The Foodie Kitchen

[sivispacem]

 

I have rekindled my love for food now that I quit smoking.  It is amazing how much I can taste/smell now.

Same. I've been on a real health kick over the last month or so, really changed the way I eat. Much of it I won't stick to in future- I mean, there's only so much fish and meat one guy can afford in a week- but it's made a big difference to the way I texture food. I mean, dinner today was roasted Monkfish with garlic, parsley and chilli, fried Samphire, a home-made cabbage and red onion salad and rosemary Farinata. Delicious.

[JOSEPH X]

I thought I'd share this with you foodies... (click for supersize)

 

 

I made it yesterday at work (I'm a baker). It's a natural sourdough bread, and it is unique. I took a four pound piece of dough from the batch we were making our sourdough breads from, and I gave it an extra couple of hour's fermentation before baking it. This makes it a lot less dense and therefore much more pleasurable to eat, and it also makes it keep for a whole lot longer.

 

The ingredients couldn't be more basic - flour, water and salt. What makes it possible to turn those ingredients into that bread, is that some of the flour and water comes from a leavening agent that I and my colleagues have been tending to daily for seven years - when we made our first batch.

 

The ingredients of the leavening agent are even simpler - flour, water and a little bit of the previous day's leavening agent. What that becomes, is a stable ecosystem containing several species of fungi, bacteria, and different species of fungi and bacteria that live in symbiotic relationships. It's their biological processes which make the enzymes, carbohydrades, sugars and gasses which give the loaf its structure and flavour

 

The bread itself is divine. It bounces around the mouth as you chew, not sticking to the palate or tongue - and it doesn't sit heavy in the stomach like fast processed bread - perfect for the human digestive system. Contrary to its name it doesn't have a 'sour' note, the crust is nutty and the crumb is a creamy sweet cereal mass

 

TL;DR probably the best loaf on the planet today.

 

 

[grope_4_that_date]

There was a restaurant where I lived that made the best potato skins in the world. They were like a boat, overflowing with cheese. The bottom had large, chewy pieces of bacon. The middle- gooey orange American cheese and more bacon. The top was all mozzarella, melted perfectly. The outside of the potato was baked to a crisp and had a real crunch. They might even fried them.

 

I probably couldn't eat it today, because I'd get a heart attack, but man did it smell good!

[laralist123]

I am always like spicy foods like chicken, Pizza and many other food items.I am always prefer to choose a fast food restaurant.

 

Edited September 24, 2012 by Girish

[Algonquin Assassin]

 

I love spicy things! once i ate a full mango covered with chillies! [ powder actually ]

Yeah I like spices too except when your asshole feels like a volcano ready to explode.

 

I love Mexican food, but the consequences....

 

One of my favourite snacks is a bag of Dorittos (Prefferably supreme cheese) and a jar of mild salsa. Mmmmm.

 

I'm also a chicken fan. KFC chicken is the bomb and beef burgers... *drools like Homer*

Edited September 22, 2012 by Miamivicecity

[autotheftisgrand]

My family specializes in cooking "soul" food like various fried meats, steak and some hearty pastas. My dad makes some great gravy, you can really taste the meat in it compared to the gravys of fast food chains or restaurants.

 

These days I'm only eating fast food. I moved from my mom's house for a job. The good thing about the fast food here in the Philippines is that there's plenty of choices. Aside from the normal McDonald's, KFC and others. It's like New York here when it comes to the different variants or regions of restaurants.

 

My favorite right now has got to be pasta drenched in olive and garlic oil and some mushrooms, capers and anchovies. It's pretty easy to make. Just spread on a ton of cheese and I'll be in food heaven.

[King Of Monra]

Bacon wrapped Chicken with couscous and salad and a paprika sauce. Lemon cested with sea salt and thyme under the bacon

 

A few pictures of the dish.

 

And yes the plating is bad, need work there =)

 

 

 

 

And a homemade burger

 

 

homemade mayo

 

appetizer

 

a noodle dish

 

mac'n'cheese

 

the inside of the mac'n'cheese

 

 

a cake (puppyseed cake i think the english word is)

 

another chicken dish with (asparges??)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Loch Dawg]

Cous cous is amazing. I went to the markets yesterday and picked up some smoked trout. I think I'm going to chuck it onto a pizza with some fresh mozzarella, blue cheese sauce and maybe some sliced potatoes. I've also got two lamb steaks, I was considering just doing a basic seasoning of salt, pepper and rosemary. I want to pair it with some cous cous and a nice salad with some feta and roast pumpkin thrown in.

 

Anyway, lately every Monday my housemate and I have been making different burgers. I think we're going to try turkey burgers and some crumbed chicken (baked in the oven with ham, cheese and tomato sauce thrown on top). How do people like their burgers when it comes to mince and toppings?

[sivispacem]

I just made an incredible Tom Yum soup.

 

Chicken, tiger prawn and Shiitake mushroom with home-grown Thai Sun chillies, home-grown Coriander, Galangal, Lemongrass and giant spring onions. For the first time in years, the stars aligned and I had all the ingredients (Kaffir Lime, Palm Sugar, Thai Fish Sauce, Galangal and Lemongrass) all at once.

[Mr Rabbit]

love curries, hot curries, I ask for my vindaloos extra hot, and that is usually the lowest I go when it comes to curries, my family think I am nuts, the people in the various indiian restaurants I go to regular think i am nuts as they go as hoigh as jalfrezi and that's it (wimps). Always had the good fortune to be near a few good indian restaurants, including this balti hourse that brings the food out in the bowl it is cooked in so you get extra flavours (as the guy there said) delicious chicken faal, nice kick.

 

I also have this hot sauce, I read it was 1.5m on the scoville scale but I don't fully believe that, everybody lies, that someone got me, f*cking hell it is hot, called ass reaper some of you may have heard of it

 

[sivispacem]

I also have this hot sauce, I read it was 1.5m on the scoville scale but I don't fully believe that, everybody lies, that someone got me, f*cking hell it is hot, called ass reaper some of you may have heard of it

I've had some of the million-Scoville-unit sauce before. It's hot but nowhere near as pungent as the same kind of strength actual chilli. One of the Asian supermarkets near me sells Naga peppers- the full-on 1.3+ million ScU peppers. They're actually quite pleasant once you get over the burning.

[GTA_stu]

I love spicy food myself, but everyone else in my family hates spicy food. That means whenever we have a curry we have to have the dreaded korma , unless we go to an Indian restaurant, which we never do. I've never tried anything over 1 million scovilles, in fact I have no idea what the spiciest thing I've tried on that scale even is. A vindaloo I guess. I don't suffer from flag of Japan arse when I have a curry, and my stomach is always fine too, but my nose runs like a tap.

[friendly luggage]

 

Chalk me up for a Mushroom lover. In a meal, on their own or f*ck it even raw, it's lovely.

I've never tried a mushroom raw; the thought of cold slimy mushroom sends shivers down my spine. I don’t like them when they’re giant chunks as well. I’m not a fussy eater either as I’ll eat pretty much anything except snails and other creatures with shells. Raw fish is another one because of the possibility of parasites.

 

@Stu I'm a lover of spicy food too but I have to take a box of tissues with me and a gallon of drink to get through a spicy meal. The only ring of fire incident I've had though is from having too much vodka and crap. Never drinking vodka again!

Edited September 24, 2012 by illegal_luggage

[na89340qv0n34b09q340]

 

I've never tried a mushroom raw; the thought of cold slimy mushroom sends shivers down my spine.

 

They're not really slimy when they're raw, they have a really soft texture, a bit like a carrot, but 'feathery'.

Edited October 28, 2012 by zoo3891

[Punk-in-Drublic]

I made a chicken, leek and mushroom pie today, it was lovely. All from scratch except the pastry.

[Mr Rabbit]

 

I love spicy food myself, but everyone else in my family hates spicy food. That means whenever we have a curry we have to have the dreaded korma , unless we go to an Indian restaurant, which we never do. I've never tried anything over 1 million scovilles, in fact I have no idea what the spiciest thing I've tried on that scale even is. A vindaloo I guess. I don't suffer from flag of Japan arse when I have a curry, and my stomach is always fine too, but my nose runs like a tap.

ah, you would love a faal, a bit like a vindaloo but hotter (assuming we are not talking about vindaloos that are dead tomoatoey, like the ones I have had in stoke and manchester), not all indian restaurants do it. also this sauce called ass reaper, get it, very hot, no idea how hot on scoville,

I have been told over a million but I don't believe it

 

@siv - it won't be cos they add all kinds of preservatives and stuff, you always get a better(up to opinion but i think so), stronger and sharper taste from fresh foods, hence why I don't eat a lot of curry takeaways but love to go to an actual restaurant, especialy aforementioned baltihouse near me where they bring it out int he bowl it is cooked in, adds a bit to the flavour *licks lips*, but I personally do not like chillies, it's the texture, likee the taste and adore the spice/hotness

Edited September 30, 2012 by NateShaw92

[sivispacem]

@siv - it won't be cos they add all kinds of preservatives and stuff, you always get a better(up to opinion but i think so), stronger and sharper taste from fresh foods, hence why I don't eat a lot of curry takeaways but love to go to an actual restaurant, especialy aforementioned baltihouse near me where they bring it out int he bowl it is cooked in, adds a bit to the flavour *licks lips*, but I personally do not like chillies, it's the texture, likee the taste and adore the spice/hotness

Curry Corner, which is a curry house I frequent, used to do a Naga Viper, garlic and mustard seed slow-cooked spinach curry with local venison. Truly amazing.

[Mr Rabbit]

ooh sounds nice save the mustard.

damn I am hungry for something hot now, 6 figure scovile scale at the very least hot. I mean what's the point if you go lower?

 

wait, curry corner, that... that is jsut down the road

[sivispacem]

 

wait, curry corner, that... that is jsut down the road

It's probably one of the most popular curry house names in the world, perhaps after Taj Mahal.

[Mr Rabbit]

I suppose anyway it's a long road

[Master of San Andreas]

Sorry For the light bump but has anyone eaten Gummy Bears?

[Sgt. Foley]

Sorry For the light bump but has anyone eaten Gummy Bears?

I have, the Harbio kind. I think that's what they are called lol.

[Moonshield]

It's roasted root season, motherf*cker.

 

[CygnusX1]

I just love muckef*ck, magnificently delicious - though I can't say the same for strangle the priest, tasted like cow dung. Speaking of which, has anyone tried sh*t on a shingle?

sh*t on a shingle is awesome. Stouffers sells it in the freezer section

[Mr Rabbit]

Sorry For the light bump but has anyone eaten Gummy Bears?

hell yeah, love em but I always have too many and have a cold feeling in my throat and get thirsty.

 

 

[Pyrrhic]

 

Sorry For the light bump but has anyone eaten Gummy Bears?

Not really into them actually. More of a sour straps person I guess.

[Mr Rabbit]

chilli chocolate? anyone?

basically you have chocolate but it has chilli flakes in it.

There are other ways it is done as well i think like chocolate IN a chilli is one I heard about but thats a chocolate chilli I say.

 

I thought "what an insane idea, these things will not go" but me being addicted to spicy stuff I got some, f*cking delicious.

[sivispacem]

The other way they do it is replacing some of the cocoa butter with an emulsion of Chilli in a vegetable oil. You can actually make it at home if you have sufficiently dark chocolate (80+% cocoa solids)- just steep some fresh chillies in a flavourless oil for a few weeks then mix a tablespoon or so into melted chocolate, spread on a board and allow to re-set.

[JOSEPH X]

I've read about people using cocoa powder in their chilli - also coffee - it's supposed to give it that chipotle flavour. I tried it myself by adding nescafe instant granules to my chilli, but I wasn't that impressed. I'm not a fan of chipotle flavour crisps (chips) either because they remind me too much of coffee.

 

Here's a recipe of mine for chilli which I've been making for donkey's years and has evolved over time. The most important part is cooking the beef properly - a lot of people undercook it, but it needs to be well done to get maximum flavour.

 

Ingredients (in order that they go in the pot):

 

- large onion (or two small) finely chopped

- garlic, 3-4 cloves finely chopped

- fresh chillis, 5-6 medium size, medium heat one's such as jalapeno coarsley chopped

- teaspoon salt

- teaspoon ground black pepper

- tablespoon (or large spoon) of ground cumin

- teaspoon chilli powder (it's up to you how much you add depending on how hot your powder)

- 1kg minced beef

- oxo cube (beef stock cube)

- 1/4-1/2 a jar of minced chilli (red or green) or sambal oelek

- tin of red kidney beans

- tin of chopped tomatoes

- 2 teaspoons tomato puree

- a big bunch of fresh coriander, stalks removed and finely chopped (or if you have a food processor, keep the stalks on and blitz it to a puree)

- glass or so of water

 

Instructions:

 

- Fry the onions and garlic in oil or beef dripping until brown

 

- then add the fresh chillis, salt, pepper, chilli powder and cumin. Turn the heat down on the pan and cook til the cumin is aromatic - should only take a minute.

 

- add the minced beef and bring the heat back up. Stirring constantly, cook the beef until the bottom of the pan starts to get sticky. this is where all the flavour of the beef is. deglaze that stickiness with a little water and then cook further, letting the water evaporate and the pan become sticky again. Repeat the deglazing process until the meat is brown and there are no clumps of mince.

 

- add the rest of the ingredients one by one and bring to the boil. Turn the heat right down and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom of the pan doesnt burn.

 

A great way to serve this is in stuffed bell peppers. Cut the top off the pepper, scoop out the insides, and put in boiling water till they soften a little. Stuff the peppers with the chilli put the tops back on and roast til the peppers start to blacken then serve with boiled rice.

 

[Moonshield]

No offense, but that sounds like a pretty weak chili. Then again, I take my chili super seriously (to the point where I make my own blend of chile powder from dried chiles). And keep cumin the f*ck away from chili.

 

In my experience, the best thing to do with leftovers is to cook it with some fuggin bacon and eggs.

 

 

The fall root frittata with thick ass peppered bacon. Perfect with a hot cup of coffee on a cold fall morning. And rich Corinthian leather.