A big stretch, January through June: Hawaii-trip-inspired kalua pulled pork and poke research, a bulgogi marinade and an Asian slaw dressing that both worked well on the first try, and a char siu marinade. Also dialed in: a broiled “home whopper” method, a family-weekend rotation of pulled pork, chili, and mac and cheese, and two wing sauces (gochujang, chili-lime) for puzzle nights — while a Serious Eats peanut sauce got flatly rejected in favour of trying Weissman’s version next time.
Undated. January to June; the original notes grouped these as Spring.
Rice bowls
- Quinoa
June celebration planning
- Pulled pork (1, 2, 3, 4, 5/5)
- Adapted recipe → Maui/Kalua pulled pork
- coconut rice (1)
- Pulled chicken → Pulled BBQ-style chicken
June food ideas
- Make Piri Piri
- Quinoa salad (curry)
- Quinoa,
- diced veg (carrots, onion)
- raisins, currents
- parsley
- pepper, turmeric, curry mustard (or masala?),
- stock
- (pairs great with roasted veg/beast)
May food prep
- Chicken meatballs (and/or pork)
- springy, for soup
- Soup stock (next week)
- Beef prep
Post-Maui
- Hawaii learnings
- Salads
- Wooden spoon house salad
- Soup
- Drinks
- Chai → Chai
Roast beast
- Blade roast (shoulder blade → chuck)
- 230C for 25, then 177C for 45 (ish)
- 60C target
- In liquid, not covered
- Carrots, celery, soup stock (~1 inch)
- 230C for 25, then 177C for 45 (ish)
Next up
- CHAR SIU → Char siu marinade
Snacky Friday
Pork glaze (was good, though a bit heavy? Something simpler might be better)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- ½ cup canned coconut milk
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
Peanut sauce from Serious eats: DID NOT LIKE THIS ONE (check out Weisman’s next time)
- 1 cup (256g) creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup hot water
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar or light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice from 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- Kosher salt, to taste
Too much thai curry paste, likely needs tamarind or hoisin, and was missing coconut milk (adding that made it better)
Indonesian sweet soy sauce (good for glazes) → Sweet soy sauce (kecap manis style)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ⅜ cup brown sugar
- (heat to combine)
Rice paper rolls (with some pork too?)
Thai cucumber relish → Thai cucumber relish
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped coarse
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
Flatbread
- White sauce (adapted from ATK) → Flatbread white sauce
- ½ container ricotta (whole milk, avoid stabilizers)
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 shallot finely minced
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Cream
- 1-2 egg yolks
- Salt, pepper, MSG
- Oregano
- Thyme
Lunch hacks
- Second Szechuan attempt: (draft recipe)
- + big fat spoon of chili/garlic paste
- + 115g tofu
- Rice vinega → sake
- − togarashi
- + sesame seeds
- + more soy
- Szechuan quick noodles, single pan
- 85g noodles (spag or whatever)
- Szechuan peppers, teaspoon or so
- Korean chili flakes, 2-3 teaspoons
- Beef base (has stock in it), 125ml
- Minced ginger, 1 tablespoon or so
- Cabbage 1-2 cups
- Tomato paste, 1 tablespoon or so
- Togarashi
- Soy/sesame oil/rice wine To taste
- Next time
- More salt
- Edamame
- Tofu
- More acid
- Dashi
- Was close to amazing
Food prep
- Chicken patties (tuned down most add-ins by 25%) → Chicken patties
- Beef patties 125g (slightly smaller than the usual 140g), no seasoning (added after cooking)
- Beef base → Beef base
- Chicken stock
Appetizers
Learn more asian cooking
- Bulgogi (basic, standard, SE, Chef John, another) → Bulgogi beef
- Test recipe
- (this worked really well)
- Asian slaw → Asian slaw dressing
- 90g ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 45g / 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, plus extra for seasoning
- 30g tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 15g 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 10g soy sauce
- 10g maple syrup
- (this also worked really well)
- Side dishes
- Other
Food thoughts
- Really enjoying casseroles, especially cottage pie → Cottage pie
- Idea for a scallop lasagne (test for lunches?)
Home whoppers
- Broil 258C + convection
- On grate
- 6-7 minutes per side
- Let rest
- S&P&MSG
- Medium - medium well
Pressure cooker parts
- 26cm (I think it’s this one: Fissler sealing ring)
- 600-700-00-205
- Or
- 600-000-26-795/0
Weekend famjam food
- Results
- Pulled pork:
- worked despite problem with pressure cooker (~3 hours instead of 40 minutes)
- Sauce worked well
- Chili
- New technique for chilis
- Pulled pork:
- TODO
- Prep pork shoulder (spice rub → fridge)
- Start chili (beef browned)
- Prep tomatoes
- Sidequest: make meat sauce lunch
- Make chili
- Prep cheese
- Coleslaw dressing
- Recipes
- Pulled pork → Pulled pork
- Spice rub
- 40 minutes
- Chili (freezer beef mince precook) → Canadian chili
- Mac&Chez (simple, unbaked version of this) → Baked mac & cheese
- Pulled pork → Pulled pork
Pasta tests
- Ravioli style (torts?)
Research and food thinking
- Spinach/artichoke dip →
- Baps are great buns (SE recipe)
- Had these from a local grocer: great for simple sandies
- Nut breading?
- 1:½ nuts/parm
- Seasoning (parsley, s&p)
- Pound out
- Season
- Flour
- Egg
- Nuts
- Bake 233C ~20 until 65C
- Worked well, but not quite dark enough (par pan fry first?)
- 1:½ nuts/parm
- Stroganoff → Ann → Beef stroganoff
- Breakfast sausage recipe → Breakfast sausage
- 7 oz. lean ground pork
- 3 tsps. maple syrup
- 2/3 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground sage
- ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
- ½ tsp. onion powder
- (missing fennel?)
Wings test (for puzzle night snacks)
- Gochujang → Gochujang wing sauce
- Dressing/marinade
- Half on the wings to marinade/cook, half to dress
- Chilli lime
- Dressing/marinade
- Half on the wings to marinate/cook, half to dress
Roast chicken
- 205/218C (400/425F) (article)
- ~40 minutes
January is different
- Nutritional yeast dressing (to use up left over)
- Sprouts