Knowing everyone's love for bacon, I thought I'd share this awesome recipe I made the other night. Chicken rissoles wrapped in bacon (Makes about 8) Ingredients - 500 gm chicken mince (About 1.1 lbs) - Long rashers of bacon - 1 clove of garlic - 1 egg (lightly beaten) - 1 tablespoon basil - 1 tablespoon of parsley - 3/4 cup of bread crumbs - Enough bbq sauce to cover when baking (I used a Jack Daniels BBQ sauce I got from the supermarket) 1. Preheat oven to 180 (350 Fahrenheit) 2. In a large bowl, mix chicken mince, garlic, egg, bread crumbs and herbs until combined. Form into balls 3. Wrap bacon rashers around rissole and secure with a tooth pick 4. Fry rissoles on medium heat for about 5 minutes until bacon is crispy 5. Put in baking dish and cover with bbq sauce. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Half way through, baste rissoles or add some more sauce I didn't take a picture because they didn't last that long. Definitely yummy though.
Process in a food processor with cream cheese and sour cream to your desired consistency. Seasoning is to personal taste, but I would use Old Bay (or Tony's if you want it spicier) for an easy route, or blend your own seasoning.
Anybody wanting to find out about good chef's knives, here is a great section about the knives that chefs use. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/find-eat-drink/kramer-knives-chefs_b_698877.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/find-eat- ... 98877.html</a> Not a bad list, think it's lacking a bit, but if you want to learn about what types of knives chefs use and why they use them, this is a fairly good list.
Can anyone suggest some recipes that freeze well? Also some tips on what kinds of containers to use to freeze food and the best way to re-heat without drying things out or getting soggy.
Made Thomas Keller's roast chicken for dinner tonight. Absolutely spectacular. Now the carcass is stewing away on my stove, which will provide me with a good amount of stock. Recipe.
Okay, so it's that time of year again. The traditional end of summer barbecue my friend and I throw pointedly called "Meatfest". At this point, early estimates have us preparing approximately 95 lbs of various animals and cuts including St. Louis style pork ribs, 2 smoked beer can turkeys, a bone in leg of lamb, corned beef brisket, pork tenderloins and a regular beef brisket. Others have expressed interest in bringing other items including venison and homemade sausage. However, I think the biggest "novelty" item will be the 3 different variations of the Bacon Explosion. For those of you unaware, this is what I'm referring to. We're preparing a traditional style like that in the link, a "bold" version with hot italian sausage and bleu cheese and a breakfast style with eggs, potatoes and sausage gravy instead of barbecue sauce. All of that being said, this year it is my turn to cook the brisket, and I'll admit, it's not my strong suit. I usually stick to doing the fowl and lamb and leave the ribs and beef to my partner. Not wanting to just copy his recipe, I'm having issues coming up with what I think would be the best way to go about preparing it. I know there has to be some well experienced pitmasters here on the board that can lend a hand. First of all, I know what I'm doing when it comes to the actual cooking of the meat itself. It;s going to be housed in a custom smoker made out of an old double walled chiller unit, under a combination of hickory and apple wood at about 225-250 for about 8-10 hours. What I'm concerned with, is do people usually marinate the brisket beforehand and then add a rub just before smoking? Or should I go with an injection and a rub? Or just a rub? I already have an all purpose barbecue rub that I like to use that's made up of brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic and dried red cayenne pepper to taste to heat. Any advice is appreciated and I hope to be able to have some pictures of the bounty that I can show off.
I've had the best results NOT marinating brisket. I just do my standard dry rub and smoke away. The last couple of hours I'll spread a layer of plain old yellow mustard on the non-fat side; they've come out moister this way. I have a feeling the vinegar works its way down in to the meat. I would rub it at least a couple hours beforehand, it will help the rub penetrate the meat and get that flavor all they way in. Keep an eye on your smoke; I've over-smoked brisket and it tastes like ash. If you think your smoke level is too high, finish the brisket wrapped in some foil. Can I come over?
If you have a full brisket with a layer of fat on one side, you shouldn't need to do too much in the way of marinating/basting or anything to keep the meat from drying out. Just a rub is a fairly traditional treatment. I don't think basting is really necessary, but it's certainly an option.
I wouldn't marinate it either. Rub it down, let it sit in the fridge for a while and then throw it on. The traditional BBQ joint up the street does it that way. They then offer you one of 4 types of sauce which they either pour over the top of the plated meal or serve on the side. My mouth is watering now. Thanks a lot.
I've had decent success smoking a brisket at 225 for 10-12 hours, but it is so much work and you have to worry about temps and it drying out. I'm going to try a new high-heat smoke method on my Weber RMS on Sunday for a big BBQ. I'm also going to do an injection marinade consisting of beef broth, apple juice, and a bit or Worschteshire sauce. This is the way I've been seeing a lot of competition brisket cookers doing it for the past couple years. I like to rub my brisket down with yellow mustard, and then a dry blend of kosher salt, cracked black pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powder, chili powder, celery seed, and organic raw cane (turbinado) sugar. Let it sit out on the counter and come up to room temp while you're firing the smoker up. Here's the link for the quick cook method I'm going to try. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket4.html</a>
Made fish tacos tonight. Initially wary because I'm a picky bitch when it comes to anything in the sea, but these turned out amazing. For the marinade: 1 tbsp chili powder 2 tbsp garlic powder 1 tbsp cumin The juice of one lemon Pinch or shake of seasoned salt 1 tbsp olive oil Combine all. Pour over any mild white fish - I used tilapia. Let marinate for at least an hour. For the red cabbage slaw: 2 tomatillos 1 jalapeno The juice of one lime 1/2 a small onion 1 garlic clove 1 half head red cabbage, sliced thinly 1 tbsp olive oil Handful of Italian parsley 1/2 container sour cream Remove the papery husks and rinse the tomatillos well under warm water. Slice in half and place, cut side down, on a baking sheet and broil for 5-7 minutes, or until the skin turns brown. Slice the jalapeno and onion into chunks. Place tomatillos, jalapeno, onion, lime juice, parsley and garlic into a food processor and process until fine. Add a pinch of salt and the olive oil. Combine. Pour into a bowl, add the sour cream and mix. Add the red cabbage and stir until the cabbage is coated. Refrigerate. I grilled the tilapia - 2 minutes on each side. Warmed up flour tortillas on the grill. Instead of chunking the fish, I flaked it. To make the taco, I spread some leftover sour cream/tomatillo mixture onto the tortilla, placed equal amounts of fish and slaw. I also made some guacamole, which the husband has been craving lately. Mr. Pink and I went crazy for them. So good.
To all you chefs out there: I made kebabs using fresh veggies (peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc) and unfrozen beef. I made a ton, and would like to freeze some. Do I grill them then freeze them, or just freeze them raw?
I hope this is appropriate for this thread... So my non-acedemia project for this semester is trying to cook better. I've found I can do pretty good with recipes, but have no fucking idea how to use spices. I get the salt and pepper thing, but what about the uses of all those other spices on my spice rack? Is there a book about how the different spices interact (i.e. sweet canceling out hot), or should be used?
I'd freeze them raw. Freezing beef already damages the texture of the meat, not to mention the flavor, and cooking it beforehand will really fubar it. Frozen beef will last a good 5 months before it's shot to shit. Heh, salt and pepper are really all you need, but that's just the old-school chef in me talking. Anyways, just experiment. I know it's tough if you're on a budget and can't afford to fuck up too many meals, but it's the best way to go. Practice makes perfect, especially in the kitchen, and individual tastes in the family are what's going to make a meal shine. That, and it's pretty hard to fuck up a meal so badly that you can't eat it. If a book is what you're into, then Cooking with Spices for Dummies is probably right up your alley. It's a pretty good read and offered some insight that even my training and schooling didn't cover.
Wondering if anyone had any thoughts or recommendations for a nice warm sauce for salmon? Basically, we're having a pot luck lunch at work next week, and I'm pre-cooking a couple of salmon I caught over the weekend. (Simply slow cooked the night before on the bbq, with just some lemon pepper and stuffed with rice). Due to the BS crap at work, we can't bbq stuff there, so it's got to be pre-cooked. What I'd like to do is bring some sort of warm sauce that I can pair with the salmon. Another friend of mine can bring rice and any other kind of garnish we want. I could do the typical dill and lemon sauce, but was wondering if anyone had any flashes of creativity they'd care to share... I've also got a crap-load of prawns I can use as well. (Over 150 lbs in the freezer right now).
Try out a blueberry sauce for the salmon. 1/2 tbsp olive oil 3/4 cup sliced shallots (red onions can be used, just dice them and use only a 1/2 cup) 1 tbsp roasted garlic (sub in raw garlic if you wish at a single clove, minced) 1/4 teaspoon salt dash of ground pepper 1/4 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (don't use dried) 1 cup fresh blueberries 1/4 cup water (use less if you want a thicker sauce, but I find it thick as it stands) 1 tsp balsamic vinegar Fresh mint Heat the oil on medium heat, adding the shallots when hot. Sauté until translucent. Add the garlic, S&P and thyme. In a minute or so you'll really start to smell the thyme and garlic and at that point you add the blueberries, the vinegar and the water. Reduce heat and stir slowly, mashing the blueberries into paste with the back of your spoon. It'll thicken slowly, so be patient and when it's where you want it, remove it from heat. Pour the warm sauce over the salmon and chiffonade a bit of mint for garnish and added flavour. Additionally, have your friend cook the rice with a bit of coconut milk subbed in for the water, which will smell just lovely and pair nicely with the blueberry sauce. For your prawns, you have a couple options. A seafood brochette is always a good one, especially on the BBQ and brushed with garlic butter. Red and green peppers, red onion, whole mushrooms and prawns are the ticket, although the sky's the limit here. Another option, if your prawns are 16/20s or smaller is to make some roasted garlic, get some butter, dry white wine and olive oil and some naan bread. Sauté a dozen prawns in a saucepan with some olive oil and a spoonful of pasted roasted garlic. Once the prawns are nearly cooked and the garlic is sticking to the pan, deglaze it with wine, reduce it and then finish it with butter, salt and pepper. You'll get an awesome garlic sauce which you use the naan bread to scoop up when you're done eating the prawns. Best served with a tossed salad and a light dressing to cleanse the palette.
Interesting series of video clips with Wylie Dufresne. I saw him compete on Iron Chef once, and it was amazing how he applied crazy science to food. Not really my thing, but quite interesting nonetheless. <a class="postlink" href="http://bigthink.com/users/wyliedufresne" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://bigthink.com/users/wyliedufresne</a>