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IronGAF Cookoff (hosted by OnkelC) Vol. 2

I bought my birthday dinner a few days ago but haven't had time to make it.
Xmas is done and it's finally time!

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I don't do a lot of savory but stepped it up this year for my friends. Normally I do puerto rican pork shoulder but bae picked up some top loin so I made do.

(Forgive the large aluminum pan, ended up roasting my veg on the side instead of crowding the pan )

Before:


After:


Brined it the day before with orange juice, apple cider vinegar, water, salt, and sugar.

Made some pockets and stuffed them with garlic cloves, and my marinade of sofrito, sazon, apple cider vinegar, orange zest, sage, rosemary, brown sugar, paprika, S+P, and some cayenne.

Roasted it for under 2 hours. Did some red pearl onions, mushrooms, and smash fried plaintains on the side.

Moist beyond belief and was the perfect balance of acidic, sweet, salty, and spicy. Really happy with how it came out. :)
 

JEKKI

Member
whatup cook Gaf and merry christmas! anybody here got any fried chicken tips?? I tried to make some today for my first time.

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I did this with the recipe from Vice, so brine for 24+ hours and soak in buttermilk for another 4:

https://munchies.vice.com/en/recipes/super-crispy-fried-chicken

and the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z8S84qtzQA

(didnt have pickle brine btw, just made a simple one with salt, water, and sugar)

I've been very attracted to that video since I saw it lol, glad I finally had a free weekend this weekend to finally try it out!!!

anyways I feel like I messed it up.

first of all, I'm supposed to keep oil at a constant ~325F? by the time I was cooking the later pieces I forgot temp control so they jus kept on burning...

secondly... the seasoning is too overwhelming!!!

I cooked a single chicken (the recipe is for 2) so I halved the flour to 3 cups, but kept a full tablespoon of each seasoning. (yet halved the cayenne lol)

I'm not sure if that overpowered the seasoning, or if I just do not like the flavors of all those seasonings like mace and cloves and coriander...

so I got 2 questions!!!

first question, does anybody have any other recommend fried chicken seasoning recipes I can try out next time?

and two, now that I do own all these random spices (paprika, mace, coriander, cloves, poultry season), what are some good dishes that would benefit from having these??
 

OnkelC

Hail to the Chef
christmas cooking marathon for the family is over...
on christmas eve it was a fondue for seven:
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christmas day was tukey with veggies and mashed potatoes for 13:
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yesterday, the wife made a potato salad with Wieners and a fish/cheese assortment:
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here's to IronGAF, only 363 days to go until the next christmas marathon and I don't have done any mise en place for it as of yet...
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OnkelC

Hail to the Chef
To counterbalance the christmas spirits, I made a few Frikadellen for dinner tonight to go alongside the leftovers of the potato salad :)
Prep is simple, for a pound of mixed ground pork and beef use two small finely chopped onions, two eggs and a handful of breadcrumbs.





 

Keen

Aliens ate my babysitter
Counterbalance? Meatballs are an essential part of the swedish christmad table! So very much in the xmas spirit I'm afraid ;)
 

snacknuts

we all knew her
For lunch yesterday I whipped up this weird-looking bowl of goodness.

0QCunge.jpg


Rice with a healthy dose of furikake seasoning. In a pan I just threw a bunch of random Asian pantry staples in with some brisling sardines. Sesame oil, soy sauce, gochujang, rice vinegar. I won't win awards for presentation but it was pretty tasty.
 
What's everyone go-to comfort food dish/recipe?

Easy for me is french cut green beans with a piece of thigh meat chicken.

Scrambled eggs, ramsey style, makes for a good slow morning breakfast.

Hearty is a stew or chili, which is great to leave in a stock pot on a simmer burner or in a crock pot slow cooker. I'll whip it up at night, let it simmer on low all night long and then turn it to keep warm for the rest of the day and let everyone grab what they want out of it. It gets thicker the longer it stays in there.

I also don't let things go to waste. If I raost a whole chicken, I'll boil the bones and make a stock. Then I peel off all the meat and turn it into chicken pot pie or chicken and dumplings. I cheat on the pot pie though, I just bake a sheet of biscuits and throw the chicken mix on top.

Cooking all the time, I no longer have go to meals. I can whip up something with any protien I have in the fridge. Just depends if I want to slow cook it overnight and not deal with cooking for a day or something that'll come together in 15 minutes so I can scarf it down.
 

thespot84

Member
If i have to make a side to bring somewhere it's almost always french beans/hericot vert.

I par boil for color then pan fry them. on the side i fry up some shallots and toast almond slices. in the end I put it all together with some fresh terragon leaves.
 

Symphonia

Banned
I was hungry and felt like something light and tasty.

So I made baked eggy bread bowls.


Topped with parsley, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The egg wasn't as runny as I had hoped, but it was still delicious.
 
I started to get into Quinoa a while back and felt like it wasn't digesting right. Stopped for a while and head it recently with no issues. Anyone ever experience anything like this with Quinoa. Google searching tells me that some people just can't digest quinoa well?
 

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
A day ahead and in the midst of summer down here in NZ, so I'll be holding a pre NYE barbeque tomorrow. Steak, chicken burgers, hotdogs, corn, potatoes, and mushrooms all on the grill plus salad on the menu. Meat is already marinating, and the prep is almost done (buttering and seasoning the corn to go).

Hopefully the weather forecast holds out and it isn't too windy.

And hopefully some good pics tomorrow or the day after too.
 

OnkelC

Hail to the Chef
A day ahead and in the midst of summer down here in NZ, so I'll be holding a pre NYE barbeque tomorrow. Steak, chicken burgers, hotdogs, corn, potatoes, and mushrooms all on the grill plus salad on the menu. Meat is already marinating, and the prep is almost done (buttering and seasoning the corn to go).

Hopefully the weather forecast holds out and it isn't too windy.

And hopefully some good pics tomorrow or the day after too.
Looking forward to it! :)

Our citizens have bought so much fireworks this year that the weather stations are expecting fireworks-induced fog / smog situations all over the nation.
 

Lilith

Member
So...for New Year's Eve I'll be making goose Silesian style (gęś po śląsku) with homemade red cabbage (modra kapusta) and dumplings (kluski śląskie).

So far I prepared the goose and the red cabbage. Now everything has to sit until tomorrow, then the goose will be browned and (hopefully) get crispy, juicy and tender.

It's my first time and I used my mother's recipe.

 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
I don't do a lot of savory but stepped it up this year for my friends. Normally I do puerto rican pork shoulder but bae picked up some top loin so I made do.

Moist beyond belief and was the perfect balance of acidic, sweet, salty, and spicy. Really happy with how it came out. :)
god that looks good. makes me want to get lilith and jump in a plane with her >>
 

OnkelC

Hail to the Chef
Yup, the prep just screamed for some hearty inside.

So, as the year comes to an end, let me thank you all for the countless delicious contributions and the as always great spirit in this humble thread. Let's make 2017 another year of IronGAF pride and joy. 😀





Cheers,

Ze Onkel.
 
My silicon spatula still tastes like candy. How do I get it clean? It doesn't really affect the food, but I can taste it if I lick it. I made some rissoto the other night and was eating some off the spatula and tasted it.
 
Did some traditional baguettes to go along with two roasted suckling pig shoulders that mom's cooking.

Irish Stew with a whole lamb shoulder?
You could make bread in it. Lilith has a great recipe for bread made in a cocotte.

that looks beyond wonderful. Mind giving the link?

wish i could get that kinda spring with my oven :(

My silicon spatula still tastes like candy. How do I get it clean? It doesn't really affect the food, but I can taste it if I lick it. I made some rissoto the other night and was eating some off the spatula and tasted it.
did you get someone else to lick it to make sure that it aint psychological?
 

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
A day ahead and in the midst of summer down here in NZ, so I'll be holding a pre NYE barbeque tomorrow. Steak, chicken burgers, hotdogs, corn, potatoes, and mushrooms all on the grill plus salad on the menu. Meat is already marinating, and the prep is almost done (buttering and seasoning the corn to go).

Hopefully the weather forecast holds out and it isn't too windy.

And hopefully some good pics tomorrow or the day after too.

Well, it did end up too windy so had to grill everything on the gas stove and oven. Still turned out pretty solid.

 

Lilith

Member
that looks beyond wonderful. Mind giving the link?

wish i could get that kinda spring with my oven :(

This is the recipe I used as basis (in french):

http://cuisinertoutsimplement.com/article-pain-en-cocotte-118531714.html

For one loaf, you'll need:
300gr water
500gr flour
25gr fresh yeast
10gr salt

1. Dilute yeast in lukewarm water.
2. Add flour and salt, mix & knead, form into a ball. Let sit for 2h (or doubled in volume).
3. Knead again, form, place in a cocotte (ground is covered with flour), cut the surface of the dough, flour the surface, put lid on cocotte.
4. Place in cold oven, bake for about 50 minutes at 240°C.

And this is my goose with red cabbage and dumplings.

 
hmm
what i'd found odd about the recipe was the amount of yeast. usually you'd use 1-2% for 2h of proofing. Room temp here is usually well above 25c, so with 2% you'd get a doubling in size with 1h.

With 1h, as expected, that mixture had already doubled. Gave it another 30min just to be safe. No change, obv. Followed the rest of the recipe. Given how wide the spring was, wondering if it was due to using a tall cast iron pan (which is a bit wider than a cocotte) or because i shoved it in there before the yeast was done consuming. Might be just down to using 00 flour. Or i might've just cut too deep into the dough.

Great smell and taste tho, no doubt about that
 
I went down to Charlotte to visit my Dad for the holidays, and it turns out they have a Le Creuset outlet down there. Went in and they had a 10qt Coastal Blue stockpot for 50$. Now I have I believe every piece of cookware that I truly need.
 

Nordicus

Member
Lately, in an attempt to get more use of my bottle of balsamic vinegar, I've been trying to brush my meatloaf with 50/50 mix of tomato paste and balsamic vinegar. It gives the outer layer a bit of a nice, dark, tomatoy taste.

But for whatever reason I can't shake off the feeling that I'm just wasting ingredients despite being generally pleased with the results. Am I just being paranoid?
 

ColdPizza

Banned
Made some pressure cooked bone in pork chops last night. Was a little disappointed they turned out a little dry. Used an instant pot electric pressure cooker, had 1.5 cups of chicken stock in there, and did it on high pressure for 15 minutes with a 10 minute natural release then a quick release.

Was the 15 min too long? I'll try 8 next time.
 
But for whatever reason I can't shake off the feeling that I'm just wasting ingredients despite being generally pleased with the results. Am I just being paranoid?

most likely yes, but if you really wanna be sure, all you have to do is brush only half of the meatloaf.
 
Lately, in an attempt to get more use of my bottle of balsamic vinegar, I've been trying to brush my meatloaf with 50/50 mix of tomato paste and balsamic vinegar. It gives the outer layer a bit of a nice, dark, tomatoy taste.

But for whatever reason I can't shake off the feeling that I'm just wasting ingredients despite being generally pleased with the results. Am I just being paranoid?

You know Heinz actually makes a balsamic ketchup? I love using it when making a meatloaf, but they only sell it in the glass bottles. I don't think you're imagining anything when you add it to your meatloaf.
 
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5zmgOUJ.jpg[/IMG]

Made picadillo for some friends. Probably committed a sin by using ground turkey instead of ground beef :lol

My first dutch oven as well, the thing is massive (9qt) and really heavy. I love it. Food turned out great.
 
Finally have my own big, bad Crock

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Made some good chili but I had an issue, so I have a question.

If you were making a crock of chili, do you brown and cook the meat before hand?
The recipe was not specific and I was on auto-pilot so I just threw it all in at the start.

It cooked fine and tastes fine but it looked like dog food. The turkey broke up into the smallest turkey molecules possible and it's weirdly blended into everything. I imagine the flavor would have been better of I spiced and cooked ahead of time.

Apparently that crock pot connects to the wifi and I can change settings by phone. I have no reason to ever do that but damn I want to.
 
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