Foodies BS Thread.

Ribs! Charred on the grill for 10 minutes. Then stuck in the oven at 225 for 5hrs. Pulled em out, added my sauces (2 different pans, so 2 sauces) and back in for an hour! I used my own special blend of spices for the dry rub for 2 days also.

 

I need help with a Meat Grinder. My hand cranked one is on its way out so anyone have suggestions on a quality replacement? I realize this might be another thread worthy. Wanted to ask here first.

 

If you have the kitchen aid mixer buy the attachment. If you dont have one get one they are great for everything you need.

 

Link?

 

Google is your friend...

$60 KitchenAid Food Grinder Attachment

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004SGFH

 

I haven't used the grinder piece, but i did use the stuffer piece and it really sucks. I bit the bullet and got a 5lb stuffer and couldn't be happier. Everything i've read is that if you are going to do larger amounts get a separate grinder.

 

I have ground 10 lb, I just do it right freeze it a bit before grinding and slice into decent pieces.

 

^^^ That looks really good

 

X2! Love the tots! It's been quiet in here lately.....

 

I have been cooking, got a cpl of pics but have not downloaded them yet. This week I might make something photo worthy on wednesday.

 

Another homestyle classic for dinner tonite. Yellow peppers stuffed with Zataran's dirty rice, sweet Italian sausage and peppers topped with cheddar cheese....

 

Looks fab, but the sausage is already giving me reflux lol

 

Yeah, it was a little rough on the gizzard but it was worth it!

 

Considering the 'meh' result of my last couple of attempts at French Onion Soup, I almost didn't try this. BUT, I'm a huge nut for french onion soup, and since I have a bunch of time on my hands right now, I figured "What the hell! What's one more shot at it!"

So, here's the breakdown:

INGREDIENTS

- time, and lots of it
- 4 or 5 large onions, sweet and white/yellow mix
- 6 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup decent red wine
- 8 cups (2 boxes of store bought) beef stock/broth
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- bread of choice for toasting/topping
- melty cheese of choice for top ( I used provalone in this one, gruyere also works nicely)


METHOD

*Quarter your onions and slice them into ring pieces, seperated. FYI, this takes a big-ass bowl. For size comparison sake, here's the result of four onions next to my full-sized laptop



*Melt the butter in a big honkin' pot, on medium-high heat. I wasn't sure if this one was gonna be big enough at first, or if I'd need to get the big stock pot out, but it JUST fit. Dump the onions in, sprinkle in a wee bit o salt and sweat them bad boys down. I'd let it sit about two minutes, stir the whole mess, let it sit two minutes, stir...rinse/repeat. I did this for a long damned time.



*Did your eyes happen to skip over the ingredients list above? Please look back up there now, and take note of the first item. You're going to be here a while, stirring every two minutes. Here's what mine looked like after half an hour.



*After an hour



I went to a five minute cook between stirrings at this point. Once most of the standing liquid cooked out and the real browning starts, sprinkle on a tablespoon or so of sugar across the whole pot.

*Two hours, 15 minutes later



SUCCESS! Add in your garlic, stir it in, and cook until fragrant....a minute or two. Watch it though, you have the heat kinda high, so DON'T let it sit/burn. Burnt garlic sucks and will destroy a dish.

*Dump in your wine and deglaze the pot. Use a wooden spoon and scrape up all the yummy fond (brown bits) on the bottom of the pot. Cook it for about 2 minutes. Then add in the beef broth. Toss in the bay leaf and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and get comfy.

I ended up simmering mine about three and a half hours or so, stirring it every 30-40 minutes. While simmering, it actually gets multicolored around the bubbles!



*So, about 5 hours after I started, I filled up three big bowls. I kinda goofed here and didn't have the correct size bread, so forgive me if it looks kinda crappy in the last steps. I had to use some regular white bread and toasted it. *shrug* I'll do it right with french bread and proper crocks for next time...



*Anyhow, top the soup with the toasted bread and good melty cheese. Stick under the broiler for a couple mins until the proper amount of bubbly/browning for you is achieved. DON'T walk away, this part happens really, really fast! I had the grates in the middle of the oven, about 8 inches from the broiler, for this step, I didn't want them to brown TOO fast.



Now, my wifey-poo will tell me when my food is bad, and when its good. But she's not one for superfluous praise or flowery adjectives.

But THIS? She took a step back, and looked at me, and actually said it was not only 'Superb!', but the best tasting thing I've ever made and better than she'd ever had at any restaurant ever.

Lets just say I'm pretty pleased with it myself. It isn't hard to make, but very time consuming, and HOLY GOD is it a magnificent bowl of soup. This really does put most restaurant french onion to shame.

 

Looks good Xaks, how did it taste?

 

Tonight's dinner: skillet meatloaf with cheese, steamed fresh broccoli, sauteed fresh squash with curry powder...raw sugar snaps were already devoured.

 

Arguably the best french onion I've ever had.

And french onion is something I get pretty much EVERYwhere. Its a favorite of mine, and you can usually tell how good a kitchen is by how good or bad their french onion comes out.

This was...well, I think she might have been right. This is maybe even better than my tomato sausage soup.

 

Hey guys, I'm planning on making a roast in a crockpot for my class tomorrow. Anybody have any special recipes they'd like to share with me? I've never made any kind of roast, nor used a crock pot haha so help me out!

Many thanks in advance.

 

Here's my generic roast crock work:

Take a couple stalks of celery, and a couple carrots, about half an onion, a bunch of mushrooms, some garlic, fresh black pepper, and some salt.

Rough chop the veggies. Toss into crock. Add just enough stock/broth to cover the bottom, a bit over half a cup in mine. Add a bunch of garlic and pepper just cause I like those.

Take hunk of beast and lay it down on the bed of stuff. Apply seasonings to meat as you like...not much beyond salt and pepper for me, maybe some old bay or italian seasoning if that's your thing. If possible, make sure meat isn't touching walls of crock.

Additionally, you can add hunks of taters all around and eat them with. Totally optional.

Slap on the lid. Set to cook on low for 6, 8 or 10 hours.

Come home from work, open door, and get slapped in the face by the smell of a house full of roast. Drool all the way to the kitchen.

Take roast out of crock. Place it on a rack, cover loosely with foil. Let it sit at least five minutes. Use this time to make some veggies or something for a side.

Ta-da.