USCHO Cooks: Are you our Top Chef?

Kepler said:

Or a bit more butter.

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Both? Both is good.

Feeling super dehydrated, but this is where knowing is half the battle. I've got electrolyte packets, sippable chicken broth, bananas, and "Flash I.V" Body Armor or Gatorade ready. And Vernors and Sprite.

Looking at less acidic meals or something that's Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis friendly after my body tried to kill me earlier this week.

I had a roommate with Crohn's and while I don't remember specific meals I know that he tried to stick to leaner proteins (chicken, turkey, fish), cooked and never raw vegetables, white grains and yogurt.

I made tonkatsu and it was fucking awesome. Yay me! A year ago I was afraid to boil water.

A rare example Chef Reactions endorsing a fusion of Belgian, Midwestern, and Californian cuisine.

As a fan of savory brunch, I will be trying this at home. The potato obviously must be boiled first.

I've been watching Great British Baking Show since coming home from the hospital. It's so... comforting!

Kepler said:

I made tonkatsu and it was fucking awesome. Yay me! A year ago I was afraid to boil water.

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You can make a killer pho base using a pressure cooker in 30ish minutes of cook time. Check out Alton brown’s recipe. Genuinely one of his best.

TIL I learned that flipping your steak on the grill doesn't just cook it on each side. It reverses the direction of moisture flow through the cross-section of the meat. Alternating the direction keeps the moisture in the meat. Leaving it on one side too long pushes it out of the meat (the characteristic beading on the non-grill side) and makes the steak too dry.

Got some Hen of the Woods mushrooms to try.

Figured clean them, chop them off the root, and saute with a fuckton of butter.

Somehow, Farro randomly entered my mind the other day. I had eaten before at restaurants but never made it myself. So decided to fix that this weekend. Did a salmon with a mushroom and asparagus Farro "risotto". The risotto is a "no-stir" method so you dont have to sit there slowly adding broth and stirring like with normal risotto. Came out AMAZING with wonderful depth of flavor. Rich, herbal, but also bright due to some lemon juice at the end. I really like the texture of the farro as well. A little chewy and firm but not to much. Another benefit of farro is the much lower glycemic index vs most rices which as a diabetic is a plus. I reheated the leftovers the next day but served with a different fish instead. Still very good.

MissThundercat said:

Two random individuals: "so, we made this healthy soda that tastes like shit and is also ridiculously expensive."

Executive: "You son of a bitch, I'm in."

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You're referring to Poppi, aren't you?

FadeToBlack&Gold said:

You're referring to Poppi, aren't you?

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How did you know?

I will concede that the Orange and Orange Cream flavors are tolerable. Otherwise I agree it's gross.

Random baking question - when a recipe calls for brown sugar, does it matter if it's light brown or dark brown sugar? Should it specify?

It can matter depending upon what you are baking.

• Light Brown Sugar: Best for delicate flavors and structures. It is sweeter, milder, and is the standard assumption in most generic "brown sugar" recipes.

• Dark Brown Sugar: Best for robust, toffee-like flavors like gingerbread or chocolate cake. Because of its higher molasses content, it is slightly more acidic and contains more moisture, which can chemically affect leavening in recipes that use baking soda.

Dark brown sugar has more residual molasses in it, so it's best for recipes that need a bit more of that dark savoriness/umami. Gingerbread or gingersnaps are great examples.

Dark soy sauce vs. light soy sauce is a similar contrast.

Did some experimenting the past few weeks with different accompaniments to fish dishes. I enjoyed each. Pics below:


Pic 1 - Snapper with a lemon-basil cream. I steeped basil in heavy cream for a bit and then decided to just puree it all together with an immersion blender. Strained that to smooth it out. Squeezed a grilled lemon into a sautee pan, added some white wine, reduced and then added that cream. Came out really good. Vibrant and fresh.


Pic 2 - Snapper again this time with an orange cream and rosemary herb oil. Pan roasted brussel sprouts. The oil was time consuming. Blanched parsley and rosemary, dried it, blended with grapeseed oil and then had to strain it really really slowly. I got the color I was wanting but it needed more rosemary. I wanted to do a blood orange cream but had to settle for some standard naval. It needed a touch more acidity/citrus in the end but otherwise had good flavor. Paired well with the fish but actually paired even better with the brussel sprouts. Dispensing the oil from the bottle I had it in was not as easy as I hoped so my presentation was not how I pictured in my head.


Pic 3. Broiled salmon, fennel puree, pan roasted carrot and parsnip and some of that herb oil from before. For the fennel puree, I braised fennel, onion and garlic in some broth then blended and strained. Good flavor overall though I wanted the fennel to be a bit stronger. I think using a weaker broth (I made chicken broth from better than bouillon that i made a little stronger) or a different flavor would have helped. If I do again, I will try that but also add more fennel from the get go. Maybe a shallot instead of onion as well as shallot is much milder.