What Have You Cooked Recently?

Another Saturday, another cake for my portfolio.
Need to work on my dripping, the ganache was a bit too thick.

 

You need to work on smaller layers for the checker board look. Practice makes perfect rough, and hopefully you got the taste down, that matters more.

 

True, this is my first time making a checkerboard style cake, all in all it was a success though, good moistness and good taste. There's also the fact that I couldn't seem to find my large size circular cutter, so the ring on the outer edge is bigger than I would have liked. But all in all a success.

 

Made a slight edit, the layers seem even, I just couldn't articulate what I was trying to say.

 

No problem. Yeah, the rings are too big for me to really be happy with them, but at least I got the basic idea down well.

 

By a hilarious coincidence I'm doing the same thing today. I've got a ham bone in the crock pot right now, along with some ham broth, water, spices, veggies, beans, and rice. I added some salsa and cheese, and once it's cooked I'm planning on adding some sour cream and serving with tortilla chips.

 

Peposo with Polenta. Those wops did something right after all.

 

I made these delicious cookies! If you'd like the recipe, just ask!

 

Yes please

 

Of course! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25037/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/ - If you use salted butter, don't add any more salt. Also, if you want them to take like bakery cookies, add a tiny dash of cinnamon to the dry ingredients! Cheers.

 

This past week, I've cooked:

• gnocchi alla romana with homemade red sauce - this was a favorite with my family; I didn't use sherry vinegar with the red sauce - instead, I used balsamic; I added sage leaves between each gnocchi, and it was fantastic
• million-dollar chicken with fondant potatoes - they loved the chicken this time around, and the bread was the best part - I added a rosemary and thyme butter underneath the skin of the chicken prior to baking
• sauerbraten - I had planned it with spätzle originally, but I arrived home too late, and made some noodles instead
• shakshuka - I was the only one in my family to enjoy it

I got all of these recipes, except for the sauerbraten, from Food Wishes. The sauerbraten was made using my grandmother's recipe. I was so excited to be cooking for the entire week that I made a menu.

Technically, Christmas isn't recent, but I made two beef wellingtons for Christmas eve and day dinners - they were both fantastic. I used jamón serrano from Aldi's (which undoubtedly wasn't the real thing) and a mushroom duxelle made with garlic, thyme, shitake, and baby bella mushrooms. I got the chateaubriand roasts from Schatzie the Butcher, which were prime and dry-aged for thirty days. It was the richest thing I put into my mouth. I made as a topping for the wellington a Beurre Maître d'Hôtel. It was accompanied by green bean and swiss casserole as well as goat cheese and cream cheese mashed potato casserole.

 

Fuck yeah I love Chef John recipes! Can't wait to try the Italian braised hot and sour pork.

 

Wanted to make peanut butter and chocolate fudge for somebody who likes Reese’s candy. Didn’t know what ratio would be best so I set the peanut butter fudge to set in a pan at an angle. Put the chocolate on top with the pan level. Created a chocolate:peanut butter gradient to find out what’s the best ratio.

 

The shelter I volunteer at is having a bake sale so I need to test out some cupcake recipes. First I'm gonna try just baking from a mix but adding melted butter in place of oil and tard cum in place of water and I'll have a taste test.

Otherwise I can just do that really nice chocolate cake recipe I use all the time

 

Now that's some science I can get behind.

 

Sadly picture isnt great and shows my mistake (forgot egg yolk brushed on top of crust)

But banging pot pie, chicken lots of good roast bird and vegetables. Came out really well.

 

I made a Basque Cheesecake. It's supposed to be cooked at a higher temp and without a water bath with no crust and results in a cheesecake with a much different texture and forms an outer crust that is bitter similarly to a creme brulee. It's shockingly light and airy and different departure from the norm it's somewhere between a custard pie and cheesecake.

 

Today I tried out my new cookbook and made Corsican beef stew with macaroni. It was very good.

 

Just finished a batch of Ship's Biscuits ("Hardtack"), not flavorful or pleasant to eat by themselves, but dirt cheap, filling, and palatable with a cup of coffee or a slice of nice cheese on top.

Three ingredients:
2lbs of flour
a "punch" of salt
Enough water to form a stiff, smooth dough

Divide dough into 8 separate pieces to make roughly 4oz biscuits, roll out to half inch thick. Place on baking tray and prick with a knife to prevent too much rising. Bake at 300F for 2 hours, let cool completely, then bake for an additional 45min-1hour to remove all remaining moisture. These will keep indefinitely, perfect for backpacking or bushcraft trips. To add some variety to them, crush them into coarse crumbs and mix with hot water to make a porridge to which you can add meat, cheese and spices.

 

Sweet potato fries and pan fried salmon. I will spare you recipes.