What did you cook today?

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ronnie_suburban
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Mostly leftovers for dinner tonight (86 the shoulder chops!) but I wanted to try out a concept I've been seeing a lot around the internet, 'golden' fried rice, in which the first step is coating the leftover rice thoroughly in egg yolk, which is supposed to help keep the grains separated and get them crispy once they hit the hot oil in the wok. Spoiler alert: it worked! :lol:

Went with a super minimal prep in order to help isolate and highlight the method . . .

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Mise En Place & Makoto AS Ryusei Gyuto, 210mm
Trio of sauces (oyster, soy, dark soy), leftover jasmine rice, minced garlic, veg oil, egg yolks, scallion tops and scallion bottoms.

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'Golden' Fried Rice
Garnished with a few extra scallion tops. As I mentioned above, this worked out great. I had a good feeling when the grains of rice started to pop and bounce around in the wok once they started cooking. In any case, we loved it and I think the pic conveys how nicely the individual grains came out. I'll definitely be doing it again this way in the future.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

That looks great Ronnie.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:11 pm ...I wanted to try out a concept I've been seeing a lot around the internet, 'golden' fried rice, in which the first step is coating the leftover rice thoroughly in egg yolk, which is supposed to help keep the grains separated and get them crispy once they hit the hot oil in the wok...
I came across that too and have been wanting to try it. Seeing your results will definitely make me try it!
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Jeff B wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 8:38 pm
ronnie_suburban wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:11 pm ...I wanted to try out a concept I've been seeing a lot around the internet, 'golden' fried rice, in which the first step is coating the leftover rice thoroughly in egg yolk, which is supposed to help keep the grains separated and get them crispy once they hit the hot oil in the wok...
I came across that too and have been wanting to try it. Seeing your results will definitely make me try it!
Definitely worth the tiny bit of extra prep, imo. I think one yolk per cup of leftover rice should be about right.

Tonight, another SausageFest. But first, some sides . . .

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Yellow Onions & Hatsukokoro Komorebi Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
I never have much success charcoal-grilling onions, so I just gave these hot, fast saute on the stove top in a combo of evoo and unsalted butter. Seasoned them up with salt, pepper and some Hungarian sweet paprika. Love this new knife. The serious bevel did a really nice job of pushing the onions away from the blade as I was slicing them.

Can't have sausage & onions without peppers . . .

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Bell Peppers Grilling - Before
They're coming in fast and furious this time of year.

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Bell Peppers Grilling - Later
Kept them moving, directly over the coals for about 10 minutes, then slid them into a zip-top bag to help steam off their charred skins.

Next up, the snausages . . .

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Charcoal-Grilled Sausages
Seasonal 'Grill' sausages from the main grocery store and some hot Italian sausages from the Italian grocery, where they make them in-house.

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Plated Up
With some of Mrs. Suburban's famous, instant-potted corn on the cob (2 minutes high pressure, manual release) and a pile of fresh, completely unfermented spicy-sweet cucumber salad. :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Heading out for dinner tonight, which provided a perfect opportunity to allocate my daily cooking time to another batch of breakfast bombs which, because I cannot help myself -- and because I do enjoy using my knives -- I've allowed to become a bit more labor-intensive than they initially were (or rightfully should be). . .

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Mise En Place & Hatsukokoro Komorebi Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Cipollini onions (from our CSA box), leftover 'grill' sausage, half a carrot I found in the produce drawer, serrano/jalapenos, Extra Melt American cheese (still working through the brick I bought to make queso dip back in January), scallion bottoms, scallion tops and cave-aged cheddar. This was the cutting, chopping and grating portion of the prep.

When my friend first showed me this concept, the idea was to keep it simple and just clean out the fridge. At its core, that's still the case but to optimize it, there's still a bunch of additional prep that needs to be done. For example, I don't leave any diced veg or diced/grated cheese in my fridge.

Once everything was cut and grated, I sauted the alliums, peppers, carrot and sausage in some evoo, let that all cool and then added it -- along with everything else shown here -- to the batter. That batter is comprised of almond flour, oat fiber, flaxseed meal, ground parmesan/romano, cheddar cheese powder, 6 eggs, rice vinegar + baking soda, salt, black pepper, dried sage/thyme/rosemary and a few splashes of buttermilk to bring it to the desired consistency. The completed batter goes into a greased and parchment-papered 9x13" baking pan and baked for about 35 minutes at 325F convection, or until a wooden toothpick is inserted and comes out cleanly.

After they're baked, let them cool for like an hour or so and then cut them into the desired number of bars (12 seems to be our magic number), wrap them up and store them in the fridge. Yeah, it's a bit of up-front work but on those weekday mornings when I'm dragging ass and every minute counts, I love being able to grab one of these on the go, pop it into the toaster oven for a few minutes and have a satisfying, savory, low-carb breakfast (at my desk).

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Breakfast Bombs
I'm a little concerned about that carrot but whatever . . . :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by gladius »

He Man Breakfast!

Hash browns sprinkled with Maldon salt, three eggs over easy (runny yolks :) ) with a dash of Tabasco and sourdough toast topped with Kerrygold butter and white fig preserves.

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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Maiden voyage on my new Demeyere 5-Plus, 9.5" nonstick frying pan. . .

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Chourico, Sauteed Onions & Assorted Cheeses Omelet
Toasted/buttered country French bread.

Later, some cheeseburgers on the charcoal grill . . .

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Grilling, Pre-Cheese
After ~3 minutes on each side directly over the coals, I was just about to put cheese on these and move them to the indirect side.

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Cheesed And Ready To Come Off
This was after about 3 minutes, covered, on the indirect side.

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Plated Up
Dressed with lettuce, fried onions, homemade dill pickles and various condiments. Riding shotgun were a blob of the weekly slaw and a super spectacular ear of Mirai bi-color sweet corn.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

Ronnie you have a way of making even the simplest of meals look ssoooo delish!
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by XexoX »

Mr. Suburban, how thick are those patties? And, is that American Cheese?
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Jeff B wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:11 pm Ronnie you have a way of making even the simplest of meals look ssoooo delish!
Thanks, Jeff. What I lack in cooking ability, I try to make up for with the camera. :D
XexoX wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:13 pm Mr. Suburban, how thick are those patties? And, is that American Cheese?
I didn't measure them but they were about 10 ounces each. And yes, I'm still working through a big brick of American cheese that I bought at Restaurant Depot back in January, when I made some queso dip. It seems never-ending.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

So many inbound vegetables right now, so veggie fritter cakes felt like a good idea, with all vegetables coming from our weekly CSA box . . .

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Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki R2 Hammered Gyuto 210mm
Diced/salted yellow tomato, eggs, minced jalapeno, scallions, grated carrot, corn starch, baking powder, salt, grated zucchini, black pepper, AP flour and Topo Chico.

Kind of just eyeballed things and winged it until I had a batter that seemed about the right consistency. Dicing and salting the tomatoes up front was a decent way to gauge the amount of moisture they were going to give off and account for it in the batter.

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Vegetable Fritter Cakes
Made a quick sauce with sour cream, horseradish, Dijon mustard and sambal. These were very good but I think next time I'd omit the egg to see if I could get them ever crispier. It is bemusing in the grand scheme of things how few vegetables I actually used to make these . . . probably about 8 scallions, one large carrot, one large zucchini, one jalapeno and two tomatoes. I barely made a dent in our inventory and this batch produced 16+ cakes. :o :lol:

There was also a quick grill session . . .

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Pork Shoulder Chops
Back by popular demand. Easy-breezy all the way around. Lightly oiled and seasoned, these went directly over the coals for a few minutes to mark them. Then, once they'd all seen some direct heat, I moved them to the indirect side, covered the grill and let them go for another 4-5 minutes.

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Charcoal-Grilled Pork Shoulder Chops

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Plated Up
With a pile of the weekly spicy-sweet cucumber salad.

Happy Monday! :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

Great pictures Ronnie. Those breakfast bombs look delicious.

Many thanks for letting me post them on Instagram occasionally. ;)
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Re: What did you cook today?

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ronnie_suburban wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:42 pm Image
Pork Shoulder Chops
Back by popular demand. Easy-breezy all the way around. Lightly oiled and seasoned, these went directly over the coals for a few minutes to mark them. Then, once they'd all seen some direct heat, I moved them to the indirect side, covered the grill and let them go for another 4-5 minutes.
Roughly what temp do you aim for w/ these shoulder chops? Curious not so much out of food safety concerns but rather these I think would need more time than say, rib chops. I make a fair amount of pork shoulder but either pulled or braised so temp has never been a concern.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

enjay wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:41 am
ronnie_suburban wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:42 pm Image
Pork Shoulder Chops
Back by popular demand. Easy-breezy all the way around. Lightly oiled and seasoned, these went directly over the coals for a few minutes to mark them. Then, once they'd all seen some direct heat, I moved them to the indirect side, covered the grill and let them go for another 4-5 minutes.
Roughly what temp do you aim for w/ these shoulder chops? Curious not so much out of food safety concerns but rather these I think would need more time than say, rib chops. I make a fair amount of pork shoulder but either pulled or braised so temp has never been a concern.
These have been surprisingly tender lately. I mean, there are some slightly chewy parts but they're pleasant, if that makes any sense. I haven't accurately measured temp -- because they're so thin, it's hard to get a meaningful read with the thermapen. -- but my guess is probably about 140F because they're fairly charred on the exterior but are still moist and retain just a faint touch of pink on the interior. Fires vary and the current bag of lump charcoal I'm working through burns hot and exceptionally fast but I'm going 2-3 minutes directly over the coals with these (moving and flipping frequently), then moving them to the indirect side (covered) for 4-6 minutes to finish them. Some better charcoals require less indirect cooking because the fire's still very hot by the time the chops get there. With this stuff, the fire's already dying by that point, so the chops need a bit more time.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

As I suspected, these fermented garlic dills did not take long. 10 days and they were ready. Pulled them out of the crock today . . .

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Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles
I swear there are more here than I started with. Is it possible they fermented and multiplied? :lol:

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Jarred Up
At least one of these jars is going to a friend's house. I'll probably keep a few pickles but I have a lot more pickling cucumbers coming in later this week. :shock:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by trancher »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:30 pm As I suspected, these fermented garlic dills did not take long. 10 days and they were ready. Pulled them out of the crock today . . .

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Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles
I swear there are more here than I started with. Is it possible they fermented and multiplied? :lol:

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Jarred Up
At least one of these jars is going to a friend's house. I'll probably keep a few pickles but I have a lot more pickling cucumbers coming in later this week. :shock:
Awesome, Ronnie! They look great. I love fermented pickles and kraut. I have never done garlic stuffed though, so I'll have to give that a go. It's amazing in the summer how much faster stuff will ferment compared to winter.

If you want a good laugh, call your local Wal-mart and ask the garden department if they sell pickle plant seeds. :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

trancher wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 6:53 pm Awesome, Ronnie! They look great. I love fermented pickles and kraut. I have never done garlic stuffed though, so I'll have to give that a go. It's amazing in the summer how much faster stuff will ferment compared to winter.

If you want a good laugh, call your local Wal-mart and ask the garden department if they sell pickle plant seeds. :D
Hehe . . . better to call rather than ask in person, that's for sure. 8-)

I love sauerkraut too but I've never made what I consider to be a really successful batch of it. I'm determined to get it done (properly) this fall. I think a slower ferment will be better, so I'm going to wait until it the weather cools off (you're so right about this) before taking another stab at it. FYI, these were just garlic dills, not garlic stuffed. The smashed cloves just go into the brine, which is definitely enough to impart quite a bit of garlic flavor into the pickles, and the smashed cloves are delicious on their own after they ferment, too.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Bob Z »

Grilled Salmon and some stir fry lo Mein
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

Great looking meal Bob!
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by trancher »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:09 am
trancher wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 6:53 pm Awesome, Ronnie! They look great. I love fermented pickles and kraut. I have never done garlic stuffed though, so I'll have to give that a go. It's amazing in the summer how much faster stuff will ferment compared to winter.

If you want a good laugh, call your local Wal-mart and ask the garden department if they sell pickle plant seeds. :D
Hehe . . . better to call rather than ask in person, that's for sure. 8-)

I love sauerkraut too but I've never made what I consider to be a really successful batch of it. I'm determined to get it done (properly) this fall. I think a slower ferment will be better, so I'm going to wait until it the weather cools off (you're so right about this) before taking another stab at it. FYI, these were just garlic dills, not garlic stuffed. The smashed cloves just go into the brine, which is definitely enough to impart quite a bit of garlic flavor into the pickles, and the smashed cloves are delicious on their own after they ferment, too.
A great book about fermentation is Katz's Wild Fermentation, 1st Edition. I see he has a 2nd edition out, and the reviews say he added political leanings to it. Best to keep those subjects separate. Anyway, the first edition covers vegetable ferments (kraut, low salt-kraut, kimchi, sour beets, borscht...) and then moves on to bean, dairy, wine, bread and vinegar ferments. It might be worth checking out if it ain't in the collection already.

I, personally, have only done a few recipes, krauts, sourdoughs and pickles which have all worked out quite well.

And as for Wally World, yeah, call that in... :lol:
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