FEBRUARY 2015 WAITERS' CIRCUS GREY CONFIRMED!!!! Forum

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:07 pm

schmelling wrote:
peppermint wrote:
schmelling wrote:I had homemade chicken stock so I suateed some chicken sausage, chopped up some mirepoix, threw it all in a pot with a 14 oz can of crushed san marzano tomatoes, a can of white beans, and a whole bunch of spinach and fresh parsley. its like an italian wedding/ minestrone soup without pasta, and its really good. I make it all the time since I usually have everything on hand.
Ok, that's it. Let's officially be besties.

I have homemade stock too so today I made a creamy tomato carrot ginger soup with it. Seriously, it's the best soup I've ever had in my entire life. Like if I was a contestant on Top Chef, I could have won with that dish.
I bought an immersion blender to make that kind of thing, but I lost it before I ever opened it and I refuse to buy another one cause I am convinced I will find it (even though it's been 3 months).

I love cooking, so we can definitely be friends. My favorite kind of food to cook will always be the simple stuff- soups, stews, curries, one-pot meals- far from elegant, but so under appreciated in my view. Probably because it doesn't look as pretty on a plate as some other foods.

If you don't leave every pot in the kitchen dirty you're doing it wrong. Then again, I'm used to having a paid dishwasher ten feet from me. I plate like a goddamned motherfucker.

14 years of my life in kitchens.

The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:12 pm

schmelling wrote:
peppermint wrote:
WhiskeyAndCupcakes wrote:Ugh. I hate mayonnaise. Even reading about it makes me gag.
Regular mayo is gross but Japanese mayo is amazing! And I make aoli (kinda like a gourmet mayo) at home which is so much better. The other day I made black garlic aoli to go with almond-crusted chicken tenders, it was ridiculously good.
you make it from scratch? I want to try but I am afraid to use raw egg yolks.

Pastured eggs carry a very small risk of salmonella eaten raw and you could always pasteurize them. I make my pre-workout smoothie from raw egg yolks and homemade mayo is awesome.

Dr. Nefario · Post by **Dr. Nefario** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:12 pm

TheProdigal wrote:
schmelling wrote:
peppermint wrote:
schmelling wrote:I had homemade chicken stock so I suateed some chicken sausage, chopped up some mirepoix, threw it all in a pot with a 14 oz can of crushed san marzano tomatoes, a can of white beans, and a whole bunch of spinach and fresh parsley. its like an italian wedding/ minestrone soup without pasta, and its really good. I make it all the time since I usually have everything on hand.
Ok, that's it. Let's officially be besties.

I have homemade stock too so today I made a creamy tomato carrot ginger soup with it. Seriously, it's the best soup I've ever had in my entire life. Like if I was a contestant on Top Chef, I could have won with that dish.
I bought an immersion blender to make that kind of thing, but I lost it before I ever opened it and I refuse to buy another one cause I am convinced I will find it (even though it's been 3 months).

I love cooking, so we can definitely be friends. My favorite kind of food to cook will always be the simple stuff- soups, stews, curries, one-pot meals- far from elegant, but so under appreciated in my view. Probably because it doesn't look as pretty on a plate as some other foods.
If you don't leave every pot in the kitchen dirty you're doing it wrong. Then again, I'm used to having a paid dishwasher ten feet from me. I plate like a goddamned motherfucker.

14 years of my life in kitchens.

I generally follow prodigal's cooking style. So many dishes every night. It's a blessing and a curse but I love homemade dishes

peppermint · Post by **peppermint** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:13 pm

justabitunusual · Post by **justabitunusual** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:16 pm

I left for like an hour or more and y'all are still talking ab food and dieting/exercise...wtf? But, just for the record, I LOVE soups and stuff, but have a hard time making them unless I get a good recipe, but I've tried making so many recipes (taken from online) that turned out to not be crowd pleasers that I only like to try the ones I know ppl have made before and liked...so, please feel free to PM me any good recipes that are simple yet delicious and I will send you a baked cookie via email

eta: I make an awesome crawfish (or you could use shrimp) and corn bisque though I must say, although there's nothing healthy ab that I'm afraid

peppermint · Post by **peppermint** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:17 pm

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:22 pm

It's a food party in here!

Dr. Nefario · Post by **Dr. Nefario** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:22 pm

peppermint wrote:
RaiderRed wrote:I generally follow prodigal's cooking style. So many dishes every night. It's a blessing and a curse but I love homemade dishes
What do you normally make for dinner?

Also, I'm having a major chicken fried steak craving all of a sudden, so one of these days, can you plz go eat one for me? I can live vicariously through you (no one in Boston seems to know what a CFS is, makes me so sad).

I actually had one last week one my cheat day from caprock cafe.

But I love grilling anything. Cooking wise: seafood, homemade soups, brisket, anything in a crockpot especially roast. I usually just find things in my kitchen and throw them together to see if it tastes good or not. I don't follow recipes too often unless it's something that just sounds incredible. I'm more of a throw it together and try. But big on grass fed beef, chicken, and seafood.

TetrisBlock · Post by **TetrisBlock** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:23 pm

I used to do a ton of plates and dishes when I cooked, but now I tend to focus on easier cleanup. One pot meals are the best. I love my dutch oven. The smell of ossobuco cooking for 2 hours is incredible. I want to get a pressure cooker so I can make that or oxtails much quicker, and also so I can make some stock every week that actually turns gelatinous when it's cooled. I have always either used too much water or not waited long enough for my stock to thicken and I think with a pressure cooker I could pull it off.

peppermint · Post by **peppermint** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:24 pm

TetrisBlock · Post by **TetrisBlock** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:27 pm

justabitunusual wrote:I left for like an hour or more and y'all are still talking ab food and dieting/exercise...wtf? But, just for the record, I LOVE soups and stuff, but have a hard time making them unless I get a good recipe, but I've tried making so many recipes (taken from online) that turned out to not be crowd pleasers that I only like to try the ones I know ppl have made before and liked...so, please feel free to PM me any good recipes that are simple yet delicious and I will send you a baked cookie via email

eta: I make an awesome crawfish (or you could use shrimp) and corn bisque though I must say, although there's nothing healthy ab that I'm afraid

If you're cooking on a stove top you really don't need a recipe, just put some olive oil or butter in a pan and then start cooking. When I'm baking I need a recipe, but I know how to cook vegetables/meat/eggs on the stove top with the seasonings I want. Just have a well stocked spice rack and decide after you've already put the meat in.

The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:28 pm

peppermint wrote:
justabitunusual wrote:eta: I make an awesome crawfish (or you could use shrimp) and corn bisque though I must say, although there's nothing healthy ab that I'm afraid
That sounds delicious. I really need to make a trip back down to NOLA so I can eat all the unique seafood cuisine there. Boston's okay for seafood but it's very traditional- lots of fish chowder, clam chowder, etc. Nothing like crawfish and corn bisque

Gumbo and crawdads.

NOLA during Jazz Fest is awesome. I love that city.

justabitunusual · Post by **justabitunusual** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:29 pm

peppermint wrote:
justabitunusual wrote:eta: I make an awesome crawfish (or you could use shrimp) and corn bisque though I must say, although there's nothing healthy ab that I'm afraid
That sounds delicious. I really need to make a trip back down to NOLA so I can eat all the unique seafood cuisine there. Boston's okay for seafood but it's very traditional- lots of fish chowder, clam chowder, etc. Nothing like crawfish and corn bisque

Yeah, I really think we have the best food for cultured palates

But another dish I like to make is Lemon basil seared Mahi Mahi which I did find online it was a Paula Dean recipe which I modified...that's pretty much how I cook, I start from a recipe and once I get the hang of it I can do the add things/modify it to the way I want it, but I'm just not as confident with throwing things in a pot as I want to be...the more you do it, the better you get I guess.

schmelling · Post by **schmelling** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:30 pm

Post removed.

justabitunusual · Post by **justabitunusual** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:32 pm

TetrisBlock wrote:
If you're cooking on a stove top you really don't need a recipe, just put some olive oil or butter in a pan and then start cooking. When I'm baking I need a recipe, but I know how to cook vegetables/meat/eggs on the stove top with the seasonings I want. Just have a well stocked spice rack and decide after you've already put the meat in.

I think you're right ab the stovetop, but I'm a much better baker than cook, although the things I do cook I cook very well

peppermint · Post by **peppermint** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:33 pm

justabitunusual · Post by **justabitunusual** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:36 pm

schmelling wrote:
not a soup, but a one pot dinner that you can be scaled easily for dinner for one or a whole family: Shakshuka

its a middle eastern dish. you basically sautee garlic onions and peppers and whatever spices you want, add a can off crushed tomatoes, or chop them fresh yourself. Add herbs if you like, then crack a bunch of eggs on top. Put a lid on the pan and let the eggs cook to your liking, and eat it all with a metric ton of bread.

That's the basic version, but you can basically do this any number of ways. I've added meat, shrimp, goat cheese, jalapenos, whatever is around. I always add a handful of greens and let it wilt before I add the eggs for a little extra nutrition.

That sounds yummy... I will have to try! I haven't done too much with wilting spinach, etc. although there was this sweet potato hash brown/wilted spinach/black bean stir fry thing I was making for a wile which was even good at breakfast that I used it in....I need to broaden my cooking horizons that's for sure, maybe that will be my next "study" lol

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:36 pm

peppermint wrote:
TheProdigal wrote:If you don't leave every pot in the kitchen dirty you're doing it wrong. Then again, I'm used to having a paid dishwasher ten feet from me. I plate like a goddamned motherfucker.

14 years of my life in kitchens.
Wow! What makes you want to leave the culinary world for the legal world? (Don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable disclosing)

I never really got into fine dining; lets be honest, the money is the same if you're cooking at IHOP or for a James Beard winning chef. There's also very little career advancement and its extremely hard to move up within one location, you need to be applying for jobs at other places to become a sous or head chef. I got lucky I got out of that race when I did and landed in the kitchen at a Fortune 500 company with benefits, 401k, vacation and stock options. Its a deal pretty much unheard of in the restaurant industry, so I'm pleased. I've got a number of friends still chasing the prestige of working in fine dining, working for $10-12/hr (or in kitchen equipment when they don't pay you for the month before they go bankrupt) and $40k or more in culinary school loans. I remember having to drive myself to the hospital bleeding from my hand after one of the knives they were too cheap to sharpen pulled a bag with it, and my hand into the blade. I don't regret the decision to get out of that kind of environment.

They also never tell you that your hands stop working so well after a few years. You lose fine motor control and things start slipping out of your hands. That's not a metaphor. I also have scars across almost all of my knuckles from a skin reaction to wearing vinyl gloves 8 hours per day for years -- my hands swelled up so much that I couldn't bend my fingers without bleeding from my knuckles. All of my fingernails fell off at the same time and they've never grown back quite as strong as they used to be.

I suppose that doesn't really answer your question. I've some ambitions that go beyond food service, and the career opportunities aside, the third-party validation offered by an elite law degree is a powerful thing. Long-term, the wife is going to be doing mental health counseling, so it would be great if we could work together in some capacity -- we're currently talking about asylum and immigration work.

TetrisBlock · Post by **TetrisBlock** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:37 pm

peppermint wrote:
TetrisBlock wrote:I used to do a ton of plates and dishes when I cooked, but now I tend to focus on easier cleanup. One pot meals are the best. I love my dutch oven. The smell of ossobuco cooking for 2 hours is incredible. I want to get a pressure cooker so I can make that or oxtails much quicker, and also so I can make some stock every week that actually turns gelatinous when it's cooled. I have always either used too much water or not waited long enough for my stock to thicken and I think with a pressure cooker I could pull it off.
Use a lot of necks and feet, it makes it really gelatinous & the flavor of the broth is much richer too.

Yeah once I get a pressure cooker I plan to try stock with those, pig trotters, and beef marrow bones and see how they compare. I really was using way too much water back when I was trying to make stock and I definitely wasn't cooking it long enough. I was using chicken parts (including feet because I had heard that suggestion before), but a ton of water.

peppermint · Post by **peppermint** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:37 pm

justabitunusual · Post by **justabitunusual** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:38 pm

The Abyss wrote:
Gumbo and crawdads.

NOLA during Jazz Fest is awesome. I love that city.

It's definitely a special place, and somewhere I will always be proud to call home, esp for the food

!! I just wish we had a T14 here ...lol

WhiskeyAndCupcakes · Post by **WhiskeyAndCupcakes** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:39 pm

schmelling · Post by **schmelling** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:41 pm

Post removed.