Food

[pecunium]

Dinner: The last of the stock from the roast chicken was used tonight. Dark brown and gelid, mixed 50/50 with water to make broth. Pulverised oyster mushroom, torn nori (the local market had neither donburi, which I wanted, nor wakame, so we made do... the soup smells like makizushi).

Boil for a while and then brown some sliced chicken breast... toss in some sesame oil when you toss the meat, deglaze with a little water (I ought to have reserved some broth, but I wasn't thinking).

A dash of fish-sauce and a dimes worth of somen.

Serve with beer, or sake.

Maia will probably take milk with hers.

Comments

[cluefairy-j.livejournal.com]

"dimes worth of somen"

I read that as semen.

Maybe I shouldn't read blogs before I've been fully caffeinated...

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

You and my husband, John, need to get together and share cooking chat! It sounds as if you and he are the same sort of cook: "What's in the kitchen? Okay, it's dinner," with yummy results...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No, maybe not. I knew that, "a dimes worth" (being a measure of the circumfrence of the noodles) might be a bit opaque... I'm not sure how I'd measure a dime's worth of semen.

Since Maia and I were discussing artificial insemination last night (when she was taking her first class in that, two/three years ago, Spielberg came out with AI, and both of us read the billboards with confusion, because we couldn't figure out how that was going to pull in a crowd. Seems the real topic failed at that too).

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I like to cook. I've been the main cook in the house since I was about 14. This has had periods where I wasn't (those involved the sharing of responsibilties in housmate circumstances. My last place board was, basically, included in the rent, because the owner; from whom I was taking a room, cooks for many, and it seemed foolish to the both of us that we have two rounds of cooking a night. So I did brekkies, and he made suppers).

I cook a lot on semi-whim. The stock was heavy consumme, not demi-glace, so it needed to be finsished. When I get back from texas, time to buy another chicken and roast it. If I want to make lots of stock, I'll buy some thighs, and cook them into it.

Which reminds me, I need Maia to get some bones from school too.

With the right set of basics, I can have anything I want, anytime I want.

TK

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

I like to cook (at times) as well - John is a hot weather person, whereas heat makes me wilt, so now that the colder weather has hit us and he's started up his master's program, I'm spending a lot more time in the kitchen. I've been on a daily bread kick for the last week (a very popular little obsession around here).

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

It's good to find someone who recognizes the importance of roasting chicken -- even friers if roasting hens are not readily available or are too expensive. Being on a low-fat/cholesterol diet (*sigh*) and cooking for one, I usually roast one or two cheap friers, reserve the breast meat for eating various ways, and simmer the remainder for a few hours in just enough water to cover. The pieces of boiled meat large enough to de-bone are suitable for feeding to the neighborhood cats, or (as a rare & special treat) to my pet rats. Mind you, I generally do the roasting in the microwave, which is not ideal, but I've decided that life is too short to eat boiled chicken from choice, and am fortunate enough to be able to afford another option. Do you have any special advice for handling black-skinned "Silky" chickens (not terribly expensive, with feet attached, at the local Asian Supermarket)?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Nothing your cardiologist would like.

I tend to like stuffing the bird. Onions, some spices (rosemary is good, sage, fennel, dill) are all good. A coating of oil [and a browning element in the microwave](because I doubt putting butter between the skin and breast is going to be well thought of) will get crispier skin. You can dust with paprika if you like.

The feet are wonderful. Boiled they give the thick, and tasty base for those chinese sauces based on chicken. No meat, but lots of flavor. Added to a stock they are a way to make it smoother, and with a richer feel, without adding fat, because it's the cartilage being gelatinised which makes it thick, and with much less reduction.

TK

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion -- I'll get a pound or so of chicken feet next trip to the Hong Kong Supermarket and do some experimenting. Certainly, using beef joint-bones in the stock made for adding to pot-roast makes for an even-more-tasty (flour-thickened) gravy. Which I did yesterday & today -- Autumn isn't _quite_ here yet, but there's enough of it in the air to motivate fixing a pot-roast. Well... that and 7-bone roast on sale at 99 cents per pound (and the relatively heart-friendly kind, not marbled with fat, at that). Hot out of the (cast-iron) kettle this evening, warmed-up tomorrow, sliced-beef sandwich the next day, then hash for a meal or so, and gravy on toast -- practically fixed for a whole week at a total cost of about ten dollars.
And thanks, also, for the Colecannon recipe which I'll probably try Real Soon Now despite the greater ease of just stirring some sauerkraut into mashed (maybe instant) potatoes.