I’m so sorry to hear that. I was ready to see your brand go toe to toe with Danny DeVito’s Limoncello. Next time, I’m sure.
Similar story though, once, for a big summer party, I made Skittles Vodka. Vodka will take the flavor of anything, but this in particular takes the taste and color of the skittles. I started by separating a few small bags into different colors, then acquiring some antique looking swing top flasks. Then you put about 20 skittles of each color into the bottom of the flask (more for sweeter flavor, less for mostly just color and light flavor.) Then you fill it up to nearly the top with vodka, and swing and latch the top on it. Then you shake it vigorously.
From that point, a few times a day for just a few days after that, you take the flasks, shake them up again, and put them back to sit and absorb.
Now, here is one of the key parts. After it absorbs, you have this … gunk that falls out into layers of distillate. It’s the coating on the skittles themselves. it’s kind of nasty. You are supposed to filter these containers through cheesecloth, then wash your container and refill it with the much clearer and less gunky leftover. But I had skipped this part. Then you put these in the freezer to get insanely cold, and apparently to mask the flavor of the horrible concoction you just made.
Here is another important part. You’re making Skittles Vodka. When we eat skittles, that’s about all you eat, because they taste like skittles. I didn’t think this part through, because what the fuck do you mix with Skittles Vodka? Well, turns out the answer is just about nothing. About the best thing we found was 7-Up or Sprite, and even then, it’s pretty in-your-face as a taste. So beyond the two brave souls at the party that did a few shots of it, I was left with way too much shitty flavored vodka.
Like I said, it kind of tastes like an artichoke heart. It ends up having a texture kind of like chicken (which is what I’ve used it as a substitute for before)… but softer.
Last night only the components of ramen were mostly finished, so that’ll be tonight. Maybe. Probably. I simmered the bone and vegetable stock for a good 8 hours, give or take. Simmered the rolled pork belly in chashu marinade for close to 4. I’m following along to the Serious Eats recipe to some extent (couldn’t find a couple of ingredients and didn’t scorch my veg); seriously good call on that book this Christmas, @Skipper :)
I did, however, produce some chicken katsu and vegetable curry! With rice from the VERY nice new Zojirushi rice maker my gf got me for Christmas :)
edit: Please don’t mock my shitty meat-trussing skills. I went to a Boyscouts meeting before dropping out; my knot-tying skills are laughably bad, and my serious spatial awareness issues don’t help in following online guides >.>
Also, @Timex, I’d never really known what the heck people do with jackfruit, but that sounds pretty tasty, honestly. I’ll give it a shot the next time I’m doing a Tex-Mex Burrito bar and have some vegans/vegetarians coming. Sounds better than seasoned, griddled tofu, at least. Also, that Aroy-D brand is the shit, yo. Their coconut milk is awesome for Thai curries.
I have it as well and love it. I don’t have the other book though, so let me know if it has good stuff. Both of them are what I love to listen to, which is more along the lines of a scientific chef’s approach to cooking. Why do things work and all that.
Looking at the wings in your stock, you need a dog, man. I always finish stock and I’m like, okay what do I do with this chicken, there is still meat on it, but it’s pretty flavorless. Dogs. They don’t care. I guess cats would be the same, but then you have a cat.
Jackfruit can be great. But be sure to buy the green jackfruit in brine, not the ripe jackfruit (which is usually packed in syrup) unless you plan on making a dessert.
There are brands of pre-seasoned jackfruit that you might be able to find in your local hippie grocery store, but in my experience almost none of them are worth it.
I like to mix it up with jackfruit every once in a while to keep things different, but it doesn’t have the same protein count as the other meat substitutes out there.
Oh yeah. Tossing that bag of wilted, mushy carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, wings, and pig skin/bones was a little heartbreaking, but it’s given 'er all she’s got, I suppose.
Gave the chashu pork a toast in a pan to crisp it up once sliced. It’s definitely a bit dark for my tastes, but my gf loves it. Noodles aren’t curly because the only definitely-for-ramen noodles I could identify at H-Mart were the thin, wispy ones designed for northern-style tonkotsu ramen. . which is luckily what I’d made!
Corn is a common addition there, from what I understand, and my gf likes it, so corn it is. Plus the soy-soaked eggs, green onions, and, in my case, nori. The broth was seasoned with some of the soy-mirin-sake marinade the eggs got dunked in, though I found it wasn’t salty enough to really season the broth fully, so I supplemented with pure soy sauce. We’re gonna try some miso tomorrow or Saturday night :)
I was really, really happy with the eggs. Neither Arika nor I like super runny eggs, but these had a perfect soft jelly/warm butter sort of consistency, and the soy-mirin-sake soak got the outside just very slightly firmer and delicious. By far the “best” part of the meal, in terms of how they turned out.
That’s some beautiful presentation, Skipper. Love it.
@stusser, I probably woulda if I’d had more time tonight, but was kinda rushing. Not gonna make mayu/black garlic oil though. Fuck that burned noise ;-)
To be honest the worst part was amassing the ingredients and figuring out how to fit everything onto my stove at once. I think I see some paths toward simplifying stuff next time around, but for now, I’ve got about 6 more bowls’ worth of broth and ingredients to work through :)
I think this fits here. I was making bacon onion quiche the other day. I noticed that I use a lot of paper towels when I cook. I clean as I go and I hate having grease or whatever on my hands. So I ordered these.
I use gloves when handling hot peppers. But normal cooking I don’t. I just grab a clean dish towel and use that for the duration of cooking. But if there aren’t any clean ones (which happens often), I will end up using a good portion of the paper towel roll.
