patrickamory

Marriage of techniques from two people who didn't much care for one another. I made the ground beef for the hamburger by chopping hand-cubed choice chuck, Richard Olney-style (from the Beef & Veal volume of The Good Cook series). You "hash" it rapidly with two knives, rolling it up and continuing until it's thoroughly minced. It's a very different style from any kind of ground beef that I've had - much more unctuous and soft in the mouth. Then I cooked them according to a James Beard recipe from Beard on Food. I ate two of these. I am not going to live long if I continue eating like this. Spread the ground beef on a board. Grate half an onion into it, grind a generous amount of fresh pepper, and add a tablespoon of heavy cream. Mix completely with your hands (this is the opposite of the orthodox technique for making burgers), and shape into 6-oz ball-like patties. Put a mixture of butter and olive oil in a cast-iron pan over high heat and add the burger when hot; season each side with salt and pepper, cooking 4-5 minutes a side for a very rare interior (which will not, however, be pink - the cream sees to that). You want a good crust on the outside. Serve on buttered English muffins. Beard recommends no condiments, a rule I've usually observed (guests don't like it). He writes: "Salt this creamy, oniony, peppery hamburger before serving it on a buttered bun or English muffin." The intensity of the grated (practically juiced) onion, and the creaminess of the cream, is intense. This time I added some French's yellow mustard to the second one, and it was a good combination. Pretty much absolute heaven.

If you have really good quality tuna, including belly, then I'd use the simpler Marcella Hazan recipe. All the other ingredients must be of the best quality too - the olive oil, tomatoes and butter. 4 tbs olive oil 1/2 tsp garlic chopped very fine 1 1/2 cups tomatoes (I use the Danicoop San Marzanos, if you have fresh where you are, even better) 12 oz. tuna packed in olive oil salt fresh ground black pepper 1 tbs butter 1 lb dry pasta 3 tbs fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley I squeeze all the juice out of the tomatoes and remove, and crush the tomatoes in my hands. Saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until it turns pale gold, add the tomatoes, stir to coat well, and simmer till the oil floats free from the tomatoes. Drain the tuna, crumble it and add it, mixing thoroughly. Taste and add salt if necessary, along with freshly ground pepper, and the tbs of butter. Toss with the cooked drained pasta. Marcella recommends penne or rigatoni, but I find this goes well with just about anything. [edit: the chopped parsley goes on the tossed pasta as a garnish before going to the table. there is no cheese on this pasta.]

Back to chili on this seasonal day. Recipe is similar to the one above, but I'm taking slkinsey's advice and making paste rather than powder. Proportions are different for the consituent chiles too: 50% ancho 50% pasilla 30% guajillo 20% cascabel I dry-roasted them for a few minutes over high heat, shaking constantly, and the aromas were intoxicating, especially from the anchos. Then de-seeded and de-pithed them, poured boiling water over them, and let them soak for 30 minutes. Drained and put in the blender, adding the reserved soaking water until I had something that looked like this: The beef is a mixture of chuck and blade this time, some hand-chopped Olney-style, some near-frozen and the pulsed briefly in the Cuisinart, and some chopped into 1/8" cubes. The rest is identical to the recipe above, except that I'm reserving the tomatoes this time - I opened a can, smelled the mixture coming to a simmer, and decided to wait. This one may be more pure Texan red. No bacon or pork fat btw - the only fats in this are some rendered beef fat (cut off the chuck) and butter! More as it develops (it will finish tomorrow).

I just got a whole country ham from Benton's - aged 11 months. It smells incredible. David Chang in the Momofuku Cookbook recommends simply slicing ultra-thin like prosciutto and not bothering with any soaking, boiling or other cooking. Thoughts on this approach? It does seem like it would end up lasting months - once the raw ham has been cut, is it okay to simply return it to the fridge until the next time?

Odd. I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. While Europe and other countries do run at 220v, Japan's standard is 100v. My Japanese appliances, from a Stax electrostatic headphone amp to the Iwatani Millser, run just fine at 110v. Given +/- 10% voltage variations in many American homes anyway, the 10v is unlikely to make much difference. Very cheap converters are available from Japan if you want to be extra-careful and make sure not to overstress the machine (nowhere near as huge as the big step-down transformers needed to make American single-voltage appliances run in Europe). But I don't bother - just plug it right into the wall. Never had a problem.

Incredibly timely - I was just about to post on this topic. I think this youtube video has been posted here before, showing tortilla making in Oaxaca: I just got some hominy from Rancho Gordo and was thinking I could make fresh masa for tortillas in my Ultra Pride wet grinder. I think Chris Amirault mentioned he was going to try that at one point - Chris, if you're reading this, did you? Based on the video above, the hominy is soaked in water or perhaps just wetted, then ground, then kneaded and finally pressed? andie, I'm presuming that the only difference between masa for tortillas and masa for tamales is that the latter has manteca added to it- right? or?

Another nomination for NYC: Il Buco

And, sort of the polar opposite to my last post - I woke up not feeling great, and I have to take a transatlantic flight tomorrow at 5 AM. So I needed something restorative and something that would use up perishables in the fridge. I came up with this chicken-vegetable soup. The thing that looks like an orange is actually a Rangpur lime: It started from a combination of vegetable stock and brown-roasted chicken stock (I had about a cup of the latter in my fridge). For the vegetable stock, I chopped half a cabbage, a whole onion, a carrot, and 6 cloves of garlic and fried them in olive oil over high heat with a couple bay leaves and some Mexican oregano for 5 minutes or a bit longer - till they were reduced and smelling good. Added about a quart and a cup of cold water and a teaspoon of salt, brought to a boil, simmered for 30 minutes and strained. Dropped my lump of frozen chicken stock in it along with two peeled red wax potatoes cut into bite-size chunks. Meanwhile I chopped the rest of the cabbage, 4 more carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, half a large onion, and about a pound of Murray's chicken breasts I had in the freezer. I also minced one green Thai bird chile. Warmed a mixture of 1 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter over med heat with the minced chile and 1/2 tsp salt, then added the onion, sauteed until translucent, added the garlic, continued sauteeing for another 2 minutes, added the stock, carrots, cabbage and chicken, brought to a simmer, and cooked until the chicken was done and the carrots and potatoes just tender - maybe another 10 minutes max. Garnished with coriander leaves and the rangpur lime - the latter should be squeezed in and stirred in well, the perfume is _very_ strong. And fresh pepper ground on top as well. And some extra Maldon sea salt.

We celebrated Chinese New Year with another try at red-braised pork.

Had a go at Jun's chicken arroz pollo.

Finally getting back to Thai food. Pad prik king from David Thompson, here with shell steak instead of pork.

I had a raw Maine shrimp special at ABC Kitchen in New York last night that just blew me away. Silky-soft, sweet and delicious.

I too was disappointed in the second issue. It might just be that I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and sweets were one of the focuses of the issue.

You might want to try Kurumazushi. Locals take it for granted now but it's fantastic. You have to sit at the bar, and I'd recommend ordering omokase. I think Yasuda is overrated, though it wins on design points.

I make my own chili powder each time - a mixture of various dried chiles (mostly from Kalustyan's, funnily enough), which I vary each time. My most recent proportion has been half pasillas for the smokiness, plus equal amounts dried cascabels, anchos and new mexico (which I assume are dried anaheims). I toast them in a skillet to make them as dry as possible, dismember them and discard seeds, pith etc., and then carefully grind them into powder. I crumble whole pequins into the chili to taste as it cooks. I've always assumed that the "rasp" of Texas red is due to the dried chiles. I never use preprepared chili powders! Agreed on the mild base. I may try your paste concept and see how it compares. I guess I always thought powder was more "cowboy," which is my platonic ideal for chili. But I have no idea whether that's historically accurate.

Ugh, everyone else's photos are so much more colorful than mine This is a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for kheema with ground beef and peas.

dcarch - thanks!! working on those food photography tips from the other thread! keep the constructive criticism coming

Jesus, that is a serious list of fixings. Mine were: - sliced fresh jalapeno - coarsely chopped white onion - sour cream - fresh lime wedges <-- always a fantastic addition - sweet pickles - sour pickles - Anasazi beans - soaked overnight, boiled & simmered with aromtics - an assortment of about 6 hot sauces I almost always serve chili with white rice. Though saltines and white bread slices have been known to make an appearance. I've served with avocado slices in season. But never cheese.

1 cup per pound! That is serious. Do you have any idea what the paste to powder ratio is - i.e. if your pastes were dry, how much chili powder would be in them? 3 tbs? 4 tbs? More? I didn't get the dry grainy texture - though I have in the past. It's about keeping an eye on the simmer and the liquid level, and it's always a bit of a game.

Final chili. 3 hours yesterday, then fridge, and about another 3 hours today (had to re-add water twice). I did a final layering of chili powder about 20 minutes before the end. Also succumbed and added about a teaspoon of red miso paste. A bit more Mexican oregano and a bit more semi-sharp paprika, and that was it. Really happy. One of the best chilis I've ever made, and one of the simplest. 1 lb ground beef 1 lb ribeye, cut into 1/2" dice 3/4 large yellow onion, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 1/2 tbs butter 3 tbs chili powder, made from dried toasted ground pasillas, anchos, cascabel, new mexico (in proportion: 50/25/25/25%) 1 tbs salt or to taste freshly ground black pepper 1 tbs Mexican oregano, or to taste 3/4 tbs roasted ground cumin 2 tsp Hungarian semi-sharp paprika, or to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste several pequin chiles crumbled in, or to taste 2/3 can Danicoop tomatoes, drained of juice and hand-squeezed 1 1/2 jalapeno, roughly chopped Sear meat in batches in red-hot cast-iron skillet. I didn't use any fat. Remove meat out into bowl, scraping bottom of pan as necessary to remove bits. Melt butter in skillet, reduce heat to medium, and fry onion for 7-8 mins or until soft, stirring constantly. Add garlic and fry for another 2 mins. Raise heat to high. Add meat back into pan, along with 1 tbs chili powder, salt, oregano, cumin, 1 tsp paprika, pequins to taste, freshly ground black pepper, and enough water to cover. Bring to boil, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom. Decant contents of pan into a Dutch oven. Add tomatoes and jalapeno. Bring to a boil again, stir, reduce to a bare simmer, and cook for 3 hours, stirring and tasting occasionally. Towards the end of the 3 hours, add 1 tbs more of chili powder or to taste. Remove from heat, allow to cool, cover and refrigerate. The next day, remove from fridge, allow to come to room temperature, then heat with 1/2-1 cup of water as needed. Simmer gently for up to 3 hours more. One hour from end of cooking, add red miso paste and final 1 tbs of chili powder, along with last tsp of paprika, and more Mexican oregano as needed. At the end, adjust salt carefully if necessary, along with black pepper. Allow to cool somewhat and serve a little bit above room temperature with white rice, beans on the side (I used anasazi beans), plus fixings of your choice.

And here's what it's looking like right now - 3 more hours to go. Already tasting just about perfect - the flavors can mellow just a bit, but it's got wonderful sweet smoky depth, with just enough rasp. [edit: whoops! wrong thread. this was supposed to go in the chili cook-off. oh well, it WILL be what's for dinner, so I'll just leave it here.]

Day 2. (I hope it's okay to keep contributing to these old cook-off threads.) Towards the end of the three hours yesterday I added a second layer of my own chili powder - about 3/4 tbs. Chili taken out of fridge, brought to room temperature, some water added, brought to a boil and now simmering. Trying to hold myself back from adding in red miso paste and/or Oregano Indio.

I made pan-crisped chicken thighs from the unfortunately named "Bitches On A Budget" site It came out great except I used too much vermouth in the deglaze. Served with wild rice and brussels sprouts.

This has crossed my mind!

I've decided to embark on a simpler chili. I started off purist, making real Texas red, grinding my own dried chiles for powder, and adding little else besides beef, suet, onion, garlic, salt and some roasted cumin. And water. "Meat, fat and fire." Recently I've gone down the road many of us have, adding everything from Marmite to anchovies to chocolate to tomatoes to beer to coffee, an assortment of other umami-heavy ingredients for depth, plus stocks and all the rest of it. Tonight I'm dispensing with almost all the extra ingredients. I had a pound of ribeye and and a pound of ground beef. I browned them in a cast-iron pan over high heat with no added fat - tons of crispy burnt ends. Then added some butter (no suet in the house alas) and browned onions and garlic. Put the beef back in, turned up the heat, covered with water and brought to a boil along with my homemade chili powder (half pasillas, half equal amounts ancho, cascabel and New Mexico), some crumbled pequins, salt, and some toasted ground cumin. Brought to a boil, scraped up the fond, then decanted into a Le Creuset and added approximately half a can of Danicoop tomatoes, drained and squeezed by hand, plus 1 1/2 chopped fresh jalapeno, ground fresh pepper and a sprinkle of semi-sharp Hungarian paprika. It will now simmer for three hours before going into the fridge. Reading this thread has tempted me to add tons of extra ingredients but I shall hold out for (relative) simplicity!