Author Topic: Food and How you Cook/Eat it (2009-2012)  (Read 97293 times)

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Offline houston-nat

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1800: November 19, 2012, 10:57:24 AM »
I hope you've started the process already. I've never bought a frozen turkey, but I understand it can take several days.

Ooooh! This is an excuse to share my blog post about the Thanksgiving I had in London a couple years ago, when my roommate and his girlfriend got drunk and decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner. But they couldn't find a turkey, so they got a frozen chicken and a duck and started thawing them in the microwave two hours before everybody came over to eat. Epic things ensued.

Quote
At 6:30 I headed over to the kitchen, where Alan and Eva were finally examining the birds and making an unsurprising discovery. They were still iced over. Of course, this problem took a while to identify (“Are you telling me I have to stick my hand up its butt?”), and required a phone call to Alan’s mother to solve (“You can put a whole chicken in the microwave?”).

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1801: November 19, 2012, 11:12:17 AM »
Try brining your bird, my baked chicken (can't afford turkey on college budget) turned out really nice and moistI because of it. Did mine for 4 hours (lower end of the spectrum for a chicken) and was not salty at all.

 http://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/BriningPoultry.htm

Made a cheap thanksgiving dinner on Saturday when I found out two of my roommates would not be having an american thanksgiving. No one should be deprived of stuffing. Using my thermometer we came out alive without salmonella :lol:  we now have have awesome leftovers as well

Offline blue911

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1802: November 19, 2012, 01:00:29 PM »
Try brining your bird, my baked chicken (can't afford turkey on college budget) turned out really nice and moistI because of it. Did mine for 4 hours (lower end of the spectrum for a chicken) and was not salty at all.

 http://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/BriningPoultry.htm

Made a cheap thanksgiving dinner on Saturday when I found out two of my roommates would not be having an american thanksgiving. No one should be deprived of stuffing. Using my thermometer we came out alive without salmonella :lol:  we now have have awesome leftovers as well

Congratulations on surviving your Thanksgiving dinner :thumbs: :poke:

Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1803: November 19, 2012, 04:39:34 PM »
bought it yesterday, so it'll have 3.5-4 days before cooking, definitely cutting it close

i think the rule of thumb is 1 day in the fridge for every 4 lbs.

And yes, brine that bird!  Alton's brine is very good but a bit too sweet for my tastes.  I'm going with this one this year:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-brine/

but i am following Brown's cooking method -

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

Careful though, the initial 500 degree sear WILL fill your house with lots of smoke.

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1804: November 19, 2012, 04:46:16 PM »
I'm using cooks illustrated method,  long and slow with breast down for first half followed by raising the temp to finish browning -  their recipes usually work well for me

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1805: November 19, 2012, 04:54:54 PM »
I'm using cooks illustrated method,  long and slow with breast down for first half followed by raising the temp to finish browning -  their recipes usually work well for me

Goodness that sounds awesome :az: will try that!



That's what I made this weekend - first time cooking a whole chicken but it was worth it! :D very happy with my cast iron cookware. It's opened up a lot of new opportunities for cooking, which is great since I've been cooking for at least 7-8 years by now.

Now if I can learn how to brown the skin better... I'll learn that in time, once whole chickens go on a deep sale again. I also need to learn how to carve chickens better but at the moment I have really crappy knives and I won't be getting a nice set anytime soon. But it tastes good, no matter how poorly it's shredded.

Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1806: November 19, 2012, 04:57:34 PM »
i've done Alton's method a few times, always comes out perfect.

man that cast iron dish looks good.  Now you have to get yourself a dutch oven!

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1807: November 19, 2012, 04:58:15 PM »
Goodness that sounds awesome :az: and it'd prevent dried breast :)

(Image removed from quote.)

That's what I made this weekend - first time cooking a whole chicken but it was worth it! :D very happy with my cast iron cookware, I can cook a lot of oven-based things that I would have never been able to do before.

Now if I can learn how to brown the skin better... I'll learn that in time, and once whole chickens go on a deep sale again.

Did you dry the skin before seasoning?  That helps a lot.  You can also raise the temp for the last 15-20 min (I go up to 500 for a chicken),  but your sides and skillet might not like that

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1808: November 19, 2012, 04:59:45 PM »
i've done Alton's method a few times, always comes out perfect.

man that cast iron dish looks good.  Now you have to get yourself a dutch oven!

$$$ :( In time brother, in time. (I'd love one!)

Did you dry the skin before seasoning?  That helps a lot.  You can also raise the temp for the last 15-20 min (I go up to 500 for a chicken),  but your sides and skillet might not like that

Nope, I was hungry. Will do - got to plan a LITTLE more in advance (I pretty much decided 5 hours before to do this so not that much time!)


This reminds me, any good chicken quarters recipes? They're very cheap and delicious, just wanted to know if you guys like doing them a specific way. And I don't own a grill!  :mg:

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1809: November 19, 2012, 05:58:07 PM »
This reminds me, any good chicken quarters recipes? They're very cheap and delicious, just wanted to know if you guys like doing them a specific way. And I don't own a grill!  :mg:

Can you do coq au vin with quarters? Basically what I'd say is anything involving a big glass roasting dish with high walls, throw the quarters in, cover 'em in your favorite spices (rosemary, pepper, paprika, something like that) and then all the gaps fill in with vegetables. Simple, tasty.

Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1810: November 19, 2012, 06:00:45 PM »
Can you do coq au vin with quarters? Basically what I'd say is anything involving a big glass roasting dish with high walls, throw the quarters in, cover 'em in your favorite spices (rosemary, pepper, paprika, something like that) and then all the gaps fill in with vegetables. Simple, tasty.

grab something from Rick Bayless' web site.

Offline blue911

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1811: November 19, 2012, 06:07:49 PM »
$$$ :( In time brother, in time. (I'd love one!)

Nope, I was hungry. Will do - got to plan a LITTLE more in advance (I pretty much decided 5 hours before to do this so not that much time!)


This reminds me, any good chicken quarters recipes? They're very cheap and delicious, just wanted to know if you guys like doing them a specific way. And I don't own a grill!  :mg:

Moroccan Chicken.

Lodge makes a nice enamelled Dutch oven. They are about $70 at Target.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1812: November 19, 2012, 06:29:29 PM »
Moroccan Chicken.

Lodge makes a nice enamelled Dutch oven. They are about $70 at Target.

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L8DOL3-Pre-Seasoned-5-Quart-Handles/dp/B00063RWYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353367274&sr=8-1&keywords=dutch+oven :az: thankfully I have an electric-coil range (I know and love gas ranges but I wouldn't trust any of my fellow college neighbors to be so educated/sober) so I don't have to have an enameled one.

Can you do coq au vin with quarters? Basically what I'd say is anything involving a big glass roasting dish with high walls, throw the quarters in, cover 'em in your favorite spices (rosemary, pepper, paprika, something like that) and then all the gaps fill in with vegetables. Simple, tasty.

I really need to get a roasting dish with a lid... I'll probably pop by Salvation Army or something and look for a good casserole dish. They are very useful and I love using them to cook squash, casseroles, and other tasty concoctions. New ones are in the $15-30 range depending on size on amazon, which is a decent price.

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1813: November 19, 2012, 06:35:10 PM »
The TJMaxx on Route 1/Alexandria always seems to have stuff from La Creuset (speaking of heavy cast iron cookware).

As best as I can tell, is they end up at TJMaxx because the exterior colors aren't exactly right.

Offline blue911

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1814: November 19, 2012, 06:36:11 PM »
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L8DOL3-Pre-Seasoned-5-Quart-Handles/dp/B00063RWYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353367274&sr=8-1&keywords=dutch+oven :az: thankfully I have an electric-coil range (I know and love gas ranges but I wouldn't trust any of my fellow college neighbors to be so educated/sober) so I don't have to have an enameled one.

I really need to get a roasting dish with a lid... I'll probably pop by Salvation Army or something and look for a good casserole dish. They are very useful and I love using them to cook squash, casseroles, and other tasty concoctions. New ones are in the $15-30 range depending on size on amazon, which is a decent price.


You'll want a 7 quart Dutch oven.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1815: November 19, 2012, 06:39:42 PM »

You'll want a 7 quart Dutch oven.

As long as my oven doesn't break under the weight! I'll look into it... Christmas maybe.

Thanks everyone for your help :) I look forward to seeing beautiful turkeys from all of you!

Offline Nathan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1816: November 19, 2012, 07:07:02 PM »
Found mom's old ass cast iron skillet.  What do I need to do to be able to use it?

Can you do coq au vin with quarters? Basically what I'd say is anything involving a big glass roasting dish with high walls, throw the quarters in, cover 'em in your favorite spices (rosemary, pepper, paprika, something like that) and then all the gaps fill in with vegetables. Simple, tasty.

:az: I'm hungry for some good chicken quarters now :lol:

Offline blue911

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1817: November 19, 2012, 07:11:38 PM »
Found mom's old ass cast iron skillet.  What do I need to do to be able to use it?

:az: I'm hungry for some good chicken quarters now :lol:

Go to lodgemfg.com they have a FAQ section that'll detail how to get the pan in shape.

Offline Nathan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1818: November 19, 2012, 07:43:56 PM »
Go to lodgemfg.com they have a FAQ section that'll detail how to get the pan in shape.

Sweet.  Anyone use one on a glass cooktop?

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1819: November 19, 2012, 07:49:06 PM »
The TJMaxx on Route 1/Alexandria always seems to have stuff from La Creuset (speaking of heavy cast iron cookware).

As best as I can tell, is they end up at TJMaxx because the exterior colors aren't exactly right.

If you do that make sure the lid fights tightly otherwise it's useless for a long braise- last time I was there I couldn't find one with a tight fit

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1820: November 19, 2012, 07:51:52 PM »
Sweet.  Anyone use one on a glass cooktop?

I did some reading about it and it CAN damage glass tops, there are a few stores of people breaking the glass (which they had replaced). However I also found a lot of stores of people who had used cast iron on their glass cooktops for years without problems, even without scratching.

Just depends on how much faith you put in your cooktop :) Lodge promised me it wouldn't damage mine (or at least Lodge cast-iron works with any cooktop)

Offline Nathan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1821: November 19, 2012, 08:11:08 PM »
I did some reading about it and it CAN damage glass tops, there are a few stores of people breaking the glass (which they had replaced). However I also found a lot of stores of people who had used cast iron on their glass cooktops for years without problems, even without scratching.

Just depends on how much faith you put in your cooktop :) Lodge promised me it wouldn't damage mine (or at least Lodge cast-iron works with any cooktop)

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about.  Something shattering.  Scratching should be easy enough to avoid by not sliding it around, but I'm worried about something like and explosion with glass shards flying due to the way it heats or something :shock:

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1822: November 20, 2012, 04:23:00 PM »
Made Pumpkin Cheesecake last night and had some with lunch today - delicious! Turned out awesome for my first time making cheesecake :) it was a request from one of my roommates.

Offline blue911

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1823: November 20, 2012, 04:25:35 PM »
Made Pumpkin Cheesecake last night and had some with lunch today - delicious! Turned out awesome for my first time making cheesecake :) it was a request from one of my roommates.

Ricotta or cream cheese?

Offline tomterp

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1824: November 20, 2012, 04:28:54 PM »
I did some reading about it and it CAN damage glass tops, there are a few stores of people breaking the glass (which they had replaced). However I also found a lot of stores of people who had used cast iron on their glass cooktops for years without problems, even without scratching.

Just depends on how much faith you put in your cooktop :) Lodge promised me it wouldn't damage mine (or at least Lodge cast-iron works with any cooktop)

Maybe I shouldn't have done biscuits at 450 degrees and then put the big skillet directly on the cold glasstop, huh?   :shrug: