Idle Food - Cooking!

[tabacco]

Whole bulbs? If so, roast it! Chop off the top to expose the tops of the cloves, put them in a pan, drizzle on a little olive oil, and roast in the oven until the cloves get brown and soft. Then you can squeeze it out like toothpaste and use it wherever you like. I suggest mashed potatoes.

[BobbyBesar]

Is it peeled? If its whole heads, it may last a while. Garlic from my parents garden lasts longer than you'd expect. Using at my usual rate, I can use it all before it goes bad. I think a lot depends on the breed. They use a harder clove/spicier flavor than many commercial breeds, and I think it sprouts slower as a result.

Remember also that your store bought stuff had to be processed, shipped, and sot on the store shelf before getting to you, so it probably gives you a couple weeks on it even with the same product.

[Dewar]

Take a firm loaf of Rosemary Bread, slice it and brush with olive oil. Then broil it until the outside edge turns dark brown and the inside brushed area starts to get tough. Take the bread out and rub a clove of garlic against the oiled area it like it was a cheese grater. Spread goat cheese over the top and serve. It will not only make your breath smell bad, but will be so garlicy that it burns. Also, it will burn again if you drink anything fizzy, and again when your brush your teeth.

[sucks2Bme]

thanks for the suggestions tabacco and CLW, came out great! Now i only have 8 bulbs to go  

 

Dewar, that sounds like how we eat steak tartar! (plus goat cheese) gonna try that but I feel like I will burn it! 

[Dewar]

Keep a close eye on the broiler, it doesn't take long. The main goal is to toughen up the bread so you can rub the garlic on it without it just punching through.

[undermind9]

this weekend was orthodox easter.  My ma hosts 40-80 people (depending if it is catholic on the same day - or if its raining)

 

The main attraction is the traditional lamb roast.  My recently late grandfather used to run the cooking part, but over the last several years had taught my brothers and i the ropes to prep work and rough cooking times and know when its done.  

 

 

We have modified some of the spices & opted for a slower & longer cooktime.  Additionally we get a +/-40lb lamb for better yield and better for the longer cook time (~7hrs)

 

 

inside spoiler tag for cooking instructions & photos.  Might be a little graphic for some folks

 

8am, fresh on the spit.  and yes, we brought the wiiu & a tv out, finally got to full 8-player smash, made for a great day

 

roughly halfway.  this is my bestfriend..he shows up at 7am to prep, i suspect he likes this holiday than i do

 

It is wicked hot on the inside, but it mostly falls off the bone.  My grandfather's "traditional" carving was just to take a cleaver and if you got some bone...too bad

 

 

It is actually fairly simple to prep and cook.  Most butchers can get a full lamb with a little lead time, they'll do all the messy work (head, limbs etc)  There is a greek traditional soup that uses the head, but we opt for it to be removed

 

 

 

if anyone cares how to cook it up-

 

Initial prep includes cleaning the remaining organs (usually leave the liver and kidneys for other traditional dishes) & lashing down to the spit.  We've got some interesting prongs with wing-nuts that work pretty good, but wire works just as good.

 

Inside the body/rib cavity goes a stick of butter inside cheese cloth with two lemons sliced up.  Also rub the inside with salt, oregano, thyme, garlic powder and pepper.  We stitch the center up with a thin wire we've inherited...no idea where to get more.

 

The outside gets thin cuts into the meat with full cloves of garlic inserted, probably 3 - 4 full bulbs worth, throughout the whole body.  The outside gets coated in butter and then covered in the salt/oregano/thyme/pepper spices

 

It goes on the spit and spins for roughly 7hrs at close to 250-275°F.  my resourceful stepfather rigged three temperature leads inside a thin wall conduit pipe that he hangs over the edge & back to a digital readout to keep an eye of the temps (wires and pipe visible in photo1).  They can then keep an eye on the front/mid/rear temperatures and adjust with more or less charcoals

 

Throughout the cooking process it is basted with a lemon/paprika/melted butter mixture to keep it from getting charred any one spot & (my brother makes it, ill edit post with the correct ratio)

 

7hrs or when it starts to fall off the spit time to cut up and eat.  It doesnt reheat great (full garlic cloves tend to get gross), but superb the night of

[Dewar]

Nice, I miss being in the country where these sorts of things are more practical. 

[Bjorn]

If we're doing grill porn, my ever resourceful father-in-law made a badass grill/smoker over the last few weeks to donate to his local state park.  Since he's mostly retired now, he's been doing some volunteering out there. 

 

He wanted to make them something that would allow for some big cookouts, since most of the grills that are present are fairly small, and it's been super dry out there, so he wanted a grill that would have next to no chance of starting a fire because sparks flew out of it. 

 

We were home over the weekend, and helped deliver it on Saturday, but of course we had to try it out first on Friday evening with some steaks

 

 

 

[undermind9]

i love the rebar handles with diamond grating.  i presume he got it powder coated?, ive never had to get anything painted for high-temps before

[Bjorn]

I know he had it professionally painted/coated, so it is both a heat and weather resistant paint, but I'm not sure what they used. That's the only thing he wasn't able to do in his own shop to the level he wanted.

[tabacco]

Powder coating, I assume: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_coating

[tegan]

Ground beef was on sale.

 

[Badfinger]

My heart's for sale to that burger.

[jennegatron]

I had a burger for dinner last night too! I didn't take a picture of it because it was much less pretty than tegan's burger.

[Badfinger]

I got a new skillet and a new 8" chef's knife, courtesy recommendation at The Sweethome because I am addicted to kitchen gear.

 

I made some chickums for dinner last night with them, used this recipe from Serious Eats.

 

[SecretAsianMan]

I got a new skillet and a new 8" chef's knife, courtesy recommendation at The Sweethome because I am addicted to kitchen gear.

 

I bet we have the same knife then cause I got mine off their recommendation too.

[Badfinger]

The Victorinox? Based on one day so far, I am really pleased with it. My other primary chef's knife is a Henckel's and this is lighter but the cutting was very good. I also have a cheap santoku I was using fairly interchangeably with the chef's.

[Dewar]

I love my set, but I've not really used great knives before, so I don't have anything to compare them with.

[SecretAsianMan]

I have a 5 piece Cutco knife set (6 counting the wood block) that I bought from my cousin a number of years ago when she spent a summer selling them.  They worked reliably but my chef's knife has a lot of dings in the blade so I was in need of a replacement.  I considered getting a santoku but thus far the Victorinox has performed very well.

[miffy495]

I have a great 6-piece Victorinox set as well! High five!

 

I promised my class a popcorn party when their behaviour goals were met, and said party is happening tomorrow. While I was at Sobey's buying supplies, I walked over to the meat section just because. My girlfriend is a vegan and I only ever really have meat at restaurants (it's just not worth making at home when only half the house is going to eat the meal) but decided that tonight I was going to make a steak just because. I did not  take a picture because I devoured it too fast, but damn. My mouth has not been that happy for a long time. I'd forgotten how much better meat can taste when you make it yourself.

[Twig]

I'm looking to buy a slow cooker and a blender and I know nothing about these kinds of things.

 

For the slow cooker I figure it's not a huge deal since all it is is just making something hot for a long time and then boom. Ideally I'd like to be able to cook a week's worth of food at a time and just consume it... for a week.. I guess I'm looking at this one.

 

But for the blender like I guess I want something that can blend anything like that WILL IT BLEND meme shit I wanna make an iPhone smoothie. This seems good? But it's a hundred bucks and I dunno if I need 72 ounces of blending capacity, since I'll mostly be cooking for myself. Glancing through Amazon reviews for cheaper blenders it seems like the cheaper they are the worse they are at blending. And this makes sense! But I don't know anything.

[JonCole]

The Wirecutter/Sweethome has been pretty well covered here, but I'll mention it again wrt to the imminent slow cooker and blender purchases. Unfortunately, their pick for slow cooker is only in stock for third-party, expensive sellers but the one you chose looks to be in the same product line as their runner-up choice so it's all good. I think that buying one with a timer and digital heat settings is a good idea.

 

I actually just picked up the budget pick in their blender guide. I've made shakes and smoothies in it already and I like it quite a bit. I've tried out a few cheap blenders before (which are just definitively bad, don't buy anything in the $30ish range) and I've tried my Dad's Vitamix (which is pretty amazing). I'd say that the Kitchenaid actually holds up fairly well to the Vitamix all things considered, with a really powerful pulse, a solid/heavy base, an easy to clean pitcher, and no trouble blending a ton of frozen fruit and ice with no big chunks left intact. I definitely think that this is a kitchen appliance that's worth investing in if you want one, just to ensure quality.

[tabacco]

Depending on your use for the blender, you may also want to look into stick blenders. They're great for soups and things because you just stick them into the pot and blend. No messing around with blending in batches. They're not as good at margaritas.

[Badfinger]

I wouldn't stress over the details on a crock pot, especially if you're not going to be taking food anywhere. The $25-30 crock pot is gonna work just fine for shoving food in on a Sunday. Find a size and cost you're comfortable with and grab one. I can imagine the programmable nature of the one you linked could be useful if you want to pay that premium.

 

When you get one, get these. They will change your crock pot life. (don't buy them online though, just go to the store)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reynolds-Metals-00504-Cooker-Liners/dp/B00578EKRY/ref=pd_bxgy_79_img_y

[JonCole]

Oh yes, liners are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED