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What Are You Simmering Right Now? A Place for Mid-Stew Musings


jparrott

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Next time it happens, boil some water with baking soda in the pot and then let it soak for a while. Most of the burnt stuff, even sugar, will come off without a lot of hard scouring.

Zora - this worked like a charm! Had some burnt starch at the bottom of the pot yesterday, remembered your tip and voila! Thanks!!

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Still cold enough, so a nice beef stew. Cooked it tonight for dinner tomorrow - it's always better the second day.

In the same ballpark I made the beef braised in stout from the recipe in the River Cottage Meat Book. 3 lbs. of chuck and 8 oz. of bacon are the main ingredients. Smelled pretty damn good while simmering.

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Pork and daikon soup.

This seems to be my go-to soup since this is what is simmering right now.

Later: Creamy carrot and parsnip soup. Ordered an Arganica Farms local crate and ended up with a bunch of both, so this seemed like a good way to use it up.

Also later for baking, but am too lazy to post in baking thread is some challah bread.

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Zora's Award-Winning BBQ Sauce

So happy*!

(been wanting)

(to try this)

(for months)

*So easy to prepare, but so delicious! The flavor verdict was a pungent, spicy, sweet, addictive hit when used as a finishing bath for simply broiled chicken wings. I doubt I'll ever go more than a few weeks without having this sauce on hand for some manner of grilled or roasted excellence.

Edited by KMango
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Valentine's beef shanks and tails, osso bucco- like. Low and slow, so my house smells wonderful, while I watch my Eagles (kick ass).

I promised myself I would not watch the History Channel etc. all day and marinate in 9-11, but remember and live life (so the terrorists do not win) on this beautiful day. So, we got up early to mass, prayed, gave thanks, remembered and enjoyed the rest of the morning at the Alexandria art festival in Old Town before coming home to fill it with wonderful aromas, all while quietly feeling very blessed and lucky.

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Just put 3 1/2 quart of beef stock into the freezer. I used bones and oxtail with some meat and deeply browned in the oven. Also caramelized vegetables in same sheet pan (drained of fat) and added to stock. Simmered for a few hours and let cool overnight. Next day, reheat gently to loosen and drain stock through colander then chinois and refrigerated overnight. Skimmed fat and put into quart containers.

Got lots of collagen and good color.

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^That very afternoon, I had purchased a couple of lbs. of marrow bones for similar reasons. My goal was just to have enough stock for a mushroom barley soup, so I used the broth leftover from simmering fresh shelling beans (yeah!), threw in some leek greens, dried porcini bits and among other things, a dollop of sautéed tomato paste and both the skin and core of a roasted tomato.

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tomato sauce with roasted eggplant, crimini mushrooms, a peeled poblano, plus a pestata of onions, celery, carrots and lots of garlic I learned from watching Lydia Bastianich. I'm hoping that in 3 or 4 hours, the sauce will be substantial enough with spaghetti, that J won't express disappointment at the lack of meat in it.

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Golabki (Polish stuffed cabbage). I'm continuing to evolve Mom's recipe to make it more flavorful and healthful. The sauce is my tomato sauce and a small can of tomato paste to mimick the consistency of the old sauce, which was a can of Campbell's tomato soup and ketchup. The stuffing is brown rice vs. white, aromatics and a mix of 2:1 ground turkey breast and ground pork.

Have to have the pork, nixed the beef and veal :)

If I had to pick the most evocative smell of my childhood, it would be this. A beef roast and turkey would come in a close second and third.

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Zora's SC bbq sauce*. Pork shoulder with rub is in the crock pot.

*I used half chili powder and half ancho powder, skipped the cayenne to tame the heat a bit.

Zora, you're a mensch :)

Thanks! One day in late August I toasted a bunch of dried anchos and made my own ancho powder with my spice grinder. The various batches of sauce I have made since have been perfect, as far as heat goes, and the flavor beats any of the times I have made the sauce with commercial ground ancho powder. I've been leaving out the cayenne, and adjusting the heat level with Sriracha. I used some of the sauce the other day with some smoked pulled pork from the Friendship Heights Whole Foods bbq bar (which is quite good, by the way), and it did not disappoint.

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Thanks! One day in late August I toasted a bunch of dried anchos and made my own ancho powder with my spice grinder. The various batches of sauce I have made since have been perfect, as far as heat goes, and the flavor beats any of the times I have made the sauce with commercial ground ancho powder. I've been leaving out the cayenne, and adjusting the heat level with Sriracha. I used some of the sauce the other day with some smoked pulled pork from the Friendship Heights Whole Foods bbq bar (which is quite good, by the way), and it did not disappoint.

I remember you saying that you left out the cayenne, so that's why I skipped it. I'll be sticking with my commercial ancho powder since I bought a pound of it. Any other suggestions for usage?

Thanks!

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I'll be sticking with my commercial ancho powder since I bought a pound of it. Any other suggestions for usage?

Ancho powder, depending on the heat level of that particular batch, is great in chili. I never use commercial blends called chili powder. (Various kinds can have mystery chile, garlic powder, cumin, oregano.) I use fresh garlic, bloom the cumin in oil, and add my own chile powders: usually a mix of ancho, guajillo, chipotle and sweet pimenton. Ancho chile can also be used to make ancho mayonnaise, or spicy remoulade. Mix ancho powder and guajillos to make cooked red salsa for enchiladas or chilaquiles.

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Great, thanks Zora.

My pork shoulder (8 lb.) got into the oven just a tad too late in the day. I thought I'd bake it in the crock, but tried to expedite the cooking in the oven, so I shifted it over. Now, it's been cooking for 3 hours or so, and I think I'm throwing in the towel for today.

No pulled pork tonight.

I lowered the temp to 250 degrees and am resigned to let it go for a long, long time.

Will enjoy it tomorrow.

Plan B for dinner tonight...

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Tomato jam - after that it will be strawberry-thyme-balsamic jam, then lemon curd, then pumpkin-apple butter. Whew!

One of my big fundraising projects for my marathon is baking/canning - lots of work for me, but hopefully it will also be lots of money for a great cause.

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This morning, it was several of those 99 cents a pound tomato seconds from Toigo purchased at the Dupont Market yesterday--whizzed them on high in the Vitamix and then slow cooked them with some salt for a couple of hours to make a fresh tomato puree. And a pot of freshly shucked "bird's egg" beans (aka cranberry beans aka borlotti) from Spring Valley Farm, cooked with carrot, celery leaves, onions, garlic plus aromatic herbs. Both are destined for a pot of minestrone for a genuine Meatless Monday. The vegetables-broth-tomato base is simmering with a bouquet garni, awaiting the addition of some cooked pasta and the beans. For dessert, I am currently simmering some Indian-style rice pudding: Tilda basmati in Clear Creek Creamery whole milk, with palm sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and cardamom. Seems like a simmering sort of day.

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So Saturday, I burnt a batch of lentils, did you know that was possible? Not enough liquid, I was watching a movie, & by the time I smelled it, too far gone-undeterred, I made another batch, plenty of liquid, water & chicken broth, onion, s & p. Yesterday, before going to Oktoberfest at Ft. Belvoir, I sautéed some napa cabbage, green onion, mushrooms, & sauerkraut-somehow I survived 5 hours there, in the unexpected cold & rain, w/ only 1 beer, because I was bringing home a carload of 12 yr olds.

Today, I combined the leftover lentils, w/ the leftover cabbage mix, & some extra chicken broth-it was an excellent soup. My daughter decided to make sugar cookies from scratch, decimating my kitchen in the process. Now, if I can just get her to STOP bringing home goldfish from Oktoberfest...

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This morning, it was several of those 99 cents a pound tomato seconds from Toigo purchased at the Dupont Market yesterday--whizzed them on high in the Vitamix and then slow cooked them with some salt for a couple of hours to make a fresh tomato puree. And a pot of freshly shucked "bird's egg" beans (aka cranberry beans aka borlotti) from Spring Valley Farm, cooked with carrot, celery leaves, onions, garlic plus aromatic herbs. Both are destined for a pot of minestrone for a genuine Meatless Monday. The vegetables-broth-tomato base is simmering with a bouquet garni, awaiting the addition of some cooked pasta and the beans. For dessert, I am currently simmering some Indian-style rice pudding: Tilda basmati in Clear Creek Creamery whole milk, with palm sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and cardamom. Seems like a simmering sort of day.

Sounds fabulous! And while I wish I had some of bookluving's stock instead of the carton I picked up at WFM at the end of a day replete w IT issues, I have to agree that in the wake of summer, the day's one for simmering sorts to stand facing the stove and the steam.

I adore fresh shelling beans (Sand Hill Farm might still be selling them at Penn Quarter on Thursday), though I wanted to transform the fagioli all'uccelletto (Zuni Café recipe) made w last week's batch. Turned them into a soup w leeks, mirepoix, celery root, kale, parsley, and a single, but significant chorizo sausage whose principal ingredient was raised humanely and well fed on a small West Virginian farm by a DR member whose wife is a vegetarian.

So to that trio who set up at the edge of a farmers market on World Farm Animals Day and offered to pay passers-by $1 were they to watch a four-minute video designed to put one off the consumption of meat, forever: there are other alternatives to the diets and practices you condemn.

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Last night I made a pot of Mafé.

P...lease do tell us what it is and how you made it...

I'd also like to know details. That accent aigu is useful in discovering he simmered a pot of groundnut stew, a West African dish I've only made as a vegetarian entrée thanks to the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook that everyone gave and got one Christmas long ago.

Moi, ce soir? First real chicken stock in a while, using necks from Eco-Friendly because there were no feet. A trip to WFM this morning reminded me that chicken legs now cost less per pound than wings.

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Moi, ce soir? First real chicken stock in a while, using necks from Eco-Friendly because there were no feet. A trip to WFM this morning reminded me that chicken legs now cost less per pound than wings.

Your WFM meat guy can order Bell&Evans necks and backs by the case. Last time I did it, he charged me $36/case (40lbs, necks or backs).

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Pretentious or not, please do tell us what it is and how you made it...

I am currently simmering quinces and bartlett pears in an orange caramel syrup to fill a tart shell...

It is a West African stew of meat (I used chicken thighs) simmered in a sauce with ground peanuts.

Brown seasoned chicken parts (~4 lbs.) You can also use lamb or beef.

Soften onion, garlic, and red pepper

Add 1 c ground peanuts or natural PB mixed with about 1 c of water

Add 1 1/2 c chopped tomatoes

Add ~1 to 1.5 c water or stock

Cayenne pepper to taste (I think the dish does best with a bit more heat)

Return chicken to dish and simmer until meat is cooked through

The dish goes great with rice and any sort of roasted root vegetable.

I sometimes add some cumin (not traditional) as I enjoy the flavor with the dish.

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It is a West African stew of meat (I used chicken thighs) simmered in a sauce with ground peanuts.

Brown seasoned chicken parts (~4 lbs.) You can also use lamb or beef.

Soften onion, garlic, and red pepper

Add 1 c ground peanuts or natural PB mixed with about 1 c of water

Add 1 1/2 c chopped tomatoes

Add ~1 to 1.5 c water or stock

Cayenne pepper to taste (I think the dish does best with a bit more heat)

Return chicken to dish and simmer until meat is cooked through

The dish goes great with rice and any sort of roasted root vegetable.

I sometimes add some cumin (not traditional) as I enjoy the flavor with the dish.

This is one of my favorite dishes, both in Africa and the US. But as with everything, the flavor on the continent edges out anything we can make here. That's not only situational (because food always tastes better in its homeland!), but also because the groundnuts in Africa are different than anything I've been able to find here--and insanely good. Generally no larger than a pea, each nut is a tiny explosion of peanut so flavorful they seem almost like a different species. Also, there's the palm oil, which simultaneously adds an indefinable layer of flavor and at least a millimeter of clot to your arteries.

But yum--what a great idea. I think I need to make this soon, lesser peanuts be damned. :D

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the house is being aromatized by my kind of Febreze: chili con carne with chunks of rose veal and ground grass-fed beef, 4 kinds of powdered chile, homemade fresh tomato sauce, beans, beer and Valrhona cocoa. the dog is spaced out in front of the fire burning in the wood stove. outdoors: yuck. indoors: aaah.

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How great was yesterday to plant yourself in the kitchen and cook away while watching chunky wet snow?

After braving the cold and wet in Falls Church (market, Lebanese Butcher) in the morning, I cooked up a storm with my ingredients.

Oven-roasted butternut squash with sage and pumpkin (organic canned WF) lasagna. I used Blue ridge mozzarella, smoked mozzarella and made goat's milk ricotta.

Chicken stock with wings and livers from the LB.

Cheesy, creamy cauliflower soup.

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I clip recipes all the time and never do anything with them. I'm trying to do better with that.

Thus today I have a beef chuck roast in the crockpot with dried apricots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cumin, cinnamon and ginger that I adapted from a 2009 Real Simple magazine. I'll add chickpeas and spinach right before serving.

It smells wonderful!

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