What Are You Chef-ing Tonight, Dr?

GrateEggspectations

Botch said:

For a couple years now I've been trying to find a reliable way to make mexican rice in a rice cooker.  Nothing's really worked, either the tomato portion rises just to the top, or scorches on the bottom, or the rice isn't right.  
Then saw this at the mexican market, and the wheels started turning:
 

 
I tried it out today, made a single serving of  rice:
 

 
(Ignore the fact that I made mexican rice with a chinese stir-fry, I was anxious to try it out).  Not... bad, but not very tasty either.  I thought about trying double the amount next time, but looked at the label and the first two ingredients were salt and MSG, and a single serving was 37% (!) of the USDA-recommended daily salt intake.  
Read thru the rest of the ingredients (citric acid, tomato powder, chicken fat (?), and then a bunch of things I can't pronounce).  Off to amazoid now to see if they sell tomato powder in less than a 5-gal bucket.  

A very nice international plate, right there. 

I am likely of no tangible help with the Mexican rice, but my remedy for flavourless rice is Better Than Bouillon in the water. Just the right amount of flavour and salt, IMO. Could you not use the chicken version as your base and doctor it up?

caliking

@Botch - how wedded to the rice cooker are you? I'm almost certain you could easily figure this out on the stove. 

The problem with most rice cookers is that the cooking vessel is inferior to pots that most of us would use on the stove. The Instant Pot has a tri-ply pot, but the problem is that you can't stir the contents as the heating element kicks in and out. 

We tend to make arroz verde, and it usually ends up uniformly greenish, thanks to pureed cilantro in the mix. I have some thoughts about the tomato mix rising to the top,  but not sure how to articulate them. Feel free to PM. I'd love to figure out the geeky details of this. 

Grogu

A little beer can chick (gizzards are in the butcher paper pouch)

danhoo

Apologies, I've been slacking on picture taking for a while. I had a slab of St Louis ribs in the freezer. Made for a good weeknight cook



Mac n cheese

Wooderson

Grogu said:

A little beer can chick (gizzards are in the butcher paper pouch)

Alright...... love me some gizzards. How do they turn out?  

Acn

Mapo tofu

Grogu

@Wooderson they were for my wife. She usually has me boil them for her. This was a random experiment. According to her they had potential, but they were overcooked. I put them on at the same time as the chicken and let them run alongside, clearly too long.

caliking

@Acn ... the mapo tofu looks righteous!

caliking

danhoo said:

Apologies, I've been slacking on picture taking for a while. I had a slab of St Louis ribs in the freezer. Made for a good weeknight cook

 ...

Mac n cheese





 ...

Wonderful spread, but I can't stop looking at the mac. 

(We have the exact same tablemats, btw.)

Acn

caliking said:

@Acn ... the mapo tofu looks righteous!

Thank you!

caliking

British-style scones. Subbed some while wheat flour for part of the APF, and I dare say that I may prefer this version over biscuits. Nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Made for an excellent, simple breakfast with butter and preserves. 

bbracey21

Smash burgers on the blackstone. Haven’t had this thing but for about a month but so far I’m really digging it. 

Acn

Brats and greens

CPFC1905

caliking said:

British-style scones. Subbed some while wheat flour for part of the APF, and I dare say that I may prefer this version over biscuits. Nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Made for an excellent, simple breakfast with butter and preserves. 

Looking great Mr C.
You have potentially opened a significant rabbit hole, a recent survey established that us Brits spend 82% of every day hotly debating whether;
- it's scone (as in scon) or scone (as in sc-own)
- it's cream first then jam (the Devon method), or jam then cream (Cornwall) For jam read fruit preserve. 

The remaining 18% was split between moaning about the weather and making up fictitious survey results for forums.

In any case, scones are staple of 'my first cooking' experiences whether at home or in school.  Well it was in the early 80's but we have the internet now to occupy children and consolidate dysfunction about the household, which used to take patience and cunning. 

I have never had them for breakfast, you crazy cat with your distain for baseless orthodoxy.   

My rules are;
- plain should be freshly baked. No butter or cream for me, just jam.
- fruit, my preference, taken fresh with many cups o'tea. 
- cheese,  yes folks - they are a thing.  As per plain but with handfuls of cheddar. A bit like crossing the beams for me, though.

Adjacent to fruit scones, I nudge you towards rock cakes; https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rock_cakes_03094

Canugghead

Rock cakes brings back memories of my days side hustling in a bakery eons ago when I was a student... throwing fresh cream cakes at each other...how the mastercaker unclogged the jammed nozzle tip when decorating fancy wedding cakes, ewww!

caliking

With some nudging from @Canugghead , made Hakka red noodles (sort of) yesterday. 

The sweet soy sauce (kinda like Indonesian kecap manis). Added some ginger and orange peel after the pic. 



mixed up with Momofuku noodles

made for a simple, tasty lunch

caliking

@CPFC1905 thank you for the expert input. The American take on scones is middling, at best. 

I became aware of the contention stirred up by  jam first vs. cream first. Didn’t have time to plan for making clotted cream, so had to settle for butter + mango and apricot preserves. Yesterday was butter first, today was jam first. Jam first wins

Canugghead

caliking said:

With some nudging from @Canugghead , made Hakka red noodles (sort of) yesterday. 

The sweet soy sauce (kinda like Indonesian kecap manis). Added some ginger and orange peel after the pic. 



mixed up with Momofuku noodles

made for a simple, tasty lunch

man o man I knew you would kill it, stealing back your way improved version 

Acn

Acn

Acn said:

And then plated, with Japanese BBQ sauce, farro salad, and chopped salad.

Acn

Noodles with gochujang skirt steak and kimchi.

shtgunal3

Bacon. Both belly and jowl varieties. BLT’s for dinner.

GrateEggspectations

Wife wanted something light, but flavourful and satisfying. Salad with halloumi, roasted pine nuts and a lime sriracha dressing. Dressing recipe was exceptional; doctored a little. Topped with fried, chopped Montreal smoked meat, for good measure. Hit the spot many times over for both of us. 

lousubcap

@GrateEggspectations - that is a beautiful plate, too healthy for me and a great salad, especially for a Monday!

I'm trying to win a Finex in various offerings as I am too old to justify the one-off $$. 

GrateEggspectations

Kids’ meal. Pan seared salmon and a pasta with veggies and a spicy rose sauce. Had some unexpected (junior) guests. All kids asked for more.

caliking

Nice @GrateEggspectations! I'll bet the little guests will want to come back to your place often. 

Was someone vegetarian? Who ate the big salad in the middle?

Acn

Yesterday made chicken salad for lunch; leftover spatchcock chicken and red cabbage, dressing had mayo, miso, rice vinegar, and sriracha.

Then a dinner of Peruvian-ish pork chop, red beans w/chorizo, and grilled sweet onion.

Acn

Can barely call it chefing tonight.  Store grilled shrimp and bagged salad; I only did the hoisin-ginger noodles, and that primarily consisted of whisking some stuff together while I cooked some udon noodles.

Needed to be simple because SWMBO sand SWMBO Jr come home from NC tomorrow and the house needs to look like I don’t revert to my 25 year old self when they’re gone.

Legume

Salmon marinated in yogurt, lemon and Calabrian pepper paste with roasted broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes.  Oven broiled, big rain today.

Legume

Forgot to mention, this was fresh copper river sockeye from Costco - it doesn't last long, but so good.