Saturday at last. We're getting started a little early today because this stew is going to take around 5-6 hours to cook. When done we'll have a nice and rich oxtail dish that can be used many different ways. One of those ways is by us also making a fresh pappardelle pasta to go with it which we'll start about two hours before the stew itself is done.
Set your clocks!
Posting live from the kitchen.
Joining us today will be a new addition to the kitchen, Mr. Dutch Ovenknoff. Hot off whatever asian sweat line it was created on and ready to do some cooking.
I am monitoring this thread.
First thing we're going to do is blanch these tomatoes to remove the skin. Let's heat up a good pot of water and get to prepping the other vegetables until it comes up to temperature.
Early this morning I went to my local butcher and picked up 3lbs of oxtail. As we hear up the water and prep our vegetables, we'll also preheat the oven at 425 with a pan inside getting warm which these oxtail will go into for a good 20-25 minute roast.
Well be prepping some carrots, leek and celery to roast off in Mr. Dutch Ovenknoff and deglaze the find it creates with either some homemade stock or a little wine, I'm still deciding on which.
Remember, don't trash. Compost.
Carrots all cup up.
Now for the celery.
Water looks to be boiling also. After the celery well poach the tomatoes then set aside to cool as we finish the leek off.
And what's cooking without a little drink.
Cheers friends.
Celery cut.
Let's blanch the tomatoes.
No more then a minute, then into some ice water.
They split pretty quick, make sure not to over blanch.
Well let those cool and work on the leeks.
You only use the stalks with leek.
Go ahead and toss the heads in the compost.
Chop them nice and thin, then run them under water to remove any grit or sand that may be stuck in there. Leeks like very sandy dirt to grow in, so it means there still may be some hiding in it when you buy them.
Alright, our base is done.
Let's get the oxtail into the oven now.
Right into the hot pan with a generous addition of olive oil, salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
425F for 20-25 minutes.
Get the tomato all pealed
keep it coming
Easy money.
Don't forget to remove the cores when you dice them up.
>paying $16 for Oxtail
lol.
There you go, some freshly diced tomato. We got about 10 minutes left for the oxtail, which is perfect because it's going to take about 10 minutes to roast all these veggies off.
What's wrong friend, don't know how regional pricing works?
Let's get some oil into the pan and heat it up. Well toss the vegetables in with our herbs for today which will be thyme, rosemary, and bay leafs.
Nothing hotter than using new kitchen equipment for the first time.
Mm mmmm good.
you could have bought good cuts of meat but you went out of your way to buy hipster trash for higher prices
enjoy your ass soup
faggot
Herb time
what herbs are those chef boyardee?
Actually I bought this oxtail from the most shady part of town because it was the least expensive. Full of Mexican gangs but their butchery is top notch. Must feel terrible not knowing how economics work.
Next up, in go the tomatoes.
Oxtail is good and it says $5.50/lb you fuckin poorfag
Some thyme, rosemary and bay friendo
I smell buuthurt...What's the matter, user? Not enough "What's the best item on the McD's Value Menu" threads?
Go fuck yourself.
When the fond is finished browning up well add some flour to soak up all the oil and deglaze the bottom of the pan with homemade stock
Looking great, check out that fond
Little salt and pepper.
About to add the flour.
Flour and stock added
Now scrape the ever living hell out of the bottom of the pan to get all those flavor bits off.
What kind of stock are we talking here? Chicken?
Time to add the oxtail to the base.
Yeah chicken. I'd prefer beef over chicken, but this was homemade stock. So I'll take homemade chicken over store bought beef anyday of the week.
Now that our oxtail is in well cover with water, put the lid on and stick it in the oven on 300F for 5-6 hours. In about 3-4 hours I'll get started on making the pasta.
And there she goes.
Implying you know about food. Doesn't like oxtail...
Plan is to finish off this beer, do some dishes then have a smoke.
Hope you enjoyed the first half. Second should be pretty great too.
I liked oxtail before hipsters like OP tripled the price of it in the last 5 years
I'm not gonna lie dude, I'm jealous.
Careful your plants are falling over
So, you're in the "Don't like what I like" camp?
Pathetic.
I thought you were black
They're propped up fairly stable thanks to that wooden railing there against. Speaking of plants, let's take a few shots and see how they're all doing today.
Beans are fully up except one plot. Should come up fully in the next day or two. Just got done thinning the others.
the whole point of oxtail and offal meats was that they were cheap
now that they are more in line with the price of better cuts of meat there is no fucking reason to eat them
Radishes doing their thing.
Carrots haven't even germinated yet.
There's every reason to eat them. They're still a boned meat, and anything with a bone is going to have much more flavor than meat without. If we were talking skirt steak, I would agree about the whole cost not being worth it thing. But oxtail is completely worth it as a stewing meat.
Other little guys doing well too. Front to back, left to right: Roma tomato, habanero, cilantro, cayenne, Italian parsley, red bell, jalapeño.
Weather is pretty shitty today--lately in general. Really hoping for some sun soon.
And the last bit.
What do you think about my steak and lasagna kawell.
Sear on the outside could be a little darker. Remember when cooking steaks not to use a non-stick pan. You want to use a steal or cast iron pan and not touch the steak for a good few minutes or it will tear the sear. Once the sear is well developed it won't stick anymore due to the maillard effect. Fairly thick cut, looks about an inch. How'd you cook it off? I like mine a little more pink but I'd probably still enjoy that. Looking good.
Was the lasagna freshly made?
excited for final results when there is an inch thick layer of fat in your stew that instantly coats your entire mouth when you take a bite
Na that's stoffers vegetable lasagna, the steak was cooked in lemon oil in a very small pot not much bigger than the steak.
Oh man, you should totally cook some fresh lasagna next time! In about 2 hours here I'm going to get started making a fresh pappardelle pasta. If you use the same recipe for the dough you can make some really good pasta sheets to layer your lasagna with.
will take notes. My oven is broken though, the buttons don't work on it anymore; think I might have spilled some liquid on the panel >
Looking good OP. How do I get into plants/seeds? Is it a seasonal thing? Im uo in Norway. Would love some homegrown habaneros
That's really unfortunate man. Maybe you could look into getting one of those table toaster ovens. Some have a bake setting on there which can rival ovens at lower temperatures. You'd have to end up cooking smaller batches, but you make do with what you have, right?
I don't have the misfortune of living in a place where planting by season is such a big deal. San Diego is only has two seasons; warm, and slightly less warm. I can't say for certain I know what the weather in Norway is like, or what your seasonal temperature or crops may be, but there's a good lot of resources which can help you get started. I'd suggest firs by finding what hardiness zone you live in, which indicated your last frost date and what crops are best suited for your particular region. Going from there you can do some research and find out what the best seasonal crops are for your area; what to plant and when to plant them. Growing your own herbs and food is a fun little hobby that can expand into self-sustainability one day with enough dedication.
>Growing your own herbs and food is a fun little hobby that can expand into self-sustainability one day with enough dedication.
I really miss being able to grow my own shit. I live in an apartment right now, and have a little concrete porch where I could feasibly have planters and potted stuff like herbs or tomatoes, but unfortunately my porch gets no direct sunlight at all because of how it's positioned and I can't get a lot of stuff to grow well because of it.
If you're adventurous enough you could do a little Gorilla Gardening. Plant some rogue crops around your neighborhood where people might not think to find them and just let them do their thing. I've heard stories here and there of people doing that kind of stuff for fun.
...
Well were roughly an hour and a half away from the stew being finished. It's about time we get started on the pappardelle. Wine excluded, that's just to quench the thirst of a somewhat sober cook.
Bay Bridge? I get that at Ralph's. Not bad if you let it breathe for awhile...
Get mine from ralphs too. For a bottom shelf it's not too bad. Better room temp, not chilled. You have impeccable taste.
What makes a good pasta is not the complexity of ingredients or technical know how, but the fact that it's fresh and not having been dried to cook.
1 cup AP flour
1 cup Semolina flour
3 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
You'll have to knead it for about 10 minutes after its mixed. Longer than some pasta dough but that's due to using semolina flour. It's a superior flour to make pasta, but requires a little more oomph to get it going. Ideally you'd want to use a "00" flour over AP, but I can never find the stuff.
When done kneading wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes so the gluten relaxes.
Hah, we'll look at that... Out here on the balcony having a smoke. I must have missed it earlier, but my carrots have started sprouting. Really excited about this, my first time growing carrots and I'm crazy looking forward to cooking with them.
>cargo pants
Fellow child of the 90's, I salute you.
They're actually some hiking pants I picked up at Bass Pro when I made my last trip up I think in September last year. Some of the best damn pants I've ever had. The fact that they're cargo is just a plus, got a pocket for some homemade jerky when I'm on the trail.
Think we've let that dough rest long enough. Back to the kitchen and we'll get it rolled out and cut.
Not before another glass though
Since I'm only making enough for myself tonight, well quarter the dough and only use one portion. The other 3 will keep in the freezer long enough for me to use them in the coming weeks.
There's a trick to making a really strong a thin pasta dough, and you may already know it: folding. You roll it out then fold it over onto itself then roll it out again, about 3 times should do it. You're stacking the gluten at the molecular level making it stronger as you go. At the end you can make it paper thin without it tearing, and that's what we want.
And here she is really to be cut up properly. We have some water on the stove getting ready to boil too. Once the pasta is done well check on the stew and make sure if it needs more time.
Pappardelle is a wide and short cut noodle, so it's cut like this. Once the water comes up to a boil we'll stick it in. For now, let's check on the stew.
The tops are excellent for putting into stocks, fyi. Excellent thread so far.
I've never tried putting them into stocks before, but that's a really good idea. Next time I make stock I'll try that and see how much of a difference it makes. Appreciate the tip friend.
Stew is looking good, but still not where I want it to be; much too wet still. I'm going to turn off the water for my pasta, uncover the stew pot, crack it up to 350F and let it cool for another hour so we can reduce it a bit.
Is that some two buck chuck?
Well keep the pasta covered until we have the stew consistency that we want.
>I liked oxtail before hipsters-
Oh the ironing
Just moved into a new apartment and my bedroom window gets a lot of good sunlight. In Philadelphia, PA so we do get seasons, but I'd really like to get into growing some fresh herbs. Any suggestions?
>Ironey
Water and soil and compost
You're damn right it is.
But the expensive stuff to impress, buy the cheap stuff to get slushed.
i love oxtail. back when i worked in the market, it was awesome. so cheap back then, and so tasty. and cutting it was fun. such a satisfying crunch as you cut through the joints, and nature provided the perfect cutting points.
sheeeiiitt
was about to try and fall asleep but I might need to stay up and read this
Hopefully no longer than another hour friendo. Depending how much and how fast we can get this stew to reduce.
Have a cat for your trouble.
Actually, make that a double. On the house.
Tobkeek
GREAT thread.
You seem really interesting and resourceful user.
Why do you live alone? Why no qt gf?
Nice thread, this just reminded me of the 2 lbs of oxtail I have in my freezer.
There's virtually no difference between fresh and dried pasta. But no shame in making your own, I enjoy doing sometimes
I had a nice little post going until my browser crashed on me; thanks firefox. To reiterate without the essay: dated, done with that madness, enjoying life, will rejoin dating game later, until then fuck all let's drink, cook and do fun shit.
Well that's the end of that bottle. If this stew doesn't reduce faster we may need to have another field trip photo shoot to go pick up some more booze.
I love your threads, look forward to them during the day
Nice constructive criticism man, Thats one of the things I love about this board. If it were /b/ people would just tell them to an hero and rage.
Proud of you co/ck/s
Maybe I'll do a breakfast spread next weekend. I slave away Monday through Friday which only leaves evenings to cook. Check next Saturday morning, you might see a thread you'll like.
You seem like a Californian. I sincerely hope you consider purchasing a gun soon before the laws get worse. Cheers.
cat food on the washer and dryer. Good way to use available space OP.
Can't wait to see the finished stew.