3601

@espressojim, your meal up there looks absolutely gorgeous. As someone w/o even the slightest inkling about presentation, I’m genuinely stunned. NICE!

And man, I was sure I’d hate Brussles sprouts based on everything I heard growing up, so when I had a pound of 'em, halved and roasted with a bunch of thick-sliced bacon till crispy and brown at the edges, imagine my surprise at loving them!

Tonight:

Chicken, ham, and Andouille jambalaya. . . prepared with. . .

DARK MEAT CHICKEN

Cooked the sausage, sliced, and eventually ham, diced, over high heat in some oil; removed, then browned the chicken, chopped, in the same oil. Removed that as well before tossing in onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, celery, and garlic, minced fine (cuz the gf hates vegetabley bits), cooked down well, and then seasoned up with S&P, Tony Chachere’s, a bay leaf, and some thyme. Added in some crushed tomatoes, a lot of chicken stock, and a couple of cups of rinsed rice, as well as the chicken, and simmered till done.

I’ve been avoiding doing jambalaya for a couple of years, I think, cuz of how tough it is to do with white meat without getting tough, dry chicken at the end. So, I splurged a little, bought the fanciest looking package of boneless, skinless thigh meat I could stomach paying for, then trimmed it of as much fat and “stuff” as I possibly could.

I. . . can’t deny that it’s pretty decent, but the occasional chunk of oily, dark-brown meat is still a pretty major turnoff. Just trying to eat without looking very closely :)

I’m keeping the pork products separate for now; the gf finds the idea of that particular mixture of meats terrifying :)

3602

Oooh! I forgot about sprout and bacon. Nice call, Armando.

3603

Armando, one thing to try if you do that again…
Brown the chicken, and then just leave it in there while you cook the sausage and stuff. You’re worrying too much about overcooking it, like it was white meat. You cannot overcook it. Cooking it more will get it closer towards what you’re looking for with white meat, I think. brown it until it’s done, then brown the sausage in there too.

Dark meat chicken will basically disintegrate into fibers before it dries out like white meat… and it’ll really only do that if you boil it forever.

3604

I appreciate the advice. I’ve got another 1 1/4 lbs of chicken, 1/2 lb of sausage, and 1/4 lb of ham, so I’m thinking of maybe making some gumbo going into next week. If so, I’ll give your insane chicken stratagem a try, Timex.

3605

Other benefit to my method… only one pan, just keep throwing stuff in. Which is a core element of a lot of my cooking. Laziness is key.

The one thing which you may lose to some extent, is if the pan gets too crowded, the sausage may not brown as well. Meh, see what happens.

On some level, it may just not be your thing. But damn if it’s weird, given all the awesome comfort food you make. Chicken thighs are all about that.

3606

Yeah, wasn’t going to delve into it too much, but the main reason for the batched cooking is that my big stockpot is plenty sizable enough to prepare a massive amount of food, but the bottom isn’t particularly broad, so throwing in ~2lbs of meat all at once is gonna crowd it pretty badly.

Still a one-pot meal, though. Just had to wash a couple of bowls that temporarily held cooked meat as I took it out and moved onto the next thing before recombining it all at the end.

But if cooking even longer (it got about 6 mins at fairly high heat on its own, then another ~25-30m of simmering later) results in better texture, I’m all for giving that a shot.

3607

Maybe I missed it, @ArmandoPenblade but what is your stock pot made of?

3608

Stainless steel with a copper (or was it aluminum?) cap in the base. It’s not one of the super-fancy or even medium-fancy brands; just something I got cheap at Ross. I think it’s a medium-low-end line from Caphalon?

My new enameled cast iron would probably have been better (the top seals much better, which woulda been great for the rice), but since I knew I’d be scooping up drippy meats and trying to leave fat in the pot, and since my only slotted spoon is metal and kinda sharp, I went for the ss :)

3609

I have pots like that I think. Thick bottom that doesn’t cover the whole bottom of the pot or pan. The center works fine. But you get burning around the thin edges. Go with your enameled cast iron from now on. How do I use mine? Aluminum disk for stuff that I am always watching. Enameled cast iron for long and slow. I can’t believe that I’m trying to school Armando. Forgive me master. ;)

3610

Agreed. My first experiences with brussels sprouts were boiled. I did not like it, not one bit. It was astonishing to me how tasty they were roasted. And an absolute revelation that they were yummy when finely shredded as part of a salad.

3611

I was eating a porterhouse at a diner chain called Norms last week and had to of course look up cuts of meat. A porterhouse is essentially a double thick t-bone. Some butchers/steakhouses also cut the filet side a little more or less that’s about the only difference.

I really like bone in cuts, as long as the price per pound reflects that.

3612

New York strips and crab legs are on sale at the grocery store this week. Woo! :D

3613

Steamed brussels sprouts are actually pretty good, as they can stay crunchy, but these days I usually saute them. Kenji Lopez-Alt has a good simple recipe with lardons.

3614

I’ve been making baos lately. Here’s my char siu bao:

CSB2.jpg2088×1566 902 KB

And here are some flower rolls with spring onions (pre-steamed):

flower bao.jpg2088×1566 878 KB

3615

Do you have any recipes you can share? I’ve never made anything like that, but I love eating them. Those flower rolls look beautiful, too.

3616

A local Vietnamese bakery makes fried pork baos. It’s almost as good as lumpia.

3617

Rich: great point regarding the edges always starting to burn faster (there was actually a dark ring of cruft just starting to form there when I took the jambalaya off last night, in fact). I’d used the Caphalon pot for so long just because it was biggest, but it’s definitely got its limitations.

@None agreed with jim above, that’s gorgeous. I used to love eating baos at this amazing dim sum place I’d go to in Boston’s China Town, but it’s been ages since I’ve had a decent one. Would definitely love a recipe if you have one handy :)

3618

I’ve been contemplating testing brussel sprouts myself. Had never had them growing up, but I had absorbed the common trope that brussel sprouts were nasty. But I’ve always liked all sorts of veggies, and so last winter my wife and I had gone to a theater that also had a pre show dinner. Being the fancy upscale place it was they had a roasted brussel sprout and squash side dish with my meal, which I had partly ordered to try the sprouts.

I liked them quite a bit.

But I’ve hesitated to buy and cook them myself, out of fear that they were good because they were cooked right, but that poorly done they would live up to the reputation. Which would be fine, except my wife can be a bit picky with new things.

But it sounds like, from you guys, that this isn’t really the case. That roasted or sauteed they come out good, and only are bad if boiled.

3619

I mean, you can mess them up however you cook them. But they’re great when done right and not very tricky. Does your wife like, say, braised cabbage? Bubble and squeak? Then there’s no reason she wouldn’t like brussels sprouts.

3620

Start with this recipe, then while they are roasting make this.

Mix at a ratio of your pleasing. Realize that you’re eating super-healthy greens with delicious unsaturated, heart healthy fat.