The best thing about cooking is sharing it. Meals prepared for friends...always seem the most fulfilling
Absolutely. We have a couple of parties a year and we start cooking the night before and always have a huge spread. I don't worry about having everything made beofre folks get there, it's more fun to be in the kitchen with guests and you don't want to run out of food for the latecomers. For both Man and I, it's something we grew up with - parents having parties with lots of food and drinks and music, so we love doing it.
When I first moved out a long time ago, I was worried about having others eat my cooking, maybe they would hate it, etc. But other than the occassional "whoa, this is really spicy" it's gone well.
Tip for amazing steak : go for a filet mignon or new york cut if you can
I go for porterhouses, this way in one cut you get a ribeye and a filet.
Me too. My first love is the hanger, though (but you usually gotta ask the butcher for it).
I made us some tasty porterhouses the other night. Prepared a rub of whole peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, crushed bay leaves, fennel seeds, crushed rosemary, red pepper flakes and salt. Covered and let the steaks sit for 4 hours.
Mixed a cup of salt with 3/4 cup water, and more of the above spices, covered the porterhouses in a thick pack of the salt/spice mixture and then roasted. When it's over, the salt mixture is like a hard shell you crack off the steak with a wood spoon. So Frickin' tasty. Yum. I could cut mine with my fork. So good. Yum!
That's simliar to what my dad does with a standing rib roast. Takes it, sits it in a bed of rock salt and then we cover the whole thing with more rock salt, spraying it with water to cake it on so it encases the whole thing. I forget how long we put it in the oven for and at what temp, but it comes out the same size as it went in, and all the juice is still in the meat since it can't escape. The shell of salt gets cracked off with a hammer.
Only thing, you have to get a certain type of rock salt, one type is poisonous and one isn't. We get the one that isn't as we enjoy life.
I thought you were a vegetarian for some reason.
I was, for 10 years. Started eating meat 14 months ago. After a year at the new job, which involves many more of my muscles than the previous job, I started craving meat, which never happened before. (What's up with your new job, by the way?) Plus, the dude from D??lek that I work with is a French Culinary Institute-certified chef, and he kept talking about meat recipes I wanted to try.
Strangely, I haven't drank in 20 years, and when I started eating meat I'd get these frantic sensations (premonitions?) that I was about to drink, accidentally. It's hard to describe, but it was like an abstinence-related reaction, as if I were one of Pavlov's motherfuckin' dogs, and tasting meat made my booze buds water or something. It lasted for a few months. It was weird.
I cook a ton, mostly New Mexican dishes like casserole enchiladas, chile rellenos, carne adovada, tamales, salsa, etc but I'm always learning new shit since I started subscribing to Cooks Illustrated magazine which is the dopest cooking related magazine IMHO.
This book, also by them is my bible for any sort of standard sauces or basic recipes I don't know by heart. great great book.
That's simliar to what my dad does with a standing rib roast. Takes it, sits it in a bed of rock salt and then we cover the whole thing with more rock salt, spraying it with water to cake it on so it encases the whole thing.
Thats the most important step in making meat. I think the salt kind of "burns" the outside of the meat, drying it out to a point where moisture wont pass through it. You keep all the moisture in side that bitch. Juicy as all get out.
I usually just wing it, and that does not work in baking. I do love baked goods though.
Especially bread - good lord - can you please get more complicated? A little bit of water at a time? Rising time? the exact right amount of everything? AK!
I watch America's Test Kitchen on Saturdays and when they do the baking, I get so discouraged. One of the Italian cooking shows that comes on a bit later had a segment on making pasta and that was impossible, too. The right exact amount of everything and then the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out...just give me a box of Barilla would you?
I usually just wing it, and that does not work in baking. I do love baked goods though.
Especially bread - good lord - can you please get more complicated? A little bit of water at a time? Rising time? the exact right amount of everything? AK!
I watch America's Test Kitchen on Saturdays and when they do the baking, I get so discouraged. One of the Italian cooking shows that comes on a bit later had a segment on making pasta and that was impossible, too. The right exact amount of everything and then the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out...just give me a box of Barilla would you?
My little sister is a really good chef who started out baking. She now works at the four seasons in Jackson WY. She can bake bread without even thinking about it and never uses a recipe. I called and asked her how to bake a pie crust one time and her answer was. "Flour, water and some egg white you know a pie crust." Thanks Sis.
I usually just wing it, and that does not work in baking. I do love baked goods though.
Especially bread - good lord - can you please get more complicated? A little bit of water at a time? Rising time? the exact right amount of everything? AK!
I watch America's Test Kitchen on Saturdays and when they do the baking, I get so discouraged. One of the Italian cooking shows that comes on a bit later had a segment on making pasta and that was impossible, too. The right exact amount of everything and then the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out...just give me a box of Barilla would you?
i too have always been discouraged ab out baking, but this Winter that will change. Too hot to really runt he stove wild right now, but i intend to at least intitiate those skills. When i was little my parents used to have a pastas machine (Go Ron Popeil!) and that was pretty easy. And of course the pasta was amazing.
A friend of mine makes amazing muffins. One of his recipes calls for heffeweizen, god damn
I go through bouts of cooking and then eating out. When I get home I just don't want to spend an hour preparing something to cook. I just bought this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JEUSP4/104-4334985-6629516 and I'm hoping it will make my life a lot easier.
Me & the lady are leaning towards getting one of these. The prices vary from 20 bucks to 100 plus dollars. Probably end up with a 40-50 dollar joint. Can anyone vouch on their efficiency?
Me & the lady are leaning towards getting one of these. The prices vary from 20 bucks to 100 plus dollars. Probably end up with a 40-50 dollar joint. Can anyone vouch on their efficiency?
Ive thought about inversting in a $100 dollar joint, but i just dont have enuff space in my kitchen to store that thing. I have enuff gadjets as it is.
Plus aint nothin like slow roasting all day. Im makin Cabernet Braised Short Ribs in the Dutch oven tommorow.
Comments
Absolutely. We have a couple of parties a year and we start cooking the night before and always have a huge spread. I don't worry about having everything made beofre folks get there, it's more fun to be in the kitchen with guests and you don't want to run out of food for the latecomers. For both Man and I, it's something we grew up with - parents having parties with lots of food and drinks and music, so we love doing it.
When I first moved out a long time ago, I was worried about having others eat my cooking, maybe they would hate it, etc. But other than the occassional "whoa, this is really spicy" it's gone well.
I don't bake. Too precise and too many rules.
I was, for 10 years. Started eating meat 14 months ago. After a year at the new job, which involves many more of my muscles than the previous job, I started craving meat, which never happened before. (What's up with your new job, by the way?) Plus, the dude from D??lek that I work with is a French Culinary Institute-certified chef, and he kept talking about meat recipes I wanted to try.
Strangely, I haven't drank in 20 years, and when I started eating meat I'd get these frantic sensations (premonitions?) that I was about to drink, accidentally. It's hard to describe, but it was like an abstinence-related reaction, as if I were one of Pavlov's motherfuckin' dogs, and tasting meat made my booze buds water or something. It lasted for a few months. It was weird.
I usually just wing it, and that does not work in baking. I do love baked goods though.
This book, also by them is my bible for any sort of standard sauces or basic recipes I don't know by heart. great great book.
Thats the most important step in making meat. I think the salt kind of "burns" the outside of the meat, drying it out to a point where moisture wont pass through it. You keep all the moisture in side that bitch. Juicy as all get out.
I dont bake but the only thing ive tried is Cognac Pumpkin muffins.......
That sounds good. We got a nice kitchen aid mixer for a wedding gift and I need to start using it. I will probably do some baking this winter.
Not only is she a great cook, but she loves cooking and trying out new things.
I'm in the same boat as JP. I get to clean.
Ill find the recipe. I added the Cognac myself.
Especially bread - good lord - can you please get more complicated? A little bit of water at a time? Rising time? the exact right amount of everything? AK!
I watch America's Test Kitchen on Saturdays and when they do the baking, I get so discouraged. One of the Italian cooking shows that comes on a bit later had a segment on making pasta and that was impossible, too. The right exact amount of everything and then the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out and the kneading and rolling out...just give me a box of Barilla would you?
the best show IMO.
My little sister is a really good chef who started out baking. She now works at the four seasons in Jackson WY. She can bake bread without even thinking about it and never uses a recipe. I called and asked her how to bake a pie crust one time and her answer was. "Flour, water and some egg white you know a pie crust." Thanks Sis.
i too have always been discouraged ab out baking, but this Winter that will change. Too hot to really runt he stove wild right now, but i intend to at least intitiate those skills. When i was little my parents used to have a pastas machine (Go Ron Popeil!) and that was pretty easy. And of course the pasta was amazing.
A friend of mine makes amazing muffins. One of his recipes calls for heffeweizen, god damn
Ive thought about inversting in a $100 dollar joint, but i just dont have enuff space in my kitchen to store that thing. I have enuff gadjets as it is.
Plus aint nothin like slow roasting all day. Im makin Cabernet Braised Short Ribs in the Dutch oven tommorow.