What did you cook today?

[ronnie_suburban]

Made a freestyle fried rice today. Leftover rice, leftover chicken McNuggets, some fresh celery and carrots, a bit of green onion, some soy sauce, Chinkiange Vinegar, Laoganma Chili oil with fermented soybean, and an egg. Next time less vinegar, more chili oil, less oil for frying.
Fried Rice free style.jpg

Looks tasty, and resourceful, too! I love black vinegar in certain dishes, many of which just wouldn't work without it. But it's very strong and has a super specific flavor. I've never tried it in fried rice but I'm not sure I'd like it there. Your instinct to use less next time makes sense to me. Otoh, Nanshan Chicken would be a shadow of its normal self without it.

I'm not going to question your use of chicken mcnuggets but I'm astounded that you used leftover ones. I've never experienced any of those and didn't know that such a thing was even an existential possibility.

Well, the vinegar was from a fried rice recipe on the Chinese Cooking Demystified YouTube channel. I know fried rice is really just a way to use leftovers, but I need some guidance till I'm comfortable with what I'm doing.

The chicken nuggets, well, I had a coupon buy one 10 nugget size, get one free. I ordered classic ones, and when I got home they were the "spicy" ones. Ugh. I usually feed the extra to my dog, but I wasn't going to give him the spicy ones. I didn't want to just throw them out, so I decide I'd use them in fried rice as the protein. I've also been watching the Mandy videos, but didn't check her channel for fried rice.

The chili oil, well I bought a jar the other day and didn't look at the best by date, which is next month, so I thought I'd use it. Should have used more, much more. I've run out of GWiv's oil with the Mr. Suburban mod, and haven't found the "roundtoit" to make another batch.

I think it was wise to not give the spicy mcnuggets to your pooch!

I really like CCD and trust them enough that I'd try something they recommended even if it didn't seem like a perfect fit for my palate. So, you'll keep going and figure out what works for you and what doesn't. It really is just a matter of getting reps making dishes and taking a few notes for yourself, so you remember which are your favorite combos.

And you're probably doing this but just in case, it's always good to taste/smell the ingredients before you include them. This will help you get a sense of whether you should use the proscribed amount, more, less or skip it entirely. It could also help save you from putting something old or sub-par in your food. This is especially true with oils. Seems they often go rancid very suddenly, so best to check them ahead. Just because that veg oil was good 2 days ago, doesn't mean it still is. This one, I learned the hard way.

[Jeff B]

...And you're probably doing this but just in case, it's always good to taste/smell the ingredients before you include them. This will help you get a sense of whether you should use the proscribed amount, more, less or skip it entirely....

Very sage advice(see what I did there ). I smell and taste spices and other ingredients a lot when cooking!

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

Last picture of old stuff and everything will be new from here on in.
This was my attempt at Sri Lankan cookery. A Pork Belly Curry, Cabbage Mallung & Lemon Cashew Rice

[trancher]

Nice. I'm diggin' that rice! Does it use turmeric spice?

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

Good spotting you add a teaspoon of turmeric to the water while you cook the rice using the absorption method. Then fry mustard seeds, cashews & curry leaves. These are all then tipped into rice and stirred through with a squeeze of lemon.

Cheers HKHL

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

Tonight’s dinner: Roast chicken, sautéed silver beet (from the garden) roasted spring carrots (sprinkled with sesame seeds & togarishi) & a new invention for me sweet potato & halloumi roasted with nduja.

Cheers HKHL

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

Here are the pictures, apologies

[ronnie_suburban]

Started the day by trying to RID myself of some old and fading ingredients . . .


Fried Bologna, Scallion & Cheese Omelet
Toasted/buttered aging baguette. Garnished with chives.

Next up, was a whole bunch of annoying choring that, with the exception of some seasonal garden prep and open-bottle liquor sorting, had nothing to do with food or cooking. After that, gearing up for a stir-fry, it was time for dinner prep . . .


Mise En Place & Tanaka Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Deep breath . . . shoyu, veg oil, chicken thigh, Shaoxing cooking wine, broad bean paste (aka pixian douban), Chinese-inspired spice mix, ground Sichuan peppercorns, spicy soy bean sauce, ramp leaves, mung bean sprouts, red hot finger chiles, minced ginger, minced garlic, fermented black beans, snow peas, sliced shiitakes, ramp bottoms, 4x gelatinous pork stock and white pepper . . . exhale.

Just winging it here, trying to use stuff up and hopefully, stumble upon a combination that worked well. That's why I didn't portion out a lot of these ingredients before I started; figured I'd just be tasting along the way and adding stuff on the fly. It worked out pretty well . . .


Plated Up
Stir-fried chicken with snow peas, ramps, shiitake mushrooms and bean sprouts. With leftover/reheated jasmine rice.

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

A gorgeous looking dish as per usual Ronnie_S. Great improvisation, which I’m not sure I’m very good at. I love your photography too, I usually get my wife to take the pics.

Cheers HKHL

[XexoX]

Breakfast. Biscuits and sausage gravy. (For those of you not in the USA, biscuits in the USA are more like a scone, but not a scone, than what you consider a biscuit. Cookies here are what you call biscuits. Done being pedantic for the time. )

The biscuits are the two ingredient ones, heavy whipping cream and self rising flour. The sausage gravy, well, brown about a pound of breakfast sausage, then sprinkle a 1/4 cup of sifted flour over the top of the sausage, stir it all up till you don't see any more flour, then add a quart or more of milk, simmer till you got the thickness of gravy you want. May need to add more milk, depending. I know, this makes a "dirty" gravy, but heck, I'm not running a restaurant. Good enough for me. For biscuits and gravy, I think I prefer a buttermilk biscuit than these. Should have used more milk for the gravy. Need more gravy to meat ratio than what I have here.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

[ChefKnivesToGo]

I love fresh asparagus.

[Jeff B]

Last night it was Ribeye and asparagus for us but I was to hungry to remember the camera. The Kentucky Mules might have had something
to do with it too....

[trancher]

I love fresh asparagus.

Swank setup, Mark! Looks great!
What kind of plate is that referred to as? If it's Japanese, surely it isn't referring to as fine china.

[trfrttf12]

Some smoked/grilled wings before being sauced. Only knife work was splitting and freezing the tips for future stock.

[ronnie_suburban]

A gorgeous looking dish as per usual Ronnie_S. Great improvisation, which I’m not sure I’m very good at. I love your photography too, I usually get my wife to take the pics.

Cheers HKHL

Thanks. While photography is a hobby I really enjoy, I'd love to learn your 'trick,' too.

Breakfast. Biscuits and sausage gravy. (For those of you not in the USA, biscuits in the USA are more like a scone, but not a scone, than what you consider a biscuit. Cookies here are what you call biscuits. Done being pedantic for the time. )

The biscuits are the two ingredient ones, heavy whipping cream and self rising flour. The sausage gravy, well, brown about a pound of breakfast sausage, then sprinkle a 1/4 cup of sifted flour over the top of the sausage, stir it all up till you don't see any more flour, then add a quart or more of milk, simmer till you got the thickness of gravy you want. May need to add more milk, depending. I know, this makes a "dirty" gravy, but heck, I'm not running a restaurant. Good enough for me. For biscuits and gravy, I think I prefer a buttermilk biscuit than these. Should have used more milk for the gravy. Need more gravy to meat ratio than what I have here.

Sounds great to me. That's my kind of breakfast. I've never made a biscuit that couldn't have doubled as a hockey puck. I admire your biscuit moxy!

I love fresh asparagus.

Oh yeah! That looks awesome. With asparagus like that, who needs steak?!

We've got a huge amount of asparagus scheduled to come in later this week. I look forward to doing all I can to burn out on it by the middle of June, as I do every year!

Not by any conscious design, this was the third Chinese-inspired dish I cooked this week and the second Chinese-inspired chicken dish in as many days. This one, Sichuan-style cold, poached chicken -- which I love -- -- I've made a few times and had already decided on/shopped for earlier in the week. "My" method is nothing more than an aggregation of assorted guidance that I picked up from a few of my favorite youtube channels. It starts with poaching the chicken . . .


Chicken Mise En Place & Tanaka Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Leg quarters, Shaoxing cooking wine, smashed ginger & garlic and leek tops & scallion bottoms. All this (just a few splashes of the Shaoxing) goes into a pot filled with cold water. Bring it to a boil for 15 minutes, kill the heat and let it sit for a few hours. Later, once the chicken was removed from it, I strained and heavily reduced the poaching liquid to use as a 'stock' later. I normally prefer a more neutral stock but even though this one's quite specific, it's really special, too.

While that was going, I prepped the sauce/dressing and garnishes . . .


Sauce Mise En Place & Tanaka Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Scallion greens, salt, minced garlic, cilantro leaves, Chinese celery leaves, minced ginger, roasted peanuts, Chinese celery ribs, freshly toasted/ground Sichuan peppercorns, Kishibori shoyu, granulated sugar, msg, gochugaru, homemade chili oil, sesame paste, 5-year-aged black vinegar and toasted sesame oil.

Everything except for the peanuts, celery parts and some of the cilantro goes into the sauce/dressing. Those remaining components are used to garnish the dish. The sauce should not be emulsified but more of a loaded oil. This can be tough and I was only semi-successful because the sesame paste is a big-time emulsifier. Once the sauce is assembled, the prep is fairly simple. Remove the meat and skin from the bones and cut/tear it up as little or as much you want. From there, spoon over the sauce, garnish as desired and serve . . .


Plated Up
Sichuan-style cold, poached chicken with wedge of iceberg lettuce and leftover/reheated jasmine rice.

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

Lamb hotpot and the process.

[HappyKnifeHappyLife]

I couldn’t post the other pictures unfortunately as the files are too large!

[Bob Z]

Enchilada time.

Made masa harina balls and flatten em out with this press. (The tortillas below the press are already cooked)

Quick fry in my new Comal (Thanks Ray)

Then stuffed with pulled pork, lots of cheese and enchilada sauce.

[ronnie_suburban]

Spring has (unofficially) sprung!

Quickie, grilled dinner tonight featuring my all-time second (or third)* favorite seasonal produce . . .


Grilling
Trimmed, peeled at the bottom, lightly olive-oiled and salted. These took about 10 minutes, covered, on the indirect side.


Grilled Asparagus
Just a beautiful first batch of the season and so sweet, too.

There was also flank steak but the asparagus was so good, it was kind of an afterthought . . .


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled asparagus and flank steak with a blob of the weekly slaw.

*Corn and asparagus can battle for the #2 spot but tomatoes will always be #1 in my book.

Happy Monday!

[ronnie_suburban]

Wild king salmon on the Weber kettle . . .


Salmon Mise En Place
Cold-pressed sesame oil, wild king salmon, seaweed salt, togarashi and granulated shallots. Rubbed the salmon with the oil, then seasoned it up lightly with the 3 dry ingredients. This togarashi, which I bought in the CKTG shop, is the best I've ever tasted. It was spicy, flavorful and indescribably aromatic.

For a side, a quickie but new/old favorite, steamed broccoli with miso butter . . .


Broccoli Mise En Place & Nakagawa Hamono Ginsan Gyuto, 240mm
Unsalted butter, broccoli florets and shiro miso. I love this simple prep. Rarely do three ingredients come together like these to pack such a pronounced punch. Was sorry I only had broccoli (and later, chives) to cut up because I just sharpened this knife and it is screaming sharp right now.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled salmon with steamed broccoli & miso butter. Leftover/reheated jasmine rice. On the plus side, I actually managed to create an emulsion with the miso butter. On the minus side, the fish cooked a bit hot and oozed some albumin (I was impatient and didn't wait for the fire to die down). It still tasted great and at least I was able to pull it nice and early, so it didn't overcook.