We, regardless of how badly you think you F’d it up, and still think it’s COOL!

That makes a blah-looking pasta dish much, much more interesting.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun doing this. Anytime you try something new there is always a learning curve. I like that with cooking there is always a way to push your skills further. Working with new ingredients, trying a new technique, or ingredient combos. I have a few more ideas that I want to try now that I had some trial and error goes. Doing stuff like this gets my kids involved and they are learning how to cook too. It's a win.

This morning at QFC I grabbed a pork shoulder that was on sale for .99/lb. smoked it for pulled pork sammies for dinner. Excellent!






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Smoked some salmon and then made a seafood chowder. It included smoked salmon, clams, shrimp and scallops. So good!!






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Whoa.

I'm making bone broth. Stopped by B&E Meats in Newcastle for some beef bones. Threw the bones, vinegar, water, salt, and some garlic powder in the instant pot for two hours. It's still cooking, but this bone broth will be my "food" during my 4-day fast ending Friday.

Wish me luck - seeing the food pictures on this thread makes me weak. LOL



And through the magic of the Internet, it's finished.

Porklion for a midnight snack. Cooked at 300 covered for an HR finished at 375 for 35 minutes tossed together a bunch of sauces to coat.

Last night I made a ravioli casserole from food we had............in the freezer/fridge/pantry

Costco sausage ravioli

Boil it or not

Cook up two Beyond meat patties (sliced through then cut in strips) in olive oil and a ton of Italian herbs of your choice and some ham/bacon from the fridge

Frozen spinach

Cheese - whatever Italian style cheese you have in the fridge

With jarred sauce layer it up.......put some oil in the baking dish, one layer of flattened ravioli, sauce, cheese, meat, spinach, cheese, ravioli, sauce cheese........etc


Oven at 350°F for 30 minutes or so.

That looks amazing!!

Thanks. Wife came home and could smell it outside......she said it smelled like an old school Italian deli. Can't wait for runch!

In case you didn't see it in the other thread, I got a 7"diameter x 3/16" steel plate for a heat diffuser for my stove --- in reality, I think its working as more as a heat spreader than a diffuser..... but anyways....



I used it for the second time last night to cook up a rockfish fillet and the results were fantastic! I've never been able to brown a whole fillet so evenly, not even cut fillets -- they would ALWAYS be over cooked/blackened in the center of the pan and under cooked toward the outside of the pan.... I'm not sure why I've up with this for the last 20 years... This steel plate is a total game changer!



Side 1


Side 2


I also made another batch of the Pomme Dauphines (I call them potato puffs) last night too. (Made sure to get them in the pic for you Selador)

The pan behaved completely differently than every other time I've used it --- it was behaving/working as it should!!! After letting the pan preheat (yes, it took a little longer, but not that much), I added just enough oil to coat the bottom and spread it out evenly across the pan. The pan 'felt' hot, but unsure, I grabbed the IR to check the temp - it was ~300.... Impressivelly, it was within 15 degrees from edge to edge! Cool! I gave it a little more flame and a minute or two to heat more. After that time, I checked it again - 350.... Thats when I realized that the thin coat of oil was still uniform over the bottom --- I've never had that happen! Any oil I would put in the pan would heat in the center, thin and flow out to the edges, with the inevitable oil smoke eventually coming from the dry center. Pleased, I added ~1/16" of oil and dropped the fillet in. Let it cook for ~4-5 minutes listening to the gentle sizzling.... when I again realized --- NO SMOKE!!!! Just a wisp or two now and then - usually I would have to turn on the fan to keep from smoking up the kitchen. Came time to flip it (admittedly ~minute too soon)... I hadn't touched it, hoping to get a nice crust, but when I pushed the spatula under it, it actually SLID across the pan! Every other time it would be stuck to the center and I would have to dig under it with the spatula to break the char - usually eff'ing up a nice fillet. Cooked the other side - and again, I was amazed that it wasn't sticking! I was able to lift it and check for doneness and it still slid around. After I took it out of the pan, I was amazed and pleased that all the panko crumbs in the pan were a golden brown.... NO burnt stuff, NOTHING stuck to the pan! That was a first! I've always had to scrape the charred/burnt coating off the center.... This time, wipe with a paper towel and clean! Just the way it should, but never really did.

So pleased with this steel plate - it has made the pan/stove combination WORK the way it SHOULD! I've always assumed that I suck a cook, or that I'm just doing something flat out wrong.... It feels good to have identified the fundamental flaw and correct it! Without having to buy a new stove....

I also learned something new.... again, something I should have known long ago....
I picked the rockfish fillet to test because 1) I had a bunch in the freezer (from when my nephew went fishing) that needed to be used 2) It was big enough to span the pan 3) I had cooked one not too long ago so there would be a good comparison.
I wasn't too keen on cooking the rockfish again because last time I wasn't really happy with the way it turned out.... not because of the cooking, but because it was a REALLY 'fishy' smelling/tasting fish. A bit of googling and I decide to try to minimize the 'fishyness' -- I decided to combine two of the methods I found, thinking it couldn't hurt since it was so damn 'fishy'. I soaked the fillet in salt water with a splash of vinegar for ~4 hours, rinsed it and soaked it in milk for ~25 minutes. GODDAMN if that cut the fishy smell down to next to nothing!!!! Once I took it out of the milk, I patted it dry, sprinkled both sides with Old Bay, dusted with flour, egg dredge and into the panko crumbs and cooked. It ended up no fishyer than a good piece of cod! Score another one for google for explaining how to get rid of TMA! Actually looking forward to cooking and eating the last 4 fillets in the freezer now! I think I'll have to try a beer batter on one.

Sous Vide Filet Mignon and some stir fry veggies.

Sous vide elk back straps.








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Bull Shit that's a doughnut we all know ir.

Queso.