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Food & Drink Food Glorious Food

Discussion in 'General' started by The_Crapman, 23 Dec 2015.

  1. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Tis the season to be jolly fat, where the vast majority of us will be eating way too much, but it's all for a good cause (supporting the dying trade of trouser waist extenders). So show us what you've cooked, baked, boiled, broiled or fried, share a great recipe or trade secret or just talk chop.

    To kick thing off here's the joints I cooked this afternoon ready for Christmas day. I've had to cook them today as will be busy as a badger in a beehive tomorrow and there may not be room in my mums oven on Christmas day.

    [​IMG]

    2 lamb leg halves which have had rosemary, thyme, garlic and lemon rind pushed into the meat, with a little thyme and lemon rind left over plus salt and pepper sprinkled on top. Then there's the pork leg joint which I cooked on top of a bed of onions, sage and oregano.

    I've done pork leg joints a fair few times but never managed to get the crackling quite right, but this time it is pretty dam perfect. I read quite a few articles on how to get the crackling right and there are some pretty out there methods, some of which are pretty long winded and require prep the day prior to cooking and one even used a hair dryer! I took a few different bits from different methods:

    - even though the joint was pre-scored, some of the cuts were more like scratches so I made sure there were all right into the fat with a new clean stanly blade, cut through it really nicely. Just make sure you don't go down into the meat itself.
    -then I rubbed some salt into the skin which are out a fair bit of water, which I dabbed off with some kitchen paper. I then returned the joint to the fridge to carry on with the prep.
    -20 mins later I rubbed a little more salt into th skin to draw more water out, dabbed it off and back in the fridge for 20 mins.
    -last salt rub, a decent amount this time. Once the salt is rubbed in, put some oil (or animal fat of choice) into a pan and heat on the hob till it's seriously hot, so that it starts to smoke a little. Dry the skin again really, REALLY well then pore the oil/fat over the skin. Right before your eyes you'll see it tighten and really open up the gaps. I did this with the joint on my grill rack so the excess oil could drain off it easily.
    -sprinkle a little more salt on and a good dose of pepper (not required but I do love a good bit of freshly ground black pepper, makes a slab of bread and butter really pop), then put in a preheated oven at it's hottest setting (230C ish) for 20 mins to really crisp the skin up, then turn in down to 180C for the remaining time.

    I love roast pork with Christmas dinner. Or just in a batch with stuffing and gravy. What's you favourite meats to have with yours?
     
  2. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Good cooking is a bit like sex. :)
     
  3. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    A friend of mine once referred to a particular cake recipe as 'better than sex... but sex is quicker, cheaper and easier...'
     
  4. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    My cooking has certainly got me laid a couple of times. lol
     
  5. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Cooking is only second to astrology in the amount of BS that surrounds it. Its crazy some of the things that get said and done.
     
  6. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    My wife used to be a chef. I'll stop there. :D
     
  7. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I suppose that's what gave rise to your first sentence.
     
  8. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Dear lord, I almost forgot the stock! That would have been a gravey catastrophe. Although I'm sure my mum has a bucket of turkey stock waiting anyway, but I bet this will really pack a punch.
     
  9. Maki role

    Maki role Dale you're on a roll... Lover of bit-tech

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    Thought I'd try something slightly different for Christmas this year. Usually I'll roast a goose for the whole family, but as much as I like it, I fancied a change.

    Some of you may have seen I picked up a sous-vide circulator a month and a bit back, figured it would be perfect for the big day. So far I've broken down the goose and am preparing the relevant bits. The wings and legs are being cooked confit style, and the breasts I'm doing sous-vide and then pan searing to get the skin crispy. The carcass and extras are currently in the oven roasting with some veg in order to render all the fat for potatoes etc. and to make that all important gravy!

    Quite looking forward to trying it out actually. I recently did some duck confit that came out well, so I've used the same method. Basically just rub the legs and wings with sea salt and thyme and then vacuum bag tight, pop in the fridge for 6-12 hours to cure. Then you remove them, wash the salt off and bag again this time coated with a few tablespoons of goose fat. Place into the water bath for 12 hours at 75°C. I'm prepping these in advance, so when time's up I'll plunge it into iced water and then pop in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll just throw them in the oven to crisp up, nice and easy on the day.

    Made a Beef Wellington the other day, turned out rather well I must admit. Felt compelled to take a proper photo as I hadn't yet dismantled the studio in the dining room rofl.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    I have the best trade secret, I live with a well qualified and very good, retired chef. She's a lovely woman too. :D:D:D:D:D

    Edit: I see Nexxo has the right idea too!
     
  11. isaac12345

    isaac12345 What's a Dremel?

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    Has anyone tried this apparently new fad called sous vide cooking? Gabe Newell from Valve found it so good, he has invested in a business that's based on it!
     
    Last edited: 25 Dec 2015
  12. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I don't think sous vides are particularly new. But they are making a move from expensive restaurant appliances to cheaper domestic units lately.
     
  13. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Oh man that goose sounds beautiful. My lamb was really nice, the pork was good but hadn't gathered much of a flavour from the herb and onion bed it was cooked on. Gravy was fantastic though.
     
  14. CrapBag

    CrapBag Multimodder

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    Cooked turkey, gammon and beef today.

    Turkey was nice, really moist, beef was heavenly, the gammon I did in the slow cooker over night and it was lovely tasting but feel apart a little to easily and ended up being more like pulled pork, texturally.
     
  15. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (yes, that's a recipe. The whole is slow roasted in an earthenware pot in the oven; the garlic loses its sharpness and becomes a delicious soft mush you can spread on bread). This was accompanied by roast vegetables with grated pecorino cheese. All washed down with a nice champagne. For desert there was mejool dates poached in vanilla and cardamom pods.

    My wife also baked her favourite dark chocolate and roasted almond cake.
     
  16. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Needs more garlic... If it can't kill Dracula... from space... there's not enough garlic imo...

    Sadly my xmas dinner was a crap beef [which was annoying given what it cost/where it came from] joint followed by some disappointing cheesecake... which was disappointing...
     
    Last edited: 25 Dec 2015
  17. legoman

    legoman breaker of things

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    I decided not to do turkey this year never been a fan of it so did a big piece of unsmoked Gammon instead fresh from a butchers who use local meat let it soak for a day to draw out the salt, bypassed the boiling stage an whacked it straight in the oven under foil with a load of stock veg plus some garlic an a broken down stock cube for some more flavour. took it out a few times to baste it with the stock, last half hour uncovered it to brown off a bit. Used the remaining stock to make a gravy which was amazing. normal veg and a pudding from a Christmas market served with a dollop of clotted cream, job done.
     
  18. bigc90210

    bigc90210 Teh C

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    good god that wellington looks absolutely amazing! hat tip to the chef!
     
  19. Maki role

    Maki role Dale you're on a roll... Lover of bit-tech

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    Yup, picked up a circulator a couple months back, absolutely love it. It's just magic for things like chicken and steak.

    Aye it came out rather well, lovely and medium, which made it super tender.

    Cheers! Check out Gordon Ramsay's recipe if you want to give it a go, his one he did for his show is better than the written one for the BBC Food page (looks neater and IMO cooks better).


    Figured I'd pop a couple pictures of how things went on the big day, was so much better using the sous-vide than roasting. Meant I had a free oven earlier in the day, which meant I could get the Yorkshire puds and nut roast out of the way in advance.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Maki role

    Maki role Dale you're on a roll... Lover of bit-tech

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    Let's get some more pics in here eh?

    Had the opportunity to pop into the butcher's the other day, saw they had some very interesting cuts on show. The one that caught my eye was a big Galician, bone-in ribeye. I'd been thinking of trying this Spanish breed out for a while, so decided to take the plunge. Picked up two humongous steaks.

    Since I had the photo stuff out for a build, I figured I'd try to do the steak some justice.

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    Seasoned, vacuum packed and ready for sous-vide. Cooked them at 57°C for 3 hours and then seared in a red hot skillet with goose fat

    [​IMG]

    Chose to go medium (rather than medium-rare) thanks to the intense marbling. Paid off as it was so succulent, the fat was like butter. Very strong flavour though, which was fine for me but wouldn't be to everybody's tastes for sure.

    [​IMG]
     

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