What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[lisab]

Looks perfect, Don. I like my dogs cooked just that way: a bit of char but still juicy.

 

[Evo]

Looks perfect, Don. I like my dogs cooked just that way: a bit of char but still juicy.

Oh yeah, looks like a nice crispy bit, not burned, just a great char.

 

[lisab]

Do any PFers have experience with cooking ostrich? My husband has a long tradition of cooking non-traditional Thanksgiving meals. This year we're considering ostrich. I've had it in restaurants but I've never cooked it.

Has anyone here cooked or eaten it?

 

[Evo]

Do any PFers have experience with cooking ostrich? My husband has a long tradition of cooking non-traditional Thanksgiving meals. This year we're considering ostrich. I've had it in restaurants but I've never cooked it.

Has anyone here cooked or eaten it?

Oh my, I've never even eaten it.

 

[dlgoff]

Do any PFers have experience with cooking ostrich? My husband has a long tradition of cooking non-traditional Thanksgiving meals. This year we're considering ostrich. I've had it in restaurants but I've never cooked it.

Has anyone here cooked or eaten it?

I've eaten just about every wild game in the Midwest and I would imagine it would be similar to cooking as a whitetail deer's leg or rump roast. According to http://www.ostriches.org/cooking.html,

Ostrich meat contains little fat, therefore it does cook differently than beef. Tender cuts should be grilled, broiled or fired. For best taste, the meat should not be cooked more than a medium doneness (145-160 degrees on a meat thermometer.) A moist heat cooking method is suggested for those that prefer meat that is well done, because of the lack of fat the meat will be dry and tough. Less tender cuts (such as the drum) should be prepared using a moist cooking method such as roasting. Ostrich works very well with recipes that call for cooking meats with vegetables. Most cuts of ostrich will cook in a little less time than a similar size cut of beef, and lesser quantities of spices are needed for the same flavor.

 

[willis hallis]

making perfect pizza

how to make a perfect pizza for pennies rather than takeouts
the truth is the ingredients used by most takeout/ frozen shop brought is fairly poor . making your own dough is simple easy and quick but needs time to allow dough to raise alittle ( your not making bread so you don't have to keep bashing it about /mixing it ) just mix it with a knife leave it an hour then spread it out .
ok so you need some kind of cheese some kind of sauce (passata 50 p ) curry sauce , whatever
ham /chicken etc etc,, origan !
ok here is the golden information !
youve spread the dough out ?
now put it under the grill = watch it don't let it burn let it brown alittle
now take it out = TURN it over don't burn yourself
now add you sauce veg sausage cheese etc
put it back under the grill
so there you are,,,, i think perfect pizza and so cheap

 

[hypatia]

Pea soup kind of day here.

 

[Evo]

Pea soup kind of day here.

Hey hypatia! Great to see you!

 

[hypatia]

Thanks. Lots of change going on for me, but my soup is a constant.

 

[danago]

Oh how did I not see this thread earlier...I love food! Here are some squid ink tagliatelle with calamari that I just made:

 

[Evo]

Wow, Danago, that looks awesome!

 

[lisab]

Pea soup kind of day here.

hypatia! Pea soup! Two wonderful things come into my mind on this dreary day !

 

[lisab]

Oh how did I not see this thread earlier...I love food! Here are some squid ink tagliatelle with calamari that I just made:

So, can you actually taste squid ink, or is it just for color?

 

[danago]

Wow, Danago, that looks awesome!

Thanks :D It tasted pretty good too!

So, can you actually taste squid ink, or is it just for color?

It has a very mild taste and smell of the sea, however once the pasta is cooked and mixed with basil, parsley, chili, olive oil, garlic, etc. it becomes pretty undetectable, so in this case I'd say just for colour.

I'm putting the recipe up on my website soon

 

[danago]

My throw-together chocolate stack with an espresso. Layers of chocolate biscuit, salted peanuts, caramel, chocolate mousse, shortbread biscuit and finally a layer of Lindt Piccoli couverture chocolate. Lucky I exercise regularly

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1461242_352577821552937_563625171_n.jpg

 

[Evo]

Oh my! You are quite a cook!

 

[danago]

Oh my! You are quite a cook!

I probably spend too much time in the kitchen haha. I must say, though, that it is probably one of the most useful skills I have ever learned.

 

[Evo]

I probably spend too much time in the kitchen haha. I must say, though, that it is probably one of the most useful skills I have ever learned.

I used to love cooking, and still am very interested in it. When I see tv shows (like yesterday) with "supposed chefs" and they don't even know what molasses is, I just kind of die inside. How can someone have the nerve to call themselves a chef and they don't even know basic ingredients?

 

[collinsmark]

Lucky I exercise regularly

'Looks like you know your way around a camera too. Those are excellent photographs of your food!

 

[danago]

I used to love cooking, and still am very interested in it. When I see tv shows (like yesterday) with "supposed chefs" and they don't even know what molasses is, I just kind of die inside. How can someone have the nerve to call themselves a chef and they don't even know basic ingredients?

Haha I guess the same could be said about a lot of professions :P This is why I love chefs like Heston Blumenthal and Harold McGee, because they make a serious effort to know their professions very well (I guess this is the engineer in me speaking ).

'Looks like you know your way around a camera too. Those are excellent photographs of your food!

Thanks I actually only recently bought a camera for my upcoming Europe travels so I am still trying to learn and practice as much as I can, and still consider myself very amateur. It's a lot of fun though, trying to compose a scene so that it makes the food somewhat attractive.

 

[danago]

Actually, I've found curries one of the most difficult things to photograph in an appetising way. I've found that I need to use a lot of garnishes, otherwise it just looks like a plate of colourful mud. Here is a green curry I made a while ago.

 

[collinsmark]

I'm impressed!

 

[Evo]

Agreed! Very nice pictures danago, hopefully we can get this food thread revived.

 

[danago]

Agreed! Very nice pictures danago, hopefully we can get this food thread revived.

What type of things do you like cooking? I'm sure I'd probably find the answer if I searched this thread, but there are 277 pages and I have an exam soon

 

[danago]

My version of shakshouka - eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Perfect pre-exam breakfast

I should spend more time eating my food and less time photographing it :P

 

[Evo]

Now that looks professional!

 

[lisab]

My version of shakshouka - eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Perfect pre-exam breakfast

I love egg dishes. I need remember to make more of them!

Good luck with your exam!

 

[danago]

The exam went well thankfully I rewarded myself with a refreshing mint lemonade afterwards.

I'm getting way too into this thread haha. I guess I'm making up for all the time before I realized it existed

 

[OmCheeto]

I moved my 12 lb. turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator two days ago, thinking it was going to take a week for it to thaw out. Then I googled it and found out I should not have done that until Monday.

Turkey Basics: Safe Thawing
A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days before cooking.

REFRIGERATOR THAWING
Thaw breast side up, in an unopened wrapper on a tray in the fridge.
Allow at least 1 day of thawing for every 4 lbs.

7 days > 2 days(thawed in fridge) + 3 days(thaw time)

I checked the turkey this morning, and it is still as hard as a rock, and a thermometer says its underside is still 28.5 °F (-1.9 °C).
I checked my other temperatures:
refrigerator: 33.2 °F (0.7 °C)
freezer: 10.3 °F (-12.1 °C)

According to the FDA my freezer is not cold enough, and my fridge is a bit on the cool side:

Keep your appliances at the proper temperatures. Keep the refrigerator temperature at or below 40° F (4° C). The freezer temperature should be 0° F (-18° C).

Paranoid as I am about poisoning myself(see "Om mixes up garlic and wood hyacinth bulbs in the pork roast" post), I checked up on bacterial growth vs temperature, and saw this image:

which made me sure I had just produced a deadly toxin turkey, until I noticed the scale was in Celsius.

But then I looked at their list of bacteria and it looked like I might be safe:

Nutrition and Growth of Bacteria (page 5)
________________________Temperature for growth (°C)
Bacterium_______________Minimum__Optimum__Maximum
Listeria monocytogenes__1________30-37____45
Vibrio marinus__________4________15_______30
Pseudomonas maltophilia_4________35_______41
Thiobacillus novellus___5________25-30____42

Anyways... With Thanksgiving coming up, I was wondering if anyone had ever poisoned themselves with their Turkey thawing and/or cooking methods?

ps. After some research, I've decided to change my method of cooking my turkey from "190 °F for about 12 hours and then broil for 30 minutes" to "Bake at 500 °F for 30 minutes, remove and stuff, and then slow cook at 190 °F for 12 hours", based on the USDA's "DANGER ZONE!":

The USDA does not recommend cooking meat and poultry at oven temperatures lower than 325 °F because these foods could remain in the "Danger Zone" (temperatures of 40° to 140 °F) too long. Bacteria which may be present on these foods multiply rapidly at these temperatures.

though...

Foodsafety.gov gives no mention of this 325 °F restriction.

I've cooked my turkeys at 190 °F for at least 15 years, and am not dead.

pps. In my research over the last two weeks, I've only found one website that came close to describing what I do, and why I think I should do it this way. (If the temperature is over 212 F, the water will boil away. Duh! Dry Turkey sucks!)

I like their graph of weight loss vs temperature.

The Food Lab's Guide to Corned Beef and the Science of Simmering

Yah, I know. It's about Corned beef. So sue me.

ppps. I think I may invest in more chrome plated metal skewers tomorrow. The thermal conductivity of meat, sucks. Strategic placement of a dozen metallic skewers may allow me to cook the bird more efficiently, and at a lower temperature. I will let you know how it works out.

pppps. I'll be weighing my bird before and after the cooking process, to confirm the "seriouseats.com" data.

 

[hypatia]

Om...wow dang, you just put the stress back into my dinner plans