How do you cook it?

[theSwayze]

Just found this thread!

I love food and do the cooking in my house. One thing that has been way worth sharing is SunBasket.
I don't work for them but really like the service. We do it twice a month and it gets us to eat different things we wouldn't think of and I riff off of some of what we like from them on regular nights. The cost is a few bucks more than a usual home dinner but way less then going out and EVERYTHING is included except salt and pepper. The portions are really good, we do the 2 person portion and it feeds Me Wife and 10 years old boy. The packing is awesome too.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Just found this thread!

I love food and do the cooking in my house. One thing that has been way worth sharing is SunBasket.
I don't work for them but really like the service. We do it twice a month and it gets us to eat different things we wouldn't think of and I riff off of some of what we like from them on regular nights. The cost is a few bucks more than a usual home dinner but way less then going out and EVERYTHING is included except salt and pepper. The portions are really good, we do the 2 person portion and it feeds Me Wife and 10 years old boy. The packing is awesome too.

My girlfriend ordered us a few of those different meal services. They were all right. Some were good, some were just okay. However, my main takeaway was that I probably could make the same meals for us at a cheaper price. Sure, I'd have to do the shopping myself and find recipes, but I already don't mind doing that.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I don't work for them but really like the service. We do it twice a month and it gets us to eat different things we wouldn't think of and I riff off of some of what we like from them on regular nights.

That's a good point. They really should advertise that angle -- that even if people don't want to do it every night, doing it a couple of times a week or month gets you to try new things, etc....

Uh...in reading over that post, I want to be clear that I was talking about making dinner.

 

[theSwayze]

I just play with the vinegar to mayo ratio till I like it...I don't like really heavy slaw either. Could just go straight vinegar. Apple cider, red wine, could use anything depending on accompaniments.

Anyone cook Indian dishes? We had a work potluck and there were good curry and butter chicken dishes. I like to cook different ethnicities of food but I'm terrified of stinking up the house. And my wife will get mad.

If your grocery is like mine it hides the Indian food in a section called 'Exotic/Foreign' between Hard Candy and the Bargain End-Cap. Don't be afraid of the yellow foil packets of Indian as a base. Limits the smell a ton and still great if you spruce it up. Cube up a protein and a starch (I go chicken/sweet potato) sauté with an onion and add the Yellow Packet. Simmer, serve on rice, get lucky because the carpet doesn't smell like curry.

 

[theSwayze]

My girlfriend ordered us a few of those different meal services. They were all right. Some were good, some were just okay. However, my main takeaway was that I probably could make the same meals for us at a cheaper price. Sure, I'd have to do the shopping myself and find recipes, but I already don't mind doing that.

That's how I feel in general but I like finding recipes for things I don't have any idea how to make or that use spices I'm not as familiar with. I don't think the primary metric for a gourmet food service for me is overall cost, I like forcing some variety into my fridge/belly.

 

[Jack Brickman]

That's how I feel in general but I like finding recipes for things I don't have any idea how to make or that use spices I'm not as familiar with. I don't think the primary metric for a gourmet food service for me is overall cost, I like forcing some variety into my fridge/belly.

No doubt. Personally, I just browse a variety of different cooking sites and just try to find things I've never made before and then go out and make them.

 

[Jack Brickman]

So last night for dinner I made the girlfriend and myself some mustard-crusted pork chops, and damn were they fantastic.

I bought these massive bone-in pork chops. Like inch-and-a-half thick chops. Seasoned them with salt and pepper and then coated them with stone ground mustard (I assume any kind of mustard will do here) and put them in a greased pan. Oven 350. In a separate bowl, I mixed in two cups of bread crumbs, 1/8 cup melted butter, a chopped up clove of garlic, about two tablespoons chopped parsley, and a ton of mustard. I used a mix of stone ground and this sweet hot mustard I have in the fridge, and basically just kept adding mustard until the mix started to turn liquid enough to form a spread. I spread a ton of that mix on top of each chop and tossed them in the oven for about forty-five minutes or so. The time will depend on how thick the chops are. I just used a thermometer to tell me when they were about 145 and then tossed them under the broiler for a few minutes to get the crust nice and crispy.

I just ate the leftovers and they held up nicely.

With the pork chops I cooked up four slices of bacon, put the bacon aside, then tossed a diced white onion into the bacon fat and cooked it. Added two cloves of minced garlic, cooked that for a minute or so. Then I tossed in a bunch of Brussels sprouts, halved and quartered. After that was done (takes a while), I crumbled up the bacon and threw it back into the sprouts and cooked for another minute or two. Seasoned it with salt and pepper.

All in all, a great meal. I'll definitely be going back to this one.

 

[Phills14]

So last night for dinner I made the girlfriend and myself some mustard-crusted pork chops, and damn were they fantastic.

I bought these massive bone-in pork chops. Like inch-and-a-half thick chops. Seasoned them with salt and pepper and then coated them with stone ground mustard (I assume any kind of mustard will do here) and put them in a greased pan. Oven 350. In a separate bowl, I mixed in two cups of bread crumbs, 1/8 cup melted butter, a chopped up clove of garlic, about two tablespoons chopped parsley, and a ton of mustard. I used a mix of stone ground and this sweet hot mustard I have in the fridge, and basically just kept adding mustard until the mix started to turn liquid enough to form a spread. I spread a ton of that mix on top of each chop and tossed them in the oven for about forty-five minutes or so. The time will depend on how thick the chops are. I just used a thermometer to tell me when they were about 145 and then tossed them under the broiler for a few minutes to get the crust nice and crispy.

I just ate the leftovers and they held up nicely.

With the pork chops I cooked up four slices of bacon, put the bacon aside, then tossed a diced white onion into the bacon fat and cooked it. Added two cloves of minced garlic, cooked that for a minute or so. Then I tossed in a bunch of Brussels sprouts, halved and quartered. After that was done (takes a while), I crumbled up the bacon and threw it back into the sprouts and cooked for another minute or two. Seasoned it with salt and pepper.

All in all, a great meal. I'll definitely be going back to this one.

Wow that sounds like a helluva meal. A lot of prep but I bet it was worth it!

 

[The Oi]

Have the money for a Big Green Egg but I'm extremely cheap. Thinking hard about doing it.

Talk me into it.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Wow that sounds like a helluva meal. A lot of prep but I bet it was worth it!

The prep actually wasn't that bad, and everything is staggered nicely. The pork chops take a long time to cook, so you can wait to do the prep for the sprouts until after you get it in the oven. And prepping the pork chops is easy since all you need to do is cover them with salt, pepper, and mustard, and then mix together a few things in a bowl and spread it on top of them. Once the pork was in the oven, I put the bacon in a skillet on medium heat and cooked that. While that was cooking, I cut up the onion, garlic, and started chopping the sprouts. When the bacon was done, I tossed in the onion and finished cutting the Brussels sprouts.

So all in all it was a relatively low maintenance meal. Probably took about an hour, including the cooking time.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I picked up a pair of interesting ingredients to play around with in the kitchen. One is a jar of sambal, a staple of spicy Indonesian cooking. The other is Chinese Prickly Ash Oil, which has a floral and spicy initial flavor and leaves your tongue numb afterward like you licked novocaine. I'm playing around with a chicken marinade now, once I have a good one down I'll post it here.

 

[PIP]

Been cooking with plum cider vinegar and it's just been a joy... I hate vinegar with an undying passion--- but plum cider vinegar really tenders my loins

 

[SixPACK]

One is a jar of sambal, a staple of spicy Indonesian cooking.

Let me know how that goes.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Let me know how that goes.

I made a wing sauce with the ingredients last night, wife loved it but I feel like it needs a tweak. Sambal is awesome, though. I expected a burn, but it's so much more flavorful than just hot sauce. Remember the first time you used siracha?

 

[SixPACK]

I made a wing sauce with the ingredients last night, wife loved it but I feel like it needs a tweak. Sambal is awesome, though. I expected a burn, but it's so much more flavorful than just hot sauce. Remember the first time you used siracha?

Is it more ginger-y? chipotle-y? Could you see yourself mixing it up into some type of dip and using it with naan?

I love hot shit, hotter the better, so I would probably have to kick it up.