Idle Food - Cooking!

[dibs]

They are star anise, you really are shit at this:P

[Blambo]

Yech yeah . I don't remember things like that well, but my tongue does!

Now I feel kind of nostalgic (and disappointment at myself). I haven't had stuff like a new years fish head in a while.

[SecretAsianMan]

Duuude "hong sao rou" is exactly what I was looking for! I couldn't remember the name and searching "chinese soy sauce pork" didn't help.

 

Glad I could help!

 

As for Chinese/Japanese food, I just try to do my best. Honestly, my impression of these foods is mostly built on Westernized versions of the dishes so I don't let myself be too bothered by my own western preparations. I try to be as faithful as I can to what traditional recipes I can find, but it's honestly hard enough to procure some odd ingredients that I can't come all that close without a lot of effort or money. Lately I've been trying to perfect Katsudon using the Tonkatsu that SAM mentioned - it's just fried pork cutlets over rice with a egg cracked over it and a dashi-soy sauce over top to partly cook the egg. I'm not great with dashi so I'm still trying to figure out how much I should use (it's dried fish flakes used to make fish stock, so it's more about concentration than anything).

 

I complain a lot about "American Chinese" food but it's mostly in jest.  While not "authentic", it's still good and I occasionally make homemade versions of it (like this one for sesame chicken).  Katsudon is great although I haven't tried making it myself.  I probably should one of these days, I already have the dashi.

[SecretAsianMan]

Dibs: Iirc from my mom, you boil raw pork belly until its bled out and cooked, dispose of the water, and then simmer it in a soy sauce, water, and sugar mixture until the water's basically evaporated and you're left with a sticky, oily soy sauce and really soft meat. No need to marinade. It's super good.

I founds some things online that also recommend using coke with soy sauce cause it has the perfect amount of sugar.

Those herb clovers in the picture are also good if you don't bite into em. Forgot what they're called though.

 

I do a similar thing, except I use pork shoulder and boil it directly in the soy sauce first, then add everything else after.  I also put in garlic, some ginger, green onions, a little cooking wine (preferably Chinese cooking wine but sherry works in a pinch), and the star anise.  The anise and ginger I put in a spice bag so I don't accidentally bite into them later.  Another thing that's good to put in are some peeled hard boiled eggs.  They come out similar to tea eggs and are delicious.

[dibs]

How long do you put the eggs in for SAM? Just to warm through? 

I usually use pork fillet for health reasosn, but every so often i accidentally buy some pork belly:D

[Blambo]

My mom did the egg thing too. As far as I could tell they were just put in raw, shell and all to simmer with the meat. Along with some other thing I can't remember to soak up the oil from the meat. I'm the worst.

[SecretAsianMan]

How long do you put the eggs in for SAM? Just to warm through?

I usually use pork fillet for health reasosn, but every so often i accidentally buy some pork belly:D

Tea eggs are normally made by hard boiling the egg, then cracking the shell and boiling them again in a seasoned sauce. For the red cooked pork you can do the same thing. Really you want to cook the eggs at the same time you add the other ingredients to the meat. They should turn a brown color when finished. I usually do it without the shell on though.

[tegan]

I made soy dijon chicken thighs with sweet potatoes:

 

 

 

 

It was goddamn delicious. Recipe here.

[JonCole]

I just did those a month ago or so! Very delicious indeed, I used half sweet potatoes and half butternut squash because that's what I had on hand but it was still really good.

[BobbyBesar]

Hey, I'm authentically Chinese, and enjoy cooking, so I'm a unimpeachable authority.

 

Rasa Malaysia - I don't often look for Chinese food recipes online, but when I do, I frequently end up here. SAM mentioned Tea Eggs upthread, their Tea Egg recipe is more or less correct, but tea eggs are absolutely something you should play with to-taste.

 

The reason I don't often do Chinese food recipes online because of Pei Mei, which is the gold standard in Chinese cookbooks as far as I'm concerned. Most of my Mom's recipes (that don't come from my grandmother) come from here. There are bi-lingual editions, which is what I have because food-Chinese is the worst Chinese (seriously, it's all nouns. It sucks).

 

My stable of chinese food dishes isn't huge though, because I make mostly what my mom used to make, and there are things you just don't do at home.

 

As for what you do with bok choy, I literally have one way I make every leafy vegetable, which is just to saute it in a little oil with garlic, salt, and rice wine. It is probably the only thing I can legitimately say I'm good at making because I've probably made it well over 1000 times.

 

My two go-to "authentic" dishes (i.e. ones you wouldn't find in a restaurant) both involved special ingredients (pickled vegetables) - meatballs with pickled mustard greens, and pork with...uh, pickled root tubers? (zha cai)

[Badfinger]

I was going to say I am excited to see the Thumbs output of foods in the next week for Thanksgiving, but I realized that no one here lives in the United States.

[Badfinger]

Ok, here's my Thanksgiving lineup now that most of my food is prepped. Just a reminder that Thanksgiving is objectively the best holiday that exists, and due to that it is my favorite.

 

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe.html

 

Turkey. I'm also going to be using an herb butter under the skin, and I "dry-brined" it. This is a change! I have been brining and doing Alton Brown's turkey for years now.

 

Making turkey backbone stock for gravy, which I'll do using a roux.

 

5 pounds of mashed potatoes. Russets, skin on, I'll do a stick of butter, salt, pepper and milk until it's mashed potatoes.

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sage-dressing-recipe.html

 

Herb stuffing. It's not really this but it's close enough. 1 king sized loaf of white bread torn up. 1 stick of butter melted in a pan, add 2-3 stalks of chopped celery and a medium white onion, cook down until everything is thoroughly cooked through. This isn't sauteing really, they're almost swimming in the butter. Add fresh thyme, sage, and chopped rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the bread, add 16oz of chicken stock. Mix up. I don't stuff a bird, so it goes into a casserole and will get baked at 450 until I remember to take it out of the oven after the turkey's done (probably about 30m). I double the recipe because it's my mom's recipe, everyone loves it, and I'm not allowed to change it. I feel for the people whose idea of familial stuffing is Stove Top. People say the secret to cooking is love. Nope, it's butter.

 

http://www.wholefoodhabit.com/bacon-brussels-sprouts/

 

Trying these sprouts for the first time. Shameless plug, this is my cousin's website and it's awesome for easy and healthy food.

 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cranberry_sauce/

 

Basic cranberry sauce. One of those dishes that seems fancy and is incredibly simple.

 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/applesauce/

 

Apple sauce. Same deal. Apple sauce seems complicated and everyone loves it so if you make it you're a hero. It's braindead easy.

 

I'm making a spinach salad as well. Going to do some strawberries in it, and make probably a balsamic vinaigrette.

 

And that's it! Except, of course, for cranberry sauce from the can. My sister is making dessert, something I've never been good at doing.

 

 

THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE.

[JonCole]

I like doing the cranberry sauce recipe but with the juice and zest of 1-2 oranges (enough to get at least a half cup of juice) to replace the water plus some candied ginger.

 

I'm having Thanksgiving with my parents so I'm not doing the cooking, but I am preparing a dessert tonight - pecan pie truffles. Also, my wife isn't joining me with my family so when I get back from my parents I'll be fixing her and a friend of ours a light Thanksgiving-ish dinner. Since the friend is on a low-to-no carb diet, it's going to be a challenge but I'm up to it. I'm going to be doing this preparation of Turkey and Stuffing Casserole, which is me hedging my bet on turkey because I've never cooked a whole Thanksgiving turkey before. To make it low-carb, I'm not using any prepared bread and I'm instead making an almond flour faux-cornbread tonight that will have a couple days to get nice and dry for the stuffing. I'm also doing mashed sweet potatoes on the side along with the aforementioned cranberry sauce and gravy from the turkey wings and giblets.

[Codicier]

My 1st attempt at cinamon buns

My god I felt this was going to go wrong right until it came out of the oven, the dough seem like it was too sticky and didn't rise as much as I expected in the intial proving stage but despite all that I'm very happy in the end, it all seemed to come together .

[YoThatLimp]

I made soy dijon chicken thighs with sweet potatoes:

 

 

 

 

It was goddamn delicious. Recipe here.

Holy shit dude, finally got to try this tonight in the dutch oven and whoa! Amazing!

[dibs]

Well, Aldi steaks come in packs of two and i live all by my lonesomes, so i was tragically forced to have delicious steak both Sunday and Tuesday night. Oh the humanity.

[Griddlelol]

Yech yeah . I don't remember things like that well, but my tongue does!

I get that too. It's infuriating. I recently had banana bread, but had no idea what flavour it was. Same thing with some cinnamon cookies. Weird how smells and flavours don't immediately bring up the word associated with them, just a feeling of familiarity.

[undermind9]

i made beef fried rice last last night and accidentally grabbed the Worcestershire sauce instead of the soy sauce.  Actually came out pretty tasty

 

...may make again

[undermind9]

Additional cooking post!

 

Chorizo with onions and enchilada sauce, fried egg & cilantro served on a tostada with chihuahua cheese...and valentina

 

came out great, tasted great, tostadas are f'ing useless.  this particular image is overloaded which made it even worse to eat

 

[JonCole]

I usually don't even eat tostadas as intended because I'm so anxious about it breaking or me messing up my clothes. Usually just destroy them with a fork and knife and eat it like a meat salad. That looks super delicious, though.

[Badfinger]

No pictures, but I made latkes and applesauce to take into work tomorrow.

 

Happy Hanukkah!

[dibs]

Here is some food that i have made and eaten recently. nomnomnom

 

Steak with baked potato and corn

 

Potato Waffles and eggs

 

Minestrone

 

Pork Chops with Guacamole and salad

 

Pasta with panchetta, creme fraise and peas

[dibs]

Dahl from farmers market

 

Pho

 

Bulgar salad, chickpea salad and some cured meats

 

Yoghurt with berries and nuts

 

Tonights dinner: Chicken, roast with garlic and lemon, with broccoli thrown in near the end and served with rice.

 

[dibs]

I'ma updated with what i had for dinner last night. Chicken and brocolli fried rice made with previous nights leftovers.

 

[Mangela Lansbury]

I got cricket powder today! I'm excited to cook with it.

I do not know what to cook with cricket powder.