What's cooking? (1 Viewer)

[DBF]

I am making chicken soup tonight. I still have to add more broth, simmer for an hour, then add egg noodles.

Finished product.

 

[Sam Posten]

Candied pecans!

Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

The Best Finger Food & Snack Idea For Holiday Parties If you like candied nuts as much as I do, you are going to absolutely love this easy cinnamon sugar pecan recipe! It's the perfect snack and

www.instrupix.com

 

[BobO'Link]

Those look very good. My wife makes "glazed pecans" - pecans coated with a concoction of egg whites, brown sugar, sale, and vanilla. Combine the ingredients, beating them together until a bit frothy, drop in pecans to coat. Remove the pecans, place on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper for easier removal/cleanup) bake at 250 degrees until they're browned (30-45 minutes). Turn off the oven and *leave them in the oven until it's cooled* before removing. Best made if it's not too humid (after all, it's really a meringue coating).

This recipe is pretty close to what she does - but no "stirring" or mixing around the pecans on the sheet when baking and hers calls for leaving them in the oven to cool - it *does* make a difference:

How to Make Easy Pecan Pralines

Creamy pralines are a snap to make with part brown sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and pecans. Make this candy ahead of time and freeze it.

www.thespruceeats.com

Hers also look better (a bit more browned - don't know if it's the sugar or bake time there) than the ones in this photo from that article:

 

[KPmusmag]

Just two of us at home tonight, so no tux and Champagne for me. Instead, a simple, indulgent Christmas Eve dinner; homemade pizza, deep fried tacos, and salad. To accompany the tacos, homemade brine-fermented jalapenos with garlic and shallot (so flavorful). Humboldt Fog cheese, avocado and Kalamata olives served as nice toppings for salad. Cooked and eaten while watching Christmas specials from years gone by.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

We had prime rib tonight. Right now, I’m making a beef stock from the bones. I’m gonna use that to make a gravy, and I’ll combine that with the leftover beef into a pot pie over the weekend.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

That sounds so good, Josh! So does yours, KP!

 

[DaveF]

Leveled up my kitchen gear! Got the Cuisinart Custom 14 food processor for Christmas! This is replacing my 14+ year old Black and Decker ~10 cup food processor. I'm looking forward to making bagels this weekend. I've got a recipe that calls for initial dough mix in the processor, and my old one was not fully up to the task the first time I tried. I'm hoping this one is a champ at it!

 

[Dave Upton]

About to throw this bad boy in the oven. If you've never tried Kurobuta Ham/Berkshire pig, it's a whole other level from regular ham: https://www.snakeriverfarms.com/kurobuta-half-ham.html

 

[DaveF]

Wow! That's a ham to end 2020 with!

 

[KPmusmag]

Since Christmas falls on FRY-day this year, I decided to get out the deep fryer (which I have not used at all in 2020). I did chicken fingers, French fries, Onion Rings, and Fried Green Tomatoes. We also had braised greens and salad, so it was not entirely indulgent. This was very worthwhile, and I look forward to my once yearly excursion into deep fried food in 2021.

 

[Dave Upton]

About to throw this bad boy in the oven. If you've never tried Kurobuta Ham/Berkshire pig, it's a whole other level from regular ham: https://www.snakeriverfarms.com/kurobuta-half-ham.html

Turned out absolutely fantastic. Took this snap of it before carving:

 

[DaveF]

That looks awesome!

 

[DaveF]

Attempting:

Homemade Overnight Cinnamon Rolls - Sally's Baking Addiction

This reader favorite recipe yields a pan of soft, fluffy, and gooey cinnamon sweet, homemade cinnamon rolls with tangy cream cheese icing.

sallysbakingaddiction.com

 

[Robert Crawford]

Speaking of cooking. I ruined my 12 year old deep fryer on Christmas Eve. Not wanting to deal with dumping grease oil again, I decided to finally purchase a Hot Air Fryer. Anybody have any experiences with the following model or anything similar to it? By the way, I probably won't get it until February based on all of the delays in shipping today. I got over 10 shipments in the USPS system that I don't have a good idea when I'll ever get them. If they're not here by New Years Day, I'm going to start asking for refunds including a 820 Panasonic 4K player that's been in Detroit for the last 18 days without moving.

Ninja® Foodi® 6-in-1 Smart 10-qt. 2-Basket Air Fryer - Ninja

Cook 2 foods, 2 ways and finish at the same time with the Ninja® Foodi® 6-in-1 Smart 10-qt. 2-Basket Air Fryer. Includes free shipping, 60-day money back guarantee and a free 1 year limited warranty!

www.ninjakitchen.com

 

[Malcolm R]

I got a NuWave air fryer for Christmas. Not sure I really wanted one, but I'll probably be checking it out at some point.

 

[Sam Posten]

Turned out absolutely fantastic. Took this snap of it before carving:

Awesome. Ham is my favorite vegetable!

 

[Citizen87645]

I jumped on one of the $50 Instant Pot deals, so I'm going to make the most innocuous, but time consuming, thing we eat on a regular basis, congee (rice porridge).

 

[DaveF]

Attempting:

Homemade Overnight Cinnamon Rolls - Sally's Baking Addiction

This reader favorite recipe yields a pan of soft, fluffy, and gooey cinnamon sweet, homemade cinnamon rolls with tangy cream cheese icing.

sallysbakingaddiction.com

Cinnamon Rolls came out ok. Good. Not amazing. Very yeast dough-y. Not flaky. Much of the weaknesses are due to my inexperience in conventional yeast-dough baking.

 

[BobO'Link]

We have a new, regular, dessert for our family. We call it "Cranberry Potpourri Cobbler."

When my wife and I arrived at my son's house for Christmas my daughter-in-law had a pot of "potpourri" on the stove. In that pot was cranberries, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and sliced orange. My son hates to throw out anything that could be edible and, like he'd done at Thanksgiving, planned to turn the concoction into a jelly like substance by removing the cloves, cinnamon sticks, and orange peel, adding sugar, and pureeing it with an immersion blender. I looked in the pan, tasted his "jelly" and said "That'd be good in a cobbler like we do with blackberries." He immediately agreed, and processed the mixture. The next day, my wife made us a crust and dough for putting in the liquid and it became a cobbler. It's nice and tart, but not *too* tart, with a good cranberry flavor having good clove and orange undertones. It pairs splendidly with vanilla ice cream.

I grilled my daughter-in-law to get details on what she'd put in the pan and came up with the current "recipe."

Day 1
5oz. whole cranberries (about half a small bag - Ocean Spray preferred but any'll do)
1 med-large navel orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2-2 tsp. whole cloves (she wasn't real sure as she just dumped some from a jar. As it was a new jar when she started I was able to get an approximate amount)

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and fill to around 2/3 to 3/4 full of water. Simmer (all day or so adding water as needed - makes the house smell real nice too). At the end of the day, cover the pan, let it cool, and put it in the fridge overnight.

Day 2
Add the ingredients listed on Day 1 to the leftovers in the pan along with water to get back to the 2/3 to 3/4 full mark. Simmer all day again.

At the end of the day two's use as "potpourri":

Remove the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange rind. Add 1C sugar (more if you like a sweeter product), and puree the cranberries in the cooking liquid with a counter top or immersion blender. Boil the mixture down to thicken a bit as necessary and add additional uncooked pureed cranberries as needed for thickening (you could also use corn starch to thicken using the usual method), cool and refrigerate over night.

Day 3
Make 2 pie crusts, cutting 1 to fit an 8x8" baking pan. Cut the leftover from that crust and the other into roughly 1"x2" strips. Heat the cranberry mixture and when it reaches a boil drop the crust strips in 1 at a time while stirring after each piece is dropped in to help prevent sticking. When all the crust has been put into the mixture pour it into the 8x8" pan and top with the reserved piece of crust. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until the crust is browned.

Let cool for 30 minutes, serve with vanilla ice cream.

The liquid and crust filling was about 1 1/2" deep in that pan so it wasn't a lot.

So yeah, somewhat imprecise but something we're going to try again and pay a bit more attention to ingredient amounts. We also decided it'll work better to put the cloves and cinnamon sticks in a cheesecloth bag for easier removal and to seed the oranges. It's easy to get the peel out before pureeing, though you could put the orange in the cheesecloth too if you don't want the pulp in the puree.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, thought I’d check to see what you guys might suggest for a way to organize recipes. I was about to embark on slowly typing up some recipes as I started to really get into cooking during the pandemic. Since I use Apple products, iPhones, iPads and Macs, I was going to use the Pages word processor app and write them up and save them in a folder on the cloud.

But a friend suggested using one of the recipe apps. I looked and found a couple, Cook’n and Recipe Box. I’m sure there are others. Just curious what you guys might be using, if you are. Thanks!