Food

Been gifted a sous vide device. Already got a vacuum sealer, any recommendations for first few cooks?

Salmon is particularly satisfying to sous vide. Super easy and achieves a cook you can't do via any other method.

Confit duck legs. Only need a couple of spoons of duck fat and and cook sous vide and then just finish in the oven. Can do a few and then keep in the bag of fat til when you want it for v quick confit duck

Isn't their delivery charge just absolutely ridiculous though?

(Not that I've ever bought there - the other half had them as a client for a year or so, and dealt with a lot of complaints. About the delivery charge.)

Chicken breasts.

Add aromatics of choice, then 65° for 99 minutes.

Unpack, leave to dry a little, them fat down in a cold pan with butter, turn heat way up, and enjoy golden crispy skin and tender flesh.

Don't be tempted by cheap bags either - the anova stuff is pricier, but can be reused way more times than the generic cheapo options.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

It's not cheap but very little about the shop is. I've occasionally shopped there but in person and enjoyed the products. I once had Afternoon Tea there which was very nice, the food was bottomless and the dude on the piano played City Of Stars which I thought was a nice touch.

Bought a big bag of Aleppo pepper off that internet after seeing a recipe for Turkish eggs… just deployed them on a weeknight standard of pasta, greens and chilli. Deelish.

Just to say I made the thai roast chicken thighs recipe here from BA and it was absolutely banging! The coconut and ginger rice was amazing and will be making that regularly with different curries, the marinade for the chicken absolutely spot-on but the real star was the cabbage basically confit'd in chicken fat underneath the thighs. So good. Thanks for sharing.

thai roast chicken thighs

that looks amazing

It really was, and pleasingly quick whilst tasting interesting/special enough to definitely feel like a treat rather than fuel, which some very 'quick' midweek dinner recipes can do. At risk of sounding like a comment on some awful American recipe site, this will be entering our regular rotation.

Sort of related, something I'm really enjoying at the moment is buying a good organic chicken and getting minimum 3 meals out of it - breaking it down myself, doing something with the breasts, drums sticks and thighs and a lovely stock with all the well-picked carcass meat (either thrown in a noodle dish for us or used as high premium dog training treats) - just feels better than buying pre-packaged bits of chicken and really helps me structure the week's meals, which is something I'm absolutely awful at.

Ah nice. Yeah it’s dead easy and pretty much stuff you would normally have in the house. Totally feel the same it’s quick and easy to prep and tastes great.

Also feel you on the breaking down chicken shout - I’m also a fan of picking up a reduced rotisserie chicken and doing something similar.

Just got a new batch of this addictive dried fish, as I understand it that is fish that has been used to make fish sauce and is then fried with chili and herbs. It's a flavour bomb and a great cheat meal.

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Batch cooked chilli this week.. it’s gonna last until Saturday,

ffs it’s got a mule kick of flavour

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I did this tonight, 10/10 would definitely make and enjoy again. Best cabbage based dish ever. The dog enjoyed a tiny bit too, and is now bothering the other half for leftovers.

Not sure the marinade needs the sugar, I put in far less than the recipe asked for, and think it would still be fantastic without it.

Yeah I think that’s a good point - I use palm sugar but a lot less than in the recipe. I think it needs a little sweetness to balance out the salt/sour but not 3/4 a cup!

Also did the same thing last night. Did a tablespoon or two of sugar instead of 1/3 cup which was plenty. Also added a bunch of sliced red chillies at the end - can it really be Thai without chillies? Was good.

It's not the greatest ever cabbage dish though, this is:
https://theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/10/how-to-make-the-perfect-caldo-verde-recipe-felicity-cloake

Challenge accepted.

Chickpeas make an audible pop?

Thanks for this, cooked the Caldo Verde on Monday and loved it. Even got the toddler to dive in and munch through some cabbage.

The amount of dirty looks I got asking how Portuguese chorizo was different and where to get it, in a Spanish market though …

Overcooked, sickly white, Puchero not good enough hey?

Turns out making mash potato is better when you bake the potatoes for an hour and then put them through a sieve

Time consuming, but ultimately, a gamechanger.

where do you get this i want to try !!

Mrs M and I indulged last night..

with frites, mayo, sourdough bread..
the liquor is covered up, made with bacon lardons, butter, garlic, leeks, fresh thyme, serious splash of Picpoul de Pinet

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Interesting,
I’ve generally boiled the potatoes, then added loads of butter, then smashed with a large balloon whisk, then beat the fcuk out of it, seasoned it. then transferred to a ceramic dish, covered with heap of grated Gruyère cheese, oven baked for twenty minutes..

This is great, but I think you get a lot of the effect using a mouli/sieve instead of the old masher, while still just boiling. For a little extra effort you can boil with the skins on and peel when hot, they don't take on as much water.