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

Kung Pao Chicken, finally done with some goddamned Sichuan Peppercorns @Timex :-D

Plus red bell peppers, celery, green onions, and peanuts, served over steamed rice, with some crab-n-cream-cheese rangoons!

Awwwww yeah

My wife bought me a selection of spice for Christmas. One of them were Szechwan peppercorns. Those things are incredible,

And true to memory, the ones available at the nearest Asian market are absolute ass, hah. Best by like 6 months from now and studded with lots of the black seeds the nicer brands seem to omit. But there is still a faint zingy tingle and hey, the floral scent is lovely.

Ah well. My fault for continuously forgetting to order some on Amazon for the last two years; remembering you need them while at the grocery store buying ingredients to cook with that night usually isn’t great for Amazon-ordering :)

Old Sichuan peppercorn is better than none. Nothing has that same weird tingle.

I’m glad you guys mentioned that Cuisinart has changed the stick blender. If anything happens to mine I’m not sure I would go for added complexity of a safety button during use. And speaking of it, I used mine yesterday after making pot roast to blend the juices and very cooked diced onions into the base for a sauce. It worked like a champ. I love how the blending part of it is small enough to fit into some cups I have as well as cans of different items. For anything soup/stew related it is a must-have, as you can thicken things by just a few taps of the stick blender in the dish, and the same for refried beans.

Speaking of pot roast, I took a tip from @Chowhound and pressure cooked it this round. I’m extremely happy with the results. Normally I use a slow cooker or do a very long roast in a dutch oven. This time I used nothing but the Instant Pot. I used the sear setting to brown the 4 lb roast that I cut in two, then continued with the sear setting by deglazing what was on the bottom with just a touch of vegetable oil and some finely diced onion. Then all the ingredients went in and 55 min later … pot roast. I am pretty sure it was cooked long before that, but I used the recipe here to convert what I normally make into the pressure cooked version. Really the only change was a little more liquid added in to start.

Ingredients in:
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Result, separated from liquid and lightly shredded. This will make a few things this week, including sandwiches and tacos.
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Great to hear @Skipper! Glad to hear it worked well for you, and it was tasty! Our IP really has replaced our slow cooker for pretty much everything.

I’m not really sure where else to put this, so I’ll just put it here. It seems…um…I’ve developed something of a man-crush on this guy Brad Leone, who does videos for Bon Appetit.

I want to make these pickles now. Although [full disclosure] I’m not gonna run out and try to find fennel and dill pollen. Nope. No way.

He’s such a charming goofball, and his show “It’s Alive” is so well edited. It’s easy to fall down the youtube rabbit hole with this guy.

-xtien

Yes! I’ve been really enjoying Brad’s series on there, but tbh, most of their “Face personality” people are pretty awesome. Clare and her attempts to recreate bad candies/desserts is hilarious.

Oh. That’s good to know. I’m kind of into the way his show is edited, but I loved Claire’s show where they made sourdough, and I’ve really liked some of the other crossovers. Still, his show just has such wit, and I love the way he engages with his camera dude, Vin.

It’s really got a Letterman/Alton Brown feel to it. So I’m addicted.

-xtien

Chicken Biryani
from this Instant Pot cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/Indian-Instant-Pot®-Cookbook-Traditional-ebook/dp/B075HHYXWF/

You either start with a bunch of whole spices in ghee (if you have them and want to go fully authentic), or skip that and go straight to browning some onions in ghee or butter, then add ginger, garlic and jalapeno, and then a pound or so of chopped boneless thighs (and a bunch of garam masala, if you didn’t go the whole spice route). Spread out the chicken and veggie mix, top with chopped mint and cilantro, then a cup of rinsed basmati rice and some salt, then a cup of water, without stirring. Press down on the rice to get some water over it, then pressure cook on high for 5 minutes and let the steam release. At which point you can stir (I did), or serve with spoonfuls of all layers at once.

Would it be safe to say you want to try Brad’s pickle?

I mean, those are some good looking pickles.Thanks for the link, btw. I had forgotten about bon appetit vids.

Oh yes! I also want to try his sauerkraut. And his kimchi.

Euphemisms. What do people see in them.

-xtien

P.S. You should hear the pickle story @Dave_Perkins shared on slack. Woof.

I have not heard this, but now I am afraid.

Also, homemade kimchi? Hell yes!

THE DOG AND THE PICKLE
by Dave Perkins

My friend Nate had a big ole dog and walked him over to our house one day, where we were eating lunch on the porch. Nate fished a big ole dill pickle out of a jar and the dog looked interested, so Nate offered the pickle, holding it on one end while the dog half-consumed it, slobbering and gumming the pickle and, eventually, giving up on it.

Nate glanced the pickle over and then crammed it into his own mouth.

The end.

Those spoiler tags work pretty darn good, looks like.

They don’t work across paragraph breaks, but if you spoiler tag each paragraph individually it’ll work.

Ah, thanks!

In one of only two threads I maintain an active subscription to, Dave? Really? You monster!

I spoiler-tagged it you peace-loving, witty, brilliant friend !