I only ever work with lactobacillus acidophilus from yogurt not any commercial cultures. You don't need to add a lot of culture despite the mfg instructions, the bacteria grow on their own with the sugar or dextrose you add, under warm conditions.

I think butcher packer suggests you use like 1/4 package of TSPX which is hogwash. Maybe 5g is enough for hobby sized batch especially if you let it bloom overnight in sugar water. This water has to be sterile or distilled. If you want to be extra careful you can add 10-15g it won't hurt anything.

I made the beef pepperone from charcuterie and thought it wasn't great. Haven't made the marianski one though.

Ty sir!

BBQ rubbed Pork Shoulder:

3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons hot paprika
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 3-to-4-pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, plus more to taste
3 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

Combine 1 tablespoon brown sugar, the paprika, mustard powder, cumin, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet; add the pork and cook, turning, until browned on all sides, 5 minutes. Remove the pork and transfer to a plate; whisk 3/4 cup water into the drippings in the skillet. Transfer the liquid to a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker.

Add the vinegar, tomato paste, the remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 cups water to the slow cooker and whisk to combine. Add the pork, cover and cook on low, 8 hours.

Remove the pork and transfer to a cutting board. Strain the liquid into a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Roughly chop the pork and mix in a bowl with 1 cup of the reduced cooking liquid, and salt and vinegar to taste. Serve on buns with barbecue sauce and coleslaw.

BBQ sauce

I winged it but I thought it came out great

*One Cup of Hock Stock (or you could use water but I think the stock gives better flavor--see previous post for stock recipe)

* Apple Cider Vinegar
* Apple Cider
* Salt & pepper
* Dijon Mustard
* Tomato Paste
* Brown Sugar
* pinch of red pepper flakes

I just added the ingredients above by feel and simmered it until it reduced and had the flavor, texture and consistency I was looking for. I didnt measure the amounts so I cant tell you exactly, but if you'll add items above slowly, tasting as you go, I think you'll figure it out. As it simmers it should thicken up and get more flavorful, so take your time adding the various ingredients. If it doesnt seem salty or have enough sugar or vinegar at the start, let it reduce because those flavors will intensify.

You can also just use the leftover pan juices for your sauce which is very similar to the above. The one thing I did was put the pan juices in the fridge and let it cool until the fat solidified on top and then I scraped it off and threw it away so the sauce wasn't all greasy.

You can also sauté onions and garlic before adding the BBQ sauce ingredients.

Cole Slaw:

Red cabbage - Large Rough chop
Green Cabbage - Large Rough chop
Red onion - small dice
white onion - small dice
One Grated green apple (peel removed first)
2-3 grated carrots
finely diced fresh tarragon
crumbled blue cheese
olive oil
cider vinegar
red wine vinegar
salt & pepper

I threw everything in a large bowl except the blue cheese and added olive oil and vinegars & salt & pepper tasting as I tossed it by hand. Once I got the flavor I wanted I toss in the blue cheese, tasting as I go until I have a flavor I like. It was another "feel" situation where I just stop once I'm happy with the ratio of salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil and blue cheese I like. Just add these slowly and dont over do any one ingredient and I think you'll find a combo you like. I found the fresh tarragon to be a nice surprise, along with the blue cheese. Be careful adding too much at a time as the vinegars, red onion, olive oil, tarragon and blue cheese are pretty strong flavors and too much of any one can overwhelm the dish.

Feel free to shoot me any questions, sorry I didn't measure everything and take notes, its kind of fun trying to just figure out a combo that you like

Thanks, I'm very new to this (obviously). How did you learn? Did you mainly refer to books and experiment with different things over time? Any good forums that helped you out?

We're serving what we make at the restaurant I work at, so I'm really concerned about food safety which is perhaps making me overly anal with my precision

Mostly self taught. Here are some excellent resources for meat processing information.

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/

Http://curedmeats.blogspot.com

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm

much appreciated

Looks like you put the egg in when the pan was too hot and it scrambled.

Trying something a little fancy (for me at least) tonight, chicken risotto inside a baked, partially hollowed out acorn squash. How do I best go about making sure that the squash is seasoned throughout?

i think you should bake it until it's tender enough that you can scoop the remnants out, season it, then place them back in. this way you can also add things to it that can balance the richness of the risotto you'll be serving on it, like lemon zest, herbs, something crunchy (toasted nuts, bacon) to break up the monotony of how soft both things are, etc.

also for crunch you could consider frying some of the chicken skin for garnish unless you have plans for that already. you could also season this in a way that would add another layer of flavour, making it spicy, sweet, etc.

You had some good suggestions. I baked 3 acorn squashes and used the zest of one lemon, I really liked it but I'd go with a little less lemon next time. Also used butter and brown sugar on the squash, as well as a tiny bit of water (was easier than milk at the time). Mixed that all up and then put it back in the squash, added some of the toasted seeds, then topped with the risotto.

It looks like the risotto is just rice here, odd photo, there was definitely plenty of ****aake/chicken thighs inside. Plus it was made with homemade very good chicken soup which definitely helped.

Photo taken on a not very good camera phone:



Grated some Parmegiano-Reggiano on after.

Really happy with it and the presentation is quite novel. Heart shaped so topical for the time of the year. Also, it's amazing how creamy and tasty you can get risotto on very low fat. The risotto a couple of minutes before taking it off the heat looked super creamy yet I'd use a little of oil at the beginning and then added no butter or cheese. You could definitely make a very solid dairy free risotto (you'd want a really flavourful stock for this) which I bet would surprise a lot of people

You are correct.

I was worried about eating raw egg. Is the heat from the pasta enough to cook it?

I think the most important part is to let the egg/cheese mixture come up to room temp by letting it sit out for 20-30 minutes. If it's straight out of the fridge it may not cook enough. I beat the egg and grate the cheese before I get the water going. I put the egg/cheese mixture in a mixing bowl and transfer the pasta to that bowl instead of putting the mixture in the pan.

Thanks. I will do that next time.

Looking to a buy camera, would like to use it for food photography, anything in particular I should look for?

Pork Ribs on the gas grill.

Method.
1. Apply rub and let sit for one hour
2. 30mins of indirct heat on gas grill at 375
3. Wrap ribs in foil with a cup of apple juice and back on grill for another 30
4. Remove foil, turn down heat to 275 and sauce ribs with BBQ sauce for at least 2 good coats
5. cut and serve.

I used Mike Scrutchfeild's award winning Best Ribs In the Universe rub recipe from the Virtual Weber Bullet site.

I recommend this method if you don't have access to a smoker. The ribs were very tender and moist due to the steaming in apple juice and tasty with some nice spicy undertones. My dining companions awarded me a 9 out of 10......
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Bovva,

While I would obviously eat the **** out of those ribs, I'm wondering if there's anything about that cooking method that is better because it's done on a grill than what one could do in an oven?

Sacrilege ITT.

Haven't done ribs this way, but when I had a gas grill (only have a charcoal one now) I used to make pulled pork on it that I think turned out great.

I used something very much like the instructions on this page (I rearranged them so they were in order for cooking on a gas grill)

http://www.createtv.com/CreateProgra...arcoal%20Grill

I must be the worst cook in history. I have zero common sense when it comes to culinary skills, everything more complicated than pasta which I attempt goes horribly wrong.

1. Read the recipe in its entirety.
2. Get all the ingredients ready.
3. Follow the steps as well as possible.

/edit If you aren't sure about the ingredients (wtf, julienne potatoes?) or steps, google/youtube will show you exactly what to do.

one thing I forgot to mention was that I made a smoke bomb, which is some damp woodchips wrapped in foil that you sit over one of the burners. This may cause your smoke alarm to go mental if you did it in the oven.

OK you dont get the true smoke flavour as you would from a proper smoker, but its an acceptable alternative if you only have a gas grill. If you skip the smoke bomb then it should turn out great in the oven.

btw the rub recipe is below, and I sauced the ribs with a gourmet spicy BBQ sauce from the deli.

Best Ribs In The Universe Rub - 1/4 Batch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup non-iodized table salt
1/8 cup brown sugar, dried
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon Accent (MSG)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder

I didn't take pictures because I'm ******ed but this post made me want carbonara so I made gnocchi carbonara tonight. It was really good. Will be making it again.

bovas, where those ribs tender at all after only an hour

Amateur chef here (i almost never make my own food), but i tried the zombie jesus recipe on reddit and it turned out pretty good.



Was completely smashed when i made it which explains the odd shape, but damn was it good (the "grease" is olive oil i put on after btw)

http://www.reddit.com/r/food/comment..._pizza/c7d8sfi for recipe if anyone wants

Anyways more than satisfied with the resulting drunk food, would recommend

They were very tender durango. The method I used calls for wrapping the ribs in foil for the last 30mins with a cup of apple juice.
The juice steams the ribs and makes them really soft. I've had lots of ribs in my time and these were really nice and a great way to do quick ribs if you don't have a smoker.

Cooked some mushrooms as a side dish last night, they turned out really yummy: