what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

I have realized a dream of my adult life: purchasing half a pig from a local teenage 4H farmer, to be butchered and portioned and stored in our chest freezer. we've done local organic meat co-ops and CSA type stuff before, but this is a big step up

this will happen in February-March but we just reserved it

oooh yum

Wow, that's awesome. Are you doing the deed or do you just get the product afterward? Do you get some sausage with that?

I believe the butchering takes place separately, yes there will be sausage

Sausage is excellent.

Tell them you want all the fat! If you don't actually want it, I will come get it and render it into lard!

duly noted!!

This is the way.

pork jowl opportunities

pork wonderful pork

I've done this a couple times and it's pretty great - I didn't want to commit to any particular sausage so I got it all as ground meat in 1lb bags. I also try to get the pork bellies whole which took some confirmation because the processing places just assume everyone wants it as bacon (which is good too).

I also got the hams fresh once instead of cured/smoked and regretted it - they didn't break down like a shoulder would and I never quite prepared one where I was happy with how it turned out.

that's all very good feedback, thank you!

If you get some unground shoulder, I highly recommend making this https://chiceats.com/recipe/fall-winter-mozza-home/spicy-pork-stew-butternut-squash-and-roasted-tomatillo-salsa

I want as many shoulder chunks as we can get!

I could use some soup advice. I need to be getting a lot more veggies into my diet, appetite is a problem due to a medication, and I thought soup would be my solution. I got a vitamix and I’ve made two soups so far that have been edible but v v disappointing.

1. Tossed brocc, cauli, onions in oil, a lil MSG, smoked paprika, Italian herbs and roasted. Also roasted chickpeas, carrots and potatoes in just paprika, and then a head of garlic. Blended with stock (BTB concentrate) and it was missing something so I added a little vinegar since I didn’t have any citrus. Mistake! Also added fresh spinach. It was just kind of blah. Edible mostly only because it was completely silky smooth.

2. Roasted Kabocha squash and onion with ground sage, roasted a garlic head and carrots and a little bit of Japanese sweet potato plain. Blended with white beans and some nutritional yeast and stock. Same thing! Just kinda blah.

I get that these aren’t like proper soups or whatever but as a lover of mush/baby food, I really thought I was on to a good thing and it sucks!

Are you looking for some thinner soup or chunkier stews?

Maybe lightly fry a little curry paste to kick start the base flavor profile? I like the Mae Plom brand and they last forever in the fridge

Def no chunks - I like a thick sort of silky purée. It’s easiest for me to tolerate eating.

I’m thinking potato leek?

my approach is always the same - sautee the vegetables, add herbs/spices for a few minutes, then add stock for another 10 minutes or so, then blend

in terms of herbs and spices it depends on the veggies but ground coriander is often good, salt n pepper obv.. you'd be surprised how far a little white pepper can go

kind of crazy your soups are bland with an entire head of garlic in them though

Also salt?

Everything tastes bad without salt.

i sort of assumed just1n3 was adding salt at some point but reading back yeah that could be a problem if not

i've made various versions of this zucchini soup more times than i can count

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/italianstylezucchini_9833

Potato leek soup can be amazing, I swear by this one: https://food52.com/recipes/87209-potato-leek-soup-with-spiced-chickpeas-recipe

Also, you can really goose the flavor with peanut butter (substitute if you're allergic -- pretty sure tahini would work too), as in this Vegan Gambian Peanut Stew: https://rainbowplantlife.com/wprm_print/5657

the best thing about autumn vegetable soups is that you can make them up as you go along from a base of carrots/celery/onion fried in butter and whatever veg you have. I always add sweet potatoes, chilli flakes and garlic and hope for the best!

yeah potato leek is great, even bog standard potato leek.

grated parmesan and creme fraiche added to potato leek is so good.

something good to add to calzino's carrot base soup is some roasted butternut squash. and i'm not gonna lie i squeeze just a lil dollop of honey into the carrots when they're cooking.. sometimes a strip of bacon if i'm feeling, as the kids say, extra

the point where I thought I was becoming way too much of a sophisticate here was when I started seeing bacon as more of an ingredient or a pancetta proxy than summat to be wapped in 2 slices of bread, lol

Lol salt is a given, guys, I’m not a heathen!!

Ugh I didn’t want to fuck around cooking stuff, I just wanted to roast a bunch of stuff and dump in the blender 😖

that's all soup is really!

i don’t even roast anything usually, seems like too much work tbh

i have a great simple carrot / lentil soup that is easy good -i hate all the veggie soups i make except this one, i love it so much

it doesn’t look like much but its good

orange lentils are key bc they’re softer & blend up really smooth.

3 carrots chopped
1 onion choped
3 cloves garlic
2 sticks celery chopped
1 parsnip or 1 potato chopped (i dont do potatoes)
1 diced tomato or 1/2 can drained diced tomatoes
2 cups orange lentils
8 cups chicken stock

heat oil, add chopped veg except garlic
saute for 5 min on medium heat then lower heat & sweat veg covered for 10 min (don’t brown them)
return heat to medium
add tomato & garlic cook for 1 min
add lentils & chicken stock
bring to boil
turn to low heat & simmer gently for 45 min
stir occasionally

remove from heat
use a stick blender & blend until smooth

finish with pinch cayenne & pinch or two of cumin

Thanks everyone. I gotta avoid potatoes as a main ingredient and I really need to get in more leafy greens (except I hate bitter greens). If I’m adding spinach should I be blanching it instead of just blending it in raw? I didn’t think too hard about it but I guess cooking reduces the oxalates or whatever, which is probably preferable.

RE roasting - that’s my favorite way to cook: chop, toss in oil then bang in the oven and wait. My minimal soup research before this said that roasting was a great base for soups. I roasted a whole head of garlic and a whole medium onion (along with the other veg) thinking that would really up the flavors, but both soups were seriously the most blah soups I’ve ever made.

I like being able to blast it in the blender because then I can add beans or lentils, which I normally can’t deal with the texture of.

kind of crazy your soups are bland with an entire head of garlic in them though

― Tracer Hand

I’m roasting it so maybe that’s why it’s not adding enough punch?

Kabocha is by far my favorite squash/pumpkin but I don’t cook it often because it’s so hard to cut. During my soup research I discovered you just microwave it for like 2-3mins and then it’s super easy.

I do think the key is getting some pan browning going on your mirepoix or whatever yr base is, like frying the curry paste etc, then going to the blender

Kabocha is by far my favorite squash/pumpkin but I don’t cook it often because it’s so hard to cut. During my soup research I discovered you just microwave it for like 2-3mins and then it’s super easy.

― just1n3, Saturday, October 21, 2023 12:06 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Best method for cooking winter squashes like butternut for soups is cut in half lengthwise, place cut side down in a rimmed baking dish, pour about 2 cups of water in the baking dish (the water should be about a quarter or a third of the way up the side of the squash), and bake in the oven at 350F for 45 minutes. Take it out, flip over or remove the squash to cool, then you can remove the roasted flesh from the skin with a spoon. You won't even need to puree it.

My favourite is a curried parsnip, lentil and apple
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/curried-lentil-parsnip-apple-soup

I do it in the slow cooker but you can also just simmer for 30 mins. You gotta have the yogurt, cilantro etc with it!

kind of crazy your soups are bland with an entire head of garlic in them though

― Tracer Hand

I’m roasting it so maybe that’s why it’s not adding enough punch?

I made a pasta sauce that had loads of roasted garlic in it and it was still not very garlicky. Disappointing - need to find the perfect amount because roasted garlic is so nice.

I don't know if there are nutritive or even taste reasons for blanching, but I never do it because it's an extra step for what I think is just an aesthetic thing (it makes the spinach look brighter green).

started off making a basic ragu today and fancied some heat so threw some chilli flakes and green/red chillies in there. Added some bacon because why not. Added some lentils for that nice texture. Added some capers and olives then some fresh basil/parsley. It was haphazard make it up as you go along cooking that was sort of like puttanesca but I didn't have anchovies, but it worked out beautifully.

Restaurants blanch to help expedite servuce ime
Xpost

hi dere I now have 91 lbs of pig parts in the chest freezer

I thawed out a pound of the bacon but it's a lot to sort through. anyone have thoughts on how long I can just leave it in butcher paper vs bagging it all in freezer/storage bags?

so much ham

Is any of it smoked? Bag it in a hurry if so or everything in your freezer may be smoked soon.

thank you - the hock is def smoked

My father raised a hog for butchering around '79-80, whoever smoked it OVERsmoked it, plus zipper seal bags and vacuum sealers didn't exist back then iirc, and we wound up tossing a huge amt of food.

Actually I think Ziploc bags were around but my parents didn't bother, which was a bad choice.