Today I Made:

[Quercus]

Yesterday I made a semi-fancy breakfast. Toasted bread (from Alex's homemade sourdough), fried spinach and onions, sliced roasted beets, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and some home fries. Turned out great, except the hollandaise split :( Still tasted good, just not very creamy.

If that's semi-fancy what the hell qualifies as full fancy?

I finally made a vegan sour cream substitute that I'm happy with. The prevalent cashew and tofu based ones didn't cut it for me. This one (found the idea online somewhere, but can't remember where) is just the solids from the top of a can of full fat coconut milk that's been sitting for a while, some lemon juice, white wine vinegar and a tiny bit of salt (I put a bit too much in with half a small pinch -it needs a really small amount).

It's not exactly the same flavour profile as sour cream, but it fulfills the same purpose and is delicious. It's creamy, fresh and tangy. The other ones I think try too hard to mimic real sour cream, and sacrifice too much to that end.

[PAstrychef]

For dinner it was portobello mushrooms stuffed with a filling of white beans, spinach and prosciutto. The first time I tried this the filling was way too dry, so this time I added some sour cream, herbs, garlic and chive cream cheese left from break fast. A huge improvement. Served with a fried egg on top, just because.

[Zohar]

Yesterday I made a semi-fancy breakfast. Toasted bread (from Alex's homemade sourdough), fried spinach and onions, sliced roasted beets, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and some home fries. Turned out great, except the hollandaise split :( Still tasted good, just not very creamy.

If that's semi-fancy what the hell qualifies as full fancy?

I mean, this isn't that much different than an omelette, the only different is the hollandaise sauce and the fried potatoes, neither of which was too much work. I guess in my mind "full fancy" would mean either turning on the oven or doing multiple little sauces and things.

[sardia]

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html
Making waffles substituting yogurt instead of buttermilk(excess yogurt can at least be eaten by someone). My question is why fake maple syrup is so thick. If you're going to cheap out making artificial syrup, why not save some money so it matches the viscosity of the real deal? Real maple syrup flows like water, while I have to watch aunt jemima slowly pour out.

[Mikeski]

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/04/buttermilk-vanilla-waffles-recipe.html
Making waffles substituting yogurt instead of buttermilk(excess yogurt can at least be eaten by someone). My question is why fake maple syrup is so thick. If you're going to cheap out making artificial syrup, why not save some money so it matches the viscosity of the real deal? Real maple syrup flows like water, while I have to watch aunt jemima slowly pour out.

It would not surprise me if the cost of corn syrup (fake maple syrup) is cheaper than the filtered water and extra preservatives that would be needed to make the fake stuff the same viscosity as the real stuff. Good-old "Karo" corn syrup is far thicker than maple syrup is.

(The real stuff needs refrigeration; the fake stuff can sit in the pantry. I hear the same about homemade syrups; sugar-and-water "simple syrup" is not stable at the usual 1-to-1 ratio, but is stable with double the sugar...)

And they add gum arabic (or similar) to the corn-syrup kind to help keep the sugar from crystallizing out, which also thickens it a bit more.

Or, it's just what us clueless Americans are used to. "Yay, it doesn't run off my pancakes!" The fake stuff is 5 to 10 times cheaper...

[sardia]

I know some diners cheat by heating their fake syrup. Makes it harder to tell based on viscosity alone. I do prefer heating it over the same fake syrup served at room temp though.
Funny thing about the recipe, it's essentially a waffleshaped creampuff/profiterole/choux type pastry. Maybe I should eat more cream puffs.

[PAstrychef]

I made buttermilk waffles to go with fried chicken for dinner last night! And last week I waffled some hash browns. The choux paste waffle is interesting. Anyone know a good recipe for a Belgian gauffret?

[sardia]

I made buttermilk waffles to go with fried chicken for dinner last night! And last week I waffled some hash browns. The choux paste waffle is interesting. Anyone know a good recipe for a Belgian gauffret?

No gauffret recipe, but where do you source good buttermilk? The store brand stuff is only artificial, so I can't do a side by side comparison.(which is why I went with 50/50 yogurt and milk) Is there even a difference?

[freezeblade]

I finally made a vegan sour cream substitute that I'm happy with. The prevalent cashew and tofu based ones didn't cut it for me. This one (found the idea online somewhere, but can't remember where) is just the solids from the top of a can of full fat coconut milk that's been sitting for a while, some lemon juice, white wine vinegar and a tiny bit of salt (I put a bit too much in with half a small pinch -it needs a really small amount).

You can actually buy that coconut product all by itself! I've seen it marketed as "coconut cream" and can be found in specialty markets (Trader Joe's has it!)

re: sourcing good buttermilk

I hate the price, but whole foods has some pretty decent buttermilk. I make it stretch by making more buttermilk with the last of the carton (Drop a tablespoon or so of buttermilk into a pint mason jar, fill with milk, leave at room temp for 24 hours or so, depending on room temp. Bam! more buttermilk!) As a bonus, you can use the buttermilk culture to make creme franche the same way using heavy cream instead of milk.

Buttermilk never goes bad at my place, as it finds its way into many recipes: chocolate cake, muffins, waffles, bread dough (sweet dough or sandwich bread), etc.

Today I'm making basic fridge cleaning chicken stirfry with whatever veggies are still good in the fridge (I think the bok choi, parsnip, and chilaca pepper are still good).

[PAstrychef]

A serious disappointment. I read an article and recipe for a steamed ginger custard that I immediately wanted to make. It took about six weeks, but I got to get them custards steamed at last, and they were just meh. I did over cook them, but the flavor of the custard was just boring. It needs at least twice as much ginger juice and a bit more sugar and at least one more egg yolk.
On the other had, the chicken eggpland and potato curry I had up for dinner last night was great. For tonight’s reprise I made a pan of Persian style crispy rice to go with.

[Zohar]

Yesterday I made tiramisu for the first time, and it turned out pretty good! I was very pleased with myself. The recipe calls for raw eggs and I needed a new carton anyway, and I found some pasteurized eggs at the grocery store so I used those. Little did I know pasteurized egg whites don't whip very well. A quick google suggested adding a bit of acid and I got a decent results with a spoon of apple cider vinegar.

[Moo]

Yay for Zohar, the kitchen alchemist!

[Zohar]

Cooked so many things yesterday. We got a bunch of apples in our CSA, so I cooked them into apple sauce and froze them so we have some to eat on Hanukkah with latkes. It's getting close to freezing so I picked all of the basil and made a bunch of pesto sauce, froze that too. Made another batch of granola, and for food during the week I made a chickpea-ginger-tomato Indian dish. Ended up adding butter even though the recipe didn't call for it, but it made it much more delicious.

[sardia]

Cooked so many things yesterday. We got a bunch of apples in our CSA, so I cooked them into apple sauce and froze them so we have some to eat on Hanukkah with latkes. It's getting close to freezing so I picked all of the basil and made a bunch of pesto sauce, froze that too. Made another batch of granola, and for food during the week I made a chickpea-ginger-tomato Indian dish. Ended up adding butter even though the recipe didn't call for it, but it made it much more delicious.

I made pesto too. It was pretty tasty, but it wasn't as green as I expected given how much baisil I put in. Did you use a blender/food processor or a mortar and pestle?
I've noticed that a good mortar let's you emulsify stuff much more readily, except I'm not sure if the taste is better. It was horribly messy though. If I do this again, I'll have to buy a larger mortar/pestle.(ugh$$$)

[Zohar]

I made a pretty large amount, so I used a food processor. And it ended up pretty viscous.

[Moo]

Made a giant batch of bolognese for last night's spaghetti bolognese, so I put together a lasagne this morning with the leftovers for tonight. Wanted to also make carrot cake but didn't get round to that - soooooon.

[PAstrychef]

Shrimp in a coconut curry sauce over rice. I used a curry base I bought in Paris. It’s lemon and ginger, or as the label read “citron et gingembre”. It’s good, but not “return to Paris at once good.” I may try to match its flavors.

[Sungura]

I did a search “macarons” and only found a few posts so since I did just make them I will post here.

Anyway. Been watching Great British Baking Show and Oh me yarm all those macarons. So must try.

I find a recipe for redvelvet (one my fav cakes). I make. I get the shiny top but most crack and no foot on it. Taste delish so whatever. Assumed i fucked something up.

Delish but look i know is wrong

I make chocolate. They turned out perfect! Exactly right look!

Delish worked

Okay. Difference was i found a sifter. I never sift flour or anything and I assumed it was that actually mattering.

Remake redvelvet. Nope. Same.

So two questions:
1) any ideas why the cracking and no foot?
2) i wanna make peanut butter ones, would pb fuck up the merange mixture? Google is no help with recipes other than doing a pb filling.


Edit to add since now i read back a bit:
Zohar, I use cream of tarter. It gives the acid without the liquid.

[PAstrychef]

Macrons are tricky. You might have overmixed the first batch. You could try using powered peanut butter in your mix instead of the almond flour. Start with 25% and adjust from there.

[Sungura]

Macrons are tricky. You might have overmixed the first batch. You could try using powered peanut butter in your mix instead of the almond flour. Start with 25% and adjust from there.

But when i remade them after chocolate sucess it still came out the same. Hmm.

Oh well. The taste is fine so maybe i wont fuss about the look.

Thats a great idea to use powered pb! Ill have to get some!

[Thesh]

In the process of cooking chili; it's snowing, so it's a perfect day for it. I used ground beef instead of cubed chuck because it was cheaper, as well as red kidney beans, jalapenos, anaheim peppers, and a paste made from dried guajillo peppers, along with cumin and onion.

[Moo]

Snug, your macarons look great, even the red velvet ones, and look a million times better than either of my two failed attempts.

[Zohar]

Mother-in-law suggested I made some macrons for Thanksgiving but we never got around to it. Maybe we will (the idea is to practice first).

Yesterday I made some cream of corn soup and some brownies. First used a stick blender to puree the soup but ended with a lot of coarse pieces, the corn was pretty fibery. Ended up transferring it to our stand mixer which made very quick work of it. We almost exclusively use it for smoothies but I suppose we should use it for soups now, too!

[Moo]

Made a Peppermint Crisp tart (best way to describe it to non-South-Africans is a caramint cream pie) and a sponge cake with strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream this weekend. The former never fails to delight, despite being embarrassingly easy to make; the latter was a bit so-so despite looking pretty

Spoiler:

[dubsola]

That does look pretty!

Last weekend I made an aubergine, zucchini and capsicum stew, with tomato as the stew base. I spiced it with smoked paprika and Italian herb mix. It turned out pretty great actually. Stews are so easy and so good.

[PAstrychef]

That does look pretty!

Last weekend I made an aubergine, zucchini and capsicum stew, with tomato as the stew base. I spiced it with smoked paprika and Italian herb mix. It turned out pretty great actually. Stews are so easy and so good.

Otherwise known as eggplant, courgette and peppers. Were they hot peppers?

[dubsola]

We actually call it eggplant in Australia, but for some reason I wrote aubergine. And no, it was a red capsicum

[Moo]

I've invented a new recipe, designed to contain those ingredients with the most confusing naming conventions across English speaking countries. The ingredients are:

• Aubergine / Eggplant / Brinjal
• Courgette / Zucchini / Baby Marrow
• Capsicum / Sweet Peppers / Bell Peppers
• Garbanzo beans / Chickpeas
• Dania / Coriander / Cilantro / Chinese Parsley
• Rocket / Arugula
• Swede / Rutabaga / Neeps / WTF if you're South African and unlikely to have ever encoutered these before in your life
• Spring onions / Green Onions / Scallions (or, if not to hand, you may use Shallots)

and, depending on where you're from, you need to either grill/broil it, or you can braai/bbq/grill it.

[Zohar]

Baby marrow??

[Sandry]

Baby marrow??

Oh me yarm, I legit cackled out loud. I already knew marrow was squash so when I saw that I was like, "oh, are those specifically baby ones? Fair enough." It was not until I read your reaction that I realized how that *ought* to have parsed to me on reading it. That is fantastic.

[Moo]

Baby marrow??

Marrow [squash] as baby, not marrow of baby
Language is bad at its job.

[Zohar]

I figured you were using the latter, I've just never heard a squash described like that!

[PAstrychef]

A bistilla, or Moroccan chicken pie, from the freezer. Mom thawed it despite not recognizing the label, thinking it might be a plum cake.
The plum cakes are hidden behind the shelf of ice cream treats mom likes to purchase, then not eat.

[Zohar]

Fresh pasta and mushroom sauce on Friday. The pasta was delicious but the dough was too sticky and now we have a bunch of dried pasta stuck in our rollers. I'm not sure how to clean that properly, but I'll definitely have to use more flour in the future.

Alex made some saffron challah on Friday so I used some of it on Saturday to make an overnight french toast casserole thing. It was delicious.

[freezeblade]

I made challah as well, but of a more standard variety, for the week's sandwiches. I had a bunch of eggs to use up.

[Sandry]

Last night I made butternut mac and cheese with fresh sage from a coworker. After I baked it, my house smelled so good that I almost resented the dish for making things smell so delicious. It was like, "I'm trying to sleep here! Stop distracting me!"

Having it today for lunch is not quite as good as when it was fresh, but still pretty tasty.

[PAstrychef]

Sous vide pork chops. I added some chopped tangerine peel, sesame oil and soy sauce to the bags, which worked out pretty well. They were huge chops, over an inch thick. I let them go for about 3 hours and then seared them in a smoking hot cast iron skillet.
A few days ago I did a chicken noodle broccoli casserole thing that came out well.

[Moo]

Last night I made vanilla cupcakes with a red vanilla buttercream / black chocolate buttercream mixed swirl for my son to take to school today for his birthday. His requested party theme for Saturday is "Spiderman vs Venom". I attempted to pipe white chocolate webs to put on top but they were an utter failure, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Zohar]

I made a veggie lasagna - some spinach, ricotta, tomato sauce, mozzarella. Turned out good, could have used a bit more salt.

[sardia]

Sous vide pork chops. I added some chopped tangerine peel, sesame oil and soy sauce to the bags, which worked out pretty well. They were huge chops, over an inch thick. I let them go for about 3 hours and then seared them in a smoking hot cast iron skillet.
A few days ago I did a chicken noodle broccoli casserole thing that came out well.

Do you have a real immersion circulator or do you use the beer cooler version? I don't have a machine+bag sealer yet. Do you think it's worth it?