Id dry rub them to equilibrium cure at about 3% salt by weight with your favorite spices. Once fully cured id develop a pellicle and cold smoke them three times with rests in between. Then hang to mature about 1-2 weeks. Should be amazing.

I like the sound of that, wheels are in motion, hope to report back with something tasty in a month or so

Trying to cook gordon ramsays pressed crispy pork belly right now...will try to snap a few pics

every word in that sentence just gets tastier

Hoping it turns out bomb, followed his you tube video exactly so we'll see

Pretty happy with it, wasn't the best ever but definitely solid and different...TR and pics coming on mondAy prolly

Anyone have a good single guy cooking guide?

Primarily looking for good ideas/recipes on using things with long shelf lives. I am most worried about having to throw out a lot of food, especially given my work schedule where I have to stay late at times and eat at work which makes planning my meals more difficult.

Stagg chili mixed into Kraft Dinner aka bachelor chow.

Given your brief description, I would say invest in a slow cooker and some good so you can make a big batch of stew/chili/etc and freeze a bunch for fast meals and taking to work.

Also, meal planning can be helpful. Set a block of time or one day aside to plan a weekly meal schedule, do as much prep for each day as you can so it doesn't seem like an overwhelming task to complete a meal on any given day.

For example: make pasta sauce on planning day (lets say Sunday) to use for pasta on Thursday which will make enough for work lunch/dinner on Friday. Then you just have to heat the sauce through and cook pasta.


Once you are comfortable with this, cooking will be easier and you will want to be in the kitchen more so instead of coming home and surfing the web/cable TV with a beer, you will want to be in the kitchen having that beer while prepping a delicious meal for yourself to enjoy which leading to feelings of accomplishment.

What would you guys take in a kitchen utensils draft? Everyone gets standard cutlery and crockery as well as a stockpot. Nothing else (no chef's knife, not-stick pans, skillet, whisk, measuring cups).

Spatula GOAT

i dont get it draft for what? whats the endgoal do you get to draft multipli things or just one?

I'm going with this...

Mortar pestle in the draft

Question is a bit vague (also have nfi clue what is going on here) but

Chopping boards
Dutch oven
Stockpot
Thermometer
Scales

If I read it right, everyone gets a stockpot.

I like your list, but can improvise scales and stuff like measuring cups/spoons

So I go:

Chefs knife
big ass cutting board
cast iron skillet
strainer
dutch oven
oven mitts
baking sheet
probe thermometer

What's so great about Dutch ovens?

they can maintain even heat for a long time. a thin/light pot will be hotter on the bottom (I think).

my grandma recently gave me this weird looking one. the bottom is flat but narrow.



I used it for the first time to make some chili last night.

Do you guys use them on the stove or just the oven?

Both, they're great for browning meat on the stovetop then braising in the oven

Use anywhere

What if I want to shove some veggies in the oven, drizzle them with olive oil and seasoning, and roast them for half an hour?

Use a roasting pan or cookie sheet

That's fine. It's basically just a cast iron pot. Heavy as ****, distributes heat extremely evenly, stays hot for eons. Great for stews.

The lid is usually really heavy so it keeps steam in better than other things.

Preheat Dutch oven first. Will work great.

If you put the top on the veggies will steam. It's much better to spread them out on a big pan