Gravy's Cooking Thread

KurganAU

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Could make a pot of chicken and andouille gumbo, or a seafood gumbo, that would probably be a big hit.

My wife has been making a really great chicken noodle soup for when my stomach is screwed up. Just pick up a rotisserie chicken, or you can always grab chicken thighs and brown them.

Just a standard mirepoix, but we also add mushrooms and leeks. Bay leaf, do a bouquet garni or whatever herbs you like such as thyme rosemary, etc. could splash a little white wine if you have it. Parsley stems in the bouquet are also great. And throw some fresh parsley in towards the end.

We don't cook the noodles in there though. We cook those separate. I found that it gets too gummy, so just make a big bag, keep it separate and I'm just add to your bowl and ladle on your soup.

Beauty of it is you can add whatever other vegetables. Sometimes we'll put sugar snap peas or cut up green beans. You could also add things like cannellini beans or navy beans. Hell if you wanted cauliflower or broccoli, I'm sure you could do that. I don't know I just really enjoy it and it's something I make and eat when I'm not feeling well.

You could always do a baked potato soup as well. I'd like to try to recreate the old one from bennigan's from way back when.

A good bisque isn't too hard, just requires a good stock.

You should check out the French cooking Academy on YouTube. The guy does classic French cuisine, and has quite a bit of different soups on there. He did won the other day that was apparently the favorite soup of Louis the 15th I think.

Follow up post,

It was my turn to cook again and I went with your suggestion of checking out the French Cooking Academy. Made this one below and bought a loaf of sourdough the morning of that toasted well



It was appealing since it was simple to prepare, chop up and chuck in when required. No blending or sifting through strainers which seems to be a theme with French cooking.

Not normally big on veg only options but this was tasty and filling and I will definitely be making it again for home.

it was also my first go at preparing and cooking a leek, which probably sounds strange to some, but that’s how it goes when you’re raised on bangers and mash, silverside with white sauce, apricot chicken and lots of roasts.

I cooked the soup in my stockpot the night before, fridge overnight and transferred it to a multi cooker I recently bought since the other blokes have one. It’s a lot more convenient to press “keep warm” at the start of the day, get on with work and have everything be good to go when it’s time to serve up.

I had an old slow cooker in the cupboard but I didn’t think it was up to the task. This new one will serve me well going forward and trying new things.

Speaking of, I will be mining your post for future things to try. I had to look up a few terms you used, like gumbo and mirepoix, since we just don’t get that kind of cuisine over here. We do however like a good curry and a good stew, so if this is the Cajun/Creole version then that sounds good to me.

I’ve had a decent run of not getting sick or flu symptoms this year, but if I do i’ll give that chicken noodle soup a try.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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That's awesome. Guessing you're somewhere in the UK. I thought they used a lot of leeks in some of there cuisine. I think Irish colcannon traditionally uses a lot of it. We've been using it at home more for soups and stews, and even in stir fry. Good for casseroles, too. Just a milder but slightly different onion like taste.

Yeah, gumbo is basically a Cajun stew that you can pretty much use anything if you want. Was poor people food originally.

Mirepoix is carrot, celery, and onion. Cajun mirepoix, the Trinity, Bell pepper, celery and onion, along with the Pope - garlic.

There's tons of videos on making it, but a lot of shitty ones out there. I know I've posted some recipes out of my cookbooks in the past for someone here that requested it. Happy to do so again, would just have to remember which books they were from.

Glad to hear it worked out so well.
 

Lanx

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It was appealing since it was simple to prepare, chop up and chuck in when required. No blending or sifting through strainers which seems to be a theme with French cooking.
i don't believe in sifting, whenever i see that, i just think it's some gay bullshit
 
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Dr.Retarded

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i don't believe in sifting, whenever i see that, i just think it's some gay bullshit
Depends on the soup. If you're making a bisque, you're straining, otherwise it's won't have the right texture. All you're doing is straining out aromatics most of the time, and you don't wanna chew on a twig of thyme or bay leaf.
 

Lanx

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Depends on the soup. If you're making a bisque, you're straining, otherwise it's won't have the right texture. All you're doing is straining out aromatics most of the time, and you don't wanna chew on a twig of thyme or bay leaf.
thats not sifting, thats straining

d9fcc36546d2bf847138de2c7f3ae66b.png
 
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ToeMissile

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Ackchually

Sifting and straining are both processes that separate different components, but they have different uses and applications:

  • Sifting
    Separates and breaks up clumps in dry ingredients, like flour, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Sifting also aerates and combines the ingredients. Sifting is useful for baking, especially for cakes with fine crumbs or that use eggs or egg whites for leavening.





  • Straining
    Separates solids from liquids, such as removing seeds and pulp from fruit sauces, or herbs, tea leaves, and spices from stocks and broths. Straining can also be used to rinse rice, skim solids from hot oil, and blanch vegetables and pasta.
 

Dr.Retarded

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Lanx Lanx I done watching this guy's stuff for a while and it's looks pretty legit. What say you. And if there's a difference between traditional Oriental cuisine and American, he does a pretty good job of breaking stuff down and I've used some of his methods in different things that I've made.



I've never eaten it at a PF Chang's but I've had their frozen dinners in the past, a very long time ago, but used to go to Pei Wei which to my understanding is owned by the same company. They're pretty good normally because they have those jet burners to get the wok flavor.

Just curious what your thoughts are.
 

Lanx

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Lanx Lanx I done watching this guy's stuff for a while and it's looks pretty legit. What say you. And if there's a difference between traditional Oriental cuisine and American, he does a pretty good job of breaking stuff down and I've used some of his methods in different things that I've made.



I've never eaten it at a PF Chang's but I've had their frozen dinners in the past, a very long time ago, but used to go to Pei Wei which to my understanding is owned by the same company. They're pretty good normally because they have those jet burners to get the wok flavor.

Just curious what your thoughts are.

if you want a traditional recipe, follow this



i kinda stopped watching when he recommended low sodium soy sauce
 
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mkopec

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I make a mean Kung Pao Chicken. I started to experiment with it when I had the best fucking Kung Pao in this fancy Chinese place at lunch. Key to a good Kung Pao IMO is a good Xiao Xing wine.
 
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Gavinmad

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dice onion, mash or halve a couple garlic cloves, dump in slow cooker

place two pork loin blade ends in slow cooker (would probably work for a small piece of shoulder too, I'd say I had about 5-6 pounds of pork)

mix pineapple juice, brown sugar, salt, paprika, and liquid smoke in a bowl then pour in slow cooker. lightly sprinkle pork with cinnamon and start slow cooking

flip the pork every hour or two, the first time you flip lightly sprinkle with cinnamon again


shit came out so perfect that I've been eating it without barbecue sauce, which I've never done with pulled pork before. god damn i could easily eat myself sick if i didnt exert some willpower lol, shit is so good.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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dice onion, mash or halve a couple garlic cloves, dump in slow cooker

place two pork loin blade ends in slow cooker (would probably work for a small piece of shoulder too, I'd say I had about 5-6 pounds of pork)

mix pineapple juice, brown sugar, salt, paprika, and liquid smoke in a bowl then pour in slow cooker. lightly sprinkle pork with cinnamon and start slow cooking

flip the pork every hour or two, the first time you flip lightly sprinkle with cinnamon again


shit came out so perfect that I've been eating it without barbecue sauce, which I've never done with pulled pork before. god damn i could easily eat myself sick if i didnt exert some willpower lol, shit is so good.
Sounds like a version of carnitas. Next time share some photos. Sounds pretty good.
 

Dr.Retarded

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I don't plate well so there's rarely anything to photograph. Just a big crockpot of roughly shredded pork in this case.
You're talking to the man who has the super power of antiplating according to Lanx Lanx . Not a big deal if it's not picture perfect.

It just really sounds similar to something we made not long ago. When reheating, we'd place some on foil in the air fryer to crisp up the fat, and then throw into tortillas with quick pickle onions, cilantro, and queso fresco. Bit of lime juice and hot sauce to balance it out.

Think we ate on it for a week.
 

Siliconemelons

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Was at Aldi, they had a slab of pork belly for like 5$

I made “pork belly burnt ends” just in the oven. “General Rub” from kinders.

Roasted for 2 hours, then sauced half with Sonny’s sweet, the other with Char Su sauce, gave it 5min roast, sauced again then broiler to 5min.

Not bad.

IMG_1771.jpeg
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Was at Aldi, they had a slab of pork belly for like 5$

I made “pork belly burnt ends” just in the oven. “General Rub” from kinders.

Roasted for 2 hours, then sauced half with Sonny’s sweet, the other with Char Su sauce, gave it 5min roast, sauced again then broiler to 5min.

Not bad.

View attachment 546493
Sounds kinda like the Chinese BBQ ribs my mom used to make when we were growing up. Wasn't pork belly but it was country style pork ribs which are typically pretty fatty, I think it's just a Boston butt cut up into the one by one strips.

Garlic pepper, and toss on a cookie sheet into the oven to roast for a while. Make a big thing of fried rice while the ribs are cooking.

When everything's getting done baste the ribs with teriyaki sauce, I know but it's not Chinese, but some sort of Oriental barbecue sauce or glaze. The ribs despite not being smoked or anything always came out super crispy, just reminds me of my childhood. I'll still make that meal on occasions or at least once a year. Totally bastardized Americanized version of char sou or however it's spelled, but it's delicious.
 
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