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chileheadmike

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    Ratatouille--Cook-Off 42

    in Cooking

    Posted

    This made me think of a time when our kids were young and the Ratatouille movie came out. My daughter was in junior high at the time and invited a couple of her friends over to go to the movie and then a sleepover. One of the kids (Megan) dad is a pretty good cook, we've been friends for a long time. The other girl's (Bailey) mom did not cook at all. I swear this kid grew up on hot pockets. Bailey spent as much time as she could at Megan's and our house. 

    Anyway, after the movie I asked them if they had ever tried ratatouille, none had. I had tomatoes and herbs in the garden but no eggplant or zuchs. We got up early and went to the farmer's market. Kids had a great time and we got all the stuff. At home I make my version, Bailey takes one hesitant bite and says, "I hate everything in this, but this is so good." 

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    Ratatouille--Cook-Off 42

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I'm growing Japanese eggplant for the first time this year. Sooooo, I picked up a zucchini  and then picked a couple of tomatoes from the back yard along with some herbs. Pretty tasty but it saddens me that no one else in the house would even try it. 

    If I were to buy one book on Soul Food, what should I get?

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    7 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

    Toni Tipton-Martin's recent book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook, is certainly one to consider.   Jubilee draws heavily on the vast collection of African American cookbooks that Tipton-Martin shared in The Jemima Code.  The essays that begin each chapter and recipe header notes share her extensive research in a very readable way.  Original recipes from those old cookbooks pop up here and there throughout the book.  It's a pleasure to read and to cook from. 

    My daughter got me this one for my birthday this year, I like it a lot. 

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    Smoking Meat

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I always let the meat come to room temp. Especially ribs. The salt/sugar in the ribs pulls out juices from the meat and helps to form a bark. Also, my short ribs yesterday were brought to room temp and ended up with too much smoke. 

    Smoking Meat

    in Cooking

    Posted

    On 6/30/2020 at 12:37 PM, gfweb said:

     Completely agree.

    Wet wood makes acrid smoke/steam which tastes lousy.

    That the advice to wet the chips persists is testimony to the lack of observation and thought of some of the experts.  But there's a lot of that in cooking, isn't there?

     

    I never use chips. They seem to be a waste of effort as they don't last, especially for long cooks. As for chunks, there was a Kansas City Barbecue forum way back in the early days of the net. Some of the guys experimented and soaked chunks over night then cut them in half to check the water penetration. It couldn't be measured very well and they concluded that it was less than 1/16 of an inch. So that also seems a waste of time and an unnecessary addition to the mess. 

     

    I just barbecued some beef short ribs yesterday. Came out very well. I had six so I did the traditional KC dry rub on three and a Korean type of marinade for the other three. I used hardwood lump charcoal with a couple lumps of cherry. Smoked at 250F for four hours, then wrapped in foil and returned to the smoker for an hour and a half. They were very tender and maybe a little too smokey, next time it's only 1 chunk of cherry. 

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    Dinner 2020

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I just kind of threw it together.

     

    6 Yukon Gold potatoes boiled and sliced thick

    3 hard cooked eggs

    Half a yellow onion thinly sliced

    1 clove garlic smashed and chopped fine

    Sprigs of rosemary and parsley from the garden

    1/4 cup olive oil

    Juice of half a lemon

     

    Cook and slice the eggs and potatoes, season with salt and pepper

    Heat the olive oil over low heat and add garlic and onions. I basically steeped this rather than cook it, very low heat until I could smell the garlic. I then added the herbs and lemon juice. Toss it all together.  I served it warm. 

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