Gravy's Cooking Thread

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Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Koushirou said:
Chicken, riced cauliflower, sauce is made from cream cheese, butter, mozzarella, heavy cream, and then some seasoning with thyme, oregano, parsley, etc.
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Sounds like your typical chicken and rice casserole, but as opposed to using rice you're using cauliflower. I'm sure it tasted good. I really enjoy doing stuff like that, I couldn't eat it all the time, but the wife doesn't like chicken and rice I guess from growing up, but I've been converting her through the means of jambalaya and the types of casserole that you made. I never get any complaints.

I like throwing in regular rice and chunks of broccoli and cauliflower along with the chicken. Of course there's got to be a lot of cheese.

Little bit of pork fat in there like sausage or bacon also makes it great. Copious amounts of herbs, and onion also makes it wonderful.

There's just something nice about having that big one pot or one dish meal when it's cold that's easy to heat up. You can basically throw whatever the hell you've got floating around into one dish, make sure there's enough liquid, and go to town.
 
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Koushirou

Koushirou

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Dr.Retarded said:
Sounds like your typical chicken and rice casserole, but as opposed to using rice you're using cauliflower. I'm sure it tasted good. I really enjoy doing stuff like that, I couldn't eat it all the time, but the wife doesn't like chicken and rice I guess from growing up, but I've been converting her through the means of jambalaya and the types of casserole that you made. I never get any complaints.

I like throwing in regular rice and chunks of broccoli and cauliflower along with the chicken. Of course there's got to be a lot of cheese.

Little bit of pork fat in there like sausage or bacon also makes it great. Copious amounts of herbs, and onion also makes it wonderful.

There's just something nice about having that big one pot or one dish meal when it's cold that's easy to heat up. You can basically throw whatever the hell you've got floating around into one dish, make sure there's enough liquid, and go to town.
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Yeah, this is my first time making any sort of casserole, actually. Lot of adjustments to make. The broccoli definitely sounds an obvious choice to throw in and I'd love some onion, too.

Of course, the husband didn't like it, though...
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Koushirou said:
Yeah, this is my first time making any sort of casserole, actually. Lot of adjustments to make. The broccoli definitely sounds an obvious choice to throw in and I'd love some onion, too.

Of course, the husband didn't like it, though...
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Dude it's so easy. Just go get a big bag of frozen broccoli or maybe broccoli Normandy, that way you get the cauliflower and the carrots as well. Dice up some chicken thighs or white meat if you want to use it, thighs are always the best though.

Brown your chicken, tossing diced onions, maybe add some mushroom, and whatever herbs and seasonings. Deglaze with a splash of broth or wine, then set aside. Don't need to cook the chicken completely, just give it some color.

Meanwhile you've already got rice parboiled, doesn't need to be done, but close enough. And while you're doing all of this just have your big bag of frozen vegetables sitting out coming a room temp. They can be cold but you don't want him I see when you drop them in.

Combining a giant bowl with all of your cheese and what have you, and then spread into a big Pyrex dish. Maybe cover it in foil halfway through, then put the butter bread crumbs on top towards the end and throw under the broiler.

Normally when I do this I'll use cream of chicken for cream of mushroom to add a little bit more sauce, that there's the cream of cheese which I don't know what the hell that is but it works. The nice thing about those canned condensed soups is they really are nice emulsifier, and then if you just need more liquid add a little bit of chicken stock or cream.

You can basically use up whatever the hell vegetables you've got floating around. Celery, bell peppers, cabbage, whatever, that's the whole purpose of casseroles it's just using up what you have on hand. No different than making a soup or stew except it's just a big dish with a hell of a lot more starch for the body.
 
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moonarchia

moonarchia

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Made a second batch of the seafood soup I posted before. This time I added the seafood with just 1h left on cooking time. The scallops came out much softer. Will try 30m next time.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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moonarchia said:
Made a second batch of the seafood soup I posted before. This time I added the seafood with just 1h left on cooking time. The scallops came out much softer. Will try 30m next time.
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Dude if you want to make any sort of seafood gumbo soup stew chowder whatever, just ask me and I can give you plenty of wonderful recipes from amazing cookbooks.

Never ever let seafood that's delicate like scallops specifically, or shrimp, cook for longer than maybe 5 10 minutes. You also have to account for reheating it for your leftovers so you don't want to turn them into basically the texture of a car tire. Even that process is crucial if you want to enjoy the meal over a few days. Low and slow is the ticket while also maintaining as much moisture as possible.

You're a good dude, but you're breaking my brain with the genocide on good seafood products...😉
 
lurkingdirk

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LiquidDeath said:
New Years Eve brisket! Foil boat method is my new favorite method.
View attachment 567351
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We did brisket for Christmas too, but no pictures sadly. I use the same Mrs. Meyer's soap, by the way. It's awesome. Their air fresheners are also awesome.

Have a whole bunch of people coming tonight, going to cook prime rib with vegetables glazed in it's pan drippings, smashed potatoes, salad, and savory poached pears. Creme Brulé for dessert. Prime rib is on a massive sale after new years. No one wants it now, so what would have been about $200 on December 31 is $40 now. Score.
 
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moonarchia

moonarchia

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Dr.Retarded said:
Dude if you want to make any sort of seafood gumbo soup stew chowder whatever, just ask me and I can give you plenty of wonderful recipes from amazing cookbooks.

Never ever let seafood that's delicate like scallops specifically, or shrimp, cook for longer than maybe 5 10 minutes. You also have to account for reheating it for your leftovers so you don't want to turn them into basically the texture of a car tire. Even that process is crucial if you want to enjoy the meal over a few days. Low and slow is the ticket while also maintaining as much moisture as possible.

You're a good dude, but you're breaking my brain with the genocide on good seafood products...😉
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I am no gourmand, so it's just about experimenting with stuff. I am also in CO, so ain't none of this shit straight from the ocean. It's just bags of stuff from the freezer section I am tossing in a crock pot. One thing I could do is get a smaller crock pot and do half the amount since I am portioning it out to half one day and half the next. The 4 hours is really just to get the vegetables properly cooked through. The last step is finding the right amount of time to make the shrimp and scallops taste their best.

That said, I did adjust the spices a bit, and it came out amazing. Less salt, a little more cayenne and curry, and I added turmeric. For me a perfect amount of flavor and heat.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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moonarchia said:
I am no gourmand, so it's just about experimenting with stuff. I am also in CO, so ain't none of this shit straight from the ocean. It's just bags of stuff from the freezer section I am tossing in a crock pot. One thing I could do is get a smaller crock pot and do half the amount since I am portioning it out to half one day and half the next. The 4 hours is really just to get the vegetables properly cooked through. The last step is finding the right amount of time to make the shrimp and scallops taste their best.

That said, I did adjust the spices a bit, and it came out amazing. Less salt, a little more cayenne and curry, and I added turmeric. For me a perfect amount of flavor and heat.
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My friend, ditch the Crock-Pot for anything seafood related. That's the first step to acceptance of cooking seafood badly.

Get a nice enameled cast iron Dutch oven. I can be an off-brand that you could probably get a pretty good deal on at home goods, but it will work for all types of different food.

Seafood is delicate, and you have to sit there and monitor the times in which to make it the best.

The Dutch oven comes in a place to make your soup base and let it really develop all of its flavors, and then like Aldarion Aldarion said, you simply have to just toss the raw shrimps or scallops or whatever in towards the ass end. If everything's been rolling on a slow simmer, that's enough to cook it just put a lid on and you're good to go.

Sorry I just have a button that gets pushed when anybody talks about slow cooker shit. I'm honestly just trying to help you out, not trying to come off as an asshole.

I guarantee you though taking a little bit of extra steps and worrying the methods you will have an infinitely better meal especially if you're going to put out the money to get some decent ingredients and transform them into something delicious.
 
Gavinmad

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Dunno shit about cooking scallops but I don't think I cook raw shrimp longer than 5-6 minutes. Hell one time I followed a shrimp cocktail recipe that didn't even use direct heat. I just brought the stockpot up to a boil, dropped the shrimp in, turned off the heat, and fished them back out after 5 minutes. Pre-cooked shrimp are good to go after 2-3 minutes in the skillet at most, they just need to be brought up to temp and maybe a little bit of a sear.

Once I learned to stop overcooking shrimp the difference in taste was very noticeable. Seriously, watch a video of basically any kind of shellfish boil on YT, the seafood goes in at the very end and is only kept at a rolling boil for a few minutes before either already being done or having the heat turned off to finish the cook.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Gavinmad said:
Dunno shit about cooking scallops but I don't think I cook raw shrimp longer than 5-6 minutes. Hell one time I followed a shrimp cocktail recipe that didn't even use direct heat. I just brought the stockpot up to a boil, dropped the shrimp in, turned off the heat, and fished them back out after 5 minutes. Pre-cooked shrimp are good to go after 2-3 minutes in the skillet at most, they just need to be brought up to temp and maybe a little bit of a sear.

Once I learned to stop overcooking shrimp the difference in taste was very noticeable. Seriously, watch a video of basically any kind of shellfish boil on YT, the seafood goes in at the very end and is only kept at a rolling boil for a few minutes before either already being done or having the heat turned off to finish the cook.
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Scallops need a very hot pan with a little oil, and then about 60 seconds on each side. Get a nice colour on them on both sides and you're done.
 
moonarchia

moonarchia

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Dr.Retarded said:
My friend, ditch the Crock-Pot for anything seafood related. That's the first step to acceptance of cooking seafood badly.

Get a nice enameled cast iron Dutch oven. I can be an off-brand that you could probably get a pretty good deal on at home goods, but it will work for all types of different food.

Seafood is delicate, and you have to sit there and monitor the times in which to make it the best.

The Dutch oven comes in a place to make your soup base and let it really develop all of its flavors, and then like Aldarion Aldarion said, you simply have to just toss the raw shrimps or scallops or whatever in towards the ass end. If everything's been rolling on a slow simmer, that's enough to cook it just put a lid on and you're good to go.

Sorry I just have a button that gets pushed when anybody talks about slow cooker shit. I'm honestly just trying to help you out, not trying to come off as an asshole.

I guarantee you though taking a little bit of extra steps and worrying the methods you will have an infinitely better meal especially if you're going to put out the money to get some decent ingredients and transform them into something delicious.
Click to expand...
I am 100% not going to do all that work most of the time. I am also not using top shelf ingredients. Just quick and easy frozen everything. Toss it in and forget about it. Zero prep. Unmonitored. Easy to serve. Almost zero clean up.

That's not to say I never make nicer meals, even in the crock pot. I make a very good corned beef and cabbage in it once in a long while. For that I do buy and clean the potatoes and cabbage. Basically cook it until the cabbage and potatoes are soft. Well worth the effort.
 
Dr.Retarded

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moonarchia said:
I am 100% not going to do all that work most of the time. I am also not using top shelf ingredients. Just quick and easy frozen everything. Toss it in and forget about it. Zero prep. Unmonitored. Easy to serve. Almost zero clean up.

That's not to say I never make nicer meals, even in the crock pot. I make a very good corned beef and cabbage in it once in a long while. For that I do buy and clean the potatoes and cabbage. Basically cook it until the cabbage and potatoes are soft. Well worth the effort.
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You know what the amazing thing is you don't have to spend a bunch of money on simple ingredients, as long as you've got the right technique or process, you can turn it into something amazing.

It's just sacrilege to cook seafood too long. There are times in which you can let it do its thing, but it's pretty rare, normally it's a super fatty or oily fish, but if you spent the money on things like scallops, treat that stuff with respect.

And by no means I'm a master, I've learned a lot through trial and error, but seafood is definitely something you have to pay attention to, and it's never something you throw into a crock pot like a soccer mom.

It sounded like all of your ingredients were good and there's nothing wrong with using frozen vegetables. I use them a lot because typically they can be better than what you can get fresh because they were flash Frozen when harvested.

At all honestly comes down to having to put in a little bit more sweat equity to making a nice meal, I know people get busy, but you can still make amazing meals with humble ingredients as long as you treat them right, and if you splurged or something fancier, all the more reason to put in the work and not dump it into a slow cook stupid mechanism for people that don't know they're way around the kitchen.
 
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