Cooking+Resteraunts

[timur]

Now I have been looking a little into the art of creating food. Now, I'm no chef, and am just starting, but an idea popped into my mind: why not make a thread here recording any recipes or food opinions of any of the forum members; cooking sites have always been a little suspicious to me.

And also, another idea simltaneuosly appeared, as I like to travel: why not record any hints for where to eat for anyone else who travels through an area? I'm talking which restaruants to go to, and any "holes in the wall" you happen to know. Of course, its always best to do a little extra research if you're the one travelling through an area, but it would be nice to know what the people who live there (or have travelled there) think!

Bon apetite!

 

[Nicholas]

I have a question, whats best to make your own sauce? Tomato paste or diced tomatoes?

 

[PUTZ]

Depends on the style you like. I prefer a smooth, well-spiced sauce. 15oz can of crushed tomatoes (not diced) and a little can (can't remember exact size) of tomato paste. Crushed Garlic, or Garlic Powder, and Oregano to taste. Simmer for at least an hour.

 

[[TW]schneidzekk]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/apr/07/how-to-make-shooters-sandwich

 

[Olivier]

FFFFFFUUUUUUU-

Now I'm hungry

 

[timur]

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/apr/07/how-to-make-shooters-sandwich[/URL]

Now THAT is a sandwich I will have to try! :IS2:

 

[Lucidius134]

These threads make me feel like a piece of ****.

I can't cook and using the stove is enough to get my blood pressure up.

That said, I don't mind doing it with others and i'de like to try

YouTube - General Vamp's Quick Recipes Episode 7: Fried Chicken Stew

My friend mae it and it was really good.

 

[Floyd]

Been trying new recipies with an Orion Cooker:
[URL]http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/e5/e5c88df4-69c6-499c-b77f-04b98c9d30ea.pdf[/URL]

So far a favorite has been jerk chicken cooked with applewook chips.

Marinate a whole 5 lb. chicken for a few hours in your favorite jerk marinade, fire up the Orion and come back 1.25 hours later and enjoy.

Baby back ribs are next.....

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

Wow, I thought this thread was more "advanced" than exchanging recepies of tomato sauce, which is as basic as it gets

To contribute, my original "Wiener Schnitzel" recipy, which is also quite easy:

You need
thin veal or pork schnitzels
flour
eggs (approx 1 per two schnitzels)
white breadcrumbs
salt pepper
Optionally: crushed pumpkin seeds or sesame
butter oil (vegetable oil also possible, but not as tasty)

Hammer the meat until it's 3 milimeters thin and tender.

Prepare three plates: one with flour, one if the raw scrambeled eggs and one with the breadcrumbs. You can add the crushed pumpkin seeds (for the styrian schnitzel) and sesame to the breadcrumbs for a tad of extra crispiness and flavour.
Put salt and pepper on the eggs.

It's best to put the plates next to each other in the order I mentioned them, because next you take the schnitzels and first cover both sides with flour. Then you cover both sides with the eggs. After that, you gessed it, cover both the sides with the breadcrumbs.
Those steps might get a tad dirty, and if you have problems with touching raw meat and raw eggs, you can use a fork. The results will be better if you use your fingers though. Be advised that the cake that will bild itself on your hands is quite hard to wash off

After you've finished that, fry them the butter oil until they are golden brown.
Done.

As a traditional sidedish serve parsley potatoes.

Simply cook and peal the potatoes (or the other way round, as you prefer), and then stir fry the whole potatoes in a pan with a little butter (1-2 sppons full for 3-5 potatoes) and parsely until they shine. salt them.

to complete the traditional viennese dish, serve it with cranberry compot or jam and a slice of lemon (the fruit, not the forum user). Squeaze the lemon on the Schnitzel just before eating.

 

[Dr. Pierre Chang]

A jambalaya recipe from my family, I apologize in advance for its lack of metric units:

1 small fryer (chicken)
1 rib celery with leaves
1 onion, halved (don't have to peel)
1 clove garlic


2 cups converted Long Grain Rice
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pound ham, cubed
1/2 stick butter
1 c. chopped yellow onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 large bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 tsp. salt (replace with Cajun seasoning like Tony Chachere's or Zatarains if desired)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp Tabasco

In a large pot, cover chicken with water and add celery, onion and whole garlic. Boil until tender. Remove and debone chicken. Save 5 cups of the stock to cook your rice in. Cook rice about 25 minutes or until all liquid absorbed.

In a Dutch oven (or any large pot), fry sausage and ham until lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Remove meat. Add butter to pan and saute' onion, pepper, and parsley until tender, about 3 minutes. Add chicken, sausage and ham; stir in minced garlic, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Add rice and mix thoroughly (fold gently, don't stir or it will get gummy). Put in oven about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf and serve. Serves 8-10.

 

[JCoquillon]

I actually cooked a Jambalaya last night. (Well it was closer to a jambalaya than a Paella).

I used elements of 2-3 recipes to create one that best suited my taste and cooking style.

I used Chorizo for the smoked sausage, frying it first, then removed from the pan leaving the oils. Into that I added the chicken thighs (cut up roughly and pre-marinated in a spicey cajun marinade) until it was lightly browned. The chicken then was removed and placed with the chorizo whilst I lightly browned some onions. I added a little butter here as the oil from the chorizo was largely absorbed.

Into this I added crushed garlic, red and green peppers, and finely chopped red chillis along with veg (in this case some green beans, courgette and peas). These I lightly browned again before adding in the rice and making sure it absorbed as much of the oils as possible by frying it for a minute or two.

Next to be added was the chopped tomatoes which I mixed through thoroughly. I then added a pint of chicken stock with Tabasco, and the whole mixture was allowed to simmer on a low heat for 25 mins or so. Once happily simmering I added the prawns so they wouldn't get overcooked (15-20 mins max on the low heat).

In terms of seasoning it's up to you. I used some unorthadox ingredients like Harissa - I just love the stuff and it gives great colour, warmth and flavour.

I am in no way a chef. But I am comfortable and confident in the kitchen and happy to improvise and always produce yummy food.

I tend to read through several recipes before tackling any new meal to work out what the key elements are, how different chefs tackle the order and the little touches that make a meal. I then adjust them a little and select the elements that appeal most to me and cook without a recipe to hand. It's a bit like I was taught in my history degree. You research a topic, take in the different versions and compare and contrast to find the key "themes". This is the recipe I store in my head, a more generalised sequence with the recipe broken down into the minimum of parts and ratios rather than fixed quantities in my head. Making it easy to scale up or down.

I shall post some more of my condensed recipes later. I have a very good kedgeree recipe from the family, a proper beef stew with dumplings, smoked haddock with a butternut squash, sweet potato and potato mash, and will stop typing now as I am suddenly starving.

 

[Switchblade]

I love Jambalaya with Chorizo, but I also add a can of tropical fruit when it's almost done, gives it a tad sweetness, really delicious

What I also like for a starter (or snack) is some quesadillas

take one tortilla as bottom, cover it with rasped cheddar cheese, mashed kidney beans from a can (preferrably in a spicy sauce) and some diced jalapeno peppers, top it of with some more cheddar and place a second tortilla on top.

bake it in a pan on medium heat, 2-3 minutes for each side (turning them over is a little exercise)
Serve with sour cream and diced tomatoes
dead simple but really nice

 

[Nestor Makhno]

One for the veggies....

2 large onions
Large-ish chunk of ginger
2 large green chillies
2 tins chick peas (U.S. = garbanzo beans)
4 large tomatoes
about 500 ml vegetable stock
2 large lemons
2 tbsp coriander powder
2 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp fenugreek powder

1. Finely chop the onions, reserve 2/3 for the sauce. Fry the rest in plenty of olive oil until golden.
2. Add the spices to the frying pan, stir them in to soak up the oil.
3. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes then remove the skins.
4. Chop the tomatoes well and scoop the lot (flesh, seeds and juice) into the pan.
5. Bring to the boil and add the chick peas and some stock.
6. Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid off, adding more stock if it starts to get dry.
7. Grate the ginger, squeeze the lemons, chop the chillies very fine then add the juice, ginger and chillies to the left-over raw onions from step 1 and mix it well.
8. Serve the chick pea mix in a bowl with the juice from 7 poured over the top.
9. Fart copiously for the next 2-3 hours.

Actually a pretty good meal - about the only veggie food I can bear to eat regularly.

 

[JCoquillon]

One for the veggies....

I vote we keep this to just actual food...

No mud and conkers please!

 

[PUTZ]

Substitute any hoppy or otherwise "spicy" beer. It's fantastic!

 

[fiftyone]

I vote we keep this to just actual food...

No mud and conkers please!

Get out JC.

1 green pepper (sliced).
3 small onions (chopped.
2 medium sized carrots (finely sliced).
A bunch of small Italian tomatoes (just stab em once).
A little garlic, some 'herbs du Provence' a couple of button mushrooms also finely chopped.
2 soup spoons of olive oil.
A small glass of water and half a small glass of red wine.

Now do what you want to cook it in a hot deep cast iron frying pan, (a wok if you like but a heavy one).

@ JC...
1 pig chop fried fast and furious in a second pan, spoon in enough legumes to suit your taste.

 

[Nestor Makhno]

I just edited my previous recipe as it said 'pour boiling oil' over the tomatoes to remove their skins.

That's called getting medieval on their asses.

I meant water, of course.

 

[Peter.Steele]

French Bread

The picture in the spoiler tags is from the first time I made it. I've made it 6-7 times since then, and it's come out looking - and tasting -just as good each time.

Spoiler!

~6-7 cups all purpose flour
2 packets of yeast
2.5 cups of water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable shortening of some sort. You can use Crisco if you like, but I usually use coconut oil. I've done it both ways, never noticed a difference.
1 egg
corn meal

Start off by cracking the egg, and let it sit in a bowl until we need it. We'll be separating the yolk out from it, and it's easier to do this when the egg is room temperature.

Put about half the flour in a large mixing bowl. (I have a stand mixer, so I usually use that.) Put the yeast in on top of it.

Take the water, sugar, salt and shortening and mix them up. Heat until the shortening is almost-but-not-quite melted. The sugar and salt probably won't be in solution, so stir them until they're at least in suspension. Pour it into the flour / yeast.

Stir vigorously for 30 seconds, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. If you're using a stand mixer, put the wire whisk thingy on. A hand mixer works okay too.

Stir in the rest of the flour. If you're using a mixer and have a dough hook, use that at low speed. Once you've got a doughy ball, keep going for another 3-4 minutes, or until the motor starts to smoke on your mixer, whichever is longer. If your motor hasn't started smoking by 10 minutes or so, then go ahead and shut it off.

If you're going to knead by hand, turn the dough out onto a floury flat surface and knead it for about ten minutes. Don't skimp on the kneading.

At this point, I leave the dough ball in the mixer and just put a clean towel over it. If you're kneading by hand, you can leave it on the counter / cookie sheet / whatever and cover it. Let it sit for a minimum of an hour, but ideally you want the dough to rise until it's about twice the size that it started.

After this happens, take the towel off and punch it back down. Re-cover and let it sit for 10 minutes or so.

Cut the dough ball in half, and use a roller to make thin, flat sheets that are about the dimensions of the cookie sheet that you'll be baking this on. Once it's flat, roll it up very tightly so that you've got a tube that's as long as your cookie sheet is wide. Pinch off the ends and tuck them under. Pinch the seam on the bottom, too. Make sure that everything is all sealed up nice and tight, or it will come apart when you're baking. Do the same thing with your other piece of dough.

Spread the cornmeal on the cookie sheet, place the loaves on top. Cut angled slashes on the top of the bread, about 1/8" deep. Cover the loaves, let them rise again for an hour to an hour and a half, or until they're twice the original size. Make sure that there's plenty of space between the loaves on the cookie sheet, too.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Separate the yolk out from the egg, and discard. Brush about half of the whites over the two loaves.

Bake for 20 minutes. Brush the remainder of the egg white over the loaves.

Bake for another 20 minutes.

Congratulations ... you should now have two loaves which look more or less like the ones in the pictures.

 

[Peter.Steele]

Part 2: Braised Short Ribs

(In the interests of full disclosure, I must admit that I adapted this from Tom Collichio's recipe.)



3-4 stalks of celery
8-12oz. carrots
1 large onion
12-16oz. whole mushrooms

2lbs short ribs (English or Korean style, either will work)

1 750mL bottle of dry red wine (don't cheap out on this - If you wouldn't drink it, then don't cook with it either!)

garlic (you can use fresh garlic, garlic paste, or the store-bought minced garlic. You want about 3 cloves worth, or more if you like it)

salt and pepper

24oz. chicken stock

cooking oil (any kind of high-quality vegetable oil works. I got lucky and had a bottle of truffle oil in the cupboard)

_________________________________________________

Brown the meat in some oil in a cast-iron pan. You don't want to burn anything, but really get it good and browned. You want plenty of juices in the pan. Salt and pepper at this point. When the meat is good and brown on all sides (this is easier with the korean-style than the English-style ribs, but more dangerous as they're usually thinner-cut) set the meat aside in a fairly large baking dish. A large enameled cast iron thingy is great, but if you don't have one then make sure it's something that the wine won't stain. I usually use a large pyrex dish at this point, lacking an appropriate enameled cast iron thingy.)

On low-medium heat, cook the chopped celery, onions, mushrooms and garlic until the vegetables are softened but not mushy.

Add the bottle of wine. Bring it to a boil, and then let it simmer for about five minutes or so. Pour this whole lot over the meat. Cover, and let it sit overnight.

Next day, you've got a couple options. The purists will tell you to strain out all the veggies and put fresh stuff in there. I don't bother with that, and just pour in the chicken stock and throw the whole mess in the oven at 350 for a couple of hours, covered up.

After that, uncover it, turn the meat over, and cook uncovered for another hour or so, or until there's about half the amount of sauce remaining.

Next, take the meat and set it in another baking dish - pyrex is definitely king this time. Strain all the vegetable mush out of the sauce. Keep the mushrooms, discard the rest of the crap. Try and skim as much of the fat out of the sauce as possible. A turkey baster works quite well here. I've got a vacuum pump used for bleeding brakes, too, and I've been thinking about trying that sometime too - it should work very well.

Pour the sauce and mushrooms over the meat in the pyrex dish, and broil it on high for a few minutes - not too long, just until it starts to sizzle a little bit. This is actually the most critical stage in the process right here. I've ****ed this dish up badly at this point, and it was an expensive failure, with about $40.00 worth of ingredients gone to hell.

Serve this with some good quality mashed potatoes or bread.

This one took a couple of tries to get right, but it is definitely worth it if you succeed.

 

[ZuppaD]

I really like Taco Bell. The food is cheap and delicious. Two beef chalupa supremes, a hard shell taco with hot sauce, and a 32oz Mountain Dew Baja Blast is the best fast food meal for under $6. Ignoring the fact that it has almost no health benefits, I'd say it's a great choice for any meal.