what are you eating?

[Batanides]

Lucky charms for me. I luv the marshmallows :]

[thoxans]

made bombay biryani masala, with chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, served over basmati rice. and considering making some naan today to go with the leftovers

[thoxans]

sardines, saltines, mustard, and hot sauce. classic

[liquidnature]

i really wanna try making shakshuka, but that would require like, going to store. not exactly itching to make an appearance there, but will prob have to in the next few days.

[thoxans]

last night made seared duck breast, with macerated blood orange, frisee that i tossed in the warm duck fat, and topped all of it with a cranberry and pistachio crumble. tonight will be baltimore-style crab cakes, and a classic caesar salad, complete with the traditional anchovy-egg yolk dressing. quarantine cooking's where it's at

[thoxans]

shakshuka

just watched an america's test kitchen where they made shakshuka! been wanting to try to make it for a while as well

[liquidnature]

last night made seared duck breast, with macerated blood orange, frisee that i tossed in the warm duck fat, and topped all of it with a cranberry and pistachio crumble. tonight will be baltimore-style crab cakes, and a classic caesar salad, complete with the traditional anchovy-egg yolk dressing. quarantine cooking's where it's at

wow, yum. what little cooking i know how to do i learned from my mom, so pretty traditional/unsophisticated, need to expand my knowledge. Got all the ingredients for the shakshuka now, so started experimenting with feta in my omelettes - so good, and so many possibilities. Need to try mushroom, spinach, feta, egg white combo - not sure what sauce would go with that (if any) - a tzatziki might be weird but good. Normally in my turkey and cheese omelettes i top with salsa or a habanero sauce.

[thoxans]

made bombay biryani masala again, plus homemade hummus, bhindi (crispy okra), and kachumber (cucumber salad); and watching ghayal (rajkumar santoshi) while chowingdown, so awww yeah

[thoxans]

recent adventures in quarantine cooking

finally caved and tried marcella hazan's super simple tomato sauce, and damn. believe the hype. fresh basil courtesy of my garden

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french onion soup. nothing fancy. just plain good

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bacon wrapped shrimp fresh out of the broiler. topped them with a spicy honey garlic sauce, and fresh chopped chives

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ostrich burger with fresh garden tomato, pickled lettuce, griddled onion, spicy catsup, and a local cheese

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shrimp gumbo. really proud of this one actually. along with the holy trinity, i incorporated missy robbins' recipe for preserved tomatoes, which added a ton of brightness, balancing with the dark roux that i worked on for easily an hour, constantly stirring over medium-low heat, until the flour toasted to a really deep aroma and flavor. shrimp were covered in blackening seasoning, and broiled. okra was also broiled, and added after the fact, along with the fresh chopped green onion. all of it served over yellow rice. complete flavor bomb from beginning to end, not gonna lie

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pickled plum ochazuke with celery leaf, green cherry tomato, and furikake. used lemongrass tea

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yakisoba with chicken, sliced shishitos, peeled carrot, mushrooms, and onions. topped with toasted sesame seeds

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gyuniku tataki with a side of ikura oroshi

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nori tamagoyaki topped with fresh chopped green onion and a soy glaze, with a side of steamed rice topped with furikake

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oshinko moriawase

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soba noodles in a shoyu and smoked turkey leg broth, with roasted red and green shishitos, roasted red and green cherry tomatoes, sauteed maitake mushrooms with wakame, blanched spinach, fresh chopped green onion, and a little slice of narutomaki

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orzo with feta, spinach, peas, green onion, and fresh dill

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[Silga]

Everything looks super delish and mouthwatering. I really want that tamagoyaki!

[thoxans]

tamagoyaki

surprisingly simple to make! especially if you already know how to make an omelette. you don't have to have the pan for it. anything nonstick will do. also, you can cheat by using veggie stock, if you aren't able to make/buy dashi (though you will miss out on some umami from the glutamate). i do mine one thin layer of egg at a time, cooked at medium heat. roll up the first layer after fully cooked, set it aside, and pour the second thin layer into the pan. halfway into cooking the second layer, set the first thin layer on top, so that you end up rolling the second thin layer around the first. take out this fully cooked and rolled part, and add in the third thin layer of egg mixture. repeat this process until you run out of mixture. you can also add in strips of nori, like i did. in that case, you just set your strip of nori right on top of your egg mixture, right after you pour it into the pan (and before you add the previous cooked layer). pro tip: instead of putting oil directly into the pan, soak part of a paper towel in oil, and rub the paper towel on the pan before adding each new layer; this ensures that the egg doesn't stick, while also preventing the end product from being saturated in cooking oil

[john ryan]

recent adventures in quarantine cooking

Hot damn!

Every one of those dishes looks wonderful, and that burger temp is doing it fucking right!

[thoxans]

grrr i hate the weeks leading up to thxgiving. nothing good on sale at the grocery stores except turkey, turkey, and more turkey. looks like i'll be cleaning out my freezer this month...

[---]

I'm sorry turkey
I never meant to eat you
I never meant to make you food
But tonight
I'm cleaning out my freezer

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Tavë Kosi... traditional Albanian food made with Lamb and Rice in a weird yogurt/egg mixture. Not bad.

[thoxans]

weird yogurt/egg mixture

that looks wonderful! ever notice how everything looks better in foreign countries? just like how people always look better in black and white...

[thoxans]

mas aventuras

street tacos. chorizo, cilantro, onion, hot sauce, and hotter sauce

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kushiyaki. sirloin and green onion

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broccoli with oyster sauce. topped with toasted sesame seeds

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shoyu ramen. soft boiled egg, simmered shiitakes, mukamame, blached spinach, roasted tomatoes, marinated beef, green onion, nori, narutomaki, and beni shoga. went a lil crazy on the ingredients for this one. still good, but i'll cut out at least a third of the toppings next time. also still tinkering with that broth, but i'll get there

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ohitashi. the best way ever to eat spinach. seriously. not even joking. it's amazing how delicious something so seemingly simple can be

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steak frites. ny strip topped with blue cheese shallot butter, and a side of twice fried french fries

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[rischka]

amazing ramen w/a poached egg and cheese on top. so easy too

Make some instant ramen. Slide an egg into the hot broth, then some butter. Crown the steaming noodles with slices of American cheese. Scatter a bunch of toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions across the top, if you want to.

can't remember last time i bought american 'cheese' but good call NYT

thoxans all that looks wonderful. i recently made roasted broccoli in the oven with olive oil and garlic, parmesan on top. thx barefoot contesssa crispy brocc rules

[thoxans]

just found out my sushi blowout joint changed hands this past week, after thirty years, marking the end of an era. can't even begin to express how sad i am. place was like a second home to me for years. maybe next time i'm back in town, i'll give it a try to see if it compares, but after a transition like that, i'm afraid things don't ever really stay the same...

i've said it before, and i'll say it again: fuck 2020. fuck it all day every day. and while we're at it, fuck all the mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights as well. oh and fuck that extra leap year day too. fucking february 29th, what a crock of shit. seriously. what kind of god inserts an additional day in the all-time worst year ever? that's just fucked up

[nrh]

no surprise made our best thanksgiving ever because our families weren't there.





roast duck w/balsamic glaze, roast delicata squash and rainbow carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry chutney, and bread/chorizo/leeks dressing. most credit goes as usual to seema.

hope everyone else had a good day on what is usually my least favorite holiday of the year.

[pabs]

No thanksgiving in my country.

Tonight: Beef in black bean sauce, garlic bok choy, and garlic prawns. With boiled rice.

[pabs]

no surprise made our best thanksgiving ever

Wow! looks super scrumptious!!

[thoxans]

our families weren't there

damn. dat duck ftw. i'm jelly. i never get to cook anything for thanksgiving cuz fam always does everything. were it up to me, i'd go 'nontraditional.' turkey is just the most boring thing ever

however, the night before thanksgiving, i did make these little nuggets. sweet sticky rice wrapped in collards. half were stuffed with teriyaki chicken and bamboo shoots. the other half were stuffed with soy simmered shiitakes and diced water chestnut. i never ever use cooking twine, so these were extra fun to put together

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[rischka]

should i take a photo of my turkey breast and stovetop stuffing. my brother called off after convincing me to cook so good thing i didn't go all out

i'll be eating turkey for awhile

[nrh]

should i take a photo of my turkey breast and stovetop stuffing. my brother called off after convincing me to cook so good thing i didn't go all out

yes! i love seeing everyone's food photos. we can't all be thoxans all the time

[nrh]

i never get to cook anything for thanksgiving cuz fam always does everything. were it up to me, i'd go 'nontraditional.' turkey is just the most boring thing ever

i agree with this although i think you can do pretty well w/turkey (i like the guide by molly stevens, whose all about braising is low key one of the all time great recipe books https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/ ... ct-Turkey/). i think thanksgiving for us is usually hampered by like grandpa who thinks he doesn't like garlic (but likes all the food better when we put garlic in it), mom who thinks she is good at cooking mashed potatoes but really believes they don't need much butter or any salt, and so on.

[rischka]

should i take a photo of my turkey breast and stovetop stuffing. my brother called off after convincing me to cook so good thing i didn't go all out

yes! i love seeing everyone's food photos. we can't all be thoxans all the time

i decided i'm not into cooking that turkey breast yet, i'm having celery sticks and artichoke dip. and pie. i probably won't be able to finish that damn green bean casserole though NEVER INVITING HIM AGAIN. jerk. like our shared childhood trauma wasn't enough!

[nrh]

i just called my younger brother's child "a weeping little lord fauntelroy on an electric tractor" on a family message app, blasting leon russel's carny album, this is not a bad thanksgiving weekend overall

[Monsieur Arkadin]

I actually kind of like turkey, but I do think traditional thanksgiving food is overall unexciting. Since we're in lockdown my wife and I decided to give Palestinian Thanksgiving a shot, largely to force ourselves to learn our favorite various dishes.

We cranked out a (semi) traditional Mezze.


Main course was Maqlouba, which tastes a lot better than it looks (especially with the depressing lighting we had by the time we finished cooking)


We also made an attempt at homemade knafeh, which I burned.


And of course, Lemon and Mint juice to drink.


Worst part of the whole ordeal was realizing that we way overshot our proportions, and cooked about 15 meals worth of food.

[thoxans]

guys. i don't want to get ahead of myself or anything, but i think i'm getting there. it's at least a two day process, but really worth it. first i made my dashi, which was mostly the traditional stuff, but i also incorporated mushrooms. so first i dehydrated coarsely chopped baby bellas and shiitakes in the oven, at the lowest temp possible. after a couple hours, mushrooms were properly dried out, so i added those and the kombu to a pot of water, and let them sit overnight. the next morning, i set the pot over medium heat until just barely simmering, then fished out the kombu and mushrooms, and set them aside for additional uses. next i added the katsuobushi to the pot, let it simmer for twenty minutes, removed the pot from the heat, and let it all steep with the top on for ten more minutes. strained out the katsuobushi, and boom step one was done. had my dashi. it was the first time i'd done the old school overnight cold brew method too. had always done the shortcut version before, but man, overnight soaking of the kombu really makes a difference, i gotta tell ya. now it was time to tackle the bone broth base. for this part, i had pork neck bones. first i rinsed them under cool water, rubbing off any loose bits of debris. then i boiled them in a pot for ten minutes to clean off the impurities like foam/scum, put them in an ice bath to cool for a few minutes, and ran them under cool water one more time. this is all pretty integral to helping achieve a clear broth. again, labor and time intensive, but worth it if clarity is what you're going for. then i roasted the bones in the oven at 425 for one hour, flipping them halfway through. once done, added them to a pot of cool water, put in a dash of rice wine vinegar, and brought it up to steaming over medium heat. once steaming, and prior to simmering, turned the heat down to the next-to-lowest temp on the stovetop. the trick here is that you don't want the liquid to even simmer. you want as little action going on in that pot as possible, once again to promote clarity. i let this go on the stove for roughly six hours, coming by every five or ten minutes to skim off any impurities. meanwhile, while the bone broth is cooking, i get started on my chashu. i couldn't find pork belly, so i improvised with chunks of pork butt. first i seared them in bacon fat, and once browned on both sides, i added a mixture of water, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, green onion, garlic, and shallot. i put the top on the pan, and let this mixture simmer over medium-low heat, turning the chunks of pork occasionally. now, with the bone broth and the chashu both doing their thing, i can turn to other stuff. so i make my soft boiled egg, add it to the mixture of mirin, soy sauce, and water, and put it all in the fridge to marinate. then i roast a halved sweet onion, halved three inch piece of fresh ginger, six garlic cloves, and the mushrooms that i had reconstituted in the dashi. the mushrooms after roasting are now nice and leathery, and deeply aromatic, almost like coffee. i also grab the kombu that i set aside after the dashi was done, and i cut it into stamp-sized squares. i take about a half-dozen of these squares, along with the roasted mushrooms, and add them to a bowl with regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and mirin, and let this mixture steep on the counter. this will be the base for my shoyu tare. next i make a simple shio tare of freshly squeezed juice from one lemon, sea salt and kosher salt, whisking it all together until the salts are dissolved. then i make my aroma oil. i use the rendered fat from when i roasted the pork neck bones, along with coconut oil (for sweetness), and a little bit of green chile infused olive oil (for heat), and for the aromatics i add a couple cloves of crushed garlic, some slices of fresh ginger, and some fresh chopped green onion, and i let this all infuse together in a little saucepan over medium-low heat for like twenty minutes. after the bones have been cooking for six hours, i add the roasted onion, ginger, and garlic to the pot, and let it cook for one more hour. after that, i remove the bones and roasted veggies, and turn the heat under the pot down to the absolute lowest temp on the stovetop. then i add fresh chopped carrot, celery, and leeks, and i let this steep in the warm broth. once again, this is about promoting clarity. by merely steeping these fresh veggies in the broth, you don't end up altering the clear color you've developed thus far. while that mixture is doing its thing, i take the shoyu tare that i'd been steeping the mushrooms and kombu in, and i add that to a small sauce pan, and bring it up to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. once simmering, i fish out the kombu, leave in the mushrooms, and add some brown sugar, letting the mixture cook another five minutes. i also take my chashu pork, which is done by now, remove it from the cooking liquid, and put it in the freezer for like ten minutes to totally stop the cooking process, and help it cool faster. the meat has to be cool for it to be cut into slices later on. i strain the fresh veggies from the bone broth, and at this point, everything is basically done. now it's time to just put it all together! so i take two ladles of the dashi, two ladles of the bone broth, two spoonfuls of the shoyu tare, two spoonfuls of the shio tare, one spoonful of the aroma oil, add everything to a little pot, and heat the mixture up over medium high heat, just until it comes to a gentle boil. boiled the noodles, added them to the bowl, topped it with strips of fresh green onion, slices of the chashu pork, half of the ramen egg, and a little dab of beni shoga. and i gotta say it was pretty damn good. not the best ramen i've ever had, but the closest i've come so far to replicating the real deal authentic thing. i have a feeling i'll be headed into the deep dark black hole that is ramen more often in the future after this attempt

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