Cooking skills thread

[RedFinn]

This is sort of like "what did you cook today" except it's for people trying to learn and cook new things.

I made braised pork shoulder chops today. I didn't have any stock to braise with, so I used a bottle of Shiraz I'm not particularly hoarding. I had no idea whether Shiraz was a good choice but I was feeling adventurous so I went for it. I browned the chops on each side in some vegetable oil, and then took them out of the pan and threw in some chopped purple onion and carrot (just using what ingredients were available, really). After letting those brown I put the chops back in and poured in wine until the chops were maybe 2/3 submerged. I covered the pan and let it simmer for roughly an hour, until fork tender, then I took the solids out of the pan and tried to reduce the braising liquid into some sort of wine-y sauce.

The pork came out all right. Not great but not bad. It was tender but not very juicy - I wish I knew why. Maybe not enough connective tissue in the chop. The sauce was also kind of a flop in that there really wasn't much "sauce" there. I'm thinking I missed a trick somewhere along the line - I should've introduced some sort of thickening agent, like a roux or something.

5/10, would do it differently next time.

[topfen]

I am not much of a cook but when I helped cook at home sauce was usually made by browning a bit of flour and slowly adding fluid and fat (from your meat for example). Keep stirrig so the flour does't clump. No idea what that process is called but you get a real tasty sauce real easy.

[jake]

I made a jus for the first time with the chicken backbone, a carrot, celery stalk, some onion, sherry, and water. Dash of soy sauce and some butter after straining. Really simple to do and it was good. I feel ashamed for tossing out the backbone every previous spathcock chicken. ASHAMED

[RedFinn]

I made a jus for the first time with the chicken backbone, a carrot, celery stalk, some onion, sherry, and water. Dash of soy sauce and some butter after straining. Really simple to do and it was good. I feel ashamed for tossing out the backbone every previous spathcock chicken. ASHAMED

Nice. That sounds familiar. Are you reading the Food Lab too?

[jake]

I made a jus for the first time with the chicken backbone, a carrot, celery stalk, some onion, sherry, and water. Dash of soy sauce and some butter after straining. Really simple to do and it was good. I feel ashamed for tossing out the backbone every previous spathcock chicken. ASHAMED

Nice. That sounds familiar. Are you reading the Food Lab too?

Ha yep. Mostly skimming. What else should I try?

[Allentown]

It was tender but not very juicy - I wish I knew why.

What was the temp of the chops when you were done?

[Root]

I made chicken noodle soup the other day for the first time. Was pretty happy with it. Sick GF described it as "like a restaurant."

The only soups I've ever attempted before were French onion and clam chowder.

[RedFinn]

Ha yep. Mostly skimming. What else should I try?

Online, that's mostly what I read, because I really appreciate his inquisitiveness and rigor. Kenji has a book too. Other than that, on my reading list I have On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, Escoffier's book, and Modernist Cuisine (warning: mind melt may occur upon opening the last one).

[RedFinn]

What was the temp of the chops when you were done?

Didn't check. I just cooked until fork tender because I thought that's how braising is done, as opposed to aiming for a specific temperature. I could be wrong.

[Hanley]

What was the temp of the chops when you were done?

Didn't check. I just cooked until fork tender because I thought that's how braising is done, as opposed to aiming for a specific temperature. I could be wrong.

Don't know the chemistry that might explain it (at all), but whenever I've tried braising in very acidic liquids, shit comes out all fucked tasting. With a rubbery texture.

Cutting the wine (or tomatoes, or vinegar) with ample broth works, though.

[fishwife]

I'm not sure whether the acid in the wine would be an issue here specifically, although there can be an issue with acidic marinades. There are a lot of traditional pork braising recipes involving 50% vinegar, 50% water or stock, and that would be a pH of < 3, whereas red wine is usually > 3.5. Maybe there's something going on with some other component of the wine, such as the tannins, etc.?

[bugbomb]

I've run into this with leaner roasts - there's a "no man's land" period of time where the meat gets tender but is weirdly dry. I've never tried pulling the meat earlier because I have three kids and have never once been ready to sit everyone down at the table EARLY, but letting it go for another hour improves the juiciness without hurting the texture (subjectively).

[omaniphil]

I'm headed to Morocco tomorrow through next week. I signed up for some cooking classes in Marrakech. I'm going to learn to make some killer tagines. If they work out, I'll share some pics and recipes here.

[fishwife]

I'm headed to Morocco tomorrow through next week. I signed up for some cooking classes in Marrakech. I'm going to learn to make some killer tagines. If they work out, I'll share some pics and recipes here.

Please do. Tagines are my jam.

[omaniphil]

Wife and I went to a cooking class at a local non-profit women's center that trains culinary skills for disabled, divorced, widowed, etc., women here in Marrakech. The center is self funded based on donations and on offering these cooking classes, so we had fun learning new skills, and it was for a good cause.

I learned how to do one of the classic tagines here in central Morocco - a chicken tagine with preserved lemon. Preserved lemon is basically lemon that has been cured in salt for a few months.

Ingredients
2tsp of ginger powder
1/2 tsp of black pepper
2tsp of turmeric
4 garlic cloves minced
2tbsp of finely chopped parsley and cilantro mixture
1 pinch of safron
1/2 tsp of cumin
1/4 preserved lemon pulp
lemon peel in strips from 1/4 of lemon
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup of water
1 large onion, chopped
half a chicken - breast and leg quarter etc
2tbsp of olive oil
2tbsp of vegetable oil
handful of olives

Combine all spices and lemon pulp and juice together and add the water. Score chicken breast to allow juice to penetrate, and thoroughly coat the chicken in the spice and water mixture.
Chop onions and lay on bottom of tagine (or other ceramic pot e.g., le creuset) place chicken on top of onions, and pour rest of spice mixture over chicken.
Cover tagine and cook for 1 hr at 350-400 in oven or over low heat on stove, or if particularly adventurous and if you want to be authentic, over some charcoal. After onions have browned, flip chicken and pour oil over chicken. After 10 minutes pour in extra cup of water.
After another 10-15 minutes, place olives and lemon peel on top of chicken. Cook for 10 more minutes, and then eat!

[damufunman]

Wife and I went to a cooking class at a local non-profit women's center that trains culinary skills for disabled, divorced, widowed, etc., women here in Marrakech. The center is self funded based on donations and on offering these cooking classes, so we had fun learning new skills, and it was for a good cause.

I learned how to do one of the classic tagines here in central Morocco - a chicken tagine with preserved lemon. Preserved lemon is basically lemon that has been cured in salt for a few months.
*awesome looking chicken *

Damn that looks tasty!! Might have to try this, any idea if it'll work with un-brined lemon?

[omaniphil]

Damn that looks tasty!! Might have to try this, any idea if it'll work with un-brined lemon?

I asked. The chef said no, but I think it would probably be ok, although fairly different than the authentic version. The preserved lemon has a distinctive taste, that comes from being pickled over the course of a few months. If you did it, you would need to add salt, as all the salt in the recipe came from the lemon.

[RedFinn]

I made some sauerkraut yesterday. There's not a hell of a lot of skill involved in making sauerkraut, but hopefully I haven't fucked it up. It probably needs another three or four days before it's ready. I didn't really have the whole "put a weight on the cabbage to keep it below the juices" thing figured out, so I have my cabbage and juices covered with a cabbage leaf in a small bowl, with a pickle jar sitting on top to hold it down. Real pro-like.

If it doesn't come out too bad I'll make more, and I think the Koreans make something vaguely similar, so I'll try that too.

Besides that I'm thinking about making some eggnog. I really hate absurdly early Christmas stuff, but from what I've read it can be good to age eggnog for a few weeks, so I should get started soon. Any opinions on what kind of liquor to use? I'm thinking some sort of dark rum or whiskey, but I don't know what I'm talking about. Is neutral spirit an option?

[Wilhelm]

We actually used peach schnapps once.
Kind of ghetto, but also kind of awesome.

[cgeorg]

@RedFinn the Korean thing you are thinking of is kimchi. It's uh pretty pungent.