say that melting fat increases the temp of the meat, others say it decreases. my own conclusion is that it depends one how much fat is there in the first and the rate of melt.

or you could buy a fifteen hundred dollar crock pot you can cook a pizza on.

[MadJohnShaft]

I don't know - Have you read about the BBQ 'stall' - I bet you may actually be seeing that and need a Texas Crutch to get you up to 203.  This website has changed my life:

http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/the_stall.html



Raw ingredients for tonight - soup I suppose

[peoplething]

whoa, that is exactly what I'm seeing!

sweating meat, stall at about 165 for hours on end regardless of chamber temp (well, at least at my low temp cooking). and like the article said, I only notice this effect with thick hunks of meat (butt, brisket, tri-tip.. etc) ribs and whole chicken really don't pose that much of a problem. there's a small amount of stall with those but I can usually push past that in 60-90m or so.

applauded!

[MadJohnShaft]

You can either foil it, like the competitors do, or just leave it on the smoker forever.  Don't be tempted to crank up the heat.  I like sticking it in the oven so I don't have to babysit it...

[Chovie D]

Sous vide a couple chicken breasts  tonight. Meh

[mortlock]

chicken breasts are almost always meh, no matter how you do them..

[khoomeizhi]

thighs are where it's at.

[MadJohnShaft]

I slow simmered mine in homemade chicken stock after making a sofrita and using tomatillos and chorizo to make the soup, then I shredded it - it was lovely.

[Chovie D]

I know a couple good ways to do a chicken breast. The sous vide chicken breast was cooked perfectly all the ay thru  and juicy...but it wasnt as flavorful as a roasted, bbq'ed, pan basted, etc.
I did sear it afterwards in a littel sesame oil. Maybe I need to flasvor  up the sous vide bag some more. pre brine before putting into the bag maybe.

Ive foud brining to be imortant for poultry, in my limited experience and skill level.

[khoomeizhi]

^instead of brining, i'm a fan of rubbing poultry with a decent amount of salt a few (3-5) hours before more seasoning and cooking. the magic of osmotic dealies: all the salt on the surface draws out juices from the meat, but given enough time, the juices, now laden with salt, will reabsorb into the meat as the amount of salt inside starts to equalize with the salts outside.

in further bloggis, i had to cut back a couple branches on my potted kaffir lime tree, and now i've got a lot of leaves, some i'm keeping bagged fresh for the time being, some i'm drying experimentally, and some i'm freezing. anyone got any good recipes that use kaffir lime leaves aside from the standard thai curry/fried rice/stir fry sort of thing?

[Lumpy]

Seems like strawberries are good this year, at least in my area they are.

[Pissy]

Made some hand crank fresh strawberry ice cream yesterday.  First time using this old churn, and I have to say, it's far and away better ice cream than one can buy. I wholehaertedly recommend hand churning. 

[khoomeizhi]

i had been perfecting a blueberry/honey/weed ice cream recipe, i'll have to dig out the cranker again and see if i can find my notes...

home-cranked peach is also near-god.

[RAGER]

Oh man, home churned peach ice cream could be the perfect food.

[RAGER]

Been getting up early and cooking.  About the only time I have the energy to do some cool shit.  Been making extravagant lunches to take to work too.

[Pissy]

So day 2 of my ice cream has shown me that while it still tastes good, ice crystals formed in it while it hardened up in the freezer.  The only thing I can figure is that we did not churn it long enough, though we kept at it for a good 40 minutes. 

Oh I'll get this shit right, because the practicing tastes so damn good.

[RAGER]

Made ribs over the weekend with a spicy kale slaw.  didn't take pics.  Then last night I braised the rib meat and made bad ass tortas de puerco.  Holy shit that was good but by the time we ate it was 8:30 so I only ate half of one.