Gastronomy - The Food & Drink Thread

[Scar]

The heat conductive properties of the steel cook the pizza crust perfectly, even better than a pizza stone. You just pre-heat it in the oven at 500 degrees for a half hour, then slide the pizza on. Nine minutes later, you have a perfect pie.

Homemade only or does it work well with frozen?

[bac0n]

good question, but I'm gonna say that if you can use a pizza stone for frozen pizza, then you could probably use a baking steel for frozen pizza.

[Mara]

I'm thinking of possibly inventing the best ever chili. My church is a having a chili cook-off in early March and I've often idly wondered if I could create a better chili than what is out there. I wouldn't want to add coffee or beer, but I'm open to other unusual ingredient suggestions.

My main thoughts:

I prefer soaking and cooking my own beans, and think this would improve the flavor. I also don't think many people actually like kidney beans, so I might swap them out with black beans, and also have red and pinto. Beans cooked with kosher salt and a bay leaf taste amazing.

I strongly dislike ground beef (including chuck.) I toyed with the idea of using sausage, chicken, or turkey instead, but I think I've landed on actually cubing a roast and using that instead. But should I still add sausage? Dilemma.

I would use canned tomatoes/sauce for the base. Some recipes suggest red wine vinegar, or cooking wine, and I would probably add that.

Onions, green pepper, garlic. Does it need other veggies? Celery? Jalapenos? I'm not crazy about corn in chili, but it might taste good with the black beans. I'm leaning towards no, though.

I had some chili that included part of a bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate with Chili. YES.

I would cook it in the slow cooker and then probably let it rest overnight and reheat the day of the party, since I think that leads to the best results.

[Ezee E]

I just went to an amazing donut shop in Costa Mesa. The line was out the door with hipsters, bros, Church folk and brunch girls at 11 AM. Their creation tend to have flowers on it, or are maple bacon, molten chocolate, lemon curd, etc. Basically dessert for breakfast.

Probably the best donuts I've ever had though.

[Ezee E]

I'm thinking of possibly inventing the best ever chili. My church is a having a chili cook-off in early March and I've often idly wondered if I could create a better chili than what is out there. I wouldn't want to add coffee or beer, but I'm open to other unusual ingredient suggestions.

Sounds like you have it all figured out. Now you just need a taste tester.

:RAISES HAND:

I love chili. Probably one of the first things I'll do when I move back into cold Colorado. Not sure about the chocolate, as I prefer mine spicier.

[bac0n]

Chili ideas -

Toast cumin seeds, grind 'em, add em.

Consider adding in a touch of cinnamon and cocoa to make it somewhat suggestive of mole.

Have you considered adding shrimp as a meat?

For beans, I stick to the ones with the less tough skin. I don't care for the mouthfeel of kidney beans, so I typically stick to pintos and black beans for red chili, canellinis for white chili, tho I've also tried garbanzo beans, which are awesome (pro-tip - they are GREAT in guacamole). I typically puree a can of beans for thickness when i make chili as well.

[Ezee E]

For some reason, whenever shrimp is added, I just consider it gumbo.

This is not a problem.

[Raiders]

I'm thinking of possibly inventing the best ever chili. My church is a having a chili cook-off in early March and I've often idly wondered if I could create a better chili than what is out there. I wouldn't want to add coffee or beer, but I'm open to other unusual ingredient suggestions.

My main thoughts:

I prefer soaking and cooking my own beans, and think this would improve the flavor. I also don't think many people actually like kidney beans, so I might swap them out with black beans, and also have red and pinto. Beans cooked with kosher salt and a bay leaf taste amazing.

I strongly dislike ground beef (including chuck.) I toyed with the idea of using sausage, chicken, or turkey instead, but I think I've landed on actually cubing a roast and using that instead. But should I still add sausage? Dilemma.

I would use canned tomatoes/sauce for the base. Some recipes suggest red wine vinegar, or cooking wine, and I would probably add that.

Onions, green pepper, garlic. Does it need other veggies? Celery? Jalapenos? I'm not crazy about corn in chili, but it might taste good with the black beans. I'm leaning towards no, though.

I had some chili that included part of a bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate with Chili. YES.

I would cook it in the slow cooker and then probably let it rest overnight and reheat the day of the party, since I think that leads to the best results.

I concur with the use of black beans and dark chocolate (a little at the end).

I would definitely add in a roasted poblano (not a jalapeno). Adds a little spice and the slight smokiness and richness of the roasted flavor is wonderful. I will never make chili without it. You might also consider some finely cubed sirloin instead of ground beef. Better texture. I don't see spices mentioned, but I assume you put in a little chili powder and oregano? I tend to be lukewarm on cumin, but a small dose adds a good flavor dimension, and it does smell like beautiful southwest cooking. For the chili powder, I use New Mexican which is from Anaheim chiles and is a little sweeter, though to be fair I don't notice that much difference. The oregano is fairly key though.

[D_Davis]

I'm thinking of possibly inventing the best ever chili. My church is a having a chili cook-off in early March and I've often idly wondered if I could create a better chili than what is out there. I wouldn't want to add coffee or beer, but I'm open to other unusual ingredient suggestions.

My main thoughts:

I prefer soaking and cooking my own beans, and think this would improve the flavor. I also don't think many people actually like kidney beans, so I might swap them out with black beans, and also have red and pinto. Beans cooked with kosher salt and a bay leaf taste amazing.

I strongly dislike ground beef (including chuck.) I toyed with the idea of using sausage, chicken, or turkey instead, but I think I've landed on actually cubing a roast and using that instead. But should I still add sausage? Dilemma.

I would use canned tomatoes/sauce for the base. Some recipes suggest red wine vinegar, or cooking wine, and I would probably add that.

Onions, green pepper, garlic. Does it need other veggies? Celery? Jalapenos? I'm not crazy about corn in chili, but it might taste good with the black beans. I'm leaning towards no, though.

I had some chili that included part of a bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate with Chili. YES.

I would cook it in the slow cooker and then probably let it rest overnight and reheat the day of the party, since I think that leads to the best results.

Kidney beans in chilli are good.

Sausage - yes. Chorizo even better. No chicken or turkey. Browned ground beef and sausage/chorizo/linguica.

Cinnamon and nutmeg make good chili great. Cumin is also key.

Apple cider vinegar is great.

Used coffee grounds is also good.

No corn.

I'm not a chili traditionalist. I like meat, beans, and veggies. For veggies: onion, peppers, celery and carrots - all chopped very small.

The last batch of chili I made was the best chili I've ever had. I can finally call myself a man.

[Dukefrukem]

I can't groan at this video loud enough or roll my eyes circular enough.

[Scar]

No longer available due to Youtuber closing their account.

[Spun Lepton]

Anybody have any tricks for making a perfect sunny-side up egg? Mine always turn out slimy or overcooked.

[bac0n]

Anybody have any tricks for making a perfect sunny-side up egg? Mine always turn out slimy or overcooked.

1. let the egg stand at room temperature for 1/2 hour before cooking

2. preheat non-stick skillet to medium.

3. crack eggs into skillet, immediately cover.

4. watch closely. as soon as whites are about solid, you're done. probably about five minutes

[Morris Schæffer]

Anyone got a recipe for a tasty, original, authentic, yet not too difficult to prepare hamburger? Including of course which buns to stick it inbetween. With original I meant 'not simply a cheeseburger or baconburger', but something clever, with a little extra.

[Spun Lepton]

This recipe has produced the best slow cooker beef stew I've had, yet. I'm copying and pasting it from where I found it (Reddit). Some things I'll do differently next time ... I'll probably sear the meat. Just putting the meat into the cooker made the meat a bit dry. (Searing will help with that, right?)

I also halved it, as my slow-cooker would not fit this much food.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs chuck roast / stewing beef , cut into 1" chunks
• 5 medium red potatos, cut into 1" chunks
• 1 lb carrots, cut into 1" chunks
• 3 onions, minced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 0.25 cup tomato paste
• 1.5 cups beef broth
• 1.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon dried minced thyme (or 2 tablespoons minced fresh)
• 1/3rd cup all purpose flour
• 1/3rd cup soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• Vegetable oil

Cooking:

1. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil until shimmering in a big pan. Add the onions, garlic, tomato paste and thyme, and fry until onions soften and start getting lightly browned, 8 - 10 minutes medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for another 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, smoothing out any lumps and scraping up any brown bits from the pan (those are the super flavorful bits!). Transfer to the slow cooker.
2. Add the beef broth, bay leaves, and soy sauce to the slow cooker and stir together. Season the beef with salt, add to the slow cooker.
3. Combine the potatoes and carrots in a big bowl with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add salt and pepper and toss them around until it looks like they're all nicely mixed up. Place the resulting mixture in a large foil packet (e.g. place them on one side of a large piece of foil, fold it over and crimp to seal the edges) and lay it in the slow cooker, on top of everything else.
4. Cook for ~10 hours on low.
5. Transfer the foil packet to a plate and leave everything alone for 5 minutes. Once the stew has settled, skim the fat from the surface using a large spoon. Open the foil packet (watch for steam) and add the veg into the stew. Add the 2 cups of frozen peas, stir, and leave for 5 minutes to heat through.

[Mara]

I've been making slow cooker beef stew several times over the last couple of months and have started getting a good process down. It's very different from yours, though. I'll post the recipe at some point.

In mine you shake the cubed beef in a ziploc bag with flour and spices and then brown it in a pan with olive oil before softening the onions, which keeps the beef from drying out. It also deglazes the pan (to get all those tasty bits out) with cooking wine and beef broth.

I don't know how I feel about not cooking the veggies in with everything else. Does that work?

[bac0n]

The only stew recipe you'll ever need.

[Spun Lepton]

I've been making slow cooker beef stew several times over the last couple of months and have started getting a good process down. It's very different from yours, though. I'll post the recipe at some point.

In mine you shake the cubed beef in a ziploc bag with flour and spices and then brown it in a pan with olive oil before softening the onions, which keeps the beef from drying out. It also deglazes the pan (to get all those tasty bits out) with cooking wine and beef broth.

I don't know how I feel about not cooking the veggies in with everything else. Does that work?

I look forward to seeing the recipe. Yeah, cooking the veg separately worked great. I was a bit of a mess taking the packet out of the cooker when it was done, but the results were fantastic.

[Raiders]

You cook the veggies separate??? But... that's what makes the stew? I'm both baffled, intrigued... and confused.

[Mara]

Discrete veggies feel more like soup.

[bac0n]

You cook the veggies separate??? But... that's what makes the stew? I'm both baffled, intrigued... and confused.

If it's a slow cooker, than the quicker cooking vegies (peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.) need to be cooked separately, or they'll break down into mush, I figure.

[Spun Lepton]

Apparently the recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen "Slow-Cooker Revolution" cookbook. So SCIENCE made this recipe!! SCIENCE!!!

/trump card

[D_Davis]

The easiest and best slow-cooker stew I've ever made or had.

Mix up some chili powder to your liking (I use a modified version of Emeril's southwest chili rub)
Get a tri tip roast.
Coat the roast in the rub.
brown all sides in pan.
Toss in slow cooker with a couple of onions, quartered, and a bunch of potatoes, quartered.
Cover with a jar of red salsa of your choice.
Cook for 8-10 hours on low.

Absolutely delicious. It's great over eggs for breakfast, in tortillas for lunch, and as a bowl with some hearty bread for dinner.

Takes about 10 minutes to prep, and only uses one additional dish.

[D_Davis]

Anyone got a recipe for a tasty, original, authentic, yet not too difficult to prepare hamburger? Including of course which buns to stick it inbetween. With original I meant 'not simply a cheeseburger or baconburger', but something clever, with a little extra.

I mix dry spices - mustard powder, dried onions, garlic, Italian spices, salt and pepeer - and sprinkle it liberally over a plate, along with a bit of steak sauce. Then I take my hamburger, roll into balls, and roll it all over the plate to pick up all the spices. Then I take a dinner plate, and put the spiced burger ball on it. I then take another plate, and squish the burger ball down with it so that it takes the shape of the rim on the bottom of the plate, thus making it the perfect size to account for shrinkage when pan frying.

[Morris Schæffer]

I mix dry spices - mustard powder, dried onions, garlic, Italian spices, salt and pepeer - and sprinkle it liberally over a plate, along with a bit of steak sauce. Then I take my hamburger, roll into balls, and roll it all over the plate to pick up all the spices. Then I take a dinner plate, and put the spiced burger ball on it. I then take another plate, and squish the burger ball down with it so that it takes the shape of the rim on the bottom of the plate, thus making it the perfect size to account for shrinkage when pan frying.

Thanks!