Started some pork loin in the slow cooker to make some pulled pork on this cooler Saturday. Also going to throw a chicken in the smoker and get it ready for the wife to make a chicken frico for tomorrow
It is quite easy, grab a slab of your choice cut. Place it in a dry aging bag (got the bags and vacuum sealer from Amazon) seal up and place on a small rack in the fridge for a set time. Trim, cut and cook. I was pleasantly surprised at the taste/flavor of the home method.
Today I bring you two Asian dishes. First up, a braised prawn w/ roe- cooked in coconut juice, shallots, garlic, fish sauce, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and a little chicken bouillon. It’s a childhood favorite of mine. Now we travel to South Korea for a spicy squid served with udon noodles. We have carrots, green onions, white onion, garlic, Korean chili concoction, soy sauce, and squid.
I have a dedicated cast iron high pot (20cm) with lid for the oven. That's a 1 kilo bread. The recipe is a mix of corn, grain and Manitoba flours, in equal parts, with a small amount of yeast (a pinch of salt, after leavening, if you like it). Natural 12 hours leavening, twice broken it; then 1 hour of baking in a non-vented oven, at 220°, with the lid on. Then 10-12 minutes without the lid at 180° if you want it "crunchy" (as i prefere). Constant "surveillance mode" of baking if you want a perfect cooking... ! Let have a try and tell. Best Regards Nick
I haven’t been cooking much lately but tonight I made a deconstructed “California Roll” called a SUSHI BAKE with salmon. It’s kind of a crazy idea- it’s basically a salmon California roll casserole A mixture of shredded imitation crab meet (1 cup), 2 baked salmon filets (cooked to just barely one) broken up (reserving a 1/4 as topping), a block or cream cheese and 2 tbsp sriracha all mixed together. Pour mixture over sushi rice in a casserole dish. Bake at 450 for 10-15 mins. You take roasted seaweed paper and make tacos. I used the salmon and baked it in the oven to crisp it up like bacon and then used it as a topping. Add some avocado and you’ll have the best ever california roll.
Tonight I used a recipe from Ethan Becker (Becker Knives) family cookbook, JOY OF COOKING, to make Linguine and Clams. I wanted to use fresh little neck clams but my local market ran out! Good thing, the recipe had a canned clam variation. Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil Onions (I used shallots) Garlic Chili flakes Dried oregano (Added fresh Italian parsley, lemon zest and juice) White wine Salt and pepper I mixed in the pasta too rough and it broke into little short strands. I need to be more careful next time. I also shouldn’t saved some pasta water for the sauce Next time I might add an anchovy to the sauce and definitely make sure I had fresh live clams.
For tonight’s dinner, I worked in tandem with my girlfriend and we took our taste buds to the far East, to Japan. She made a Japanese curry. From what I understand, curry originated in India and made its way throughout Asia. I’ve always liked Thai curry growing up and then I enjoyed indian and Japanese curry. They’re all very different. My job was the deep fried pork lion, encrusted with panko bread crumbs. I fried up 6 of them so I experimented with different seasonings. The pork all had salt and pepper, but for some I added chicken powder or garlic powder. I used flour, egg, and panko for the crust. Fried up in peanut oil. I made a quick Japanese coleslaw. We made Japanese short grain rice to soak up all the curry goodness. Some pickled radish as a palate cleanser
The other month a forum buddy encouraged me to make Carne Guisada a Mexican dish, sort of like a beef stew but thicker that you can serve on flour tortillas, with rice, or alone as a stew. I’ve never cooked anything Mexican or Tex-Mex before so I was a little intimidated. Over the weeks, probably closer to 2 months, I’ve been looking at recipe after recipe. First I had to select a good chuck roast with good marbling. The best one happened to be on the smaller size but that’s fine, it’s usually just for my gf and I. Then I had to get Mexican oregano and cumin or “comino” in Spanish. I’ve never used either of the two, so I was eager to taste it first before cooking with it. before: After: For the oil, I decided to use the beat oil on the world bacon fat!!!! In most Carne Guisada recipes, they lightly browned the meat but I wanted to get some serious Maillard Reaction going and build a nice fond. I used the method of searing the whole roast all At once instead of cutting it up, in order to limit the amount of water that would be expelled and counteracting the caramelization I was going for. But I’m sure if I had a high powered stove like some of you guys, I could’ve cooked off water easily and quickly. I let it rest a bit and then I cut it up. It’s all about the spices! I mixed it up a bit. The spices I used were: cumin, Mexican oregano, paprika, ancho chili powder, salt and pepper. I used minced garlic, but I’m thinking garlic powder would probably be better. There’s also onion and bell pepper in there with a tomato. So most of the comments I read from the recipe blogs, had a lot of comments about how it was supposed to be like a gravy and thick not loose and soupy. I went a little overboard because my potatoes broke down and made it thicker than I had wanted. Potatoes were optional but my gf loves them so I added them. For sides we had corn salsa and Mexican rice and we ate the Carne Guisada as tacos. The corn salsa was really easy- a can of corn, half a red onion, a jalapeño, cilantro, and 1 lime.
Finally warm enough to fire up the smoker, first brisket of the year. 12 lb flat, trimmed some fat used salt, pepper, a little garlic powder and for the first time some expresso coffee. 225 degrees for 4 hours then wrapped it in butcher paper saturated in apple cider vinegar. Cooked for another 6 hours until internal temp hit 205 degrees. Placed it inside a cooler until it was time to eat.
