7
votes
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
Not much interesting on the food front. My family's trying Hello Fresh, Blue Apron and EveryPlate, and of the first two Hello Fresh is better: More fun to cook, better recipes, and tries to help you learn to cook instead of having you whang a bunch of stuff together it seems. Different strokes for different folks, but Blue Apron feels more like it's focused on convenience than the joy of cooking, even if the meals take roughly the same time.
I've been having a lot of fun with coffee, just after getting my new 1zpresso JX. I think it'sbecause it's easier to track my adjustments compared to my old Skerton (which I still love and is a damn fine grinder).
I mentioned I got a gift subscription to Trade. The first bag was Steady State Degefa which is something that, by the description, I should like, but I never got any flavors out of it I was into. I wanted something brighter and fruitier, but it sort of fell over with the experimental processing they did on it. It was light, sweet, and a bit fruity and nutty.
I bought a bag of Deathwish on a whim, also after reading an article about robusta coffee, so I wanted to see what was up with it. It tasted familiar, so I looked up Folgers, and found they both have a mix of robusta beans, which is why they both taste like burned rubber, at least when made with any sort of drip/pourover. Taking some inspiration from PV3's quest for a decent Malört cocktail I decided to use all of the tools at my disposal to try to make a cup of Deathwish I wouldn't grimace while drinking. It wasn't as big a deal as I expected. Some results:
V60: That bad robusta burned rubber taste is there. Bitter, sulphury, caffeiney astringency. I went cooler on the water (180F) knowing to be careful about pulling bitterness out, but subsequent brews with coarser coffee or cooler water, or other methods, show it's just there to be worked around.
French Press: I went out on a limb combining concepts from two James Hoffman videos: Immersion Coffee Brewing is Better than Percolation and his Ultimate French Press Technique. The result was actually quite pleasant. It didn't develop the rubbery flavor I'd had before, and if I decide to just burn the whole bag, I'll be doing it half a liter+30g at a time this way.
Aeropress (with Fellow Prismo attachment): Similar to the french press. I put 30g in with 100ml of water at 190F, mixed, let sit a minute, pressed for 10 seconds and added 200ml of hot water, and it was strong, but not very sulphury or extremely bitter. I went cooler than I would've for a lighter brew.
Phin (aka: "Vietnamese Coffee") The same article that caused me to buy Deathwish on the basis of its robusta content revealed that Vietnamese coffee is, by and large, robusta. In fact Nguyen Coffee Supply specifically touts itself as focusing on this niche. But the realization led me to try this out, as it's a technique I've wanted to try at home, and it never tasted right. The robusta was key.
I guess the last thing is I've been trying out some decaf beans. I bought a bag of Blue Bottle decaf at my local Target, and Mother Tongue Yummy Decaf from Trade (who forward the order to the roaster, who ships the coffee). Oddly, the Blue Bottle is better, to me, brewed the same way (the Aeropress method I used for the Death Wish experiment, as they're both darker), but I'll play with the brew to see what I can get out of it. The Ymmy Decaf just seems more mildly flavored.
I just did short ribs with a cola braise from the excellent TV show The Bear. I somewhat used the Binging With Babish recipe, but I cooked it sous vide for 72 hours at 62 °C instead of actually braising the ribs.
Last week I tried to make biscuits and gravy but some substitutions ruined it. Bread flour instead of AP made the biscuits too mealy while a nonstick pan prevented my sausage from making a proper fond for the gravy.
Tonight I am probably going to make rice crispy treats.
I made a big batch of potato stew yesterday, an ideal fall/winter meal prep. I've been experimenting on making a potato stew that's thick and creamy without actually using cream. Not opposed to a good bit of dairy, I just don't like a milk base. I ended up making a brown roux as a base, and then adding things in after it browned. It worked quite well, and that'll probably be my go-to method whenever I make potato stew again. The color & thickness was pretty spot on, and the flavor was great. Adding some greens, kale in my case, helped keeping the soup from getting too heavy as well; without it I'd probably go into a food coma after a bowl!
In a similar sort of vein, I made African-Inspired Peanut Soup (more of a sweet potato stew than a soup) for the first time a few days ago. It was very rich, and incredibly hearty, but also super super delicious. So I will definitely be making it again, and wholeheartedly recommend others give it a try too!
I've been making meatballs using a few British recipes. They're not great. I'm going to try these three this week:
not another cooking show: my MEATBALL METHOD has 1 trick to it for the best meatballs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQ7Q1INJhk
not another cooking show: I’ve Been Eating Spaghetti and Meatballs Wrong My Entire Life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLMH8bANH84
Brian Lagerstrom: Spaghetti and meatballs (3 Tricks For Perfect Meatballs) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiRSbtU45ws
Here are some examples of British style meatballs. It's just meat, or maybe meat and some herbs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/healthy_meatballs_05528
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spaghetti_and_meatballs_69603