Cooking

Made fried rice but I overcooked the meat and forgot the onions. Was still good though a bit dry. My brother is always topping his with sriracha. Don’t know if I should incorporate it.

Only if you like spicy. Sriracha isn’t anything mild.

I like spicy but it’s difficult to get the balance right without overpowering the rest of the dish. Used scorch bonnet peppers in my hamburger recipe and I ran into this problem.

I forgot to mention that last week I tried my hand at making pie from scratch. Blueberry pie to be precise.

It turned out awesome. Dough was made from flour, salt, shortening and a bit of water (6 tablespoons), chill it, stretch it and shape into place. Filling was fresh blueberries, a bit of flour and sugar, plus a tablespoon of lemon juice and one of butter chopped to tiny pieces. Then before baking I used a trick I knew back from working in a restaurant kitchen, I brushed liquid butter over the top then dusted with cinnamon and sugar and baked it.

It was such a hit at thanksgiving last week I probably have to do it again for Christmas.

I feel a bit tempted to do that thing that made Jerry Seinfeld happy. Put hot fudge on the bottom of the bowl and then put the ice cream on top.

Tonight's dinner was roasted pork tenderloin with roasted root vegetables and a flavored butter.

The butter was flavored with rosé pepper, dried thyme and rosemary which I toasted in a pan first and then grounded in a mortar to enhance the flavor. I find them a spice mixture that works very well with meat and even just veggies. I also added some parmesan salt... That, in all honesty, is mostly parmesan. Parmesan cheese really adds some lovely umami to most dishes.

It was all nicely paired with some red wine.

That sounds quite delicious. :)

At the museum where I work we sometimes deal with traditional food from the late 19th century, like making bread cheese with guests. Whenever we make cheese like this, we end up with plenty of whey as an after-product. Now, whey is an excellent substitute for regular milk, if you want to bake something with plenty of fat and proteins. I've used it for oven-baked pancake, which is delicious, a bit saltier than regular, and fills up your stomach like a proper meal than just a dessert.

Have you considered trying your hand at making primost with the whey? It takes a little while, granted, since you have to reduce the whey quite a bit, but the end result is a lovely, creamy, somewhat sweet sandwich spread.

It's also great in sweets, like ice creams and parfaits.

I made my own with the left-over whey after a failed batch of mozzarella once - I reduced i too much so it turned hard, but it also lasted almost a year and tasted really nice, if a tad more acidic than usual.

Edited by MagmaTeaMerry on Dec 10th 2023 at 10:27:18 AM

No, I haven't even tasted it yet. I'm usually wary of spreading on bread anything that isn't butter, also being very particular about what type of cream cheese I'm willing to use. But this stuff looks more trustworthy than most thing I've been recommended over the years.

Going to make filet mignon steaks for dinner. It's freezing outside and the days are short so I'll be cooking them on a stove top. Looking up videos and wow, they look a lot unhealthier than on the barbecue. Do you really need all that butter?

Trying a simple rub I came up with (black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, salt), adhering it with vegetable oil, and cooking it in that.

UPDATE: I did just that. Cooked them until both sides were brown and crispy, then I turned them around and seared the outsides. Put them in a convection oven until they reached the preferred temperature and let them sit outside for 5 minutes. My folks found them better than a steakhouse.

Edited by ChicoTheParakeet on Dec 11th 2023 at 6:48:56 AM

I decided to go to the 1:00 showing of Wonka on Christmas. Now I'm trying to decide what kind of dinner to cook up that night. ^_^;; I'm thinking of either Southern barbecue, Italian, Mexican, Greek, or Hawaiian. Or order Chinese.

Edited by Demetrios on Dec 19th 2023 at 2:05:53 PM

Might cook up a batch of my famous shortbread sometime this week

Made gingerbread cookies. Gonna bring them into work tomorrow for my last day before the holidays.

They taste better than they look, don't worry. The dough was so sticky it was hard to cut them and move them to the pan without some sticking and stretching.

Update: The cookies were quite the hit

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Dec 21st 2023 at 11:17:17 AM

Decided to do some post-Christmas culinary experimenting today. Today I used our cast-iron cooking pot the first time and made some Karelian stew, mixed together with leftover rosolli, and let it all simmer for a few hours. The result was very delicious, a bit like a chewier Stroganoff, thanks to the relatively subtle flavour of the red beets and pickles. I hope to use the cooking pot more often, to get more variety in my cooking, because I seldom have the time to experiment as much as I want.

Fried up the leftover steak from Christmas with some onions and made sandwiches. My family really enjoyed them.

I just had a sublime thought. I now know what I’m going to have for dinner on New Year’s Eve: a bison steak. Which I can now easily get, thanks to the cool store my sister made me a fan of: Wild Fork.

Spicy chicken mac and cheese.

You know, until recently it didn't even occur to me how much more I enjoy cooking than most people, that many others would find the inconveniences in my kitchen environment not worth putting up with to cook as much as I do.

That looks good.

Gonna be trying my hand at Irish Stew tonight... provided I can get my MBA homework and laundry done in a reasonable time to get to the store.

I feel very tempted to make my own version of the McRib, like Joshua Weissman did in this here video that’s funny and informative at the same time.

Quest for Irish Stew- failed. Couldn't find the ingredients without making a huge amount of substitutions.

Might have to find a different recipe...

Sorry to hear that. :(

Irish Stew is back on the menu! Cost a bit to get all the ingredients, but I'll give it a shot and see how things go.

Also planning to make almond butter chocolate chip cookies as well. Need a practice run before I make them for my small group in two weeks

Lasagna is today’s menu! Made from scratch or somewhat close.

Tomorrow is trying out cacio e pepe. I hope it goes well.