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Jan. 23rd, 2009 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sam_tI really need to start using my paper recipe books more. I like reading them but after the first few weeks I turn to them less and less often. Online recipes are just so much more ... indexed, which is handy when wondering what to do with this week's vegbox, and especially handy when I'm wondering it from work. I don't know whether posting about the problem makes me more likely to do anything about it, but there you are: I'm not committing to a recipe-a-week blog (like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
white_hart's new blog What Shall We Eat) because I know I won't do it. This is an attempt to write a bit more about what I've been cooking, anyway.
The delivery of some Mexican ingredients from the Cool Chile Co. inspired me to try out a non-Mexican recipe I've been curious about for a while, although sadly not one from my recipe books: Homesick Texan's Texas Red Chili (not so much a recipe as a loving description in two parts: Chile Part 1 and Chile Part 2). I didn't follow the instructions completely faithfully, being a little cautious about differing cultural values of 'hot', not to mention differing cultural values of 'a portion'. 1lb of meat per person is rather a lot, in my book, so I halved all the quantities and divided it into five portions at the end. As it happened, I'd rather underestimated the heat - a combination of caution, having to translate numbers of whole dried chillis to teaspoonsful of chopped dried chillis, and not having premade chilli powder - or at least, not one I wanted to use in quantities that would overwhelm the dried chillis. Still, it was pretty good, with tender meat in a rich, savoury, ancho-laden sauce.
I've discovered that I rather like dried chopped anchos: they have a bright, spicy-but-not-overwhelmingly-hot kick to them, and they turn out to be very good sprinkled over buttered toast.
To go with the Texas Red, I made a pot of pinto beans, roughly based on the Homesick Texan's bean recipe. Instead of the salt pork I used a handful of bacon offcuts, I left out the jalapeno juice because I didn't have any, and I threw the whole thing in the pressure cooker at 15lb for 20 minutes then let it thicken for a few minutes with the lid off. I'd put a bay leaf in next time, I think: the texture is creamy, the flavour is subtle but good, but I think it's missing something without the jalapeno juice. I meant to put in a splash of vinegar, thinking about it, but forgot.
white_hart's new blog What Shall We Eat) because I know I won't do it. This is an attempt to write a bit more about what I've been cooking, anyway.The delivery of some Mexican ingredients from the Cool Chile Co. inspired me to try out a non-Mexican recipe I've been curious about for a while, although sadly not one from my recipe books: Homesick Texan's Texas Red Chili (not so much a recipe as a loving description in two parts: Chile Part 1 and Chile Part 2). I didn't follow the instructions completely faithfully, being a little cautious about differing cultural values of 'hot', not to mention differing cultural values of 'a portion'. 1lb of meat per person is rather a lot, in my book, so I halved all the quantities and divided it into five portions at the end. As it happened, I'd rather underestimated the heat - a combination of caution, having to translate numbers of whole dried chillis to teaspoonsful of chopped dried chillis, and not having premade chilli powder - or at least, not one I wanted to use in quantities that would overwhelm the dried chillis. Still, it was pretty good, with tender meat in a rich, savoury, ancho-laden sauce.
I've discovered that I rather like dried chopped anchos: they have a bright, spicy-but-not-overwhelmingly-hot kick to them, and they turn out to be very good sprinkled over buttered toast.
To go with the Texas Red, I made a pot of pinto beans, roughly based on the Homesick Texan's bean recipe. Instead of the salt pork I used a handful of bacon offcuts, I left out the jalapeno juice because I didn't have any, and I threw the whole thing in the pressure cooker at 15lb for 20 minutes then let it thicken for a few minutes with the lid off. I'd put a bay leaf in next time, I think: the texture is creamy, the flavour is subtle but good, but I think it's missing something without the jalapeno juice. I meant to put in a splash of vinegar, thinking about it, but forgot.
