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

Yaeh, ganja is not something you add to enhance flavor and you should never use raw marijuana in cooking. Infused butters and oils diminish the taste but its a strong flavor and hard to eliminate, completely. As far as smoking foods with it, at the temperatures that the material would be burning at, you would burn off the active compounds from the pot. Im sure small amounts may infuse into your food but I doubt it would be enough to cause any kind of high.

Why would this be the case, given that smoke is the most common transmission vehicle for those active compounds?

Smoking food isn’t using some “extra hot” smoke, generally.

The temperature of the coals is what matters, not the smoke. Even cooking with it they recommend that temps should be kept under 350F. There is a lot of chemical reaction science behind it but bottom line is the higher the temp, the more the compounds breakdown. This is, in part why vaporizing marijuana is more efficient and more cost effective. You use about 1/3 of the material vaporizing that you do smoking, because of considerable amount is lost when you burn it off.

I think the answer as to why the chef did that is obviously:

Arepa-production continues to be refined. That Serious Eats venezuelan pork recipe is fierce, and while the yellow rice isn’t traditional Venezuelan, it is delicious, so I deal with it. Plus the black beans and rice. . . just lacking my guasacaca sauce and tostones (happening tonight!).

I love arepas. So good.

I do prefer a cachapa usually though, and they’re usually sold side by side, so I don’t eat arepas as much as I should/want to.

What recipe is this? Because from looking at this:

The pork seems to be… cooked with onions and garlic?

Not that you need to do much more to make pork shoulder good, but if there’s something beyond this, I wanna know. I think I’d likely make it in my pressure cooker.

Eh, it’s a bit more than that:

Onions, garlic (which I brown more than the recipe calls for), broth, bay leaves, and blackened, skinned green chilies. Plus the meat’s cubed and then seared well on all sides, which is neat both in terms of reducing total braising time and also in increasing surface area for Mailliard reactions. Then reducing the cooking liquid/veggies and pouring back into the shredded meat and–not in the recipe again–tossing the whole shebang, spread out well, under the broiler for 4-5 minutes in a 550F oven to crisp up well is just. . . *chef’s kiss*

In general I find a lot of the Venezuelan cuisine I look up doesn’t go nuts with tons of flavors and spices, rather just honing in fewer ingredients, cooked well, and combined expertly. It’s a little relieving after, say, Indian or Thai food.

So it’s mainly the browning. Understood.

Yes, you could accurately sum up my response with “brown the fuck out of every thing”

Braising in that liquid is also key. I imagine that adds a ton of flavor.

That should be a YouTube series from both of you:
"Will it brown?’

Same here. I even brown onions in recipes that specifically tell you not to. I’m a fucking rebel.

Finishing the second batch of Venezuelan classics!


First up, tostones! Made with my brand new tostonera. You may recall my posting in the Puerto Rico thread about a friend’s family struggling with power outages, but nonetheless collecting seeds and planting materials to teach classes on basic farming to the locals. I wound up sending quite a bit of seed (plus a ton of water purification tablets and straws), and as thanks, her mom sent back this gorgeous little tool.

Slice the green plantains into about 1" rounds, fry on both sides in a shallow pool of oil till softened, them smash with your tostonera or, you know, a heavy measuring cup or a plate or whatever. Then dunk in seasoned, salty water, shake dry, and refry. . .


Till crisp and crunchy and delicious. Top with salt, maybe some garlic, and you’re golden. Also pictured: two yellow corn arepas, freshly toasted in some butter.

Arepas in progress. Split while still steaming hot, then loaded down with yellow rice studded with red peppers and onions, black beans cooked with the same + cumin and chilies, some queso fresco, and some of that pork as described above. . .

Then drizzle on a thick layer of guasacaca sauce: avocados, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno (optional), cilantro, parsley, lime, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper all blended, then drizzle in olive oil while still blending to smooth it out, almost like a bright green hummus.

Then toss on some Valentina cuz it’s the best goddamned hot sauce in the world, top with the other half of your arepa, and feast!

I want.

When is the GoFundMe for your food truck?

Kinda not joking. That looks delicious!

Thanks, y’all :)

And no food truck just yet. Would cut into the RPG time too much :-D

“Dice and Dosa”
“Game Master Grub”

Dungeons and Dinner?

Winner

uWink?