What did you cook today??

[Philistine]

They have a summer in England?

[Dee Jay]

I'm seeing some nice dishes up in here!

Sopas!

No no, not that piracy bill, it's Chicken Macaroni Soup

SOPA.jpg

Diced chicken dark meat or white or combo
carrot diced or julien
elbo macaroni
minced garlic
sliced oinion
water
chicken bulion
edit: a little milk
salt and pepper
fishsauce

cook garlic
add and stirfry onions and carrots
add and stirfry chicken
add water and a bulion and macaroni, some salt and pepper to taste
edit:add milk and simmer till macaroni is slighly over cooked
done.

some fishsauce to adjust saltiness at the table. Personally like it super peppery.

You cannot go wrong with this easy and tasty dish. great comfort food for harsh winter that's been kickin my ass..made a big pot over the weekend and it's sold out as of today

:burp:

I love chicken macaroni soup! Had it yesterday, till this morning My favorite soup! yum!

Oh hai.. welcome to my ES food show!

Good to know others enjoy sopas, comfort food is good medicine.

You're welcome to post your DIY Dishes here or you can start your own thread.

Pls share your recipes with plenty of pics, otherwise it never happened

[Dee Jay]

They have a summer in England?

summers are short in the land of Eng...maybe one week?

[Dee Jay]

I felt adventurous and Jamie’s recipe looked soo good and simple so I went for it and I was right.. it was as simple as Jamie demonstrated in his show.

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Jamie's trick worked!

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I think the main idea in any chili recipe is the layering of ingredients. In the pot, he put in tomatoes first, then peppers but beans weren’t part of his recipe so I got to thinkin…and you know how that goes…I thought ..well maybe beans aren’t supposed to be boiled because it can get too soft and break up... I think tomatoes should be well cooked so it’s the first layer to get direct heat. Second layer is the peppers to be simmered with tomatoes. EDIT forgot to mention beef stock. Next, beans because they are meant to be steamed by all veggies and baked when the pot is covered with a good fitting lid. Next, is seasoned and cooked beef, amazing that no other seasoning was even needed on the veggies at the bottom. Lastly, cooked onions, garlic, and hot peppers. I sauteed onions and garlic with the beef. And some fresh cilantro and cover that sucker up and simmer in lowest fire possible and for several hours if possible.

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I've never slow cooked before and was afraid to burn it cos it’s not a very thick wok, so I used a wooden spoon to feel the bottom of the wok without breaking up the layers and beans…lucky me I felt no burnt spots. I didn't want to open the lid cos that'll let a lot of heat and steam out but I think next time I can confidently leave the lid on using this same wok for the next few hours

just before cover with the lid

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Cast iron really is the way to go…SOON! But WOW my chili turned out soo good

[Kingfish]

Dang that looks good! Dee Jay, I'll be right over

Still hungry after dinner, KF

[Dee Jay]

Dang that looks good! Dee Jay, I'll be right over

Still hungry after dinner, KF

Kingfish, come on down! You're the next contestant on Cook It Right!

yep, this is some hearty stuff, all fresh ingredients makes a world of difference. Fresh roasted and grounded cumin seed is truly amazing, something I learned from cooking Thai Green Curry from scratch. While grinding the seeds fresh ground coffee kept popping up in my mind.. then I remembered how cowboys simmer a cup of hot coffee in their chili..gonna have to try that one day. I can almost taste it now. I think mexicans add a touch of dark chocolate, too, maybe even straight up cacao beans...

Another thing that help a lot is knowing what a dish should taste like. When I was about 18 yo I worked as a busboy at two great restaurants, a BBQ place and a soup place at a mall. BTW, it's hard to find good honest grub at the malls these days..owners and franchisers are just way too greedy and do not care about offering anything good. It's why I agree with the anti-restaurant movement ..Anwyay, at the soup place, I often had their chili con carne and baguette for lunch, GOOD STUFF! At the BBQ place, hoo wee... to die for.. great food, great bosses, great coworkers, we all worked hard and ate well. Working as a busboy at great restaurants should be the minimum prerequisite for cooking schools and franchisers

[Kingfish]

>> Coffee: That sounds right to me too! It jazzes up an intangible kick to the food, possibly due to the melding of alkaloids and bitterness with other spices.

>> Chocolate: I bet you are thinking Mole sauce. Boy I get a hankering for Mole every now and then, though I’m a bit spoiled because I enjoy true Latin American ethnic cooking and not this mainstream Mexican fluff. I like my beans whole, not creamed, and I do not care for Jalapenos at all; spicy peppers – yes, but not the blow-torch please. There are three unique restaurants that stick out from memory:

• In Monroe, Washington on East Main street is a little hole-in-the-wall called “Tijuana”; best Mexican food in the State and serving up farmer’s portions at a thrifty fare. My M.O. for nearly 8 years was to finish my tractor work, get my shower, and head on into town for grub-steak and beer; Tijuana was one of my regular stops. I no longer have the farm, but if I’m in that neck of the woods, it’s a must-do for a meal.
• The second place I discovered much earlier in life and I have no idea if they’re still around but there was a lunch place near high-tech in a Town & Country shopping center called “El Salvador” in San Ramon, California: Best dang burritos I have ever had made with charred steak, whole beans, and my-gawds the spicy flavor that kept giving long after the lunch beer.
• Last place of great memory is a Tex-Mex restaurant chain called "Serrano’s" in Austin, Texas! I haven’t been there in 20 years but I shall never ever forget the most fantastic meals of my life!

Refried Beans: I know I just dissed creamed beans, but there is a way to make then taste authentic by adding a spoon or two of creamy peanut butter to the mix; be careful though because a little goes a long way. I remember one night sitting at the dinner table as a kid gobbling down tacos, rice and RB, but it tasted so odd that I blurted out “Why does the RB taste like peanut butter?” which caught everyone’s surprise. It wasn’t the first time I was sent to my room for lack of tact.

All this talk of food, now I want Huevos Rancheros for lunch... and I still have one Serrano chili left too - Ja!
~KF

[Dee Jay]

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defrosted a bowl of leftover chili and had some "Assed Out Natt Choss" while watching The Iron Chef for the first time. Old friends back in the US asked me repeatedly if I ever watched it here in Japan but I never knew about it. The series ended and stopped airing about the same time I started living here and I only got into cooking around the same time... so i decided to check it out last weekend for the frist time

Point Blank

IT SUCKED!

It's not about cooking tips and tricks. It's not about cooking what people normally eat at home. I guess it's about elitism. Shows like this just makes cooking seem so impossible. Elitism really turns me off.. whether it's cooking, dee jaying, clubbing, raving, snoberry just turns me off

I don't know..maybe I just didn't watch enough of it to understand the appeal.. which is cooking battles in an arena? Really? Why does everything have to be about competition? Sports Cooking? Sports Eating? Sports Fncking? Sports Shitting? Sports Sleeping? GTFOH

Maybe 'm mising the point so I'll have a look at it again, if only I can get past the over-the-top intro come on..who the hell swallows a whole cup cake.. that's not tasting, it gorging.. LOL

[Philistine]

Deejay are you watching it in Japanese or in English? The reason I am curious is that it is not meant to be a practical cooking show that you watch to learn tips on cooking or practical cooking, (the English dubbed version anyway). It is purely meant to be a kitsch appeal show. Basically when translated and dubbed in English it is so bad it is funny, and that is why people watch it. Well that is the point of it in Australia, it is not intended to be watched as a cooking show, rather as an absurd kitsch show. There is a bit of an undertone where we laugh at the crazy Japanese, and their premise that someone would create a "Kitchen Stadium". Something like Takashi's castle.



I have watched quite a few episodes, but not for the food, that is awful, it is more for the asburd factor.

[Philistine]

My two favourite Australian cooking shows (as in Australian made) lately have been "My Srilanka, with Peter Kuruvita"



And Luke Nguyen's Vietnam

[Dee Jay]

I found a jar of jamaican jerk sauce!

I've heard of jerk chicken but didn't know it was spicy till I watched Jamie's summer video. I've always wanted to try it so I snapped up a jar. the wife said I'd be stuck with this product if I didn't like how it tasted and true enough for the various jars that's been sitting in the fridge for over a year but getting authentic jerk spices and fresh hot peppers in this city is next to impossible but I had to try jerk chicken so I took chance and I am glad I did. It was dee lish... if you like hot buffalo wings, jerk chicken will light you up.

It has a funky kinda sweet pickle relish smell to it but it's changes after it's cooked. It seems more acidic than vinegar cos it marinated the skin in less than an hour and made it pale so I went for 2 hours more and added honey as Jamie did. Be sure to cut slits on your meats to get maximum permeation and keep the fire low and cook real slow to grill the honey and skin but not burn it.

I squeezed some lime juice on it fresh off the girll, took a bite and KAHOBAHTAYA! HOT but it's a whole different kind of spiciness that I've never tasted before. the grilled honey on the crispy skin was screamin good, meat was tender, bone marrow adds flavor, and you're left with lovely hum around the lips. Gonna have to try it with some quality beers..

food discoveries like this makes me feel "born again", this has got to be good for the soul..

[Dee Jay]

Deejay are you watching it in Japanese or in English? The reason I am curious is that it is not meant to be a practical cooking show that you watch to learn tips on cooking or practical cooking, (the English dubbed version anyway). It is purely meant to be a kitsch appeal show. Basically when translated and dubbed in English it is so bad it is funny, and that is why people watch it. Well that is the point of it in Australia, it is not intended to be watched as a cooking show, rather as an absurd kitsch show. There is a bit of an undertone where we laugh at the crazy Japanese, and their premise that someone would create a "Kitchen Stadium". Something like Takashi's castle.



I have watched quite a few episodes, but not for the food, that is awful, it is more for the asburd factor.

Aha, kitsch..like a plastic jesus? I suspected kitsch at the intro when I Chairman Kaga snickered as the camera pulled away from the close-up. I watched the english dubbed version on youtube. I think americans took it seriously..my friends and family anyway, and youtubers praising this show like it's "all that" Kitsch to foreigners but what about the Japanese? humor and food? sure, as long as it excites the palate at the end of the show.

good to know Luke and Peter is rockin Australia! Thanks for bringing them up, I'll have to catch up on these guys....

[Kingfish]

Veggy Dinner.
Nothing special: Baby Dutch Yellow potatoes, carrots sliced oblong, ¼ of a Walla Walla white onion, broccoli, basil & oregano, red chili pepper, fresh cracked black pepper, and salt basting away on medium high heat in a goodly splash of extra virgin olive oil until lightly seared/about when the onions begin to turn. This image was taken about one minute before I pulled it. It has a nice al dente texture which I enjoy thoroughly. Often I will have meatless dinners to balance out the meat-heavy or pasta-heavy meals. Rotation is good for the body, and this particular meal is loaded with vitamins.

Normally my veggy dinners have a lot more veg to it but I was running low on selection when I threw this together last night. I like bell peppers and squash, green beans, maybe an Anaheim pepper, even spinach. I used to add celery but I’m spoiled and prefer to grow my own; the stuff that is sold in supermarkets is anemic and worthless, and not worth a damn.

I bought this cask iron skillet methinks over a year ago when I got into buying fresh meat from a local butcher; that’s all they sold: quality grass-fed animal. I just like the way things grill up real nice in the skillet. I miss my BBQ; the Hex got that and wrecked it by leaving it out in the rain. I would BBQ every night if I could, but my present hidden urban bat cave makes that nearly impossible without pissing off the natives. The skillet is the closest device though that I know that can render a tasty dose of melanoidin character onto fine cuisine without leading to charring; brings out the deep savory and hints of sweetness without a lot of fuss. I just like the way cast iron heats foods evenly.

Bon Appétit, KF

[Dee Jay]

After havin so much wings and beers my body was screaming for some veggies.

Nice dish, KF!

[Dee Jay]

Got both seasons of Jamie At Home series!

Wow, Jamie is a spice eater! Like me! And so is his chilled out stoner garden buddy bet he grows some dank, too

Also it's strange that Jamie uses the same slangs and catch phrases I use I thought I was being original…

[Dee Jay]

I improved my chili with more fresh ground cumin and black pepper, rock salt, celery, more green bell peppers, fatty pork shoulder instead of beef, and this time with pickled jalapenos! Fresh jalapenos would be ideal.
I think I like pork over beef, it's nice and sweet!
I just can't get over how good this dish is and yet so easy!

No pics cos it looks exactly the same as the first..

[Kingfish]

Spicy Manhattan-style Snow Crab Chowder


Just before serving.

Another of a series of tomato-based pepperpot stews, though in this case it’s more of a thick soup (I call it a sloup though now I forget why). Into one large pot goes the following:

1 can 29 oz. Tomato Puree, with…
3 cans of 14.5 oz. Diced Tomatoes; base stock.
Approx. 2 pints of water, as required. (added in at a cup at a time to keep thickness down)
Good splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 large cloves of fresh Garlic, sliced and diced
Pinch of whole Black Peppercorns
Followed with coarsely-grated Black Pepper, to suit
Dash of Crushed Mexican Red Chili Pepper, to suit
1 large White Walla Walla Onion, chopped
1 large Anaheim Pepper, deseeded, sliced and diced
1 Green Pepper, deseeded, sliced and diced
2 small fresh Zucchinis, chopped
5 Stalks of anemic-looking Celery, chopped (it had to have some, but dang was it pale looking)
Dash of Celery Salt (Celery Seed & Salt) to make up the missing flavor
½ leftover Broccoli head, chopped (optional)
1 modest bunch of fresh Organic Carrots, chopped (about 6 or 7 medium-small carrots)
1 thoroughly-washed fresh bunch of leafy Spinach, chopped
1 package of 0.66 oz. fresh Organic Basel, chopped
Pinch of Fennel
Two Pinches of Oregano
1 oz. bag of Mexican Sesame Seeds (nutty texture)
Salt to taste
2 pounds of Alaskan Snow Crab leg meat* - added last, chopped

Cook for 2-4 hours on medium-low heat. Add water as necessary to keep consistency from becoming too thick like a stew, though not too thin like a soup. Serve with Sweet Black Bread or with fresh San Francisco Sour Dough if available. Not too bad with a Mexican lager; Pacifico would work well.

*Alaskan Snow Crab: This was on sale at my local. Couldn’t believe the price, so I got two pounds. As I unwrapped it, I noticed some extra text below the weight and price. I chopped up the meat and tossed it in. There was something peculiar about the meat so I ate on bit and it tasted fine… maybe a little bland even, whatever. Stirred it in, then grabbed the wrapper to read what it said…

SURIMI ALK SNOW LEGS FLVRD
Ingredients: Fish protein contains one or more of the following: Pollack, and/or Pacific Whiting, Water, Wheat Starch, Sugar, Egg Whites, Sorbitol, Snow Crab Meat (wow, glad there was some in there! ), Contains less than 2% or less of: Salt, Tapioca Starch, Mirin (Rice Wine), Whole Egg, Soybean Oil, Sodium Pyrophospate, Brown Rice Syrup, Soya Lecithin, Glycern, Artificial Flavors (read: MSG), Carmine and Paprika for color, Canolia Oil and Hydrolized Gelatin. (probably the biodegradable casing shit to hold it all together)

Gawd I can’t believe I’ve been duped buying fish. I guess I better catch it myself next time. I mean I knew they could do things with Pollack and faking chopped crab meat, but this looked just like recently shelled snow crab leg meat in the shape of the muscle. I feel like I’m eat’n Soylent Green, or in this case – Soylent Red Herring. Grrrr!

Taste: Well, despite all the water I added it still came out quite thick. The “meat” soaked up a lot of the pepper flavor, so it actually tastes sort of bland compared to my normal expectations. The “meat” cooks out and breaks up into layers, like oriental flat rice noodles, with a hint of fish flavor. Overall the dish is a little on the sweet side; a splash of rice wine vinegar would fix that.

Conclusions: I dunno; it’s like getting all dressed up to go out on a hot date, you pick her up in your waxed-out car, present to her a nice corsage... big welcomed smiles, great expectations, and when you get to the shindig - she splits to go hang out with her friends.

I should have used the fresh fish. But is it r e a l l y fish, or something that has a small percentage of fish in it so they can legally market it as fish?

Where’s the rod and reel? KF

[Philistine]

SURIMI ALK SNOW LEGS FLVRD
Ingredients: Fish protein contains one or more of the following: Pollack, and/or Pacific Whiting, Water, Wheat Starch, Sugar, Egg Whites, Sorbitol, Snow Crab Meat (wow, glad there was some in there! ), Contains less than 2% or less of: Salt, Tapioca Starch, Mirin (Rice Wine), Whole Egg, Soybean Oil, Sodium Pyrophospate, Brown Rice Syrup, Soya Lecithin, Glycern, Artificial Flavors (read: MSG), Carmine and Paprika for color, Canolia Oil and Hydrolized Gelatin. (probably the biodegradable casing shit to hold it all together)

One of my favourite tins at the supermarket is a no-name tin of pet food (I presume it is dog food, but I am not 100% sure), and all it says on the tin is "Meat with Chicken". I would have thought it was accepted that chicken was a subset of meat, but for some reason the express mentioning of chicken, as if it is some big fancy claim to be making, makes me question their meaning of the word "meat".

[liveforphysics]

Chicken is a plant. Plants are what food eats.

[Kingfish]

One of my favourite tins at the supermarket is a no-name tin of pet food (I presume it is dog food, but I am not 100% sure), and all it says on the tin is "Meat with Chicken". I would have thought it was accepted that chicken was a subset of meat, but for some reason the express mentioning of chicken, as if it is some big fancy claim to be making, makes me question their meaning of the word "meat".

Last night I fell asleep watching Forks over Knives. What could have been stated in deluxe with 15 minutes, they used 90 to batter the same content over and over again that "meat" was bad for us. I had just came from the market with 2 lbs. of that crab meat thinking "Right. Go veggy. Too late. Glad I didn't pick up the ice cream too." But the documentary (boring as it was) did cover well how mechanization has ruined our diets.

I struggle to eat chicken anymore; it’s not the same as when I was a kid as the texture has changed. When cooked, it puts out a funny chemical odor – I mean, I’m a retired beer judge with a well-developed sense, and I know when I smell (and taste) unnatural chemical complexes.

What is worse though is the quality of vegetables; the stuff I see in the store makes me want to scream. There used to be greater selection. We don’t have a Sunday public market here like in some towns; that’s missing – but it would solve the veggy problem.

Actually, I just need to grow my own and barter with others that do the same. Unfortunately, about the only thing I can grow with great success in this hidden urban bat cave are fungi. Wouldn’t be so bad if they were edible. Alright – that’s it; I gotta move!

Here's to the undisclosed meat, not! KF

[amberwolf]

At least in pet food, if they just put "meat" then they can use *any* meat, from any source, whatever they got cheapest that week from the floor of the slaughterhouse or some other factory's scraps or unusable-for-human-purposes stuff, and they don't have to change the label for the ingredients list.

If they specify a type of meat, then they have to have that in there, above a certain percentage (by weight, I think). When they say "with chicken", then that means there is a small but definite amount of chicken in there, somewhere, but below the critical amount that makes it possible to say it's made of "chicken" instead of made "with chicken".

This is also all probably true of human food as well.

[Philistine]

.

[REdiculous]

I've been making a lot of pancakes lately and I finally figured out where the cake part of the name comes from. Apparently, if you make 'em thick enough, there's cake in there!

[Kingfish]

I've been making a lot of pancakes lately and I finally figured out where the cake part of the name comes from. Apparently, if you make 'em thick enough, there's cake in there!

I'm a crêpes man myself; one of the first homemade foods I mastered (after oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies; priorities ). Therefore I like to make my 'cakes from scratch, eggy and thin. Served with real maple syrup, or rolled up as a cheeze blintz with fruit compote There was a restaurant chain here in the PNW called Elmer’s that used to make Swedish pancakes (imagine a huge pop-over type pancake) topped with powdered sugar, lemon and butter, and/or lingonberry fruit compote. Man, that was the best! But they don’t make it anymore

Sweet-tooth, KF

[StudEbiker]

Chicken thighs and baked potatoes.

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