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A Cooking Thread?

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The Seldom Killer:

--- Quote from: dr. nervioso on 28 Jul 2012, 09:56 ---Along with that, another item on my winter cooking list is a good stew. The closest I ever get to making that is making chili.

--- End quote ---

Take some cheap cuts of meat*, cut into bite sized peices and coat them lightly in flour with a little salt and pepper added.
In a heavy based frying pan, fry the pieces in sunflower oil until they are browned. Brown as in the deep rich brown of dark chocolate, not brown as in greyish because it hasn't spent much time in the pan.
Reserve the browned pieces on a plate.
In a heavy based stockpot, heat some oil and sweat some shallots, stir regularly.
Add the meat and fry a bit more.
If adding pulses and/or fungi, add them now.
Deglaze the frying pan** and transfer to the stockpot.
If adding booze***, add this now and simmer off.
Add stock****, a drop of balsamic vinegar, maybe an anchovy or two instead of salt, bay leaves.
Opinion on vegetables varies. Some put them all in at the start. I like to put heavy roots in at the start, along with celery. Everything else goes in near the end.
Cook at a low heat for at least and hour. Do not eat the food now. Leave to sit at room temperature overnight and then cook again for at least another hour before serving.


* cheap cuts of meat doesn't mean cheap meat, it means the cheaper cuts of the expensive meat. Cheap meat isn't worth buying.
** The best thing to deglaze with is booze, stock is a minimum second best.
*** Usual rules apply, white wine for chicken , red for lamb or beef, cider for pork, beer for beef. Not absolutes but will save some anguish. Lager is not beer, best to stick to bitters, stouts, porters and dark ales. A dose of honey helps temper a beer for stew without affecting the flavour too much.
**** Oxo is not stock, or any other instant granules except bouillon. Use a soft, paste stock cube as a minimum.

Lupercal:

--- Quote from: Linds on 15 Aug 2012, 08:54 ---Yeah, I don't really care if I find mold on cheese, because, well, it's cheese, but everything else gets tossed. My stomach is delicate enough and I don't want to make my body angry by accidentally ingesting something I'm allergic to. Like I won't even drink or cook with milk the day after the sell by date. I was just surprised by the bacon because we didn't even have it that long, but I think it's because I had it wrapped in saran wrap instead of in an air tight bag or container. And the saran wrap we have is really crappy.

--- End quote ---

Interesting - I guess I'm more of a "suck it and see" kind of person, probably because I've grown up with the idea that throwing food away is sacrilege. (Note: you can't make friends easily with this philosophy) Saying that, there were far too many times as a student that I'd realise 3/4 of the way through a sandwich that the bread I'm eating has little green spores all over it. That's when the coke has to come out...

Seldom Killer - interesting that you'd suggest frying off the meat before cooking it. I guess it makes a difference whether you're doing a stockpot/crockpot or have an electric slow-cooker (or are you just being safe?). I usually use an electric slow cooker, so basically shove everything in at say 10am and have that heating and cooking away till something like 5-6pm, slowly adding spices/wine over that time. Usually means the raw meat is beautifully cooked in the stock and is very tender.

I've got a proper tried and tested salad going on now. I've tried it as a base for dishes with both mackerel and chicken, so it seems pretty versatile in that way. It's great for this time of year, as you get a big citrus/mint hit - any Americans suffering with the heat may be interested!

Start cooking your meat/fish of choice.

While that is frying/baking/grilling, shove this stuff in a bowl:
1-2 portions of cooked betroot, thinly sliced (I am able to buy 4 beets ready-cooked in a packet, so 1-2 of these I guess)
Handful of mint leaves, torn up/chopped
Juice and zest of 1/2 an orange
120g of cooked lentils (your choice, they go with everything - I've been using green and 'lentilles vertes', which are just smaller French ones)

Now, shove more stuff in the bowl:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar (I've been using white - does it matter? I love wine)
1 tsp pommegranate juice

Get some plates out. Shove some leaves of your choice on there - I've been using baby leaf spinach and watercress.
Wash a cup or two of green beans or sugar-snap peas (I have them raw), slice them and scatter them (preferably over the plates)
If you've got a pommegranate handy, disperse half of the seeds (bits? pods?) over the leaves.
The other half of that orange? Chop it up and sprinkle over the leaves too
Chuck the beetroot mixture over the plates too. Do it well, or your prospective diners will hate you.
Lay the fish/meat over the 'bed' of leaves/beetroot mixture.

Huzzah! A big citrus hit in a meal that is packed full of good things, protein, and like 16 of your five-a-day.

spoon_of_grimbo:
i made a thing tonight that consisted of tomatoes, mushrooms, sweetcorn, peppers, onion, and (pre-boiled) carrots, all cooked in a wok with some leftover lean beef mince from last night's dinner, and a generous amount of lea & perrins sauce, paprika and pepper added.  can any of you more culinary-minded individuals enlighten me as to what this recipe is called, if at all?  all i know is it was tasty as hell, and having gotten as much nutritional info as possible, i worked out that the fairly generous portion i had was only about 400calories.  which, for a full meal that was pretty filling, isn't too bad really...

bainidhe_dub:
Sounds like a stir-fry to me! And yeah vegetables are awesome like that, you can eat 2 cups and it's only like 40 calories.

Redball:
I guess you could call it a stir-fry. I dunno, "Spoon of Grimbo" comes to mind.

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