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A variation on Murgh Keema - ground chicken is cooked with eggplants, onions, garlic, chilies, garam masala, tomatoes, parsley and cilantro. In parallel, you sauté some red onion slices, almonds and pomegranate seeds. Everything is mixed and served with rice noodles

Too lazy and in many eastern European shops you can buy pretty good versions

Another soup as we are having a run of cooler rainy weather. Bought pork dumplings with a quickly made broth with Asian flavours… meaning some coriander, fresh ginger, lemon grass paste, soy sauce and chicken stock all simmered for about only half an hour.

@benjamin163 I wonder if you ever tried an unglazed clay pot on a gas stove? I think that this method is pretty forgiving and for my purposes I find it yields excellent results. I have two of these, one small and one medium, I think they’re great and I feel tied to tradition every time I pull one out https://ancientcookware.com/la-chamba-collection/black-clay-la-chamba-rounded-soup-pot-detail edit- sorry, didn’t realize how old this was

More time on my hands these days, so I made dumplings again. With a semi new vegetable for the boys- edible chrysanthemum with a sesame dressing. And a scallion pancake that was the last one in the pack, got to clean out the freezer

Pistachios, again/still. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/basha-foods-brand-raw-shelled-pistachio-kernal-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-pistachios-recalled-due-salmonella-1

Since you told us to ask you how you know this, I'd like to know how you know this....without too much detail.

Skirt, chimmichurri, plaintains, avocado tomato cucumber onion salad

Grabbed a pair of the Misen "nonstick" carbon steel nitrided pans. Wanted something I could abuse more than my falk copper coeur pans. They are really awesome. My griswalds would be sold if it weren't for cornbread. Going to try the misen and compare, but figure I'll still want the cast? Curious how you like the sizes you've chosen of the Chef's presses. It's time for me to order some and I am torn over getting 3 8's and an 18, 3 13's and an 8..... what have you found size wise you like best and what would you do?

Tonight was a baked potato with broccoli, onion and cheddar. Not the best I've had. Broccoli was from frozen, so not the best. But easy and filling. Was not photo worthy.

Chard with chorizo and potatoes (acelgas con chorizo y papa): Brown chorizo, remove, and then saute white onion, garlic, and cubed potato in the rendered fat. Simmer with chard, blended tomato and chipotle, and the browned chorizo, then finish with Mexican oregano and thyme. Mrs. C made a roasted carrot dip with zaatar and pistachios, enjoyed with pita chips

I’m not recommending this method for cooking beans, the warnings above are wise, but am sharing this little tidbit on the length of time it would likely take. This past weekend, I enjoyed a meal at the Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Encuentro at Alta Baja Market in Santa Ana, CA. One of the participating chefs was Tony Esnault of the Michelin star restaurant Knife Pleat (and formerly Church & State and Spring in Los Angeles) who served a dish of RG Buckeye beans, forest mushrooms, allium crumble and fine herbs. It was delicious. When asked how the beans were cooked, he said they were soaked overnight in salted water, then cooked for 24 hrs at 202°. He did NOT specifically say they used sous vide and there are other ways to maintain that temp but it’s in the range where sous vide could work. The texture of the beans was more fudgy than creamy. They were tender, but not soft or mushy at all. Not a revelation, it was the flavors that made the dish special, not the texture of the beans but they contrasted very effectively with the texture of the mushrooms I'm sort of tempted to try it to compare more carefully with conventional cooked beans from the same bag.

echoing what @gfweb has said braise is probably more about the sauce , then the meat on its own. Id suggest always letting the braise cool , and be refrigerated overnight, where hopefully some of that flavor in the sauce re-enters the meat. also , ' tradition ' requires temps that have some bubbling . why not try a lower temp , 170 F ? and thus longer ? traditional cooking techniques , under expert hands , have been tasty for a long long time. but can be adapted , with fairly current knowledge , to yield a better result. and the fat you take off then next day , will not just be beef fat ( currently a Cure-All ) but flavored w other fat soluble flavors. why not use ( some ) of that for a steamed dumpling ?

I think they are quite different but I haven’t been to a Northgate, so I could be wrong. I've always thought Northgate was a supermarket, similar to Vallarta, which has more locations in my area. Alta Baja Market is more of a specialty shop than a supermarket. They carry some food items like heirloom beans, grains and flours, ground chiles, sauces and condiments, along with a selection of wines and spirits but no fresh produce, meat, frozen or refrigerated goods. They have a reach-in cooler stocked with beer and nonalcoholic beverages but it’s not a place you could do your weekly shopping. It’s possible they offer more than I saw as they had tables squeezed into every corner for this event. That said, I think it's worth a visit. Nice selection of La Chamba and other pottery, cookbooks and other books and gift items. I thought their prices for the wines and spirits were on the high side but they are specialty items and not as widely available. I’d like to try their cafe offerings. They host various events like cooking classes that sound appealing. If you go, you might pay a visit to Mr. Diablito, a fruit vendor across the street at 4th & Bush. He made the delicious agua fresca served at our meal.

I have done SV short ribs. I like the old school braise. SV is perfectly nice but not what I think of when I hear braised short ribs. I like the veg and the sauce that results from a braise. Re GF vs GF...I imagine all were grain finished but I don't know

Another BLPT sandwich, this time with C added as well. Another precious slice of my last-of-the-year farmers' market tomatoes gone. Another 2 slices of my oven-baked bacon, gone. By the time the bacon had been heated adequately atop the dressed bread and the cheese, the cheese had melted more than I'd have preferred. That was all right, though: I just let it cool slightly to solidify, and then I could pick up the whole thing. Messy. Juicy. Delicious. Filling.

@Victual Vignettes, I think you can seecfrom the posts above that there are many, many seasoning and flavor methods in a standard braise... and I suspect that @rotuts has the right of it: grass-fed beef will behave differently than grain-finished beef. Let us know more about what you've done in the past, and maybe post some photos of the beef you're working with now.

@gfweb have you made GF short ribs ? vs grain finished ? @AlaMoi ditto above ? good tips here , my guess is that w a braise , independent of ' cut ' , there is going to be a big difference in results using the exact same cooking method , GF vs Grain finished .

the usual seasonings are semi-consistent across recipes - as for 'too thin' one approach I've used is start with a roux, cook it to dark, use that as a base, adding beef stock as needed to adjust consistency to your liking. for wine I like Marsala - has a nice flavor twist. another very successful trick: make it, cool, chill overnight in the fridge, reheat&serve next day. (the baby potatoes below were boiled and added on service second day....)

Saturday, sticky chicken wings with broccoli, rice, and cream cheese wontons Sunday I did not feel like cooking a big dinner so we just had sandwiches. Everyone made what they wanted. I only took a picture of mine, which was a mushroom cheesesteak. Husband had a burger, sister had a caprese, and niece just ate leftovers from Saturday before heading to skating practice. Last night, rigatoni with spicy turkey meatballs

I use a pyrex dish and add a cup of red wine, 1 tbsp tomato paste, two tbsp soy, an onion in wedges and a carrot sliced (don't omit the carrot, it matters). Th liquid should come halfway up the meat. Add water as needed. Cover with foil and bake at 250 or 300 for 3 hours. Although I use lots of SV, the product is different than the braised beef and I like braised here.

@Victual Vignettes what were your SR's like before ? what type of meat did you use ? I would think that true grass fed beef presents difficulties w braising : it's leaner , and tougher than grain finished beef. All braises end up w meat , while tender , when tasted alone w/o the resulting sauce , can be dry and stringy if over cooked. its the nature of meat fibers contracting , making the sauce. start w a flavorful beef stock . if using wine , consider a dry-er version , as the sugars will concentrate as the wine evaporates. but you might want that sweetness. and let the braise cool , and use the nexxt day if you can . some of the stock re equilibrates w the meat. over all , I think you meat is too lean , and possibly over cooked. @Smithy has good refereces , above. P.S.: Ive only cooked GFB a couple of times , sirloin-ish cuts. I use SV as the method , @ 130 F specifically to minimize muscle contraction , and timed for tenderness. this got me flavorful tender meat . not sure if this helps.

Panko Bread eggplant parm/ meatball patty center/ eggplant bottom/ garden sauce--has a middle layer of hot chili paste--Asiago and Provel cheese ( St, Louis thing )

Scrambled eggs with broccolini, white onion, and roasted chile Poblano, finished with thyme, Mexican oregano, and crumbled feta. Still using up produce that I purchased before being away for a few days. This batch of chile Poblano had good flavor and a little heat so I did not use any jalapenos. 🙂

Duke's mayo is $4.20 for 48 oz at Amazon. No indication how long it'll be on sale.