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

[Nesrie]

And the worst part is that with a lot of those foods, they add more carbs to try and make it taste less than awful. Excess carbs in the diet get converted into fat. Carbohydrates are the real evil, not fats.

Cheerios Protein or something did that. They added a bunch of “good” but then turn around and added sugar to make it worthwhile.

[RichVR]

Every ‘low fat’ dessert that I’ve ever tasted had a shitload of sugar in it. My mother would buy it, eat one, and give it to me. I’d eat one and throw it away. I used to like Progresso soups. Then they went low fat and added tons of sugar. Disgusting. Tomato soup shouldn’t taste like the milk after a bowl of cereal.

[Misguided]

unfortunately, we’ve been taught for years that fat is bad for you and that eating lean protein and carbs is the way to go. It was pretty nice a few years ago when the low-carb “fad” (been around for 50+ years) was so popular because a lot of restaurants had options for people trying to avoid carbs. Fortunately, some still do. And even when they don’t, people don’t like at me like I’m insane when I ask for a burger without bread like they used to.

[Eric_Majkut]

Think I’m gonna make a reuben and cabbage and noodles tonight. But there’s a dilemma! Russian or Thousand Island dressing for the sandwiches? Recipes I see online say to use Russian dressing and what they show kinda reminds me of the color/consistency of Big Mac sauce. But the Russian dressing you see in the store is a smooth, dark red sorta color that is not at all like that. And I always thought it was Thousand Island that goes on a reuben? What gives?

[RichVR]

Just ask for a ‘deconstructed burger’. Act all snooty. Eventually they’ll add it to the menu and charge $30.00 for it. :)

Edit: The fuck, Discourse? I just wanted to add one fucking letter!

[Misguided]

Not something I cooked, but I did have a dynamite burger recently at a chain called Counter in L.A. I think they add crack to the beef or something. Outstandingly delicious. One of the things they do is a build-a-burger thing and among other things, they have 4 or 5 different lettuce options to do a bowl instead of a traditional burger.

[RichVR]

Boston Bibb?

[Misguided]

I had spinach.

[RichVR]

I just love Boston Bibb. Just so tender. Spinach is a good choice too. :)

[malkav11]

It’s definitely always been thousand Island that I’ve heard.

[Fishbreath]

It’s my wife’s birthday on Monday, and since we’re both working then, I decided to do the fancy cooking tonight, attempting to reproduce a recipe for whiskey-braised beef I first saw at a cooking class in Cleveland. This is it about midway through:

After searing the beef, cooking bacon in the pot, and deglazing with bourbon, it’s ready to go into the oven, with onion quarters for extra flavor. It’s coming out in a few minutes, and the whole apartment smells great. It was also an excuse to go get a Dutch oven, something we’ve wanted but haven’t had a particular reason to buy before now.

[Misguided]

There’s not a single thing in that description that doesn’t sound awesome.

[Eric_Majkut]

Weird. My mom always hated it when dad got out the Dutch oven.

[Fishbreath]

It turned out great, although next time I make it I’ll 1) start a little earlier and 2) let it cool, drain the fat off the top of the sauce, and warm it back up on the stovetop. It’s a nice arrow for my quiver because my wife has a burning, fiery hatred for cooked carrots, which heads off at the pass most roast recipes of which I’m aware. I’m glad to have found one she likes and I like. (There’s a recipe for roasted carrots as a side, which I didn’t make this time.)

Off the top of my head (I’ll check it against the recipe sheet tomorrow and fix it if I got anything wrong), with regards to the Western Reserve School of Cooking:

Whiskey-braised beef

• 3lb beef (chuck roast ideal, I used sirloin tip roast because I had it in the freezer)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8oz slab or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 onions, peeled, ends left on, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3-4 sprigs each fresh thyme and parsley (I didn’t have fresh herbs on hand, so I used ~1 tbsp each of the dried stuff)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• Dutch oven

(Note that the recipe above wouldn’t have fit into my 5qt Dutch oven. I did a half recipe, and that was still about twice as much as the two of us cared to eat.)

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Cut the beef into portions. Season it on both sides with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature for half an hour. Heat the butter and olive oil in the Dutch oven over high heat, and sear the beef until it has some of that lovely, crispy brown on the top and bottom. Remove the beef from the pan, drain the fat, turn the heat down, and throw the bacon in, cooking until crispy. Add the onion quarters, cook until lightly browned. Add the garlic and herbs. Add the whiskey and deglaze the bottom of the pan, then add the broth and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, put the beef in, cover tightly, and pop in the oven for 150-180 minutes.

Pull it out and remove the beef. Drain the fat off the top of the sauce, and remove the onions and herbs. If desired, thicken with a flour-water slurry. Put the beef back in and serve.

[RichVR]

That sounds like a decent crock pot meal.

[ArmandoPenblade]

Absolutely gorgeous, @Fishbreath. Makes me really wish my lady friend liked beef at all, cuz I’d love to make that, but there’s no way I could finish a reasonable sized portion of it by myself :( :( :(

This week’s been an experiment in Italian-styled cuisine!

So, upfront: despite being about 25% Italian, I know virtually nothing about how to do it legit. I made some recipes I thought the gf and I would like :)

Got some parmesan-and-panko crusted chicken breasts pan-fried with some herbs and garlic laid over a bed of pesto-cream-sauced spaghetti, topped with prosciutto and mixed greens. On the side in one image is some homemade bruschetta with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, salt/pepper, olive oil, and a reduced balsamic vinegar glaze. The other side was basically a riff on Olive Garden’s “Zuppa Toscana,” which is kinda shameful, but really fuckin’ good. Olive-oil seared Italian sausage, red pepper flakes, onions, and garlic, with cooked, chopped bacon, sliced potatoes, and kale, cooked in chicken broth and finished with heavy cream. It’s rich and fabulous.

[Eric_Majkut]

Making corned beef for reubens. And cabbage and noodles. And some home made (not by me) cottage cheese pierogies. This may as well be called the WELCOME TO CLEVELAND. :)

[Skipper]

So, upfront: despite being about 25% Italian, I know virtually nothing about how to do it legit.
…
Got some parmesan-and-panko crusted chicken breasts pan-fried with some herbs and garlic laid over a bed of pesto-cream-sauced spaghetti, topped with prosciutto and mixed greens.

Looking at your dish, my part Italian GF would say the following, repeatedly, as that is a dish she LOVES.
Lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon.
Capers, capers, capers, capers.

Everything you have there would only be enhanced even more with those two flavors.

And @Fishbreath I actually drooled a little looking at that beef. Good god, man that looked nice.

@Eric_Majkut that homemade corned beef, please tell me your secrets!!!

I did a churched-up dish this weekend. Everyone has a different term for that but it’s when you take normally crappy ingredients and add something to them to make them somewhat better. Usually, the result should be easy and quick, but that doesn’t always end up being the case. Usually it does end up being better, but again, that isn’t always the case.

So yesterday I was feeling lazy and started preparing some Kraft deluxe shells and cheese (lazy.) Then I decided some chicken would be awesome with that, so I cubed up a chicken breast and browned the chunks in a pan, seasoned them a bit and set them aside to add into the shells and cheese. Not wanting to leave all that extra stuff in the pan, I then broke out an onion and sliced it up, a little carrot, celery and bell pepper, and deglazed the pan a bit while sauteing them. Still not satisfied I added some chicken broth to the veggie mix, and it was sometime around then I realized I was just going to end up with watery shells and cheese with too much shit added into it. Now I had a problem.

About a month ago I bought some food science-y stuff based on an article I had read about the modern take on cheese sauces using sodium citrate as a nearly foolproof substitute for roux based shenanigans. I was skeptical, but a lot of others had good praise for it, so I pulled the trigger and got some. It’s sat on a shelf since then.

So I thought, what the fuck, let’s do this. I drained off the liquid from the pan, set the veggies aside and put the liquid back in it. I then added about a teaspoon of sodium citrate to the liquid, stirring it till it was dissolved. I then grated about 8oz of pepper jack and added it in over heat and slowly stirred it. And suddenly … amazingly delicious cheese sauce was made.

Everything then went into a baking pan along with some bread crumbs up top and I ended up with something akin to a cheesy chicken and macaroni casserole. In this case, my result was sooooo much better than lazy shells and cheese.

Unfortunately, no pics here at work. I’ll see if I can post some later.

EDIT: I found my before baking pic, but you can’t see the innards very well. I’ll see if I can round up a better shot later.

[Eric_Majkut]

“+”

“+”

And then you boil for 50 mins per pound. It’s nothing fancy. :P

[Skipper]

Well holy shit. I thought there was a lot more to it. Any spices added?