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[Hooker]

Tripple header, curtesy of my big sis ^^. (actually quadruple, but just a picture without a recipe of the last one )

Main Course:

Chacouka (3 persons)

Dice 3 grilled, skinned and deseeded peppers (paprika), 500 gr skinned and deseeded tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic and two handfulls of fresh parsley and koriander. Fry the peppers of in some olive oil before adding the other ingredients. Add 1 tablespoon of paprikapowder and cumin powder in addition to salt and pepper to taste. Stew for 30 min before serving

The final product is on the bottom-right side of the plate



Tajine with Kofte and Tomatoes (3 persons or 2 big eaters)

For the Kofte; mix 500 gr. minced lamb (or a combo of beef and lamb) with two dessertspoons of ras al-hanout and paprika powder, 1 dessertspoon of cuminpowder and cayenne pepper, one handfull of chopped fresh parsley and koriander and salt to taste. Rest the mixture for 30 min. before forming little meatballs

For the tajine; softly fry 2 diced onions and 4 diced cloves of garlic in 100 gr. of butter for 5 min. before adding two cans of skinned tomatoes. Add 1/4 desserspoon turmeric, 2 dessertspoons sugar, 1/2 a chopped chilipepper and salt and pepper to taste. Let this mixture stew for 30 min. Crush some of the tomatoes if too many remained whole during the stewing. Add the meatballs and stew for an additional 20 min. before serving

Your plate should finally look like this:

Couscous - top
Kofte Tajine - left
Tomato-salad - middle
Chachouka - right


Marroccan almond cigars (24 cigars)

Make the almond paste for the cigars by combining 30 gr. soft butter, 360 gr. of almonds, 110 gr. of sugar and 1 tablespoon of orangeblossom water in the magimix. Let the paste chill in the fridge for 30 min.

Make 24 12cm rolls of the paste and wrap them in 24 sheets of brick or filo pastry. Seal the edges with 1 egg white. Deep fry the cigars until brown in 180C nut oil. Warm 250 gr. of honey. Dip fried cigars in honey and serve!

And the picture of the desert she made for my birthday. It should serve like 12 people, but my brother-in-law and my can finish this in like 10 minutes haha, it's THAT good

 

[muttyeah416]

wow! looks effin delicious

 

[OnkelC]

@Hooker:
That is some mighty fine assorment of delicious stuff! Thank you for this contribution
What are the almond cigars served on in the last picture? My bet would be on turkish or greek yoghurt.

 

[OnkelC]

Small update:

Dear contributors and silent readers,

No dish of today from my part, as we will do a little round trip to Liege and Maastricht.

Please keep the comments and the contributions coming!:lol

 

[sportzhead]

Like OnkelC would say,

Good evening everyone, lets cook Shepherd's Pie

First some background. I have grown up eating this dish. It is an English dish (Mom was raised in Whales). I make it with beef (because I'm a Yank) the English traditionally use lamb or mutton. My version is technically called a Cottage Pie because of its use of beef.

This dish is pretty easy, tasty, and filling. It could be classified as comfort food. It really hits the spot in the Winter time.

Okay enough with the chit-chat, lets cook.

Ingredients: ground beef, onion, potatoes, parmesan cheese, ketchup, A1 steak sauce, minced garlic, your choice of dry seasoning. (disregard the beef gravy, it was not used)

First start a pot of water. Covering the pot with a lid will help the water boil faster. Clean, peel, and cut potatoes in half depending on their size. Salt the water, then drop the potatoes in. Cook for about 20 minutes or until you can push a knife through the potatoes with ease.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute a diced onion with a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Add ground meat and cook through. Season with spices (I use steak seasoning, black & red pepper, garlic powder, and caribbean jerk seasoning).

Add a little bit of A1 steak sauce and some minced garlic (from a jar) and stir. Taste the meat, if it taste bland, add more seasoning.

Finish meat with some ketchup. Taste meat again, if okay you're done, if not add more ketchup or seasoning to your liking.

Drain potatoes. Add some salt (light on the salt) and pepper, a good amount of butter and mash away.

Place beef in an oven safe baking dish. Add a small amount of grated parmesan cheese on top.

Smooth potatoes on top of the meat and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Broil for the last few minutes to brown top.

Take out of oven and add a little more parmesan cheese. Bam, dinner time.

Eat up, it'll stick to your ribs.

Eat to much and you'll feel this tired in the morning.

 

[OnkelC]

@sportzhead:

Great recipe!
That sounds mighty tasty and seems a perfect fit for cold winter nights.

Thank you for this WORTHY CONTRIBUTION! Grab yourself a badge and wear it with pride!:lol

 

[RumFore]

Damn that potato and beef thinga-ma-jigg you made sportzhead looks simple and great. I may actually try it.

 

[Thai]

awesome, awesome thread! makes me feel like cooking something again. I love it that you guys go through all the trouble of taking pictures and documenting everything. Only on GAF do we have this level of passion for any and every topic! :lol :lol

 

[Hooker]

@Hooker:
That is some mighty fine assorment of delicious stuff! Thank you for this contribution
What are the almond cigars served on in the last picture? My bet would be on turkish or greek yoghurt.

That would be vanilla Ice-Cream, and a bit of the honey drizzled over that.



I had to put together the meal (and let her cook is ) and I HATE everything yoghurt, so ice-cream it was ^^.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Onkel: The Pesto turned out pretty good yesterday! I only had to fish out some pine seeds since some were a little too black. I don't use'm very often while cooking so I was kinda surprised how fast they color. Anyway, no troubs further on, it tasted very good! Very welcome variation to my pasta repertoire!

Hooker: Dude, that looks awesome. I'm definitely gonna try it out. Any suggestion where to get the spices, will just any regular toko with Middle-Eastern stuff carry it?

Sportzhead: ditto, looks tasty. I just found out there's a British specialities store in my town (called Britain's Best ), perhaps they carry the sauce/spices you used. How essential are they for the taste?

 

[Hooker]

No idea, we live in Utrecht, near Lombok. You know, the China-town for anything middle eastern.



But I reckon it should be available in any toko, or "allochtonen-hoek" of a large supermarket. And it tastes better than it looks.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Ok, I live in Groningen, haven't seen something called ras al-hanout in the AH or Jumbo I think. The other stuff is no problem, I already have it, but this stuff is new to me. There are some pretty good toko's around, I'll try them out.

 

[Hooker]

After a bit of research, I think I can safely say that you won't find it in supermarkets. Check the toko's for sure. And looking from the ingredients, it isn't something that's easily substituted:


Ras al/el Hanout
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cardamom pods - 6, seeds only
Fennel seeds - ½ teaspoon
Black peppercorns - ½ teaspoon
Sweet paprika - 2 teaspoon
Cinnamon powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1 teaspoon
Cayenne pepper - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - ½ teaspoon
Allspice - ½ teaspoon

Lightly roast the cumin, coriander, cardamom, fennel and peppercorns in a pan over a medium heat. Finely blend with a pestle and mortar then mix with the rest of the ingredients. Store in an airtight jar for up to three months.

I think my sis just bought a bag/jar with the stuff.

***edit: This is Hooker's sis (never thought I would ever say that sentence) sneaking in on his account (Don't be mad broertje, i never ever do this!!)...

I don't have ras-al-hanout either... it is quite difficult to get. I used the brown packet of kofte seasoning in the picture instead. That you can get at a regular toko or islamic butcher. if not, it is a mixture of onionpowder, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, paprikapowder, allspice and cumin***

 

[Rei_Toei]

Nah, with such a list I think I'll pass and just buy it . Makes you wonder how such a blend was created over the years, how it became 'the' standard. Guess our ancestors did like to experiment too.

Anyway, this thread also now officially has lurkers, some of my friends expressed interest when they saw me photographing food, I've mailed them the url of this topic :lol .

 

[Nerevar]

wow, this thread is going gangbusters still.

I love the various ethnic cooking variations we have in here now, it's really interesting to me. I love the liberal use of spices in the north African dishes - it looks delicious!

Anyway, this thread also now officially has lurkers, some of my friends expressed interest when they saw me photographing food, I've mailed them the url of this topic .

Yeah, I e-mailed the URL to my girlfriend at work and she's spread it around to her coworkers. She can't stop laughing at a bunch of male 20-somethings talking about cooking on a message board ont he web.

 

[OnkelC]

@All:

You make me LOL! :lol

Hookers sis posting on his account, links handed out, and maybe a Mac'n'Cheese cookout coming up, what should be next?

Foreign food pics are uploading, stand by.

 

[OnkelC]

The Wife and I went on a little round trip to Liege in Belgium and the Dutch city of Maastricht today to shed off some of the working routine. Since Belgium is known to cuisine savvy people around the world as the inventor of everything deep fried, I went for the best looking "frituur" (stores where they sell fresh deep fried goodness in a vast variety of styles) and shopped some stuff for your viewing pleasure (and the belly to grow).

Also added are some pictures from the rest of the culinary day which may not directly contribute to the thread, but I would like them to share with you. Some other pictures of this trip can be found in the NeoGAF photograpy thread later.

Day started early, with me cleaning the cam which has taken some beating in the kitchen as of late:

PRO TIP: Always keep your tool clean for most satisfying results.
Liege/Lüttich is about 90 minutes by car away, so we parked the car somewhere near the center and went for a cofffe and a fresh Belgian Wafer in one of the many street cafes:

After a little stroll, a fine looking frituur was found. The variety is overwhelming. I got the following:

(from top to bottom: belgian fries (Frites), a cheese croquette (Croquette fromage), a beef crocquette ("Viandrelle") and an "Alsatian" (Alsacienne) with bacon cubes between the (I think) mixed pork and beef balls. The whole thing goes great with mayonnaise, which is in the little round jar. The drink is an "Orangina", a delicious tasting hybrid of orange juice with pulp and a fizzy citrusy lemonade.

On the way to Maastricht, we stopped at a supermarket. It looked kinda depressing but we found some stuff that is hard to acquire/f*in expensive over here:

In Maastricht (like Liege a wonderful town for a day trip), we went for a little stroll through the center, and over a nice bridge to find a nice cafe.

The Netherlands are famous for their hot chocolate, so I had to have one for taste:

Window shopping is awesome btw:

We left Maastricht for home after having a nice day and brushing the rust off some school french as a side effect. It is always nice to meet some the friendly neighbors of our humble nation (As on NeoGAF).

Back on topic, I was still full from the mixed frituur, the wife had this for dinner:

I'll spare you the preparation and the "DONE!" pic this time:lol

We will be leaving for the parents-in-law (No I-net) tomorrow morning and return next Wednesday. If there are any open questions, I would like you to post them now.

Feedback, as always, is heartily encouraged. Same goes for comments and new recipes.

Keep them coming!

 

[tehrafe]

zomg OnkelC in Belgium ^^

Btw, what was the name of that supermarket? GB/Profi/Delhaize/Aldi/Lidl/Carrefour/Colruyt... it really does look depressing indeed.

Spoiler

Belgian fries > all... if you bought them at a decent place at least

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Oh bugger, I didn't make any more book today due to a busy day at work and the missus coming back this evening, looks like I will be paying retribution for that judging by the thread. Also, Holy shit hooker that thing looks amazing.

Anyway, check out what I had for dinner!

one of us was slightly more hungry than the other

Thanks Onkel. Comments on cooking it, uh, excellent instructions, easy prep, however I was a bit useless reading it and was like WTF IS "the herb" didn't see the description at the start. Turns out the herb in this dish is oregano :lol.
It was ****ing great though, really really good!

As for trouble, I was all "****, where is the sauce hollandaise!" at the supermarket, didn't figure out till I got home that being as I am in holland, they probably don't call it that :lol used creme fraiche instead as suggested

My lady says

"sehr lecker OnkelC!"

 

[OnkelC]

zomg OnkelC in Belgium ^^

Btw, what was the name of that supermarket? GB/Profi/Delhaize/Aldi/Lidl/Carrefour/Colruyt... it really does look depressing indeed.

Spoiler

Belgian fries > all... if you bought them at a decent place at least

I think it was Colruyt, at the Rue de la Constitution IIRC.

Fries and crocquettes, which were awesome btw, were bought here:

The wife said I looked "like I was touched by an angel" while I browsed the foods on display:lol

 

[tehrafe]

Explains, Colruyt always likes to brag with the fact that they are the cheapest... and so is the look of their supermarkets.

And in practicly every - decent - frituur in Belgium there should be a lot to choose from on the display. That's why McDonalds isn't popular here, neither is the Quick, although the food in the Quick is a lot better then that shit they sell at McDonalds... If I remember correctly then the Quick only exists in Belgium, France and Germany (maybe in Holland to, not sure)

 

[OnkelC]

Oh bugger, I didn't make any more book today due to a busy day at work and the missus coming back this evening, looks like I will be paying retribution for that judging by the thread. Also, Holy shit hooker that thing looks amazing.

Anyway, check out what I had for dinner!

one of us was slightly more hungry than the other

Thanks Onkel. Comments on cooking it, uh, excellent instructions, easy prep, however I was a bit useless reading it and was like WTF IS "the herb" didn't see the description at the start. Turns out the herb in this dish is oregano :lol.
It was ****ing great though, really really good!

As for trouble, I was all "****, where is the sauce hollandaise!" at the supermarket, didn't figure out till I got home that being as I am in holland, they probably don't call it that :lol used creme fraiche instead as suggested

My lady says

"sehr lecker OnkelC!"

You Make Ze Onkel proud one more time! :lol
It was quite easy to make wasn't it?
Greetings to the GF, too. "the Herb" I used has been Estragon / taragon btw, but mastery in the art of Improvisation is, as stated, every cooks' virtue!:lol :lol :lol
Thinking of it, the use of Oregano will in fact contribute well to this dish, giving it a more mediterranean style. *makes note to little cook book*:lol :lol :lol :lol
Keep it up!

 

[bovo]

Hey, I never signed up for a competition! There's not a lot to this recipe, but here it is anyway. I'm sure more complicated versions will win any Macaroni Cheese cook-offs. But enjoy anyway...

(A version of) Macaroni Cheese

Like I said, it's a very simple recipe - I usually make it with Penne instead of Macaroni, which would make it even less eligable.

Ingredients are: Macaroni, Mature Cheddar cheese, butter (or substitute), plain flour, milk and strong mustard (I used English Mustard, but Dijon would probably be good too) + salt and pepper.



Start cooking your pasta in the usual way.

Meanwhile melt a large spoon of butter/substitute and add about the same amount of plain flour - stir to get what you see on the right (there's a fancy french cooking term for this which I've forgotten...



Slowly add milk, stirring all the time to stop it going lumpy....



I don't know when to stop adding milk - wait till it's the consistency you want. When it looks about right, add in the cheese (which you should have grated by now) and stir till it's all melted.



Add about half a teaspoon of mustard (do you call them teaspoons in other parts of the world?) and stir it in along with some salt and pepper.



By now the macaroni should be cooked (my packet says 12 minutes) so strain it and stir it in.



There you go - finished in the time it takes to cook the pasta (12 minutes in this case).



Fin.

 

[OnkelC]

@ bovo:
Very nice dish and excellence in execution!
Grab yourself a badge, you are a WORTHY CONTRIBUTOR!:lol

Of course, there is no real competition in here, but it is always nice to see the same dish interpreted from different angles, just look at catfish and me.
It doubles the fun. And fuels the "Ehrgeiz" to improve ones own cooking.
Everyone is a winner when it comes to home-style cooking, right?:lol

Spoiler

fancy french name for the butter/flour base is Bechamel, or in German, "Mehlschwitze"

 

[TheWolf]

lol at the mayonnaise and fries.

"they ****in' drown em in that shit.":lol

 

[OnkelC]

Keep up the fabulous work and see you next Wednesday!
Again, thanks to all!

 

[demi]

I saw this thread before, and I just wanted to congratulate you on making Shake N Bake.

 

[Thai]

I have a question about Hollandaise Sauce...is that gonna clog my arteries because it sure looks like its going to!

 

[bovo]

Spoiler

fancy french name for the butter/flour base is Bechamel, or in German, "Mehlschwitze"

That's not actually the word I was looking for though.... sauce is Bechamel (or just a white sauce) - the word i was actually looking for was Roux, for the flour and butter base (before milk is added).

Also I realise that the word is only a fancy french name if you're not french; otherwise it's just it's name!

 

[sportzhead]

Good job bovo, that looks tasty and easy.

 

[OnkelC]

I'm back. be prepared for some real vintage German cuisine. I'm just resizing and uploading a weeks worth of food related pictures at the moment.:lol
Recipes and stuff will be up around 9pm Berlin time.

I have a question about Hollandaise Sauce...is that gonna clog my arteries because it sure looks like its going to!

:lol
Yes, it will. You can sbustitute the hollandaise with sour cream or creme fraiche, though, with only slight decline in taste.

 

[Jacobi]

Great Cheese Maccaronis, gonna try dem once (have to look up the translation for some of the ingredients tho).

:lol @ Belgium trip, this is exactly what I am doing on holidays

 

[OnkelC]

The dish for tonight will be a deluxe salad (out of reasons i will post later on).
The ingredients are the following:

A bag of mixed salads (you can buy the fresh stuff and mix it yourself, but it would be a waste of material for two persons),
two tomatoes,
two eggs,
grated cheese (middle-aged gouda for me tonight, but some parmesan shavings would be great, too)
cooked ham,
decent canned tuna,
can of corn,
decent olive oil and balsamico vinegar,
one red onion,
some bread (I got toasties out of curiosity).

"Cooking" will start around 6pm berlin time, pics will be up as usual.
Stay tuned and marvel at my new Avatar for the time being!:lol

 

[heavy liquid]

What a great thread! Love your dishes, OnkelC! I've actually made the Rosti before, and love it.

I cooked this up a little while ago. It's very simple to make, and doesn't take long.

Glazed maple syrup Alaskan Wild Sockeye Salmon with green beans.

The filet only cost about $11 bucks, not too bad. The Alaskan Wild Sockeye Salmon has a nice deep red color and an excellent taste. It costs a little bit more than regular farm salmon, but that will also work well if you can't find the Sockeye or don't want to spend the couple extra dollars.

I marinated the filet in a blend of soy sauce & maple syrup (equal parts) in a bowl with plastic wrap over it in the fridge for about an hour. I then grilled it on a maple plank which can be bought at many supermarket and cooking stores. Keep in mind that you have to soak the plank in water for at least an hour, so it doesn't catch fire. This is very important! You could also easily use fish basket like this, which would also make the grilling easier:

I placed the fish on the maple plank, and put it on the grill over medium/high heat.

It took about 15 minutes to cook, and I would brush it every so often with a glaze of 3/4 parts maple syrup, 1/4 parts soy sauce. The heat caramelized the maple syrup giving it a great taste with a small bit of crunch.

While this was going on, I cooked the green beans. Nothing crazy, just garlic, salt & pepper, with a pat of butter in a pot. Lots of garlic, though. I love garlic.

The finished salmon looked great, with the glaze giving it a nice darker coat of color.

Finished:

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
After the torrent of traditional german cooking administered upon thew wife and me by the parents-in-law over the last week, we wanted to eat some fresh and light stuff for tonight. Salad is OK for evenings like this; if you add some stuff like salami, ham (raw or cooked), roast bacon slices, hard boiled eggs, some mushrooms or cheese, it makes for a nice and filling dinner. It is fast and easy to prepare.

No special utensils are needed.

As a pre-preparation, cook one egg per person for 7-10 minutes so it will be hard and can be cut easily:

When the egg is done, rinse it under cold water and remove the shell. If you got a fresh egg, the shell can easily be removed by rolling the egg under your hand and splitting the shell in two:

let it rest peeled, but not cut until immediately before serving so it will cool out a bit and can be cut easier.


For the salad itself, wash and dry the corn, then cut the onion and the tomatoes in slices. The pieces should be of a size that they can be picked up with the fork:

Add them to the bowl you will serve it in later and mix them a little bit:

If you will serve some toast or roast bread with the salad, now os the time to heat the grill so it will be ready when eating:

Then prepare the additions of choice. The wife chose some tuna, I went with some cooked ham and cheese:

Next, add the salads itself:

For two persons, I prefer to buy a bag of mixed salads (consisting of iceberg, frisee, radicchio, grated carrots and white cabbage) instead of buying them separate; there is so much excess salads that must be used until the next day if doing so that takes a huge bite out of my spontaneity, I simply just don't like it.

Finish line:
Mix the salads thoroughly, add some cheese on top, cut the eggs in quarters and decorate the salad with it. Serve out of the bowl directly on a deep plate, add ham and/or tuna and cheese, and let everyone make their vinaigrtette and add some fresh ground black pepper:

A hint of butter served alongside the bread contributes to the crunchiness and adds another note of flavor to the overall dish.

DONE!

Guten Appetit from Bonn!

I hope I didn't disappoint you with this unusually slender dish from this humble kitchen. Big things are coming up for the rest of the week: pork roast Kassler style with Sauerkraut, Beef rolls, and the famous Kartoffelsalat-in-law!:lol

Contributions and comments, as always, are heartily encouraged. Keep' em coming!

 

[OnkelC]

@ heavy liquid:
That looks absolutely great! It is a shame that some fine piece of fish is hard to come by in this part of the world. A piece of salmon of this quality and size will set you back an easy 40-50 Euros, let alone the freshness...
We got a small bottle of maple syrup in the fridge for marinades and pancakes, the combination with fish was new for me but sounds very reasonable. Will try that out.
Consider yourself a WORTHY CONTRIBUTOR and grab yourself a badge, you earned it!:lol

 

[OnkelC]

Excursion into Kuisine-in-law, part one: Kassler for the wifes‘ birthday

As we went to visit the parents-in-law over the last week, I was not able to cook on my own, so I decided to show you some of the real traditional recipes of „Ze German Kuisine“ as prepared by my mother-in-law. I will start with the preparation of „Kassler“, other recipes I have for you are „Rindsrouladen“, Bratwurst for a lunch dish served with „Wirsing“ (savoy cabbage), and a whole traditional birthday celebration with the usual dishes, including potato salad with homemade mayonnaise.

I tried to give some deeper explanation of the dishes, its origins and its ingredients, but if you have any more questions or suggestions, I would be happy to hear them.


Kassler, as the Frikadellen, is another German lunch classic. Kassler is a piece of the pork ribs, neck or shoulder which is cured and then smoked. Because of this preparation process, it is sold „ready-to-eat“ by the butcher guy and can be used a-is without further preparation. To add some confusion, both the meat piece itself and the dish made from it are called „Kassler“.

There are several ways of serving this meat, as being cooked, sauteed, pan-fried, braised or oven-baked. Common side-dishes are salt or mashed potatoes, Sauerkraut or fried egg, depending on the preparation. When pan-fried in slices, it goes along well with one or two fried eggs and mashed or fried potatoes, when prepared like a classic roast or just cooked, usual side dishes are the Sauerkraut and salt or mashed potatoes.

Best off, a decent piece is bought on the bone for while curing the meat, more of the taste is contained in the bone and fibre layers of the piece as a whole. Additionally, the bones can be braised alongside with the better parts to add some more taste to the sauce. Some people like it to nibble off the excess meat from the bones when finished, but this is by no means a must or even considered well-behaved in the traditional „Deutsche Küche“ and our table manners.
Pictured are the meats used for this dish:

Top is the „Kassler“ piece, bottom is a piece of pork neck.

First, it is up to your choice wether to remove the bones from the Kassler before braising or afterwards; for demonstration purposes, I chose to remove the bones beforehand:

The Parents-in-law prefer to braise a piece of pork neck alongside the Kassler for the difference in taste. The Kassler meat does not need any additional spices or herbs added, but the pork neck should be peppered and salted before frying.

Next, add some neutral oil to a large pan or a big shallow pot (in both cases, a matching lid is necessary later), let it get real hot and add some small onions cut in quarters:

Let them get transparent and add the meat pieces as well as the bones. Let it roast for a few minutes and turn over several times until the pieces get some color to them:

Since the mother-in-law realized that the pot used was too small, we changed to a big pan with a matching lid at this point. Heat up the pan and put the meat in it so it can continue the frying/roasting process. If you chose wisely before, you can skip this step.

Next, add some (1-2 cups of) water to the pan:

Add some bay leaves and some juniper berries and let them braise alongside. Put a lid on the pan/pot, reduce the heat to a low setting and let it braise for one or two hours. The braising time is determined by the status of the pork neck piece:

After 60-120 minutes, test the meat(s) by cutting a small piece off.

When satisfied with the result, turn off the heat and let it rest overnight.

On the next day, the final preparation should start about an hour before actual lunchtime. Put the pan with meat and sauce on the stove again with low heat turned on:

The chosen side dishes were salt potatoes and „Sauerkraut“, which the wife chose like the dish in a whole because it was her birthday .

„Sauerkraut“ is a traditional German side dish which goes along well with all kinds of „Bratwurst“, and hearty fried/roasted meats and poultry. Sauerkraut has a medium to very strong sour taste, hence the name. It is a lactic-acid-fermented and slightly salted white cabbage, which was traditionally prepared as a winter supply of veggies and vitamins by farmers. Sailors used it as a durable source of vitamin C.
In modern times, Sauerkraut is in general not handmade by families anymore, but can be bought at most butchers and in every supermarket. The overall quality standard is high, and even cheap canned Sauerkraut can be bought without hesitation. „Sauerkraut“ is one of the dishes that taste best if manufactured in large quantities.
Preparation of Sauerkraut is really simple. It can be cooked as-is without further spices, but common additions and spices used are mulberry leaves, juniper berries, pineapple, champagne or „Sekt“ aka sparkling wine, halved white grapes, cured or roasted bacon, according to the main dish.

The mother-in-law chose a cooking preparation with some additional water, mulberry leaves, juniper berries, some caraway and some grated raw potatoes and leaving it otherwise as-is. We bought the Sauerkraut at the butcher where we also bought the meat. Just add the herbs and spices to the kraut, add some water and let it heat or boil at low temperature with closed lid until serving:

Next should be the preparation of the potatoes, as described in a former post. The mother-in-law uses advertisement brochures instead of the daily newspaper for the peeling If the pan with the meats is boiling again, leave them in the pan until lunchtime/serving time has arrived.

About five minutes before serving, Put the meat on a serving plate.

Prepare some starch and flour with some water (as in „Zürcher Geschnetzeltes“) and add to the sauce. Let it cook once to thicken, then add additional spices until getting a strong and meaty taste (recognize the condiment used by the mother-in-law?):

Finish line:
Put the sauce through a hairnet sieve to optimize smoothness, then serve in a separate pot or sauciere.

This is what a typical traditional German lunch table looks like:

This is how the wife looks like when her mom prepared that dish:

Done!

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the Westfalian outback. Others will come up if there is interest.


Back to the regulars:

The dish for tonight will be a beef fillet steak with pepper/cognac sauce, corn on the cob and fries.

Those are the ingredients needed for this dish:

two tranches of beef fillet (cut will be shown in the preparation post)
fresh corn
fresh green pepper and black pepper
cream, creme fraiche and/or some cream cheese
a bouillon cube or some fresh beef stock/essence (translation?)
good helping of cognac (you can use Sherry, vodka, brandy or even whisky instead)
Side dish of choice (We will have some fries)
Cooking will start in about 60 minutes, pictures will be up around the usual time. Stay tuned!

 

[OnkelC]

Pictures are uploading, please stand by.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Damn that looks tasty. I hate farm raised salmon. Especially after I found out that they're artifically colored. Hopefully Safeway sells Alaskan Wild Sockeye.

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
The pepper fillet is one of the more advanced dishes to prepare because the preparation of the meat requires some pratice. It is fast to make and tastes great, so it is worth a try.

special utensils needed:

a mortar and pistil to crush the green pepper; you can do this with a cup and spoon, too.

First, get the water for the corn going. Add some salt and sugar, put the corn in and let it cook until serving:

Next, cut some steaks the size you wish. The left one is for the wife, the middle one is for yours truly and the rest is for tomorrows dish.

As steaks should never be served directly from the pan but rest for a few minutes bevore serving, one should have some aluminum foil at hand, wrap the finished steaks in it and let them rest at a warm place. I usually place them between the flames of the stove. If there is no aluminum foil available, you can let the steaks rest in the oven, too. Set your oven to lowest heat setting and put a bowl in it and let it get warm:

Next, let the pepper drip off and crush it in the mortar. the amount of crushed pepper determines the basic pepperiness of the sauce, the more crushed pepper the hotter. I crushed about half of the green peppers for a decent hotness:

By this time you should perpare your side dish. We had some fries which go well along with it:

Now to the delicate part, the frying of the steaks. This table should give you an aprropriate overview to the rough time estimates. The actual time depends on the thickness of the meat and the heat your stove can produce.

To test the doneness of the steaks, you can use the touch test.
This requires touching the steak with a spoon or bare finger and applying a small amount of pressure to the meat. If you choose to use your finger, please keep in mind you are sticking it on a very hot steak in a pan with very hot and sizzling oil, it will probably hurt if you are not careful. Be warned, if you are not accustomed to touching hot objects then use a spoon!

You can wet the finger first. Better safe than sorry:lol

How the meat looks/feels to the touch and what it means:

Meat gives easily when touched, no juices appear on surface -> Rare
Meat feels firm and slightly springy, and juices begin to appear on the surface-> Medium
Meat is covered with juices and does not yield to pressure-> Well Done

Put a pan on the stove, let it heat to the max (spritz test!) add some oil, let it get hot until it starts smoking.
Immediately before putting the steaks in the pan, add some salt, ground black pepper and a hint of sugar to both sides of the steaks (the sugar helps the caramelizing of the steak surface, resulting in a slight crispness and wonderful color). Next, put the steak in the pan and turn them over a few times until the desired doneness is achieved:

This steak was for Jeannie, who wanted a well-done steak. When finished, put it in the bowl and into the oven:

Next the steak for me; I wanted a rare to medium steak. With a thick piece like that, make sure that you fry it on the sides too to close all pores and therefore prevent the steak from bleeding out:

The steak was in the pan for a total of three minutes. Put it in the bowl and back in the oven.

Finish line:
When the steaks are in the oven, prepare the sauce. This should take no longer than 2-3 minutes.

First, add the crushed peppers to the pan and swivel them for a few seconds:

Next, add a good amount of cognac to the pan (gas stove owners beware, there may occur a darting/explosing flame which will stop after a few seconds!) and add the rest of the green pepper:

Add the cream and the creme fraiche and stir it in. Next, add some ground black pepper, bouillon cubes, cream cheese and maybe a hint of mustard (I took this idea from bovos mac'n'cheese post). Because of the heat of the pan, they should dissolve immediately, but keep on stirring:

As a finishing touch, add the juices from the steaks in the bowl:

DONE!
Serve with the corn and fries, add some sauce and green pepper from the bottom of the pan and enjoy:

Rare and juicy tenderness:

Guten Appetit from Bonn!

Tomorrows dish will be the classic Boeuf Stroganoff with handmade Spätzle.

I would really enjoy your feedback and new recipes, so keep' em coming and keep this thread lively!:lol

 

[bovo]

Steak and peppercorn sauce made me hungry. If I wasn't married to a vegetarian (and at work) I would be off buying the ingredients now! Had to settle for a Beef and Horseradish sandwich for lunch instead...

Looking forward to homemade Spatzle - saw them being made on television a while ago, and forgot how they made them so couldn't copy - your thread will save me looking up the recipe!

 

[OnkelC]

Steak and peppercorn sauce made me hungry. If I wasn't married to a vegetarian (and at work) I would be off buying the ingredients now! Had to settle for a Beef and Horseradish sandwich for lunch instead...

Looking forward to homemade Spatzle - saw them being made on television a while ago, and forgot how they made them so couldn't copy - your thread will save me looking up the recipe!

Thank you for the feedback. I will do my very best:lol
If you would like to cook along the Spätzle, you can shop for 6 eggs and 500 to 600 Grams of wheat flour.

 

[bud]

damn onkelc, how much fat do you eat!?

do you wanna make it past 50 or not?

 

[OnkelC]

damn onkelc, how much fat do you eat!?

do you wanna make it past 50 or not?

I like to cook, and I like to eat. Since the dishes posted are usually the only solid food I have per day, I was able to keep my weight at ca.100kgs at a size of 1.90 meters. I do not condemn a healthy way of living in general and I admire everyone who keeps up with doing so, butI had enough near-death-experiences so far to say for myself:

"Life is too short to waste it with counting calories":lol

Nobody dies before his or her time is come.

 

[Zaptruder]

I like to cook, and I like to eat. Since the dishes posted are usually the only solid food I have per day, I was able to keep my weight at ca.100kgs at a size of 1.90 meters. I do not condemn a healthy way of living in general and I admire everyone who keeps up with doing so, butI had enough near-death-experiences so far to say for myself:

"Life is too short to waste it with counting calories":lol

Nobody dies before his or her time is come.

Of course, nobody knows their time to come until they die!

 

[OnkelC]

Of course, nobody knows their time to come until they die!

I did not want to sound "kamikaze", blame it on my lack of language knowledge:lol .

From my personal standpoint, one should try to accomplish their goals in life and live after them. In case of death, one can pass and go away peacefully. I enjoyed my life so far and will try to go on enjoying it, may it last as long (or short) as it will. Everyone should do the same.

If the cooking depictured here is offensive to anyone, I would be really happy to see some "counter-recipes" to get the healthiness back in here!:lol

The dish for today, btw, will be the traditional "Boeuf Stroganoff", a classic from the French/Russian haute cuisine. I will prepare them with homemade Spätzle.
The following ingredients are needed:

For the Boeuf Stroganoff:
a decent piece of beef fillet,
about half a litre of essence of beef,
two or three pickles,
two small onions,
hot and mild paprika powders
mustard and tdouble or triple concentrated tomato puree, some salt and black pepper.

For the Spätzle:
500-600 grams of wheat flour,
5-6 eggs,
some salt, hint of butter for serving.
Cooking will start around 6pm Berlin time, pictures will be up around 10pm Berlin time.

Stay tuned and keep them feedbacks coming!

 

[Funky Papa]

We are not worthy.

 

[OnkelC]

We are not worthy.

Explain please? What did I do wrong?
I am still waiting for the rotten zombie puke recipe!:lol

 

[8bit]

Explain please? What did I do wrong?
I am still waiting for the rotten zombie puke recipe!:lol

It's from Wayne's World, when the lead characters are overwhelmed in the presence of famous/cool people.

 

[OnkelC]

It's from Wayne's World, when the lead characters are overwhelmed in the presence of famous/cool people.

:lol
*Alice cooper hand wave* You are worthy, you are worthy!
It's home style cooking. Everybody is invited!

Edit:
Thanks for the heads-up, 8Bit. Nice avatar.