What's cooking?

[DaveF]

I see brownies with icing (especially fudge) or "disappearing" marshmellows, or caramel, or pecans, or ...

But powdered sugar topping is not a thing I've ever thought of as a defining brownie experience

 

[DaveF]

Oh my gosh! They're everywhere!

Fudgy Brownies

thequotablekitchen.com

 

[Johnny Angell]

I’ve got a recipe for two-tone brownies. In the middle is a layer of cream cheese sweetened with sugar, I think some vanilla too, and an egg. It’s fantastic.

 

[questrider]

Not a fan of confectioners sugar as it's too sweet and I don't like the texture. And the powder does get everywhere. Frosting on brownies for me.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about...!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I think the confectioner's sugar just adds a complementary bit of flavor to the deep chocolatey goodness of the brownie.

But its got to be just a light dusting. Some of the images I found on the internet are just way too much--kinda like a powdered sugar donut. Like this:

You CAN'T BREATHE while eating one of those or it'll be like a winter squall!!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I've got a glass of the Fish Eye sauvignon blanc right here as I prepare a meal of pork with paprika, mushrooms, and sour cream. Sort of a lazy man's pork based goulash.

Pork with Paprika, Mushrooms, and Sour Cream – Kalyn's Kitchen

A generous amount of Hungarian Paprika makes this Pork with Paprika, Mushrooms, and Sour Cream flavorful and slightly spicy.

kalynskitchen.com

Fred Meyer has boneless 1/2 pork loins on sale for $1.47 a pound, which is a completely ridiculous price.

Australia way over planted sauvignon blanc years ago so some pretty good Sav Blanc gets dumped onto the box wine market. That's $12US for 3 liters.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Has anyone done their own dry aging of a steak or whole cut? They make these dry aging bags that allows the user to dry age in your own refrigerator without stinking the place up. You need a vacuum sealer (though the bag is not totally evacuated of air). There’s these guys that go by Guga foods (I think) or Sous Vide Everything. Their fun to watch and they cover dry aging.

I figure that someday we’ll be able to find cuts of meat we want and then that’ll be the time to try it. Here’s a link to some dry aging bags: Amazon product

 

[DaveF]

Interesting. I’ve never tried aging meat. You should do it and report back.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Interesting. I’ve never tried aging meat. You should do it and report back.

I want to try it, but it won’t be until the meat counter is back to normal.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My dad went through a phase where he was into doing this. If you want to try it without putting a lot of effort into it, you can try dry aging your steak or roast in the fridge overnight. Just remove the meat from its packaging, pat dry with paper towels until there’s no surface moisture left, and place back into the fridge unwrapped and leave it like that overnight. It’ll give you a little feel for the process and how it affects taste without drastically changing everything.

On a similar note, if you ever want really crisp skin on a whole roasted chicken, do the same thing with the bird the night before, and put a ludicrous amount of salt on the skin. Pat dry when it comes out, roast as you normally would, and enjoy.

 

[DaveF]

I do the dry brine with Turkey. Use a mixture of salt and baking powder.

How to Brine a Turkey for Thanksgiving

Brining or dry-brining your bird can mean the difference between dry turkey and supremely moist and plump turkey. Over the years, I've written many articles on brining (or not brining) turkeys; here are the basics, in one simple guide.

www.seriouseats.com

 

[questrider]

I use the America's Test Kitchen method for a dry brine which uses a salt and sugar mixture under the skin.

 

[KPmusmag]

I was in the mood for a late night snack, so I made a grilled cheese sandwich. I used a combination of shredded white cheddar cheese and shredded yellow extra-sharp cheddar, on the last slices of an Italian-style loaf I made the other day. It was good.

 

[DaveF]

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


I got the America's Test Kitchen Twentieth Anniversary TV Show Cookbook for my birthday. I meant to make their chewy brownies recipe today. But it calls for a cocoa powder I don't have and the grocery store was out of stock. So I changed to the crinkle cookies, since I had all the ingredients for it.

 

[DaveF]

https://www.thekitchn.com/one-pot-pasta-recipes-261459

Super happy with this recipe. I goofed up, buying raw sausage instead of pre-cooked, which added extra work. But still, I did the sausage variant it worked well. I think it's a great dish relative to the effort required. My wife was ok with it, but didn't love it. But I'm the cook, so too bad. I will try this in the future and see if I can find a variant that makes us both happy.

You add ingredients to large skillet with water, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes, then let sit for 10 minutes, and serve.

 

[BobO'Link]

The next time you make that dish be sure to use fire roasted diced tomatoes. It absolutely makes a difference. Maybe throw in some cubes of mozzarella just before serving. That's very similar to a "heart healthy" dish we make.

 

[DaveF]

The next time you make that dish be sure to use fire roasted diced tomatoes. It absolutely makes a difference. Maybe throw in some cubes of mozzarella just before serving. That's very similar to a "heart healthy" dish we make.

Recipe called for the tomatoes but I couldn’t find them at the grocery store.

 

[BobO'Link]

Recipe called for the tomatoes but I couldn’t find them at the grocery store.

They *can* be hard to find. I've resorted to ordering them by the case from Amazon. We use them quite a bit and the price there was just as good as at the grocery without the hassle.

Of course, they're OOS right now... and camelcamelcamel shows stupidly high prices for MP vendors over the past 6 months! Makes me glad I accidentally purchased a 2nd case before realizing the 1st hadn't been used!

Amazon normally sells the case for ~$12 and subscribe and save takes it down to ~$10/case.

Amazon product

 

[KPmusmag]

DaveF - I believe I have seen you mention America's Test Kitchen, they have an assortment of what they call skillet pasta recipes where everything is added to the skillet, including a measured amount of water to cook the pasta in its own sauce. I have had good luck with the ones I have made. (It is a pay site, however, but I thought I would mention it.)