What's Cooking?

[ness]

You got a source for good tomatoes this time year?

[ness]

Whipped up a few jars of refrigerator pickles. I like those Kirby cucumbers they have at Wal-Mart.

 

[Terrierman]

You got a source for good tomatoes this time year?

PM me.

The onion was incredible. Tasted like really good French Onion Soup.

[rps]

A day late, but here is the finished soup:

[ness]

A day late, but here is the finished soup:

IMGP0009.JPG

Looks good -- I suppose I could pick the cilantro off of there Yes, I'm one of 'those'.

[rps]

Looks good -- I suppose I could pick the cilantro off of there Yes, I'm one of 'those'.

I heard an NPR show once that discussed why some people think cilantro tastes like soap. I happen to love it.

[ness]

Yep -- it's genetic. I got the gene.

[ness]

Did a deep clean on the kitchen over the weekend. Now I don't want to cook in it

Got headed home late last night and decided I'd stop at a local diner. Pretty good, but a trained eye can tell that gravy is from a can and those taters are from a box. Didn't know it, but they had live music scheduled -- old country and gospel stuff by a quartet -- which I like in measured doses, so it was a bit of a treat.

Last night did all the prep for a roast in the Crock Pot ®. Chuck roast, onion, small potatoes, mushrooms, carrots. This morning I salt/peppered the roast heavily, seared it real good in a cast iron skillet, and then deglazed with about ½ cup tomato juice and ½ cup Marsala wine. Tossed it all in the pot, along with a few bay leaves, some dried thyme, crushed rosemary and three beef bouillon cubes and let it cook all day on low. Got home, made a roux (2 T butter, 2T flour), then added in about half the juice to make a light gravy. After we ate, I shredded up the meat, chopped up the veggies smaller, added in the rest of the sauce to make a stew for tomorrow. Gravy was particularly good -- wifey doesn't like wine, and she's not here tonight, so I got it my way. Tomato juice makes it richer too.

I sometimes wonder if folks reading this thread think we're being snotty by using terms like roux, deglaze, braising, cooking with wine, mise en place (that was rps, and that was borderline ). It may sound fancy, but it's really basic cooking methods, and I'd bet it's stuff you, your parents, or grandparents do/did, just without using the o-fishull terminology.

Anybody who has fried up some sausage, then added flour to the grease to make gravy has made a roux. If you left in the sausage bits, you essentially deglazed with the milk. If you got all your crap ready before you started (as opposed to running around grabbing stuff while you were cooking), you were practicing mise en place. If you stuck a roast in the Crock Pot ® with a little liquid and cooked it for a long time on a low temperature, you were doing a braise.

So -- don't feel like you gotta talk like Jacques Pepin to post up stuff. Personally, I try to post what might be interesting to others or get a convo going. Some of the best stuff I've seen on here has been the simplest, most unique, or old school.

And...if you usually find yourself scurrying around when you cook, next time you're getting ready for a bigger meal, think mise en place. (French phrase meaning 'put everything in place', pronounced "meez on ploss" if you want to chant it while you prep). Get everything ready, out on the counter in an orderly fashion -- all ingredients, tools, cutting board, whatever. Do all your chopping, slicing, dicing, whatever in advance and put it in separate containers. Pre-measure your spices, etc. Better to figure out you need to make a Wal-Mart run now, rather than right in the middle of things. Get the oven preheated, the skillet ready, etc. Then, and only then, do you start. Just see if it isn't the smoothest meal you ever put together. Yeah, a few extra things to clean, but I hear it's worth it. I need to try it someday

[wuteversbitin424]

Lol good stuff. I need to transfer all my pics to my computer off my phone so i can post and share them. As for others photos they are all great. I have a national level competition i will be competing in at the end of the month and there are a lot of things ive seen on here that are provoking ideas! Great food everyone!

[ness]

What kind of competition?