Prog Chefs Unite!!!

Angelo wrote: Right now, I've got a nice piece of pork belly roasting in the oven, on top of some vegetables. The veggies and fat will be the base for a nice gravy, and the lot will be served with fries and a salad. Simple, cheap and scaringly good.

Better, make your own - it's easy as hell.

Finnforest wrote: I've been really getting into the olive bar, especially the fragrant kalamatas.....hard to stop once you start.  Anyone here an olive lover?   Suggestions?

Oh yes, absolutely!

Kalamatas are hard to top, though.
Do you enjoy tapenade Jim?
If you haven't tried it, I suggest some of that, a nice Italian wine and some crackers and you're good to go!

Atavachron wrote: Dean wrote: This evening I attempted puerco pibil, the pork dish that Agent Sands obsessed over in Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico. I should qualify "attempted" here as annatto seeds (that give the dish its colour and contribute to the flavour) are pretty hard to come by in deepest darkest Hampshire - but being a resourceful cook, I substituted pimentón and a pinch of nutmeg and hoped for the best, (I should also add that the traditional banana leaves that the meat is wrapped in during cooking are also unavailable in the average British town - here substituting aluminium foil didn't seem too much of a gamble). could you substitute a little saffron or saffron oil for the annatto?   can't think of a good banana leaf sub but I suppose any large, mildly flavored green leaves might work.

Annatto is used as a cheaper substitute for saffron so it is possible, however, I think saffron in sufficient quantity for a pork shoulder could possibly be overpowering in flavour, it would also be massively expensive. I suspect the main flavour of the dish comes from the oranges and the colour of what I made was a pretty good match to pictures I've seen of the real thing. Annatto is used in Indian cooking, so I probably could find it if I looked harder and in the right towns.

Finnforest wrote: I've been really getting into the olive bar, especially the fragrant kalamatas.....hard to stop once you start.  Anyone here an olive lover?   Suggestions?

Buy a can of large black olives.

Eat them.

That's my favorite. 

Used to put them on my fingers as a kid. 

Dean wrote: This evening I attempted puerco pibil, the pork dish that Agent Sands obsessed over in Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico. I should qualify "attempted" here as annatto seeds (that give the dish its colour and contribute to the flavour) are pretty hard to come by in deepest darkest Hampshire - but being a resourceful cook, I substituted pimentón and a pinch of nutmeg and hoped for the best, (I should also add that the traditional banana leaves that the meat is wrapped in during cooking are also unavailable in the average British town - here substituting aluminium foil didn't seem too much of a gamble).

could you substitute a little saffron or saffron oil for the annatto?   can't think of a good banana leaf sub but I suppose any large, mildly flavored green leaves might work.

Also, eariler today I made cheese on toast for our lunch, using Heston Blumenthal's super stringy Cheese fondue recipe... what can I say? I've been making cheese sauce for years - thin for fish (and macaroni and cauliflower), thick for chicken cordon bleu, runny for Welsh rarebit - and have used the "tried and tested" method that everyone uses: make a rue using butter and flour, loosen with milk and then add the cheese and flavour with mustard.. simples. So the notion of using what is essentially standard fondue recipe (sorry Blumenthal, nothing unusual in your recipe really) for that seems unecessary - yet it works (and as he says, it's runny and stringy, not thick and stodgy) and it works marvelously well, so well infact I may even use it next time I cook chicken cordon bleu.

I've never had eggplant Parmesan, nor have I cooked it before.  But tonight, my eggplant Parmesan was perhaps one of the best things I've ever cooked.  I also created a recipe for a sauce tonight that my wife has deemed excellent, a sauce I should "not change at all."  I know I've hit a home run when we both find the dish incredible. 

I'm already looking forward to having it again (even if it requires quite a bit of prep time).

A recipe from an old cookbook of mine:

COLD MIXED CUCUMBERS
A Simple Side Dish of Sliced, Seeded Cucumbers with a Light Sesame-flavored Dressing.

2 medium-size cucumbers

Preparation:
Cut ends from cucumbers. Peel and cut in half lengthwise, then scoop
out and discard the seeds. Cut across into ~-inch slices. Refrigerate.

Cold Seasoning Sauce
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Combine these ingredients, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved.  Add to chilled cucumbers. Mix well but lightly with hands to prevent bruising. Serve immediately, or chill in refrigerator 10 to 15 minutes, no longer.

Serving:
Transfer cucumbers and sauce to a serving bowl. Yield: one order, serving 4 as a side dish.

Comments:
This cold-mixed dish is apparently too simple to be served in restaurants. It is included here because of its ease in preparation and for the cool, refreshing flavor. It is a handy recipe to have to fill out a menu which may be lacking in fresh vegetables. The dish is best to serve alone, or as part of a variety of cold dishes served as an appetizer. It is equally good when made solely with peanut oil, omitting the sesame oil-a consideration when included on a menu with other sesame flavored dishes.

Padraic wrote: Epignosis wrote: I cannot legally drive.  I don't think I heard this story - PM please.