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Quarantine Cooking

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deluxestogie

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Grape Leaves

Garden20200627_5190_grapeLeavesInBrine_cigar_600.jpg


I pruned my grape vines a bit. Some stray shoots had come out of the middle as will as the base of one of the vines. While the middle ones are just a nuisance, since they get in the way, the bottom shoots are likely a different variety, used as a rootstock. (All French varietal grape vines, and most American varietal grape vines are grafted onto disease resistant rootstock.)

The grape leaves (yaprak, in Turkish) are needed as the wrapper in making stuffed grape leaves (known as dolmades, in Greece), filled with raw rice and raw ground meat or other filling. Even though the rolled dolmades will be cooked, they don't come out very typical, if the grape leaves start out freshly picked. The store-bought grape leaves have usually been pickled in a citric acid brine, which alters their texture.

I'm out of citric acid. So I decided to try just a simple salt brine, to which I added some rice vinegar. A standard salt brine for everything in the world is:
  • distilled water 1 quart
  • non-iodized salt ¼ cup
to this, you can add ¼ cup of distilled vineger, to raise the acidity immediately.

For my small batch of leaves (stems trimmed to a nub, then well rinsed), I used 1½ cups of water, 1½ Tbsp of kosher salt, and 1½ Tbsp Japanese rice vinegar (for less acidity, and a softer taste than distilled vinegar).

If it starts to bubble, from lactic fermentation, then I'll leave it out on the counter for another week, prior to refrigeration. Otherwise it will just go into the fridge, until I gather the energy to roll some dolmades.

Bob
 

GreenDragon

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Daaaang. That looks good. Wife and I worked all day on getting her home office ready for her new job. We had Cap’n Crunch this evening. That steak looks perfect. :cry:

Thanks! I thought I deserved it today. Gutted one of the bathrooms and wielded a 20lb jackhammer for a few hours getting all the old porcelain tiles up today. I’m worn out.

2AA84051-5BBA-41E2-8344-E53AC1BFB974.jpeg
 

deluxestogie

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Nothing fancy tonight.
Since my power was out all afternoon, and came back on moments before dinner time my dinner was not steak, potato and broccoli, nor was it Cap'n Crunch. I enjoyed a slice of cold ham, 2 diced, dill pickles, a stack of whole wheat Ritz crackers, followed by a slice of cold apple pie and a large mug of milk. Is a balanced meal where the dessert weighs the same as the dinner?

Bob
 

GreenDragon

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As long as you don’t drop your plate between the kitchen and table, I consider it A balanced meal. I’m also quite famous in my family for eating dessert first, then snacking on the mains. You’ve got to have your priorities after all.
 

tullius

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House made burros: flour/lard tortillas, red pepper lime coconut rice, frijoles charros, carnitas, corn/tomato/jalapeno salsa, sour cream, red chipotle hot sauce, lettuce.
IMG_20200628_034705218.jpg

Burros because they were as big as my forearm before cutting. I got chipotle's number on these.
 

tullius

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Preheat oven to 425 deg F.

Take 4 bone in skin on chicken thighs (one per sandwich) and trim excess fat/skin if necessary. Peel back and fold the skin over, being careful to leave skin attached, and season very liberally under the skin with Bok Bok Seasonin' (recipe below). Return skin to original position and liberally season the exterior of the thighs.

Heat a carbon steel pan or cast iron skillet dry on medium high heat to just shy of smoking and sear the thighs, skin side down first, 4 minutes per side. You want some nice brown and tan and golden colors. Transfer to 425 deg F oven for 12 minutes or until thighs reach 165 deg F internally. Remove thighs and rest.

While the chicken is in the oven, lightly butter the buns and toast cut side down on a flat top or skillet on medium high heat until they're nicely colored and crispy on the cut side. Mayo bottoms and mustard tops.

When thighs have cooled down almost enough to touch, put the thighs on a cutting board skin side down and quickly debone by finding each end of the bone and running a knife down the bone without cutting the thigh through. Should only take a few seconds once you've done a few, make sure to feel well and get all bone and gristle.

Assemble the sandwiches: crispy skin on deboned thighs, half slice of onion, couple slices of tomato, hand torn lettuce. Pickles are good too. Could you do this on a grill? Sure you could.


Charlie Papa's Bok Bok Seasonin'

3 T rosemary
1 T italian seasoning
1 T kansas city steak seasoning (this has pronounced garlic/coriander/citrus flavors, or sub any commercial steak seasoning and bump the coriander and garlic up a little)
1 T coarse ground black pepper
1 T red pepper flakes
1 1/2 t garlic pepper
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t seasoned salt
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t dill
1/2 t ground coriander
1/4 t dry mustard
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t curry powder
1/4 t chinese five spice powder
1/4 t tumeric
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 t ground chipotle pepper

Doesn't have much salt in it by design compared to commercial seasonings, so apply more than you would normally: it's an original and all purpose complex poultry mix.
 

Oldfella

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Preheat oven to 425 deg F.

Take 4 bone in skin on chicken thighs (one per sandwich) and trim excess fat/skin if necessary. Peel back and fold the skin over, being careful to leave skin attached, and season very liberally under the skin with Bok Bok Seasonin' (recipe below). Return skin to original position and liberally season the exterior of the thighs.

Heat a carbon steel pan or cast iron skillet dry on medium high heat to just shy of smoking and sear the thighs, skin side down first, 4 minutes per side. You want some nice brown and tan and golden colors. Transfer to 425 deg F oven for 12 minutes or until thighs reach 165 deg F internally. Remove thighs and rest.

While the chicken is in the oven, lightly butter the buns and toast cut side down on a flat top or skillet on medium high heat until they're nicely colored and crispy on the cut side. Mayo bottoms and mustard tops.

When thighs have cooled down almost enough to touch, put the thighs on a cutting board skin side down and quickly debone by finding each end of the bone and running a knife down the bone without cutting the thigh through. Should only take a few seconds once you've done a few, make sure to feel well and get all bone and gristle.

Assemble the sandwiches: crispy skin on deboned thighs, half slice of onion, couple slices of tomato, hand torn lettuce. Pickles are good too. Could you do this on a grill? Sure you could.
Thanks for this one Tullius. I'll try it out soon. Got family coming up soon to do some work for me. It'll be a good time to do it.
Oldfella
 

plantdude

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I'm still stuck on GreenDragons first post about the lamb burgers. It got me thinking about leg of lamb rubbed with garlic, rosemary, juniper berries and lemon juice... I've got to drive and hour to get to the city to find any lamb and then it's hit or miss half the time, no one eats it around here. It'd probably be next to impossible to find now given the current situation.

Things have gotten so bad here we have had to resort to zombie meatloaf:)image.jpeg
 
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