Cooking thread, anyone?

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Ok, so it’s precooking. I had never heard of somebody canning potatoes before.
It is a caution for sure. The way prices are going the grocery bill has come to my attention. One food we (just the wife and I at home) consistently end up throwing away is the last few potatoes in a 5# bag. When we had 3-4 kids home I was serving 10# of whole potato weekly and could hardly keep tater tots in the freezers.

Once I had some potato canned - eureka!- one more thing to put in the fridge for cold nutritious meals.
 
@Poindexter, we spend all summer (and lots of spring and fall) in the heat down here, and I completely understand the desire for cold meals.

We had Caesar salad for lunch today with homemade gluten-free crackers instead of croutons and homemade dressing.

Tonight’s dinner was sushi rolls. The kids had been asking for us to make sushi again, and I thought that was a reasonable request. Aside from the nori and the seasoned rice, the filling options were smoked salmon or sardines (my kids love sardines), avocado, cucumber, asparagus, and amaranth leaves. We had a little wasabi as well.

Each person got to assemble and roll his or her own, though I helped the six year old. I took a photo of mine partway through the meal.

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That makes sense. Is it cold canning or are you pressure canning like DG?
I don't know who DG is in this context. I am hot packing my jars and pressure canning potato as a low acid food.

I have seen some on youtube who are cold packing potato chunks and then pressure canning. I am not a food scientist, but I know a little bit more about genus Clostridium than I really want to. I have no plans to start cold packing low acid foods for the pressure canner.
 
@EatenByLimestone , I will hazard a guess you mean user DuaeGuttae by DG? That makes sense. If DG posted on canning potato I missed it.
 
Yes, sorry. She mentioned her mother pressure canned potato.

I've only canned with the boil.bath using acid, salt and sugar.
 
Dinner Tonight…
Pork loin with a southwest rub, baked beans, green beans, cauliflower, and jalapeños for adding a kick to any of the above.

Leftover Pork we used in tomorrow’s burritos/tacos.

Related note. Anyone thinking about a grill, bigger is better IMO.

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Has anyone roasted onions on the upper shelf of a gas grill? We have a lot, so I thought I'd give it a try today.
 
Has anyone roasted onions on the upper shelf of a gas grill? We have a lot, so I thought I'd give it a try today.
We’ve done them wrapped in tinfoil. Garlic whole bulbs are good too that way. Just squeeze roasted garlic goodness out onto your food of choice.
 
I took one of our big 22 oz ringmaster onions and divided it into 16ths with the root end left on so that the slices stay intact. Right now they are marinating in some good balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper with a small pat of butter on several of them. We'll see how they roast up. The garlic is a good idea. We have lots. I'm waiting for it to cool down a bit before firing up the grill.
 
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Quick grilled chicken for sandwiches or salads.

This has become a pretty common meal. I buy the big value pack of boneless chicken breasts. And the cheapest bottle of Italian dressing. Here come the part that makes it quick.

Cut the breast into thirds.
First cut the little end off almost in the middle. Then slice the remaining large end in two flat ways making two thinner pieces. All three pieces are now about the same size and thickness. They fit well on smaller hamburger buns.

Add dressing and grill on high for 3-4 minutes a side or until done. It makes little doffer how long it marinates. It makes great leftovers add to a salad, make chicken salad or add to a burrito or taco. It’s always much more tender than when I grill a while breast.

Sorry no pics it’s that fast!
 
Will try that. 4 minutes per side is fast, but boneless normally cooks faster. Is this on a gas or charcoal grill? Direct or indirect heat?

Some chicken breasts are huge these days. More like a small turkey, so slicing them makes sense. We make our own marinade, which takes just a minute or two and is less expensive than store-bought, but of higher quality. Another quick cook chicken or other meat trick is kabobs. We skewer veggies and marinated chicken cubes on the grill for a quick meal. They are done in about 10 minutes.
 
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Gas usually. Direct heat. My rescued from the curb gas grill, with cheapest replacement burner is not the hottest and I don’t wait for it to heat all the way up. Quickest way to get it to the table for this one.

I tried real wood indirect last night on my kamado for the first time, still trying figure that out. Better flavor took much longer. Haven’t timed it but 3 minutes seemed about right. Gave me enough time to go inside slice tomatoes and grab condiments. Go out flip.

Want a more ethnic flavor. Swap out the dressing for plain yogurt with your favorite curry power. Buns for peta wraps.


Will try that. 4 minutes per side is fast, but boneless normally cooks faster. Is this on a gas or charcoal grill? Direct or indirect heat?

Some chicken breasts are huge these days. More like a small turkey, so slicing them makes sense. We make our own marinade, which takes just a minute or two and is less expensive than store-bought, but of higher quality. Another quick cook chicken or other meat trick is kabobs. We skewer veggies and marinated chicken cubes on the grill for a quick meal. They are done in about 10 minutes.
 
Pulled pork with smoked mango BBQ sauce for tomorrows party.

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mail must be screwed up i didn't get my invite😁

looks great
 
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Anyone thinking about a grill, bigger is better IMO.

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I will put in a plug for two regular sized grills. Not that E is wrong, just there is more than one way to skin the cat.

I run the midsized Weber's, nominal 22 inch diameter. They often show up on CL in reasonably good shape for under retail. Since I have two of them, I can set the fire in one for meat, fire the second for vegetables and not heat up the house/kitchen doing it.

@EbS-P is not wrong. Bigger is better if you can't have two. But since I have two I don't need bigger. As the appalling heat of summer 2022 recedes, grilling season looms and I will try for some pictures in the next six weeks or so.
 
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My fourteen year old cooked dinner tonight.

Apparently she had watched a video a while back about a spicy fish soup (inspired by some video game that includes food in it), and she’s been wanting to have it. We needed to get some ingredients like bean sprouts (a particular favorite of hers apparently) and some spices. We didn’t make it exactly as specified; we made some substitutions like frozen tilapia filets and chicken/turkey broth. I was pretty skeptical that it would even be edible. It turns out that the whole family enjoyed it, including my younger children. We served it over rice.

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I’m sorry that I don’t have a recipe to include, but the information is in the video.

 
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I did a fusion thing, maybe, kinda. Hatch chiles are in at my local Kroger, I only see them for two or three days this time of year. I canned a bunch on Thursday, figured the word was out around town and backed my truck up to Kroiger's door this morning. Besides filling the canner, I had enough left to make rellenos, but I don't like rellenos. I do like jalapeno poppers.

So I cut my extra Hatches into quarters, making the biggest flat pieces possible.

For filling I browned a pound of decent hamburger with some salt, cumin a little chile powder, and then mixed that into 4 ounces of soft cream cheese and 4 ounces of drained crushed pineapple. Slide some filling onto each pepper sheet, fold up like a taco, wrap with bacon, bake at 350 until the bacon is done enough to suit you, likely 15-30 minutes for most folks.

I made a bunch of them, enough for breakfast and lunch tomorrow after dinner tonight, and there were no survivors after dinner. I am calling them relle-poppers but I sure someone else must have thought of this before.
 
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With the bacon wrap, maybe barellie poppers?
 
Tomato season has arrived. Tomato Quiche for dinner made with garden tomatoes and local eggs. Yum.

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Finally figured out how to pan fry in the summer. No heat and grease all over kitchen, and the end to Grill flare ups burning the chicken. It only took about 30 years.

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Last grilling/smoking was sirloin top cap. Smoked whole. 250-300. Growing up on a beef farm I’ve had lots of different cuts. I ordered ribs at a restaurant once and was utter disappointed with the little fatty (pork) things that showed up on my plate.

This was the first time I ever had a sirloin top cap. 6$ a pound at Costco. Wet aged almost two weeks in the vacuum bag that I brought it home in.

Wow! Every bit as good as prime rib. Better than filet because of the fat cap.

Cooked to 125 and let rest. My mom thinks they are inventing new cuts of meat but I’m ok with that if they are all this good!

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Last grilling/smoking was sirloin top cap. Smoked whole. 250-300. Growing up on a beef farm I’ve had lots of different cuts. I ordered ribs at a restaurant once and was utter disappointed with the little fatty (pork) things that showed up on my plate.

This was the first time I ever had a sirloin top cap. 6$ a pound at Costco. Wet aged almost two weeks in the vacuum bag that I brought it home in.

Wow! Every bit as good as prime rib. Better than filet because of the fat cap.

Cooked to 125 and let rest. My mom thinks they are inventing new cuts of meat but I’m ok with that if they are all this good!

View attachment 298515 View attachment 298516
That looks super tasty!
 
I don't think i've even seen a sirloin top cap in any of my grocery stores. Does it go by any other names?
 
I don't think i've even seen a sirloin top cap in any of my grocery stores. Does it go by any other names?
Picanha (pronounced pi-can-ya) is a cut of beef also known as coulotte steak, top sirloin cap steak, rib cap, rump cover, rump cap, and culotte steak.

I don’t see the point of cutting into steaks but one could.