The cookery thread

[Onyx2]

Great list @Gus Mears. Slow cookers are great and easy but you do need some principles to get a decent meal out of it.

I don't think browning is strictly necessary. You are caramelizing the meat, and at that point it can release the sweet flavours into the sauce. But it'll cook just fine without it. With red meat I always will as it becomes more interesting, but white meats it's unnecessary.

I often find it helps to decant the liquid left after cooking into a big saucepan or frying pan and boiling the heck out of it to reduce it down.

[Onyx2]

3 minutes ago, Ralphy said:

i do find my meals from the slow cooker generally too liquidy/runny, i use around 450 ml of water, the stock cube instructions say 500ml, should i simply use less or would your method help?

i add cornflour to thicken but it doesn't seem to do much 

It depends on what went into the sauce. To thicken the sauce needs fat and protein to combine. If your meal didn't contain any of these, the sauce will reduce and reduce and boil away.

Three methods are: cornstarch mixed with equal amount of water (e.g. 1 teaspoon of cornflour to water). Combine this in a cup or dish then stir into your sauce while hot. This thickens really well but does have the by-product of tasting a little floury (funnily enough). The thickening won't happen until the cornstarch hits 60C so keep it on the heat.

Beurre manie: combine equal butter to flour into a paste, then whisk this in over a high heat. You'll get a richer taste from this though of course it does add calories.

Dried potato: whisk in a spoon of dried potato (e.g. Smash). Not appropriate for all sauces but for winter warmer type casseroles it's perfect.

[Gus Mears]

And thus begins several hours in the kitchen for Indian night.

Base curry sauce on the go

 

Edited January 5, 2019 by Gus Mears

[Gus Mears]

Four hours later. Im spent.

Turmeric and cashew rice on the left , lentil Dahl above, chana masala at the bottom, aubergine and cauliflower Korma variant on the right (I much prefer hot curry, but this was really decent) and sag aloo on the top right.

 

Edited January 5, 2019 by Gus Mears

[Thunderplex]

Looks amazing.  Great mix of flavours and textures.

[mim731]

That looks bloody phenomenal @Gus Mears. Sterling work 

[tiger_rick]

That is incredible work @Gus Mears. 

I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen this evening. Dud a sausage and leek casserole with dumplings. My missus loves hearty wintery food so I thought I'd surprise her. First time I've done either a casserole or dumplings. Not winning a Michelin star anytime soon but it was absolutely delicious. Dumplings were great too. Chuffed with them. 

[Onyx2]

Lovely dumplings 

fatherted.jpg

They're not made with suet are they? They have a sconey look to them. 

[tiger_rick]

10 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

They're not made with suet are they? They have a sconey look to them. 

No, just flour, baking powder, salt and milk. They do look like scones but fluffed up, well down, nicely and were lovely with the gravy.

[Panhead]

Just going back to Slow Cookers, don't be frightened of cheap cuts either. I've done brisket in mine before and it's nice but so are chicken thighs, pork etc. 

Mine is a crockpot that was a wedding present for my parents in the early 80s! Still does the business though and it has a chilli cooking in it as I type this!

[Gus Mears]

@Ralphy It's piss easy to be honest and the cashew part was only because I had some left over from the cashew paste I made for the curry.

You'll ideally want to soak the cashews in water a for a couple of hours and the rice (I was using long grain white) for an hour in (don't use the same water for cooking through).

I use about 2x water to rice as a ratio, as you put the rice on and start to bring it up to a boil, add in a cinnamon stick if you have one and a stock cube of some kind. As it's nearing a boil, stir in a good amount of turmeric powder (enough to turn the water and rice orange). Once it's nearly boiling, turn down to a simmer and cook for around 15 mins (soaking rice generally reduces cooking time). Towards the end of cooking, add salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Once the rice is a texture you like, just drain it and stir in the cashews. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Gus Mears

[Nexus]

 

I made red cabbage for the first time ever - had a random craving for it so made it to go with roast chicken and stuff. It was really good, although I made a full cabbage's worth, and I definitely did not need to. It came out pretty well, though. 

[mim731]

As previously mentioned I made pulled pork in the slow cooker last weekend, and it was lovely. Here are the pictures:

First two are after about 6 hours of cooking, just before pulling and putting back in with the sauce.

This is it in the slow cooker just before serving and the last one is served up before I added the sweet potato wedges.

Pretty happy with it overall. Had to add a bit of cornflour to the sauce to thicken but compensated with extra seasoning and it but overall it went to plan.

 

 

[air_raid]

Advice please. I don't claim to be a great cook but there's a few cuisines I can bluff something in. We have a fairly well stocked cupboard for the dried herbs and spices but lads - Marjoram. The Pole bought it and I've never known what it's for. I know I could Google it but I think it's more fun to ask you lot. When should I be using this stuff?

[Onyx2]

35 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Marjoram

Medieval oregano. Woody and grassy, good for white meats and breads. Really good with turkey. Originates from Greece if that gives you a clue where to use it. 

Went out of fashion in the 90s when Americans put oregano on everything.