Fall and winter 2021

A season built around “Soupmas” — French onion nearly perfect, butternut squash and potato-leek-mushroom both landing well — and a pizza dough overhaul (a Flour Water Salt Yeast-based recipe called “a big win”). Coconut lentils became a genuine monthly rotation dish, an Indian takeaway-style base-gravy system got researched in depth, and a big Thanksgiving retrospective concluded: more prep ahead of time, skip the formal carving, think buffet.

Undated. About late September to December 2021; the original notes grouped these as Fall/Winter.

Wintery food goals

• Soupmas
• Breads
• Burritos / bowls

Onion bhajis results

→ Onion bhaji

Recipe made about 2x what we needed, but was overall quite good.

The good:

• Cook time was about right
• Tasted pretty close (even without the cilantro)
• Waxy potatoes fried nicely

The bad:

• Too watery I think
• Oil foamed up (too old?)

Next time, I’ll size down the recipe a bit and review some more examples of how they’re made.

Onion bhajis

This is a recipe we’ve wanted to try for a while:

• 4 white onions halved and sliced
• 1 potato julienned
• 2 green chillies, finely sliced (or hot chilli powder)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (or masala)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon panch phoron (or some ground fennel and fenugreek)
• Dried fenugreek leaves
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 3 eggs
• ~1 ½ cups of gram or garbanzo flour

Slice and dice the veggies and add to a large bowl. Mix in eggs and spices, and combine thoroughly. Add flour, combining by hand (add up to ½ cup more if you have trouble balling up the fritters).

Form golf ball sized fritters and drop in ~180C oil. Flip a few times, and remove once golden brown.

Soupmas update

We decided to make soups this year, as they’re easy to make vegetarian, and they’re fancy (but not overly rich). We have made these soups so far:

• Butternut squash → Butternut squash soup
  • Slightly sweet, due (I think) to the soup stock I used from the freezer
  • Browned butter worked very well
  • Sage would have been better than thyme/rosemary
• French onion → French onion soup
  • This was nearly perfect
  • Need way more onions next time, maybe cut them a bit thicker
  • (I used the mandoline on the 2nd setting)
• Potato leek and mushroom → Potato, leek, and mushroom soup
  • This soup was lovely

Pizza party update

Pizza night was a success:

Bottom crusts were cooked, though not as crispy as I’d like; I think I’ll need a stone or steel to make this work better, as 288C just wasn’t enough except for perhaps the first pie. I may try a carbon steel pan and a longer preheat next time.

I did notice better performance based on the number and type of toppings, especially noticeable with the home oven. Also trying to bake 6+ pies showed how poorly the electric stove recharged between bakes. Large pies might be a solution here.

Jazz/Conner/Kids pizza day prep

• ✔️Shopping for final ingredients
• ✔️ Pizza sauce
• ✔️ Spiced tofu
• ✔️Tempeh?
• ✔️Cheese grated (4:1:1 mozza, parm, gruyere)
• ✔️ Ranchero dip
• ✔️ Italian sausage
• Dice
  • ✔️ Onions
  • ✔️ Peppers
  • ✔️Mushrooms (saute?)
  • ✔️ Peperoni
  • ✔️Olives
  • ✔️Sun Dried tomatoes
  • ✔️Artichoke hearts

Pizzeria style pizza sauce: → Pizzeria pizza sauce

• 645g strained tomatoes
• 25g tomato paste
• 10g olive oil (1 glug)
• 5g med quality balsamic (a few glugs)
• 6g granulated garlic (1 tsp)
• 1g dried oregano (2 tbsp)
• 1g ground black pepper (1 tsp)
• 1g msg (optional)
• 15g sugar (to taste)
• 15g kosher salt (to taste)

Pizza practice week

I’m making pizza a few times this week to test out the new dough, and to tweak the oven temperature and time for the new pans.

1. Started the pizza on the top rack, too much top heat. Recommend not using rapid preheat with pizza on the deck, and use a lower shelf. Fixed underdone bottom with some stove top magic.
2. Middle rack, oven didn’t get about 260C. Good edge crust, bottom slightly underdone. Recommend not starting on a second pan, and to preheat longer. This one was very close to good+++.

Pizza dough, 2022 recipe

→ Pizza dough 2022 edition

I reviewed a number of methods:

• Ethan’s pan pizza dough
• Brian’s quick pizza dough
• Adam’s home pizza dough NY style

I decided to try a recipe from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, with some adjustments based on what other cooks have suggested. This turned out to be a big win, and it’s much easier to make overall than my previous methods.

Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast version: this recipe uses an autolyse method (30 minutes) for some enzymatic magic, then a fairly standard by-hand mix:

1. Hydrate the yeast
2. Autolyse
3. Mix (adding salt here)
4. Fold/kneed
5. Divide/store overnight

My adaptation:

• Bumped up the gluten level (by about 1 tablespoon per cup), to promote gluten development.
• Adjusted salt + added sugar (to adjust for home oven temperatures)
• Autolyse ended up ~5 minutes shorter, and ratios may be slightly off as I was interrupted by a call.
• I mixed it on medium for ~7 minutes, until a ball started to form, then dumped in a proofing bucket destined for the refrigerator (24-48 hours).

Resulting dough has a nice smooth texture. We will see how the first rise goes, after a stint in the fridge.

Veg stock, reviewing example recipes

→ Rich veg/mushroom stock

Revisiting veg soup stock, based on Glen and Friends Cooking’s take on it. The guts of the recipe focuses on a specific ratio before roasting of 2 parts vegetables to 3 parts water.

Glen’s approach maximizes browning by using a long roast and very thin slices, in addition to flavour bombs like dried mushrooms, kombu, and miso. He calls out the importance of the leek to the overall mouthfeel, and based on that I’m tempted to include some vegetable oil in some way (frying the fresh mushrooms?).

Example veg:

• 1- 2 medium carrots
• 1- 2 celery stalks
• 2 medium onions
• 1 red pepper
• Fronds from fennel bulb
• 1 leek
• 1 beet
• 1 head of garlic
• 8 dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 6x4” piece dried seaweed
• 60g shiitake mushrooms
• 200g mixed mushrooms

Thinly slice veg, use any clean skins (onion, garlic). Avoid brassicas (cauli, broc, cabbage, brussels, etc.) which can result in a bitter stock.

Spices and flavour enhancers:

• 5 mL (1 tsp) black peppercorns
• 45 mL (3 Tbsp) white miso
• 30 mL (2 Tbsp) vegetable oil
• 30 mL (2 Tbsp) tomato paste

And, of course, water:

• 4L water

Method:

1. ~2ish hours: roast off veg at 150C, with flavour enhancers whisked together and drizzled on top. Toss occasionally.
2. Add veg to a large pot with water and roast in the already heated oven (or stovetop, on low) for an hour. Optionally, use a pressure cooker on low for 30-40 minutes, decompressing slowly to avoid boiling the liquid.
3. Strain out solids and reduce (optionally). Depending on the miso, you may want to strain through a cheesecloth.

Christmas menu ideas (soupmas?!)

Over coffee this morning we decided that Christmas would both be meat free and based on our favourite soups. Easy to prepare ahead of time, and awesome food too.

The menu so far:

• French onion
• Thai coconut mushroom
• Potato leak
• Corn chowder
• Broc/chez
• Squash soup

And sides/add-ins:

• Baked and seasoned chickpeas
• Croutons (from homemade bread)

And if you have soups, then you must have breads. We’ll work on some short sourdoughs, focaccias, and maybe even some snacks pizza.

Fall food goals

Planning ahead for the Fall so I can get some research done beforehand. Things I want to learn / make / try:

• Spinach lasagne (Serious eats)
• BA’s pineapple pizza, making it BA’s poppin pineapple pizza
  • Get back on the 🍕🍕train
• Stewed greens
• Better home curries
• Dumpling like things made with pasta maker
  • Dumplings
  • Perogies
  • Ravioli-like-things

Fake’n’bake attempt 1

I’m baking a whole chicken tonight, but prepping it during lunch.

• 1 whole chicken
• 2-3 tablespoons of chicken rub
• Corn starch, flour, and baking powder (dusted on)
• Fridge for 3-4 hours (on a wire rack)

Fried rice

I had a bag of peppers that needed using, as well as some pork shoulder.

• 2 cups of short grained rice (refrigerated overnight)
• 4 bell peppers, diced
• 2 cups of diced pork shoulder (fried)
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (long, polar strips)
• 2 cups of classic frozen veg
• Garlic and minced ginger (3-4 cloves, 2-ish tablespoons)
• Sauce and thickener
  • Soy, vinegar/sake, sesame oil, fish oil
  • MSG, white pepper
  • Chilis (whole, diced, sauce, or paste)
  • Corn starch

Fry in a wok, or large frying pan (in stages) in order, adding sauce last. Heat until thickened, without getting everything else mushy.

Garlic ginger wing sauce

→ Garlic ginger wing sauce

• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
• ⅓ cup hoisin sauce
• ¼ cup sake or wine vinegar (more to balance)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Grate:
  • 1 small knob of ginger (2-3 tablespoons)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 small shallot
• Spice with:
  • 1 tablespoon Togarashi
• Top with
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted if you have time)
  • 2-3 sprigs of spring onion (finely diced)
  • Cilantro or parsley (green looks nice)

Combine and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Toss freshly baked wings in enough to coat. Freeze what remains (or use as a dip).

Onion bhajis

This is just a note to self that I want to learn to make these, both for the resulting flavoured oil, and so we have a nice snacky food that serves more of the peeps we know.

We had bhajis last week at Shandahar Hut for science. The onion taste is very mild, even milder than most onion rings (suggesting they’re soaked). They had a nice crisp, and the chutney (or whatever it was served with) was a bit sweet and savoury.

Indian gravy

These are some notes from a set of ebooks on takeaway curry. The books are tough to follow, so I’m summarizing the important bits here.

The gist of the first book is that takeaway restaurants make curries with a base gravy, and a number of sauces and pastes pre-prepared. This makes sense, and explains why homemade curries often have less depth, as breaking something into components that are each seasoned results in more seasoning overall, managed in a number of different ways. Layering is a great technique.

Book 1:

1. Garlic/ginger paste → Ginger/garlic paste
2. Tomato pure → Indian takeout tomato purée
   1. Tin of tomato puree
   2. 2 tin-fulls of water
   3. 1 teaspoon of tandoori masalas powder (or fresh made masala)
   4. Whisk together
   5. Notes
      1. Puree is cooked in the frying stage before adding other ingredients to lighten the acidic taste
      2. Lasts ~1 week refrigerated
3. Seasoned oil
   1. Use spent sunflower or other neutral oil (recipe calls for prepping 3L, do what makes sense for you)
   2. Filter
   3. Notes
      1. Use a neutral oil
      2. Spent → used for cooking bhajis, filtered
      3. Lasts for weeks in the fridge
4. Spices
   1. Bassar mix
   2. Garam Masala
   3. Methi/dried fennu-greek (kasuri, Kasoori, Quasuri methi)
      1. ½ - 1 teaspoon per dish
   4. Fresh coriander (cilantro)
5. Gravies and sauces
   1. Onion sauce (for chunky curries) → Onion base for curries
   2. Bangladeshi style gravy → Base curry gravy
6. Sauces
7. Bhajis
   1. Notes
      1. Onion bhajis are essentially Indian-style onion fritters: thinly sliced onions that have been coated in a simple, spiced batter then fried until golden and crisp.

Gravies:

1. Bangladeshi style

Possible veg meal plan

Update: we made this, it was delicious. It’s on our monthly rotation now, about 30 minutes from start to finish (and it freezes well).

Planning a meal in case Jay drops in today:

• Coconut lentils (use up some lentils in the cupboard, with some Thai seasoning?) → Coconut lentils
  • Basic method: ← fam fav now
    • Onion/celery/oil/spices in a pot, stir and cook until translucent
    • Add tomato paste, cook until sticking to pan
    • Add stock and some coconut milk, combine
    • Add lentils (lentil:liquid ratio roughly 1:3) ← this worked well
• Roasted potato slices or wedges
• Roasted veg

Logging this as I want to do some research on the lentils, as it’s been a few months and I’m looking for ideas and technique.

Thanksgiving retro thoughts

Meal prep was super smooth this time around. Dinner hour was hectic, partly as a few people were late and the final cook was more involved than it should be. We talked about this a bit, and we think that more prep and less classic styles of serving would make for a much better experience. Mostly, people don’t care about the carving of the turkey, so WTF bother?

What did we learn? Make dinner easier, do more prep earlier, and skip the 1950s idyllic table layout. Think: buffets. And ideally, most dishes are done before dinner starts. This makes post dinner less of a shit show, especially with open kitchens.

Ideas for next time:

• Break down and dry brine both turkeys ~1-2 days before
  • Make stocks and cook dark meats the day before
  • Cook dark meats together (to ~74C)
  • Cook lighter meats together (to ~60C)
  • If you want to serve them hot, cook them in 1-2 large sheet pans and arrange nicely on a serving tray once cooked
• Consider making everything ahead of time as a casserole and parts for sandwiches
  • Heating casseroles is super lowkey and chill
  • “Shepards $x” works for pretty much any holiday
  • Roast veg on the side (also easy)
  • Making your own sandies is cool
• Salads are great, especially chunky ones people don’t see often (like that broc one)
• Pre-make gravies and reheat (especially if making vegetarian + omni gravies)
• Have containers ready for take-home portions for people!
  • Also: send meals to anyone who needs/wants them

Thanksgiving day prep

Turkey breast: 60C, under 65 ideally

Turkey thigh: 74C (max tender)

• AM
  • ✔️ Make dressing
• Noon-ish
  • ✔️ Show turkey in oven (~4.5 hours)
• Afternoon
  • ✔️ Prep platters and dishes
  • ✔️ Veg platter
  • ✔️ Make salad
  • ✔️ Wash potatoes
  • ✔️ Roast garlic!
  • Set out chips
  • Set out veg platter
  • Prep buns!
  • Cut up roastin’ veg (yam, beets)
  • Plate desserts for later
  • Make gravies (gluten free)
    • Prep veg base
• ~45 minutes before dinner
  • Turkey out + tented
    • Serve on
  • Roast veg in oven
  • Stuffing
  • Mac & cheese
  • Potatoes on stove (~15-20 minutes from boil)
    • Garlic, salted water
    • Cream
    • Season to taste (pepper, salt)
  • Corn on stove

Day before Thanksgiving prep

• ✔️ Spice rub
• ✔️ Break down stunt turkey
  • Breasts/legs thighs dry bring until evening
  • Neck/backbone/wings roast for stock
• ✔️ Roast stunt parts as extras after bones are done
• ✔️ Break down show turkey
  • Neck/wing tips for stock
  • Dry bring otherwise intact carcass for tomorrow
• ✔️ Stock
  • Turkey parts, roasted
  • Aromatics
  • Simple spices
  • Reduce by ½
• ✔️ Stuffing prep / par bake
  • Slightly overdone, ate the darker bits (yum!)
• ✔️ Mac & Cheese → Baked mac & cheese

Hasselback potatoes

I had a leftover potato that I wanted to test out a hassleback bake on. Basics:

• Potato
• Oil, salt
• Herb butter (to finish)

Hassel up the potato by:

1. Cutting slices a few mm apart with a sharp knife. You can use a few wooden spoons to stop your knife if you’re not super sure of your knifery.
2. Oil up with any good oil. Salt generously. Try to get some in between the layers.
3. Bake at 220C for ~35-45 minutes. Start basting every 5 minutes from this point until the potato is nicely browned (another 15-20 minutes) and the internal temperature is 97-99C.

Backing time changes depending on the potato size (medium russets assumed).

Thanksgiving plan

Focus: comfort food and memories. This year I wrote an actual plan, what a nerd!

Ideas:

• Vegetarian
  • Vegetarian (mushroom, veg, kombu) gravy
  • Mashed (and rebaked) potatoes
  • Mixed roasted veg (carrots, cauli, sweet potato)
  • Brussel slaw, cranberry, nuts, and tempeh
  • Cranberry sauce
• Classics
  • Turkey
  • Turkey/chicken gravy
  • Stuffing

Thanksgiving ideas

A few ideas for side dishes and other eats for Thanksgiving:

• Twice baked butternut squash (filled with cheese, crunchy, sour cream, chives)
• Winter slaw
  • Brussels chips (bacony)
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Mandolined
    • beets
    • Brussel cores
• Baked mashed potatoes (make ahead)
• Baked/thin sliced sweet taters and other tubers
  • Olive oil, garlic
  • Rosemary
  • Maple glaze

Some late September cookery

Some of the things we’ve cooked in the last week or so of September:

• Pork sandwiches au jus; similar to beef dip, but with pork
  • Thin sliced pork shoulder roast (roasted to 75C or so)
  • Soft kaiser, with mayo, mustard, and a bit of BBQ sauce
  • Onion, lettuce, tomato (but no pickles!)
  • Jus from the pork drippings, chicken stock, and some BTB
• Pork ramen (soy style)
• Lazy pork and rice (pork, rice, sauce, veg, single pan)
• Miso glazed wings
• Miso glazed salmon (and veg)
• Coffee cereal (needed more cream, but super efficient early morning food)