Blue Gartr Meal Time: Bacon optional? Bacon required.

[Zetanio]

Pre


Post


Sliced

[Tokitoki]

Should check farms for both meat and veggie CSA stuff. We had a CSA from June? to last week, half share every week, costs us $300. It was more than enough veggies for the week; we usually had some left over, too. Saved a lot of money of veggies compared to the store for those 5 months.

[Zetanio]

Posting this because Sono won't.

He made dis.

[Boyiee]

So proud.

Yes, let it rest my child.

[Byrthnoth]

Tonight I used easy ingredients and a crock pot to make tasty food, totally by the seat of my pants.

* 1 clove of garlic
* 2 lbs of potatoes
* 2 lbs of small-ish onions
* 2 lbs of pork tenderloin
* 2 tsp salt
* 2 tsp pepper
* 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
* 3 cups of vinegar
* some water

Shucked the garlic clove and tossed them on the bottom of crock pot. Diced three larger onions and filled in the bottom. Put the pork tenderloin on top. Cut the tops and the bottoms off of the smaller onions (so they're still self contained) and stuck them around the pork tenderloin whole. Diced the potatoes and dumped them over everything. Added the powders, sauce, and then the vinegar. Added water until the top potatoes were half submerged. Cooked 3.5 hours on low (new crock-pot "low") and moved the meat to a plate with some of the juices to rest. The rest of the stuff needed more time, so I turned it up to high and let it run for another two hours.

I'm not sure exactly how to streamline it so everything finishes at the same time, but I ended up with a perfectly cooked pork tenderloin (not tough), onions that explode with meat juice in your mouth, and vinegary potatoes (vinegary everything, really). Very satisfied.

Also, I'm pretty sure the entire meal cost me less than $15 and will feed me for a few days.

[Zetanio]

Two things.

1) You didn't post any pictures. Shame on you.

2) I make a very similar dish (with sweet potatoes instead of regular) twice a week roasting the pork tenderloin in the oven. Tenderloin isn't the best thing to rock in the crock due to it's very low fat content (Similar to a chicken breast or filet mignon). I think you could streamline a lot of this by cooking the onions and potatoes in the crock (even just the potatoes) and roasting the tenderloin about 25 minutes before you eat.

Also, that is a shit load of vinegar. Could you even taste anything else? That's 2-3x more than I would recommend for a full crock recipe.

[Byrthnoth]

I love vinegar and my wife wasn't around to stop me, so I took liberties. It doesn't really taste much different from 1 cup (which is what I normally use for stuff like this), so I'll probably go back to that in the future. I could still taste the pork's sweetness and my excessive pepper fine, and the salt level wasn't an issue. The garlic flavor was somewhat lost, but that's always my experience with garlic in the slowcooker. I'm not even sure why I add it.

I had previously done something like this without vinegar and with even smaller onions (maybe quarter-sized), but the onions today were ranging from that size up to baseball ish onions. Anything I couldn't fit in my mouth got diced.

[Zetanio]

But where are the pictures?

Garlic is bad in whole form in the slow cooker.

I use garlic powder if anything. Using cloves of it can also become bitter for some reason..

[Tokitoki]

I usually crush the garlic and brown it in the bottom of the crock pot with some onion to start with.

Garlic powder also works, though.

[dasva]

Rice was just throw into rice cooker than lightly fried in a pan with a ton of garlic that isn't showing up that I first sautéed till brown. Chicken is just plain baked with some avocado oil with a mushroom cream sauce. 2nd night for the cream sauce so that's part of why it looks kind of shitty since I still haven't mastered stopping all of those yummy fats from separating after reheating.

[Zetanio]

Looks yummy.

[Kalmado]

Rice was just throw into rice cooker than lightly fried in a pan with a ton of garlic that isn't showing up that I first sautéed till brown. Chicken is just plain baked with some avocado oil with a mushroom cream sauce. 2nd night for the cream sauce so that's part of why it looks kind of shitty since I still haven't mastered stopping all of those yummy fats from separating after reheating.

Besides the pic being a tad blurry it looks damn good. Be proud!

[dasva]

Yeah my presentation and holding camera skills are horrible. And for some reason my phone refuses to focus unless you keep it real steady for a couple of seconds. Luckily you can still cook fine even without really steady hands

[Tokitoki]

Made chili last night and actually took pictures, so I'll be sharing.

Ingredients:

3lbs Sirloin Tips, Skirt Steak, or other marbled beef
1.5 Large red onion, chopped
4 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 teaspoons Ground cumin
2 teaspoons Dried oregano
1 tablespoon Chili powder
3 tablespoons Corn meal
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Cayenne (depending on if/how much heat you want)
1 bottle Beer (I used Brooklyn Lager)
2.5 cups Beef stock
1 14oz Can diced tomatoes
2 15ox cans Red kidney beans
2 teaspoons Molasses
Salt & pepper to taste

Take the meat out of the fridge about 40 minutes prior to cooking. Rub with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Heat pot or deep-sided pan with oil (about a tablespoon) to med-high. Saute onions, garlic, jalapeno for about 2 minutes.

Add seasonings through corn meal, stir to combine, and saute another 2 minutes. Add the beer and let reduce about 3 minutes. Add beef stock through molasses, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover.

Set your grill or a cast iron pan to high. Sear the meat, cooking to a medium rare; this will vary depending on cut and thickness of meat. These monsters I had were on for about 4 minutes per side and were around an inch and a half to two inches thick.

Remove meat to a cutting board and let rest for about 10 minutes. Slice into pieces large enough they wont break down, but small enough to be bite-sized, about 3/4 of a inch.

Add meat, drippings, and all loose deliciousness on the cutting board into the pot with the chili. Continue to simmer for 4-6 hours. After 4-6 hours, remove from heat, let cool, and store in the fridge overnight. My dad always said it was best to let it rest in the pot overnight. I don't know if there is any culinary backing to this, but I follow his lead on it.

The next day, put the pot/pan back on the burner, on med-low to low and warm slowly, stirring occasionally.

Serve with rice, tortilla chips, topped with cheese, sour cream, scallion, sliced jalapeno, or whatever else you like with your chili.

Meat pre-grill. Stop & Shop called these "grillers." I though tthey looked like flanken short ribs.


Meat post-grill. Resting for about 10 mins.


Chili base, pre-meat. Simmering away.


Meat rested and sliced.


Chili with meat simmering.


This will be dinner for tonight.

[Zetanio]

I'm pretty sure those grillers are a custom chuck cut for stop and shop.

[Tokitoki]

It's very similar to a short rib, with the marbling, so beef chuck makes a lot of sense. The cut on them reminded me of boneless flanken short ribs which is why I guessed something along those lines. Both are very similar.

[Boyiee]

My mom makes some killer chilli and I usually don't care for others much, but I've never had it with meat like that in it. Fuck. I'll pm you my address.

[dasva]

The next day, put the pot/pan back on the burner, on med-low to low and warm slowly, stirring occasionally. My dad always said it was best to let it rest in the pot overnight. I don't know if there is any culinary backing to this, but I follow his lead on it.

I'm not exactly a cook but my step mom was and she always taught me some things you want the flavors to blend together more (sometimes you don't) and sometimes that might take awhile. From what I've seen mostly done for soups and sauces with multiple different kinds of flavors. I'd also imagine it'd help soften the meat a little more. Similar idea to crock potting stuff forever. Either way that looks amazing

[BerenTebogo]

Cooking thanksgiving turkey for first time on Thurs. Planning to wet brine for 24h and then otherwise follow instructions. 350 for x-minutes / lb and then let it sit.

Any special tips / tricks? Not stuffing. Also no thermometer but I got some of those popup things for the turkey but they got at 180deg and internet says 165deg.

[Tokitoki]

I put those statements in poor order, which I fixed in my recipe post. The resting thing should have been with sticking it in the fridge overnight rather than reheating it on a slow simmer.

To get flavors to develop, like making a stew or a stock, you want to simmer that shit for a long period of time. This lets everything breakdown and meld together just like you said. I'm not sure if it sitting in the fridge overnight really does much in that regard, maybe mellows out some of the flavors?, but dad always knows best.

All of my cooking experience comes from my dad who did 90% of the cooking while I was growing up. I'd actually like to know if it does have some kind of culinary backing, letting it cool down and sit cold overnight. May have to do some Googling.

Any special tips / tricks? Not stuffing. Also no thermometer but I got some of those popup things for the turkey but they got at 180deg and internet says 165deg.

Brining is a great idea. I made Thanksgiving dinner last year at my place and the turkey was fucking delicious if I do say so myself. I didn't make the brine, though, I got my turkey from Fairway in a brine already.

Honestly, if possible, go and get a digital, in-oven thermometer and set an alarm for 165. I credit the turkey I made last year to the brine and the thermometer. If it's not out at the right time you're gonna have a bad time.

I don't really have tips other than that. Brine and the correct timing is basically all you need for a good turkey. Make sure the sides are good too.