Show Us What You're Cooking! (SUWYC) - Volume 36, Winter 2024/2025

[Michael_in_TX]

Made a really good steak salad this evening.

It kinda builds on the steak dish I did yesterday. On a salted bed of arugula, I added the remainder of my french onion soup's sourdough croutons, then the leftover sliced flank steak (gently reheated in a skillet), then some crushed red pepper flakes, and a dressing that mimicked my board sauce from last night: thyme, red jalapeño, minced garlic, EVOO, and balsamic vinegar. On top of all of that, some gruyere cheese.



Oh wow, I was not expecting the gruyere to go so well with the steak! And it also paired perfectly with the splash of balsamic vinegar in the dressing. Yum!

[jfmorris]

After battening down the hatches outside in preparation for the incoming winter storm tonight, I went inside and pondered the contents of the fridge. Ultimately, I made Steak Marsala using some small ribeyes I thawed earlier in the day, and steamed two artichokes. So, a two pot meal… well a pot and my trusty Lodge skillet…




That’s it! No plated pics, but the steaks, which were seasoned, dredged in flour and browned, then set aside for a while before swimming in sauce, were extremely tender and flavorful…

[fzxdoc]

I've never made steak marsala. Chicken Marsala is one of my husband's fave dishes though, so I make it often. I'll have to google the steak version. It sounds and looks delicious. I'm assuming you use a Dry Marsala, as opposed to the Sweet Marsala? (I always use Dry Marsala for Chicken Marsala.)

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

fzxdoc Kathryn I had a couple of bottles of "Holland House" marsala cooking wine in the pantry, that were purchased when Yvonne was GOING to make chicken marsala a year ago, for a party, and never did. I couldn't tell you if it was dry or sweet, but the results were good, and we finished the leftovers yesterday for lunch, with the mushroom gravy over both steak and some baked potatoes. I tossed the bottle after cooking, as it was best by October 2024.

[fzxdoc]

I think if you maybe give "real" Marsala a go instead of Holland House cooking wine which has water, sugar and salt (!) in it, you might like your steak marsala recipe even better, Jim. The caveat not to cook with wine you wouldn't drink out of a glass was not coined for nothing, at least for me. And I'm not a wine snob by any stretch of the imagination, FWTW.

As for sweet vs dry Marsala for the dish, I go with the first I can find but prefer dry. Both are good.

K.

[HawkerXP]

Here is an update from us.

Christmas rib roast. A chicken and chuckie on the Weber.

Happy New Year!

[SammyJ]

Smoke on Brother

[Clawbear57]

Over the top delicious.

[treesmacker]

Perfectly perfect!

[Skip]

made 3# of Meatheads Italian Sausage for the freezer. Handy to have for pizza, stromboli, omelets, etc. IMO it's better than any Italian Sausage we have for sale around here.

[PGH_RAM]

Spinaker Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" has a recipe for a sage and garlic breakfast sausage that is out of this world. It helped me win over my girlfriend-now-wife's friends when I made it with biscuits to feed them when they helped her move apartments. If you're interested, let me know and I'll send it to you.

[Spinaker]

I would love to have it! Thanks! PGH_RAM

[texastweeter]

Spinaker here is my sage sausage recipe
16 ounces ground meat (70/30 - 75/25)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp parsley
3/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp msg
Pinch of Mexican oregano

[RonB]

Chicken tacos or maybe taco salad - there were tomatoes and onions in this as well as cilantro. This turned out better than I thought it would. I used taco mix as the rub/ dry brine for the chicken that I had cut into strips. The chicken turned out tender and juicy. When the chicken was close to done, I added 1/4 c of water and the rest of the taco mix. I also cooked a package of Spanish rice for the side.

[SammyJ]

Beef Burgers and Bacon!

[HawkerXP]

Beautiful!

[Clawbear57]

Looks great. What did you cook the burgers on?

[SammyJ]

Breville smart grill.

[DaveD]

Latest iteration of ChiliBeans. Started with leftover tri tip and eye round roast that had both been cooked via SVQ. The tri tip looked absolutely perfect, but it was super chewy (yes, I know how to slice a tri tip). The eye round (testing out cuts to use as lunchmeat; verdict = eye round no go for that) came out very tender, but rather dry being such a lean cut. So what do we do with meats that come out chewy or dry? Into the chili pot of course!

Chunked up the meat and started with our now de rigeur approach of Carroll Shelby chili mix, zhuzhed up with some Rancho Gordo red chile powder and a quarter cup of Hatch green chile, along with a can of diced tomatoes spiced with roasted green chile. I know I could experiment and come up with some way of fashioning my own chili seasonings and all that... but damn the Shelby mix is really outstanding, and life is increasingly short.





Once all that was mixed up, I added the bones and a couple of chunks of fatty meat left over from a cook of double-bone Iberico pork chops, the best pork we have ever eaten. Just left them in there all afternoon while the chili simmered.



Once it had simmered for 15-20 min, put the DO in the oven set at about 250/120 and let it go all afternoon. Then added some RG midnight black beans I'd made a couple weeks ago for the last half-hour.




We have switched from Tostitos Scoops to their lower-sodium chips, which do not have the same shape, making the pinky shot a little more challenging to achieve This batch of chilibeans came out incredibly well! The pork bones came out clean as a whistle, I only had to just lift them out of the pot:



And the combined flavors from the two kinds of beef (with tri tip's very distinctive beefiness) and the Iberico pork were just sublime. Some of the best I have made for sure.

Order up!

[texastweeter]

No scoops = larger surface area for beans!

[DaveD]

texastweeter I do like the lower-salt chips for flavor, hands down. We've been adopting low-salt versions of lots of things over the years, there is so much salt in so much food. But that Scoops shape is extremely convenient! Wish they'd make a low-salt version...!

[texastweeter]

They used to make some baked ones that were good, Multigrain too, but never seen low sodium

[HotSun]

I started making some bean and ham soup on Wednesday night and finished Thursday night. It is very cold here, so soup is the perfect food for this weather.

White Bean Ham Soup
- Ingredients in the order I used them -
Round 1 - Wedneday night

• bacon fat for sauteeing
• 2 large carrots, diced fine
• 3 small onions, diced fine
• 2 pounds navy beans, rinsed and sorted
• 8 cups water (I think)
• 1.5 quarts ham broth
• 1.5 quarts dark chicken broth
• 1 ham bone (from smoked ham)
• 1.4 kg ham, cubed
• 4 bay leaves
• Pepper to taste

Round 2 - Thursday

• 2 pounds white northern beans, cooked
• 1 quart ham broth (from base)

Wednesday:
Using pressure cookers > Sauteed carrots and onions, about 5 minutes
Added navy beans, ham and chicken broth, bone, ham, and bay leaves
Cooked on low pressure 25 minutes, natural release
Added pepper to taste

I wanted more beans, since I wanted a heartier soup, so....

Thursday:
Soaked and cooked 2 pounds of white northern beans
Added to the soup along with 1 quart of broth made from ham base

Added some additional solid ham base to boost the flavor.

My lunch today:



Pretty good and very hearty. The navy beans are a little al dente, but not in a bad way. This yielded over 2 gallons of soup. I froze a bunch and will give some to our neighbors.

[HotSun]

Addendum: I used ingredients I had in the freezer and pantry. The ham broth was from a couple hams. The dark chicken broth was some that I made a couple weeks ago, from chicken thighs. The ham base is a low sodium base made by RC Fine Foods. I added no salt, as the other ingredients were salty enough.

I blended some of the white northern beans to make the soup creamier.

[Clawbear57]

Comfort food. I could use that soup today.

[58limited]

About 20 lbs of Hatch cheddar sausage. I have about four more pounds to smoke, it would not all fit into the KBQ.

EDIT: I just pulled the last four pounds off the KBQ (picture added below). I had two minor blow outs when stuffing and I went ahead and cooked them with the rest. I just had one for lunch. OMG, this really is some of the best sausage that I've ever made.






Edit: The last four pounds

[58limited]

texastweeter Yes. A local supplier sells it for $22.50/5lbs.

[texastweeter]

Never used it, just so expensive it makes my homemade sausage more expensive to make.

[tamidw]

Yum! I can give you my address to send some for samples if you need anyone to test them. Haha!

[troymeister]

What happens when you find Lobster Tails on sale for $7.99 lb? You buy them! Then you cook them...Then you EAT them...Oh Yeah!!

1.94lbs of Lobster for just under 16 bucks. That's like winning the lotto...lol

[DTro]

Pretty!

[DaveD]

I'm not a lobster kinda guy but that looks incredible!

[fzxdoc]

What a find! Looks marvelous.

K.

[hoovarmin]

I have a gas leak in my line so I can't use the stove til it gets fixed next week. I was making this Creole Chili with my little Chef Master portable when it ran out of Butane. Luckily, I still had the wok burner out back, so the show was able to go on! Loving this dish in the cold weather we've been having. Paprika file below the pics.

[hoovarmin]

Clawbear57 the biggest feat of the endeavor was keeping the flat bottomed pot from falling off the wok burner while stirring the roux!

[fzxdoc]

Nice save. And thanks for the recipe. I downloaded the one from the You Tube folks you recommend, but I'm guessing your tweaks kicked it up a notch or two.

K.

[troymeister]

I like this recipe. I downloaded and will try soon. I will tweak it slightly to make it diabetic friendly. A good Chili has been on my radar lately. Thanks for sharing.

[xrodbob]

First time using my new Xmas Lodge Dutch oven and first time making Hungarian beef goulash. Came out pretty good - SWMBO approved

[texastweeter]

Hmmm looks close to Texas red. What's in it?

[xrodbob]

Hungarian Sweet Paprika adds all the color. Some recipes call for tomato sauce/paste/pieces but I didn’t add that for this version. Supposedly tomatoes in an authentic goulash is like beans in a Texas chili. Verboten!

[barelfly]

That looks like my Oma’s goulash!!!!!! Looks excellent!!!

[SheilaAnn]

Not so much a cook, as a project. I was gifted a couple jars of a crushed red pepper and seaweed combo. It’s delicious on its own…. And then it hit me…. Chili Crisp! So I started with chilipeppermadness recipe and went from there. I added mushroom powder and did not use the Serrano pepper. BF said it should be called Cheela Crisp! From what I’ve tasted already, I will reduce the mushroom powder next time.

[fzxdoc]

Looks like you've got a nice jar of tastiness there. Congrats.

Serious Eats has a good recipe too. I like Momofuku's CC because it is mostly crunchy bits without much oil. The oil component, though, is good for searing meats in the wok.

K.

[HotSun]

hoovarmin , not sure if this is useful, but I just make my own mushroom powder. I buy packages of dried mushrooms at the asian market (usually shitake) and pop them in the blender. They pulverize nicely. I use it mainly in braising. The same market sells many different mushroom powders, too.

[SheilaAnn]

Ok, so I tasted it today, it’s mild!! Where the original gifted chiles were spicy on their own. But, it’s still very tasty. All kinds of umami. I will definitely use this like I do my Fly By Jing. I see a noodle dish in my future!

hoovarmin I just picked up some mushroom powder that I saw at my health food store. I love the idea from HotSun and just grinding your own.

[texastweeter]

Venison quick chili over baked taters. Dewberry cobler for dessert.

[SheilaAnn]

I wish I had some dewberries…..

[hoovarmin]

Break out the vanilla Ice cream and prepare a place for me to sleep through the food coma to follow.

[fzxdoc]

Great-looking meal there! I bet that chili went down good with a tasty beer or two.

Kathryn

[HotSun]

My turn for turkey chili with beans. Nothing terribly exotic, but it turned out so well.

600g of smoked turkey (Japanese maple) from last Sunday:


I chopped the turkey, added tomato sauce, a can of red kidney beans, 5 tbps of McCormick's chili seasoning (I have some I'm trying to get rid of). A little bit of water so it wouldn't scald in the pressure cooker.


3 minutes at low pressure, natural release. I added a couple tablespoons of mass harina to thicken.

Served with some Mexican shreds and a corn chip, a la hoovarmin :


It is very mild, but delicious. I added some of this that I just opened (it's been in the back of the pantry forever and a day):


This is a very hot, but absolutely delicious hot sauce.

I had to add some sour cream to temper the heat. Really, really good.

[DaveD]

Loves me some turkey chili. That looks delish

[hoovarmin]

Great use of leftover turkey, and "Pain is Good" might be the best name for a hot sauce I've ever heard.

[fzxdoc]

Nice way to use smoked turkey, which brings some good flavor to the party, especially when compared to using ground turkey.

Kathryn