Versatile Garlic Stir Fry Sauce

Last night, I wanted to make dinner for my girlfriend and myself. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much food left in the house. I made a very simple stir-fry type dish with chicken, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, and noodles. For the sauce, I wanted something that packed a punch without being too hot for my girlfriend's delicate taste buds.  The obvious solution? Garlic! The sauce ended up being pretty Thai inspired.

On What Is To Come

Sorry about the lack of activity. Thanksgiving consisted of a bunch of delicious (but not particularly innovative) food, and the leftovers lasted for a very long time. The highlight of the meal came from sweet potato biscuits that my girlfriend made (see the recipe she used). What with this massive influx of food, I really just haven't had much to post on.

At this point, I've worked my way through the leftovers. However, in the next ten days or so I'm going to be very busy studying for my end of semester exams. I'll try to bang out a couple of posts on quick and easy things, perhaps accompanied by a smattering of science here and there. After all, I've been learning about the digestive system this block. What kind of monster would I be to not take advantage of that?

Come December 17th, I'm on break for a short while. I'll be going back to my native New Jersey, where I can rely on my parents' home cooking instead of my own. At that point, though, I'll at least have some free time on my hands. Expect updates.

Improvised Stovetop Lattes

Okay, this latte is kinda ghetto. The phrase "ghetto latte" might seem like a contradiction - after all, a latte is a classy blend of espresso and steamed milk. It's the type of thing you buy from a pretentious hipster, flavored with gingerbread or peppermint mocha. This latte becomes ghetto because, to be frank, I cheat. I own neither an espresso machine nor any legitimate means of making steamed milk.

But on Saturday, I found myself jonesing for a latte. I improvised! The result tastes shockingly like something you'd buy at Starbucks and doesn't require investing in any expensive equipment. Perhaps more importantly, you can get your hands on it without being judged by any hipsters whatsoever! The only important thing to have is some means of filtration. If you have a french press, that would be ideal. If not, you could use a fine mesh strainer or (like I used) a regular drip coffee machine filter.

Well, I didn't mention peppermint mocha for no good reason.

Macaroni and Cheese with Spam

Ingredients:

   - Macaroni and Cheese
   - Spam

Instructions:

1. Cook macaroni and cheese.
2. Add Spam.
3. Avoid looking at yourself in the mirror.

Final Verdict:

Taste: 4.5/5

Ease: 5/5

Health: 0/5

Last-Minute Stir Fry

Last night, my brewing buddy Abel came over for dinner. This is all well and good, but I hadn't planned on it. The chicken I was marinading wouldn't be enough for two people. To stretch out the meat and make a fulfilling meal, I decided to toss the meat with some vegetable and seasoning and make stir fry. This was extremely last-minute; I just about exhausted my supply of fresh vegetables and I did every bit of planning as I went along. It came out pretty great, so I thought I'd share.

I told myself I wouldn't say this, but... it was... Stir-Friday (Archer, anyone?).

Pork: Now, Medium-Rare

While listening to the radio the other day, I heard a commercial from the pork industry. I don't think I've heard much advertisement from them since I was a little kid, back when "The Other White Meat" commercials were still often playing.

This new commercial really surprised me, though. It was informing me that the FDA had changed its guidelines for safely cooking pork. It used to be that pork was supposed to be heated to 160 °F. This new commercial claimed that whole pieces of pork could be served "juicy and medium-rare", after being cooked to 145 °F with a three minute rest period before eating. So what gives?

Image: savit keawtavee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Milk-Brased Spiced Pork Chops

A few posts ago, I spoke about a blog I had been introduced to called The Recipe Development Engineer. The author of the blog, Ludwig, wrote a great piece about braising meat. Long story short, braising makes pretty much any piece of meat moist and delicious (read the full article here). Last night, I came up with a braising recipe of my own. There's an Italian way of preparing a pork roast wherein it is slowly braised in milk; I played with it a bit in order to give it some zing.

Please, don't try eating the bay leaf.

On Freezer Burn

A friend recently asked me about freezer burn. It certainly isn't a standard burn from heat or acid, so what causes it? Why is it that food left in a freezer - and theoretically locked in some sort of suspended animation - nevertheless goes bad? How can it best be prevented? He also asked about how freezer burn can "tenderize" meat, which is something I've never heard of but decided to look into.

Not exactly ideal.

Autumn Vegetable Stew: Round Two

So, I remade the Autumn Vegetable Stew that I posted a recipe for recently. It came out great again. I mentioned during the first post that there were a few discrepancies between the instructions I gave and the instructions I followed. This image is of a stew using the exact recipe I posted. It's creamier than when I first made it, and every bit as delicious.

It would make a phenomenal first course if you were having company (and you could easily prepare it a few days ahead of time), but it's hearty enough that a good-size bowl makes a lovely and healthy meal.

The cheese on top might be the best part.

It Is Complete: Pioneer Pale Ale

The first batch of home brewed beer is complete! It has been dubbed "Pioneer Pale Ale." Realistically, it may not deserve that name - it's not quite like any other pale ale I've ever had. First off, it would be a bit of a stretch to declare it pale:

Pictured: five weeks of waiting.

Autumn Vegetable Stew

I have finished my block exams! To celebrate, I'm writing a post on a dish I came up with a couple of weeks ago that I ended up really loving. I mentioned earlier that squash is one of my favorite things about fall, and I thought it would be interesting to integrate it into a soup/stew. I've had acorn squash soup before, but that's more or less pureed squash that's been heated up a bit with some salt and pepper on it. Delicious, but not what I've had in mind. Unfortunately I have no image for this one. I'll definitely be making it again, and when I do I'll post a picture.

**Edit: I've made it a second time, and it was once again awesome. Here's the picture, as promised.

It's Test Time!

I've got a big exam coming up, so I may not have time to type up any updates for a few days more. I've got some good stuff coming, though: Hearty Autumn Vegetable Stew, Braised Pork Chops (cooking right this moment!), Sausage and Sweet Potato Pasta, etc. Stay tuned!

Collaboration with The Recipe Development Engineer

I want to start out by giving a big thank you to two people: A number of weeks ago, my friend Alex introduced me to Ludwig, who runs a fantastic food blog called The Recipe Development Engineer. Ludwig has a great approach to cooking, using constant incremental improvements in order to create truly phenomenal dishes. Like any good engineer, he optimizes! He has a lot more experience with cooking than I do, and it shows in recipes like his Chicken à la Provençal.

We decided that it would be great idea to collaborate and draw some inspiration from each others. He recently wrote a great piece on the science behind braising that I would heartily recommend checking out. A properly braised piece of meat can be most precisely and concisely described as succulent. I have never braised before; it's a technique that takes a long time, and I rarely decide what I'm cooking until about two hours before dinner time. That said, I'm inspired. I'll be braising some cut of meat or another within the week, and I'll post the results when I do. I'd also like to do my own quirky twists on some of Ludwig's recipes.

So thanks, Alex! Thanks, Ludwig! My apologies for not writing a post on this sooner; the past month or so has been hectic for me. I kept telling myself that I'd write this post when I modified one of Ludwig's recipes, but I've just been busier than I expected. I give my word that there will be good things to come.

Sweet Tarragon Chicken Salad

Growing up, I always hated chicken salad. Bland meat slathered in mayonnaise? No thanks. It took a while for me to be able to be near the stuff, let alone actually eat it. Last week, I developed my own little recipe for a different take on chicken salad. It makes for a simple, tasty sandwich.

It may look like normal chicken salad, but it'll surprise you.

Cinnamon Pear Pork Loin

From what I understand, the city of Houston doesn't really have much in terms of seasons. There's summer, and then there's... not-summer. I've lived in the northeast all my life, and my favorite season has always been fall. I love the turning of the leaves, I love the crisp temperature, and I love good fall food. Even though Houston may be missing out on some of the external signs of fall, I've decided that at the very least I should bring fall into my apartment. I started out with this simple pork recipe. I have a few more good ones coming over the next few days; I just haven't typed them up yet.

We have bottled!

Last night, Abel and I bottled our lovely carboy of beer. It was a bit of a process, but we ended up with forty-six regular bottles of beer and two larger bombers. I'm pretty impressed with how easy this process has been so far - we've gone from a bunch of ingredients to legitimate beer in only three days of work, totaling about six hours. Abel, hero among men that he is, has been doing a lot of the cleanup since we've been bottling in his apartment. There honestly isn't a ton of stuff to clean, though.

But anyway, bottling! Apologies for the lack of images; none of them came out right. Next time we bottle it'll be better documented.

On Antioxidants

So, you're roaming around the grocery store. You find yourself in the juice aisle, and after you pass by the standard apple and cranberry juices you start seeing crazy things - cocktails with bits of blueberry, pomegranate, and some bizarre thing called an açaí berry. Furthermore, all these bottles tout their juices' antioxidant properties! None of them, of course, explain what an antioxidant is or why you should care.

It all starts with oxygen.

Purple Party Potato Salad

So tonight, I made my bratwurst with apple-onion-pepper topping for my girlfriend and her mother. Rather than the vinegar pasta from last time, I decided to get a bit more authentic and serve the dish with a hot German potato salad. But regular ol' potato salad isn't very exciting... so I decided to try coming up with my own recipe. I unfortunately lacked the bacon that makes German potato salad so savory, but it tasted good nevertheless.

Well, uh... this probably couldn't look less appetizing. I promise, it's nicer in person.

Herb Rubbed Seared Pork Chops

At long last, my lovely girlfriend has joined me in our apartment. This means that I won't generally be cooking for one anymore. On top of that, her tastes are a bit different from mine. To celebrate the first dinner that we would have together, I wanted to make a dish that I thought she would love. Her favorite meat is pork, and she absolutely loves herbs. I came up with a nice herbal dry rub to put onto some pork chops, and it ended up being awfully good.

It's tastier than it looks.

Apologies

My apologies for the lack of posts this week. It's been quite hectic, and it will continue to be hectic for a few days more. I'll try to get something out over the weekend, but (somewhat) normal posting should resume on Monday.