All Activity

I shall never again attempt to cook food in my kitchen. Last night I was smoking a chicken breast in my GE smoker, grilling arepas on my Paragon, and running the Anova oven. Of a sudden it got dark and quiet.

Green Fettuccine with Chorizo Verde from Anything’s Pastable by Pashman - interesting and tasty approach of instead buying chorizo verde you kind of deconstruct the flavors and components in the ground pork and sauce. The sauce is made by pureeing a mix of roasted poblanos, roasted jalapeno, roasted garlic, roasted tomatillos, scallions, cilantro, Mexican crema and chicken broth. The meat is done by mixing ground pork, some of the roasted poblanos and jalapenos, lime zest, cumin, coriander, oregano and garlic powder. After searing the meat, you cook it with the sauce, add the fettuccine and some lime juice. Served with some cotija cheese

I am aware that this is possibly not the prettiest thing you’ve seen on a plate, but what it lacks in artistic presentation it makes up for in the performance. It is bleedin’ delicious. I don’t know what you’d call but the locals call it 川香无骨鸡柳卷饼 (chuān xiāng wú gǔ jī liǔ juǎn bǐng), meaning Sichuan flavour boneless chicken rolls. I call it a wrap. Chicken (I ordered extra) and various vegetables and tofu strips in a spicy Sichuan sauce. Very filling, lazy meal.

I am in mourning. Minor mourning. Not all-out grief. About once a year at most, I take a notion for pizza. As you know my choices are limited, but there in one place very near me that did one reasonable example of something a passing Italian might recognise. This is a black truffle and Parma ham pizza. The truffles are Chinese, so worthless, but the ham seems real and the base and cheese reasonable. The pizza comes with rocket / arugula for you to apply yourself. Of course the real deal looks little like the image they use in their delivery listing. I wasn’t particularly looking to but one a few days ago, but was idly going through the delivery app, when I noticed something odd. This is their online listing. That black bar at the bottom means the store is closed. This was prime time Friday evening. Most odd. Since then I have checked it every day and it’s still closed, suggesting it’s gone for good. Damn!

From the ridiculous to the sublime. My favourite mooncakes. 冰皮榴莲月饼 (bīng pí liú lián yuè bǐng), literally ice skin durian fruit cakes. These are the only ones I’d lay out my own ill-gotten gains to acquire.

Macaroni aspires to be cavatappi

Stiri-fried chicken with basil (gai kaphrao): Stir-fry smashed garlic, then add ground chicken, sliced onion, sliced Chinese broccoli, and bird chiles. When chicken is nearly done add fish sauce, black soy sauce, and sugar and stir-fry until liquid is gone. Finish with Thai basil and a fried egg. Jasmine rice to go with. Quick table sauce of sliced bird chiles and garlic mixed with fish sauce, rice vinegar, and a little sugar. Edit: Trying to get my spicy food fix while Mrs. C is traveling. 🙂

I will never again put a smoked pork shoulder in the slow cooker in the afternoon intending to have some for dinner, ask John to carve it up come said dinner time, only to find I'd forgotten to plug it in.

I was going to make these chicken thighs with a garllic and lime butter sauce, but I opened the package as I was getting ready to make it, I discovered that I was given boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead so I had to change plans. Both recipes are together on my blog. This one needed a crispy skin and we had it with baby bok choy, snow peas and rice. The other one was sauteed with wine and vegetables.

Save the water that comes out of the salted tomatoes, it's a nice little kick to a stock.

Love puttanesca and have put it on chicken and fish as well as pasta. I like the addition of zucchini and the chickpeas are a great idea for a veg version - thanks!

Pasta with charred grape tomatoes, baby spinach, and crispy shallots, topped with goat cheese. My "sauce" is 1/2 cup each of white wine and chicken broth, reduced to almost nothing before adding the rest of the ingredients.

That's what I'm calling it now, too. And those Sasso birds look incredible. Mmmm.

Cavatappi with a puttanesca-ish sauce with zucchini, cherry tomatoes and arugula. Meant to cook some chickpeas for this but forgot. I’ll add them to the leftovers.

The article I cited was published in 2009 but pet foods and animal feeds produced in the US and other countries were being recalled due to melamine-adulterated ingredients imported from China in early 2007 and melamine in chicken feed was very much in the news at the time @budrichard posted his comment in this topic. Melamine contaminant found in chicken feed US says some chicken feed tainted Tainted poultry has entered food supply So I agree with your conclusion that it’s possibly related to his comment!

Why thank you, Dd. Think of it as a savory porridge made with rice instead of oats - proteins and veg garnish instead of berries. A thousand year-old recipe that put to use a leftover staple, the toppings make it a meal. Cheers, John

Possible. That was an incident happened around 2009. It seems to me that China today is a very different country. China is a different country every 5 years. dcarch

I really want to compliment you because it looks great, but I've never been able to get over the texture of congee (and the first time I tried it, it was full of the demon herb coriander, which probably didn't help) That looks lovely though.

Given the date, I suspect @budrichard was referring to the “Melamine Incident” where both food products, particularly dairy products, and animal feeds exported from China to countries around the world were found to be adulterated with melamine, apparently in an attempt to appear higher in protein.

Leftover rib meat from neighborhood butcher's bbq on Sunday went on some congee I whipped up using poaching liquid from a recent Hainanese chicken rice escapade. Topped with scallions and Hainanese chicken side sauces, ginger/garlic oil, palm sugar dark soy, and thai chiliin lime juice.

I roasted garlic cloves, sauteed white onion, and split them evenly between the following: Shrimp and chorizo in a chipotle cream sauce with tomato paste and cumin Roasted chile Poblano rajas in an herbed cream sauce (thyme, Mexican oregano, bay leaf) In corn tortillas with crumbled feta cheese. Very satisfying. The funny thing is - my original intent was to make eggs. I supposed it is good to be flexible.

Not sure where you got your information from. US export chickens to China, not the other way around. Here in NYC you can get true free range (not cage-free) chickens in Chinatown. Chinese famous "White cook chicken" requires free-range chickens. dcarch

Of course, BD. Carbon steel and its variants are definitely out now following a few days of "I'm only going to use the SS DO and see what happens". It's almost perfect, works well for my current cooking style, keeps foods contained, deglaze anything stuck without worry, no need to season, etc. Here it is, it's actually 6Q, not 8Q like I thought. Several years ago, a coworker remodeled his kitchen and gave me his wolf cookware set (I thought I posted about it here but I can't find the topic, oh well - I gave a family member most of the pieces since I didn't have room for it at the time and I kept the 2qt saucier and this DO). The DO is still a bit large for making 1-2 portion soups, which is what I'm going to focus on for now. I've borrowed a family member's old "Williams & Sonoma Hestan Essentials Pan" to test shape and size later this week.. it's 5QT, not nanobond, and has that saucier style rounded bottom. I really like the shape but it is large and quite heavy, so will go look at 3 and 4 qt rounded-bottom pots to see which size I would prefer. I'm keeping an eye on all-clad second hand store as well.

You didn’t ask me but I follow the Zuni Cafe Cookbook recipe which uses ~3/4 teaspoon sea salt/pound of chicken. It goes in the fridge, loosely covered for 24 hrs-3 days. Before roasting, it’s blotted dry, but not rinsed. The upper surfaces are usually nice and dry (as is the goal) but there’s often some moisture underneath and inside that needs to be blotted off.

@weinoo, sorry to have a sieve for a brain, but I don't remember what you said - I put rather a lot of salt on the chicken I've dry brined. I'm thinking I should wash it off before cooking. Right?