Cook Books

Pete, if you like salmon, here's a recipe that I made a couple of times this summer when we had a bunch of tomatoes & jalapenos growing in our garden. It's DELICIOUS and not too difficult to put together.

Grilled salmon with melted tomatoes

The only difference is that I didn't use the grill. I prepared the first half stove top and then used the oven during the last part of the preparation. It was delicious!

I love salmon!

I've had that Better Homes and Garden Cookbook since I was in my early 20's. I've cooked just a few basic things out of it - like peanut butter cookies, the chicken parm recipe, and a few other things. But I never really looked through it. I'm amazed at how many good recipes are in there. Sometimes what you're looking for is right under your nose?

I still can't wait for my Ramsay cookbooks to show up though. haha

why not try something less traditional? maybe a good chinese or indian cookbook.

i try to cook filipino food during the weekend which usually lasts me for a few days and they typically 'age' well.

i don't know if i'd recommend a filipino cookbook though since i imagine it can taste really weird for people not really exposed to it. safer food like adobo probably could work and it's really easy to cook but yeah, if you're feeling adventurous, try picking one up.

filipino food is really savory (umami?), more than it is spicy, salty, sour, or sweet; although it incorporates a lot of those flavors in most dishes. you'll be using ingredients you probably don't use regularly like fish sauce, coconut milk, and ginger. at the same time, dishes are usually vegetable heavy while being offset by proteins.

food like adobo or sinigang can be stored for a while and it actually improves flavor so they're storage safe and don't spoil easily because of vinegar.

pete is afraid of exotic or different.

can you link to or post a good adobo recipe? i'd love to try and make that.

I think I'll try baking hazelnut cookies this weekend. I'll be home alone and mum won't be able to pester me about doing everything her way.

Here's a good article you can start off with.

Some prefer to use just pork or chicken but the dish tastes better with both proteins.

A few things I would change though:

1. Marinate the meat overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic cloves, and a little bit of brown sugar.

2. Use the marinade itself during the step where the article mentions to pour in the vinegar and let the whole thing simmer. Add vinegar to get the taste you prefer. Personally, I don't like my adobo too vinegar-y so the marinade would be enough for me.

3. Simmering the whole thing until the liquid evaporates is a personal preference. Some people like to have a lot of liquid left since you can use this to top white rice with (don't use brown), but personally I prefer the liquid to be evaporated to the point where only most of the oil is left, with the marinade really reduced. It's a more concentrated flavor since the liquid that reduced will be trapped in the oil and is better to mix with the rice.

Side note: You can use the oil to make adobo flavored fried rice. Mix in the oil while frying and add some veggies like peas, carrots, and even corn.

4. Boil a few eggs (3 or 4) and add the whole eggs (don't slice) right before you serve the dish. When you eat adobo with hard boiled eggs, it enhances the flavor and dampens the acidity of the vinegar.

5. I personally don't like the taste of bay leaves but for some filipinos, it's what gives that distinct adobo aftertaste.

6. Frying garlic and adding it in afterwards is a very good idea.

Anyway, good luck and it can be difficult to create a dish that you may not have eaten before since you don't know what to expect. if you have filipino friends, maybe you can ask them to cook it so you have a baseline of the flavor.

i didn't realize the video in that article wasn't in english but i guess you can figure out what he's saying.

i would also fry the pork and chicken until they're crispy.

be careful with oyster sauce if you haven't used it before. it can make your dish really salty with just a small amount. this isn't a typical ingredient but i can see how it can enhance the dish's flavor.

thanks for the tips! I have used oyster sauce before in thai/viet dishes, so I know it's pretty strong stuff. i'm not really a fan of eggs, my husband is though so I guess I could put a couple of eggs in for his benefit. i'll report back once i've tried this.. probably in the next couple of weeks

yeah go for it, good luck. i'm actually making my own batch now since i have left over pork and drumsticks.

SHUT UP! MEANIE!

I'm making some lamb chops tonight, prob just pan fry and finish them in the oven, but I'm gonna make this gordon ramsey recipe as a side dish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThNKjcyco24

except i'm using blue cheese because roquefort was $94.99/lb at whole foods!

Salmon is my absolute favorite! Thanks!

Great thread, Eating For Life is a an amazing book! My favorite Paleo has the most delicious SPAM recipes!

SPAMMAHHHH

How'd the Ramsay books turn out, Pete?

There's this new food truck that comes to the brewery and they have Spam sliders with ginger and spicy mayo and some other stuff on them. I really want to try it.

Paleo Recipes?

It's pretty much

1. Pick Thing Off Tree
2. Eat Thing

innit?

Tuffy - yeah, pretty much. Add some protein, too.

But I haven't been able to fully dive into them and start experimenting. I really haven't had time for no fancy cooking!

Make tiiime.. and post pics!
What method do you use for steaks? Do you use butter?

High heat. Salt, pepper, garlic. One side for a couple minutes, flip. Add butter. Spoon over top. Cook until it's the right feel using the finger to thumb method. Simple, but taste better than most steaks I get in a restaurant.

nice! that's what I like to do, minus the garlic. it's surprising how easy it is to cook awesome steaks at home, really

Also this is B.S, Pete! Julia Child didn't start cooking until she was 37... not saying it would be an easy road, but if you really wanted to do it, you could.

Thanks for that. But honestly - I'm not sure what I want to do with my life. I don't understand how people know. I'm 33 and I'm clueless.

You have it rough. You could be pretty amazing at anything. I'm not saying that because you're a nice guy or anything stupid like that, but because I know you do things (running a book club, working out regularly) that prove you have both tons of knowledge and, I think more importantly, drive. I mean, I know you enjoy both reading and being a buff motherfucker but that shit can't be easy. And you do it anyway!

It would be easier if you were a less awesome person. Then you could just land on a career by crossing out the things you suck at. Maybe if you just start small, just being bad at a few, inconsequential things... build up both your intensity of loserness and slowly increase your reps...

You should really work on that. For yourself.

He could have his own gym where he makes out the workout plans, nutrition menu, cook the dinners, and look hot doing it all. He could be the new Jay Kordich the juice man but with more to offer.

Hey don't worry Pete, I don't know what I'm doing either. I'm just saying that if there's something you really want to do, you should go for it. Nothing is ever too late.

I wish it was as easy as crossing out things that I suck at, but I don't know what things I even want to try and suck at... I don't know what I want to try and be good at...

I need to find more luck. Where does one acquire this?

I don't think you need any luck. It's just wanting to take a risk. I know right now you don't really have that option but you have the potential to do a lot of things that you enjoy doing and actually get paid for it.

I would love to go to culinary school, but I don't want to start working as a chef in a restaurant (because of the working hours), so it would just be for my personal development. Unfortunately I need a steady income and to save lots of money, so I guess that means it won't be happening.

Cooking is something you can learn in your own home. It's nice to have an instructor but if you really want to learn to cook just for your personal development, find books, internet sources, and dedicate a few days to learn a cooking technique. Like that Julie&Julia book/movie. That's why I love cooking, there's always something new to learn and as long as you have a kitchen readily available you can take on most cooking challenges.

Oh, I didn't mean I wouldn't improve my cooking skills, just that I wouldn't be going to culinary school. I'll definitely be getting more cook books, and trying new things. Last week I made my own spaghetti sauce for the first time, and it turned out really well. Not that it was hard, I just hadn't done it before. Yay for minor victories!

I hope you end up going to culinary school, Imke.

Cooking is so much fun. I find it interesting to turn gross bloody fleshy stuff into something really good. I love grilling too, i never get to do that enough anymore. For steaks, i do a bunch of pepper on each side and just a little bit of salt, then sear each side, then drop them on a grill and cook to temperature and when it's almost done, put some butter on top to melt. The only trick to steaks is keeping the seasoning simple.