Because people are already talking about insta-pots, anyone have good soup recipes? Ideally ones that don’t require me to save bones, since I’m lazy and usually by everything boneless.
The great part about instant pot soups is that you can buy the cheapest possible cuts and meat which usually have big bones in them. So when you want to make chicken noodle soup, use bone-in chicken thighs. Beef stew? Offcuts like shanks and tails will turn into the most amazing end product. There's no need to spend a lot of time cutting everything up. When it's done cooking you can just use a pair to tongs to pull the bone/skin out and the mean will basically shred itself. Basically you can be cheap and lazy by getting larger cuts with bones.
I usually just throw the whole thing in the fridge when it's done cooking so I can pick the meat and pull out the bones/skin by hand. Soups are always better the next day anyway.
Pancakes should be pretty forgiving for at least passable results.
IMO you want medium to medium-low heat. Enough that when you put the butter in the pan it sizzles a bit but not super aggressively and doesn't start browning instantly or anything.
But the batter in, make sure it's not too thick and let it sit there. When the sides are set and the bubbles on top are fairly stable, you can flip it. And it won't need as long on the second side.
From there you can kinda tune in the heat of the pan based on how well done you want the pancake. Gentler heat will let you set the batter with less browning and vice versa.
For Christmas I got an Amazon gift card, and I'm considering a new appliance. The only issue is that I don't have a good sense for how much I would use a new appliance. Right now I don't have any recipes that need any of these, because I don't have one. So, time to compare apples to oranges, and get suggestions. Do you have any of these, and they're just gathering dust? Or do you do all your cooking in them?
Instant pot/pressure cooker: I really don't have a good sense of how much I would use this. Currently, most of my dinner meals are cooked in a saucepan on the stove, and this could take over most of that, but I just don't know.
Air fryer: Clearly I don't own an air fryer. Joke option, unless it isn't. I'm not particularly interested in any with a non-stick coating, because those feel somewhat disposable.
Blender: Do I really need to blend anything, though?
Immersion blender: Like a blender, but smaller. (No children in the house, so that cuts down on the actual danger of something like this.)
Food processor: I technically have one now, but it's a really small model that I just use for one recipe.
Dutch oven: This would basically be a replacement for my slow cooker that I don't actually use. The main benefit over that, as I understand it, is that dutch ovens get hot enough that you can caramelize foods. Assume I'm aiming for a $60 one.
Stand mixer: the issue here is that due to my dairy allergy, and how sugar treats me, I don't do much baking. They're also really expensive for something I'm not sure I'll use.
Here's what I use each of these for:
Instant Pot- I mostly use this to make stock in with better results than in a traditional pot. But it's also great for cooking vegetables I'll puree into a soup since it lets you cook stuff at above the boiling point of water without drying it out and some vegetable sugars will caramelize at pressure cooker temperatures for more flavor. Also great for some rice dishes (like risotto) and many Indian and South American stews are well suited for pressure cookers.
Air Fryer- Don't have one but it's basically a tabletop convection oven. You can do almost anything you would in a normal oven in one but can cooker it faster or get crisper texture outside.
Blender- Probably use this the most because I'll make fruit and protein smoothies. Otherwise I use it mostly to puree vegetable soups or fruit for use in syrup or desserts.
Immersion Blender- More convenient in many situations, especially for some sauces. Easy way to make mayo and hollandaise sauce in a mason jar. But my standing blender is a Vitamix which is just far more effective than even a good immersion blender so I don't this much. It would blow out a standing blender of the same price in terms of usefulness though.
Food processor: Some biscuit recipes use this. I'll also use this to speed up making Thai curry pastes. Otherwise I really don't use this much. I'm fast enough at knifework that it's not worth using and cleaning a food processor for most tasks unless I'm making a huge amount of something.
Dutch Oven: My preferred vessel for the stews I make, mostly various beef of chickpea stews. I don't do a lot of braises but it's great for that as well. I've occasionally baked bread inside one. It is far more flexible than a slow cooker and will get better results for many things though some of that disappears if you just brown stuff in a pan before sticking it in a slow cooker.
Stand Mixer: Strictly for baking. A lot of stuff I make can't feasibly be mixed by hand to get the same results. Which means this is almost useless for you. Anything in cooking that you need to mix more thoroughly than you can by hand probably can be blended or food processed.
A dutch oven or Instant Pot will be the most flexible choices and I'd favor the Instant Pot because having a pressure cooker lets you do things you couldn't before whereas a Dutch Oven is more about letting you do some things better. But it really depends on what you make/want to be able to make.
If I ever get fuck off rich, I'm getting a chromed flattop griddle in my kitchen. I used them working in the kitchen at college making hundreds of pancakes every weekend while hung over/still drunk and nothing comes anywhere close for making breakfast foods.
Because people are already talking about insta-pots, anyone have good soup recipes? Ideally ones that don’t require me to save bones, since I’m lazy and usually by everything boneless.
I do a carrot soup along these lines though I usually pressure cooker for closer to 15-20 minutes to allow more time for caramelization of the fructose.
If I ever get fuck off rich, I'm getting a chromed flattop griddle in my kitchen. I used them working in the kitchen at college making hundreds of pancakes every weekend while hung over/still drunk and nothing comes anywhere close for making breakfast foods.
I think there's so many recipes and such where just better appliances would do a ton to bridge the gap between what the recipe says and what people at home are able to turn out.
Pancakes are done by sight and intuition. The first pancakes off the griddle are never great and should be reserved for the chef to snack on while cranking out the rest. For the flip time, I usually wait until the bubbles burst and either very slowly close up or the batter has firmed up enough the holes remain. My pancake recipe includes melted butter so I only need to grease my skillet for the first batch and the rest should be good.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Also, even though the cooktop is non-stick, I'd still melt a bit of butter before laying down the batter. It'll brown more nicely.
I think I'm down to either an Instant Pot or a dutch oven.
The downsides to an Instant Pot I see:
* I have Amazon credit, Amazon has a counterfeit product problem, counterfeit Instant Pots exist, and a counterfeit pressure cooker is a Bad Time.
* I can't inspect anything being cooked in it. I commonly need to make substitutions in recipes, which means I need to keep an eye on things to make sure it's doing what I want it to do.
* I dislike appliances with a circuit board on principle.
Downsides to a dutch oven:
* I can probably pick up a dutch oven at a thrift store/garage sale for cheaper. They're not that hard to find, and buying used is fine.
Anyway, I won't be making that decision today, but this has nicely focused my options.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Took my first crack at lamb chops today. Went with a rogan josh inspired spice rub, because I am on a curry kick lately.
Cooked sous vide at 131 for 4ish hours, torch seared. Came out tender and moist with a texture like a nice ribeye. The flavor was a bit underwhelming though. The clove in the spice blend kindof burried the other flavors. On the positive side, it wasn't gamey at all. I think with some tinkering it could be really good.
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
For Christmas I got an Amazon gift card, and I'm considering a new appliance. The only issue is that I don't have a good sense for how much I would use a new appliance. Right now I don't have any recipes that need any of these, because I don't have one. So, time to compare apples to oranges, and get suggestions. Do you have any of these, and they're just gathering dust? Or do you do all your cooking in them?
Instant pot/pressure cooker: I really don't have a good sense of how much I would use this. Currently, most of my dinner meals are cooked in a saucepan on the stove, and this could take over most of that, but I just don't know.
Air fryer: Clearly I don't own an air fryer. Joke option, unless it isn't. I'm not particularly interested in any with a non-stick coating, because those feel somewhat disposable.
Blender: Do I really need to blend anything, though?
Immersion blender: Like a blender, but smaller. (No children in the house, so that cuts down on the actual danger of something like this.)
Food processor: I technically have one now, but it's a really small model that I just use for one recipe.
Dutch oven: This would basically be a replacement for my slow cooker that I don't actually use. The main benefit over that, as I understand it, is that dutch ovens get hot enough that you can caramelize foods. Assume I'm aiming for a $60 one.
Stand mixer: the issue here is that due to my dairy allergy, and how sugar treats me, I don't do much baking. They're also really expensive for something I'm not sure I'll use.
If you don't bake then the stand mixer is a lot of money on something you probably won't ever use.
You can't go too far wrong with a good Dutch oven simply because they're so flexible.
As far as potentially changing the way you kitchen though, the electronic pressure cooker is going to be the thing. The range of recipes that are some variation of 'set to sauté, dump in ingredients, dump in more ingredients, put the rest of the stuff in there and then set at high pressure for 15 minutes' is amazing.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
Cooked sous vide at 131 for 4ish hours, torch seared. Came out tender and moist with a texture like a nice ribeye. The flavor was a bit underwhelming though. The clove in the spice blend kindof burried the other flavors. On the positive side, it wasn't gamey at all. I think with some tinkering it could be really good.
Sounds like you got a really fine cut of lamb. That looks amazing! Most of that gamey flavor comes from the fat cap. A well trimmed chop will shave that down so it's not much of a factor. The intramuscular fat is quite mild. Especially when their fattened on grain right before slaughter. Did you get US or NZ lamb? I reckon it was US.
As for clove, I usually use about half whatever a recipe calls for. I like the flavor but it tends to overrun dishes. You might try poking whole cloves into the fat cap instead of ground clove in your spice blend. Clove also does a lot to cover up the gamey taste cheap lamb can have.
Cooked sous vide at 131 for 4ish hours, torch seared. Came out tender and moist with a texture like a nice ribeye. The flavor was a bit underwhelming though. The clove in the spice blend kindof burried the other flavors. On the positive side, it wasn't gamey at all. I think with some tinkering it could be really good.
Sounds like you got a really fine cut of lamb. That looks amazing! Most of that gamey flavor comes from the fat cap. A well trimmed chop will shave that down so it's not much of a factor. The intramuscular fat is quite mild. Especially when their fattened on grain right before slaughter. Did you get US or NZ lamb? I reckon it was US.
As for clove, I usually use about half whatever a recipe calls for. I like the flavor but it tends to overrun dishes. You might try poking whole cloves into the fat cap instead of ground clove in your spice blend. Clove also does a lot to cover up the gamey taste cheap lamb can have.
You are correct it was US lamb, and I do believe they were grain finished. I really like the idea of using whole cloves on the fat cap instead of in the spice blend. I will have to give that a try for sure. When it gets nice out again I really want to try grilling these, too.
Air Fryer- Don't have one but it's basically a tabletop convection oven. You can do almost anything you would in a normal oven in one but can cooker it faster or get crisper texture outside.
There are some differences though. I was originally very reticent to get an air-fryer, for much the same reason. I have a convection oven, I don't need another one. I ended up caving and getting one at my wife's insistence. I actually use it far more often than my oven now. Air fryers have a few major differences from an oven. The first is that the fan speed and CFM of hot air they push is much higher than any residential convection oven. In addition, rather than recirculating the air in the oven, air fryers take new air from the outside, heat by blowing over an electric element onto the food. The main effect is that by bringing in new air, it is much less humid and can dry out the surface of food much quicker. This is a double-edged sword though. It allows quicker browning without overcooking. But for already dry foods can lead to over-drying before proper browning.
But lastly, the main benefits for us is just the quickness at which they preheat, and that they don't heat up the kitchen in those hot summer months.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Air Fryer- Don't have one but it's basically a tabletop convection oven. You can do almost anything you would in a normal oven in one but can cooker it faster or get crisper texture outside.
There are some differences though. I was originally very reticent to get an air-fryer, for much the same reason. I have a convection oven, I don't need another one. I ended up caving and getting one at my wife's insistence. I actually use it far more often than my oven now. Air fryers have a few major differences from an oven. The first is that the fan speed and CFM of hot air they push is much higher than any residential convection oven. In addition, rather than recirculating the air in the oven, air fryers take new air from the outside, heat by blowing over an electric element onto the food. The main effect is that by bringing in new air, it is much less humid and can dry out the surface of food much quicker. This is a double-edged sword though. It allows quicker browning without overcooking. But for already dry foods can lead to over-drying before proper browning.
But lastly, the main benefits for us is just the quickness at which they preheat, and that they don't heat up the kitchen in those hot summer months.
Yea, airfryers are way more efficient at making one or two servings of food, rather than having to heat up a full sized oven. The best air fryers though are pretty much really nice toaster ovens.
Air Fryer- Don't have one but it's basically a tabletop convection oven. You can do almost anything you would in a normal oven in one but can cooker it faster or get crisper texture outside.
There are some differences though. I was originally very reticent to get an air-fryer, for much the same reason. I have a convection oven, I don't need another one. I ended up caving and getting one at my wife's insistence. I actually use it far more often than my oven now. Air fryers have a few major differences from an oven. The first is that the fan speed and CFM of hot air they push is much higher than any residential convection oven. In addition, rather than recirculating the air in the oven, air fryers take new air from the outside, heat by blowing over an electric element onto the food. The main effect is that by bringing in new air, it is much less humid and can dry out the surface of food much quicker. This is a double-edged sword though. It allows quicker browning without overcooking. But for already dry foods can lead to over-drying before proper browning.
But lastly, the main benefits for us is just the quickness at which they preheat, and that they don't heat up the kitchen in those hot summer months.
Yea, airfryers are way more efficient at making one or two servings of food, rather than having to heat up a full sized oven. The best air fryers though are pretty much really nice toaster ovens.
Incidentally, a toaster oven with convection oven mode is likely how I'd get into convection roasting/baking. Just would need to figure out what I'd really use it for.
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2022
I am taking my lessons from the last meal to the next level
I'm cooking chili tonight, and will be including lime in the recipe. It feels like everything with a mexican/tex mex flavor profile is just better with lime.
Benefits of living where you can go in on a whole, half, quarter cow, pig, lamb. $6.99 a pound average for all cuts on a cow, a bit much for burger but then you get these.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
My wife's boss gifted us a pair of deer steaks. No idea what cut, in fact the grain appears to be running completely the wrong direction, so I may try to cut this thing into medallions. In any case, does anyone have a good recipe for deer steak?
My wife's boss gifted us a pair of deer steaks. No idea what cut, in fact the grain appears to be running completely the wrong direction, so I may try to cut this thing into medallions. In any case, does anyone have a good recipe for deer steak?
Venison is lean and gamey. I'd say no more than med-rare, and depending on your tolerance to gaminess you can try a marinade. Buttermilk has always been the goto in my family of hunters to help reign in a lot of that gaminess for those who don't like it as much. Like most red meat it pairs well with rosemary and root vegetables.
My mom used to turn the pile of venison she'd get from a friend once a year into fajitas, mostly. That worked out pretty well, if you don't feel like just a big ol' slab of deer meat.
PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
My wife's boss gifted us a pair of deer steaks. No idea what cut, in fact the grain appears to be running completely the wrong direction, so I may try to cut this thing into medallions. In any case, does anyone have a good recipe for deer steak?
Is it wild or farmed? If it's wild I would suggest koshering it before eating. The koshering process will pull a lot of that gaminess out. Years ago someone gave my mom a 5lb haunch of wild venison that I cut up into some bomb-ass stew. I recommend cooking wild venison all the way through so you kill any parasites it might be harboring. Farmed stuff is usually safe to cook to med rare on the grill.
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
It's wild caught. I'm thinking I might sous vide it so I can more or less pasteurize it without overcooking it. Will look into koshering and/or marinade. I've definitely had some real gamey-ass venison before, and it's not my favorite. Thanks for the ideas everyone!
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
It's wild caught. I'm thinking I might sous vide it so I can more or less pasteurize it without overcooking it. Will look into koshering and/or marinade. I've definitely had some real gamey-ass venison before, and it's not my favorite. Thanks for the ideas everyone!
Koshering is pretty much the same as wet brining. You wash the meat, soak it in brine and wash it again. You can marinade after but the koshering process will take longer than you prob want it in the marinade. If you skip the koshering process and go straight to marinade, cloves can cover up the gaminess.
That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
edited January 2022
I fell in love with Sumo Citrus last season and was excited to see them in store again. I ended up buying 6 this Sunday. They came into season earlier this month and my local Publix finally had them. They're basically giant maderins. Just as sweet but also with a touch of tartness. They have super thick leathery skin so they ship and store easily without bruising. The pith is very delicate so the skin is very loosely attached to the inner fruit, making peeling super easy. They aren't especially cheap but still affordable. My local store had them for $3 a pound.
Tips for selecting the best Sumos.
-Darker orange skin. When looking through the bin you'll notice many of them will be a lighter shade of orange, often with a touch of green. You're looking for ones that are noticeably darker than that. The deeper the orange color, the riper it is.
-Large Pronounced Top Knot. You'll notice some Sumos have a larger, knobier top knot than others. You're looking for a nice large top knot with deep wrinkles and a brown tip where it attached to the tree. If you see any green there, put it back.
- Wrinkled Leathery Skin. You will notice that some sumos have smoother more satany skin while others have deep dark wrinkles and creases. You want the skin to be rough and leathery. It should feel tough and meaty when you poke your thumb in to peel it.
So to recap, your ideal Sumo will be deep shade of orange, have a large pronounced top knot with a brown tip, wrinkled leathery skin with deep creases in the top knot, and should feel firm rather than soft in the hand. I have been using this method and it's never failed me.
I have been incredibly disappointed by Cara Caras this year. I have bought them two different times, and both times they have been plain old navels. No pink color, no Cara Cara flavor. One even had a "navel" (not "cara cara" or "cara cara navel") sticker on it, so it was put in the wrong section. But the first time it was like two or three of them. Incredibly disappointed, as they are some of my favorite citrus. I've been afraid to try a third time.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Since I'm cooking wild game sous vide today I wanted to make for damn sure it was going to be safe to eat, with all the bacteria and parasites that might be present destroyed. I found a guide that might be the best researched and well sourced document I've ever seen on sous vide cooking. Of particular interest are the time / temperature charts for pasteurization of various meats at a range of thicknesses. I've been looking for a solid source on this forever and this looks like it's gonna be my go-to from now on.
Even if you're not shopping at Leaky Dan's Dented Can Emporium, every once in a while I'll grab a can of something for dinner and notice that there's a dent, and it's nice to have a reference for anything dubious.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Since I talked about it so much here's the deer steak I made.
Marinated overnight in olive oil, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Cooked sous vide at 131 F for 7ish hours. Seared with a blow torch. Made a pan sauce with the juices from the sous vide bag, a few spoons of reserved marinade, beef stock, garlic, thyme, butter and a little corn starch to thicken it up.
Pretty good! Wasn't gamey at all, much to my relief. Very tender, savory with a little tang from all the acids in the marinade. Super lean though, I think if you did this with beef it would be even better.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I'm gonna go for something that probably should be fine but who knows?
White (Alfredo) lasagna with chicken, mushroom, bacon, onion, and broccoli, spicy ricotta (cholula?), gouda on top
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
We watched Encanto, so my wife wanted to arepas, so we made areas.
And then I had leftovers for breakfast.
I see a lot of recipes that mention fillings, but then it's made like a sandwich, does anyone have any ideas for fillings to make like almost a pirogue/piroshky style thing?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
We watched Encanto, so my wife wanted to arepas, so we made areas.
<snipped image>
And then I had leftovers for breakfast.
<snipped image>
I see a lot of recipes that mention fillings, but then it's made like a sandwich, does anyone have any ideas for fillings to make like almost a pirogue/piroshky style thing?
The Colombian restaurant near my house does 2 kinds of arepas; filled arepas (choice of a queso fresco cheese or a whole soft boiled egg) which I think they deep fry and stuffed arepas which are more like a sandwich with a meat (choices of shredded beef, ham, Colombian chorizo) and some combination of cheese, avocado, corn, mayo, ketchup, which are cooked the traditional method on a griddle and then filled like a sandwich.
So I think you can do either method authentically, but if you want to fill them, a soft white melting cheese and eggs are great options, and a barbacoa type beef would probably also be great (it's my favorite empanada filling)
Not sure if many people like chicken fried steak, usually for breakfast but we do it for diner too. Chicken fried steak, herb and cheese risotto, Kale with onions and bacon, sweet potato cubes done with oil and herbs, par boiled first then seasoned and air fried so they are crispy.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
We watched Encanto, so my wife wanted to arepas, so we made areas.
<snipped image>
And then I had leftovers for breakfast.
<snipped image>
I see a lot of recipes that mention fillings, but then it's made like a sandwich, does anyone have any ideas for fillings to make like almost a pirogue/piroshky style thing?
The Colombian restaurant near my house does 2 kinds of arepas; filled arepas (choice of a queso fresco cheese or a whole soft boiled egg) which I think they deep fry and stuffed arepas which are more like a sandwich with a meat (choices of shredded beef, ham, Colombian chorizo) and some combination of cheese, avocado, corn, mayo, ketchup, which are cooked the traditional method on a griddle and then filled like a sandwich.
So I think you can do either method authentically, but if you want to fill them, a soft white melting cheese and eggs are great options, and a barbacoa type beef would probably also be great (it's my favorite empanada filling)
We used Chihuahua cheese? mixed into the dough, and also stuffed in the middle before/while forming. It's not bad, just a little plain, I was hoping that something with a little more flavor while still cooking it on a griddle would help. I just also made them a little too thin to cut in half easily.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
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Do you do any kind of coating on it (oil, butter, spray)? Or just let it get warm and go for it.
Also do you look for like lots of bubbles, or like the very first one before flipping?
The great part about instant pot soups is that you can buy the cheapest possible cuts and meat which usually have big bones in them. So when you want to make chicken noodle soup, use bone-in chicken thighs. Beef stew? Offcuts like shanks and tails will turn into the most amazing end product. There's no need to spend a lot of time cutting everything up. When it's done cooking you can just use a pair to tongs to pull the bone/skin out and the mean will basically shred itself. Basically you can be cheap and lazy by getting larger cuts with bones.
I usually just throw the whole thing in the fridge when it's done cooking so I can pick the meat and pull out the bones/skin by hand. Soups are always better the next day anyway.
My countertop skillet is non-stick, I don't add anything to the surface before cooking.
I normally flip after the bubbles mostly stop forming. There will still be bubbles on the surface, but no new bubbles appearing
IMO you want medium to medium-low heat. Enough that when you put the butter in the pan it sizzles a bit but not super aggressively and doesn't start browning instantly or anything.
But the batter in, make sure it's not too thick and let it sit there. When the sides are set and the bubbles on top are fairly stable, you can flip it. And it won't need as long on the second side.
From there you can kinda tune in the heat of the pan based on how well done you want the pancake. Gentler heat will let you set the batter with less browning and vice versa.
Here's what I use each of these for:
Instant Pot- I mostly use this to make stock in with better results than in a traditional pot. But it's also great for cooking vegetables I'll puree into a soup since it lets you cook stuff at above the boiling point of water without drying it out and some vegetable sugars will caramelize at pressure cooker temperatures for more flavor. Also great for some rice dishes (like risotto) and many Indian and South American stews are well suited for pressure cookers.
Air Fryer- Don't have one but it's basically a tabletop convection oven. You can do almost anything you would in a normal oven in one but can cooker it faster or get crisper texture outside.
Blender- Probably use this the most because I'll make fruit and protein smoothies. Otherwise I use it mostly to puree vegetable soups or fruit for use in syrup or desserts.
Immersion Blender- More convenient in many situations, especially for some sauces. Easy way to make mayo and hollandaise sauce in a mason jar. But my standing blender is a Vitamix which is just far more effective than even a good immersion blender so I don't this much. It would blow out a standing blender of the same price in terms of usefulness though.
Food processor: Some biscuit recipes use this. I'll also use this to speed up making Thai curry pastes. Otherwise I really don't use this much. I'm fast enough at knifework that it's not worth using and cleaning a food processor for most tasks unless I'm making a huge amount of something.
Dutch Oven: My preferred vessel for the stews I make, mostly various beef of chickpea stews. I don't do a lot of braises but it's great for that as well. I've occasionally baked bread inside one. It is far more flexible than a slow cooker and will get better results for many things though some of that disappears if you just brown stuff in a pan before sticking it in a slow cooker.
Stand Mixer: Strictly for baking. A lot of stuff I make can't feasibly be mixed by hand to get the same results. Which means this is almost useless for you. Anything in cooking that you need to mix more thoroughly than you can by hand probably can be blended or food processed.
A dutch oven or Instant Pot will be the most flexible choices and I'd favor the Instant Pot because having a pressure cooker lets you do things you couldn't before whereas a Dutch Oven is more about letting you do some things better. But it really depends on what you make/want to be able to make.
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Here's a good guideline to doing vegetable soups with one: https://allthenourishingthings.com/make-blended-soup-instant-pot/
I do a carrot soup along these lines though I usually pressure cooker for closer to 15-20 minutes to allow more time for caramelization of the fructose.
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I think there's so many recipes and such where just better appliances would do a ton to bridge the gap between what the recipe says and what people at home are able to turn out.
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The downsides to an Instant Pot I see:
* I have Amazon credit, Amazon has a counterfeit product problem, counterfeit Instant Pots exist, and a counterfeit pressure cooker is a Bad Time.
* I can't inspect anything being cooked in it. I commonly need to make substitutions in recipes, which means I need to keep an eye on things to make sure it's doing what I want it to do.
* I dislike appliances with a circuit board on principle.
Downsides to a dutch oven:
* I can probably pick up a dutch oven at a thrift store/garage sale for cheaper. They're not that hard to find, and buying used is fine.
Anyway, I won't be making that decision today, but this has nicely focused my options.
Cooked sous vide at 131 for 4ish hours, torch seared. Came out tender and moist with a texture like a nice ribeye. The flavor was a bit underwhelming though. The clove in the spice blend kindof burried the other flavors. On the positive side, it wasn't gamey at all. I think with some tinkering it could be really good.
If you don't bake then the stand mixer is a lot of money on something you probably won't ever use.
You can't go too far wrong with a good Dutch oven simply because they're so flexible.
As far as potentially changing the way you kitchen though, the electronic pressure cooker is going to be the thing. The range of recipes that are some variation of 'set to sauté, dump in ingredients, dump in more ingredients, put the rest of the stuff in there and then set at high pressure for 15 minutes' is amazing.
Sounds like you got a really fine cut of lamb. That looks amazing! Most of that gamey flavor comes from the fat cap. A well trimmed chop will shave that down so it's not much of a factor. The intramuscular fat is quite mild. Especially when their fattened on grain right before slaughter. Did you get US or NZ lamb? I reckon it was US.
As for clove, I usually use about half whatever a recipe calls for. I like the flavor but it tends to overrun dishes. You might try poking whole cloves into the fat cap instead of ground clove in your spice blend. Clove also does a lot to cover up the gamey taste cheap lamb can have.
You are correct it was US lamb, and I do believe they were grain finished. I really like the idea of using whole cloves on the fat cap instead of in the spice blend. I will have to give that a try for sure. When it gets nice out again I really want to try grilling these, too.
There are some differences though. I was originally very reticent to get an air-fryer, for much the same reason. I have a convection oven, I don't need another one. I ended up caving and getting one at my wife's insistence. I actually use it far more often than my oven now. Air fryers have a few major differences from an oven. The first is that the fan speed and CFM of hot air they push is much higher than any residential convection oven. In addition, rather than recirculating the air in the oven, air fryers take new air from the outside, heat by blowing over an electric element onto the food. The main effect is that by bringing in new air, it is much less humid and can dry out the surface of food much quicker. This is a double-edged sword though. It allows quicker browning without overcooking. But for already dry foods can lead to over-drying before proper browning.
But lastly, the main benefits for us is just the quickness at which they preheat, and that they don't heat up the kitchen in those hot summer months.
Yea, airfryers are way more efficient at making one or two servings of food, rather than having to heat up a full sized oven. The best air fryers though are pretty much really nice toaster ovens.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Incidentally, a toaster oven with convection oven mode is likely how I'd get into convection roasting/baking. Just would need to figure out what I'd really use it for.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
I'm cooking chili tonight, and will be including lime in the recipe. It feels like everything with a mexican/tex mex flavor profile is just better with lime.
vinegar or white wine
Venison is lean and gamey. I'd say no more than med-rare, and depending on your tolerance to gaminess you can try a marinade. Buttermilk has always been the goto in my family of hunters to help reign in a lot of that gaminess for those who don't like it as much. Like most red meat it pairs well with rosemary and root vegetables.
Is it wild or farmed? If it's wild I would suggest koshering it before eating. The koshering process will pull a lot of that gaminess out. Years ago someone gave my mom a 5lb haunch of wild venison that I cut up into some bomb-ass stew. I recommend cooking wild venison all the way through so you kill any parasites it might be harboring. Farmed stuff is usually safe to cook to med rare on the grill.
Koshering is pretty much the same as wet brining. You wash the meat, soak it in brine and wash it again. You can marinade after but the koshering process will take longer than you prob want it in the marinade. If you skip the koshering process and go straight to marinade, cloves can cover up the gaminess.
Tips for selecting the best Sumos.
-Darker orange skin. When looking through the bin you'll notice many of them will be a lighter shade of orange, often with a touch of green. You're looking for ones that are noticeably darker than that. The deeper the orange color, the riper it is.
-Large Pronounced Top Knot. You'll notice some Sumos have a larger, knobier top knot than others. You're looking for a nice large top knot with deep wrinkles and a brown tip where it attached to the tree. If you see any green there, put it back.
- Wrinkled Leathery Skin. You will notice that some sumos have smoother more satany skin while others have deep dark wrinkles and creases. You want the skin to be rough and leathery. It should feel tough and meaty when you poke your thumb in to peel it.
So to recap, your ideal Sumo will be deep shade of orange, have a large pronounced top knot with a brown tip, wrinkled leathery skin with deep creases in the top knot, and should feel firm rather than soft in the hand. I have been using this method and it's never failed me.
https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
https://www.larimer.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2017/lcdhe-dented-cans.pdf
Complete with pretty pictures.
Even if you're not shopping at Leaky Dan's Dented Can Emporium, every once in a while I'll grab a can of something for dinner and notice that there's a dent, and it's nice to have a reference for anything dubious.
Marinated overnight in olive oil, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Cooked sous vide at 131 F for 7ish hours. Seared with a blow torch. Made a pan sauce with the juices from the sous vide bag, a few spoons of reserved marinade, beef stock, garlic, thyme, butter and a little corn starch to thicken it up.
Pretty good! Wasn't gamey at all, much to my relief. Very tender, savory with a little tang from all the acids in the marinade. Super lean though, I think if you did this with beef it would be even better.
White (Alfredo) lasagna with chicken, mushroom, bacon, onion, and broccoli, spicy ricotta (cholula?), gouda on top
And then I had leftovers for breakfast.
I see a lot of recipes that mention fillings, but then it's made like a sandwich, does anyone have any ideas for fillings to make like almost a pirogue/piroshky style thing?
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
The Colombian restaurant near my house does 2 kinds of arepas; filled arepas (choice of a queso fresco cheese or a whole soft boiled egg) which I think they deep fry and stuffed arepas which are more like a sandwich with a meat (choices of shredded beef, ham, Colombian chorizo) and some combination of cheese, avocado, corn, mayo, ketchup, which are cooked the traditional method on a griddle and then filled like a sandwich.
So I think you can do either method authentically, but if you want to fill them, a soft white melting cheese and eggs are great options, and a barbacoa type beef would probably also be great (it's my favorite empanada filling)
We used Chihuahua cheese? mixed into the dough, and also stuffed in the middle before/while forming. It's not bad, just a little plain, I was hoping that something with a little more flavor while still cooking it on a griddle would help. I just also made them a little too thin to cut in half easily.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain