Gravy's Cooking Thread

Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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popsicledeath said:
Found it at the local ding and dent grocer that randomly has random stuff (so bought like 6 bottles because might never see it again). Available online, apparently. I put it in all kinds of stuff, from sesame/mandarin chicken sauce to Shepard's pie. And it almost makes me like pancakes.

BOURBON AGED MAPLE | Maple Syrup Made with a Smoky Sweet Flavor

Try our Bourbon Aged Maple Syrup made with a spiced, smoky and subtly sweet flavor.
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Shit, I don't think it was that brand. Maybe the one we got was from Home Goods, but may have also been from trader Joe's.

As much as I hate the hippie culture, their prices haven't shifted dramatically, and it's still the cheapest place to buy butter right now. Hell they're cheese prices are fantastic compare to any other store. Lot of the times they're pretty great with seasonal items, and right now they have that everything but the leftovers seasoning, and for two bucks it's fantastic. It's basically Thanksgiving in a bottle.

Anyways, enjoying a glass of whiskey and rambling about food. I'll have to find a bottle of that.
 
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popsicledeath

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Deathwing said:
Think of it like the difference between putting raw onions vs cooked onions on your pizza.
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Apparently, according to a very quick search this is a controversial topic. I don't like them too crunchy so do thinly sliced raw onions on a topmost layer. Never thought to saute them a bit first...
 
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Dr.Retarded

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popsicledeath said:
Turned out delicious but very wet and not caramelized much. Almost like a poke cake.

The recipe my girlfriend had me doing was to just dissolve the brown sugar in the butter over low heat. Looking into it after and Serious Eats says to almost make caramel then add pineapple and set aside so it cools some, which is what I was suspecting as I was trying to not change the recipe on the fly like I often do.

Not bad for second one we've made, but can be improved. We only did one tonight so might just do another tomorrow with the rest of the pineapple and take extra to work.
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I guess that's what I was trying to describe earlier is basically making a caramel sauce on top of the cake. I want to say that's a French technique and I do not remember the specific dessert that it's used in, I just don't know my desserts or pastries whatsoever. My thought was the cast iron at least with the fat and the sugars would help build that candy type crust I think you were looking for, or at least that's what I'm imagining you were talking about when you said it had a crunch to it.
 
Dr.Retarded

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BrutulTM said:
Sweet potato pie > Pumpkin pie

Change my mind.
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I don't know I just can't do it. I have a weird thing in my brain where it's a sweet potato but it's supposed to be sweet but my mind is telling me it's potato, and it screws up all of my circuits.

I know it tastes sweet and I know it's enjoyable but because it's a vegetable that's turned into a dessert, I just short circuit. I got a handful of things and I'm weird about when it comes to food and that's probably one of them.

I will eat it though and I do enjoy it it's just something I don't go out of my way to make.
 
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BrutulTM

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I love pumpkin pie, but when I have a sweet potato pie and pretend it's pumpkin, I like it even better.
 
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popsicledeath

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Dr.Retarded said:
I guess that's what I was trying to describe earlier is basically making a caramel sauce on top of the cake. I want to say that's a French technique and I do not remember the specific dessert that it's used in, I just don't know my desserts or pastries whatsoever. My thought was the cast iron at least with the fat and the sugars would help build that candy type crust I think you were looking for, or at least that's what I'm imagining you were talking about when you said it had a crunch to it.
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You'd think so, but it didn't help make a crust except on the very edges. Gonna try cooking the sauce closer to caramel first, or maybe take the cake out a bit earlier and finishing on the stovetop.

Sometimes cast iron recipes seem to hinder bakes compared to (high conduction?) aluminum. I mean, pouring corn bread batter into a red hot cast iron that was preheating on the wood stove like I had as a kid is good and made amazing crusts, but often corn bread in a cold cast iron like I've seen recipes for just takes forever and doesn't crust as well as aluminum.

Wonder if basic Nordic Ware cake pans are stovetop safe...

I think maybe I'm too bored and obsessing.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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popsicledeath said:
You'd think so, but it didn't help make a crust except on the very edges. Gonna try cooking the sauce closer to caramel first, or maybe take the cake out a bit earlier and finishing on the stovetop.

Sometimes cast iron recipes seem to hinder bakes compared to (high conduction?) aluminum. I mean, pouring corn bread batter into a red hot cast iron that was preheating on the wood stove like I had as a kid is good and made amazing crusts, but often corn bread in a cold cast iron like I've seen recipes for just takes forever and doesn't crust as well as aluminum.

Wonder if basic Nordic Ware cake pans are stovetop safe...

I think maybe I'm too bored and obsessing.
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Higher heat.

As long as you got the fats and sugars to get that nice crust, there's got to be a point where it starts to caramelize and form a shell. Cast iron I would imagine would be the easiest but it might be the pineapple that you used is exuding so much water where you're never going to get a good Maird reaction.

Wonder if what you want to do is use one of those little 6-in cast iron pans. Do a small batch and test it running it through the oven for a bit and then finishing it off on the stove top like BrutulTM BrutulTM suggested.

And you can figure out your ratios of sugars and butters and fats to execute that wonderfully candy-like crust I think you're looking for.

I will say this you bastard, now I'm wanting to make stupid upside down pineapple cake, I think I want to do it because I want to figure out how to make it as amazing as I possibly can.

Is it possible to ask your mom how she used to make it though?
 
Edaw

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I make one of these every once in a while. I just let the butter and brown sugar melt in the pan in the stove for 10 minutes before placing the pineapple/cherries and pouring the cake in.

I'm not fancy, so I used canned pineapple.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Edaw said:
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I make one of these every once in a while. I just let the butter and brown sugar melt in the pan in the stove for 10 minutes before placing the pineapple/cherries and pouring the cake in.

I'm not fancy, so I used canned pineapple.
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Goddamn that looks delicious. I think he was trying to do the upside down version and maybe that's where the mess up might be happening, but God damn, I'm not a huge pineapple fan other than pina coladas, but with a giant dollop of ice cream, that's got to be delicious.

I look at it and it looks exactly like I was trying to say earlier about cornbread. It's got that beautiful cornbread crust.
 
popsicledeath

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Dr.Retarded said:
Is it possible to ask your mom how she used to make it though?
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We figured some things out together before she passed, but after multiple bouts with chemo over the years she couldn't remember things very well.

Had to have her make clam chowder as I took notes to get it close to how I liked it, for instance. She couldn't just explain it, had to do it.

I learned a ton of kitchen and cooking stuff from her over the years, of course, but a lot of lost knowledge too.
 
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Fogel

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popsicledeath said:
Before or after? Or both...

Used real pineapple and I've heard some recipes work best with canned.

Pineapple upside down cake is a favorite I recently rediscovered, so might just make one a week experimenting until I either figure it out or die of the beetus.

Might need to finally buy a torch and creme brulee the thing.
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Hard to say, problem with cast iron is its slow to heat but then retains its heat longer
 
Sludig

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Any secret to ham steak other than throw in a skillet or my ninja stick free little grill thing and salt and pepper it? Never made one, maybe I'm spacing the correct seasoning, dont think i've even really ordered it before.
 
Dr.Retarded

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Sludig said:
Any secret to ham steak other than throw in a skillet or my ninja stick free little grill thing and salt and pepper it? Never made one, maybe I'm spacing the correct seasoning, dont think i've even really ordered it before.
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You're probably okay leaving out the salt. I don't think I've ever cooked a ham steak but I smoked or roasted lots of whole hams. I'll do a little bit of garlic pepper, or some other type of barbecue seasoning that doesn't have a lot of salt. Typically finish off with a little glaze of honey and Worcestershire and hot sauce or something. Sweet with something acidic or spicy to cut through the richness and salt of the ham. Hell fresh herbs like fennel or Rosemary can really make it a hell of a lot better.

A nice sweet barbecue sauce would be perfectly fine too. At least to me ham hours requires that little touch of sweetness, and whether you get that from a spice blend or a glaze is up to you.

I guess another question is what are you serving it with? Those sides can also really compliment and elevate something as simple as ham.
 
Sanrith Descartes

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Dr.Retarded said:
You're probably okay leaving out the salt. I don't think I've ever cooked a ham steak but I smoked or roasted lots of whole hams. I'll do a little bit of garlic pepper, or some other type of barbecue seasoning that doesn't have a lot of salt. Typically finish off with a little glaze of honey and Worcestershire and hot sauce or something. Sweet with something acidic or spicy to cut through the richness and salt of the ham. Hell fresh herbs like fennel or Rosemary can really make it a hell of a lot better.

A nice sweet barbecue sauce would be perfectly fine too. At least to me ham hours requires that little touch of sweetness, and whether you get that from a spice blend or a glaze is up to you.

I guess another question is what are you serving it with? Those sides can also really compliment and elevate something as simple as ham.
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Yeah it doesn't need extra salt on a ham steak.
 
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Sludig

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I was going to treat it like breakfast I think and leave it pretty plain, fried taters and eggs and a ham. I also grabbed some beef bacon and "cottage" bacon which looks like nearly all meat little fat.
 
popsicledeath

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Dr.Retarded said:
I know Thanksgiving is next week and I've been trying to plot out our menu. Think I'm going to keep it pretty traditional and just simple with the least amount of sides possible, just nice and easy. Had planned on making regular mashed potatoes, no frills just done well, but God damn chef John comes out with this.

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Was maybe 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge and extra potatoes since the 10# bag was cheaper than other options, so trying it out on a small scale. Only had some expiring gruyere on hand so went with that. Kinda weird to pair with spaghetti, but it's for science. They smell good in the oven, and hard to mess up potatoes, so I'm hopeful it's the best potatoes ever.
 
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popsicledeath

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Not bad for leftover mashed potatoes and random cheese on hand. Needed cheese in the mash and Parm on top. I did skins on most because I like the flavor, but the peeled test section nearest worked better in texture and cooked down more into expected au gratin style.

Not all that different than the hassle back potatoes that the lower half turns very soft. Will try a combo of the two because it could have been creamier (Parm regg would have helped if course). Top layer was a bit, not dry, but more roasted that cooked au gratin style.

Potatoes weren't sized right so took the time to stagger them, which may have contributed to the more roasted top layer.


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Dr.Retarded

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popsicledeath said:
Not bad for leftover mashed potatoes and random cheese on hand. Needed cheese in the mash and Parm on top. I did skins on most because I like the flavor, but the peeled test section nearest worked better in texture and cooked down more into expected au gratin style.

Not all that different than the hassle back potatoes that the lower half turns very soft. Will try a combo of the two because it could have been creamier (Parm regg would have helped if course). Top layer was a bit, not dry, but more roasted that cooked au gratin style.

Potatoes weren't sized right so took the time to stagger them, which may have contributed to the more roasted top layer.


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Looks tasty enough for me. I rarely peel potatoes at this point, skins taste fine and I think they're pretty good for you if I'm not mistaken, maybe a lot of potassium?

I wonder if the bottom layer was soupy because they were left over. My frozen mashed potatoes and stuff in the past, and I found that if you keep some instant potato flakes in your pantry, and just mix in a few tablespoons or a quarter of a cup depending upon the size of the side, they do an amazing job of reconstituting older leftovers. Don't think I ever saw anybody do that I just had them on hand and gave it a shot when we were reheating some shepherd's pie, and I'll be damned it really works.
 
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