We had some fun last night. Made some jerky, some burgers, had one too many drinks and went on a little adventure. Tonight we're going to keep it simple and make some small batch pulled pork, maybe some homemade bbq sauce to go with it all if I have the right fixings. Gonna be low and slow with some of that moonshine from last night to keep us company.
Join us, won't you?
Nice, you're here.
Evening to you friend. First order of business, let's get slushed.
Gonna get the old slow cooker ready for some good eats tonight.
Pulled out some chicken stock I had frozen from a large batch a few weeks back. Gonna put it in some hot water and bring it back down to a liquid. In the mean time lets get out onion and garlic chopped, and make our dry rub.
Is that a yellow or sweet onion? Never could tell the difference desu.
And what's in the bowl?
First up.
Some King of the Hill going on in the background. It's the episode where Debbie (Buck Strictlands mistress) got murdered. Good stuff.
It's some yellow onion. Yeah they look alike, really hard to tell. Just some hot water to liquify the frozen stock for us to use tonight.
Said it last night and I'll say it again, save your scraps. Make a compost, and get to gardening. Thinned out my Swiss chard today, planted some radish and carrots. Looking forward to when they're ready for harvest.
Just going to keep them long and thin. They'll get all good and soft during the slow cook.
Not too much since we're doing a small batch. Just enough to cover the bed.
Pics of compost please
Sure bud, right after this pic.
Only going to use 3 cloves of garlic, and I'm not going to do much besides pealing them. I only want a light garlic essence to flavor the pork, don't need much more than that. We're going to take it out when the pork is done and discard it.
To the compost bucket!
no carrots/celery?
Just a cheap bucket I picked up at Home Depot. Some holes punched in the lid so the air can circulate. It's got a blend of greens (veggies), Browns (leaf waste and soil), and water to keep it all moist. This is a new batch I'm making up. It's not an ideal way to make compost but you make do with what you have.
Let's check out what's inside.
lurking this thread, might try this out if it looks good
For the pulled pork?
Here we got the insides. The freshly added carrot scraps, what looks like some asparagus ends, some old lettuce. Just in there getting happy.
In goes the garlic. Let's get working on the rub.
I wish I could have a garden. I'd love to grow some chilis and herbs and things. Unfortunately, my balcony is tiny, I'm very high up, doesn't get much sun, and there's a ton of wind.
I tried it once. Had a little herb garden. Sort of grew a little bit, then I got some weather and the whole thing got completely destroyed. Just doesn't seem to work.
Easy rub this one is.
Got our brown sugar, salt, pepper (which I need to buy more of), chili powder, cayenne (for dem spice), and cinnamon. Now, you're probably thinking why the hell cinnamon? Cinnamon is one of those spices that not only works well for sweet dishes, but also savory dishes, and works especially well with pork. If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend you do. It doesn't take much but adds a heap of great flavor.
Is that the sugary cinnamon or the only cinnamon cinnamon?
If you really want it, you'll make it happen. My balcony is pretty tiny too, trick is gardening verticals instead of horizontal.
All mixed, let's get to rubbing.
So this might sound retarded, but how long do those chives keep for in the cups? I'm thinking about trying that out since I always end up wasting most of the fresh herbs I buy.
The bottle says Ground Cinnamon, that's pretty clear.
Straight cinnamon. We're already using brown sugar to help things out, don't need any more sweetness than that.
Thanks, sorry, can't read shit well on my low quality phone.
Well, the main issue is I'm on the 17th floor, south facing right next to another building that blocks most of my sun. It also creates kind of a wind tunnel effect, so if it gets windy, it gets fucking WINDY. I've had chairs get blown off by balcony by the wind before.
Plus. I'm limited in what I'm allowed to have on my balcony.
Pretty much forever. After a few months you'll need to re-enrich your soil with some liquid nutrient. Make sure to regularly give them a haircut, if you let them go too long they'll flower and you don't want that. Also, they grow like weeds. It's a very easy herb to grow and upkeep and has tons of possibilities in the kitchen.
Tough conditions man... Sounds like you need to find a better place. I'd go crazy if I couldn't do at least some form of gardening.
Rubbed pork going on top the bed of onion and garlic. Only thing left to do is add 1 cup of your preferred stock (mine is chicken), and let this guy get happy for the next 4-6 hours.
And we're off!
Guess I'll open the thread up to the floor and take recommendations on how to pass the time.
Oh here's some of the jerky we made last night. That was a fun time.
Looks pretty.
Cook something else while you wait.
Weather been shit lately, can't wait until the sun starts coming back.
Hmm.. Well, let's see. There's left over burger meat from last night I could do something with. Have a thing of repeatable frozen peas and carrots in the fridge. Some russet potatoes, carrots...Let me think on this. Sure there's something else I can make.
Well, the apartment itself is pretty great. Shit's expensive in this city, and this place is about twice as big as anything else in the same price range, has a kitchen that's big enough to actually be functional, and is in a very good area.
It's just the balcony thing that sucks. At least it's nice to sit out there and smoke a cigar and drink a cocktail every now and then.
continue user I will be making this later this week.
You could make yourself a cocktail.,what ya got in terms of booze and mixers?
Ever thought about indoor hanging hydroponic for growing herbs? Great addition to any kitchen.
Okay I think I'm on to something. Maybe some kind of... hash brown bowl with burger meat, peas and carrots with a roux gravy? Sounds kind of outside the box but could be fun.
My basil just grew their second set, or first true set of leaves this week. Really happy about that.
Just that moonshine and some coke. Pretty much drank everything last week and I'm not going to load up again until this coming Friday's payday.
Oh you know what... I have tomatoes from yesterday too. Use the burger, tomatoes, onion and carrot to make a bolognese sauce and then make some pasta from scratch.
Think we have it. Let me get all set up.
Sprouts is my grocery of choice, too OP. Feels good being master race
Ah, not much to work with, then. You got any fruit? You could make a syrup of some sort.
I have a cocktail I created that uses either moonshine or bourbon. Blackberry syrup, moonshine or bourbon, chilled black tea, lime juice, gingerale, and a dash of angostura orange.
It's actually very simple to make syrups for cocktails.
Yeah looks like lemon, apple, lime grapes, and.. No that's pretty much it.
Fantastic, I even have some semolina flour left over. Pasta bolognese it is.
You find me a good cocktail recipe and I'll do a thread tomorrow night with it.
Just finished reading through the last thread. Perfect timing.
I want the comfy feels forever.
Well, you could make some basic sour mix, but that's about it.
Looks like you're stuck with moonshine and Coke for now.
Looks like the little one is playful tonight.
care to post the spice ratios for your rub op?
Depends what kind of cocktail you like. I can make just about anything.
Alright, bolognese time!
Let's get the pasta dough ready first. It'll have to sit for 20 minutes after we get it ready.
real comfy thread, cheers OP
I eyeballed it, but about this:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
That's tough, because I've had a ton of cocktails, stepmom owned a bar for years. Find me something unique and not too well knows.
Gonna start 1 cup all purpose, 1 cup semolina and 2 eggs.
Egg shells compost great by the way.
Sorry make that 3 eggs, my proportions are a little off, wasn't sure how much I should make but I have a ton of tomatoes. Also, add about a tsp of salt.
Well, you could make what Imposted before.
1.5 oz blackberry syrup
1.5 oz bourbon or moonshine
2 oz chilled strong black tea
Splash of lime
Top with gingerale
Dash of angostura orange bitters
Garnish with a lime wedge and a three blackberries on a skewer. Serve in a mason jar, preferably (the inspiration for the recipe was Appalachian-style spirits) or if that's too hipster for you, highball glass.
Blackberry syrup is easy to make. Just make simple syrup, and while the pot is still on, throw in some blackberries and simmer for a bit. Strain out the pulp in a fine mesh strainer and chill.
Don't think I've had that particular one and I have a frozen berry mix in the freezer. May pick up some stuff and try it tomorrow.
Dough is coming along. Going to need for another 5 minutes then wrap it and rest it. Hard work by hand, especially with semolina flour, stuff is a pain to knead.
Well, it's an "original creation" of sorts. Mixology is a hobby of mine. Not really something you'd find anywhere else.
Alright. Dough is resting. For the bolognese we need to grate some carrot and onion. Grating them allows it to cook faster and helps develop the sauce a little more.
Sounds like a fun hobby to have. If you're good enough it's also a great way to make a living.
For carrots we'll be using some heirloom I picked up on Friday, and the rest of the onion I used for the burger we cooked up yesterday.
Shredding time.
thanks user
Well, I'm not really interested in being a professional bartender, though I certainly have the skills to do it. Plus, I don't really need the money. I mostly do it for fun and because I enjoy the art, if that's not too pretentious a way to put it.
Has gotten me laid a bunch of times, though, so there's that.
Haha I bet
Shredding of the carrot and onion is complete. Now we need to chop some tomato for the sauce.
Oh, and pic is related. It's a pumpkin pie shot I made a couple years back because a friend of mine was joking about pumpkin spice being in fucking everything and she wanted to know if I ever made pumpkin spice cocktails.
So you do have plates, hm.
Haha yes I have plates. But they ain't the "eating stuff" plates, they're the "putting stuff on" plates. I eat on my cutting board like every other sane person in the world.
Looks like about 4 tomatoes should do it. Well start making the sauce now and set it aside when done to work on the pasta.
Well as the pan heats up, I'll show you this little guy I've had in my kitchen for about a week. Was curious so see how much you could regrow from a used romain head before it stops producing. Seems to be coming back fairly well.
Anywho, carrot and onion in a pan with olive oil on medium low heat. Sweat until the onion is translucent then we'll add our minced beef.
you didnt skin the tomaders?
This was kind of on the fly since we're waiting on the pulled pork. If I had it planned out more I'd have blanched the tomato and then de skinned them. Which if anyone ends up following this recipe for bolognese I recommend doing. I don't mind a little skin in my sauce though so I'm not going to sweat it too much.
Speaking of the pork, looks like it's getting happy.
All sweated. Time for the mince.
Now ideally, when the meat is cooked you're going to want to add wine and reduce it down. However, since we drank all our wine in the last thread in going to substitute with about 1 tbsp of balsamic. It will impart the wine flavor for us. I'd recommend red wine for a more traditional bolognese however.
We're also going to add a little stock and reduce it down before we add our tomatoes.
Nearly ready for the tomato
And tomato in. We're going to cover with a lid and let sit until the tomatoes liquify and the sauce comes together. After that you can salt and pepper to taste. While that's going well work on preparing the pasta dough we've had resting all this time. And maybe fix myself another drink. This moonshine is just about gone.
And we're doing this old school, no pasta maker for this guy.
Quarter it off, lay down some flour and get to rolling. We're going to make a fettuccini pasta tonight for this.
Alright all rolled out. Now well fold it over and make out cuts. Also might be a good idea to get a pot of water on the oven ready to go.
Ah, perfect. 3 more to go.
I want a few please
Guess I'll only do 1/2 of the dough tonight. Make the other half for lunch tomorrow. Still plenty for tonight, also we have the pork cooking still, few more hours on that. Let's see how the bolognese sauce is coming along.
Looking good. Nearly there. Gonna add a little heavy cream then season to taste. The pot of water is coming up now, pasta shouldn't take long to cook and we can call this thing done!
And forgetting my image
So the bolognese I added oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. It has such a rich flavor, damn this will be good. Water is at a boil, time to cook the fettuccini.
Delicious looking
This is actually one of the better looking fettuccini I've ever made.
Strain.
Plate.
Sauce, and serve.
Hope you guys enjoyed that. Gonna chow down and wait for this pork. Intermission time, be back in a bit.
looks good af
How long have you been cooking? Really mirin your skills
Pretty much all my life, my grandmother brought me up on it so I learned fairly young.
Let's see... going by the thread the pork started exactly 3 hours ago, so we're probably looking at another 1-2 before done. I'll get started on the homemade bbq sauce in about an hour. Only thing I'm missing is some cumin worcestershire sauce, but that shouldn't affect the overall taste too much.
>tfw you aren't my mommy
not to shit on the guy. guy is proficient. but not "how long have you been cooking" proficient.
shit looks pretty normal. its simple, homely cooking. do people really cook here?
>do people really cook here?
Sadly, not as many as you would think.
I just said it looks yummy. Don't read too much into it.