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Cooking Thread~ Recipes & Things

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Oh right forgot that most of you guys are Westerners. My sincere condolences for being unable to enjoy proper asparagus.
 
aquinas said:
Asparagus from the back garden: delicious for about 3 weeks a year, before it gets more than a couple feet tall. Asparagus otherwise, horrible bitter poison thing.
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Makes me glad I live in a nation where asparagus is a delicacy sold on every farmer's market when season comes.
 
Snake/Eater said:
does anyone here make fermented food?
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I make about two gallons of yogurt a month and an absurd amount of sauerkraut every year.

With the yogurt, an instant pot's 'yogurt' setting is amazing - I set it to 104F for 30 hours and let it go. I started with a sachet of progurt, but after that you can just keep using your leftover yogurt to start the next batch.

I have an enormous sauerkraut crock that holds ~8 shredded cabbages; if you're just getting started, I would instead recommend a gallon glass jar with a lid that accepts a fermentation lock - the water-seal on the crocks will dry out if you don't pay attention.
 
Longtimelurker said:
I am also a homebrewer if that counts
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Beer or wine? I've never tried to make beer, but we have enough muscadine vines to make ~150 bottles of wine a year. I'll need to start harvesting in the next week or two.


Edited to not dox myself.

I've always been surprised that it isn't more popular; muscadines are extremely hardy and disease resistant, tolerate a wide range of soils, and are impervious to the southern heat. I know someone with a real vineyard who grows a bunch of French wine grapes, and he has to be extremely careful about the soil PH, pests, and the summer heat. Muscadines require a fraction of the effort.

The grapes themselves are enormous, candy-sweet, extremely fruity and intensely aromatic. The thick skins are also packed with flavor.


(Not mine - taken from a plant nursery's site)
 
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Doctor Blood said:
Beer or wine? I've never tried to make beer, but we have enough muscadine vines to make ~150 bottles of wine a year. I'll need to start harvesting in the next week or two.
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Mead primarily, then beer and cider as well. I enjoy lots of small experimental batches, where I make things that basically unavailable (I make Bochets for Christmas, they are very nice when spiced)
 
Longtimelurker said:
I make Bochets for Christmas
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Had to look that one up - I've never actually heard of bochet before. It certainly sounds good!

Speaking of caramel, after making a batch of caramel sauce from scratch, I have become completely ruined for anything proclaiming to be 'caramel flavored'.

Most 'caramel' is HFCS with food dye and flavoring; the real thing has an incredible depth of flavor.

(Also, if you make caramel sauce at home, be EXTREMELY CAREFUL. Cooks call this stuff 'kitchen napalm' for a reason; getting boiling water on you is bad enough, but caramel is much denser, sticks to you, and is over 300F. That's a lot of thermal energy! Instant 3rd-degree burns.)
 
Doctor Blood said:
I've always been surprised that it isn't more popular; muscadines are extremely hardy and disease resistant, tolerate a wide range of soils, and are impervious to the southern heat. I know someone with a real vineyard who grows a bunch of French wine grapes, and he has to be extremely careful about the soil PH, pests, and the summer heat. Muscadines require a fraction of the effort.

The grapes themselves are enormous, candy-sweet, extremely fruity and intensely aromatic. The thick skins are also packed with flavor.
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As someone else who lives in a muscadine-producing region (I don't currently grow them myself -- Mom wanted passionfruit instead), I fully agree. Muscadines are awesome.

Scuppernongs, too.

The lack of a seedless variety is my only complaint, such as it is.

Lots of fun history RE why they're looked down on as wine grapes, though. And, well, fruit wines in general are fun. Are you familiar with Schnebly Redland's?
 
Aleh said:
The lack of a seedless variety is my only complaint, such as it is.
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Can you really claim to love muscadines if you don't eat the seeds? Next you're going to tell me you don't eat the peach pit. Crunch crunch crunch crunch

Aleh said:
Lots of fun history RE why they're looked down on as wine grapes, though. And, well, fruit wines in general are fun. Are you familiar with Schnebly Redland's?
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At one point muscadine wine was the most popular wine in the states. Prohibition put an end to that.

Never heard of Schnebly Redland's; that's quite a bit south of me.
 
Doctor Blood said:
At one point muscadine wine was the most popular wine in the states. Prohibition put an end to that.

Never heard of Schnebly Redland's; that's quite a bit south of me.
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I mean, it's south of me, and far enough that it's not a casual trip. I know about them because they make really interesting stuff. If you're talking about winemaking... well, they make avocado wine. They make lychee wine. They make mango wine. They make... well, you get the idea. Starfruit? Guava? Passionfruit? Pineapple? Yeah, they've done all of 'em.

If their product wasn't so expensive these days (it's like doubled or tripled in price since the pandemic), I'd experiment with cooking with some of them. It'd be fun.
 
Doctor Blood said:
Most 'caramel' is HFCS with food dye and flavoring; the real thing has an incredible depth of flavor.
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It's annoying how many products with a specific thing for a name turn out to be some combo of flavoring and dye. Like Wasabi. It's never actual wasabi, it's horseradish with dye, flavoring, and a miniscule amount (like 1,6% at best) of actual Wasabi.
 
One thing I like to do for breakfast is an impromptu pizza dip/cheese melt with tomato sauce.

To start off, on a non-stick pan I heat strips of turkey salami for a while, before adding the olive oil. Then I add the spices (black pepper, red pepper flakes, paprika and dry thyme) and mix it.

After waiting for a while to get the salami and spices familiar with each other, I then add the tomato sauce and mix it again. Then I add the tomato paste, doing the same.

I finally add the cheese into the mixture, stirring it until it melts completely.
 
Aleh said:
I mean, it's south of me, and far enough that it's not a casual trip. I know about them because they make really interesting stuff. If you're talking about winemaking... well, they make avocado wine. They make lychee wine. They make mango wine. They make... well, you get the idea. Starfruit? Guava? Passionfruit? Pineapple? Yeah, they've done all of 'em.

If their product wasn't so expensive these days (it's like doubled or tripled in price since the pandemic), I'd experiment with cooking with some of them.
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Like Bochet, the unit economics of fruit and vegetable wines are always going to be scuffed at least to some extent
But there's also the vicious cycle of: niche product -> low sales -> a few sellers, disproportionately hobbyists selling relatively small amounts -> no economies of scale -> high price per unit/low availability-> product remains niche

Anyway, this is why, if you want a winter warmer acerbochet, you have to make it yourself
 
Longtimelurker said:
Like Bochet, the unit economics of fruit and vegetable wines are always going to be scuffed at least to some extent
But there's also the vicious cycle of: niche product -> low sales -> a few sellers, disproportionately hobbyists selling relatively small amounts -> no economies of scale -> high price per unit/low availability-> product remains niche

Anyway, this is why, if you want a winter warmer acerbochet, you have to make it yourself
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Note my phrasing: "these days." Also note my why here: the prices have increased dramatically in the last few years. The cycle you're mentioning is largely irrelevant.
 
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