What's for dinner?

[HisArpy]

I had ducks for pets so I am always hurt to see duck lol Looks very nice though (minus the duck, sorry).

My mom was like that about chickens. Her chickens were pets instead of food.

Starting at a too young age, I raised rabbits for meat. I didn't get attached because I'm not soft hearted and I understood the difference between food and family/pets. IMO we need more 4H and less PETA/SPCA.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

The thing about my "date night" dinners is that cooking isn't what you've been taught it is.

What it isn't; is difficult. Yes there's a learning curve, but that's true of everything. Food preparation, however, isn't some mystical pseudo spiritual / religious mumbo jumbo only understood by those celeb chefs you see on Food Network game shows.

Good cooking is easy. All it takes is some minutes, not hours, spent on thinking about what you want to make and then preparing to do it by researching the recipe, buying ingredients, and then fixing the meal.

You start with simple. There are recipes which anyone who can boil water can make. There's Steak Diane for those who think beef is the only game in town and Pork Tenderloin Diablo for those of a more adventurous nature. These are "entry level" dishes that culinary schools begin with. What's more, anyone with even a half stocked pantry can successfully produce a good result with them.

There's a youtube channel (French Cooking Academy) that features these kinds of dishes and more. I recommend it. For almost every recipe I choose the ones that use wine or liquor over then ones that don't. Why? Because the ones that don't use booze don't give me the result I'm looking for - that extra bit of special the usual fare doesn't have.

Plus, the ones without wine often don't taste that good because the cook doesn't really know or understand what they're doing.

The meals I make aren't that expensive either. Mostly I use regular grocery store groceries and I avoid overly expensive stuff. Good cooking isn't about bragging that you used wild caught buffalo or range fed grouse, it's about using common things and turning them into something better than the individual components could ever be.

The cooking itself is execution of a perfect plan of engagement. I start with dessert. What goes with the meal I'm planning to make? Once I figure that out it's time to prepare the sequence of events. I usually make dessert on Friday if it's a cake because cakes take time for frosting. Other desserts I can make on Saturday. Why? Because I don't want to be overworked on Sunday. Sunday is slow and focuses on dinner, not baking/cleaning/cooking/plating in a rush to get everything done on time at the same time.

The actual cooking on Sunday takes about 45 mins to an hour depending on what's for dinner. You know, the usual amount of time from start to finish when you're cooking something more complicated than nuking leftover pizza. Yesterday's duck took 30 minutes from the time I put the water for the rice on the burner to boil and that's the very first thing I did because rice can sit in the pot and steam after the burner is turned off to get sticky and that gives me more time to do other things.

As for plating, that's an art. I'm working on getting more height in my dishes and it's not as simple as the cooking. I started with buying a few mismatched designer plates at GoodWill that make the food look good without using Gram's good china as the focus. From there it's just a matter of learning how to assemble everything together as a single presentation instead of separate parts on the same plate with a bit of empty space in between.

I'm still working on that.

I made TackTickle Meat Loaf yesterday. It turned out a touch spicier than usual. I think that I got a bit frisky with the black pepper.

 

[AnomalyLady]

My mom was like that about chickens. Her chickens were pets instead of food.

Starting at a too young age, I raised rabbits for meat. I didn't get attached because I'm not soft hearted and I understood the difference between food and family/pets. IMO we need more 4H and less PETA/SPCA.

Oooh I didn't know about 4H, I am looking at now.

I haven't had chickens yet but cuddliness:
Ducks > Chickens

 

[JojoLea]

I just made stuffed peppers. Yellow peppers, left-over steak, rice, and tomato sauce (passata). I had a bit of wine while preparing dinner and a nice cold beer when Dear Husband and I actually dined. Dessert was cake and coffee, and I'm enjoying the coffee right now.

 

[HisArpy]

Oooh I didn't know about 4H, I am looking at now.

I haven't had chickens yet but cuddliness:
Ducks > Chickens

 

[HisArpy]

I just made stuffed peppers. Yellow peppers, left-over steak, rice, and tomato sauce (passata). I had a bit of wine while preparing dinner and a nice cold beer when Dear Husband and I actually dined. Dessert was cake and coffee, and I'm enjoying the coffee right now.

But, you know what they say;


No pics, yer a bot what eats electrons instead of real food.

 

[HisArpy]

I made TackTickle Meat Loaf yesterday. It turned out a touch spicier than usual. I think that I got a bit frisky with the black pepper.

I think you'd like Peposas. It's an Italian pepper beef dish.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Oooh I didn't know about 4H, I am looking at now.

I haven't had chickens yet but cuddliness:
Ducks > Chickens

I dunno. My bizness partner Out West has 5 chickens and 5 ducks. She recently got 5 more chickens. The ducks hang out with each other and go on walk-about around the horse pasture. The chickens stay closer to the barn. The new chickens follow her everywhere they can and (she says) are quite friendly. I'd rate her chickens as the friendlier of the two types of birds.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

I think you'd like Peposas. It's an Italian pepper beef dish.

I probably would. I had a really meaty spaghetti version the other night when we went out to eat, and it was pretty tasty. I'm open to experiment.

 

[HisArpy]

I dunno. My bizness partner Out West has 5 chickens and 5 ducks. She recently got 5 more chickens. The ducks hang out with each other and go on walk-about around the horse pasture. The chickens stay closer to the barn. The new chickens follow her everywhere they can and (she says) are quite friendly. I'd rate her chickens as the friendlier of the two types of birds.

Chickens seem to multiply faster than a math prodigy.

 

[AnomalyLady]

I think you'd like Peposas. It's an Italian pepper beef dish.

@Wat_Tyler

That cheese porn. That is a peposa.

 

[HisArpy]

I probably would. I had a really meaty spaghetti version the other night when we went out to eat, and it was pretty tasty. I'm open to experiment.

That was probably some type of ragu.

This guy has a decent peposas recipe. He's corny but his recipes usually work and tastes good most of the time.

 

[AnomalyLady]

I dunno. My bizness partner Out West has 5 chickens and 5 ducks. She recently got 5 more chickens. The ducks hang out with each other and go on walk-about around the horse pasture. The chickens stay closer to the barn. The new chickens follow her everywhere they can and (she says) are quite friendly. I'd rate her chickens as the friendlier of the two types of birds.

I had two sets of ducks. First one I raised as a duckling, held em, had em in a carrier lol They were sweet.

Second round I didn't hold em as a baby and they sucked.

 

[JojoLea]

But, you know what they say;


No pics, yer a bot what eats electrons instead of real food.

The peckers- uh, peppers were naked, so no pics. Oh, I could do them here! (I'd need an anon account to do it.)

 

[Wat_Tyler]

I had two sets of ducks. First one I raised as a duckling, held em, had em in a carrier lol They were sweet.

Second round I didn't hold em as a baby and they sucked.

I think that hers were adolescents or very young adults when she got them. She may do chicks/ducklings next time to decrease suckage.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

That was probably some type of ragu.

This guy has a decent peposas recipe. He's corny but his recipes usually work and tastes good most of the time.

The peposo looks good but I cannot eat it because of a couple of ingredients.

 

[HisArpy]

(I'd need an anon account to do it.)

Why? You're going to named as the progenitor of the smutty stuff anyway so why bother to go through all that hassle? Post it and dam the sniveling bitches who whisper behind their hands.

 

[JojoLea]

Why? You're going to named as the progenitor of the smutty stuff anyway so why bother to go through all that hassle? Post it and dam the sniveling bitches who whisper behind their hands.

Yes I know where we are. Lit. Not everyone gets to see all of the lacy frilly things underneath.

 

[HisArpy]

Yes I know where we are. Lit. Not everyone gets to see all of the lacy frilly things underneath.

F 'em if they can't take a joke.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

F 'em if they can't take a joke.

Fuck 'em. It's an order from General Principles.

 

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[Chernosoth]

Pasties were very common in Michigan as blue collar lunch without plates or utensils. They are mostly meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and maybe some other bits. I would never cook one from scratch, since I mostly prefer more protein and less carbs, but I sometimes buy one. I could pack one for a long bike ride.

 

[RoryN]

I would never cook one from scratch, since I mostly prefer more protein and less carbs, but I sometimes buy one. I could pack one for a long bike ride.

Alert: "long bike ride" is Deplorable code for following an 8-year-old on their bicycle from the driver's seat of a `95 Camry.

 

[glamorilla]

Pasties were very common in Michigan as blue collar lunch without plates or utensils. They are mostly meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and maybe some other bits. I would never cook one from scratch, since I mostly prefer more protein and less carbs, but I sometimes buy one. I could pack one for a long bike ride.
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I love savory pies.

I do a shepard's pie but instead of going the brown gravy/stout route I use tomato paste and liberal amounts of cumin and cinnamon. top it with a garlic mash.

 

[Bloodandglitter]

Seafood enchiladas