cooking thread...

[akaShag]

2 hours ago, misfish said:

I pulled a pack of my sliced bacon yesterday so I could try jerky bacon

Brian, is this your own smoked side bacon?  If yes, what more are you doing to it?  Like smoking it more then drying it out?  I am thinking you are going to get a real salty, maybe even bitter product?

The flank steak looks great, but what are all those veggies doing???  😲

Doug

[misfish]

28 minutes ago, akaShag said:

Like smoking it more then drying it out?  I am thinking you are going to get a real salty, maybe even bitter product?

Yes,my own bacon from a few weeks ago.

I just added a smoke to the cut layers Doug. Then let the oven dry it out more. It is very tasty. Not salty at all nor bitter.

Edited September 26, 2021 by misfish

[akaShag]

5 minutes ago, misfish said:

Yes,my own bacon from a few weeks ago.

I just added a smoke to the cut layers Doug. Then let the oven dry it out more. It is very tasty. Not salty at all nor bitter.

Thanks Brian.  Might have to try this with my smoked side bacon!

Doug

[Spiel]

He may not be much help in the kitchen but my boy knows not to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking.
11 pounds of green tomatoes from my garden now pickled. Can't wait to dig into them. So good.

[misfish]

1 hour ago, Spiel said:

He may not be much help in the kitchen but my boy knows not to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking.

Looks like he is eyeing it up . LOL

[Spiel]

6 minutes ago, misfish said:

Looks like he is eyeing it up . LOL

He keeps the floors good and clean Brian.  

[akaShag]

Yesterday's treat was marinated bacon wrapped halibut chunks.  And I even took pictures.  Now who knows if they will show up here, and in the proper sequence, but let's giver.......

The hali fillet was probably about a pound and a half.

Cut into bite-sized pieces then into a marinade of maple syrup, soya sauce and some spices.

Fresh ground pepper on the pieces.

Take a package of bacon, cut the slices in half and half-cook them.

Wrap bites in bacon, skewer with a toothpick, and cook at 375 F for about 11 to 12 minutes.

Fabulous!  (but very rich.....)

Doug

[Spiel]

17 minutes ago, akaShag said:

Yesterday's treat was marinated bacon wrapped halibut chunks.  And I even took pictures.  Now who knows if they will show up here, and in the proper sequence, but let's giver.......

The hali fillet was probably about a pound and a half.

Cut into bite-sized pieces then into a marinade of maple syrup, soya sauce and some spices.

Fresh ground pepper on the pieces.

Take a package of bacon, cut the slices in half and half-cook them.

Wrap bites in bacon, skewer with a toothpick, and cook at 375 F for about 11 to 12 minutes.

Fabulous!  (but very rich.....)

Doug

 In a word, "YUM!"

[akaShag]

4 minutes ago, Spiel said:

 In a word, "YUM!"

My favourite way to eat halibut!  And I brought home about 15 pounds from my BC trip.....😁

[akaShag]

Today's project tucked into more of my BC haul.  So a seafood chowder, with my own smoked side bacon, celery, vidalia onions, Yukon Gold potatoes, halibut, lingcod, coho salmon, clams and shrimp.  Good stuff, but RICH..............

Doug

PS)  I did not catch the clams or shrimp.😉

[smitty55]

8 hours ago, Spiel said:

He may not be much help in the kitchen but my boy knows not to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking.
11 pounds of green tomatoes from my garden now pickled. Can't wait to dig into them. So good.

I've got lots of green tomatoes left and have been contemplating trying some pickles with them for the first time. Seeing your pics just made up my mind. Been checking out lots of recipes on line and having all the ingredients on hand I'm going to try these ones, likely mix vinegars, add some turmeric to the first one and hot peppers to the dill one. https://www.therusticelk.com/pickled-green-tomatoes/

 

[Spiel]

8 hours ago, smitty55 said:

I've got lots of green tomatoes left and have been contemplating trying some pickles with them for the first time. Seeing your pics just made up my mind. Been checking out lots of recipes on line and having all the ingredients on hand I'm going to try these ones, likely mix vinegars, add some turmeric to the first one and hot peppers to the dill one. https://www.therusticelk.com/pickled-green-tomatoes/

 

 

I'm sure you won't be disappointed. I was hesitant the first time I made them 4 years ago and now wish I had done so many years sooner.
I desperately wanted to use fresh Dill but my two local grocers were out so I settled for dried Dill. Next year I think I'll grow my own Dill along with the Tomatoes. 

[smitty55]

I planted dill many years ago and since then I get tons of volunteers each year. Had about 80 plants that came up in one bed this year that I let go. Had way too much for my dilled carrots and dilly beans so I now have a huge amount of seed that I saved before pulling the plants. Still have lots of new ones starting again.

 

[smitty55]

So I generally do a fair amount of preserving each year, I like to try different things the odd time as well. This year for the first time I tried dilly beans, red pepper jelly and whipped together a salsa from my home tomatoes for the first time in a long while. Didn't really follow a recipe and the salsa turned out fantastic. Also did up some dilled carrots, lots of tomato sauce as usual and also a batch of Chili Sauce that I make year round and have been eating since I was a kid at home when we would seal the jars with wax.  Got just over 50 jars so far and next on the list is the green tomato pickles which I'll cut up today and salt overnight. Lot's of fun and way better than anything store bought for sure.

[akaShag]

6 minutes ago, smitty55 said:

red pepper jelly

Do tell?  How do you make this?

Doug

[Spiel]

1 hour ago, smitty55 said:

So I generally do a fair amount of preserving each year, I like to try different things the odd time as well. This year for the first time I tried dilly beans, red pepper jelly and whipped together a salsa from my home tomatoes for the first time in a long while. Didn't really follow a recipe and the salsa turned out fantastic. Also did up some dilled carrots, lots of tomato sauce as usual and also a batch of Chili Sauce that I make year round and have been eating since I was a kid at home when we would seal the jars with wax.  Got just over 50 jars so far and next on the list is the green tomato pickles which I'll cut up today and salt overnight. Lot's of fun and way better than anything store bought for sure.

Oh boy, highly envious. It all sounds so good!

[smitty55]

6 hours ago, akaShag said:

Do tell?  How do you make this?

Doug

Strange, I thought I had replied to you Doug already. Maybe I forgot to hit submit lol.

Here's the recipe I used, I liked the fact that the peppers stayed in the jar unlike others that used normal jelly procedures that just used the juice. Haven't tried them yet but will be soon, I found another recipe to make a cracker spread using sharp cheddar, chopped roasted pecans, green onions and the jelly, it sounds real good.

https://inspiredbycharm.com/red-pepper-jelly/

[smitty55]

5 hours ago, Spiel said:

Oh boy, highly envious. It all sounds so good!

Sure is, I love my pickles. Seeing as you have experience with the green tomato pickles I have some questions for you if you don't mind. I've looked through a lot of different recipes and I'm noticing a lot of differing methods.

Do you used cider vinegar or white, I see both used and I'm thinking to go half and half.

I'm used to salting vegetables overnight for most of my pickle recipes to draw moisture out but some I saw didn't call for that. I did up 5 lb of tomatoes today and 2 large onions. Did three layers of tomato/onion and added 2tbs of pickling salt to the first two layers and 3 tbs to the top one. I'll give them a good rinse or two with cold water and drain them well. Do you do that with yours?

Some recipes I see just do a cold pack and then process for like 15 minutes. Another brings the vegetables in the pickling liquid just to a boil and then hot packs the jar, adds the boiling liquid and then processes, that's what I'm thinking of doing. Other recipes call for the veggies to cook for up to a half hour before canning, I'm worried they would get too soft cooking for that long and then processing. What's your method, and do they stay firm?

I also came across an old family recipe for green tomato pickle that really caught my eye, it uses turmeric and curry as the main spices, sounds intriguing as I make a sweet curry pickle that is really good. I still have 8 plants at the community garden so if I have enough green ones left I'm going to try this one too, you may want to consider it if you have some left as well. It's more of a relish so the 20 minute total cook time makes sense. https://www.meatandtravel.com/retro-green-tomato-pickles/

Cheers

 

 

 

[Spiel]

8 hours ago, smitty55 said:

Some recipes I see just do a cold pack and then process for like 15 minutes. Another brings the vegetables in the pickling liquid just to a boil and then hot packs the jar, adds the boiling liquid and then processes, that's what I'm thinking of doing. Other recipes call for the veggies to cook for up to a half hour before canning, I'm worried they would get too soft cooking for that long and then processing. What's your method, and do they stay firm?

Cheers

 

 

 

I use Pickling Vinegar (white) Smitty diluted (3-1) with filtered water. I do not pre salt to remove moisture, I've not found it necessary. Since it's pickling per say and not canning I just cold pack (sterilized jars and lids of course) and pour the boiling brine over top and place the lids on. Like you I would think they would become soft and not "pickle" like. The way I do it they do stay firm.

[Spiel]

Not sure if I posted this from August Smitty?
I did a small batch of Red Pepper Jelly much like the recipe in the link you posted, in that I did use Apple Cider Vinegar.

 

[akaShag]

10 hours ago, smitty55 said:

Strange, I thought I had replied to you Doug already. Maybe I forgot to hit submit lol.

Here's the recipe I used, I liked the fact that the peppers stayed in the jar unlike others that used normal jelly procedures that just used the juice. Haven't tried them yet but will be soon, I found another recipe to make a cracker spread using sharp cheddar, chopped roasted pecans, green onions and the jelly, it sounds real good.

https://inspiredbycharm.com/red-pepper-jelly/

Thanks Smitty!  Holy cats, that guy takes a zillion pictures, I think I scrolled through ten pages before I got to the recipe!!!

Doug

[akaShag]

1 hour ago, Spiel said:

Not sure if I posted this from August Smitty?
I did a small batch of Red Pepper Jelly much like the recipe in the link you posted, in that I did use Apple Cider Vinegar.

 

If I saw this before, I have already forgotten....................but then I can hide my own Easter eggs!

Doug

[smitty55]

Funny how things work out sometime. Yesterday I was rummaging in the freezer to find some venison as I had a hankering for jerky. I found two packs of loin and to my surprise found a vacuum bag with some beef tenderloin trim in it. Great, gives me an excuse to pull out the sous vide. So I coated the meat in spice rub, put it in a vacuum bag and added 2 huge crushed cloves of garlic and three sprigs of fresh cut rosemary and a wack of Worcestershire sauce then sealed the bag. Right on, now lets see what we have for mushrooms. Oh crap, they don't look to good, damn. A while later wifey goes out for a walk and when she comes back she's all excited and tells me there's 3 puffballs on one of our neighbour's lawn. WooHoo I didn't get any last year. Well I had to wait till he got home before I went over and when I went over there was only one left. Turns out someone had stopped and stolen two of them from his lawn without even asking, but I got lucky and he said I could grab the last one as he wasn't really into them, perfect. So I decided to take a slow tour around the country block and see if I could spot some more. Found one but it was too late, turning yellow. Then about a mile from home I'm touring by another place and I see two small ones on their property, so I go to the door and ask him if he used them. No problem he says go grab them. Right on, now I have three, one small one, one medium and the big one I first got, all in good shape too. I know my buddy up the road really likes them so I drop off the medium one for him and then drop off the small one to a new young couple who recently built across the road and had never tried them. it was too late for today but I sure am looking forward to dinner tomorrow, so is wifey. I will cut 3/4" slabs, dip them in an egg wash and then a mix of my smoked bread crumbs and fresh grated parm before frying up in a very hot cast iron pan with bacon grease. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Like who needs restaurants, not that you could find this dish anyway. Here's a pic of it, just under 5lbs. That's a bushel basket to give you an idea of size. It's in the fridge now. I might even dehydrate some of it if there's enough left over, you can leave chunks whole or powder it to use as a flavouring and thickener for stews. Plus I know where there's one still in the ground, I'll check on it daily to see if its still growing.

[Old Ironmaker]

On 9/4/2021 at 4:53 PM, Spiel said:

A couple of Lasagnes today, made from my home grown garden tomatoes that I sauced and canned.
They are big, the one on the right is meat free for my youngest daughter and the larger one on the left is meat laden (ground beef and ground sweet Italian sausage) is to be shared with my oldest daughter and her BF who are still renovating the kitchen in their recently purchased first home. I raised 'em and I still feed 'em. 

My 50/50 USA born Italian Ma, Zia's and 100% Italian Nona's took the time to make 1/2 diameter mini meatballs, maybe 100 for a family sized Lasagna we took on any given summer Sunday picnic to Long Beach on Lake Erie or one of the mini lakes on highway 6 north. 2 massive Lasagnas for dinner, around 5 PM, lunch was as soon as we landed all the Pontiac and Chevy wagons. BBQ'd sausages and peppers on crusty panini, hot dogs and burgers for the little ones. Dad had a 59' Chevy wagon that held more people than some airplanes. 3 adults and 1 infant in the front seat, 3 adults and 1 infant in the ,idlle seat, 3 children and 1 small Grandmother in the traffic facing 3rd row. That be 12 humans in 1 big arse car. The prosetion was more than 3 people movers. Did I say 2 massive Lasagna? How about 3 or 4. I hoped 4 because I loved cold Lasagna for breakfast before school. I still love it. Here is a recipe for disaster, put any 2 or more women in a kitchen and ask them which recipe is best. My former wife had the audacity to ask that question of 4 of the ladies. Lucky I was within ear shot and changed the question to which of these 2 TV chefs is best? Still not good but not the start of a vendeta!

I know you guys must miss me.

[akaShag]

5 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

I know you guys must miss me.

Yep, where you been OIM?

Doug