What is/was for dinner?

[Certificate of Excellence]

Tonight: Garam masala (bone-in) chicken thighs with fresh/local pears; served with basmati rice and fresh steamed green beans.

Current situation: cast iron pan slammed into the new (dual-fuel... gas burners and 'lectric) oven and roasting away @450F... (photo will be added later)

Forgot to ask - who is the maker of your CI ?

 

[edubfromktown]

Lodge 12" cast iron skillet.

Walmart had them on sale for $12 (5+ years ago). Along with whatever else I ordered, the total qualified for free shipping too

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Nice. That is a great price on Lodge. Not exactly the right thread to dork out on CI but a few weeks ago I picked up a no heat ring Spaghetti logo Wagner 12' skillet for $3.00 at a GW . Its dirty as all get out and needs to be stripped and reseasoned, but was happy to snag that and add it to my CI collection.

 

[edubfromktown]

Nice. That is a great price on Lodge. Not exactly the right thread to dork out on CI but a few weeks ago I picked up a no heat ring Spaghetti logo Wagner 12' skillet for $3.00 at a GW . Its dirty as all get out and needs to be stripped and reseasoned, but was happy to snag that and add it to my CI collection.

I'm good on the pan front for now (wife rolls eyes and wonders when some will go into retirement haha).

I recently went from an old all natural gas range to dual fuel (LG Smart Convection Range with Air Fry). The electric oven surprised me!

Absolutely no spatter when cooking the garam masala chicken @450F for nearly 30 minutes. I dropped a sheet of foil loosely on top just in case... in the old gas oven, grease would be flying everywhere.

 

[WriteNow]

Nice. That is a great price on Lodge. Not exactly the right thread to dork out on CI

I'm sure some might disagree, but my feeling is that talk of cookware is "dinner adjacent". Particularly something that can have a profound impact on the end result.

but a few weeks ago I picked up a no heat ring Spaghetti logo Wagner 12' skillet for $3.00 at a GW . Its dirty as all get out and needs to be stripped and reseasoned, but was happy to snag that and add it to my CI collection.

At one point, I think my mother had a Wagner skillet of some sort. My two big memories of dishes made with it are pot roasts (using a lid off another pan). I think my grandmother also used a cast iron skillet. The other dish was (I think) Tortilla Española (egg and potato dish).

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I'm sure some might disagree, but my feeling is that talk of cookware is "dinner adjacent". Particularly something that can have a profound impact on the end result.


At one point, I think my mother had a Wagner skillet of some sort. My two big memories of dishes made with it are pot roasts (using a lid off another pan). I think my grandmother also used a cast iron skillet. The other dish was (I think) Tortilla Española (egg and potato dish).

I whole heartedly agree. None the less, there are quite a few who would disagree with us and not exactly be wrong in their assessment haha

Anyways for the sake of organic & interesting conversation, I have my great grandma Willie & grandma Schaefer’s Wagner skillets (my mom got them & now I have them. They are treasured items. My great grandmas pan is pitted on the bottom from sulfur as it was used in an old coal range/stove. It subsequently has the smoke ring to help seal/lock into the range top rings. It still cooks just fine on my electric induction oven & is my favorite pan to fry eggs in. Truly has excellent craftsmanship behind it with a glassy smooth-as-your-baby’s-butt cast on that piece. These pans were all made in Sidney Ohio. My gg Willie and g Schaefer lived about an hour and a half away from the factory in Loveland and Pleasant Plain Ohio. These pans truly last just shy of forever. I fully expect my own great grandkids to have these pans.

I love a good torta española (nice job on the eñe btw) but typically cheat and make it in a nonstick lol. Honestly I’ve never tried to make it in CI. Will have to try it sometime.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I'm good on the pan front for now (wife rolls eyes and wonders when some will go into retirement haha).

I recently went from an old all natural gas range to dual fuel (LG Smart Convection Range with Air Fry). The electric oven surprised me!

Absolutely no spatter when cooking the garam masala chicken @450F for nearly 30 minutes. I dropped a sheet of foil loosely on top just in case... in the old gas oven, grease would be flying everywhere.

Just like orphaned old 68k,PowerPC & early Intel Macs, I’ll always take in an orphaned old forgotten piece of castiron and get her going again.

 

[WriteNow]

My great grandmas pan is pitted on the bottom from sulfur as it was used in an old coal range/stove. It subsequently has the smoke ring to help seal/lock into the range top rings.

Pitting could be seen as damage/wear. Or it could be seen as history...

Truly has excellent craftsmanship behind it with a glassy smooth-as-your-baby’s-butt cast on that piece.

I respect modern Lodge, given how affordable and durable it is (plus US made), even if it is rough. But it feels so crude compared to older cast iron.

I love a good torta española (nice job on the eñe btw)

Thanks--although I can't take credit, since I got it with copy/paste from some recipe site.

I can't remember what my mother called the dish. She might not have even mentioned a name. The thing I remember is that it showed up sometimes at dinner. I'd guess she learned it when she was an exchange student in Spain.

but typically cheat and make it in a nonstick lol. Honestly I’ve never tried to make it in CI. Will have to try it sometime.

I'm guessing that one pan was well seasoned. (It was some hand-me-down pan.) It definitely had a very smooth inside, which I'm guessing helped.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Pitting could be seen as damage/wear. Or it could be seen as history...



I respect modern Lodge, given how affordable and durable it is (plus US made), even if it is rough. But it feels so crude compared to older cast iron.



Thanks--although I can't take credit, since I got it with copy/paste from some recipe site.

I can't remember what my mother called the dish. She might not have even mentioned a name. The thing I remember is that it showed up sometimes at dinner. I'd guess she learned it when she was an exchange student in Spain.


I'm guessing that one pan was well seasoned. (It was some hand-me-down pan.) It definitely had a very smooth inside, which I'm guessing helped.

I do like lodge as well especially as it is MIA. I have a modern (90s) lodge Dutch oven for deep frying, baking bread in, and braising. It’s another keeper.

I have some contemporary Colombian CI that I got as a xmas gift from my SIL and it has that bumpy surface but is well seasoned and is still very nonstick despite the difference in casting. I especially love the plancha and is something I use daily for all sorts of tasks.

Pitting would be considered damage to a collector and understandably so but while I do collect, the historical context of my family using these pans for 100+
years is where the value lies for me. While this one is pitted and we know why, the remainder of my CI collection is not.

This mornings breakfast was a fried egg and a waffle. And it was delicious

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Changed it up a bit. Instead of butter chicken & braised fruit chutney, I ended up doing tikka masala braised with onion, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, carrots, prunes and toasted cashews. Served alongside some naan and jasmine rice coconut milk pilaf.

very excited as it fed the whole family and I still have two left over meals

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Changed it up a bit. Instead of butter chicken & braised fruit chutney, I ended up doing tikka masala braised with onion, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, carrots, prunes and toasted cashews. Served alongside some naan and jasmine rice coconut milk pilaf.

very excited as it fed the whole family and I still have two left over meals

Sounds absolutely delicious.

Sultanas would also go very well with the dish that you have just described.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I made a variant of Mac 'n cheese, yesterday, with some sausage and peas in it. The first Mac 'n cheese I've ever made, since it's not really a thing here in Norway (I'm 55 YO).

I've made the very similar side dish called "makaronistuing" in Norwegian (lit. "macaroni stew"), which uses a bechamel sauce (and not a cheese based sauce) many, many times, but this is the first time I've made it with cheese in the sauce and as a main dish.

I'm having leftovers of that today.

Incidentally, my favorite "comfort food" from childhood (along with pancakes, European style, think slightly thicker crepes) are also macaroni based; basically just macaroni and fried minced meat with ketchup. Maybe that's contributed to me never exploring Mac 'n Cheese until now?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sampled Ghormeh Sabzi (a delicious Persian stew with beef, beans and plenty of fresh herbs, served with saffron rice) in a recently discovered (down a small side street) small, ethnic, entirely authentic, Persian restaurant.

 

[KaliYoni]

Sampled Ghormeh Sabzi (a delicious Persian stew with beef, beans and plenty of fresh herbs, served with saffron rice) in a recently discovered (down a small side street) small, ethnic, entirely authentic, Persian restaurant.

Hope that restaurant offers tahdig! That, to my mind, is one of the best parts of Persian cusine.

 

[anika200]

I'm having leftovers of that today.

I guess that means you liked it or loved it? The cheeses used are really what makes a good mac&cheese of course methods vary on how to make it but I wonder what cheeses were used that you had available.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Sounds absolutely delicious.

Sultanas would also go very well with the dish that you have just described.

I have a mature grapevine in the back yard that produces very sweet & delicious grapes or if you prefer raisins. Truthfully I usually cant eat all the grapes in a season so end up drying a bunch into raisins. This year, I gave what I would usually dry to my family up north to eat, so I was out when I went to grab some. Prior to coconut rice, I was going to do a toasted garam masala and cinnamon pilaf with raisins and sweet onions but I soon discovered that I had ran out, so made a left hand turn onto coconut rice and dropped julienne prunes in the braise hah. I do love what prunes (or raisins for that matter) do in a braise but I agree that the gold sultanas would have added a superior visual presence carrying the golds oranges and reds of the dish vs the contrasting darker prunes.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Wife is out late on business so Im bach'in it with my boys this evening. Its a day early but ended up making some chicago pub style pepperoni and a meat lovers (pepperoni, salame, cotto, American bacon, red onions, cows milk feta, pecorino and some mozz) for dinner. Kiddos are eating that and watching a movie. No complaints so far.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I made a variant of Mac 'n cheese, yesterday, with some sausage and peas in it. The first Mac 'n cheese I've ever made, since it's not really a thing here in Norway (I'm 55 YO).

I've made the very similar side dish called "makaronistuing" in Norwegian (lit. "macaroni stew"), which uses a bechamel sauce (and not a cheese based sauce) many, many times, but this is the first time I've made it with cheese in the sauce and as a main dish.

I'm having leftovers of that today.

Incidentally, my favorite "comfort food" from childhood (along with pancakes, European style, think slightly thicker crepes) are also macaroni based; basically just macaroni and fried minced meat with ketchup. Maybe that's contributed to me never exploring Mac 'n Cheese until now?

I love a good mac n cheese. I make mine with mornay which is a derivative of Bechamel. There are quite a few recipes that include only heavy cream and rely on the starch of the pasta to pull things together but I prefer the flavor that a toasted roux brings hence my preference for roux based mornay cheese sauce in between layers of shredded extra sharp cheddar and and a modest few cubes of processed not-cheese aka American LOL. I also like Meunster alot in a mac and I also enjoy Rachlette although that cheese is on the riper side of life, my kids would say its stinky cheese, so I rarely put it in - it is very tasty however. My favorite pasta for mac is cavatapi.

I make a similar version of mac from time to time here for the kids. Effectively it is your standard cheddar mac with the addition of cubed smoked keilbasa that is browned prior to going in along with bell pepper, sweet onion and celery that is sweated in the keilbasa fat. I mix that into the mac and and top with shredded cheddar and buttered bread crumbs and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes. Actually when I first got out on my own, I was pretty broke LOL so I would make a version of this using humble boxed macaroni dinner, hotdogs and crackers LOL. Everything was the modest version of what I use now. Keilbasa was cheap chix/pork/Turkey hotdogs, cheese was processed cheese slices, mac was a .99 cent box macaroni dinner mix and buttered bread crumbs/panko was cheap commodity crunched up saltine crackers lol, milk was still milk but some really tight months, it was water and margarine. Veg was still veg, so that didnt change much but I could make enough to feed myself and have lunch the next day and all in eating that multiple times a week, I could get by on around $15-20 for the week.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I guess that means you liked it or loved it? The cheeses used are really what makes a good mac&cheese of course methods vary on how to make it but I wonder what cheeses were used that you had available.

Well, I had leftovers because I made too much, and don't like throwing away (edible) food.

But it was quite good the first day. A bit dry (after slow oven heating) day 2, and a bit bland (since I didn't add additional salt, because I'm trying to cut down on salt).

 

[AlaskaMoose]

A common meal for me when I can get my wife to make tacos (she's Mexican).

View attachment 776806

A delicious meal

By the way, although my wife and I aren't Mexican we enjoy leating tacos and burritos, specially home-made ones with organic ingredients. But I can't convince her to give a try to the tofu burritos I had for dinner

 

[eyoungren]

A delicious meal

By the way, although my wife and I aren't Mexican we enjoy leating tacos and burritos, specially home-made ones with organic ingredients. But I can't convince her to give a try to the tofu burritos I had for dinner

Given the popularity of a particular phrase in the lexicon of today (which my wife reflexively objects to), it is quite hard to convince her to make tacos on a Tuesday.

However, once she realized that my indiscriminate American palette was taking no offense to her use of roast beef out of a can for the taco meat, it made things much easier for her. Of course, my mother used to plop ground beef, lettuce and tomatos into a hard taco 'shell' and call that a taco when I was much younger - and I accepted it. So, there's that.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Given the popularity of a particular phrase in the lexicon of today (which my wife reflexively objects to), it is quite hard to convince her to make tacos on a Tuesday.

However, once she realized that my indiscriminate American palette was taking no offense to her use of roast beef out of a can for the taco meat, it made things much easier for her. Of course, my mother used to plop ground beef, lettuce and tomatos into a hard taco 'shell' and call that a taco when I was much younger - and I accepted it. So, there's that.

It is well known culinary secret that tacos taste best on Tuesdays

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hope that restaurant offers tahdig! That, to my mind, is one of the best parts of Persian cusine.

Actually, they offered two menus; a 'fast food menu', one with chips (fries), pizza, kebab - food tailored to, food that caters to western culinary preferences, food that can be prepared quickly (and would also serve to guarantee a degree of commercial success as there will always be a demand for reasonably priced, good quality, versions of these classics) - and an actual Persian menu, (which thoughtfully advises customers that service can take up to 40 minutes), with a selection of Persian classic starters, stews, drinks and desserts which, the proprietor/chef advised me, already attracts Iranians, (two came in to dine, quietly, while I was there, while some locals picked up orders that they had phoned in), including from across the country, especially at week-ends.

They also served a small selection of beer, and lamented that it was not possible to serve Shiraz (Syrah) wine.

It is one of those small, reasonably priced, good quality, ethnic, and utterly unpretentious places, with scrubbed tables and plastic chairs, - the place can hold around 15 or so people - the food freshly prepared on the premises (the stews cooked slowly for hours); I was also advised that on the first Tuesday of each month, (it started in October), they host an informal Iranian cultural evening, serving Persian finger food, showing a movie (Iranian cinema is critically very well regarded), and encouraging discussion, comments and questions.

Anyway, I have signed up for their December session.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Sampled Ghormeh Sabzi (a delicious Persian stew with beef, beans and plenty of fresh herbs, served with saffron rice) in a recently discovered (down a small side street) small, ethnic, entirely authentic, Persian restaurant.

we have a couple Persian places in town. One is a modest full service restaurant and the other is a fast-casual place with more westernized fast-food adaptations of Persian classics. The flavors are still there that catch your average US pallet off guard like lamb, mutton and goat milk vs the cow derivatives. My wife is not a fan for example of the lamb/mutton offerings nor the goat milk but she still humors me and I get to take her on dates to these places from time to time lol. We usually hit up the fast casual place more in the fall as they have a big outside dining space so is nice to go there, grab some pita sandwiches 🥪at dusk when things cool down a bit.

It’s a very interesting food culture and lexicon that is not the easiest to find here in the states so I’m glad we have two places around us to enjoy.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Hope that restaurant offers tahdig! That, to my mind, is one of the best parts of Persian cusine.

I’ve always loved the fact that despite culinary discipline or region or country that we have different names to describe the same character of cooked rice ie; tahdig, soccarat, pogo, nooroongi (sp?). I think the current popular verbiage for this is “scorched or lava rice”. Anyways, we collectively have taken the time to name the same delicious caramelized rice.

I have a similar love for the brown, caramelized edge & bottom of a gooey, cheesy baked macaroni and cheese.