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IronGAF Cookoff (hosted by OnkelC) Vol. 2

Anyway, I've realized I basically don't know what to do with the darn thing! I'm definitely going to put some serious time into baking sweets, and I've always wanted to bake a loaf of homemade bread, but I'm looking for proper meals here and I just... lack the experience? Are there any dishes you would immediately go for in my situation? What would you crave after finally having access to an oven after a good few years without one?

Perhaps a roast is an obvious pick... I'm really not sure, I guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed now that I've actually managed to sort this cooking situation out.

Butterflied chicken. Can use a cleaver instead of shears, is quite fun to do. Ultra-simple recipe if you skip the jus (which really wont be needed).

I'd start getting into the baguette/ciabatta game asap if i got a new oven. Or no knead bread if i didn't have a mixer. Good bread enhances a truckload of meals.
 

Joqu

Member
You could try chicken pot pie or shepards pie or meatloaf. Easy starters for an oven meal. Then you can try lasagna (use those no boil noodles). Don't try roasting a bird for Thanksgiving for a first try. It takes a bit of practice.

Casseroles would be the obvious choice. If you're adventurous you could try Flying Jacob, but I'm always a bit hesitant with recommending it; it's a weird dish.

Butterflied chicken. Can use a cleaver instead of shears, is quite fun to do. Ultra-simple recipe if you skip the jus (which really wont be needed).

I'd start getting into the baguette/ciabatta game asap if i got a new oven. Or no knead bread if i didn't have a mixer. Good bread enhances a truckload of meals.

Thank you! These'll be fun for me to play around with. :eek:
 

TFGB

Member
I have far too many kitchen gadgets that are stuck in cupboards or drawers never too see the light of day, but I do have a penchant for Sage/Heston Blumenthal products so I got the Soft Scoop ice cream maker today. I've never made my own ice cream or sorbets, so am looking forward to trying out all the wealth of recipes available everywhere.

I did have to relegate a couple of gadgets to the other side of the kitchen, but it fits in pretty well with the other Sage members.

FGQqNJZ.jpg


P1SooeA.jpg


hZbqYOp.jpg


My favourite ice cream is mint choc-chip, so have comtemplated that as my first attempt, but I also like the idea of cookie dough, butter pecan, peach & passion fruit sorbet....infact, any ice cream will do!
 
I have far too many kitchen gadgets that are stuck in cupboards or drawers never too see the light of day, but I do have a penchant for Sage/Heston Blumenthal products so I got the Soft Scoop ice cream maker today. I've never made my own ice cream or sorbets, so am looking forward to trying out all the wealth of recipes available everywhere.

I did have to relegate a couple of gadgets to the other side of the kitchen, but it fits in pretty well with the other Sage members.

My favourite ice cream is mint choc-chip, so have comtemplated that as my first attempt, but I also like the idea of cookie dough, butter pecan, peach & passion fruit sorbet....infact, any ice cream will do!

real talk: you posted these to stealth-brag about your awesome kitchen, didn't you?

Also im curious: what'd be the price per litre of homemade ice cream with that thing? Not even factoring the device's cost. Is just that the other day i bought some ice cream mix, prepared it (wasnt completely trash), factored ingredient costs aaaand... even with just mat costs, it was pretty much the same price as if i had just picked a 2L pot from the supermarket, so that was a bit of a downer.
 

thespot84

Member
real talk: you posted these to stealth-brag about your awesome kitchen, didn't you?

Also im curious: what'd be the price per litre of homemade ice cream with that thing? Not even factoring the device's cost. Is just that the other day i bought some ice cream mix, prepared it (wasnt completely trash), factored ingredient costs aaaand... even with just mat costs, it was pretty much the same price as if i had just picked a 2L pot from the supermarket, so that was a bit of a downer.

I make ice cream with the cuisenart quart ice cream maker. A typical recipe is:

1 cups milk - $2.50/gallon, $0.15
1 cup sugar - $0.30
2 cups cream - $9/.5 gallon at costco, $2.25
1 tbsp vanilla - Nielsen Massy vanilla paste from tj maxx if you're lucky, $6 for 4oz, $0.75

Total for a quart: $3.45. Also note that this ice cream is as good as it is simple and I can tweak the recipe to my exacting preferences.
 

TFGB

Member
Damn, that's a beautiful kitchen.

real talk: you posted these to stealth-brag about your awesome kitchen, didn't you?

Also im curious: what'd be the price per litre of homemade ice cream with that thing? Not even factoring the device's cost. Is just that the other day i bought some ice cream mix, prepared it (wasnt completely trash), factored ingredient costs aaaand... even with just mat costs, it was pretty much the same price as if i had just picked a 2L pot from the supermarket, so that was a bit of a downer.
Lol cheers!

I'm not sure of the cost per litres personally. The real reason, for me, is that I want to make ice cream, sorbet & frozen yoghurt without any added ingredients, preservatives etc. I'm back on a bit of a health kick at the moment after a summer of eating rich foods and drinking way too much booze.

I'm going to have to try out all my favourite ice cream recipes over time, but ultimately I hope to be using it for low carb, low fat frozen berry yoghurts. :)
 
I have a question, not sure if this is the right place but I'm sure plenty of you can answer

I made a brisket in a slow cooker, there is quite a bit of drippings left over

Is it ok if I just pour the liquid over the roast and refrigerate it until tomorrow evening or will the liquid turn into something nasty that way?


It tastes so good, nom

21558697_10104045281655420_2099711759205270312_n.jpg



I found the answer I was looking for, gonna put the drippings in the fridge overnight, remove the fat tomorrow and try to make au jus
 
What did you put in the crock pot besides the brisket?


Coke, honey, red wine, lemon juice, paprika, onion, ketchup

I usually cook it in the oven and only get a bit of drippings, did not expect the slow cooker to produce so much


Edit - Ended up making Au Jus, people seemed to like it :)
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
So is it me or it's impossible to buy Californian olive oil in Canada? Anything else is likely fake olive oil. What I found on Amazon.ca is extremely expensive, like 125$ for 750ml.
 

TFGB

Member
After several attempts the first curry I'm really happy with

That looks deeeelish. ;)

I’m not unfamiliar with sous-vide cooking, but never had an immersion circulator before so I treated myself to one last week, along with a vacuum sealer. One of the best purchases I’ve made as the thing rocks.

7bjeFRy.jpg


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(my Le Creuset preserving pan isn’t the ideal shape but suffices :/ )

I’m so impressed with how tender proteins and veg come out that I’m a convert. Got some skinless/boneless chicken thighs in an own-recipe Tikka marinade and some chicken breast in a smoky Latino dry rub from M&S ready to go on later tonight.

W0YhgjI.jpg
 

snacknuts

we all knew her
I don't like eggplant all that much, but I bought one on a whim at the farmer's market yesterday and ended up making a fried eggplant sandwich that knocked my socks off. I couldn't find hot cherry peppers at the grocery so I bought hot muffuletta instead and I think the sandwich was better for it. I also omitted the roast beef. There was still PLENTY of food. So good.

Ui2Ge0S.jpg
 

zbarron

Member
Latest batch of Kenji's cookies. This was the first time I made this in a while and I got the crags I love.
img_20170928_100402h2ukt.jpg


Changes to the recipe for my own notes:
300g flour
Fully chilled brown butter
just shy of 1tsp baking soda
2tsp salt
butter whipped thoroughly in egg mixture.

Baked just made at 350 for 11 minutes.
 

Silkworm

Member
I'm still here :) Admittedly I mostly lurk, but I do enjoy reading about other peoples' cooking/baking efforts. I'd be interested in reading/viewing your cooking/baking efforts as you always do a good job at it, zbarron :) I myself am going to give Bon Appetit's recipe for "Blackout Chocolate Cake" a try as my contribution for a pot luck at our work this Monday. Hopefully it turns out well *fingers crossed*
 
So I had a new friend finally try my cooking/grilling. I made chorizo burgers and a meatless chili beans. He absolutely loved it, and asked me "why are you working with us and not cooking? Your food is amazing."

I'm already getting into the Thanksgiving mood. We've been inviting people over for it. I've been planning my menu. We always go overboard on food, but I love it and every one loves it as well. I'm planning on smoking my turkey this year. I did a test run earlier this summer with a bird, and it turned out really good. So I'm ready for it.
 

TFGB

Member
I'm still here lol.

So the addiction to kitchen gadgets that I thought had subsided after all these years has reared it's ugly head yet again. :/

Just bought the Sage Waffle Maker....I've got a couple of low carb recipes for this one using coconut flour so looking forward to trying it out this weekend.

5HhhZoQ.jpg
 

Silkworm

Member
How did that cake turn out Silkworm? I know from delicious b-day experience of some time ago that Boston Blackout Cakes are fiercely good...

Oh, thanks for asking :) I failed in taking a picture of it :( but I think it turned out pretty well :) Several people who tried it seemed to enjoy it. I took the cake to the potluck and left it in the cafeteria area where we were set to eat it later that day. I didn't cut it at the time, so someone else did it for me. I think they cut it into eights (or close to that?) which seemed far too big to me especially if people wanted to try other desserts. Anyway there was so much food there that there was about 1/4th of the cake left which I was able to take home and share with my roommates, so it worked out well :)

Now as to the cake, the cake layers were really moist and flavorful. I'm guessing the sour cream helped with that aspect. I had a little trouble with the pudding as I was suppose to bring it to a boil to dissolve the cornstarch in the milk but I had trouble telling when it was coming to a boil and probably left it on the heat a little to long but the end product still seemed to turned out fine. Final product was very tasty and I'd definitely try it again especially if I'm making it for someone that likes/loves chocolate :)

edit: BTW, it may look labor intensive but it's not so bad if you split it up over a few days. I made the cake layers and the pudding on Sunday and then the frosting and assembled it on Monday. You could probably stretch things out even more if pressed for time like bake the cake one day, make the pudding another, and then the frosting and assembly on the third day. Whatever way you slice it though, in this case I think the end results justify the work ;)
 
Yeah, it is one of those things that is supposed to be tricky to nail at first, but like many regional specialties(King cakes, etc), once you get in the zone it largely works out so long as the weather and whatnot don't intervene too much.
 

Silkworm

Member
Well I had another successful attempt at baking another dessert :( Sadly I again did not take a picture. Ah well. :(

This time I made flan using a Cook's Illustrated recipe. I haven't tried a lot of flan so I can't compare the taste and texture to other recipes but I really like how CI's version came out. Also they call for the flan to be baked in a loaf pan where you put the caramel in the bottom of the pan and then add the other ingredients on top of that and then when you flip it over to release the flan the caramel pools over the flan. Probably nothing unique about that but I really like the look and presentation of the flan that comes from baking it in a loaf pan. Will definitely give it a try again and probably try some of the other flavor variations they offer (specifically would like to try their coffee flavored version). :)
 

TFGB

Member
I made a BIR (British Indian Restaurant) base gravy yesterday.

It starts out looking like this:

VfR82pS.jpg


and after 6 hours of simmering, I blitz it to create this:

PhKQXBp.jpg


which makes enough for 15 double portions of curry base:

EQR9xYX.jpg


I think I’ll make a Dhansak over the next few days. :)
 
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TFGB

Member
Do you have a recipe?

For sure. :)

I use this recipe and method here:



Though I also use:

2 red peppers instead of 1
1kg of white and 1kg of red onions (instead of all white)
half a medium white cabbage
a 200g Coconut Block (Blue Dragon or similar)

I also omit the tomato puree

....bring to the boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer the lot with a lid on for about 6 hours, every now and then scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon incase it catches.

When it’s all cooked and I’ve blitzed it, I blend in a 397g tin of condensed milk and a pinch of salt. I know alot of (British) curry houses use condensed or evaporated milk in their gravy for that underlying sweetness.

The end result shouldn’t have an intense flavour if you’re worried that it should lol.

Then you can try Al’s recipes on his YT channel using this gravy.

(His Dhansak recipe should have pineapple and a bit more lemon juice though!)👍🏻
 
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