/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.12431385]

Let's cook.
Gonna spatchcock a chicken, roast it and do some pickling while we wait. Usually I'd prep the chicken the day before and let it brine in the fridge overnight, but I bought this on an impulse and felt like making tacos.

[Anonymous No.12431386]

Remove the wishbone by feeling around the neck cavity, cutting up along the bone, over the hinge, down the other side and then shave the underside of the bone. As long as you've cut through the meat holding it in down to the socket, it should pull out clean.
Flip the chicken and make a clean cut down the spine.

[Anonymous No.12431388]

Lewd. You want to then run your knife downward leaning against the ribcage, it'll be tricky at first but you'll start separating the meat from the frame. You don't need to use much force or aggravate it too much, just gently swipe away at the meat, keeping your knife against the bone as much as possible. Take your time. You'll need to pop the thigh joint socket by pulling back on the thigh, you'll hear a snap. Run your knife through the joint all the way to the back of the chook.

[Anonymous No.12431389]

Following Anon

[Anonymous No.12431391]

And the other side. This is easiest with a boning knife. But if you don't have one a sharp chef's knife or whatever else you have will do. Just respect the meat and do your best.

[Anonymous No.12431392]

Should look like some Hannibal Lecter shit when you're done.

[Anonymous No.12431393]

lol when I do this I just use a pair of scissors to cut down the spine then flattened it in the pan. when cooked the spine area makes a nice pick at part.

[Anonymous No.12431394]

Using the breastplate to guide you, take your knife and run it under the cartilage holding the ribs, once on each side. Pull gently as you do and keep working up with your knife, it'll get weaker and weaker the higher up you go.

[Anonymous No.12431396]

>>12431393
I think I saw a Korean dude do that in a Vice video recently. Looked fun.

From there you should be able to separate the frame from the breastplate cleanly.

[Anonymous No.12431398]

>>12431394

[Anonymous No.12431401]

Turn it over and push down on the centre of the chicken to split the breast plate. This'll give it a flatter shape to help it cook evently. You can call it done here if you'd like. Unfortunately I kinda hurt the breast here, shit happens, didn't affect the end result at least.

[Anonymous No.12431402]

If you want to go further, flip it over, remove a few extra bones, take out the top half of the breastplate and clean it up like I did.

[Anonymous No.12431404]

I like to ferment and preserve shit. This is homemade hot sauce, confit garlic (that I let get a little darker than I'd like), homemade Worcestershire sauce (10x better than the storebought stuff to me, one of my favourite ingredients) and some aji panca chilli paste. Your pantry will be different obviously, but I hope this gives you an idea of the flavours I'm going for. Whisk whatever you've got together with some spices (I used paprika, cayenne, black pepper, salt and coriander).

[Anonymous No.12431405]

Your oven should be cranked already, I had mine set to 240c. Usually I'd go 220c, but I was hungry. So I whisked some water through the bowl I made the seasoning in and put it under the wire rack. This way I'll be steaming the chicken a little while it cooks. The texture will be different from a regularly roasted chicken, less firm, a bit softer. I also forgot to change out the foil in my pan before doing this, oh well.

[Anonymous No.12431406]

>>12431388
>You'll need to pop the thigh joint socket by pulling back on the thigh, you'll hear a snap. Run your knife through the joint all the way to the back of the chook
This has always been my favorite part of breaking down a chicken.

[Anonymous No.12431409]

The chicken takes half an hour to cook. So that's enough time to clean up, do some pickling and get the sides/tortillas ready.
This is pickling liquid made from malt vinegar, white vinegar, roasted pumpkin juice, salt, sugar and a bit of the Worcestershire.

>>12431406
So fun. I love buying chicken whole, it's a really relaxing ritual.

[Anonymous No.12431412]

Pearl onions. Quarter 'em, peel them lazily, rinse them twice. Bring your liquid up to a near boil, whisk the shit out of it and let it cool. When it's almost room temp jar it up with the onions.

[Anonymous No.12431414]

>>12431409
>it's a really relaxing ritual
I have fuck all counter space right now, but you've made me want to buy a chicken. We just buy breasts where I currently work so it's been over a year since I've taken one apart.

[Anonymous No.12431415]

Chicken out. Looks good. 30 minutes was spot on. Skin isn't as barky as it would be if i had left it salted in the fridge overnight and dry roasted it, but it still crisped up a little up the front and has a little separation from the flesh. I like the colour on this a lot.

[Anonymous No.12431419]

Let it rest. Toast off the tortillas however (I do mine in a dry cast iron pan and then cover them in a towel as I go to steam them). Get your toppings together. I have cortido on the left, jalapeno mayo (I'd have preferred yoghurt but didn't have any, so this is just the hot sauce from earlier whisked through the some kewpie) and a fermented mixture of white cabbage, onion, coriander, lime and mexican oregano on the right.
>>12431414
At least you don't need much space to pull it off if you work smart. I hate working with just breasts or thighs. I put a dish up at my last place where we'd bone out the whole thing, roll it, smoke it and deep fry it to finish. It was super fun.

[Anonymous No.12431421]

Nice.

[Anonymous No.12431424]

Not much of a looker, but fucking delicious. And a tonne of chicken leftover for lunch over the next few days. I might use some of it with roast pumpkin, cous cous and a fried egg tomorrow.
I hope that was fun or at the very least interesting for you dudes. Let me know if you have any questions, want any recipes, info on fermentation/pickling, whatever.

[Anonymous No.12431427]

Oh, and here are the onions. They're gonna be pretty awesome in a week, amazing in a month. I'll use a bunch for roasting/grilling and also as a base for my next batch of Worcestershire. I took the chicken frame, onion peels and a bit of the pickling liquid and made them into a nice broth. So I'll probably throw together a pretty sweet beef stew or something the day after tomorrow. Might do another one of these with it.

[Anonymous No.12431449]

>>12431419
>put a dish up at my last place where we'd bone out the whole thing, roll it, smoke it and deep fry it to finish. It was super fun.
Damn, the place I work only me and the chef could pull something like that off, and only if we closed the restaurant for a smallish private function.
>tfw be sous but mostly work the fry station and nobody gives you credit for how nuanced it is
Nice thread, OP. Kudos for not posting this in the fucking cat blog.

[Anonymous No.12431452]

>>12431404
What's your recipe for the worcestershire sauce?

[Anonymous No.12431462]

>>12431449
The place I worked was literally me and the owner/chef, haha. I would handle the prepload by myself for the most part and then he'd come in and work dinner service with me. It was really comfy, got to cook whatever I wanted and experiment a lot. Taught myself a lot in that time. Place closed last month, though. Western Australia is really fucked for small restaurants right now unfortunately. Great places are closing left and right.

[Anonymous No.12431470]

Great thread, OP. Always nice to see some actual cooking here.

[Anonymous No.12431471]

>>12431452
2 cups white vinegar
12 cup molasses
12 cup soy sauce
14 cup tamarind paste
3 tbsp yellow mustard seed
3 tbsp salt
1 tsp whole black pepper
1 tsp whole cloves
12 tsp curry powder (I use my own blend)
5 cardamom pods, smashed
4 dried chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 anchovy, chopped
1 yellow onion, diced
1 stick cinnamon
1 (12") piece of ginger, chopped
12 cup sugar

Combine all of the ingredients except the sugar; boil. Reduce the heat & simmer. Cook the sugar until it becomes dark amber, about 5 minutes. Add caramelized sugar to vinegar mixture and whisk; cook sauce for 5 minutes and transfer to a sterilized jar. It'll keep at room temp forever, but you can refrigerate it after a week if it makes you more comfortable. I tend to add random shit to it from time to time, like anchovy oil, brine from ferments I think will go well with it, etc.

I miss making my own tortillas, feels weird to make all of this stuff from scratch and then use storebought ones.

[Anonymous No.12431472]

>>12431470

[Anonymous No.12431477]

>>12431385
your mom takes spaz cock

[Anonymous No.12431482]

>>12431477
huehuehue

[Anonymous No.12431485]

>>12431462
>literally me and the owner/chef, haha
That's kind of how it was when we first opened the place I currently work, plus a kid the chef brought with him who'd never worked the line but had potential. Our first year it was just me and the chef on all the busy nights and we fucking killed it, but now he's trying to get off the line as much as possible and focus on running the business and the other two cooks kind of suck. We basically have a two station line and 100 seats, so we're constantly trying to push the limits and then constantly realizing we need to streamline things because we get absolutely killed on the weekends.

[Anonymous No.12431489]

>>12431485
That sounds super similar, haha. It was me, him and his brother was a dishie I was teaching how to cook. Sucks when the dynamic changes like that. Streamlining is really satisfying when you get it right at least, just gotta fuck with stuff until you get it right, have a crazy idea and run with it.

[Anonymous No.12431496]

>>12431452
Shit, sorry, I thought I replied to this.
2 cups distilled white vinegar
12 cup molasses
12 cup soy sauce
14 cup tamarind puree
3 tbsp. yellow mustard seeds
3 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole cloves
12 tsp. curry powder (I use my own blend here)
5 cardamom pods, smashed
4 chiles de árbol, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 anchovy, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 (1") stick cinnamon
1 (12") piece of ginger, peeled and crushed
12 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients except the sugar; boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the sugar until it becomes dark amber, about 5 minutes. Add caramelized sugar to vinegar mixture and whisk to combine; cook sauce for 5 minutes; transfer sauce to a sterilized glass jar. It's happy sitting out all the time, but you can refrigerate it after a week if you're more comfortable with that.

[Anonymous No.12431517]

>>12431489
>sucks when the dynamic changes like that
Yeah, the newest guy we got is on the line with me most nights and he's okay, but he thinks he should be chef and the chef and I laugh about the things he comes up with almost every day (he's a good guy and a decent cook, but a little slow). I close most nights and my chef often sends home the other cook early so that he can get on the line with me because he loves it no matter how much he says he doesn't want to be on the line. The pay is shit (we just had our two year anniversary but are well into the black), but it's a really comfy place and we just try to put out good quality, unpretentious food. But holy shit, one guy can ruin the entire vibe when you work in a small place.

[Anonymous No.12431529]

>>12431517
Hahaha. Reminds me of that Kitchen Confidential line.
>I can teach him to cook. I can't teach character. Show up at work on time six months in a row and we'll talk about red curry paste and lemon grass. Until then, I have four words for you: "Shut the fuck up.". Yeah, I had to deal with 2 guys who were good/great chefs respectively but fucking miserable. It's a drag. At least your dude sounds young, we've all been younger and over estimated ourselves before. At least he sounds ambitious and somewhat motivated.
We were doing the same thing. Just have a lot of fun cooking, keep costs down, find a use for everything and keep people happy. It was great while it lasted.

[Anonymous No.12431532]

>>12431529
Oh, forgot to linebreak my shit and fucked up the quote. fug.

[Anonymous No.12431556]

>>12431385
heres the spatchcocking i did last week in my 230.
gonna pass on this OP, you had one chance with me, obviously your lack of cast iron inclusion is a factor in my decision.
next time you gotta 230 that bird

[Anonymous No.12431562]

>>12431529
Damn, all of that hits so close to home. The thing is this guy is around my age and actually has more experience than me, and is better at a couple of things (he's a great saute cook and I wish that was an option for him to do exclusively). He was also "executive chef" at a small wine bar for awhile so thinks he's hot shit. From what I've heard it was all cold preparations and boards and they only had a small pizza oven to prepare hot dishes; I still haven't heard the story of why he "left". I'm not very confrontational but I have zero problem talking down to him when I need to; I just hate people who think they know everything and are unwilling to learn.

[Anonymous No.12431566]

>>12431496
Thx, sounds like something interesting to try.

[Anonymous No.12431576]

Good thread, OP. Spatchcocking is fun to do, plus it makes for easy chopping up of the spine for stock.

I'm looking to get into pickling this year as well. Gonna start with some spring onions and cucumbers. I just got my first dill harvest do that will go for the cucumbers ... Not sure how I want to do the onions yet.

[Anonymous No.12431588]

>>12431556
I cooked my tortillas on cast iron, read the thread and try again big boi.

>>12431562
Ah, fuckin' A then. Just pick your battles and roll with it I guess. He'll know where he stands, especially if his ego doesn't get acknowledged. Dudes like that thrive on attention, good or bad. People like that are boring to be around.

>>12431566
No worries, dude. It's become a staple that I put in almost everything now.

[Anonymous No.12431600]

>>12431576
Oh fuck yeah man. I put spring onions through that cabbage and coriander ferment I posted earlier. Unless you're talking about the bulbs. I usually start from my basic pickle recipe and elaborate from there with whatever catches my eye at the time. I used it to make a rose petal vinegar a while back that was amazing, used it to finish sauteed beetroots, the sugars cling to the beets and gave an amazing perfume to 'em. So cool.

[Anonymous No.12431601]

>>12431588
>people like that are boring to be around
Yeah, I've probably made it seem like it's gotten to me a lot more than it has. I'm just drunk on a day off and can't help but bitch to a fellow industry anon making a quality thread. You're doing your country - and the most hated country on /ck/ - proud.

[Anonymous No.12431621]

>>12431600

For the onions I have the bulbs and ..stalks, I guess? Can I just use any part of the onion I would use for cooking (bulb and maybe 4 inches of stalk) for pickling?

[Anonymous No.12431622]

>>12431424
>>12431421
looks good

[Anonymous No.12431626]

>>12431588
if you didnt use a comal then i have no respect.
>cooking store bought tortillas
we all need a little help from time to time

[Anonymous No.12431627]

>>12431415
God damn that looks good.

[Anonymous No.12431635]

>>12431601
Fuckin' bitch all you want man. Go back fresh, best thing you can do for yourself. Thanks, haha, it's not hard to make decent conversation on 4chan, you'd be surprised by some of the nice discussions I've had on /tv/ from time to time.
>>12431621
The stalks will break down and leech a lot of onion slime (for lack of a better word). Not necessarily a bad thing, but you'd be better off just cooking with them or chopping them up and using them in another project. I like to put them through a corn chow chow recipe I put together. Really great to make in late Summer/throughout Spring.
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp of salt
2 bay leaves

6 ears of grilled corn
1 green capsicum
1 red onion
1 cup halved green tomatoes
1 bunch spring onion

>>12431626
Need to buy a press already.

>>12431622
>>12431627
Thanks guys. I rested it for around 10 minutes and it still pissed juice on me. I was hungry damn it.

[Anonymous No.12431661]

>>12431635
press if you want, or just practice with a pelote until you make em thin enough, i saw you had flour or were they white masa?
i use a press for corn torts, if i make flour ones i need to roll them out, so im lazy and just buy flour ones.
nothing is better than homemade torts but fuck are they about 45 of work i could do without.

[Anonymous No.12431667]

>>12431635
>you'd be surprised by some of the nice discussions I've had on /tv/ from time to time
I hate to admit it, but /tv/ is my second board after /ck/, as much as I hate 99% of it. There's still some anons around to have a decent discussion of X Files, Farscape, Lynch, Resnais, or Mothra about with.

[Anonymous No.12431671]

>>12431661
White masa. I don't think of them as work, really. Dough is simple, portion and press. Good way to have fun with different fats, I probably would have incorporated the fat/juices that ran off the chicken into them, definitely would have been tasty. Once you make enough sourdough tortillas become a treat to work with, haha.

[Anonymous No.12431678]

>>12431667
I had an hour long civil discussion about the pros and cons of the gay Vito arc in a Sopranos thread a while back with a dude. It was unsettleingly nice.

[Anonymous No.12431699]

>>12431671
Oh yeah, that became a fun thing for a while too. I used to ferment tortilla dough, fry it and serve it with a local beer washed cheese and a little pineapple chutney. Shit was so cool.

[Anonymous No.12431718]

>>12431678
I've given Sopranos half a dozen tries and never made it past the second season. For me, season 10 X Files was the best I'd ever seen /tv/, since the entire series was on Netflix at the time so a ton of people rewatched it (including myself) and there was so much to discuss (and that fucking Darin Morgan episode was just a love letter to all of us).

[Anonymous No.12431733]

>>12431718
Once you get hooked it gets hard to stop watching. It always fucks with my mood when I do because of how emotional the show is, haha. I think I only made it to S6 with X Files, it started getting too dumb there I think (or at least I did at the time). I love the monster of the week and conspiracy stuff, though. Six seasons was plenty for me.
Thread got me going through old facebook photos of dishes. I used to come up with 3 tacos every week to use up leftovers and stuff. This is pulled brisket, fresh made cheese (just milk split with lime juice and hung for a few hours), confited cherry tomatoes and beetroot leaves. Feel lame posting my own shit, but I figure we should at least keep it somewhat food related. Would love to see some of your stuff if you're cool with posting, otherwise all good.

[Anonymous No.12431823]

>>12431733
I don't know, I've just never been into Italian mob stuff. X Files peaks around season 6 (can't remember when they replaced the lead duo, but the recasting was probably the best ever). The mytharc is complete shit by then but MotW is still strong, and mostly Vince Gilligan (the guy who did Breaking Bad; both of the lead characters starred in X Files episodes he wrote, btw).
>fresh made cheese (just milk split with lime juice and hung for a few hours)
I'd like to hear more about this. I've made fresh Mozzarella and paneer a few times, but nothing like that (I thought it was scrambled eggs at first glance - I'm also half way around the world and am thinking about breakfast). I scrolled through my phone but couldn't find any pics of stuff worth sharing. I'm also about ready to pass out... So, nice thread, but I think I'm calling it. Also, watch Farscape if you haven't. It might not have the same impact because the aliens are all either Australian or Muppet, but it's still amazing, and there are still anons talking about it.

[Anonymous No.12431840]

>>12431823
You've heard it all before, but the mob stuff isn't the core of what makes Sopranos so incredible, it's just a setting almost. It's some of the best character writing of all time.
Just take a litre (that's what, a 1/4 gallon?) of milk, bring it up to a simmer and add a tablespoon of acid. Could be lime juice, lemon, vinegar, whatever. This'll split the curd from the whey. Whisk is vigirously and then strain it. Save the whey for ferments, or you can use it to make cheese curds if you're feeling ambitious. Put the curd in some cheese cloth, wring it out a bit and then hang it. How much you wring it out and how long you hang it will determine how firm it is, so you can control whether you want something like ricotta or even press it into a mold, cut it and fry it like halloumi. Give it a good seasoning and you're good to go.
Yeah, it's time for me to take off as well. Trying to work on my sleep routine. Nice talking to you man, thanks for hanging out.

[Anonymous No.12431854]

>>12431840
>thanks for hanging out
Yeah, you to. I have a couple days off but will fuck around with making some basic cheese when I go back in. We're starting a new menu soon so I've been looking for ideas and that might have potential.

[Anonymous No.12431868]

wtf I'm vegan now so gross

[Anonymous No.12431957]

>>12431402
good work

[Anonymous No.12431968]

>>12431427
you are a good cook and i like what you did here. thanks for the oc.

[Anonymous No.12432072]

>>12431957
>>12431968
Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

[Anonymous No.12432475]

>>12431635
>nice discussions
>/tv/

Surely you jest?

[Anonymous No.12432632]

>>12431661
>not pressing your tortillas with your $300 handmade cast iron skillet with uncomfortable wire handle
do you even soy, boy?

[Anonymous No.12432695]

>>12432632
i most certainly do, thats how i get the logo pressed into my white masa corn tortillas. they waste so good in the 230

[Anonymous No.12433757]

>>12431635

Ended up doing cukes, spring onion bulbs, and cauliflower in a 3% brine that's 2 to 1 water to apple cider vinegar (didn't have any white vinegar). Also popped in dill, garlic, and black peppercorns.

[Anonymous No.12434258]

>>12432475
Crazy, I know. They're not all bad eggs.
>>12433757
Nice man! Are you new to pickling or have you done this a bit before? Don't be shocked if your garlic starts turning blue in the brine, that's normal.

[Anonymous No.12434272]

You spatchcock with kitchen scissors, reserve the spine for stock and stop pretending this isn't the simplest way to cook chicken you've ever seen. 165F in the deepest part of the bird and you'll have perfect chicken.

protip: separate the skin on all parts of the chicken and rub it with melting butter and season the interior with salt and pepper. Broil it before it reaches 165 and you have neutral chicken you can add to curry, salsa chicken, sandwiches. Anything. It's the anything delicious chicken and the skin in separated so it fries. You can turn that into chicken skin chips.

[Anonymous No.12434297]

>>12434258
what do you do with cured yolks those look fucking beautiful

[Anonymous No.12434299]

>>12434258

First time. Picked up pic related recently and want to start getting into preserving foods, especially since I've got a decent garden going.

The fucking book is misprinted though so the table of contents/appendix don't match up with the page numbers which makes navigating it super annoying.

[Anonymous No.12434324]

>>12434272
Not pretending anything, just demonstrating how I like to do it. I get a cleaner bird this way and genuinely enjoy the process. Cool if you want to use shears though, whatever works.

>>12434297
I like to grate them finely over things like potatoes, salads, other eggs, etc. When they're done they take on a really deep orange colour on the outside which I love. I had an idea recently to shave them on a mandoline, would look cool with matching slices of duck ham and some other stuff.

>>12434299
Awesome man. The misprint sucks though, haha. The best thing you can do is go to books for cooking knowledge, online is too spotty and filled with so much shit.

[Anonymous No.12434452]

>>12434324
>tfw i cancelled my lucky peach subscription just a few issues before it ended and could have had the complete set

[Anonymous No.12434555]

>>12434452
I miss it. I cancelled mine in 2016 after I felt the quality dropped a bit and started picking and choosing instead. Would love to have a complete set, though. Chinatown issue is max comfy.

[Anonymous No.12434579]

>>12431421

[Anonymous No.12434601]

>>12434555
Yeah, it started to feel like it was just a blog for Chang's chef friends and there were barely any recipes anymore. Hearts once told me that my volume 1 is actually a collectors item, though I've never actually looked into it.

[Anonymous No.12434609]

>>12434601
I just read an article on it, seems like there's some demand. I never got the first issue, it looks like something I'd love though. Can see why people would be hungry for it.

[Anonymous No.12434638]

>>12434609
I was in a Borders when they were going out of business (not sure if you had them in 'Straya, but they were one of the biggest bookstore chains in the states) and everything was on sale, including the magazine section which was like 75% off and I just happened upon this really nice magazine all about ramen that retailed for $12 so I just had to buy it. A lot of the recipes were out of the Momofuku book - which I only recently picked up - but there was a ton of cool stuff and I Immediately got a subscription. The first issue also had Harold Mcgee explaining the science behind Alkaline noodles, which blew my mind at the time because I came up on Good Eats (well, I was mostly in college at the time, but it's what first really got me into cooking) and had read On Food and Cooking because of Alton Brown.

[Anonymous No.12434711]

>>12434638
We had one in WA, but it only lasted a couple of years. I grabbed mine from a place called Boffins. McGee is such a cool dude, one of his articles in a later issue about coffee and how plants react to trauma was amazing. The first season of Mind of a Chef has a lot of crossover between Lucky Peach and the Momofuku book as well. That show has some great seasons, Sean Brock and David Kinch's parts are the best.

[Anonymous No.12434774]

>>12434711
I've moved around so much recently that most of my books are in random boxes, but now I really want to get my LP collection together and go back through it. I've never been big into desserts, but have heard great things about the Milk Bar book. I went there once after doing the Noodle bar and picked up the crack pie and corn cookie (??), and they actually lived up to the hype. How much have you made out of it?

[Anonymous No.12434795]

>>12434774
I'd love to try it, I really like Tossi's approach to desserts. It's a good starting point here because it'll give you ideas that actually sell. I've used bits and pieces all over the place. Used her lemon curd in a fermented, fried cauliflower dish with grated cashew (sounds weird, but it worked really well). Made her brittle, pumpkin ganache, Cornflake ice cream (in the chess pie pic I posted earlier), milk crumb. So many good elements to pick and choose at. If you can, grab Wylie Dufresne's wd50 book, it's godlike.