Now, Andorra is a land-locked microstate with a population about the size of Chino, California. What kind of unique cuisine could it have, I hear you ask?
Andorra is the only extant sovereign state with a majority Catalan population, you hypothetical dope! And so until the fascists in Madrid see the writing on the wall, this is the only chance for an alphabetical cookery tour to dip into the rich well of Catalan cuisine!
I have cooked Escudella, a ridiculously meaty stew that includes bone broth, chicken, prosciutto, and some homemade sausage I made with my parents and nephews a couple of months ago. It's possibly the richest thing I've ever eaten, and exactly the kind of food I'd want if I was pulled half-frozen out of a snowdrift and needed to be nursed back to life.
Hilariously, after I drove halfway across town to get some good neck bones from a carniceria for the broth, I found that my local grocery store didn't sell any cabbage. And kind of looked at me like an asshole for assuming they'd have cabbage. So for greens I substituted spinach instead. Screw cabbage anyway, that stuff kind of sucks.
I just thawed the half of this soup that I originally froze, and I melted some goat cheese into it that I had left over from my Thanksgiving sweet potatoes.
Listen. It turns out that you can turn any soup into a rich chowder by melting goat cheese into it, and I don't think I can live my life the same way ever again.
+8
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
I'm gonna turn my leftover turkey into green chili with turkey thanks to my Mexican-restaurant-running friend who can get me fresh tomatillos in a tomatillo-less country, wooooo
Also it's worth mentioning that different types of shrimp paste can be VERY VERY different, so like. Be prepared for a lot of variation. It's probably not practical to get a different shrimp paste for each cuisine you want to cook, but some will be TURBO FUNK SHRIMPY and some will be more salty and some will be... you get the idea. (I don't use it because I don't shrimp.)
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I'm gonna turn my leftover turkey into green chili with turkey thanks to my Mexican-restaurant-running friend who can get me fresh tomatillos in a tomatillo-less country, wooooo
Also it's worth mentioning that different types of shrimp paste can be VERY VERY different, so like. Be prepared for a lot of variation. It's probably not practical to get a different shrimp paste for each cuisine you want to cook, but some will be TURBO FUNK SHRIMPY and some will be more salty and some will be... you get the idea. (I don't use it because I don't shrimp.)
Tomatillos rule. Also, if you boil that down thick enough and throw in some diced tomatoes, you'll have a hell of a burrito filling.
I wandered through hmart for 45 minutes and the only shrimp paste I found that was definitively labeled as such was whole tiny shrimps (krill?) that didn't look anything like the any other shrimp pastes that Tynic posted or that I saw on amazon
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
You know what's fucking good? Costco Chicken Pot Pie. It is straight up comfort food that has a pretty good cost per serving ratio, and re-heats great.
I wandered through hmart for 45 minutes and the only shrimp paste I found that was definitively labeled as such was whole tiny shrimps (krill?) that didn't look anything like the any other shrimp pastes that Tynic posted or that I saw on amazon
So oh well =(
I haven’t ever seen any at hmart tbh
If you don’t wanna hit Chinatown, Amazon definitely has a few brands
So hey. I am want in to try a novel idea, at least to me. Savory oatmeal. Anybody know of any or have any recipes for it that bring the vegetables? Extra points if it has a way of being able to be portioned out for a week worth of lunches.
"If nothing is impossible, than would it not be impossible to find something that you could not do?" - Me
I always eat savory oatmeal! Apparently this is weird to the rest of the world except possibly Scotland so I've mostly just done it on my own
Never tried veggies-- I eat it like congee at breakfast, occasionally adding chili powder, cumin or such, but mostly just eating it plain salted. Oh and chunks of cheese that end up half melted (though I guess you could shred it / stir it to combine). Sooooo goooood
Been fucking around with Mirin and MSG in my cooking recently, and goddamn it's made my speciality chicken breast recipe even better
For those that want it:
Get some chicken breast. 1/2 breast per person is my usual yard stick. Ideally, skin on.
Season with salt, pepper, msg on both sides, make sure to rub it in.
Preheat your oven to 200c (For you imperial folks... I shun you! SHUN!)
Melt some butter in a frying pan, dial it up to a decently high temp, then pop the chicken in once the butter's melted. Dribble just a dash of soy sauce on each breast once it's in. Sear on both sides until it's starting to get that lovely crispy brown on both sides. Pop into a deep glass cooking dish that's got a lid. Then throw some mirin (White wine also works, your choice), 250ml+ of stock (Chicken is obviously good, or use veggie if you want. hell be crazy, do beef) into the pan, deglaze it, and pour that over the chicken. you dont want the chicken floating, but you want it pretty happily immeresed in the liquid
Stick it in the oven for at least half an hour, lid on (Dont want to loose ANY of that lovely liquid) - shouldn't need much more than that to cook all the way through. Worth flipping once or twice in the oven, esp to help the skin get nice and crispy.
Other end, pull it out and put it to sit on a plate. Use all the liquid as a base to make gravy - i usually just add a sachet of gravy powder partly because i'm lazy, but also because i find it's good, easy results, but feel free to thicken it with cornflour and add your own spices to taste. Add more stock/water/white wine/mirin as needed depending on amount of gravy you want - better to expand with water/stock though, so it doesn't get too rich
Serve with oven roasted potatoes, kumara (Sweet potatoes), peas, corn, and all that goodness.
Delicious
(I've even got some gravy and chicken breast saved from my latest batch, whcih i'm going to combine with udon noodles and make into some sort of extra delicious stirfry and broth thing, i think)
I've been this close to buying the big thing of MSG at Costco a few times now, I should probably sneak some into the cart the next time I'm at the international grocery store.
Conclusion i got from that is it's like any seasoning - used well, it does well, used excessively or not at all, and... eh. +/- usual tastes are different between other people.
Ceartinly in my current iteration of the chicken breast recipe, i think it's the mirin doing the heavy lifting, but the msg is helping add some subtleties.
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I bought a shaker of Accent seasoning a while ago, and it's been really nice. I like having just a pure shot of MSG to add to any dish that takes my fancy.
I'll say that it has yet to make any leftovers worse, so far.
+1
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
I need to bake something that would be good to share with a large group this weekend, for a neighborhood holiday gathering. I've done a lot of cookies lately with the kids and don't really want to make any more right now. It can't involve nuts or nut flour at all since I don't know what allergies any of the kids there might have. Something like a cake is out since this is going to be outdoors in cold weather - it will need to be something I can bake in individual servings that can be passed around easily on a plate or similar. And yes, cookies make the most sense but I don't feel like making any more damned cookies right now. Especially since everyone else will probably be bringing either cookies, cupcakes or cakeballs.
I'm thinking madeleines. Maybe one traditional batch with lemon, and a batch of either pumpkin or gingerbread. Financiers would be great, but all of my favorite financier recipes rely on nut flours. Hmm.
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
I would still like some tips for Danish dough or dough laminating if anyone's got some. I think I can manage the bread, I pretty much nailed it last time (hold applause please) but I've never made something as complicated as a homemade Danish
I would still like some tips for Danish dough or dough laminating if anyone's got some. I think I can manage the bread, I pretty much nailed it last time (hold applause please) but I've never made something as complicated as a homemade Danish
Practice at home before you try to do it while traveling. You're going to want practice with both the lamination, and any fancy cutting and shaping/twisting you might want to do to end up with interesting looking Danishes.
Make sure you'll have a nice length of counter or similar workspace for rolling out dough before you get started. If you don't, it won't really be doable.
Make sure to keep your dough and butter properly chilled. When you're rolling out your dough and working on your folds, if it starts getting too warm and soft, stop what you're doing and chill it again. If your butter is warm enough to soften too much you'll just end up pushing it into your dough rather than creating nice layers and beautiful lamination. Transfer it to a sheet pan and put in the freezer for a bit. Not so long that it actually freezes though - frozen dough/butter won't be any good for working with either.
So in regards to the last tip, give yourself more time than you think you should need the first time or two you try laminating dough. Build in an extra hour or two for chilling dough to keep it cold, so that if you find yourself working too slowly while rolling the dough out and making your folds - especially if you start getting into the weeds while trying to square off your corners and make sure everything is nice and even - you have enough time to chill it properly and still finish with enough time for sufficient proofing before you need to bake. Speed will only come with confidence, and confidence is only going to come with practice.
Try to watch some video tutorials ahead of time - they'll be more helpful than written recipes and pictures in a cookbook or on a cooking blog.
Also maybe consider doing croissants your first time. The recipe and technique is extremely similar and the shaping is easier (especially for chocolate croissants).
took the rest of the gravy i had lying around from the last batch of roast chicken i made, threw it into the wok with water from making udon noodles, said noodles, a chopped up chicken breast, carrot, onion, garlic, and broccolli.
Came out delicious.
...Also as far as i can tell i basically accidentally made ramen, so i can no longer say i've never eaten ramen. Whatever! it was still SUPER TASTY.
A tip you can use to help with dough temperature regulation is keep a deep sheet pan in the freezer and when the dough feels warm put a sheet of parchment over it followed by said sheet pan. I've heard that's a go-to for pie dough, at least, so not sure how well it'd work for the thicker stuff
I made carbonara tonight. The really traditional stuff: Guanciale, Pecorino cheese, spaghetti, black pepper and eggs, nothing else.
Surprisingly, I struggled more with the saltiness than the fattiness in the final dish. The guanciale rendered down beautifully and its oil disappeared into the pasta without becoming heavy or gluggy, but the salt was about at the upper limit of what I or my Dad could tolerate, and I hadn’t added any beyond what was necessary for the pasta water. I think I would have to cut the amount of meat by about 30% if I were to make it again.
Guanciale is something else, though. Very different to bacon, underneath the saltiness the flavour is more complex and less obviously smoky, like an enhanced version of a really nice piece of pork crackling. Definitely worth trying in its own right.
It ended up tasting great, but needs a bit more kick
Thai green curry is my jam! From your recipe above one thing that would recommend, nay insist on, would be kaffir lime leaves. To me they are pure distilled thai green curry flavour, find some and give em a sniff and I think you'll agree!
Plus they make the paste much greener, as per its namesake.
It ended up tasting great, but needs a bit more kick
Thai green curry is my jam! From your recipe above one thing that would recommend, nay insist on, would be kaffir lime leaves. To me they are pure distilled thai green curry flavour, find some and give em a sniff and I think you'll agree!
Plus they make the paste much greener, as per its namesake.
I was going to buy some but they were fairly expensive so I omitted
I made carbonara tonight. The really traditional stuff: Guanciale, Pecorino cheese, spaghetti, black pepper and eggs, nothing else.
Surprisingly, I struggled more with the saltiness than the fattiness in the final dish. The guanciale rendered down beautifully and its oil disappeared into the pasta without becoming heavy or gluggy, but the salt was about at the upper limit of what I or my Dad could tolerate, and I hadn’t added any beyond what was necessary for the pasta water. I think I would have to cut the amount of meat by about 30% if I were to make it again.
Guanciale is something else, though. Very different to bacon, underneath the saltiness the flavour is more complex and less obviously smoky, like an enhanced version of a really nice piece of pork crackling. Definitely worth trying in its own right.
Personally I would first try just not salting the pasta - it's my standard approach if I'm making anything that involves cured meats or anchovies in the final dish. (This is probably a personal thing, but even with simpler dishes I find that salt in the cooking water can easily dominate a lot of the subtler flavours of the pasta itself, so I'm pretty conservative with it. And I like salt! )
Conclusion i got from that is it's like any seasoning - used well, it does well, used excessively or not at all, and... eh. +/- usual tastes are different between other people.
Ceartinly in my current iteration of the chicken breast recipe, i think it's the mirin doing the heavy lifting, but the msg is helping add some subtleties.
I made the BA gravy recipe for friendsgiving this year and popped a healthy dollop of MSG into it before serving, and I will say it's the best gravy I've ever had. That said it's also the first time I've made completely homemade gravy including the stock so that could be a factor to.
Posts
Though this is getting me to thinking maybe I'll make some curry with leftover turkey and some wild rice for dinner tonight.
I just thawed the half of this soup that I originally froze, and I melted some goat cheese into it that I had left over from my Thanksgiving sweet potatoes.
Listen. It turns out that you can turn any soup into a rich chowder by melting goat cheese into it, and I don't think I can live my life the same way ever again.
Also it's worth mentioning that different types of shrimp paste can be VERY VERY different, so like. Be prepared for a lot of variation. It's probably not practical to get a different shrimp paste for each cuisine you want to cook, but some will be TURBO FUNK SHRIMPY and some will be more salty and some will be... you get the idea. (I don't use it because I don't shrimp.)
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Your place is going to smell a lot like shrimp funk
Brace yourself and open your windows
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Tomatillos rule. Also, if you boil that down thick enough and throw in some diced tomatoes, you'll have a hell of a burrito filling.
Turns out nope.
So oh well =(
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I haven’t ever seen any at hmart tbh
If you don’t wanna hit Chinatown, Amazon definitely has a few brands
.... though I will be nearby on the 15th!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnFi9dMoVFs
I never heard of isomalt before
That is some good damn cornbread btw
I hope a 14oz can of coconut milk mellows this stuff out because goddam is it powerful
Recipe was:
1 serrano pepper
3 green thai chilis
1 large shallot
1 medium green bell pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh ginger
1 tbsp fresh galangal
1 tbsp fresh turmeric
2 small lemon grass stalks
1 lime zest and juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp evoo
1 tbsp palm sugar
5 cloves garlic
Never tried veggies-- I eat it like congee at breakfast, occasionally adding chili powder, cumin or such, but mostly just eating it plain salted. Oh and chunks of cheese that end up half melted (though I guess you could shred it / stir it to combine). Sooooo goooood
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But those are good savory too!
For those that want it:
Get some chicken breast. 1/2 breast per person is my usual yard stick. Ideally, skin on.
Season with salt, pepper, msg on both sides, make sure to rub it in.
Preheat your oven to 200c (For you imperial folks... I shun you! SHUN!)
Melt some butter in a frying pan, dial it up to a decently high temp, then pop the chicken in once the butter's melted. Dribble just a dash of soy sauce on each breast once it's in. Sear on both sides until it's starting to get that lovely crispy brown on both sides. Pop into a deep glass cooking dish that's got a lid. Then throw some mirin (White wine also works, your choice), 250ml+ of stock (Chicken is obviously good, or use veggie if you want. hell be crazy, do beef) into the pan, deglaze it, and pour that over the chicken. you dont want the chicken floating, but you want it pretty happily immeresed in the liquid
Stick it in the oven for at least half an hour, lid on (Dont want to loose ANY of that lovely liquid) - shouldn't need much more than that to cook all the way through. Worth flipping once or twice in the oven, esp to help the skin get nice and crispy.
Other end, pull it out and put it to sit on a plate. Use all the liquid as a base to make gravy - i usually just add a sachet of gravy powder partly because i'm lazy, but also because i find it's good, easy results, but feel free to thicken it with cornflour and add your own spices to taste. Add more stock/water/white wine/mirin as needed depending on amount of gravy you want - better to expand with water/stock though, so it doesn't get too rich
Serve with oven roasted potatoes, kumara (Sweet potatoes), peas, corn, and all that goodness.
Delicious
(I've even got some gravy and chicken breast saved from my latest batch, whcih i'm going to combine with udon noodles and make into some sort of extra delicious stirfry and broth thing, i think)
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kWt3QFqQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Alkctc1Vk
It ended up tasting great, but needs a bit more kick
Conclusion i got from that is it's like any seasoning - used well, it does well, used excessively or not at all, and... eh. +/- usual tastes are different between other people.
Ceartinly in my current iteration of the chicken breast recipe, i think it's the mirin doing the heavy lifting, but the msg is helping add some subtleties.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
I'll say that it has yet to make any leftovers worse, so far.
I'm thinking madeleines. Maybe one traditional batch with lemon, and a batch of either pumpkin or gingerbread. Financiers would be great, but all of my favorite financier recipes rely on nut flours. Hmm.
Practice at home before you try to do it while traveling. You're going to want practice with both the lamination, and any fancy cutting and shaping/twisting you might want to do to end up with interesting looking Danishes.
Make sure you'll have a nice length of counter or similar workspace for rolling out dough before you get started. If you don't, it won't really be doable.
Make sure to keep your dough and butter properly chilled. When you're rolling out your dough and working on your folds, if it starts getting too warm and soft, stop what you're doing and chill it again. If your butter is warm enough to soften too much you'll just end up pushing it into your dough rather than creating nice layers and beautiful lamination. Transfer it to a sheet pan and put in the freezer for a bit. Not so long that it actually freezes though - frozen dough/butter won't be any good for working with either.
So in regards to the last tip, give yourself more time than you think you should need the first time or two you try laminating dough. Build in an extra hour or two for chilling dough to keep it cold, so that if you find yourself working too slowly while rolling the dough out and making your folds - especially if you start getting into the weeds while trying to square off your corners and make sure everything is nice and even - you have enough time to chill it properly and still finish with enough time for sufficient proofing before you need to bake. Speed will only come with confidence, and confidence is only going to come with practice.
Try to watch some video tutorials ahead of time - they'll be more helpful than written recipes and pictures in a cookbook or on a cooking blog.
Also maybe consider doing croissants your first time. The recipe and technique is extremely similar and the shaping is easier (especially for chocolate croissants).
Came out delicious.
...Also as far as i can tell i basically accidentally made ramen, so i can no longer say i've never eaten ramen. Whatever! it was still SUPER TASTY.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
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I'll be bringing my metal detector too but that's nothing to do with cooking
on the other hand I have this halvah sitting and waiting to be put into tahini and halvah brownies
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Surprisingly, I struggled more with the saltiness than the fattiness in the final dish. The guanciale rendered down beautifully and its oil disappeared into the pasta without becoming heavy or gluggy, but the salt was about at the upper limit of what I or my Dad could tolerate, and I hadn’t added any beyond what was necessary for the pasta water. I think I would have to cut the amount of meat by about 30% if I were to make it again.
Guanciale is something else, though. Very different to bacon, underneath the saltiness the flavour is more complex and less obviously smoky, like an enhanced version of a really nice piece of pork crackling. Definitely worth trying in its own right.
Thai green curry is my jam! From your recipe above one thing that would recommend, nay insist on, would be kaffir lime leaves. To me they are pure distilled thai green curry flavour, find some and give em a sniff and I think you'll agree!
Plus they make the paste much greener, as per its namesake.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
I was going to buy some but they were fairly expensive so I omitted
Personally I would first try just not salting the pasta - it's my standard approach if I'm making anything that involves cured meats or anchovies in the final dish. (This is probably a personal thing, but even with simpler dishes I find that salt in the cooking water can easily dominate a lot of the subtler flavours of the pasta itself, so I'm pretty conservative with it. And I like salt! )
I made the BA gravy recipe for friendsgiving this year and popped a healthy dollop of MSG into it before serving, and I will say it's the best gravy I've ever had. That said it's also the first time I've made completely homemade gravy including the stock so that could be a factor to.