Support NeoGAF

[Nander]

I'm not a fan of dark chocolate :/

But tomorrow, the search for kinder-chocolate starts! It's strange though, that I ain't ever seen them if they actually are common here

Then you should pick up Fazer Blue (the milk chocolate, alternatively Fazer Yellow with hazelnuts) while you're out chocolate hunting

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
Since the Spaghetti carbonara can only be prepared when the guests are already there, one can continue with the decoration of table and the antipasti itself.

The olives smelled kinda funny, so we omitted them, resulting in the following array of Antipasti:
pickled vine leaves, filled with rice and herbs:

Cippolle Borrettane (grilled small onions in oil):

Salami that was washed down with Chianti while drying:

Serve this with some bread and unsalted butter.

As a starter, we prepared some Prosecco with frozen raspberries:

Preparation of the Spaghetti Carbonara follows in the next post to facilitate the index which I will update shortly, promised!:lol

 

[OnkelC]

Let's cook Part 2:
Spaghetti Carbonara. This very basic but tasty dish is, like tartare, a love-or-hate affair because of the sheer amount of raw egg yolk. As with Pesto, this sauce is prepared without cooking and gets its finish through the heat of the pasta used. This dish (literal translation is "Pasta charburners style") was originally a poor mans dish, but found its way to the traditional Italian cuisine. The only ingredients are eggs, some cream, grated Italian hard cheese (Parmesan, Pecorino or Grana Padano) and ham or bacon.
I used some bacon for the preparation, but any smoked or dried ham would work out well, too. As the meat gives a good amount of taste to the dish, don't be cheap on the bacon/ham used, every Euro/Dollar spent more on this ingredient contributes directly to the taste.

Special utensils needed: one big ass bowl (pictured before)

First, remove the rind and bigger fat layers from the bacon and put them aside. Then cut the remainig meaty part of the bacon to medium sized cubes:

Next, put the biggest pot you can find on the stove, add salt and water and heat it up:

While the water is heating up, separate the egg yolks. This is done easy if you carefully crack open the egg, pull the two halves of the shell apart and shuffle the yolk between the halves until all egg white has drained:

I used ten yolks for four persons. This dish can be done with whole eggs, too, in this case use 5-6 eggs.
Put the yolks into a mixing bowl, add one and a half cups of double cream, salt and pepper:

Whisk away, but do not add the cheese yet, because it would coagulate the cream, resulting in flaking out and making the dish look less appealing.

Fill the big ass bowl with boiling water and let it heat up until finish line:

When the water is boiling, add the noodles. I used about this amount for four persons and had only a little leftover:

Twist the noodles like mikado sticks before putting them in the water, so they will disperse in the pot and make it easier to push them into the water:

Cook them al dente. in the meanwhile, heat up a pan without oil and add the bacon rinds, bigger fat cubes and small meaty cubes and let them fry until the meaty cubes get brown and crunchy (they will be ready when the noodles are):

When the noodles are ready, pour them into a sieve and (PRO TIP) wash them down with the now warm water from the big ass bowl, so they won't cool out too much. Put them in the bowl:

Finish Line:
Blend the grated cheese with the egg/cream mix, pour it over the noodles and mix them thoroughly. Taste-test it and add some more salt and/or pepper if needed. Finally add the bacon cubes and the fat from the pan (remove rinds and bigger fat cubes first):

DONE 2/3!
Serve with some additional ground black pepper and decorate with some bacon cubes:

And now for the Panna Cotta as the finisher.
We served the dessert in the dessert bowls, decorated with some Amarena cherries in syrup and the previously marinated raspberries (we initially planned to puree them, but they looked too good to justify this):

Buon Appetito from Bonn.

I hope you liked this little trip to Italy and your feedback (positive as well as negative) is always appreciated.

Tonights dish will be a German Bastion again, as I will prepare Nuremberg Bratwurst with mashed potatoes and homemade (!) red cabbage.

Keep'em coming!:lol

 

[Funky Papa]

I really like to try that Prosecco. And that pasta dish is definitely on my schedule, I love bacon and I love spagetti, it's such a winning combination.

Sadly none of my friends could come to make some tacos, so I went to a restaurant and watched a movie like the chronical bachelor that I am. I'll make for it with two small licor 43 cocktails:

#1 Café 43

-3/5 of hot coffee. And by hot I mean VERY hot as it needs to be mixed
-2/5 of 43 liquor
-Cream. The original recipe stands that it must be semi-whipped, but I prefer it completely whipped and on top of the black coffee with the liquor.

Serve using a big glass or a wine one.

This one is quite awesome for rainy days, I love it.

#2 43 with pinneapple

-3/5 of pineapple juice. I recommend natural juice without any sweetener, otherwise you may die of a brutal sugar rush, although some people like it extra-sweet.
-2/5 of 43 liquor
-ice cubes

Serve using a long glass (tube shaped)

#3 43 with pineapple and vodka

-1/4 of 43 liquor
-1/4 of vodka
-2/4 apple juice
-a dash of cinnamon

Mix and serve. I personally like it with little alcohol, although it's up to you.

Eagerly awaiting for your next recipe.

 

[OnkelC]

I really like to try that Prosecco. And that pasta dish is definitely on my schedule, I love bacon and I love spagetti, it's such a winning combination.

Sadly none of my friends could come to make some tacos, so I went to a restaurant and watched a movie like the chronical bachelor that I am. I'll make for it with two small licor 43 cocktails:

#1 Café 43

-3/5 of hot coffee. And by hot I mean VERY hot as it needs to be mixed
-2/5 of 43 liquor
-Cream. The original recipe stands that it must be semi-whipped, but I prefer it completely whipped and on top of the black coffee with the liquor.

Serve using a big glass or a wine one.

This one is quite awesome for rainy days, I love it.

#2 43 with pinneapple

-3/5 of pineapple juice. I recommend natural juice without any sweetener, otherwise you may die of a brutal sugar rush, although some people like it extra-sweet.
-2/5 of 43 liquor
-ice cubes

Serve using a long glass (tube shaped)

#3 43 with pineapple and vodka

-1/4 of 43 liquor
-1/4 of vodka
-2/4 apple juice
-a dash of cinnamon

Mix and serve. I personally like it with little alcohol, although it's up to you.

Eagerly awaiting for your next recipe.

Those sound really good, thank you very much. The wife already said that she will try the coffee one out. To be honest, we got the "43" as a present and had no real clue what to do with it, as the taste is somewhat unique.:lol

 

[ChryZ]

Great cooking going on here, time to contribute!

The mexican food from heavy liquid's post kept haunting me. It's impossible to get decent mexican food here,
so it's DIY or nothing at all. DIY then. Me mate came over and helped out, we were very pleased with the results:

ingredients

1 KG pork shoulder (2.2 LBS)
1 CUP chopped cilandro
6 X tortilla
3 X lime
5 X white onion

guacamole

1 X avocado
1 TS garlic powder
1 TS onion powder
1 TS salt
1 TS pepper
1 TBSP line juice

pico de gallo

1 X red onion
6 X cherry tomatos
1 X red pepper
1 TS balsamic vinegar
1 TS olive oil
1/4 CUP chopped cilandro
1 TS salt & pepper

chryz's adobo

2 TBSP tequila
1 TBSP line juice
1 TS ground cumin
1 TS soy sauce
1 TS peanut oil
1 TS garlic powder
1 TS celery salt
1 TS chili flakes
1 TS salt & pepper

al pastor adobo

4 X garlic clove
2 TBS cumin seeds
1/3 CUP red wine vinegar
1 CUP pineapple juice
3 TBSP ground guajillo
3 TBSP ground pasilla
1 TS salt & pepper

the al pastor adobo had to be boiled, first I roasted the cumin seeds
in a dry pot, then ground them, since the pot was still hot I've used
it right away by mixing all the al pastor adobo ingredients and let it
boil for a few min and then let it cool off

chryz's adobo is a creation of mine, just mix everything and it's ready
to marinate stuff, in this case pork, but it's also good for chicken, etc;
it's the one on the left

while the cooked adobo was cooling down, I've prep'd the pork

the marinated pork after 7 hours, left chryz style, right al pastor style

friend arrived, final prep work with joined forces, button left the
finshed pico de gallo, just slice the tomatos, remove the seeds and
cube them, add chopped red oninos, cilantro and red/green pepper,
season with s&p, balsamic vinegar, olive oil; for the guacamole remove
the avocados' core, spoon out its flesh and mix/mash/season with the
remaining guacamole ingredients

time to cook the meat, in the front the "al pastor" pork and in the
back the chryz'd pork

the chryz style was just pan fried and ready first, served
with guacamole, pico de gallo and topped with a drizzle of
smoked chipotle sauce

while we feasted on the first set of tacos, the al pastor pork pieces
were getting all crisp and crunchy in the ovens' grill, my way of
emulating an absent vertical rotisserie

the al pastor tacos, topped with raw onions, chopped cilanro and
lime wedges for some DIY lime juice

just a close up *drool*

the last set with al pastor pork, guacamole, pico de gallo and smoked
chipotle sauce

well stuffed and beer'd ... this is living

 

[Funky Papa]

Wow, that looks awesome, and very different from the ones I make. Then again, I am not mexican, so our recipe is quite bastardized.

 

[OnkelC]

ChryZ, that looks great! I bought a set of Tacos yesterday and was to try out something similar. I will experiment around with preparation of quesadilla-inspired fillings sometime next week.

Thank you for this great contribution!

 

[OnkelC]

Tonights Dish will be the Über-German "Würstel mit Kraut" (small spiced and fried Nuremberg pork sausages with braised red cabbage and mashed potatoes). It doesn't get any more German than this, folks!:lol
The following ingredients are needed:

- one red cabbage
- one small onion
- pork lard
- two to three tablespoons of marmalade/jam/jelly (I will use homemade cherry jelly)
- 250ml red wine
- one sweet (as in contrary to sour) apple,
- Nuremberg Sausages
- mashed potatoes (Lazy Ass sunday, so instant stuff here)

EDIT:
I forgot to mention Bay leaves and juniper berries:

cooking starts now, pics will be up around the usual time.

Stay tuned and keep'em coming!

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
The "Würstel mit Kraut" is German-as-it-can-get on NeoGAF. It combines everything stereotypical from the German kitchen: Bratwurst, potatoes and "Kraut". A delicious dish nonetheless, and a nice change from the Italian dishes yesterday.

No special utensils are needed.

First, remove the outer leaves from the red cabbage, cut it in half, remove the trunk and cut the halves in thin stripes:

Next, cut one onion in small cubes, peel one apple, remove the core and cut it up a bit:

Get a serious (as in: considered unhealthy in some parts of the world) amount of the lard and melt it in a big pot. When it is molten, add the onions, stir for a few seconds and add the first half of the cabbage:

Next, add the apple slices, the bay leaves and the juniper berries, then fill it up with the rest of the cabbage:

Add the red wine and the cherry jelly:

Stir it thoroghly, put a lid on it and let it cook for at least 90 minutes. Three to four hours are also common if you are interested, you can check out the whole process in the album here.

After about 30 minutes, add a good amount of bouillon extract, stir it in and let it cook on with the lid on:

About half an hour before dinner time, remove the lid and let the juices in the kraut cook in for optimum taste. Add some oil to a pan and put the sausages in. ORDER IN ZE PAN LOL:

fry the sausages at a temperature 3/4 of max heat, turn them over regularly until they get dark brown and crunchy from all sides:

Finish line:
prepare the mashed potatoes (not pictured, sorry).

DONE!
Have a hearty German feast on your plate. Do not forget a hint of the frying oil on top of the mashed potatoes and a splash of mustard:

A smartly saluted "Mahlzeit!" from Bonn.

Comments, questions and contributions are very welcome.

Keep'em coming!:lol

 

[demon]

Hi demon and welcome to this humble thread!

The genuine "Wiener Schnitzel" is made from veal. The pork variant works out great, but technically is called "Schnitzel Wiener style". You can choose the meat you want. I personally prefer pork meat because I like its texture better.
Apart from choice of the meat, it is important to tenderize the meat as thin as possible. about half a centimeter would be optimal (check pictures on page 1).
The easiest panade consists of three components:
1. wheat flour
2. whisked egg which is spiced with some salt and pepper,
3. bread crumbs made from dried, at least day-old bread rolls or white bread.

I happened to have an old bread roll lying around, so here the preparation of bread crumbs in detail:

You will need a fine grater and a real dry bread roll:

grate the bread on the fine side of the grater:

DONE!

I stopped after a few strokes, but one bread roll should be sufficient for the amount of meat pictured on the first page.


Next, prepare a setup of three large plates with the ingredients in above order. Panade the Schnitzels with some flour (put them on it, press lightly, pick up, shake excess flour off, put other side on the flour, press, pick up, again shake off flour), then pull the meat through the whisked eggs, let the excess egg drip off for a few seconds (one to two seconds should suffice), then place the meat in the bread crumbs (same actions as with the flour). Let the Schnitzels rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes so the Panade gets some time to stick to the meat better, resulting in a crispier frying result.

Edit:
For a panade fit for kings and queens, you can replace the bread crumbs with some fresh toast, sandwich or white bread which you chop finely with a big knife or put them in a electric chopper for a few seconds. In this case, put them in the hot pan immediately after finishing the panade.

Since the Schnitzels are/should be really thin, they take only two to three minutes frying time until they are done. pre-heat the pan to medium/ 2/3 of max heat, add a good amout of oil and a piece of butter to help browning of the panade, place the Schnitzels in the hot oil and turn them over two to three times over the frying time until they are golden brown.

I hope I was of assistance. If you have further questions, feel free to post them. That goes for all the silent readers. Keep them coming!

Cool, I'll give that a try. I attempted making some wiener schnitzel (with veal) the other night and it was a near-disaster. I don't know what I did wrong. I suppose I probably cooked it too long....around ten minutes....but I looked up several recipes on the net and most of them suggested between 7 and 15 minutes. So, I dunno. Anyways, I fried it in a mixture of vegetable oil and olive oil because I didn't have enough of either, and it came out charred black. Then I don't know what happened, but for some reason it smoked up my apartment and the smoke detector went off. What are you supposed to do to prevent that from happening? And how long are you really supposed to cook it? Is three minutes of deep-frying it enough to fully cook it?

 

[OnkelC]

Cool, I'll give that a try. I attempted making some wiener schnitzel (with veal) the other night and it was a near-disaster. I don't know what I did wrong. I suppose I probably cooked it too long....around ten minutes....but I looked up several recipes on the net and most of them suggested between 7 and 15 minutes. So, I dunno. Anyways, I fried it in a mixture of vegetable oil and olive oil because I didn't have enough of either, and it came out charred black. Then I don't know what happened, but for some reason it smoked up my apartment and the smoke detector went off. What are you supposed to do to prevent that from happening? And how long are you really supposed to cook it? Is three minutes of deep-frying it enough to fully cook it?

Hi demon, if this was no joke post, sorry to hear that.
Aside from baking, NEVER take written frying or cooking times for granted. The quality of ingredients, their amounts and stoves differ so much that it is impossible to say that the same piece of meat will take the same amount of time on every stove. It takes some time to "learn" ones stove and to cope with it. This is no reason to be ashamed of. The first time I used m fathers new stove, I produced a small kitchen fire, too.

Trust your eyes and your common sense and take such stated times as a rough estimate. Thin cut or tenderized meat like Schnitzel takes roughly two minutes on the first side, one more minute on the other side.
Please try it again and post the results with pics plz.:lol

 

[OnkelC]

Dish for tonight is deep frozen pizza and baguettes, aka convenience monday.

...

...minimal creative input:

My wife prefers these:

Looks like the packaging, doesn't it?

And some ice cream as dessert:

Keep yours coming.:lol

 

[Funky Papa]

Oh man, I really like german food but your love for cabbage is all kinds of disturbing. I still remember how in Frankfurt I got served some of the most awesome grilled lamb ever with a huge ****ing punch of cabbage next to it. It's only second to France's butter love on my list of culinary traditions that freak me out.

 

[Jacobi]

Don't ever again post disgusting stuff like deep-frozen pizza ! You got my recipe, you got the oppurtunities other Gaffers don't have, so from now on it should be just home-made pizza for you

 

[OnkelC]

Oh man, I really like german food but your love for cabbage is all kinds of disturbing. I still remember how in Frankfurt I got served some of the most awesome grilled lamb ever with a huge ****ing punch of cabbage next to it. It's only second to France's butter love on my list of culinary traditions that freak me out.

Cabbage is great for the long and cold winter nights that are not known in the southern parts of the continent. :lol

It is one of the few vegetables that grows natively here, so it has got a really long tradition in ze lokal cuisine.

Really, it is a decent side dish if prepared properly and matches all kinds of red meat.

Don't ever again post disgusting stuff like deep-frozen pizza ! You got my recipe, you got the oppurtunities other Gaffers don't have, so from now on it should be just home-made pizza for you

Oi, let me have my day off from time to time:lol
Take it positive: the dishes can only get better for the rest of the week.

 

[OnkelC]

Tonights dish will be some beef and cheese tacos. Since I haven't cooked mexican style for some time, this might get interesting.:lol

 

[OnkelC]

The ingredients for tonights dish are;

some tortillas,
ground beef,
cheese,
some salad,
concentrated tomato puree,
onion and garlic clove (not pictured),
some spices (not pictured).

Cooking starts now, pictures will be up around the usual time.

Stay tuned and keep'em coming!

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's experiment.
I do not have much experience in the mexican corner of the kitchen and the marvelous recipes posted before sported ingredients that were simply out of reach for me today, I tried a basic variant because I wanted to try out the tortillas we bought on saturday.
Please excuse the lowly description and rather bland pics, as I was focused on cooking.
Experiment time:

I started with frying the ground beef and adding a cubed small onion and a cubed garlic clove:

Next, I added salt, marjorie, oregano, some thyme and concentrated tomato puree for taste:

after a bit of frying, I added some corn and pepper:

For the finish line, i grated some cheese, heated a second pan, roasted the tortillas for a moment, flipped them over and added cheese, meat, tomatoes and a hint of salad to the second one:

Done!
Tasty for the first attempt after a long time, but not overwhelming.

More professional stuff tomorrow, promised!

Keep'em coming!:lol

 

[heavy liquid]

Looks good, OnkelC! If possible, I think that some hot sauce and cilantro would greatly add to your meal (if available).

Hopefully I'll have some more stuff up soon, too. Maybe in the next day or two.

 

[AlanHemberger]

mmm, those tacos look delicious. And the taco recipe that ChryZ posted earlier is an awesome recipe. I can attest to that.

I'm going to be cooking this weekend, a fajita burrito. But I don't have a digital camera. I want to contribute to this thread so bad.

 

[OnkelC]

@ heavy liquid and AlanHemberger:

Thank you for the feedback! Book those tortillas under beta release status. Originally I wanted to make some guarcamole to go with them, but the stuff on sale needed a few more days of ripening, so I abstained from that. I am not the biggest fan of chili and overly hot sauces, but will try some of them out the next time.

Tonights dish will be a fruit salad, as the wife has got a last minute business appointment in the evening and I feel a bit fruity .

I am thinking of a "basic utensils for the upcoming chef" post for tonight where I want to show some of the basic cutlery, pots, pans and other stuff that should be in every kitchen.

I highly welcome any questions and enquiries for the upcoming post, so if any of the readers of this humble thread want to know some basics about dishes, ingredients or their preparations, has some utensil questions or wants to learn a few tricks of the trade,


...keep'em coming!:lol

Edit: There is no such thing like a "stupid" question, only arrogant answers.

 

[ChryZ]

I'm going to be cooking this weekend, a fajita burrito. But I don't have a digital camera. I want to contribute to this thread so bad.

I for one would love to read plain text directions or recipes, with or without pics.

I am not the biggest fan of chili and overly hot sauces, but will try some of them out the next time.

It's always neat to have well seasoned meat and some kind of optional hot sauce, so that everyone can take control of the heat themselves.


Not much home cooking here lately. I'm kinda busy, so it's pretty much the yucky food from works' canteen, takeaway or stuff from the freezer.

Last weekend I baked some banana bread with walnuts though:

I never had banana bread before, but I loved it. Banana and walnuts are such a brilliant combo!

 

[DrM]

the Milka and Ritter Sport brands are considered premium brand chocolates, the flavors I sent you are the flagships of the varieties. The "Kinder" chocolate is also a well-recognized brand and I have yet to meet a person that would deny taking a bar of it if offered.

You have the 'real' Milka and not some 'other' Milka from Poland. This is privilege for eastern and southeastern Europe, quality of some well established brands is just poor. Milka, Nuttela, Nesquick are well known for this. Solution? Drive to nearest city in Austria and buy them there

Yeah, Kinder chocolate is awesome. Just going to the local supermarket and i will buy some.

 

[OnkelC]

@ ChryZ:
Nice stuff! Autumn time will be baking time in our humble kitchen, too (courtesy of the wife)!

You have the 'real' Milka and not some 'other' Milka from Poland. This is privilege for eastern and southeastern Europe, quality of some well established brands is just poor. Milka, Nuttela, Nesquick are well known for this. Solution? Drive to nearest city in Austria and buy them there

Yeah, Kinder chocolate is awesome. Just going to the local supermarket and i will buy some.

Hi DrM and welcome to this humble thread. That was an interesting info; it is hard to imagine that the friendly neighbors get shafted on this. Especially Nutella is a shame, because it is such a decent spread normallly. PRO TIP: If your supermarket has "Zentis" brand nougat spreads, try the following two instead:

Great taste, too, but of supposedly better quality.

So, let's prepare some dinner.
After the meaty last days, I felt like a change and had a real light and healthy dish for tonight: Some fruit salad with curd/curd cheese (which is right?).
Fruit salad can be had at every season. Nearly every fruit can be used for this. It makes a good starter to "kill the cat" after a long night as it replenishes a lot of minerals and is easy to digest. You can throw in any fruit you like. As it is apple season over here, I chose them along with a peach for taste enhancement.

Ingredients:

some curd,
a peach,
two apples (Golden Delicious and Boskoop),
some milk, sugar and decoration (not pictured)

First, wash the peach and apples, remove the cores, then cut them loosely to pieces:

Put them in a bowl and add the curd, some sugar (not too much, the fruits, if bought according to season, should be sweet enough):

For the real taste sensation, you can use vanilla sugar instead of ordinary sugar.

Finish Line:
mix the salad carefully and decorate is as desired. I used some maple syrup-covered corn flakes for added chrunchyness:

DONE!

Have a healthy feast from Bonn.

i am looking forward to your comments, critiques and contributions.

Keep'em coming!:lol

 

[Cornballer]

I never had banana bread before, but I loved it. Banana and walnuts are such a brilliant combo!

I add semi-sweet chocolate chips to my banana bread, and it's pretty tasty.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

As a thank-you to Onkel for the chocolates, here's my first cooking contribution.

I'm making an avacado banana soup. Here's what we'll need:

One ripe avacado*
One ripe or overripe banana*
One lime
One lemon
One pepino melon (optional)
A stalk of green onion
Fresh ginger
Vermouth (or other white cooking wine)
Half and half (I'm using fat-free, but it's up to you!)
One can of chicken broth
8oz package of crabmeat
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

*I made half of recipe, so even though there are two of the main ingredients shown, you only need one of each for a pretty substantial amount of soup.

Start by halving and pitting the avacado, then scoop out the flesh into a blender.

Peel and break up the banana, and then chop up the green onion, leaving a bit for garnish later on.

A pepino melon can also be used in the recipe, although it's not essential. It's a firm, mildly sweet fruit, similar to cucumber (which you could substitue). Cut the melon into quarters, trim off the peel, and scoop out the seeded area. Into the blender it goes!

Add the can of chicken broth to the fruits and onion...

And blend away. You want to start on a lower setting and eventually hit the highest speed to make sure everything is smooth.

Measure out ½ cup of the vermouth, and 1½ cups of half and half (making sure there's a little left to garnish with).

Add the measured liquids and squeeze lemon and lime juice into a pot with the blended mixture.

Put the soup on to simmer. Cut a piece of ginger, peel off the outer part, julienne it, and then dice finely. Add to the soup.

Break up the crabmeat into smallish chunks and add a couple teaspoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Allow everything to heat through for 5-10 minutes.

This can be served warm or chilled -- the banana flavor comes through more when it's warm, but I prefer it cold. Garnish with some thin strips of melon, onion, and a few drops of cream and/or hot sauce!

 

[OnkelC]

Hotarubi, this is one fine dish. I was puzzled by the banana/avocado combination at first, but the longer to think about it, it makes total sense. And some of the funniest pictures so far, the "MONEY SHOT" pic is golden.

Consider yourself a WORTHY CONTRIBUTOR and grab yourself a badge, you have earned it!:lol

Thank you for this.

 

[AlanHemberger]

I for one would love to read plain text directions or recipes, with or without pics.

I'll post the recipe later tonight.

 

[heavy liquid]

Wow, great dishes from both you guys!

OnkelC: That looks like a tasty fruit salad. I've never had it with curd, but will have to try it now. Curd is correct.

Hotarubi: That looks like an amazing combination! Avacado, banana & crabmeat. Yum. I'm definitely going to have to cook that soon.

I should hopefully have a couple dishes up in a three hours or so, too. If everything goes well, I'll have 'Beef with Bok Choy' and 'Chicken Kiev'. Wish me luck, I've never made Chicken Kiev before!

 

[Cornballer]

Wish me luck, I've never made Chicken Kiev before!

Chicken Kiev is awesome. One of the things we always ask my mom to make when we go over there for dinner. I found a short-cut method in a cookbook recently that I use from time to time. Basically just pound chicken breasts flat, put some boursin cheese inside, wrap it up, then bread it and pan-cook it for a while. Finish in the oven. It's pretty good, but can't touch the real-deal. Good luck!

 

[heavy liquid]

Thanks, Cornballer. Actually, it turns out I'll cook the chicken kiev tomorrow.

Tonight was bok choy with beef!

This is another simple but very tasty recipe.

First, in a small bowl you combine the marinade:
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs medium-dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tbs sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Set this aside and get your steak.

Cut the steak into strips, and place it in the bowl with the marinade. Put this in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Mince about 2 tbs of fresh garlic and 2 tbs of fresh ginger. After this, make a soy sauce mixture with the same ingredients of your marinade, except without the cornstarch and sugar. Set this aside.

Take your bok choy, wash and cut length-wise. You can cut them into smaller pieces if you want, but I like nice big pieces.

Boil a pot of water, and put the bok choy stems in for 15 seconds.

Then place them all the way in for another 15 seconds.

Take them out and rinse it under cold water in a colander to stop the cooking.

Now place some vegetable oil in your skillet, and cook the beef. You can discard the marinade.

When cooked, set aside on a plate.

In the same skillet (discarding the old oil), cook your minced ginger and garlic for 30 seconds or so, until it becomes fragrant.

Now mix in your beef, bok choy and your soy sauce mixture. Heat through for about one minute.

Instead of rice, I cooked some whole wheat cous cous to be a bit healthier. First, chop up some fresh parsley.

Heat some olive oil and water in your pot along with some salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Pour in your cous cous, cover, and turn off the heat.

It's done in five minutes!

Stir in your fresh parsley, and serve!

Finished! I like how you can see the steam coming off the plate.

Tomorrow I'll cook the chicken kiev. I'm looking forward to it, since I've never cooked it before. I've actually already started the preparation, so it won't take too long to cook tomorrow.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Another great one, heavy! *scribbles down recipe*

 

[Zynx]

Here comes a new challenger! (Not really, but I want to join the fun!)

Sup everyone? Let's cook, baby!

The mission: Teriyaki-Flavored Chicken Fried Rice (With bonus simple broccoli to fulfill veggie quota.)

Weapon of choice? The legendary cast iron wok! (Err...)

Preamble: This dish is by no means traditional, I've basically kept what I liked, discarded what I don't, and threw in my own changes. But here goes. (My totally unorthodox version, in other words.) Ok, let's begin.

In an ideal world, the rice would be cooked the day before, so it would be end up dryer and result in a nicer fried rice, but I was too lazy to do that. Here's 3 cups of rice.

Wash it a few times until the water doesn't come up too white (somebody else earlier already showed pics), then put equal parts water and rice into a handy rice cooker. Move to the next step as you're waiting on the rice cooker. (After awhile) Cooked rice!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Take your chicken breast(s) (I had 2 large ones) and wash it, then cut off the parts you don't want - I cut off the large bits of fat when I can. Then, cut it into reasonably-sized strips. (I took a pic of the chicken breasts before I did anything to them, but unfortunately, it didn't turn out. Grr @ Camera) Here's a pic of them cut up into strips, with the stuff I'm going to throw out on the right.

Take the chicken strips and mix it up with some teriyaki sauce and white pepper. I used my own homemade teriyaki sauce that I made awhile ago (1 cup mirin, 1 cup japanese soy sauce, 2+ tablespoons of sugar, simmered until the volume is reduced by half).

Let it sit for awhile, then tuck it into your oven for 15-20 minutes - time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken strips.

Take a pot and begin to boil some water. Here's my broccoli - poor picture FTL .

Cut up the broccoli, discard what you don't like, and wash it.

When the pot of water is boiling...

Put your broccoli in. Once the water returns to a boil, wait a few seconds, then you can remove the broccoli. It's ready. The broccoli's there so that we have a balanced nutritional meal.

Also, take the time to chop some green onion as you're waiting on the chicken. I also lost the photo for this.

Okay, once your chicken is done, poke a small hole into the thickest part and see if the liquid that comes out is clear or not - if it's clear, it's cooked, and you can move on to the next step. If not, bake it a little more. The arrangement here in the photo is no longer all lined up because they've been checked if they're done.

Cut the chicken strips into smaller pieces. Now, onto the final stage! Here's what's going into the fried rice! From left to right: Corn oil, teriyaki-flavored chicken breast pieces, canned corn, chopped green onion, white pepper, the teriyaki sauce and meat juice that was left after baking the chicken, and the rice.

Turn up the heat under your wok BEFORE you put in any oil. Once your wok is hot, THEN put in some corn oil (or another vegetable oil). If you use more oil, then it reduces the chance of your rice burning, and many people enjoy the taste thanks to the higher fat content, but I try to keep it as little as I can while avoiding burning the rice, so it's healthier, but still pretty tasty.

Add the rice, and scoop it around, constantly rotating the rice that is in contact with the bottom of the wok. As you can see, due to my laziness, the rice is a bit damp, so the result is not entirely the best, but I don't mind.

After you've scooped it around a bit, add the corn - remember to drain as much of the liquid in the can as you can first. Keep scooping it around.

After that, add the chicken and the sauce/meat juices. Again, keep scooping it around. I took pictures of this and the next step, but they didn't turn out, sorry.

Finally, add the green onion. I like to fry everything for 5+ minutes (timed from the rice alone to the finish) - the longer you fry, the dryer and crisper things get, but too long and things will become too dry or turn black, which isn't great either. Here's the final result! (You'll have to twist your head to look at it properly...forgot to rotate it before uploading.)

Fried rice is a great dish because you can add whatever you want on top of the rice and the oil. Many kinds of vegetables, meats and sauces can be used in place of what I've shown. For example, I have a lazy version with garlic, peas, egg, and canned luncheon meat. This version actually takes perhaps about 20 minutes from start to finish so it's good if you're in a rush. You can use beef, pork, ginger, spices, carrots, whatever you'd like. But make sure your meat is cooked before you add it to the fried rice.

Bonus Stage:

Take some of the water in which you simmered the broccoli, pour it into a cup, and add a little honey. It tastes great and contains most of the nutrients that were lost from the broccoli as it simmered! (Not many other people like to do this though...) Blurry pic FTL again.

P.S. - what's the "AM" (or "AN"?) brand I keep seeing on many of your ingredients? Whatever company it is, it seems to supply a huge variety of stuff over there. Food supply domination?

 

[OnkelC]

@ heavy liquid:
That is a great contribution again! Thank you for that. I liked the use of couscous instead of the ovious rice. Lookin' ahead for the chicken kiev recipe!

@ Zynx:
Welcome to this humble thread, fellow cook, and thank you for this WORTHY CONTRIBUTION! There is a small badge in this thread, grab yourself one and wear it with pride, you earned it!
I used to have a cast iron wok, too, but discarded it in favor of a thinner aluminum one because it is easier to cook in the different heat zones with that one.

Keep'em coming!:lol

 

[ChryZ]

Sweet! The thread is picking up steam. Áll those new dishes are looking great.

My next contribution will be Kung Pao Chicken or Mapo Tofu. It's going to be saturday though.

 

[White Man]

Onkel, you ever want to be gay? Because you can pleasure me very well with this food.

 

[OnkelC]

Onkel, you ever want to be gay? Because you can pleasure me very well with this food.

:lol :lol :lol

Gotta ask the wife about it.

Thank you for the feedback, it makes the other posters and myself go on with contributing to this humble thread.

 

[OnkelC]

Tonights dish will be some Pasta in a light cream sauce with cooked ham, peas and maybe mushrooms. There may be some white wine involved, too.

 

[OnkelC]

The ingredients for tonights dish are:

-frozen peas (one to two handful),
-pasta of choice,
-a few slices of cooked ham,
-two cups of cream,
-soft cheese or cream cheese (not pictured),
-salt and pepper.

Cooking starts when the wife comes home, pictures will be up around the usual time. Stay tuned.

I am still collecting stuff for a "kitchen and tool essentials" contribution, so please post your
enquiries and questions (only 11 posts needed for the next page, c'mon!).

 

[heavy liquid]

Looking forward to tonight's dinner, OnkelC!

What are you looking for with the "kitchen and tool essentials" you're putting together? Questions about different kitchen equipment? I must've missed where you mentioned this earlier, sorry.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

so who is trying these recipes out anyway? Post your impressions and how well they came out!

I've tried so far
Spicy Chicken by Rei_Toei
Schwein mit estragon/taragon (sp?) by Onkel

both ****ing delicious. I'm printing em in colour right now actually to stick in my book the girlfriend made me for christmas.

EDIT: Hey onkel, first post could use and update if you ever feel even more motivated than this :lol

 

[Cornballer]

What are you looking for with the "kitchen and tool essentials" you're putting together? Questions about different kitchen equipment? I must've missed where you mentioned this earlier, sorry.

I'm wondering about this, too. Are you looking for suggestions from us as to what we like to use?

 

[OnkelC]

Yeah, I am thinking about questions (EDIT: And answers, of course!) from the silent readers and the fellow cooks concerning preparations, utensils, acquisition of ingredients and so on.
Examples from my own days of kitchen virginity like:
"I kept cooking the egg for 15 minutes, but it doesn't get soft", or "when to use black pepper, when to use white pepper", "side dishes for fish preparations", "which wine to which meat", "how many knives are needed", "is life possible without a electric grinder", "how to extinguish oil fires" and so on.

cooking mishaps are also welcome! Fess up!

I would start the post with the basic tools and utensils.

Keep'em coming!

Only 6 more posts till next page!

 

[DrM]

@ ChryZ:
PRO TIP: If your supermarket has "Zentis" brand nougat spreads, try the following two instead:
Great taste, too, but of supposedly better quality.

Haven't found them in Mercator (biggest store chain in country) hipermarket, i will check Interspar megamarket tommorow.Because of poor qualitiy of popular brands, we rather buy products from our, domestic companies. They are even better.

Supermarkets are growing like mushrooms here, prices are going down, special actions are running non-stop, € is coming on 1st Januar = profit for customers.

Sadly, i do not have digital camera and i am the worst cook ever. My grandma, in the other hand, worked as chief for 45 years and her food and recepies are just incredible. Need to polish my english abit and translate some of the recepies. Atleast filled paprika in tomato sauce with white bread.

 

[BlackMage]

when i get a free night to actually be able to cook a nice dinner, i'll share my family chicken enchilada recipe with you all /w pics.

 

[heavy liquid]

Yeah, I am thinking about questions (EDIT: And answers, of course!) from the silent readers and the fellow cooks concerning preparations, utensils, acquisition of ingredients and so on.
Examples from my own days of kitchen virginity like:
"I kept cooking the egg for 15 minutes, but it doesn't get soft", or "when to use black pepper, when to use white pepper", "side dishes for fish preparations", "which wine to which meat", "how many knives are needed", "is life possible without a electric grinder", "how to extinguish oil fires" and so on.

cooking mishaps are also welcome! Fess up!

I would start the post with the basic tools and utensils.

Keep'em coming!

Only 6 more posts till next page!

Hmm...

I'd just like to mention that you can do an amazing amount of things with very little tools. A few knives, a cutting board, a couple pots and a skillet and you're good to go. Granted, tools make some jobs easier. It's easier to whip some eggs with a wire whip than a spoon, but a spoon still works.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that I think cast iron skillets are the best. Everyone should have at least one. I'm very much anti non-stick skillets. They've been known to release toxic fumes when overheated that can be fatal to pet birds and make people sick. I'd rather not have my food cooking on that.

Cast iron skillets are great. Once a pan is properly seasoned, and kept rust free, it will work better than a teflon coated pan. Why? Because, the butter or oil that you put into the pan distributes evenly, and doesn't form a puddle like it does with traditional non-stick cookware.

Have you ever pre-heated a skillet, only to have the temperature drop as soon as you put the food in? You can't get a decent crust on something if you can't keep your cooking surface hot enough. The heat retention is amazing. You can take the pan cold, wash it with hot water and then dry it. At this point you can feel the warmth from the hot water that was retained in the iron.

Ever find yourself cooking in a sea of fats and water that rendered out of your meat? A hot cast iron skillet would have sealed in those jucies. When you want to fry, don't you want to fry, not braise?

A well cared for cast iron skillet can be passed on for generations. There are also health benefits to using cast iron. Some of the cast iron gets into your food, which you eat and absorb. Wouldn't you rather eat iron than teflon? I would.

 

[OnkelC]

Haven't found them in Mercator (biggest store chain in country) hipermarket, i will check Interspar megamarket tommorow.Because of poor qualitiy of popular brands, we rather buy products from our, domestic companies. They are even better.

Supermarkets are growing like mushrooms here, prices are going down, special actions are running non-stop, € is coming on 1st Januar = profit for customers.

Sadly, i do not have digital camera and i am the worst cook ever. My grandma, in the other hand, worked as chief for 45 years and her food and recepies are just incredible. Need to polish my english abit and translate some of the recepies. Atleast filled paprika in tomato sauce with white bread.

It would be nice to see some local Polish chocolate and sweets brands. Some links would be fine, too.

It is strange that a lot of people buy "brand" instead of making their decisions based on taste. After the wall came down, the whole eastern part kicked the own products off the shelves and only bought the "good west" stuff. Quality stuff like thuringian sausages, mustard from Bautzen or the Spreewald pickles were nearly extinct. Luckily, the people came to their senses after a year or two and kept this stuff alive.

 

[heavy liquid]

when i get a free night to actually be able to cook a nice dinner, i'll share my family chicken enchilada recipe with you all /w pics.

Looking forward to it. I love enchiladas, and would like a good recipe for one. I've never tried to cook them before.

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.
The dish I prepared tonight is a nice and really easy to make pasta variant with a great taste and looks. Pasta with peas and ham is fast to make, the ingredients are at hand in most households and it tastes great. It is a nice dish to serve on the first date, because it looks and tastes like you put a lot of effort into it. :lol

No special utensils are needed for this. Preparation time is about 20-25 minutes.

First, put a big pot with salted water on the stove and give it max heat:

Next, cut some cooked ham in stripes (remove excess fat first, it is not needed for this dish):

The package contained five slices, I sliced four of them and kept one for the decoration.

Next, get a medium sized pot, add some olive oil and heat it a little bit (only medium heat). Add the ham and stir it for about two minutes:

When the smell of ham arises from the pot, add half a cup of white wine and two cups of cream:

Next, add about this amount (three pieces) of soft cheese to the sauce:

Turn down the heat until the sauce is only simmering a bit and let it reduce until the pasta is ready. Stir it occasionally.

The water for the pasta should be boiling by now. Add the pasta and cook it al dente. A mix of normal and green (spinach) pasta is a good color addition to the dish:

About two minutes before the pasta is done, add about two handful of frozen peas to the sauce, turn the heat up to max and let it boil again. Add some salt and pepper. The sauce might need a good bit of salt:

Finish Line:
Pour the noodles in a colander (see, I'm learning new words here!) and rinse them with cold water. The noodles used were funn ones, little triangles rolled up in tubes:

DONE!
Serve with some grated cheese and add a few of the leftover ham stripes:

Guten Appetit from Bonn.

Keep them comments and contributions a-comin'.