The food thread

It took me 40+ years to figure out how to drip oil out of that bottle.

Since I was a teenager I kept shaking it and getting just a bit at a time.. then one day, my teenage daughter used it in front of me.

It was a "DUH" moment.

I was in my 50s.

It's a huge plastic bag, I have not peeked inside. They told me it's 18 lbs so it's my job to dry rub them and put them into vacuum bags... after they slice it into big pieces.
 
@Cal Weldon thank you for the tip on using the instant pot for proofing. I'll try that when I'm actually baking.
I'm currently in the early days of a 3 way experiment with making starter cultures. One was started with a dry sourdough beer bread mix and fed nothing but unbleached flour/water. The second was from the same mix but gets a fraction of whole wheat flour added to each feeding and the third is a traditional starter made with whole wheat flour and fed the same as #2. Maybe they'll all turn out the same in the end, but whats a little flour and time?
I have a giant pork shoulder in the freezer, but not for long... gotta make space for a half beef. I'm going to get as much fat as possible to render into tallow. Finally my big brew kettle will come in handy again.
 
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Turns out Sukiyaki is very similar to Shabu Shabu which both mean thinly sliced meat but in reality they are both fondues.
We don't use the Japanese terms as such as my wife is from Vietnam, and at one time it was occupied by the French so naturally that is the term used.
It is not a snack or dessert, it is your evening communal meal. Meat vegetables and noodles. Every fondue pot I have seen is divided in one way or another. I think the idea is to keep the meat separate from the others but we use ours as two different flavours.
We have one of these dual concentric ones as well but we prefer the side by side unit.
 

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Sukiyaki IS NOT shabu shabu...

We learned that lesson in '90 at a Kyoto shabu shabu restaurant. The waitress came racing to our table when she saw my wife putting the meat into the pot as if it were sukiyaki. My wife was "handling" the cooking and all I heard was a long train of hurried Nihongo and a pair of hands undoing a lot of things....

Ay....

Shabu shabu "swish... swish" in Japanese is the sound that the very thinly sliced meat makes as your "swish it" twice through the water and then take it out and dip it into the sauce.. It should be still very, VERY pink. Ponzu and peanut like dipping sauces.

Sukiyaki... you throw all of the veggies and tofu into the broth, separated, then you add the meat and let it sit for a little bit. You take the veggies out and the meat out as well. The sauces are also different. Usually no dipping sauce actually.

We use a steel pot that looks like a bundt cake cut in half for shabu shabu. The flame heat the pot from the inside and the outside so it gets hot quickly.

For suki yaki we use either a clay or a cast iron "nabe" Much larger than the shabu shabu pot, that way we can dump the blocks of tofu, mushrooms, veggies etc...

While we're at it... do you cook Korean BBQ? We got yet another couple of grills for that. The idea is that you put water on the bottom layer and then cover than with the open grill. It's really good, you can grill some veggies, blocks of tofu and meats...

I've never heard anyone refer to any of that as fondue.... A chacon son gout, I guess.
 
Sukiyaki... you throw all of the veggies and tofu into the broth, separated, then you add the meat and let it sit for a little bit. You take the veggies out and the meat out as well. The sauces are also different. Usually no dipping sauce actually.
Okay well that describes fondue to a T. You make sure the ingredients are put in at specific times so it can all be taken out at the same time.
I've never heard anyone refer to any of that as fondue.
Well, that's because in your cozy little corner of California you can't be exposed to everything Tony
While we're at it... do you cook Korean BBQ? We got yet another couple of grills for that.
No, not at home. That's more of a going out kind of thing for us. Sure you can get these guys for at home but we haven't felt the need yet.
 

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We got lots of Korean BBQ restaurants around here.... eons ago, our favorite one burned down ( how apropos, eh? ), up in Garden Grove.

The thing with Korean BBQ joints is that when you come home you smell like a Korean BBQ.... so, we set up a table for eight in our atrium so we can cook the table top BBQ outdoors without smoking the house. Maybe if we ever build another house, we'll do it Benihana style, with a big hood over an integrated teppan/range/island.

Then I can wear a chef's hat, make chop-chop sounds, drink lots of sake and beer and spend my evening keeping the knife away from my fingertips while the shrimp fly... Oyyy!!

Oh, I realized you paid me a complement earlier about how I plate out the food out on the table.... I forgot to thank you. My bad. Thank you.

You know, I've never had fondue in my entire life... Neat pots.
 
@Cal Weldon thank you for the tip on using the instant pot for proofing.
Very welcome. We just guessed it would be good as the temp for yogurt is pretty much the same. Turns out to be just right.
Having said that, the Mrs. is the baker and I know for sure her skills are not yet where yours are but we both like to learn more as we enter our golden years.
 
The thing with Korean BBQ joints is that when you come home you smell like a Korean BBQ....
I can think of things I came home smelling of that make Korean BBQ seem like perfume.
so, we set up a table for eight in our atrium
Ya, ya California dream boy. Most of us here live in little hovels and have to use our honey's pantyhose to dry our meats. That means she has to wear her only other pair she owns for over a month, thanks to you 'atrium boys'
Then I can wear a chef's hat, make chop-chop sounds, drink lots of sake and beer
Let me bring my camera next time.
I forgot to thank you. My bad. Thank you.
Too much Sake, you did say thank you in your cosy California way.
You know, I've never had fondue in my entire life...
You did a good job of hiding that fact.
 
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I thought you guys lived in igloos and survived on yellow ice cones.... ;-)

OK, not quite true.... I've been in Vancouver in the winter... it's just COLD.... VERY COLD. And the sun is pretty low in the horizon at noon around Christmas.

Besides, you lived in Hawai'i... so you should remember how nice it is to kick back outdoors at night while it's 74F during Christmas... It gets cold here in coastal SoCal.

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Well, the Eye of Round experiment turned out ok. Tender and tasty for a lean cut. I think it'll make killer sandwiches and I have a baguette so that's tomorrow's lunch or dinner.
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Cal, I'm not much of a baker but I do get lucky from time to time. Here's two of my favorites from the last time I had a sourdough starter on hand. An orange-blueberry loaf (John Folse) and a couple loaves of my sourdough ciabatta
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Turns out Sukiyaki is very similar to Shabu Shabu which both mean thinly sliced meat but in reality they are both fondues.
We don't use the Japanese terms as such as my wife is from Vietnam, and at one time it was occupied by the French so naturally that is the term used.
It is not a snack or dessert, it is your evening communal meal. Meat vegetables and noodles. Every fondue pot I have seen is divided in one way or another. I think the idea is to keep the meat separate from the others but we use ours as two different flavours.
We have one of these dual concentric ones as well but we prefer the side by side unit.
Love shabu shabu korean. Had it in korea and at special get-togethers here. Need to get myself a hot plate of some sort.
 
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Well, the Eye of Round experiment turned out ok. Tender and tasty for a lean cut. I think it'll make killer sandwiches and I have a baguette so that's


tomorrow's lunch or dinner.
Cal, I'm not much of a baker but I do get lucky from time to time. Here's two of my favorites from the last time I had a sourdough starter on hand. An orange-blueberry loaf (John Folse) and a couple loaves of my sourdough ciabatta

The whole thing looks great.

Try fine slicing the Eye of Round when it's cold, it makes a fantastic beef sandwich... mix some dijon mustard and real mayo ( no sugar ).... slice and toast the bread, use some saurkraut and a nice chilled beer. Oktoberfest year 'round. I love it that way.

Sliced thinly, it also works warmed up and served either au jous or on mashed potatoes and gravy.

I think that Eye Of Round is best thin sliced when in between medium rear and medium...

How did you end up cooking?

That orange-blueberry loaf looks like a fantastic dessert... a slightly warmed slice, with vanilla ice cream and a glass of dark port or cream sherry... mmmm....
 
Thanks fellas.
Tony, sous vide for about 22 hours @131° (4lb roast) before searing over coals on the weber.
That orange/Blueberry loaf is fantastic. I was baking it with starter discard and wouldn't change a thing. Lemon/Blueberry baked goods are another favorite that I'll have to try.
Next up is another favorite, tarte tatin. Our youngest introduced us to Chef John's tarte tatin video a number of years ago and wanted to try it. It's incredible what 3 bucks worth of butter, sugar, apples and filo dough can become. French vanilla over that 👍
 
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My daughter makes stuff like that. She's primarily a pastry chef. But her hands are too hot -so she was told by one of her teachers- so she stopped making butter croissants and started on sauces.

Cheesecakes, apple tarte... we're discussing making a Beef Wellington one of these weekends. If it's pastry, she's got it covered. When she bakes we go through butter.... lots and lots of butter.

We're also doing some research into German style cheesecakes, which are completely different from what we get in North America.

Oh, I haven't made bread for a while. I used to put a ripe banana into my french bagettes. It makes for an amazing dough.

Bon Appetit!