Cooking Questions 4: More questions about cookery

[Yagathai]

Edited my post to include a traditional Chinese pickling recipe. If you're thinking easier and more American South, you can use something like this:

http://www.jamesbeard.org/recipes/pickled-mustard-greens

[Deedles]

That sounds awesome yags

 

[Lily Valley]

Thanks Yags!   I think she's bringing even more down next week so if I screw these up I can try again.

 

[MercenaryChef]

I love them in a salad 

[Yagathai]

I should have specified you want to start with 1.5-2 lbs of greens for a 2 quart jar. But that's approximate.

[Lily Valley]

I should have specified you want to start with 1.5-2 lbs of greens for a 2 quart jar. But that's approximate.

Thanks Yags.  I only know the volume raw, I doubt it's 1.5 lbs.  I will borrow a scale from work to figure out how much I have.  There's enough greens in the fridge right now that I'm worried 6 people aren't going to eat the salad greens before they turn.  My best effort in incorporating the mustard with the salad is 3:1.  That means I have to do something with them ASAP.  Too pretty to let them rot.  I've got tomorrow night and a reasonably clean kitchen.  I just need to pick up the peppers.

 

Edit:  People eat lima beans?  Really?

[TerraPrime]

Edit:  People eat lima beans?  Really?

Get thee to a Shanghai-nese restaurant and enjoy the deliciousness of lima beans. Fresh tender lima beans stir fried with picked mustard greens is delicious on hot, flaky, steamed twist-roll.

[HexMachina]

I'm baking stollen to get rid of the marzipan in the cupboard (we still have another block left. No idea what to do with that) and have a couple of questions.

1) Can I bake it in a loaf tin? The recipe tell so me to use a baking sheet, but I'm curious as to whether cooking in a loaf tin works, as that would work better when it comes to slicing. My main concern was that it wouldn't bake properly, and burn on the top while being raw underneath.

2) Is there anything specifically I need to do to stop the stollen forming a hard crust? Whenever I've had stollen in the past, it's always had soft crust. Usually when i bake bread and want a soft crust I'll brush it with butter when it comes out of the oven, but there are no instructions to do so in the recipe, just to dust with icing sugar when cool. 

3) Any suggestions for what to do with the other block of marzipan also appreciated.

[Silvana]

Since the board update removed the bake-off thread, I don't really have the heart to restart it. I did make a mushroom tart, though:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CU3pkJqW4AAFG10.jpg

Looks delicious!

Get thee to a Shanghai-nese restaurant and enjoy the deliciousness of lima beans. Fresh tender lima beans stir fried with picked mustard greens is delicious on hot, flaky, steamed twist-roll.

I'm a sucker for lima beans. Prepared properly, they're fantastic.

[HexMachina]

I'm baking stollen to get rid of the marzipan in the cupboard (we still have another block left. No idea what to do with that) and have a couple of questions.

1) Can I bake it in a loaf tin? The recipe tell so me to use a baking sheet, but I'm curious as to whether cooking in a loaf tin works, as that would work better when it comes to slicing. My main concern was that it wouldn't bake properly, and burn on the top while being raw underneath.

2) Is there anything specifically I need to do to stop the stollen forming a hard crust? Whenever I've had stollen in the past, it's always had soft crust. Usually when i bake bread and want a soft crust I'll brush it with butter when it comes out of the oven, but there are no instructions to do so in the recipe, just to dust with icing sugar when cool. 

I know I didn't really give much time for responses, so if anyone has an opinion I'll still welcome them  But stollen is made now. Turned out okay, and I went for baking it in the loaf tin. Small amount of marzipan leaked out (but then those burnt bits are the best part) but otherwise no real issues with it baking - certainly didn't undertake as I had feared. Decided to brush the top with butter as it was starting to crisp up, which isn't what I was after. Here are some pictures: http://i.imgur.com/YHjzS3i.jpg http://i.imgur.com/T8aorqd.jpg Need to dust them with icing sugar still but overall not as bad as I had feared.

(Oh, and if anyone is wondering, there is no dried fruit in there, beczuse I thought I had some in the cupboard but turns out I was wrong)

[The guy from the Vale]

You might bake marzipan cookies or a marzipan cake. If you're feeling more advanced as a baker than that, you might also try your luck with a Swedish Princess Cake.

[Deedles]

Went out for dinner. It was delicious. But,.... It's the little things that grate.

 

We ordered cocktails as well as a bottle of wine, asking that the cocktail came first. Despite being the first thing ordered, we had the amuse Bouche without a drink and were half way through our starters when the cocktails came.

 

My plate! I had a mini tasting plate for my starter, but the lip meant that any time I put my knife down it slithered onto the plate and into a sauce. Cue sticky hands. 

 

Overall  a good meal but these imperfections detracted greatly.

 

My question is, would you consider cancelling a cocktail if it hadn't come by the time your starter was served?

[Tears of Lys]

/snip

 Here are some pictures: http://i.imgur.com/YHjzS3i.jpg http://i.imgur.com/T8aorqd.jpg Need to dust them with icing sugar still but overall not as bad as I had feared.

(Oh, and if anyone is wondering, there is no dried fruit in there, beczuse I thought I had some in the cupboard but turns out I was wrong)

WE WANTS THIS NOW!!!!   

Went out for dinner. It was delicious. But,.... It's the little things that grate.

 

We ordered cocktails as well as a bottle of wine, asking that the cocktail came first. Despite being the first thing ordered, we had the amuse Bouche without a drink and were half way through our starters when the cocktails came.

 

My plate! I had a mini tasting plate for my starter, but the lip meant that any time I put my knife down it slithered onto the plate and into a sauce. Cue sticky hands. 

 

Overall  a good meal but these imperfections detracted greatly.

 

My question is, would you consider cancelling a cocktail if it hadn't come by the time your starter was served?

For the starter, no, but if I planned on getting some wine with dinner, oh yeah.  Were the cocktails really complicated so it pissed off the bar guy/girl?  I've heard they hate making complicated drinks that require muddling stuff - which I would too!   If it was a super deluxe restaurant (which it had to be if you ordered an amuse bouche!) then expectations are understandably high.

We very rarely go out to eat, mainly because I'm so damn picky!  (and husband is too, but he won't admit it.)  Like, I ordered Pad Thai the other day and was really missing the lime (instead of lemon) and chopped cilantro.  And the pieces of pork were HUGE and MANY.  I didn't want that much meat.  My dog was pleased that they had served it that way, though.

[Deedles]

Pretty bog standard I would have thought. A French martini and Tom Collins. I just prefer my cocktails before I eat. We were sort of in a limbo where we had wine on the table but didn't want to drink it. 

 

Pad thai with lemon sounds odd! Lime all the way. And it didn't have cilantro? Bah. I would have been cross too.

[Inigima]

First time roasting a chicken:

[MisterOJ]

Nice job. That's a pretty bird.

And, you have a gas stove. Color me jealous.

[Inigima]

So I roasted and shredded a pork shoulder the weekend before the storm, and parted it out and froze it in 2-cup quantities, which is perfect as that amount of meat equates to 1-2 meals for two people depending on how much other stuff gets added to it. This has worked out great, since my street still hasn't seen a plow. It has a rub on it, but in practice I've been able to use it in a bunch of different cuisines. I've tossed it with barbecue sauce for sandwiches, I've cooked it up with chiles and onions and beans for tacos, and tonight we made a simple soy sauce-based sauce for it and ate it with a vegetable slaw. It's been great, kind of a blank slate. A blank meat slate.

What else can I do this with? Can I buy a big-ass hunk of beef and do similar kind of stuff to it? I've made pot roast before, but it's always had canned tomatoes and water and was more stew-like. I don't know if there's a cut I can just slow-roast like a pork shoulder and repurpose in lots of ways. What about chicken, can I do something like that with a fattier cut like thighs?

[MercenaryChef]

Yes. Yes you can.  I like a brisket for beef though. Braise or slow roast it.  It can then be almost anything! 

Boneless chicken thighs are awesome.  But they cook easily.  May as well just own them raw in the freezer.  Pull them out,  marinade, rub, brine to your liking and then poach, grill, roast, fry or whatever. 

[Xray the Enforcer]

Poached chicken (poaching liquid has some green onions and a knob of ginger) is one we use frequently at Casa X. We use the meat in tacos, or dressed with sichuan peppercorns, chili oil, and green onions, and served over noodles or with rice and greens, or in salads. It can also go in a soup. And then the carcass of the chicken makes a nice broth.

[Mudguard]

I smoked a turkey this weekend after separating it into leg quarters, breast, and back.  We ate the leg quarters straight up, but likely will do something else with the breast.  Tacos, sandwiches, pizza topping, eaten plain, etc.  Huge amount of meat and very cheap to make.