A big stock-and-broth push (chicken, turkey, a reworked pho ga base) ahead of the holidays, a McDouble clone dialed in to the gram, and a sandwich-shop sour pickle reverse-engineered against BK, McDonald’s, and A&W’s own ingredient lists. Turkey day mostly went to plan, and a crispy roast chicken rub and homemade naan both landed well.
Undated.
Food prep
- Clean out freezer
- Large batch beef/mushroom base
- Chicken stock → Chicken or turkey stock
- Pho ga
- Rework chicken stock recipe to be based of Pho Ga broth
- Add toasted spices, sugar as a second step (using base stock from freezer)
- Vietnamese stock is similar to French (but more roasting, w/ginger)
- Pho ga
- Turkey stock (for Xmas week)
- Sausage patties
- Breakfast style (update recipe, balance better) → Breakfast sausage
December food wishes
- Goulash → Goulash
- Stroganoff → Beef stroganoff
- Soups
- Pea soup / split pea (1)
- French onion → French onion soup
- Needs a beef stock
- Crumbles
(Mexico cruise had me thinking about the dishes above)
Broths
- Tonkotsu →
- Pho →
- Miso →
McDouble style burgers (recipe)
→ McDouble
- 50g patties (note: needs to be double-ground to get softer beef)
- Smash + freeze
- 9cm buns → roughly 11cm / 4 ⅓ inch pressed
- 1358g = 27 (.73)
- 5:1 ketchup to mustard
- 2 sour pickles
- Dried onion (or fresh, soaked and then drained)
Soups
- Vietnamese beef balls - 10 minutes from frozen (boiling water)
Sandwich/sour pickles
This is a hack version of a sour pickle (more like a fast food or deli sandwich). Goal is to bring max contrast, without adding too much muddy or sweet (i.e., garlic or sugar).
- 2 Kirby cucumbers, thinly sliced (225g total)
- 300ml water
- 250ml distilled white vinegar
- 10g kosher salt (up to 15)
- 2 medium cloves garlic, roughly sliced
- 2 teaspoons (6g) black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons (6g) whole yellow mustard seeds
- 2 sprigs fresh dill
Ratios to consider:
Some of the weird ingredients help keep the pickles crunchy and green.
BK: Cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt, 1/10 of 1% sodium benzoate as a preservative, alum, propylene glycol, polysorbate 80, natural flavours, yellow #5, turmeric oleoresin, blue #1, soy lecithin. Pickle flavoring may contain soy lecithin and is processed on shared equipment with peanuts.
McD: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Alum, Potassium Sorbate (preservative), Natural Flavors, Polysorbate 80, Extractives Of Turmeric (color).
A&W: Pickles, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, potassium sorbate (as a preservative), polysorbate 80, natural flavors, turmeric oleoresin, garlic powder.
Turkey day prep
-
Stock (extra roasted this year, reduced 50%) -
Turkey (start by 3PM)-
160C 3 hours, flip -
Dry brine x2
-
-
Mac-
Grate cheese -
Sauce -
Bacon -
Breadcrumbs
-
- Gravy
- Potatoes
-
Garlic roasted - Butter
- Potatoes washed
-
- Roast veg (one pan)
- Cornholio
Prep night dinner
- Meat balls → Meatballs
- Ratio recipe (forgot parm, was still tasty)
- Simple marinara → Simple marinara
- 1 raw meatball as a base
- Tomato paste
- Red wine to deglaze
- 1 tin of tomatoes, mashed
- Light seasoning (salt, pepper, oregano)
Naan
→ Naan
- 620g bread flour
- 7g (2 tsp) instant or rapid rise yeast
- 12g kosher salt (2 ½ teaspoons)
- 22g (about 2 tablespoons) sugar
- 400g (about 1 ¾ cups) full fat yogurt or whole milk
- 110g (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- (1171g)
- portion into 100g balls
- rise by 2x
- cook in hot pan or over grill
- apply butter (and or garlic, herbs, etc.)
WTF it’s Fall?
Crispy roast chicken, gravy, mash, and roast veg
Chicken: this was good → Crispy chicken rub
- Rub
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
- Coriander
- MSG
- Mushroom powder (if serving with gravy)
- Steps
- Cover skin with oil before baking
- 205C or 219 or 230 (230 max brown)
- Until breasts are 65C brown meat is 75F
Essence of cola → Essence of cola
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
- Finely grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
- 3 large (5-inch) cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons dried bitter orange peel
- 2 teaspoons coriander seed
- 1/4 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon gum arabic (optional)
- 2 pounds sugar
- 1/4 cup browning sauce, such as Kitchen Bouquet
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ascorbic acid (or lemon juice?)
10ml alcohol (vanilla may have enough)