I'm resurrecting this thread I started sixteen or so years ago.

One advantage to this pandemic is that we've been forced to cook at home; as empty-nesters, we were eating out 6 nights a week minimum. These days we get takeout maybe twice a week, or twice every ten days. (Yes, I realize the massive privilege I have as I've typed the last two sentences, and DAMN we are saving so much money. Like, duh, I knew that much restaurant food wasn't economical, but it's nice to see the tangible benefits, and not just on the pocketbook.)

The reason we didn't eat at home was because neither of us wanted to think about what to cook, and we have differing nutritional desires and needs. However, once I got over the idea of doing some degree of meal planning and shopping accordingly (i.e. not going every day like we used to be able to do), cooking became fun again. I also rediscovered our basement freezer and its various treasures.

Anyway, my point is, I'm cooking nearly every day and I'm really enjoying it again. I'm also using this extra time (because I'm not working as much) to try new recipes and revisit old ones, so that's been fun.

Here are a few of the dishes I've made in the last couple of months:

Mafé Chicken (the linked recipe calls for beef, but I used chicken thighs. My daughter recommended this to me; she spent three weeks in Senegal last fall and learned to make this. I also just used whatever vegetables I had on hand. The focus of this dish is the sauce.)

Albóndigas (lamb meatballs; we first had these at a tapas restaurant in Chicago 7-8 years ago, and they were served with a romesco sauce)

 

 SeriousLee wrote:
 

It's a couple of days out of date so it may have achieved sentience.

Is it humane to eat food that smiles at you?

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

Can't be any worse than "crab" sticks

Tyson Foods invests in plant-based shrimp company

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

Slow day at the office

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
You so funny.

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

You mean, like, grow wings?

Under a microscope: Startups grow meat in lab, face scrutiny

I really hope this takes off.

 sirdroseph wrote:
 

It's not so much ingesting that excites me.  The flavors and CBD elements for pain is what I am mostly turned on about it.

 pigtail wrote: 
I love that station Vice, but couldn't get into that show for some reason.  I think it is because I think ingesting is wasteful and I don't like the differences in effect on the body as opposed to traditional ingestion methods.  But to each their own, some people love to eat it.

Bong Appetit is a show I am really starting to enjoy and getting excited about the different ways to infuse flower, oil and butter in my own cooking!

The New York Times this morning has an op-ed piece by Dan Barber - best known as chef and co-owner of the Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurants - in which he writes the seed business, and how “just 50 years ago, some 1,000 small and family-owned seed companies were producing and distributing seeds in the United States; by 2009, there were fewer than 100. Thanks to a series of mergers and acquisitions over the last few years, four multinational agrochemical firms — Corteva, ChemChina, Bayer and BASF — now control over 60 percent of global seed sales."

Barber argues that this is alarming, with the potential to have an enormous impact on the food we grow and eat. “Big Seed,” he writes, “keeps getting bigger, doubling down on a system of monocultures and mass distribution. The problem is not that these seed corporations are too big to fail. It’s that they are failing to deliver what growers need to grow and what we want to eat.”

Barber writes that “today’s food culture is experiencing a tectonic shift as the rebellious stakeholders of our modern food movement — farmers, independent retailers, nutritionists, educators, chefs and ever-more-informed eaters — upend the marketplace. Their work is like those points in a Seurat painting, dizzyingly complex, but coordinated in impact.

“The more that I’ve come to understand its intricacies, the more I appreciate that lasting change in our food system has to begin with seeds.” The problem, he suggests, is that the architecture of the seed business is working against diversity, innovation, and even flavor.

You can read the piece here.

great fast food reviews

 haresfur wrote: 
I guess it would never have occurred to me to even try sous videing that. But, I lack a sous vider, so my knowledge of such things is limited.

Storytime: There's a REALLY good barbecue joint here. I've heard multiple instances where out of state visitors from Texas, Memphis, KC, etc. who go there, as such people do, to scoff at the poor quality of anything not of their home area and have come away as converts. The place is just damn good. Housed in an old gas station/garage, so even the provenance is there.  A couple of weeks ago, the in-laws were in town and because feeding them can be a dicey proposal, we punted and ordered takeout from the BBQ joint. We ordered a LOT of food with hopes that there would be leftovers and I would find myself in brisket lunch heaven for a couple of days. Not so. The father-in-law can be...a bit of a glutton...and consumed nearly a pound and a half of delicious brisket. I got maybe half a cup before it was all cleaned out.

Long story short, I guess I should prep the smoker for a brisket very soon, 'cause I've still got a hankerin'.

 ptooey wrote: 
1) Because I was trying for tender texture but med-rare (with a touch of post-SV smoke from the barbie)
2) See SFW's response
3) Because I'm an idiot

 ptooey wrote:
 
'Cuz he has a sousvider thing so why not?

 haresfur wrote: 
Why?

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I have cooked brisket sous vide, and this is a perfect description of the result

On a happier note, my new oven is supposed to hold accurate temperature down to 30 C so I may give it a try at 65 C with a quick smoke on the Barbie.