Kitchen and Cooking Thread

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Methanolic

No. I've never noticed a color change.

Just to clarify, I just used a mixture of spices, Balsamic vinnegar and EVOO and sometimes a bit of lemon or lime juice, time in marinade was usually around 8 to 10 hours.

Could it be the olive oil that's combatting the effect of the acid in the vinnegar?

I don't know enough to be in this thread really, I just love cooking and sort od stumbled upon this simple marinade.

From the list of ingredients you have given and the long time frame for marinating, I think the suspect is the balsamic vinegar. Soya sauce used over such a long time frame will do the same thing.

Also keep in mind, that after marinating the meat so long, you probably should be cooking the meat for a shorter period of time.

[metallicat]

Just made some awesome chicken cacciatore.

9 or 10 chicken thighs dredged in flour
1.5 cans of diced tomatoes
green pepper
red pepper
onion
fresh basil and oregano leaves

I cut the onion and peppers up really big because I am really not a fan of any of them, but I realize they add a lot of flavour to the sauce. They were big so I could pick them out. Added the basil and oregano leaves for the last 30 minutes. Cooked entirely for 1.5 hours at 350 degrees. Pretty simple, but delicious.

[Biff]

I have to weigh in on the meat "doneness" as it has also been a sore spot for me. It seems there are a great number of people with an ingrained and even generational lack of understanding when it comes to red meats. I, too, have been suffering with hordes of the "shoe leather" brigade where grey meat is the only acceptable standard. It seems to me that they operate under a misconception that pink is the same as red and, consequently, pink means rare. Likewise, for roasts, red juice is equivalent to bleeding therefore all redness is rawness.

In point of fact, beef goes from red to pink to gray. Only a well-done item will exhibit no color. Medium-well will be pink in the center with bands of gray on the outside. Medium will be pink throughout. Medium-rare will be red center with pink bands on the outside. Rare will be red throughout.

I am constantly dissappointed by the degree to which this is misunderstood and the quantity of meat which is over-cooked as a consequence. I am even more dissappointed with those who refuse to consider their own conditioned misconceptions in this regard.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Biff

I have to weigh in on the meat "doneness" as it has also been a sore spot for me. It seems there are a great number of people with an ingrained and even generational lack of understanding when it comes to red meats. I, too, have been suffering with hordes of the "shoe leather" brigade where grey meat is the only acceptable standard. It seems to me that they operate under a misconception that pink is the same as red and, consequently, pink means rare. Likewise, for roasts, red juice is equivalent to bleeding therefore all redness is rawness.

In point of fact, beef goes from red to pink to gray. Only a well-done item will exhibit no color. Medium-well will be pink in the center with bands of gray on the outside. Medium will be pink throughout. Medium-rare will be red center with pink bands on the outside. Rare will be red throughout.

I am constantly dissappointed by the degree to which this is misunderstood and the quantity of meat which is over-cooked as a consequence. I am even more dissappointed with those who refuse to consider their own conditioned misconceptions in this regard.

Main problem is people who like their meat cooked well done think pink or red equates with raw, not cooked, suspect to e-coli or salmonella. They have a fear of eating meat that to them is "undercooked".

Doubt you will change them, so go with the flow and worry about things that are actually in your control.

[Pinner]

Well I will be roasting a 13 lb. Top Sirloin this weekend for the "well done" crowd... If I dry roast it, I think it will be too pink for them.

My thinking is, that roasting it covered, with water and veggies under the rack will make it turn out more well done looking, or in fact more well done, not sure because I do not cook (kill) a roast like that so I have never checked the temp. You see, I'm starting to think that a covered roasting method somehow makes the meat look more well done than it is ??

Has anyone tried the very slow (200F) dry roast ? just wondering if the colour would still be too pink at 140F?

[Tyler]

Here's my recipe for delicious and EASY baked salmon:



Ingredients:

- 1 boneless, skinless fresh Atlantic Salmon filet (do not buy frozen salmon)
- 1 Lemon
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 tsp of lemon pepper
- 1 tsp of sea salt

Directions:

Dice lemon into flat pieces. Line bottom of a baking sheet with half of the lemon pieces.

Season salmon with lemon pepper, salt and olive oil on both sides.

Place salmon on top of lemon pieces, and add the other half on top of the salmon.

Bake at 400' for 20 minutes

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

One thing I think every kitchen should have is a hand blender!!




I used mine to make home made pasta sauce from scratch the other day...so good.

I bought about 20 tomatoes (3 different kinds) and it yeilded enough sauce for 2 people for a week.

So freakishly good!!!

I have the same one, but in the process of making soup, a piece of food got stuck in the blades, and then it looks like the thread got worn out. Blades don't spin anymore, and it was basically brand new =(

[LChoy]

On Anthony's Bourdain's food channel show, No Reservations, he had an episode where he had star chefs demonstrate basic cooking skills
Here is a sneak peak at those who missed it

http://lifehacker.com/5512474/watch-...iques-in-video

- Anthony Bourdain = How to use a knife/cut an onion
- Jacques Pépin = How to make an omelette
- Scott Conant = Pasta with a simple red sauce
- Thomas Keller = Roast a chicken

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

On Anthony's Bourdain's food channel show, No Reservations, he had an episode where he had star chefs demonstrate basic cooking skills
Here is a sneak peak at those who missed it

http://lifehacker.com/5512474/watch-...iques-in-video

- Anthony Bourdain = How to use a knife/cut an onion
- Jacques Pépin = How to make an omelette
- Scott Conant = Pasta with a simple red sauce
- Thomas Keller = Roast a chicken

Bourdain also made beef bourguignon (gonna try that this weekend)

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Here's my recipe for delicious and EASY baked salmon:



Ingredients:

- 1 boneless, skinless fresh Atlantic Salmon filet (do not buy frozen salmon)
- 1 Lemon
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 tsp of lemon pepper
- 1 tsp of sea salt

Directions:

Dice lemon into flat pieces. Line bottom of a baking sheet with half of the lemon pieces.

Season salmon with lemon pepper, salt and olive oil on both sides.

Place salmon on top of lemon pieces, and add the other half on top of the salmon.

Bake at 400' for 20 minutes

20 minutes is too long imo. 12 minutes is my magic number.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Here's something to try!

I started thinking about making my own bread and stumbled upon this website.

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

My bread started tasting good with my sponge being 2 weeks old. I'm on my fourth batch with this same sponge (added a bit of four and water every 4 days or so after the initial sponge was made). Try it if you really like sour dough!

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by To Be Quite Honest

Here's something to try!

I started thinking about making my own bread and stumbled upon this website.

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

My bread started tasting good with my sponge being 2 weeks old. I'm on my fourth batch with this same sponge (added a bit of four and water every 4 days or so after the initial sponge was made). Try it if you really like sour dough!

I will have to try this. It's quite a commitment though. Grocery store bakery's can't go through this process, could they?

[To Be Quite Honest]

Originally Posted by Barnes

I will have to try this. It's quite a commitment though. Grocery store bakery's can't go through this process, could they?

Not sure. It's only the sour taste they want in the store so it could just be a flavor additive. It make no sense keeping sponge in the cooler at the bakery due to the vast quantity. Unless it's made in a warehouse and shipped out.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by To Be Quite Honest

Here's something to try!

I started thinking about making my own bread and stumbled upon this website.

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

My bread started tasting good with my sponge being 2 weeks old. I'm on my fourth batch with this same sponge (added a bit of four and water every 4 days or so after the initial sponge was made). Try it if you really like sour dough!

I have had sourdough starter for about 25 years. I started it on my own and over the years, have shared with many. I noticed the recipe at that site calls for sugar. I only use honey when baking with sourdough, or maybe syrup if I am low on honey.

Any time you use some of your sourdough starter, you need to refresh it. I usually use 1 cup flour, 1 cup lukewarm water and 1 Tsp honey. Stir it up a bit, it does not have to be lump free, cover, and then allow it to reactivate at room temperature. When your starter is very active, it reactives very quickly. If I plan on making quite a large quantity of bread, I simply double or triple those amounts until the right amount of starter is achieved. If you are going on vacation, or don't plan on using it for awhile, you can simply refrigerate it. In fact, when we did our home renos a couple of years ago, I never used mine for 2 years. Then I had to let it sit at room temperature for about 10 days, feeding it regularily, to get it good and active again. They have actually found dried up sourdough in the Egyptian pyramids, added water, flour, etc and reactivated it.

Sourdoug really is amazing stuff. It is actually a natural yeast, so when you bake with sourdough, you dont add yeast that you would buy in a grocery store.

And sourdough pancakes or sourdough waffles are unto their own, especially the pancakes. They get a lightness and moistness that does not occur in regular pancakes.

The only way you can kill sourdough, and yeast too, is with too much heat. It is a living organism and will die if it gets too hot. That is actually what happens when you bake with sourdough or yeast. Once the bread gets put in the oven, it gets a final proof or rise until the heat kills the yeast. At that point, your loaf of bread, or whatever you are making, will not rise any further.

Many bakeries still use sourdough, but would be more the artisan bakeries. However, large grocery store bakeries could certainly use it just for their specialty artisan breads or sourdough breads.

Here are some sites where you can drool over some amazing breads. Lots of recipes for making sourdough starter and breads.

http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

And these sites have both regular and sourdough breads.

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2010/01...tting-1-15-10/

http://www.thekneadforbread.com/

These are my sourdough multigrain loaves. They are freeform, in other words, not baked in a pan. I let them rise in a bread proofing basket, and then transfer them to the oven, and bake them on a preheated baking stone (also called bread or pizza stone). You can also bake them in preheated enamelled cast iron Dutch ovens.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Originally Posted by redforever

Redforever's awesome post.

I would thank you a thousand time if I could. I am really loving this bread thing and thank you for sharing!

[redforever]

And here is my favorite recipe for sourdough waffles or pancakes.

Sourdough Waffles or Pancakes



Overnight sponge

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp honey
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup active sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator***

In a large mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight.

Waffle or pancake batter

All of the overnight sponge
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

1 In a small bowl or mixing cup, beat together the eggs, and oil or butter. Add to the overnight sponge.
2 Add the salt and baking soda, stirring to combine. The batter will bubble.
3 Pour batter onto your preheated, greased waffle iron, and bake according to the manufacturer's instructions.
4 Serve waffles immediately, to ensure crispness. You can hold the cooked waffles in a warm oven until ready to serve

***If your sourdough has been refrigerated for more than a week, you will have to reactivate it at room temperature first. That might take a couple of days if it has been in the refrigerator for quite awhile.

Edit: I should have added that this will easily feed 8 to 10 people. I usually only make half this amount. You can freeze left over waffles and pancakes. They will never be as fresh as when first made. Don't warm them up in the microwave - unless you are into soggy pancakes and waffles. Toaster is best, just put in frozen.

[Kipper is King]

I tried smoking some chicken breasts for the first time tonight. Oh my goodness, it turned out amazingly good! I was so nervous they would get over-smoked, but they were perfect! I had not smoked anything before.


Served with a fruit salsa of cantaloupe, red bell pepper, kiwi, jalapeño, lemon and lime juice/zest.

Used applewood. Smoked over indirect heat, keeping the temp in my barbecue at about 250-275F, until the chicken was 180F internally. I added more soaked wood chips, as needed and it took some trial and error to get the temp. right.

Gorgeous! Made a rub of paprika, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and cinnamon. The chicken was sooooo tender and juicy, nicely smoked and the rub was excellent.

Served in tacos. It all came together great!

Based on this recipe: http://www.cookshack.com/smoked-chic...aya-kiwi-salsa

[redforever]

^^^^^^^

Looks pretty darned good.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Well I had the best meal in a long time today. The menu was tomato seafood chowder.

The stock was prepare fresh with veggies and lobster shells. After the stock was prepare a various arrangement of seafood was added; fresh salmon, calamari, Fresh cod, kiwi muscles, shrimp, clams and spices.

With the soup we added fresh homemade Caesar salad, garlic cheese bread, and garlic bread - with Riesling Wine.

Here are some large pictures!

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

It was the best Manhattan style chowder in a looooong time. I did have a New England style at a very good friends house a few months ago but I have no pictures of it...