Tell us what you have cooked lately (that's interesting)

TimElhajj · 2011-12-31T22:44:42.000Z

Hans Lauring:

And I made an even taller version of the traditional (danish) marzipan cake this year:

Amazing!

RichVR · 2012-01-02T06:57:35.000Z

Just put a stew into the crock pot. Pictures in 8 hours.

Hans_Lauring · 2012-01-02T07:14:15.000Z

TimElhajj:

Amazing!

Thanks. I do need to work on my decorating skillz. though.

Interestingly enough, this is the one cake every single Dane buys for New Year’s, so you’d expect it to be somewhat hard to do yourself, but it’s marzipan, confectioners sugar and egg whites decorated with royal icing (which is confectioners sugar and egg whites whipped). And baking and building the tower is simple math/geometry and thus easy for any geek - yet bakers sell an ungodly amount of these.

interman · 2012-01-02T09:01:27.000Z

And homemade ones taste better. Here in Norway one of the common issues is that people use crappy marzipan, with a lot of sugar, and not much almond flour. Be sure to look at the almond percentages when buying, or consider making some yourself.

Hans_Lauring · 2012-01-02T09:11:41.000Z

I sent my wife shopping and she brought home “Baking Marzipan” and I tried politely asking her if she thought they called it that to help people looking for marzipan to bake with or because they weren’t allowed to call a product with only 15% almonds marzipan… or perhaps I was a bit snarky about it. She did tell me in no uncertain terms, that next year I could do the shopping…

But she’d never bring me margarine if I sent her out for butter - but a lot of people are really blind to that sort of retail deception and never reads ingredient lists.

TimElhajj · 2012-01-02T09:55:42.000Z

How do you slice that thing, Hans? Just pry a bit off from the top? I don’t recall ever seeing one before. It really is impressive.

demagogue · 2012-01-02T11:25:52.000Z

RichVR:

While my grandmother would keep bacon fat in a coffee can with a cover near the stove, I won’t do that.

My first wife used to leave soup in a pot on the stove with a plate over it for several days. I won’t do that.

Her mother would leave a jar of mayo on the kitchen table, not in the fridge. Her theory? Never use a dirty spoon or knife in it and only take what you need the first time. No double dipping.

I lived with several expat Chinese students. One of the nasty smelling dishes they would make involved boiling chicken in their wok. The wok and the chicken concoction then sat on the stove for around four days, each day being reboiled for reuse. The house had both roaches, mice and flies were definitely present in the kitchen. None of them came down with food poisoning and all of them worked in local restaurants under the table.

playingwithknives · 2012-01-02T12:55:11.000Z

Whilst doing my Christmas shopping, I noticed they had some ox tongues in the meat section. I like pressed tongue, and was something my mum made back in the day when they were cheap and more readily available. whilst Ive bought it ready sliced from deli’s and supermarkets recently Ive never made it.

One packaged tongue.

Is there anything more disgusting looking than this? I eat offal fairly regulary, and am used to all types of unusual foods, but a kilo and a half of tongue sat on a board looking like a Cenobite by-blow was pushing it.

Anyway, onwards with cooking it. Soak for a few hours, throw away the water, soak again overnight. Drain the pink tinged water away, wash and scrub.

In the pot with a couple of herb pot potpourri bags, some stock powder and seasoning. Simmer for 3 hours.

Remove from pan, keep some of the liquor. I skimmed a few ladles off the top. One cooked tongue, and looking more unpleasant than ever.

playingwithknives · 2012-01-02T12:55:39.000Z

Trim off all the white membrane using scissors or a filleting knife, the darker meat is the edible stuff, there is also sometimes a bone in the root that needed to be pulled out. Apparently when you can pull the bone out by hand the tongue is cooked, but there wasn’t one in mine.

It can be eaten like this, sliced and with a sauce, and there are many European and South American dishes that serve it hot, but i prefer it cold and pressed.

Put in a cake tin lined with clingfilm. Pour some of the liquor as it will turn to gelatine.

Clingfilm and foil on top, then a plate, then weigh it down. After it cooled I left in it the fridge overnight, still weighed down.

Removed from the tin the next day, it hadn’t turned out perfectly, the gelatine was a bit loose, i should have added some sheet gelatine to the kept liquor before pouring. Also, the cake tin wasn’t small enough, it hadn’t been pressed down into a nice round shape.

playingwithknives · 2012-01-02T12:56:23.000Z

The end product. Sliced tongue. It had a somewhat stronger taste than the deli/shop bought slices, but was still nice. I like it in sandwiches with a good chutney or pickle.

Houngan · 2012-01-02T13:24:28.000Z

Is it important to weigh it down ironically?

H.

Kalle · 2012-01-02T17:32:20.000Z

I buy sliced tongue on occasion so when I’ve seen raw tongue at the local super market I always wonder if I couldn’t do something with it. This was a nice inspiration but you bought yours cured so I’m not sure if I can replicate your process. Will need to do some research.

And yes, tongue looks horrible. Tastes great.

RichVR · 2012-01-02T18:00:07.000Z

Beer stew. The recipe calls for one cup of beer and one cup of beef stock. It also says “if you don’t have beef stock use two cups of beer” which I did.

The beer was Kirin Ichiban. It’s a rather light flavor for cooking. So in addition to the actual recipe, I added tamari soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and paprika.

This pic is before I also added a roux to thicken the sauce. It was nice.

Siren · 2012-01-02T18:40:22.000Z

I am fascinated by the process of making cheese at home. Do we have any cheesemakers on Qt3?

Ed_Solomon · 2012-01-02T19:45:07.000Z

Siren:

I am fascinated by the process of making cheese at home. Do we have any cheesemakers on Qt3?

I’ve made paneer but it sounds like you are much more ambitious than that.

interman · 2012-01-03T02:39:05.000Z

I’ve made mascarpone a few times, but that’s pretty much the easiest ever. I’d like to get into proper cheesemaking too at some point (same with charceuterie), but it’s too much effort / money for me at this point.

Hans_Lauring · 2012-01-03T03:57:54.000Z

Yup, paneer. That’s it for me too.

Athryn · 2012-01-03T07:46:18.000Z

Fresh mozzarella is supposed to be pretty easy, too.

Charles · 2012-01-03T07:54:44.000Z

I made pulled pork for new years eve appetizers.

Pork shoulder + 500ml root beer + 6 hours in the slow cooker. Then shred and mix in a super tasty barbecue sauce and put it for another hour. It turned out amazing.

cheapfilms · 2012-01-03T08:25:00.000Z

That’s what I made, too. I forgot to buy root beer so I used my favorite beer. So simple. Will have to make again for parties.

Homemade mozzarella is definitely on my list. I make pizza dough and sauce from scratch. It’d be neat to do it all.