what's cooking?

[LaserWolf]

disco_che said:Went to the italian deli yesterday and the owner just got back from his latest shopping trip to italy so he had fresh LIVERWORST and I couldn't resist to take some of them home. Just got up from dinner and I made a delicious pasta sauce, roasting onions, some rings of CHILI PEPPER and the chopped LIVERWORST in olive oil, than deglacing with some french WINE, adding a lot of sliced garlic and fennel seeds and a can of peeled tomatoes. I let it simmer for at least four hours until it was well reduced, aded some leaves of fresh oregano and some parsley and ate it with NOODLES and fresh parmigiano.





No pics I'm afraid but it was delicious.





(Doing a lot with asparagus and rhubarb lately because it's the season.)




I didn't know a lot of these words so I translated them for other people who might not be bilingual.

 

[disco_che]

LaserWolf said:disco_che said:Went to the italian deli yesterday and the owner just got back from his latest shopping trip to italy so he had fresh LIVERWORST and I couldn't resist to take some of them home. Just got up from dinner and I made a delicious pasta sauce, roasting onions, some rings of CHILI PEPPER and the chopped LIVERWORST in olive oil, than deglacing with some french WINE, adding a lot of sliced garlic and fennel seeds and a can of peeled tomatoes. I let it simmer for at least four hours until it was well reduced, aded some leaves of fresh oregano and some parsley and ate it with NOODLES and fresh parmigiano.





No pics I'm afraid but it was delicious.





(Doing a lot with asparagus and rhubarb lately because it's the season.)




I didn't know a lot of these words so I translated them for other people who might not be bilingual.




Sorry if I used too many italian words. So thanks for translating. Only salsicca is a fresh sausage with a mixture of greasy and lean porkmeat (coarsely ground) and a differing mixture of spices, depending on the italian region where it's made. No liver involved.

 

[LaserWolf]

Don't apologize. Was attempting to inject humor.


Showed my wife a strut cooking thread a while ago, and she marveled at all the gourmet ingredients and asked it the posters were guys.





My garden is producing ridiculous amounts of lettuce.


I am trying to eat 2 big salads a day.


Also snap peas and cilantro (fresh coriander leaves).





The last few I have done like this:


Lettuce in one bowl.





In separate bowl


Cut up peas and cilantro


dress with


feta


oil


vinegar or lemon juice


garlic


avacado





Give the the peas a few minutes to marinate then pour over the salad and eat.





The high quality of my lettuce and peas are going to make a good salad no matter what you do to them.


Some people will want to use the best quality ingredients, always a good idea.


For me the Israeli feta from Trader Joes, the big bottle of olive oil you get for about $9 at TJs and TJs best balsamic are good enough.


I just run the garlic through a press.

 

[soulmarcosa]

For Memorial day I made a Japanese/Korean lunch of miso soup, wakame (seaweed) salad, kinpira renkon (stir-fried lotus root), nasu miso (miso eggplant), oi moochim (spicy cucumber salad) and sushi rolls with ponzu and wasabi. All vegan.

 

[fejmelba]

Frank said:fejmelba said:being a pro in the arts of cooking for more then half my life it was time i started my own place. me and my partner put together our savings, found a nice place and got started.


this is my shit!


























and now that you batches seen my shit its time you start to like us on facebook...ludwig.. merci




Great set up!





What's up with your Brezels, they look a bit pale, don't you use brine?





I recently baked my first batch ever and I used a brine made with 2 L water and 6 table spoons of Kaiser Natron:

Never did the brine wash. Should give it a try for the next batch.


B/w


Thanks Che

 

[Frank]

fejmelba said:


Never did the brine wash. Should give it a try for the next batch.


B/w


Thanks Che




Without the brine you won't get the color, crust texture and taste of a "real" Brezel or Pretzel.





There are two options, one is true, OG baker's lye with a 3-4% Sodium Hydroxide solution. For this you need Sodium Hydroxide pellets which I'm not sure you can buy at a US drugstore just like that. This stuff is a bit hazardous and the way I researched it, you have to slowly add the water to the pellets and not throw the pellets into the water which can cause a hefty chemical reaction resulting in splatter. The solution is corrosive and should not get on your skin or into your eyes so latex gloves and goggles should be used. Purists say that only with this stuff will you get the real Brezel experience. I want to start experimenting with this soon but I'm having trouble locating the stuff here in Costa Rica. From the US you can even order from Amazon at a ridiculously reduced price: http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Sodium-Hydroxide-Micro-Beads/dp/B001EDBEZM From what information I found you use 5 ounces of the pellets for one gallon of (cold) water. You submerge the (unbaked) pretzels for a few seconds into the cold solution. I read that this solution you can re-use several times. If you're running a professional bake shop, this method should be the long term goal. This way you will also be able to produce perfect lye croissants etc... during baking the lye will react with the carbon monoxide in the air and with the components of the dough and after baking only the Sodium will remain in the crust so have no fear.





Then there's the non-hazardous option to just use baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate or more commonly Sodium Bicarbonate). This is the method I used for the Pretzels in my picture. Purists won't agree but in my opinion this gives you a close enough (although not perfect) end product as far as taste, color and texture. As I said, not perfect but close enough. This is also very easy to do: Dissolve 3-4 ounces of baking soda in half a gallon water and bring it to a boil. Keep the water boiling and submerge the readily formed, unbaked Pretzels into the solution for ca. 20 seconds each. You can throw in 2-3 at a time but I would recommend starting with one at a time until you get a hang of it. During the coking process they become a bit fragile. A skimmer like this would be the necessary tool to get them safely in and out of their bath:

Then put them on a baking sheet (do not use aluminum since it might react with the baking soda) and grind some coarse sea salt over them which will now stick nicely. Let them sit for ca. 20 minutes and then bake them at ca. 400 F until the color has reached the deep brown of a real Brezel which will take around 20 minutes. The taste and the incredible crust will instantly make you a believer.

 

[fejmelba]

Im in the netherlands and a trip to germany is an 20 minute drive. I dont think said SALT is that hard for me to get my hands on. We only make the bretzels for special occasions when there is drinking going on. Thanx for the hinweis.

 

[Frank]

fejmelba said:Im in the netherlands and a trip to germany is an 20 minute drive. I dont think said SALT is that hard for me to get my hands on. We only make the bretzels for special occasions when there is drinking going on. Thanx for the hinweis.




It's not salt but lye. But yeah it will be easy to get in the Netherlands and especially in Germany. And you are right, there's no better company to beer than a Laugenbrezel:

Not my pic but that's how I want to make them once I get to use the lye.

 

[vinylstalker]

Frank, I haven't forgotten, gonna post up the catfish piquant recipe this wknd.


I made your potato salad last night and it was tasty, yet I found myself


missing the real vinegar-y bite I associate with the real deal.

 

[fishmongerfunk]

jef: very impressive pics. congrats on taking the plunge and being your own boss.