Ever had that unexpected success in the kitchen

[Chris Cognac]

Dont you just love it when everything comes together "better" than planned. I had one of those nights tonight. I made my first attempt at a paella for dinner tonight. I did 2 versions, spicy and not spicy. man everythint came out so well. I just love that feeling you get when it all comes together so perfectly, and when we have company (like tonight) its all the better...Plus, i cooked with 2 buck chuck and am on bottle #2.5..but I didnt drink it all, just most of it....man what a great night...and to top it off, I am going to the Iron Chef taping on weds (sorry Tony B)...man what a week...now I only have to wait for something to come and crush my good feelings!

So what was you latest dish that gave you that great feeling of success?

Man: bad spelling, to much "2 buck chuck" to care...oh well

Edited March 1, 2004 by Chris Cognac (log)

[Pickles]

How's that 2Buck? Glad your dinner came out well, too.

[Suzanne F]

Oh, YEAH! Did a 5-pound semi-boneless leg of lamb tonight -- coated with white miso/mustard/garlic/rosemary. 1 1/4 hours at 350F, and the instant reads said WAAAAAAAAAAY overdone (as much as 175 in some places) But when I sliced it, it was PERFECT: still nice and rare at the ends, very rare in the middle so the leftovers will reheat perfectly.

WOOHOO! I LOVE TO COOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris, just bask in this splendor all week!

[fifi]

I recall that braised corned beef that I did for New Year's day. All I could get was a flat so I decided to braise it instead of trying the col klink smoking routine. I had this mad impulse to coat it with crab boil seasonings. It was a triumph. The nephew nearly fell over. I was doing a happy dance for two days. I have had to repeat the performance.

[Dana]

One of the best successes I had was last summer. We had rented a beach house and both my siblings and their families along with my mom were there. (I rarely cook for that many people) My hubby was in charge of the grilled cornish hens that I had marinated in lemon and garlic. I made a risotto, sauteed cherry tomatoes, bruschetta and a tirimisu. Everything turned out great, and everybody thought I was a genius. The best part, to me, are the complements, and requests for recipes and methods. Those are the highest forms of flattery.

[purplewiz]

I love it when a meal comes together .

My most recent success was at our Christmas dinner, which was held on the 21st due to some scheduling difficulties (LONG story!). I was cooking a standing rib roast, which I'd never done before. I researched cooking methods, ended up deciding to do it high heat first, lower later, and decided to rely on my trusty probe thermometer. What made it all nerve wracking is that in addition to the in laws, I was cooking for my ex brother in law (another long story), who is a former restaurant cook. He knows food.

The roast turned out perfectly, the roasted potatoes along side were delicious, and the red wine pan sauce came together perfectly. Judging from the reactions of the guests, or rather, the clean plates left behind, it tasted good, too. And they kept asking what I'd done to the roast to make it taste so good!

Marcia.

[bleudauvergne]

Don't you just love that? Especially for guests, and espcially the unexpected moments of glory, so much more pleasure from it, I mean if you really are determined to get it just right and it comes out well, ok. But it's always much better when things just - meld.

Many of my unexpected successes have come from fish. Fillets of wild sea bass that I marinated with slices of grapefruit and evoo on a whim come to mind. I put them skin side down in a hot skillet with clarified butter, dusted with my creole spice mix, and then slid the whole thing under the flames of the broiler for another couple of minutes. That and a hollandais that miraculously whipped into shape while they were under the flames without curdling or taking too long, as if I was doing that every night. It made me really happy to hear the conversation at the table turn to how it's sometimes much better to eat at home with the best and freshest ingredients instead of going out. (Especially coming from a group of our dining-out crowd).

Then there was yesterday's hake, which I braised in a cremant de bourgogne brut (a sparkling wine like champagne) with shallots and thyme - delish! We didn't have any guests but it was wonderful anyway... It was one of those fabulous - "I could serve this" - moments.

Unfortunately whenever my mother in law comes over I always manage to flub something up.

-Lucy

Edited March 1, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[Katherine]

There was that time I decided to steam my regular brownie recipe in a springform pan, just to see what happened. It came out like a really dense and rich chocolate cake. I mentioned it to my daughter, who was unenthusiastic. Regardless, I served it to her and her boyfriend that weekend anyway, warmed slightly, with whipped cream and barely defrosted homegrown raspberries. They were taking tiny bites, moaning, and saying, ...This is good....

[Gale]

2 years ago - Easter dinner. Lamb T-bones, spinach/potato gratin, and a truly fantastic lemon cake - genoise, lemon curd, lemon butter cream. Everything came out absolutely perfect, couldn't have been better.

Last year - Easter - I purchased the ham from H**L. Le sigh.

I love it when meals come together. There have been other occasions and I cherish each one.

I love the sound of those steamed brownies - moaning in pleasure is always good.

[Chris Cognac]

I used a Sauvingion Blanc (spelling) to deglaze the pans after I had braised the chicken pieces and sausage chunks. I also made a cilantro chicken stock that I used to add to the pan and it soaked up really well, flavoring the arborio rice nicely.

There is not too much that can compare to that feeling you get when it all comes together. I try to explain it to my non cooking friends, but they ust dont get it..oh well, as long as they coome over to eat!

By the way, I like 2 buck chuck, its great to cook with and is only...well, 2 bucks.

[sabg]

I used a Sauvingion Blanc (spelling) to deglaze the pans after I had braised the chicken pieces and sausage chunks. I also made a cilantro chicken stock that I used to add to the pan and it soaked up really well, flavoring the arborio rice nicely.

There is not too much that can compare to that feeling you get when it all comes together. I try to explain it to my non cooking friends, but they ust dont get it..oh well, as long as they coome over to eat!

By the way, I like 2 buck chuck, its great to cook with and is only...well, 2 bucks.

is 2 buck chuck cheap beef??

[sequim]

is 2 buck chuck cheap beef??

No, Trader Joe's cheapo wine! Or maybe you were making a joke???

[jglazer75]

Dont you just love it when everything comes together "better" than planned.

I'm fairly amazed anytime ANYTHING comes out OK. I'm generally an incompetent in most areas of life, but I like to pretend that I'm a decent cook - you know capable of producing something at LEAST as good as I can get at McDonald's. When I make something better than what I can get at TGIFriday's I'm ecstatic.

Most recently I made a fine Cornish Hen. I have only one comment about that experience: do not make small game fowl for someone with one broken arm.

[zora]

I love when I can make something out of a seemingly empty refrigerator--but these are almost always solo meals, so I rarely get to show them off. Recently made an omelette with ajvar (hungarian red pepper spread) and cream cheese, and some caraway seeds. Who knew there wasn't a fresh vegetable anywhere in the house?

One great coup I did get to share: a completely extamporaneous lamb curry, based only on odd scraps in fridge and culled knowledge from a former Indian roommate. I felt like I'd finally internalized all the Indian cookbooks I'd ever read. Unfortunately, it's things like this, when you're not working from any recipe, that you can never quite recreate.

[franktex]

I recently made Tortilla Soup for some friends, and I had never made it before, and it blew them (and myself!) away. If you would like to attempt to duplicate it, I used a combination of Dean Fearing's Mansion on Turtle Creek recipe:

Mansion on Turtle Creek's Tortilla Soup

and another(found on Google just under MoTC search) called Pastor Tom's Tortilla Soup:

Pastor Tom's

The secrets are the use of real chicken stock(of course), the use of Chipoltes in Adobo Sauce(not too much, this stuff is HOT!), and a little sugar(the last two taken from Pastor Toms, and added to MoTC's version).

I thought I done good!